EMPTY SPACE IN MATTER

Our perception of the visible world is bathed in years of interaction with what we know as “matter”. Matter, by even a grade school definition, occupies space and has mass (which always seemed like circular reasoning to me: “matter has mass” is like saying, “excitement is the state of being excited”). We accept the definition because the concept of matter not counterintuitive like so much the physics lab now offers us. The weight we lift at the gym; the car that we drive; the gallon of milk we lug in the house—these things all bend gravity (if we want to get quantum about it) and have what we would describe as “substance”. Though gases and liquids are also matter, we picture them more or less as particulate solids in amorphous forms. And we really understand solids: The boulder I sat on recently at one end of Central Park on a warm New York afternoon did not mystify me. It was cold and hard and obvious and had no problem supporting me while I did the more ethereal business of breathing in the cultural vibe around me.

So, when we are told that atoms are the building blocks of matter, our naivety leads us to imagine them as little microscopic bricks—micro-mini Legos—at least that seems to be my first memory of the imagery. When we get older and are exposed to the solar system model of atomic structure, with its electrons orbiting around the nucleus in the center, we still retain the idea that if we could somehow enlarge a few of those atoms and hold them in our hands, we would be holding “something”—solid and substantial as we understand matter. They are the building blocks of matter, so they should be “matter-like”, right? The fact that the macroscopic appearance evaporates on the molecular level is useless to us in everyday perception.

Given all the familiar history of experience, when the true nature of matter shows up at our door, our surprise is understandable. The fact is that atoms are 99.999% (and even more decimal 9’s, but they aren’t even necessary to make the point) EMPTY SPACE! These building blocks of matter are full of nothing! They are mostly “nothing”, with just a faint breath of “something” dancing around! Everything substantial is made from very, very little that is substantial! Matter itself is an absolute WONDER, and way less “matter-like” than our perceptions have been educated to believe. (I’m not even talking spirituality, yet: I’m still just being amazed by the “science” alone!) It has actually been said that if you removed the empty space from all atoms, the world’s population would fit inside a sugar cube, or a few sugar cubes, depending on who you hear!

It was Democritus who said, sometime between 460 and 370 B.C., “Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.” He was onto something. When it comes to meeting the expectations of your life’s skeptical onlookers, this is a good way to view the “power” of what they have to say. Your atomic structure—your substance—is your own and their opinions can blow through your empty space leaving you unaffected. They are lighter than air and they do not matter or have mass. Cruel words and voiced criticism that has hurt you can be relegated to the space between atoms and sent out of your chemistry forever when you realize that you are not called to let them shape your form—and you are certainly not called to make them a part of your permanent solidity. Jesus said to tell mountains to move and they would obey you. Surely He endorses the banishment of opinions that have stood like obstacles between us and the expression of the destiny that He wired into us!

But, there is something in the universe that is not matter, but definitely not empty space! The matrix of the universe—the grid, the continuum, the insubstantial substance—is SPIRIT, or at least it obeys the laws of the Spirit that God set into motion. It is spirit-connected and spirit-responsive! I believe—and it works for me--that the empty space in atoms is where SPIRIT can breathe and interface with the realm of time and circumstance that we call material. I actually also wildly (and joyously) believe that when the Bible talks about being “filled with the Spirit,” there is a sense in which God is inviting us to have our empty space invaded! The spirit of man is not just a “Care-Bear”-like deposit projecting from the middle of our belly. Spirit is “us” throughout, but in another dimension. When we are filled with the Spirit, that empty space tunes in to that dimension.

I don’t know your level of exposure to charismatic Christianity as you read; therefore, I don’t know the level of shock or disbelief you might be registering right now. But even Carl Sagan declared that matter is completely made out of virtually nothing! It seems to me that if I am going to have a God in my life, I should have the One who goes about filling nothings with Himself, and that is the image of the Biblical God that I see and experience everywhere! He is not the producer of empty space but the Redeemer of it! He fills things; especially gaps between things, where He has snuck in unnoticed but waits to be discovered. He fills the edges whenever we force Him out of the center! He fills the universe with the substance of Himself, encrypting it in Spirit-code that wears the garb of “nothing” just to get us interested!

Charismatics love to talk about the metaphors like the “wind” of God as a description of God “showing up”. But this wind, for me, is more than just a goose-bump producing breeze or gale and certainly more than just a feeling. The wind of God is Spirit invading my empty space, rejuvenating, realigning, exciting, healing, redeeming, and even continuing to carry on His creation.

Years ago, I was struggling with a chronic condition—you know the kind—the ones that just won’t go away even though you are carrying on living. I needed the somatic habit of inflammation in me to be broken and I was on medications seeking to affect that, but every doctor visit said, “Well, you’re better, but not quite yet.” I was praying, but my atoms seemed really substantial and solid in their resistance, stubborn in their matter-hood! One day, a lady who even I remember as being almost frighteningly charismatic, wanted to pray for me, and she wanted to do it in front of a group of non-charismatic teachers with whom I worked at the time. (I always have a translation program running in me for the help of almost every culture in the room—that day I was going into meltdown mode.) But the lady didn’t ask permission—she just took my hands and began to pray that the WIND of the Holy Spirit would blow through me. I remembered the empty space in atoms and I saw a picture in my heart of God’s Spirit-wind filling that, overwhelming the minute bits of mass with another Reality. The experience captured my attention and seemed more real to me than any physicality in the room—including the dumbfounded stares of the watchers.

My matter was just not substantial enough to refuse change and comfort when the wind came. My empty space was no longer taking its orders from little bits of mass—it was in contact with a higher Reality. The wind had blown on the inside of me—in the space between things—in the 99.999% empty space. I was filled with the Spirit. Things didn’t change instantly on the outside, but they did change. The boulders had been shifted—the logjam was dislodged. But, then, isn’t it often the fulcrum of change when we finally pry our vapor-locked attention away from our discomfort long enough to breathe the air of a higher existence?

We really are made almost out of nothing. The book of James says, “Your life is but a vapor,” but that has never seemed like a negative to me. Those with active minds know all too well how rapidly living can become a burden: the weighty and vast considerations of every opportunity and decision. The ability to visualize relationships and possibilities and see connections that others miss contributes to the massive challenge of conducting affairs on this planet and the weight of responsibility can be like a boulder when you slip into “over-thinking”. I welcome the perspective shift that comes from realizing that even my best intricately crafted and carefully reasoned understandings are lighter than air and can be blow away like smoke at a moment’s notice! I am happy not to be married to my multiple scenarios! Any good ones will come again and any bad ones can just go!

The matter that most desperately needs a Spirit-wind invasion through its empty space is the matter of the gray and white kind! Our brains do real biochemical and electrical business, so the biblical idea of “casting down imaginations” (resisting fears and self-defeating thought patterns) can seem like we are trying to change matter—because we are. It is real wrestling when the brain is working on the brain in an effort to change and challenge long-standing patterns! Those low percentages of actual mass seem very powerful when they are engaged in a tug of war of the right and left hemispheres. (Should I risk and be “free” or should I calculate and strategize? Do I “let go” or “hold on”? These thought-volleys under the “own worst enemy” category rage and ravage the mental landscape!) Thankfully, we have empty space to fill! Even when our brain is chocked full of busy bee analyzing, it is STILL predominantly full of empty space! There is PLENTY of room for the Spirit-wind to blow! There is plenty of room for an infusion from another realm—one that will release us from the tug of war by lifting us completely above it! You don’t fight mass with more mass: you overcome it with Spirit filling the empty space between. There is a gale-force expression of the Spirit of God available to remind us that we are really not nearly massive enough to impede Him, even on our worst day!