Ronald E. Madsen, Jr., January 8, 2025
I do not believe in miracles. I am thinking that a miracle is an event that is impossible or extremely unlikely, with an unprecedented cause and/or process.
At one time, static electricity sparks appeared to be miraculous. Not long ago, radio communication would have appeared to be miraculous. In both cases, a lack of knowledge determined the perception.
I believe our knowledge of the realm we inhabit is significantly limited. Events happen which we may not be able to explain, but I do not look upon such events as miracles. Instead, I think the limits of our existing knowledge and the limits of our powers of observation cause us to incorrectly interpret such events as somehow violating the laws of physics and logic. By their very definition, I do not think those laws are ever violated, but rather our knowledge of those laws and our ability to apply them correctly are incomplete.
Even if seemingly-miraculous events actually do align perfectly well with our existing knowledge, we can easily fail to recognize that alignment because of errors in observation, a failure to see the whole picture. Instead, we may think we see a miracle.
If apparent miracles are the order of the day, quantum physics is an excellent field of study. Even something as simple as a light-emitting-diode (LED) can seem quite miraculous until you study it carefully. Even then, the inner workings of atoms and their constituent particles is likely to appear miraculous for quite a long while to come.
We enjoy saying that atoms are made of electrons, protons and neutrons. We say there is an attractive force between electrons and protons, keeping the electrons happily orbiting. OK, so why is there an attractive force between them? Why don’t the electrons spiral into the protons, crash and get stuck to them? Why are the electrons so picky about which orbit radius they spend their time in? Why do permanent magnets attract each other with no apparent energy source, while electromagnets require electric power? Miraculous? Probably not. Just not understood – yet.
Do you wear eyeglasses with metal frames? Did you know there are voices in those metal frames? If I connect a radio receiver to them, would you think you were hearing a miracle? Fascinating, yes. Miraculous? Not exactly. And then there is consciousness, one of the so-called hard problems. If you should ever come to believe your knowledge and understanding of the universe is very close to complete, please try to explain consciousness. Your authentic success in that endeavor might well be a miracle.