It might be helpful to at least try to understand what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this essay I will first discuss what physics says about energy and then discuss the spiritual\/religious definition..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Energy and the Vacuum Catastrophe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The ancients postulated that the fabric of space is an aether \u2013 an invisible but perfectly balanced subtle medium that allows the transmission of energy (light) in the way that air transmits heat. When the father of electrical engineering, James Clerk Maxwell, published his equations in 1865 that described the transmission of electromagnetic energy, he assumed that these waves traveled within the ether. Nikola Tesla also went with the aether concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, in 1887 Michelson and Morely conducted an experiment which showed that the aether did not exist. Einstein\u2019s Theory of Relativity, published in 1905, and its development in the first part of the 20th century, again showed that an aether is unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When quantum field theory was being developed, the math showed that the energy density within the vacuum of space is enormous, because of the fluctuations of fields at the quantum level. This energy is sometimes called \u201cvacuum energy,\u201d \u201cquantum particle flux,\u201d and \u201czero-point energy.\u201d It is analogous to the aether. Whatever you call it, it is, essentially, a hidden energy within the fabric of space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nature prevents subatomic particles at the quantum scale from ever being completely motionless. They always have at least a tiny amount of \u201cjiggle\u201d or vibration even at absolute zero, that is said to occur from virtual particles constantly colliding with each other (honest, I didn\u2019t make that up). That minimum vibration energy is how zero-point energy got named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When physicists calculated how much zero point energy should exist within space, the figure came out to be ridiculously high. I have seen figures of 1058<\/sup> and even 10115<\/sup> joules per cubic meter (the joule is the standard measure of energy). That\u2019s 10 followed by way too many zeros \u2013 a quantity so huge it is, for all intents and purposes, infinite. Yet when physicists and astronomers measured the actual energy density of space it turned out to be really, really small, on the order of 10-9 <\/sup>joules\/cubic meter (almost non-existent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This enormous mismatch is known as the Vacuum Catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Understandably, these calculations caused many mainstream physicists to insist that space is empty. However, the Casimir Effect experiment<\/a> helped to give the zero-point theory some legitimacy. Moreover, when helium was cooled to a few microdegrees above absolute zero, it remained a liquid and did not solidify. Only zero-point energy can account for the energy source that prevents helium from freezing solid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is at this time no widely accepted solution to the vacuum catastrophe problem in physics. But it begs the question: Is space filled with energy, or is it empty? <\/p>\n\n\n\n To answer these questions let\u2019s first take a look at what gravity is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Einstein explained gravity by saying that the mass of any celestial body like the sun or the earth warps the fabric of space. The greater the mass, the more space warps around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These excellent images show this concept:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Image 1. Image credit: https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/NVb3ZpLanWgYG7QGAJRAsC.jpg<\/p>\n\n\n\n Image 2. Image credit: https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/PFmhz8p79fSDJa5rvfoHXG.jpg<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Image 3. The Sun\u2019s gravitational field captures all the planets. When a smaller body gets into the gravitational field of another, larger, body it gets captured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For those who believe that space is empty there\u2019s a big problem with Einstein\u2019s explanation for gravity. If there is nothing in space, how can it be warped? Einstein\u2019s explanation for gravity is ingenious but treats space like a fabric that can be bent or molded. Kinda like an aether! This is what Maxwell proposed 160 years ago in his electromagnetic theory of propagation: that the aether can have gradients, divergences, and be curled, as the sun\u2019s gravitational field curves space in Image 3 above.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Physicist Hal Puthoff describes the problem this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Zero-point energy] is the energy of empty space. There were arguments starting way back at the time of the Greeks about whether space is really empty or isn’t it. Democritus thought that it was empty and that is how you have room for the atoms to bump around. You had Aristotle coming along saying no, I think space is full of something because we have waves of heat energy and they must travel in something. That argument went back and forth but finally when quantum theory was developed, it became absolutely clear that space, if you look at it on a microscopic scale, is more like the base of a waterfall with a lot of frothy, seething activity going on, rather than just something like a placid, empty space. In fact John Wheeler likes to point out that in the volume of a coffee cup, for example, in empty space, there is enough energy to evaporate all of the world’s oceans. This is, by the way, not a fringe concept. It is a basic underlying concept in modern quantum theory. Many physicists scoff at the idea of zero-point energy and dismiss the aether, even though it has the potential to provide clean, almost unlimited energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The engineering challenge of converting or extracting zero-point energy for useful work is, at the turn of this century, plagued by ignorance, prejudice, and disbelief. The physics community does not in general acknowledge the emerging opportunities from fundamental discoveries of zero-point energy. Instead, there are many expositions from prominent sources explaining why the use of ZPE is forbidden. These scientists say that vacuum energy is just an artifact of the math and has no reality, and that the experiments that \u201cprove\u201d zero-point energy are far too few in number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, by insisting that space is empty they must accept the idea that celestial bodies exist independently of each other, like billiard balls in empty space (my analogy), and interact only through gravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a goofy theory if you ask me, because the gravitational interactions between billions of stars and planets in a galaxy are impossible to predict, and lead to chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physicists and astronomers have a huge problem predicting the motions of more than two independent bodies interacting with each other via gravity. This is called the Three Body Problem<\/a>. It does not have a general solution and results in chaotic behavior. So how do immense objects like galaxies form and stay together? How can the interactions among billions of stars in a spiral galaxy be explained?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was thought that the stars in a galaxy behaved like the planets in our solar system: the farther out they are, the slower they move. But that\u2019s not what happened when a brilliant astronomer (Vera Rubin) measured how fast the stars in a galaxy are moving. She discovered in 1984 that the stars toward the outer portion of the galaxy were moving faster than predicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Astronomers had to make up \u201cdark matter\u201d to explain it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Astronomers define dark matter as an invisible mass that extends well beyond the visible disk of the galaxy and which provides a gravitational pull on the outer stars in a galaxy, to speed them up. But there\u2019s no proof that dark matter exists \u2013 it\u2019s a fudge used to make current theory work. These scientists deny that zero point energy (ZPE) exists, yet they are forced to rely on invisible energy to explain galaxy rotation curves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does the energy to move the stars come from the zero-point field (ZPF)? Where else would it come from? Space is supposed to be empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201cbilliard ball\u201d theory of empty space leads to a universe where every particle, every celestial body, is independent and disconnected from the others. This concept in physics mirrors the disconnection and fragmentation in our societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the above makes little sense, to the point where some modern scientists have essentially returned to the aether concept. The aether is postulated to be an underlying medium that fills space throughout the universe and contains an enormous amount of quiescent, perfectly balanced energy within it. It resembles the \u201cquantum\/virtual particle fluctuation\u201d theory without all the chaotic particle interactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because both terms represent an underlying source of energy, I use the terms zero-point energy (ZPE) and aether interchangeably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea that space is empty can be challenged by performing a simple thought experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Image credit: https:\/\/cdn1.vectorstock.com\/i\/1000×1000\/60\/30\/hydrogen-atom-on-white-background-vector-21316030.jpg<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hydrogen is the most fundamental and abundant element in the universe. It is the building block for matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hydrogen consists of one positively charged proton in the nucleus, and one negatively charged electron that moves around it. In his paper, \u201cGround State of Hydrogen as a Zero-Point Fluctuation State,\u201d physicist Hal Puthoff asks the obvious question: \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t the electron fall into the proton in its journey around the nucleus?\u201d Opposites attract. The negatively charged electron is expending a lot of energy to counteract the pull from the positively charged proton. Where does it get this energy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can\u2019t come from empty space because no energy exists there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Puthoff says that the electron must be getting energy from the zero-point energy field. The electron draws energy from this source to replace the energy it is expending to counteract the pull from the proton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Puthoff states in the paper that \u201cthe stability of matter itself is largely mediated by Zero Point Field phenomena.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, without the background energy supplied by ZPE, the universe could not exist. Atoms, the building blocks of visible matter, would simply collapse into themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It appears to me that the space-is-empty folks have lost the argument. We will assume for the rest of this essay that there is a zero-point energy field (ZPF), or aether, to indicate a universal energy source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can extend the concept of a universal energy source just a little and ask, \u201cIf energy from the aether\/ZPF sustains every atom of matter and energy in the universe, what if every atom that makes up the planets, stars, and galaxies actually comes forth from<\/em> it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I got this idea from Nikola Tesla, who wrote,<\/p>\n\n\n\n The primary substance [aether], thrown into infinitesimal whirls of prodigious velocity, becomes gross matter; the force subsiding, the motion ceases and matter disappears, reverting to the primary substance. In that case every single thing in the universe, from a subatomic particle to a galaxy, would be connected via the primary substance. Each particle or wave would have all the energy it needs to combine with other particles and waves to form the elements of the Periodic Table and build a connected universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s illustrate the aether\/ZPF concept with another thought experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine an old-fashioned record player with a 33 record on it. Place a penny toward the center of the record, another penny in the middle, and another penny at the far edge. Make sure these pennies are lined up in a straight line. Imagine that the pennies are actually part of the record and not just sitting on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the record spins, the pennies stay in a straight line, even though each one is moving at a different speed. The one near the center moves slowest, the one in the middle moves faster, and the one at the end the fastest. The platter (record) keeps everything lined up perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, having the objects in our universe emerge from a universal \u201cplatter\u201d explains how hundreds of billions of stars in a spiral galaxy could maintain the shape of that galaxy. If the stars in a galaxy are part of an aether of stars, like a sort of galactic record player, everything stays aligned even though every star is moving at slightly different speeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course the \u201cplatter\u201d example is just an analogy (physicist shudders). The shape of the galaxy is constantly changing, but it has a definite spiral shape that cannot have resulted from random gravitational interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Milky Way galaxy. Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/R. Hurt. Public domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When individual particles or celestial bodies are considered to be completely independent, unconnected entities in empty space, chaos results. The movement and position of each body is impossible to predict because the gravitational attraction between them constantly changes. In order to keep billions of stars in a galaxy together, the position and velocity of each star and their trillions of interactions with each other would have to somehow be programmed individually in real time. This is a job even God wouldn\u2019t want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The aether concept is much simpler, but where would the programming for it come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physicist David Bohm, in his book, Wholeness and the Implicate Order,<\/em> describes how an underlying substrate might work to maintain and program the universe and everything in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nobel winner Richard Feynman stated categorically, in his Lectures on Physics, that \u201cwe don\u2019t know what energy is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we conclude that physics knows how to work with energy, but doesn\u2019t know (or care) about its fundamental nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we can make an educated guess. Observation of our world shows interconnected ecosystems, and the organization of organic matter (the human body and other life forms) and inorganic matter (snowflakes and crystals) demonstrates cooperation and connectedness. This applies even to the large scale, as galaxies are organized systems of hundreds of billions of connected stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A disconnected universe would be fundamentally impossible, for nothing would ever come together, except for random collisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Energy, in physics, seems to be a very impersonal and sterile substance that merely makes up atoms and elements and provides \u201cquantum fluctuations.\u201d In fact, energy is most commonly defined in physics as \u201cthe capacity to do work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To go further than that we have to look higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible says, in Genesis, that \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have always interpreted that to mean that the Word is a fundamental set of vibrational harmonics which composes the fabric of space and the matter and energy of the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wikipedia has a good definition for OM: \u201cOM is the essence of the supreme Absolute, consciousness, \u0100tman, Brahman, or the cosmic world. In Indian religions, Om serves as a sonic representation of the divine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other terms for this cosmic energy are chi, ki, orgone energy, or prana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This energy is life supporting. It supports connectedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well then, are there two types of energy? One that makes up physical matter, and the other that animates life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s let Nikola Tesla have the final word on the energy of the universe. In 1930, he made a comprehensive statement about life, the universe, and everything:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Long ago he (man) recognized that all perceptible matter comes from a primary substance, or tenuity beyond conception, filling all space, the Akasha or luminiferous ether, which is acted upon by the life giving Prana or creative force, calling into existence, in never ending cycles, all things and phenomena. This statement from the Great Inventor combines science and spirituality. It is almost religious in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s dissect it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) All perceptible matter (and energy) comes forth from an aether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) The aether is the primary substance that fills all space, so tenuous it is beyond conception. Tenuous means it can\u2019t be seen or felt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) The aether is affected by consciousness (the creative force).<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4) Consciousness calls into existence all things and phenomena via the aether, from subatomic particles to galaxies. Therefore consciousness (the energy of life) and the aether are correlated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5) The aether is the primary source for everything in existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Tesla is right, then the energy of life is no different from the energy of the physical universe, because all of it comes from the primary substance..<\/p>\n\n\n\n The great man, in my opinion, was simply stating a fact he discovered from his scientific research: mankind classifies science and spirituality into artificially separate domains only because of our lack of understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sherlock Holmes once said to Watson: \u201cWatson, you observe but you do not conclude from your observations. You are too timid in your inferences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we apply the idea that the universe is connected, and include the principles of Tesla\u2019s 1930 statement to the world, we can infer that the energy of the universe (the primary substance or aether) is benevolent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, the design of the universe itself is benevolent, because all visible matter and energy come forth from the primary substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I meditated on this idea I began to see that everything I see, every person I meet, every object whether man-made or natural, is composed of (or emerges from) a benevolent and non-threatening primary substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My day-to-day life is far removed from the practice of this idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do I see benevolence in everyone and everything? Of course not. And neither does anyone else. Half of this country thinks the other half is insane!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not sure what to do with this idea, but I\u2019m going to continue to meditate on it, and try to see more benevolence in my life. I now have a solid framework that makes sense to me. Without such a framework \u2013 yours is undoubtedly different \u2013 the most profound statements are just meaningless words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have always been a skeptic, even though I had a spiritual experience when I was very young. When I was 3 my mother died. When I toddled up to the casket she told me (somehow) that the body I was looking at wasn\u2019t her, that she was still conscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It made perfect sense to my childlike mind at the time, and it still does. I have been trying to explain it for the past 70 years. Mostly I just gave up trying to convince people. I guess I just didn\u2019t have the right words or the right attitude. But whenever I listen to inspirational music (which is often) I get connected to Tesla\u2019s creative force. It\u2019s a powerful, expanding affinity that connects me to all life everywhere. I sometimes get this feeling when I\u2019m writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m sure all creatives feel this energy to some degree. When we do, we are tapping into the fundamental energy of the universe, the primary substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Already I have noticed a lightening in my attitude. When I catch myself using the same worn-out sayings toward people (idiots) who do crazy and stupid things, I stop and take that part of me and shove it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People who have Dissociative Identity Disorder have Parts. Parts are like independent personalities that come into existence when a person experiences trauma. Even though we have all experienced trauma, I never thought I had any Parts. Until the recent explosion of energy on this planet made me quite aware of junk personalities that were hiding beneath the surface of my consciousness. So now when those Parts surface I just think of the creative force, and the planet (from which all the atoms of my body come forth) and acknowledge as gratefully as I can the benevolence I already have. That Part usually goes away after that! Sometimes I have to shove it down by bringing forth my natural, integrated personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m pretty sure that all human beings have this whole, integrated personality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems to be working so far. But there\u2019s a lot more work to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1]<\/a> When I asked Grok to explain Einstein\u2019s theory of gravity in layman\u2019s terms it said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cImagine space and time are not a fixed, empty stage. Instead, they form a flexible fabric called spacetime. Mass and energy bend or warp this fabric of spacetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe more mass (or energy) something has, the more it curves the spacetime around it. Objects then move by following the natural curves in this warped fabric \u2014 they take the \u201cstraightest\u201d possible path through the curved spacetime. From our everyday point of view, this curved path looks like gravity pulling them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction In his famous equation E = mc2, Einstein told us that matter and energy are convertible, that they are essentially two aspects of the same thing. But what is that? Einstein didn\u2019t know, and neither does anyone else. His … Continue reading Gravity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MassWarpsSpace.jpg\")
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Image credit: https:\/\/wallpapers.com\/images\/hd\/gravitational-waves-1920-x-1080-wallpaper-d60yf5wh8lhi24q6.jpg<\/p>\n\n\n\nZero-point Energy vs. Empty Space<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2014 quoted from an interview of physicist Hal Puthoff I transcribed<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nThe \u201cBilliard Ball\u201d Concept of Space and Matter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2014 Thomas Valone, engineering physicist, from Practical Conversion of Zero Point Energy<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nA Thought Experiment: The Aether and the Atom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Hydrogen](\"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/HydrogenAtom.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nExtending the Aether Concept<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2014 Nikola Tesla, \u201cMan\u2019s Greatest Achievement,\u201d New York American, July 6, 1930<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nAnother Thought Experiment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat is Energy?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Religion\/Spirituality and Cosmic Energy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Tesla<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2014 Nikola Tesla, \u201cMan\u2019s Greatest Achievement,\u201d New York American, July 6, 1930<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nThe Design of the Universe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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