The Field; The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe by Lynne McTaggart

For a while I abandoned serious reading to lull myself with a few escapist novels. Through it all, however, I kept reading a book by Lynne McTaggart called The Field; The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe.

Note the word "Force" which puts one in mind of "May the Force be with you." Even though we've laughed at this "Star Wars" futuristic prayer, I believe it exactly captures the nature of the Universe which in my personal theology is the same thing as God.

McTaggart is an investigative reporter who is careful with her facts and her physics and who assiduously footnotes all assertions. Luckily these footnotes are compiled at the back of the book so that those of us who are trusting can just ignore them.

Quantum mechanics has demonstrated that there is no such thing as a vacuum or nothingness. In subatomic terms even empty space is a hive of activity. Elementary particles pop into and out of existence exchanging energy with each other and providing a vast energy source "sitting there unobtrusively in the background of the empty space around us." It is referred to as the Zero Point Field, and through it we humans and all matter are connected to each other and all parts of the cosmos.

But here's the real news: There is no such thing as matter; there is only energy. As McTaggart puts it, "Everything in your world, anything you hold in your hand, no matter how dense, how heavy, how large, on its most fundamental level boils down to a collection of electric charges interacting with a background sea of electromagnetic and other energetic fields -- a kind of electromagnetic drag force. As they would write later, mass was not equivalent to energy; mass was energy. Or even more fundamentally, there is no mass. There is only charge."

McTaggart goes on to explain what this means in terms of your body -- it's made of light. "If living things boil down to charged particles interacting with a field and sending out and receiving quantum information, where do we end and the rest of the world begin? Where is consciousness -- encased inside our bodies or out there in The Field? Indeed, there is no more 'out there' if we and the rest of the world are so intrinsically interconnected."

But some of the most fascinating stuff is at the end of this very readable book. There are serious scientists who have tried to tap into the energy of the Zero Point Field and put it to use. These scientists are employed at places like Stanford and Princeton and have sometimes had the CIA looking over their shoulders trying to keep up with the Soviets who were exploring the same phenomena.

It is amazing to me that all this has not yet seeped into popular thinking. We cling to our belief that we are separate beings while deep in the bowels of academia scientists are pointing to a whole new understanding of who and what we are.