One of my favourite books of theology, God and the Big Bang (Daniel Matt) says: We are part of something greater– a vast web of existence constantly expanding and evolving. Chances are we often do think of ourselves as 'part of something greater' – but perhaps not in the cosmological sense! It may seem like a lovely, if metaphorical, sentiment– but actually the last few weeks have seen scientific discoveries which may lead us to realise that Prof. Matt is a lot closer to reality here than conventional scientific models. 

I was struck reading about recent research into what is mildly called 'Large Scale Structures.' What this underwhelming name denotes is the fact that scientists have observed that galaxies which are separated by humungous distances are moving in conjunction with one another. As if connected by some invisible string, two apparently-unrelated galaxies often move in sync! This discovery, published in October, means that our basic notion about how the Universe is structured is flawed. 

All of those galaxies, galaxy-clusters, etc.– all of the objects we normally think about being 'really big' are, it turns out, actually part of even bigger constructs. Yet again we are reminded that our vantage point is infinitesimal compared to the immensity of the universe– we are indeed part of something greater than we know. Realising that there are structures which exist but are unseen, which connect apparently-disparate things, should remind us that a spiritual orientation to the world is not foolish, 'illlogical' or unreasonable. Rather, as we increasingly discover how little we know, we may find, as Prof. Matt suggests, that 'neither God nor the big bang is that far away'. 

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