© 2015 De Santiago Rodríguez
© 2015 Urantia Association of Spain
[Editor’s note: Due to the length of this article, what appears here is a summary. You can read the full article in the “Works” section, “first part”: http://urantia.es/node/46.]
The Urantia Book already establishes that reality is sustained in three divisions that, although they exist hopelessly interconnected, we are allowed to study them separately. And it is the contents of the material realm that we are going to address in this presentation. Knowledge of our reality is part of our own evolutionary process. As human beings who seek perfection, the study of physical reality is a magnificent opportunity to increase the development and well-being of humanity, and in this way collaborate in the process of establishing light and life on our own planet.
Although at first glance it seems that the scientific vision is very complex (and it is), the vision of The Urantia Book is extraordinarily more complex than what scientific knowledge conveys to us at this time. This additional complexity that revelation brings places us in an almost infinite study scenario, and at this time, human beings are barely getting a glimpse of reality and are beginning to partially understand some of its aspects. For this reason, we will start with what science currently accepts for the most part, but without losing sight of the fact that they are not unanimous or definitive opinions.
¶ Scientific conception of matter and energy
Current science admits that material reality (energetic-material) at the microscopic level is formed by a cosmic setting (space) that is three-dimensional for macroscopic purposes at least, but possibly endowed with additional dimensions of very reduced dimensions or with special characteristics, so that these additional dimensions would only be appreciable on a very small scale, on the scale of elementary particles.
In this scenario, time flows, so that there is a sequence of causal events marked with a beginning and destined towards an end, that is, there is a direction or arrow of time that impels us from the past to the future and not vice versa.
The most accepted theory at the beginning of 2015 is that the universe is made up of energy-material units, which is still the evolution of the simplest scenario that was postulated around the first half of the 20th century in which only a few of them were known. material particles: electron, proton, neutron, neutrino… Thus we have reached our days, in which theoretical physicists can recompose the observable universe with only a few elementary particles (that is, those for which there is no evidence of that are formed by others) with their corresponding antiparticles.
This is the situation described by the “Standard Model”. It is the most accepted model, although it is not the only one, and the reality that we know is reconstructed by this model with 4 elementary particles and 4 fundamental forces. Although the theory itself predicts some more particles that have been found experimentally. We see it in the following table:
The situation is such that we have a spatiotemporal framework and we have some particles. With this set of particles and their possible combinations, the rest of the particles known in the universe can be built. The electron would be an elementary particle, but the proton or neutron (the other constituents of the atom) would be formed by a combination of 3 quarks.
Now that we know the innermost constituents of matter, are we done yet? Obviously not, there are more things that we have to consider.
How are the different particles related? What kind of information is exchanged? Physicists say that currently all the interactions we know of in nature can be explained taking into account 4 fundamental forces. In other words: the particles and the space that surrounds them are subject to activities between them, so that any activity between particles can be explained with the existence of 4 different types of forces.
In this image, we can see the schemes of these 4 forces and what they act on, as well as the scope they have and their relative intensity. Two of them have an infinite range, and the other two are confined, only acting at very small distances. We can also observe that the intensities are very different (the Sun has a mass of 1030kg). In the last column we see the particle related to each of the mentioned forces.
We have to add to this cocktail that space appears permeated by fields, because where there is a mass a gravitational field is generated, where there is an electric charge an electromagnetic field is generated, and it seems that there is another field that permeates all space that would be the Higgs field, so that the interaction of the different particles with it is what would determine the mass of those particles. This field interacts with matter by exchanging a particle as well: the famous Higgs Boson. Which looks like it might have been found. Thus, we add it to the bricks that make up the knowledge of our reality. It would still be necessary to introduce in this scheme a particle proposed but not yet found, which would be the graviton. It is speculated and at least some of the characteristics that it should show are known, but there is still no physical evidence of its existence.
It is quite possible that what we call matter-energy is just the tip of the iceberg. That is, all this would not represent more than 4% of what exists in the universe. 22% would correspond to a matter that we assume must exist for the matter that we can observe to behave as it does (and it has been called dark matter), and there is also 74% of what is called dark energy (also not knows what it is) but that it should exist if we want to explain why space is expanding so rapidly today. Then we are in a situation in which we know very little of what exists, and of the little we do know, we do not know everything either… even so, let us not lose sight of the fact that technology has made us reinvent ourselves as a communicative species.
Once we know “what we know is made of”, we could ask ourselves if what we know has always been like that. How was matter formed?
The current situation, in which it is verified that we are in an expanding universe, launches a study backwards in time, a study that implies an inevitable contraction of space itself. Science launches hypotheses contemplating different scenarios, such as a cyclical contraction/expansion or a contraction until a time or moment “0”. Each scenario generates a series of consequences that should be observable today, and most of the observed data points to and is consistent with a contraction up to a moment “0”. It’s the Big Bang theory.
Now, we could recreate the way from the scientific point of view in which matter is formed from energy. This Big Bang theory is consistent with the following scenario: there was a “0” moment, when everything in existence (including space-time) was contained in a tiny volume. Therefore, the existing pressure and temperature were truly unimaginable. From that moment, and in an infinitesimal interval of time, the universe expanded and the elementary particles were created, the forces that are exerted on them and the properties of the universe.
The current situation is such that the standard model of which we have spoken gives a very satisfactory account of all the particles and the interactions between them, combining quantum mechanics with the theory of special relativity (which eliminates the possibility of establishing a space and absolute time in the universe). However, this model does not explain why the subatomic world is the way it is, why for example the mass of the electron is much less than that of the Higgs Boson, or why there are 3 kinds of leptons and not two or 15.
In order to try to account for these whys, we work on theoretical models that explain why the standard model is the way it is and that allow us to understand physical reality at a deeper level. The current problem is that all models trying to address this new physics need to postulate new particles, which could have enormous masses and thus have not yet been revealed in accelerators. The existence of these new particles implies that they should interact with the existing ones in some way, and these new interactions would only be explained if we can resort to “supersymmetry” (SUSY), a basic idea developed by theoretical physicists in the 1970s that does not corresponds to no specific theory, but as a general framework in which to formulate models of the universe.
If supersymmetry is not finally established, we will have to look for much more speculative alternatives for the moment than supersymmetry itself, but any of them would imply radically different ways of thinking about physics and cosmology.
There are already alternative views as candidates:
- Multiverse: the fine adjustment of the values of the relative intensities between forces, as well as the values of the masses of the particles have been by accident, so that after the Big Bang, countless universes had to originate with variants of those values. , and we exist in that universe in which the values of the constants have been adequate for the development of life.
- Extra dimensions: that would not have to be observable macroscopically, but would have their effect at a microscopic level.
- Dimensional transmutation: empty space would actually have a very rich structure, so that the Higgs field and virtual particles would generate complex dynamics, and the stability of this dynamic vacuum would be in question.
It is expected that, in the coming years, particle accelerators will guide theoretical physicists on which scenarios reality has chosen to compose itself.
¶ The Vision of “The Urantia Book”
The vision of reality from the perspective of The Urantia Book is much more complex and presents scenarios that interact with each other and are beyond current scientific understanding. We will not go into the study of the different levels of reality and their relationships, but we will settle for the immediate material physical level of the creations of time and space.
As for time and space, The Urantia Book defines them in a way that is very close to our way of thinking: “…time is a succession of instants, while space is a system of associated points… .” UB 118:3.1. Things are in space and space is contained in things UB 118:3.6. So that all the forms of reality occupy space on the material levels, but the spiritual forms neither occupy nor displace or contain it.
However, it introduces the idea that there is a supertime and a transcended space UB 0:7.1; UB 118:2.4; UB 0:9.2; UB 0:2.17, of which science is not aware, except that they could be taken into account as a possible evolution and experimental acceptance of theoretical models such as string theory, which would happen to assume that space and time do not they have 4 dimensions but 10 or 11, although these theories postulate that these additional dimensions would be rolled up on themselves and would not have relevance in the macroscopic world but only in the microscopic one.
The Urantia Book states that there are 7 dimensions in the universe at the morontia level of existence. UB 130:7.7. Physical creation as a whole is not infinite: at a given moment it is limited, even though it seems limitless to us. UB 12:0.2. Space must always exist, since Havona is in space.
Space surrounds, envelops the master universe, so there appears to be space with no material content UB 12:1.16. In a manner analogous to prior to the appearance on the physical stage, prior to the 7 superuniverses, possibly only Havona and a portion of space void of matter existed.
Energy flows from Paradise to supply and meet all the needs of the space-time and Havona worlds. The different beings can manipulate it to make it useful and practical in each one of the levels of reality. Everything that has not been temporarily dedicated to building reality returns to Paradise, from where it re-emerges renewed to be able to be useful again, apparently in eternal cycles.
My general impression is that what our science calls matter-energy is part of a fraction of the 21 phases of energy that are routinely manipulated by Universal Power Directors and their associates.
The creations of time and space, which are located within the finite level of reality, coexist in some way with the absonite and absolute levels. It could be that these two levels of reality are purely spiritual and have no space-time for their activities. However, this possibility is something that is hard to admit, especially considering that even Paradise is material (UB 11:0.1).
But the morontia level is in our spatiotemporal framework and it also has the matter and energy that we can take advantage of, as well as possibly other phases of energy and different matter that we still do not know anything about at a scientific level, among other things because seems to be limited to architectural worlds. UB 48:1.3
The Urantia Book postulates that there is a space charge of energy. Space is permeated with this homogeneous charge of energy that is not differentiated, it is essentially the same throughout the universe. This energy evolves due to the activity of the beings that make it transmute, such as the different orders of the Force Organizers and, when it has already been transformed into Gravita, it reacts to the presence and activities of the Universal Power Directors. The energy has been organized, it has been concentrated in different masses of established dimensions and weights. That is, it reacts to linear gravity in a precise way.
The creation of each universe establishes a new charge of matter that influences and is influenced by the surrounding gravity. This is why constant and continued readjustment is needed until the universe settles down. UB 3:4.2 The creation and organization of a universe are always controlled by the Creators. It always develops according to the gravitational laws of the force of energy and matter UB 15:4.1
The revelators themselves fully understand the evolution and transmutations that occur from the ultimaton stage onwards, but not the force that is the cosmic ancestry of the ultimatons. UB 15:4.1 Physical matter makes its appearance as a prelude to the inauguration of a universe, and is due to the manipulations of power directors and their associates, over an energy that is sensitive to gravity after having been transmuted by the paradisiacal force organizers, who have transmuted space power into primordial force UB 15:4.2
The paradisiacal organizers of the force originate the nebulae, initiating around them enormous cyclones of force that end up triggering the appearance of the ultimatonic units of universal matter.
The appearance of the mass occurs as reactions to the paradisiacal organizers of the force, a small portion appears by the Directors of Universal Power (such as the construction of architectural spheres), and a variable amount is formed in open space. UB 15:5.1
Despite all the transformations that occur, despite the fact that the nebulae disperse, the suns are consumed and the planets may perish, the universes do not end. UB 15:8.10
The Creator Sons materialize visible matter from pre-existing energy (reactive to linear gravity) that has been previously prepared by the Power Directors. Until there has been a sufficient materialization of mass to allow the circuits and systems to maintain themselves in mutual gravitational balance, the Creator Sons cannot leave the capital sphere of their local universe. UB 32:2.5
There is a constant transfer between matter and energy, and thus the universal balance between the two is maintained. Gravity tends to convert energy into matter. Organized matter tends to disintegrate under certain conditions that occur in very hot stars and in the vicinity of cold bodies of condensed matter highly charged with energy (black holes?) From collisions between dead giants in space, there is a transformation of matter into energy UB 15:8.5
The two phenomena are observed and allowed to act to maintain the necessary balance, but the Power Directors have the ability to condense and stop or dilate and release variable amounts of energy UB 15:8.4 Despite their knowledge, the more the farther their observations from Paradise go into outer space, the more difficult it becomes for them to perform the calculations and predict results and behaviors, which the revelators attribute to the activities and presences of the Absolutes and experiential Deities.
The Urantia Book advocates for the corpuscular nature of light, and the observation as a wave phenomenon is not due to its nature in itself but to the interaction of these particles with the actions of other energies that permeate all space. Although for practical purposes they indicate that this is what happens. UB 41:5.7
Atoms and electrons are subject to gravity. The ultimatons are not subject to local gravity, the interplay of material attraction, but they are fully obedient to absolute or Paradise gravity, to the trend, the swing, of the universal and eternal circle of the universe of universes. Ultimatonic energy does not obey the linear or direct gravity attraction of near-by or remote material masses, but it does ever swing true to the circuit of the great ellipse of the far-flung creation. (UB 41:9.2)
Light, heat, electricity, magnetism, chemism, energy, and matter are—in origin, nature, and destiny—one and the same thing, together with other material realities as yet undiscovered on Urantia. (UB 42:4.1)
Are revelation and science to be rivals? Can’t they grow together? Are we to choose to believe in one or the other?
The increase of believing scientists will not make another science, but they will advance in new perspectives if they dare to consider the universe not as an accident but as a scenario full of intention and wisdom.
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/