I accidentally came upon a concise model for how I see the universe: a Newton's Cradle. Why? Because the universe does not operate unidirectionally and because even in the vastness of space, conservation of energy and recycling of materials still takes place.

I suppose the pervasiveness of Eastern thought becomes self evident when my philosophy of How It All Began(tm) is laid out. There was a creative force. It was The Domino (or in this case, the end ball of the Newton's Cradle). It fell, and the chain reaction began. It is not all knowing and all powerful, and probably is not even aware of our existence. It is a pervasive force in that everything that is stems from it, but it is not interventionist or even present. The Overarching Force(tm) in Japanese religion gets just a passing mention, acknowledging that it is there. Other than that, not much is made of it.

I actually think of the universe itself as the human body. We're aware, we're sentient, but we don't have the ability to know everything that happens within every single cell in our body. They're still part of the system, but not a conscious part. We are cells in the body of the universe, functioning, diversifying, going about our business, but the greater whole is not aware of our day to day activities. Only when we do something on a large enough scale that it affects the whole system are we noticed.

And if we keep in the vein we are in (no pun intended), we'll be identified as a disease and obliterated as such. But that's another story, I suppose.

That's not to say that I don't believe the gods I worship are real. In fact I believe they are just as real as I am, Buddhist philosophies dealing with reality aside. Energy is. It is constantly moving, and I believe we are able to direct that energy. Direct enough energy into something and it becomes. If enough people elect to worship The Facade (a historic landmark in my city) and pour their directed energy into it, it can then emit energy and have an effect on its surroundings. In addition, objects have energy of their own. Any interaction with anything else results in an exchange, an intermingling of said energy. It is a measurable phenomenon, demonstrated by chemistry and physics. Oxidation, electron transfer, chemical change from one substance contacting another. All of these occur with simple touch. All take in and/or release energy.

Something my genetics professor has been investigating is the ability of certain viruses to seem to be able to communicate with each other over distances. She began this process after being diagnosed with shingles and noticing that anyone who has chicken pox or shingles nearby activates her shingles. She believes they communicate through some kind of chemical signal, perhaps released through sweat. Since we know that what happens in our minds affects our body chemistry, perhaps we have the ability to communicate in a similar way. Sure that's a huge leap of conjecture, but I am only espousing possibility and that which seems impossible really isn't once we have a fundamental understanding.

Those of us that have an investigative mind instinctually want to take things apart to see how they work. It isn't necessarily a search for proof or validation, but a curiosity and a drive for understanding. However, everything that is demonstrable is not always testable. Technology is limited, and can only go so far. Likewise, if you go about studying something with the goal of finding a certain answer, you will most likely find it whether it is the best answer or not.

If you want to find god in science, you will. If you want god to disprove science, it will happen. Likewise of you want science to disprove god, it will. Any data can be bent and stretched enough to still resemble its original form but made to fit a certain goal or criteria. There are volumes of books out there that are doing just that. I've been looking at titles like Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality, Quantum Gods: Creation, Chaos, and the Search for Cosmic Consciousness, and other applications of science in the realm of faith, each having their own data to support their own point. Science cannot test what we don't understand in the first place. You cannot seek the answers when you don't even know the questions.