The great Nobel Laureate, American Physicist Richard Feynman, said very bluntly, “It is not possible to understand the magnetic effects of materials in any honest way from the point of view of classical physics. Such magnetic effects are a completely quantum-mechanical phenomenon. All other explanations to try and explain them in terms of classical physics are phony.” (Lecture 34 – Magnetism of Matter, Caltech.)
That is exactly why most people can look at a lowly magnet on my refrigerator door and not see the astonishing miracle taking place right before their eyes.
A single one-inch magnet holding up a two-ounce artistic creation from one of my grandchildren “expresses” more quantum energy in just 12 minutes than the amount of energy the refrigerator itself consumes in one day!
How can that be? I will endeavor to describe my comment with the exact terms Professor Feynman used to answer a similar question posed to him by a reporter just before he received his 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics. The reporter asked Feynman to explain quantum electrodynamics in common terms so that the average reader of his newspaper could understand it.
Feynman calmly replied, “If I could explain that to the average person, it wouldn’t have been worth the Nobel Prize.”
Richard Feynman was a well-known wise guy, to be sure. Indeed, there is an autobiographical sketch he wrote of himself titled, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman.” But his response to the reporter’s query rings very true. In terms of a classical physics problem, the so-called “energy expression” of the refrigerator magnet makes zero sense whatsoever and will absolutely not fit in any classical physics paradigm.
Without some very specialized and specific knowledge, no matter how hard someone tries, they can never hope to explain how anywhere near that amount of energy could be expressed by a 1-inch refrigerator magnet without resorting to phony science-fiction nonsense. Furthermore, there is absolutely zero classical physics law, explanation, or even a sketchy classical physics theory that could ever begin to account for it.
Unremarkably, the magnet just remains attached there, year after year, as cold and still as the steel door on which it is affixed. However, no classical physics law or argument can possibly explain what it is actually doing in its safe, virtually inaccessible quantum universe.
Even so, I totally stand by my description of the lowly one-inch magnet on the refrigerator door expressing such quantum energy.
Yet I cannot possibly explain this concept without first teaching a full class in quantum mechanics that includes lots of exotic equations. In my experience, therefore, without all this underlying information, most people are quite happy with either politely disbelieving me, openly ridiculing me, or dismissing me as an eccentric. There are even a few who lean toward belief, but settle for ambivalence and hope for an answer of less rigor.
Does that make me smart enough to win a Nobel Prize? Nope – not even close. Yet Dennis and Claudia’s refrigerator isn’t referred to as a “shrine” without good reason!
Classical physics was created in whole cloth by empirical observation and organized methodology. They were the only pair of tools Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642), who is known as the father of modern-era classical physics, had at his disposal.
But quantum mechanics was created by sheer mathematical prowess and remote validation. Many of the early 20th-century physicists who had the unique insights of quantum mechanics were all mostly scorned and professionally ignored as very odd ducks. Even Albert Einstein ridiculed the newly emerging science, complaining that, “God does not play dice with the universe.”
What the nascent quantum physicists were postulating – all their enumeration –happens below 10-6 micrometers, or microns, with a micron measuring in at one-millionth of a meter. And what happens at 10-6 microns is not at all even describable by classical physics – period. At those dimensions, whatever effects that can be validated remotely are exclusively described in “probabilities.”
That is why Professor Feynman was not able to describe quantum electrodynamics to the unprepared mind. The poor reporter just didn’t have time to attend the Nobel winner’s lecture series in order to tell his readers that the answer would have to wait for each of them to also attend Feynman’s lecture themselves as well.
In case you’re wondering where I’m going with this discussion, the above-mentioned concept leads you and me directly to the Templar mind. The physics lecture is over – and if you are still reading at this point, please consider this:
The idea encapsulated in the 746 words before this paragraph all point to what I shall label a “prepared mind.”
A thorough grounding in quantum mechanics is required to be truthfully overcome with a nearly emotional level of deep, awestruck amazement at the little one-inch magnet hanging on the Chamberland’s refrigerator shrine. Likewise, a thorough grounding in the Templar’s “core documents” is also required to wake up every morning and perform the functions of an authentic Templar on each given day.
In other words, to become an effective, productive, and totally successful Templar requires a prepared mind.
The ”core documents” I refer to are, of course (and obviously), the books of Holy Scripture. These are the same core texts that our forefathers who founded our Order also knew well and meditated on in depth. And, although the devotees of modern quantum mechanics rely upon a near-mystical approach to their subject, our study necessitates a completely spiritual approach to accurately comprehend our core documents.
In fact, we require the supernatural spiritual Helper in the Person of the Holy Spirit, Who is our only qualified Tutor!
I have heard that because he had a prepared mind in quantum mechanics, Professor Feynman stated, “I was too good a scientist to look at the evidence of an electron that had just traveled back one second in time and declare it to be impossible.”
Feynman‘s study prepared his mind for that moment when no one else could understand what he just witnessed and recorded as indisputable evidence. This put a smile on his face because he completely understood, in mathematical and physical terms, exactly what had just happened. He did not just observe it – he understood it!
Our study is just as profound, for we cannot crack the covers and read Holy Writ – or even begin to understand it – unless we can count on the indwelling Holy Spirit of Grace to supernaturally illuminate the pages and enlighten our hearts and minds as we read. Only then can we each depart the study with prepared minds to do what we must do every day as Templars.
Just as King Hezekiah asked God to move the Sun backward 40 minutes in the Book of Isaiah, and Joshua asked for God to stop the Sun from moving across the sky for 23 hours and 20 minutes as described in the book which carries his name, nothing is impossible for the One Whom we worship – the Creator and Sustainer of all things. With routine confidence, we brilliantly achieve the unachievable! But that is only because we thoroughly understand what the Word has prepared our Templar minds to truly comprehend:
“Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.”
“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Thy Name be given glory.”
Thus, we accomplish our duties and frequently witness the “incredible” and the “amazing” as God faithfully clears the way before us – all for His glory, and never of our own doing. For we are too good as Templars with prepared minds to say that anything we participate in concerning our Templar duties within the Holy sphere of the Kingdom of God is impossible!
As our Templar forefathers likewise experienced, we, as the 21st-century descendants of the Poor Soldiers of Christ, continue to live lives that are best described as dedicated Christ followers who have done so much with so little for so long that now we can do anything with nothing…
– and no one has been surprised at that outcome for more than nine centuries!