Meaning in Life and Death ?

Fr. Sherif Nashef was a beloved priest in the Greek Catholic community of Egypt. Aged 51, he died on July 15, 2020 from severe respiratory pneumonia caused by the highly mutative coronavirus leaving behind his family of a wife and 2 young children and a Church in shock and sadness. A few years ago, one of my brothers-in-law; a physician in France was diagnosed with cancer in the lungs and in less than 2 years it had spread to his brain. When he and his wife, my sister-in-law, visited us in Toronto in Summer 2017, there was hardly any meaningful conversation with him. Weeks after they departed to Paris, he fell in the street while going to his clinic and died shortly afterwards surrounded by his wife and children at home. He was only 65.

The meaning of life and death seems to have been ignored more recently especially where there is much suffering. One country that lives in debt and a high level of unemployment is Lebanon. A recent musical initiative of hope involves taking the Lebanese dance and music online so more people would contribute to the resurrection of Lebanon. See a little video named Baalbeck 2020 - Sound of Resilience here (in Arabic).

Even in the absence of reference to God, scientists and philosophers have continued their exploration.

In 1801, the well-known French mathematician-physicist Pierre-Simon marquis de Laplace told Napoleon "There is no need for God in [my] hypothesis" referring to his contribution to the nebular model, still accepted, that he developed.

Since the late 19th century, much scientific discoveries have changed the way the universe is understood.

In the early 20th century, Jean-Paul Sartre questioned the existence of being - For him, his freedom requires the non-existence of the Divine. In contradistinction to Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, Sartre maintained that existence precedes essence. His existentialist philosophy can be found here. Sartre was followed by the "Absurd" notion of Albert Camus in which suffering is absurd. More on his work can be found here.

Sigmund Freud was the first to describe the theory that "the mind is a complex energy-system, the structural investigation of which is the proper province of psychology. He articulated and refined the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and repression, and he proposed a tripartite account of the mind’s structure—all as part of a radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of reference for the understanding of human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions." See more here about his theories of psychological abnormal suffering.

Indeed, scientists no longer include reference to God in their research and exploration.

In 2015,  Leo Kouwenhoven at TU Delft in Amsterdam, the Netherlands gave a talk in which he showed how nature itself works through quantum processes. As an example, a plant leaf takes the light of the Sun and, through quantum processes, electrons find a way to efficiently bind to the oxygen molecule thus they together produce oxygen that is necessary for human life...Professor Kouwenhoven was speaking about building quantum computers already made in the lab (see here)...

And in the world of advanced technologies, much has been developed:

On February 27, 2020 a webinar showed how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is Powering the Fight Against Financial Crime (here). Earlier in February 2020 Rebecca Knill, a writer who was deaf, explained how digital implants in her brain enable her to hear (see TED here). In November 2019, amazing developments by two researchers Paul McEuen and Marc Miskin showed their exploration of new frontiers in nano technology that could turn smart iphones into artificial intelligence devices and, if successful, it could be planted in the brain or be used in other fields of communication (here) or as already used in medical sciences, it could be a new manufactured tool that helps physicians diagnose cancer early. Most interesting is the scale at which material can be bent without being broken - It is practically a quantum machine (see it here).

Google uses AI in bringing answers to queries of users. The algorithm used in machine learning mimics human behavior based on its large database from many sites on the Internet (Large Data). It is the same "Large Data" shown by NOVA in a documentary titled "Einstein's Quantum Riddle" and published in early 2019 here.  Einstein called it “spooky action at a distance,” but today quantum entanglement is poised to revolutionize technology from computers to cryptography. Physicists have gradually become convinced that the phenomenon—two subatomic particles that mirror changes in each other instantaneously over any distance—is real. But a few doubts remain. NOVA follows a ground-breaking experiment in the Canary Islands to use quasars at opposite ends of the universe to once and for all settle remaining questions. (Premiered January 9, 2019.)
I have already written about the "Quantum Universe" here and here...

Here are some newly found facts about the reality of quantum physics since the Big Bang (from the most recent to the older):
Physicists all over the world are looking for a theory that unifies all fields of inquiry (A Unified Grand Theory). Two theories are competing: String Theory (Point-like particles are replaced with one-dimensional objects called strings that propagate through space and interact with each other) and Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG).  LQG begins with Einstein's Theory of General Relativity (which predicts Gravitational Waves - See Nobel Prizes below) and attempts to add quantum features.
In October 2017, the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Rainer Weiss (MIT), Barry Barish (Caltech), and Kip Thorne (Caltech) for their contributions in the LIGO detector that confirmed Einstein's Theory of General Relativity re space-time curvature and the existence of quantum gravitational waves that go back to the Big Bang (see here).

In 2017, Bishop Robert Barron spoke about communication and image making of everything which, if followed in reasoning, it leads us to The Trinity in God (here).

In July 2019, Maggie Ciskanik, senior consultant associated with Jesuit Fr. Robert Spitzer President of Gonzaga University from 1998 to 2009, and quite active on EWTN, contacted me in order to publish some material that I had posted on my blog about the cosmos. In early September 2019, I received this message from her - I am sending it with humble heart as, in my opinion after reading Sir John Polkinghorne,  it shows that the cosmos is stamped by the Trinity - The God of Christians:

Great resources for learning more about quantum theory (and its relationship to a Trinitarian God)

There is an enormous corpus of talks, articles, commentaries, and youtube presentations focusing on one of the strangest discoveries of the 20th century: quantum mechanics and its startling attendant features, the principles of uncertainty and superposition. When you consult the resources identified in this post by Mr. George Farahat, be prepared to increase your understanding of how quantum mechanics has changed our understanding of reality, and how it relates to theology.

Two phenomenal lectures by two outstanding professors in two countries have enlightened research about the vast cosmos we live in and its quantum fields that penetrate every creature on earth.

The first is a lecture given by Professor Leo Kowenhoven at Delft University in the Netherlands, 2015 (here). In his talk, Professor Kowenhoven shows how nature itself works through quantum processes. He uses the example of a plant leaf which takes the light of the Sun. Through quantum superposition, electrons find a way to efficiently bind to the oxygen molecule, a process essential for human life since we need oxygen to live. He goes on to explain how “qbits” are necessary in building quantum computers and reveals that he and his team have already made these “quantum bits” in the lab. Some of the most interesting ideas come near the end of the talk (starting around the 11th minute) when he lists the big challenges that super quantum computers can help solve, such as: more efficient energy use and storage, better airplane design, optimization for robotics, machine learning, and the use of nanotechnology in healthcare. 

The second lecture, “The Real Building Blocks of the Universe” was given by Professor David Tong at Cambridge University in 2017. In a brilliant summary of quantum theory, he reveals that there are 16 “fields” that interact in a “harmonious dance.” Along the way, Tong also discusses Einstein's Theory of General Relativity (space-time flow), J. J. Thomson's discovery of the electron, Ernest Rutherford's model of the atom (a nucleus made of protons and neutrons with the lighter electrons moving around it), Faraday's discovery of electromagnetism, James Clerk Maxwell's work, Schrodinger's Wave-Particle Equation, Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty, and the thought-experiments of Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen.

Black holes and quantum theory

A great explanation of black holes, by a panel of experts found in this 2015 World Science Festival presentation, was delivered in the presence of the late British physicist and black hole expert, Professor Stephen Hawking. The presentation also explains the relationship between black holes and quantum theory.

Astonishment at quantum behaviour

In 1982, Alain Aspect and his team were able to experimentally prove that two photons emitted from the same atom will still be in contact tens of miles away. The reader may wish to listen to his lecture here, animated by his love for and “astonishment at” quantum behaviour.

Quantum theory and its relationship to a Trinitarian God

In the printed word, much of the material written by Sir John Polkinghorne, retired professor of mathematical physics at Cambridge University, is very informative and insightful. In one of his latest books, “Quantum Physics and Theology” (2008), he comments on how “relationship” is being discovered even at the subnuclear level: 

“Quantum theory brought to light a remarkable form of entanglement between subatomic particles that have once interacted with each other (the so-called EPR effect), which implies that they remain effectively a single system however far they may subsequently separate spatially—a counterintuitive togetherness-in-separation that has been abundantly confirmed experimentally as a property of nature. The physical world looks more and more like a universe that would be the fitting creation of the trinitarian God, the One whose deepest reality is relational.” -Sir John Polkinghorne

Dr. Stephen Barr has written extensively on the relationship of quantum physics and theology as well. (See, for example, his article in First Things here).

What can we conclude?

The above resources reveal and help explain the 2 most important observations in quantum physics:

1. The probabilistic nature of particles which yields the Uncertainty Principle

2. The communication between particles at long distances (quantum entanglement)

From 2 above, we can say that everything must be in a relationship. In Christianity, the concept that God is relatedness or relational is found not only in Holy Scriptures (see for example 1 John 4:8; John 10:30; Col 1:15-19; Phil 2: 6-11; John 15), but also in doctors of the Church like St. Thomas Aquinas and, in our days, Bishop of Rome Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

If this is true, then we can say that the cosmos is signed by the stamp of the Triune God of Christians. 

George Farahat holds a Masters degree in Information Systems and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. He is a retired systems analyst who now uses his time to pursue numerous interests which include Biblical theology, anthropology, history of civilizations, and information technology. He regularly shares his insights on his blogspot Today’s Questions. The original post can be found here. 

In his homily on Sunday July 12, the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad spoke about life and suffering (here in French titled "Pourquoi le Mal; Pourquoi la Souffrance") where he referred to St. Paul's ""For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." (Romans 8:19-25) - Indeed, as Fr. Boulad said, the entire creation is in travail; her infancy in development is a process in which God let it become. This is evolution. At the same time, I read an article titled "Theories of Evolution before Darwin" written by Maggie Ciskanik, M.S. and published here on July 10 at the Magis Center

With all the difficulties in suffering, there are some states or countries in the West/North that have officially legalized the use of the so-called assisted-suicide allowing health-care professionals to administer ending the life of patients that request their assistance. The Catholic Church and other religious bodies have already made it clear that any health professional may not be forced to act against their well-developed conscience.  

Let us hope that after all the current doubts of the mercy of God, Christians will still have the hope that St. Paul expressed here "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;" (1 Tim 1:1).