Why the Universe Keeps Moving: A Divine Perspective

Here's a fundamental scientific question: After I throw a ball, and it leaves my hand, how does the ball "know" to keep moving in the same direction and at the same speed?

Scientists like Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, and Antoine Lavoisier discovered that nature has a most peculiar, completely unexplained habit of persisting in its existence...

The "Law of Conservation of Matter" and "Inertia" are the scientific names given to matter's habit of maintaining its existence, as well as its shape and course in space. These phenomena have no material explanation, as they are expressions of the divine will. All the scientists mentioned above arrived at the same conclusion that Abraham reached 3,500 years ago: Hashem is the cause of movement in the universe. Without Hashem, there would be no force compelling matter to continue moving or even to continue existing in the next moment.

To illustrate: If tomorrow half of the universe were to suddenly stop moving, or even completely disappear, no scientist would be able to explain why it happened—or why it wasn't supposed to happen, according to science.

Since there is no other force besides Hashem that ensures our continued existence, it's inconceivable that reality would persist if Hashem "abandoned" or "forgot" it.

We can compare the universe to a computer program that would immediately shut down without a constant and steady supply of electricity from the power company. Similarly, divine supervision is constantly required for the universe; otherwise, it would vanish.

The computer program analogy is somewhat close to our reality, but note that it doesn't accurately describe the universe's dependence on Hashem: After all, codes are stored on a physical drive and wouldn't disappear from the drive due to a power outage. However, the universe would completely vanish without Hashem's constant will...

People who ask, "Maybe Hashem has abandoned us?" mistakenly imagine Hashem as a carpenter who builds a chair or table and then leaves it behind. This analogy is far removed from the true scenario, as chairs and tables exist within the world—just like the carpenter. They are made of the same components (atoms) and are subject to the same spiritual laws that preserve their form.

Unlike the carpenter, Hashem created the universe from nothing and is thus responsible for its continued existence and the preservation of its form. If He stopped His supervision even for a moment, the universe would immediately cease to exist, as summarized by Maimonides in the Laws of the Fundamentals of the Torah (Chapter 1): "The foundation of foundations and the pillar of wisdoms is to know that there is a First Being, and He brings into existence all that exists; all that exists from the heavens to the earth and what is between them exists only from the truth of His existence; and if it should enter one's mind that He does not exist, nothing else could exist... as the Torah states: 'There is none else besides Him,' meaning there is no true being besides Him in a comparable manner."

Thus, science shows: Hashem always watches over us and never leaves us for a moment.