“Humanity has two old, profound questions. The first question concerns the origin of all that exists, the cosmos itself. The second question asks how a lifeless world could spontaneously generate self-replicating organisms that go on to conquer the planet.” Quote from: Why the origin of life and the Universe itself might be forever unknowable, Adam Frank, January 26, 2023, BIG THINK.
It was the summer of 1963. Marty was gradually adjusting to her new job at the atomic energy plant. She was pleased Ty managed to arrive at the cafeteria just in time each day to have lunch with her. She smiled as he sat down with his normal heaping tray of food. It amazed her how someone so slim could eat so much.
There were so many questions she didn’t dare ask him. When she first met the handsome man, he was a university student dating a girl in Marty’s high school senior class by the name of Kerry. Marty remembered complaining to her best friend Maggie about Kerry and her good looks, her beautiful clothes, her many boyfriends including Ty, and her overall charmed life. Telling Maggie, “Life is very unfair.”
Maggie always recognizing Marty’s need for social guidance had replied, “This is a good example of why you should avoid judging others, Marty. Let me tell you a little story about Kerry. A couple of years ago when Kerry lived in Boise, she and her friends were fooling around doing some drag racing on a country road in the area. In the excitement of the moment Kerry challenged her twin brother Ken to a race. Evidently Kerry jumped into one of the cars, pushed down on the gas to get a jump on her more experienced racer of a brother. A horse unexpectedly came up out of the burrow pit on her left and Kerry whipped around the animal, only to glance in her rear-view mirror and realize her brother had already caught up and was about to pass on her right. All she saw was his car hitting the ditch, sailing into the air, and landing on its side. Her brother died on the road that day.” Marty remembered the sad story and Maggie reminding her, “Kerry hides a deep secret grief. We can’t see others reality.”
Ty was a slow eater. They had participated in some small talk. Marty had finished her salad and began scribbling on her paper napkin with her new 4-in-1 colorful ink pen. She wondered if Ty was still dating Kerry, which brought her to a question she felt she could ask her new friend. “Why do you believe in spiritual things? Scientists are usually skeptics about things not seen.”
The question came out of nowhere, obviously catching Ty off guard. Hesitating he repeated, “Spiritual things—well, it’s a feeling I have.” Seeming to notice her look of skepticism he added, “And then of course there’s all that missing matter.”
“Missing matter?”
“The fact is, in the world today there’s a lot that’s unseen. Less than 5% of everything in our universe is visible. In round figures, 70% is dark energy and 25% is dark matter, all called dark because they are unseen.
“We know dark matter is there because it’s influenced by gravity and we can see its affect on the movement of celestial bodies. Over 13.7 billion years ago most everything was dark matter, over 63% with 12% simple atoms, 10% neutrinos and 15% photons.” Ty finished his thought while smiling at Marty’s napkin drawings.
“So, what does missing matter have to do with spiritual things?” Marty asked.
“Scripture tells us there is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but more fine and pure which cannot be discerned by physical eyes.* What if the dark matter we cannot see, is the spiritual matter we cannot see? Spiritual matter may be the spark of life and the influence on everything in the universe. Our universe began with a large amount of dark matter, a material we cannot see. After billions of years, it may have gone into a phase transition, transforming some of the dark matter into normal mass, a new material with new properties, the 5% normal mass we can see.”
“I always thought dark matter and our normal physical matter are vastly different.”
“Yes, but perhaps like water becoming ice or invisible water vapor. The new material might seem quite different but still be the same, but in this case, we can only see the normal mass. Scripture teaches the first seven billion years our universe began as a spiritual universe. We know that dark matter has velocity referred to as hot, cold and warm. The slowing of some of the dark matter may have caused an abrupt change. Some of the cold dark matter to overlap with hot dark matter causing warm dark matter, the normal mass we can see. This would create a normal mass, temporary world with a rainbow to remind us we are a part of the eternal process, to be tested and to learn to love and to be loved.”
Marty continued to look down at her creations. Ty removed the pen, taking her hands, forcing her to look at him. His eyes were soft making Marty blush as sparks shot through her fingers and warmth moved up her arms. It was just a feeling but it felt all so real.
This short side story agrees with same timeline as Chapter 15 of the novel, Marty’s Dark Matter. To learn more about this book — click M. KASEY, AUTHOR, above.
* Doctrine and Covenants 131:7
M. Kasey 