Stephen Hawking and the "mind of God"

Tonight I watched a TV show on the great physicist, Stephen Hawking. I watched with fascination as his theories surrounding black holes and infinity were debated and discussed. It was quite interesting…in fact is was so interesting my wife and daughter, who carry little to nothing about theoretical physics became enamored with the television program. The fact that this man with a giant mind exists in such a crippled body makes his story quite compelling for anyone, though.

Hawking’s life pursuit has been to understand “the mind of God.” Hawking does not approach this as a believer or from any theological angle. God for Hawking is a synonym for ultimate reality. He simply wants to know the answers that explain why we are and how life began. He believes physics can solve or provide meaningful answers to this or these questions.

From all of this he has wanted to find the theory that unifies everything—he wants the theory that will unify the big picture of Einstein’s relativity with the small picture of subatomic particles (I think those were the two poles he wanted to match?)

What is amazing to me about Hawking was the singularity with which he seeks to understand the universe. For example, in 2003 when Hawking was taken to the hospital and nearly died with complications from his own disease his mind continued to work on the problems related to physics and the universe. During this time he had a "vision" (not of the spiritual sort but bordering on a scientific or secualr mysticism) which further expanded his understanding of black holes and his theories relating to them. Against odds he escaped death and went back to work on covering further ground with his life pursuit of understanding “the mind of God.” Due to his disease his work is very tedious and extremely slow. Yet he unceasingly plows on driven by this pursuit.

As we all watched this I was inspired. Three ways…

1) I want to know “the mind of God.” Fortunately for the Christian the “mind of God” is revealed in the witness of the Bible through Jesus Christ. This we call revelation. Yet, it is not ink on paper, but it is God Himself that we encounter in His Word through study, prayer, experience, and the providential working of the Holy Spirit. This work requires the greatest level of seeking and humility. The singularity of Hawking should inspire spiritual leaders who seek to know and communicate the reality of God to others.

2) I think Hawking in seeking to bring together the bigger and smaller realities are worthy model for the spiritual leader to pursue. He seeks a grand and unifying vision or theory of all things. This should be the task of the spiritual leader…to take the things of heaven and eternity and connect them to all of the realities of this earth. We need to unify as much as we reasonably can the realms of eternity and the realms of creation.

3) Further, I was inspired by the rigor of testing and debate which takes place in physics. Though theology and the life of faith are very different subjects or realms of knowledge than physics, I think that these should be tested in the very rigor of life and reality to see if our understanding of God and the Christian life be proven true or false. But this requires an increasing spiritual maturity.