To Know

Open any physics textbook and look up these words. Write out their definitions. When simplified they look something like this:

  • matter = molecules, atoms and charges
  • molecule = constellation of atoms
  • atom = constellation of charges
  • charge = pattern of energy
  • energy = force in motion
  • force = agency that causes change

    The first clue to spark understanding is that there is no further definition of terms available -- or at least none remotely agreed upon by physicists. The "agency" of force just "is what it is".

    But the next step is the key to understanding oneness: remember back to your basic algebra class, to the very simple process of term substitution. Look what happens when you apply that process to the definitions above:

    matter = a constellation of constellations of patterns of that which causes change in motion

    The staggering importance of this definition may hit you when you realize that it is a more accurate way of thinking about what matter is than by thinking about it using the distinct labels we have of its features. In other words, it's more precise and concise to think of yourself as a pattern of patterns of patterns of a single force -- a single "agency that causes change" -- than as a bag of molecules sloshing around in water with a skeleton and skin. Everything you are, everything you feel, everything you see, touch, hear and smell is made of one force. All the features that we label are simply patterns and groups of patterns of a single, Universal Force.

    Some physicists might object that, no, there is not one force but at least four fundamental forces that we know of -- strong, weak, electromagnetic and gravitational. It is true that we have labelled these "forces" with different names to describe different behaviors of nature, but it is a simple fact that all scientific equations articulating these "forces" employ the same symbol with the same meaning to characterize their nature: force.