When an invisible entity making up 85% of the universe's mass stumps the greatest scientific minds of our time, awe is an understandable response.
Physicists call it “ dark matter, ” a substance they describe as the cosmic glue, the scaffolding, a web that uses gravity to corral, shape and hold together stars, planets and galaxies. Yet nobody knows exactly what it is.
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Dark matter's existence is only inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter. Together with dark energy — a mysterious force causing the universe to expand at an accelerated rate — they are the biggest scientific mysteries of our time.
So it’s no surprise that dark matter and dark energy, which may hold answers to the origins and fate of the universe, have sparked profound religious and philosophical conversations — inspirational to some scientists, cringeworthy to others.
The worlds of science and faith are not as separate as they might seem. Many scientists have expressed how studying the majesty of the cosmos can be complementary rather than conflicting with their faith or spiritual practice.
Astrophysicist inspired by the Torah
Vera Rubin, an astronomer whose observations of galaxy rotation curves in the 1970s provided the first robust evidence for dark matter's existence, embraced her Jewish faith as a guide to understanding her role in the universe.
When Chanda Prescod-Weinstein met Rubin as a doctoral student in 2009, the renowned astrophysicist posed an unexpected question: “So how do you think we solve the dark matter problem?”
Prescod-Weinstein, who is an agnostic-atheist and Jewish, cites Rubin’s gracious query as a factor in deciding to study a theoretical particle called the axion, which could potentially solve the dark matter problem. Prescod-Weinstein says she draws on Reconstructionist Jewish teaching and the Torah for scientific inspiration.
“The stories in the Torah are about people who lived in a very intimate relationship with the land and with the night sky, and with a sense of all of that as a part of creation and the creation story,” she said.
Scientist seeks clues in the deep
It was an obsession with dark matter and dark energy that got Brittany Kamai into astrophysics. She is only the second Native Hawaiian to earn a doctorate in the field. After spending years developing the Fermilab Holometer, an instrument designed to understand what space and time are made of, Kamai returned to her spiritual roots in Hawaii as an apprentice navigator and crew member of a voyaging canoe.
Kamai trains in celestial navigation, using the stars, winds and waves to traverse the ocean without modern instruments. She wonders if the missing link in these mysteries might lie in spirituality — a quality she says many scientists dismiss.
In canoeing, Kamai says she is learning the importance of being “spiritually tuned,” seeking clues her ancestors may have left behind. She wonders if being in the deep ocean could crack the mystery of dark energy.
“When you boil down physics, it’s all a bunch of waves — particles, sound waves,” she said. “Why wouldn’t we need to be in the deepest part of our ocean to have the deepest connection to the entire universe?"
Researcher found solace in Hindu origin stories
Doug Watson was beset by doubt as a postdoctoral fellow researching dark matter. When he felt burned out, his wife introduced him to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON, widely known as the Hare Krishna movement, a branch of Hinduism that glorifies Lord Krishna as the Supreme Being. Watson, who used to be nonreligious, said he embraced a religious tradition that encouraged doubt, curiosity and scientific inquiry.
He studied holy texts like the Srimad Bhagavatam, which describes a scene when Krishna’s transcendental gaze animates the universe. This, to Watson, seems “eerily similar” to the observer effect in quantum mechanics — the phenomenon where the act of measuring or observing a quantum system, such as a proton or electron, changes its state.
Watson has used these stories as inspiration to overcome barriers that prompted his burnout.
“I definitely don’t think drawing direct lines between religious texts and scientific facts is the right approach,” he said. “Rather, I see how these stories could inform and inspire new ways of thinking about the origins of the universe.”
Differing interpretations of dark matter's meaning
Some scientists, such as astrobiologist Adam Frank, warn that seeking sacredness in topics like dark matter might end in disappointment because science constantly evolves.
“You don’t want to base your faith or spirituality on a graph in a scientific paper that goes up or down,” he said.
For Frank, a Zen Buddhist, the true link between science and spiritual endeavor is the awe they instill.
“Whether it’s the poetry of your scripture that you love or the beauty of the equations you are deriving, they’re both calls toward that feeling,” he said.
For the faithful, acceptance that there is nothing transcendent about this world is simply impossible, said Caner Dagli, an Islamic scholar and religious studies professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
"Transhumanists and other philosophers might think that if we just had enough computing power, we might be able to get the equations to really understand the universe completely,” he said. “But that’s off the table for Muslims because we believe God intervenes in history, he answers prayer.”
Chris Impey, professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona, has often visited India to teach Tibetan monks and nuns at the Dalai Lama's invitation. Being awed by a mystifying universe feels like a spiritual experience, he says.
Impey, an agnostic, has found many aspects of Buddhism compatible with modern cosmology.
“They can accommodate in their tradition an ancient universe, billions of years old,” he said. “They can accommodate many worlds, life in other worlds, life more advanced than us.”
Scientific inquiry could be pathway to the divine
Adam Hincks, a Jesuit priest who teaches at the University of Toronto and serves as an adjunct scholar at the Vatican Observatory, believes that for some, contemplating dark matter and dark energy could elevate their minds to God.
“There are also other things in the universe that for some, would be a similar conduit, such as a beautiful waterfall,” he said. “As the creator, God is present in all of creation, and contemplating creation is a portal to contemplating the divine.”
Australian astrophysicist Ken Freeman is considered a “dark matter pioneer” primarily for his landmark 1970 research that provided some of the first modern evidence of invisible mass in spiral galaxies. Freeman is Christian; like many scientists before him, he wonders about the role of intuition in scientific discovery.
“You wake up in the middle of the night with a thought and you have no idea where that came from,” he said. “People of faith might look at it as the action of the Holy Spirit.”
Was his urge to study dark matter the Holy Spirit's work?
“I would not paint it that way, but it’s a nagging possibility,” he said.
Jennifer Wiseman, a Christian astrophysicist, draws on her faith for wisdom as she investigates the big, enigmatic questions of the universe and ponders using scientific progress to serve humanity.
“Studying the deep universe may make us feel insignificant,” Wiseman said. “But it also gives us a sense of unity that we’re all on the same planet. ... The hope is we get a sense of joy, humility and love from these contemplations.”
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.