by Robert Atkinson,
In 2016, a leading scientist wrote an essay in a leading journal entitled, “What is the Most Astounding Fact About the Universe?” His answer: “The entire universe, on all scales, in all places, and at all times, obeys the same fundamental laws of nature.”
On the one hand, this is astounding. But, on the other hand, how could it be any other way? Could you imagine living in a universe that wasn’t held together by the same laws of nature? Would life in a random, unpredictable universe even be possible?
We understand now that the laws of nature are constant, can be observed, and allow us to identify patterns in all realms of existence, since the physical and spiritual realms are mirror reflections of the same reality.
In 1904, Abdu’l-Baha, son of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, and interpreter of his teachings, had already explained this “astounding fact” this way: “Nature is subject to a sound organization, to inviolable laws, to a perfect order, and to a consummate design, from which it never departs. To such an extent is this true that were you to gaze with the eye of insight and discernment, you would observe that all things—from the smallest invisible atom to the largest globes in the world of existence, such as the sun or the other great stars and luminous bodies—are most perfectly organized, be it with regard to their order, their composition, their outward form, or their motion, and that all are subject to one universal law from which they never depart.”
Perhaps the revealed scripture of religion leads to the discoveries of science. With both having their source in Divinity, both would be part of the same unfolding process of that one universal law.
Robert Atkinson, Ph.D., developmental psychology, is the author of nine books, including the 2017 Nautilus Book Award winner The Story of Our Time: From Duality to Interconnectedness to Oneness, from which this excerpt is taken; Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Soul’s Story (2012); The Gift of Stories (1995); and, Year of Living Deeply: A Memoir of 1969 (2019). He is an internationally recognized authority in the techniques of life story interviewing, personal mythmaking, and soul-making, professor emeritus at the University of Southern Maine, board member of the Abbey of Hope, a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle, and director of StoryCommons. www.robertatkinson.net.
