What is reality? Do we have purpose?

“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

Always existing is easier to believe than accidental existence.

Scientists Have Reached a Key Milestone in Learning how to Reverse Aging, Time magazine article by Alice Park, January 12, 2023 tells us that Dr. David Sinclair and his colleagues of Harvard Medical School, have described a ground breaking aging clock that can speed up or reverse the aging of cells. They are now able to age mice on an accelerated timeline, but they can also reverse the effects of aging and restore some of the biological signs of youthfulness to the animals.

Marty fussed with the radio before turning it off. She complained when she couldn’t find her sunglasses in the glove compartment. Instead she found grandchildren toys, a box of colored washable markers, and a deck of Old Maid cards. She was restless and started to doodle with the markers on the newspaper she had been reading, using her Time magazine for support. Ty was silent seeming to concentrate on driving the last few miles of the two hours it had taken them to travel to visit their daughter, Samantha and her family.

Marty drew some little mice on her newspaper with the markers. As she drew, she said, “There are many brilliant people on this earth that are now creating replacement parts for for human bodies and making headway in reversing aging. If you think about it, it suggests there could be Creators that progressed long before the people of our earth, that somewhere in the great somewhere knows all things and organized us.“

Ty looked at Marty with shock as if to say, ‘Who are you? Who took my wife?’

“I know, I have always questioned such thinking.” Marty continued drawing on another page, “Last night I was thinking about a scripture, you know the one that you are always quoting that says man is an eternal spirit. The one that tells us elements are eternal as well and when our body dies our eternal spirit with eternal elements are brought back together. We continue being an everlasting being.”*

Ty had grown tired of the long drive but was now wide awake and excited about what Marty was saying. Since she had always expressed agnostic views, Marty was not surprised at Ty’s response. Ty commented, “I’ve always told you there’s information and symbolism in scripture that predicts what science is only now proving.” She knew he had tried to convince her of that for such a long time.

Marty grinned, “Darwin told us how elements evolve but he had no idea what created the spark of life.”

Ty was keen to continue the conversation, “Our spirits with perhaps use of RNA to DNA could’ve been that necessary spark. Every cell, contains all the chromosomes needed to reconstruct the whole body. That sounds like purpose not accident don’t you think?

“And Paul’s letter to the Corinthians tells us we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Meaning we are earthly element and heavenly spirit.“**

Ty recalled more ancient scripture explaining we are not here by chance but by design. “We are amazing human beings that couldn’t have progressed as we have if not a type of all those that progressed before us. Mankind is brilliantly proving we’ll eventually be able to organize and prolong life and if we can do that as mere Earthlings, why could there not be righteous everlasting Creators?”

Marty laughed, “Yes, living in a universe that is programmed to sustain life, likely has programmers.“

Ty’s smile faded as a fickle of doubt passed his eyes. All these years Marty had been so indecisive about religion, he probably thought she was playing games with him. They had arrived at their daughter’s. Marty had so much she needed to tell Ty but that would have to wait until their trip back home. She smiled at her two young grandsons as they grabbed her hands, pulling her out of the car, talking at the same time. telling her of all their plans for her visit.

This short side story agrees with same timeline as Chapter 1 and Chapter 35 of the novel about the same characters, Marty’s Dark Matter. To learn more about book – click M. KASEY, AUTHOR, above.

*Doctrine and Covenants 93:33; ** 1 Corinthians 15:49