Is Our Universe Truly Natural?

Elad asks: "Hello. I would like to understand whether the universe is natural or spiritual? Because on one hand, it is known that everything exists by the will of Hashem at every moment, so from that perspective, everything is spiritual. But on the other hand, since the creation of the world, nature hasn't changed, so it's essentially material. I'd appreciate if you could resolve this dilemma for me."

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Hello Elad, and thank you for your question.

There were times in history when people mistakenly thought our universe was entirely material, solid, and unchanging. Nature seemed to them to be everything there is and can be, and abstract spiritual concepts were deemed unscientific. But over the past few centuries, reality has challenged their views as amazing scientific facts were discovered: invisible radiations that affect the universe and us, energies that pass through solid materials, it was found that energy can transform into matter, and matter into energy. It was proven that the world is not just "matter," as once thought, but also harbors abstract, formless, and bodiless energy. Indeed, science has concluded that the universe is driven by formidable forces without form or figure! Scientists call these forces "natural laws" for verbal convenience, but they describe invisible forces in creation that exist and operate despite having no physical substance in our universe. Today, scientists speak of invisible dimensions, formless energies, radiations, waves, and frequencies that pass through solid objects, non-physical natural forces – concepts that were once suitable only for kabbalists to say.

Few people understand the gravity of this scientific discovery that our universe is actually composed of spirit and matter working in harmony. Our world today is not the solid materialist world it seemed to many in the late 18th century.

A profound Jew honestly looks at creation and sees things as they are. The divine providence is evident, the Creator pulls the strings of creation, and all different forces are but deeds of His in action.

So what is really the difference between nature and miracle?

Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler z"l clarified that what we define as "nature" is nothing but a substitute for the word "habit." Anything we are accustomed to is considered by us as nature. For example, if the splitting of the Red Sea happened at every water reservoir in the world to this day, scientists would have given this phenomenon some Latin name and described it as another natural law of creation. After all, what is natural about the earth revolving on its axis nonstop? What is natural about the fact that Earth revolves in cycles around the sun, and the moon revolves around the Earth like a satellite? There are no poles or strings, neither visible nor invisible energies, that drive the stars; what is between the stars is nothing but empty space. The "force" that moves the stars and pulls them is called by science "the force of gravity." But does giving a scientific name to a phenomenon make the phenomenon natural?

What moves atoms? What moves molecules? Scientists call these "forces" by different names like "the strong nuclear force," "the weak nuclear force," or "the electromagnetic force." Scientists observe these natural forces in action and name them with complex names. However, there is no scientific explanation that accounts for the existence of such non-substantial forces in creation or mandates their continuous operation at every second.

So is our universe natural, or is it spiritual? The truth is that these are two different names for the same thing. What we call "natural" is nothing but a spiritual act persisting in its way of operation. Science and the miraculous are identical. In a certain way, King David defined natural and scientific laws in this language: "Let them praise the name of Hashem, for He commanded and they were created, and He established them forever and ever, He gave a law that will not pass" (Psalms 148:5).

Since the creation of the world, Hashem has not changed the laws of His creation, and therefore, these laws are called "nature." When we say something is "embedded" in a person, it means it is deeply rooted, an unchangeable trait. Hence, the word "nature" describes persistence.

But in truth, there is no difference between nature and miracle. The advancement of technology shows us that things we used to consider miracles outside the bounds of nature are indeed grounded in the laws of nature and creation.

For instance, the possibility of humans living for hundreds of years was considered a miracle beyond the world's bounds, yet recent studies have discovered that aging is actually a process activated in DNA, suggesting that technically, body cells can replicate perfectly for hundreds of years without aging - a fact prompting current researchers to search for the switch to enable humans to live 900 years. Such discussions a hundred years ago would sound like speaking of miracles, but today we discover that nature and miracle are one and are anchored in the divine laws of creation.

The sages taught that even the greatest miracles were embedded in the divine laws of creation, as they said: "Ten things were created on the eve of Shabbat at twilight, and these are they: the mouth of the earth, the mouth of the well, the mouth of the donkey, the rainbow, the manna, the staff, the shamir, the script, the inscription, and the tablets" (Ethics of the Fathers, chapter 5, 6). With this, the sages revealed that divine miracles are not separate from the science of creation but are divine acts implemented within creation, existing since its inception.

We tend to verbally separate science from spirit, nature from miracle, and sometimes forget who is the greatest scientist of all. After all, Hashem is the father of all science and technology. Hashem created a living cell more complex than the entire city of New York, and He created biological cameras more sophisticated than any camera. Hashem created the most complex super-computer by crafting the human brain. Go and learn from all His deeds, that the Creator is also a super-technician, a super-engineer, a super-designer, and a supreme software writer (as the human brain stores a whole software of instincts to operate all organs, memory storage, and more).

Why are we so quick to separate between spirit and matter, without understanding that matter and spirit originate from the same source that created and animates them? The miracle and the technology, the spirit and the science. The boundary between them exists only in our imagination.