God: Matter particle or Master Planner?
A Christian Science perspective.
With confirmation of the Higgs boson particle’s existence now moving off the front pages of the world’s media, perhaps we all can take a moment to reflect on what its discovery implies – and what it doesn’t.
The Higgs boson particle has never been seen, yet is said to exist in the physical world and is pivotal to explaining why matter has mass, and, therefore, how the universe as we know it came to be.
One point that struck me was how the Higgs boson was dubbed the “God particle.” The nickname caught on quickly in the media as a convenient, shorthand explanation of its apparent function – joining together everything in the physical universe and giving it substance.
Yet what an odd contradiction that nickname implies: God existing in, or as, an invisible matter-particle. Infinite, creative Mind reduced to a subatomic building block? As scientists and theologians alike are joining to reject that label, we, too, can lift up our own understanding of God and of His complete, spiritually infinite creation.
In a world where our mental horizons are being stretched exponentially through scientific discoveries such as the Higgs boson, there remains the even greater need to understand the true concept of God as infinite, as All-in-all. Christian Science, based on the teachings and healings of Christ Jesus, explains that God’s presence and power are neither small nor static, but infinitely beyond time and space. Christian Science reveals the true nature of the universe, including man, as completely spiritual and dynamic.
The Monitor’s founder, Mary Baker Eddy, observed: “The universe, including man, is not a result of atomic action, material force or energy; it is not organized dust. God, Spirit, Mind, are terms synonymous for the one God, whose reflection is creation, and man is His image and likeness” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” p. 23). This is the model of a universe not evolved by atomic force, but created as flawlessly whole by the very hand of God.
In her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mrs. Eddy further defines Creator (Spirit) as “God, who made all that was made and could not create an atom or an element the opposite of Himself” (p. 583).
Physical science is changeable; old theories collapse, making way for new ones. By contrast, spiritual understanding is anchored in the eternal truth of existence, which can never dissolve nor be split apart. The spiritual actuality of all true being is ours to possess through our oneness with God as His sons and daughters, as the perfect model of the Great Architect.