EVERYTHING IS LINKED TO EVERYTHING ELSE

I thought about the notion of a Divine Equation during one of my Lectio Divina (Philippians 2:5) while asking myself the series of questions around “If God did use science and mathematics to formulate all reality, then why did he not communicate the reality in which He exists in terms of mathematics, physics, chemistry, the four (maybe five) forces of matter, the cosmological notions of resonance and dissonance, to name a few anomalies?”

Unity in the Body.1^* I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,^a2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,^b3striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:^c4^* one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;^d5one Lord, one faith, one baptism;^e6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.^f

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ephesians/4

One of the concepts with which I have had to explore in my Lectio Divina meditations is the notion of linkage. If God is One, everything in reality (physical, mental, and spiritual universes) is linked together. How is a question any human has a problem with because we live in a reality of space and time? We don’t have infused knowledge (direct knowledge from God), but we have to do it the hard way, to learn within the time span of the seventy or eighty years we have on earth? Thankfully, knowledge is cumulative, and we can learn from our mistakes, the propositions that did not prove to be true, and the new research we do base on new technology and the evolution of physics and the sciences. Looking at the bigger picture, all types of languages develop in response to new realities. Science and the physical sciences seem to be the new exciting frontier of knowing. Each of the sciences has its own language and assumptions. There is such a thing as theoretical physics and mathematics in addition to just functional math. My reflections led me to realize that all these languages could be the modern Tower of Bable.

Tower of Babel.^*1The whole world had the same language and the same words.2When they were migrating from the east, they came to a valley in the land of Shinar^* and settled there.3They said to one another, “Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.” They used bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar.4Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky,^* and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.”5The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built.6Then the LORD said: If now, while they are one people and all have the same language, they have started to do this, nothing they presume to do will be out of their reach.7Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that no one will understand the speech of another.8So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.9That is why it was called Babel,^* because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world. From there, the LORD scattered them over all the earth.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/11

My purpose in using the Tower of Babel as it relates to the modern proliferation of ideas and exciting possibilities is to show that it is important for contemplative thinking to keep a perspective on what is happening in our age. The World with its modern languages of science, philosophy, psychology, and nationalities might be compared to the confusion of tongues. Everything, in reality, is linked to everything else. The only principle that actually draws all peoples and reality to Himself is the Christ Principle. All things flow to him, from him, as the center of all that is.

The Coming of Jesus’ Hour.*20Now, there were some Greeks* among those who had come up to worship at the feast.n21* They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”o22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.p23* Jesus answered them,q “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.24* Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;r but if it dies, it produces much fruit.25Whoever loves his life* loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.s26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.t27“I am troubled* now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder. Still, others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. 31 Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world* will be driven out. 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”z33He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.34So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever.* Then how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”a35Jesus said to them, “The light will be among you only a little while. Walk while you have the light so that darkness may not overcome you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where he is going.^b36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light.”^c

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/12

The reason I keep opening myself to the Holy Spirit each day, through Lectio Divina and other Lay Cistercian practices is to place myself in the presence of Jesus. I learn so much about all things are linked together through, with, and in Christ that I find myself longing to be in His presence as much as I can. And, after all, isn’t that one of the definitions of loving others as Christ loved us?