Researchers recently reported on a new type of crystal they call a “Pauli crystal.” [1] This new type of crystal is based upon a quantum rule called the Pauli exclusion principle. This principle states that there are no two fermions that can have the same quantum number. This means that two identical fermions (particles with half-integer spin) cannot occupy the same quantum state within a quantum system simultaneously. This principle was formulated by Austrian Physicist Wolfgang Pauli in 1925 for electrons and later for fermions.
References
- M. Holten et al. Observation of Pauli crystals. arXiv:2005.03929. Posted May 8, 2020, https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.03929
The scientists used the Pauli principle to create a new type of crystal by using lasers to confine lithium atoms to a region within a vacuum chamber. Because the fermions are forbidden to take on the same quantum state as their neighbors, these atoms are reluctant to overlap and they form a crystal-like arrangement even when they are not exerting any forces upon one another. Scientists have previously theorized on the existence of Pauli crystals, but no one had observed them until now. These results reveal to us how there is still much to learn and observe from fundamental principles such as the Pauli principle that is taught in introductory physics classes. The reason for studying these types of phenomena is to help increase our understanding of other mysterious states of matter with applications in superconductors (materials that conduct electricity without resistance) or superfluids that flow without friction. The Pauli principle causes fermions to repel one another without interacting, and this effect applies to other particles such as electrons, protons, neutrons, etc.
In this research paper, the scientists used lithium atoms and lasers to move the atoms into a region in a vacuum space. The laser confinement leads to two-dimensional structures that are approximately one micron in radius. The researchers put three and six atoms in the laser trap. The atoms were too close to measure their distance, so instead, the researchers measured the atoms momenta by watching the particles move after being released. The experiment was repeated many times and the researchers found correlations, or patterns, in the atoms’ momenta. Since position and momentum are closely related properties for these trapped particles, the measurement of momenta caused the atoms positions to be resolved, and the researchers were able to visualize the spatial configurations which formed structures that are typical of a crystal. Different structures were developed depending upon the number of particles confined in the laser trap.
The Spiritual insights that we receive from this type of research is related to this pauli exclusion principle where the particles do not impute a force upon one another but yet they form these specific geometric shapes which scientists call a Pauli crystal. To draw a parallel to the Scientific Research, are we Pauli-Crystalline in our approach and relationship with the world? In the Torah God gave a very important command to the nation of Israel that they are to destroy the nations in the land of Canaan. The Lord God ordered the destruction of the Canaanites because of the corrupting influence they would have if their false religious systems were allowed to survive. Unfortunately, Israel disobeyed God and did not utterly destroy these pagan peoples. This disobedience eventually led to their own disobedience and eventual captivity. We read about God’s command concerning the nations in the Promise Land according to Devarim / Deuteronomy 8:18-20 and 9:1-6.
Devarim / Deuteronomy 8:18-20
יח וְזָכַרְתָּ אֶת-יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֶיךָ כִּי הוּא הַנֹּתֵן לְךָ כֹּחַ לַעֲשֹוֹת חָיִל לְמַעַן הָקִים אֶת-בְּרִיתוֹ אֲשֶׁר-נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה: פ יט וְהָיָה אִם-שָׁכֹחַ תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת-יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֶיךָ וְהָלַכְתָּ אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים וַעֲבַדְתָּם וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ לָהֶם הַעִדֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם כִּי אָבֹד תֹּאבֵדוּן: כ כַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר יְהוָֹה מַאֲבִיד מִפְּנֵיכֶם כֵּן תֹּאבֵדוּן עֵקֶב לֹא תִשְׁמְעוּן בְּקוֹל יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם:
8:18 ‘But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 8:19 ‘It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. 8:20 ‘Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God. (NASB)
Devarim / Deuteronomy 9:1-6
א שְׁמַע יִשְֹרָאֵל אַתָּה עֹבֵר הַיּוֹם אֶת-הַיַּרְדֵּן לָבֹא לָרֶשֶׁת גּוֹיִם גְּדֹלִים וַעֲצֻמִים מִמֶּךָּ עָרִים גְּדֹלֹת וּבְצֻרֹת בַּשָּׁמָיִם: ב עַם-גָּדוֹל וָרָם בְּנֵי עֲנָקִים אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ וְאַתָּה שָׁמַעְתָּ מִי יִתְיַצֵּב לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי-עֲנָק: ג וְיָדַעְתָּ הַיּוֹם כִּי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ הוּא-הָעֹבֵר לְפָנֶיךָ אֵשׁ אֹכְלָה הוּא יַשְׁמִידֵם וְהוּא יַכְנִיעֵם לְפָנֶיךָ וְהוֹרַשְׁתָּם וְהַאֲבַדְתָּם מַהֵר כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָֹה לָךְ: [שלישי] ד אַל-תֹּאמַר בִּלְבָבְךָ בַּהֲדֹף יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֹתָם | מִלְּפָנֶיךָ לֵאמֹר בְּצִדְקָתִי הֱבִיאַנִי יְהֹוָה לָרֶשֶׁת אֶת-הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת וּבְרִשְׁעַת הַגּוֹיִם הָאֵלֶּה יְהוָֹה מוֹרִישָׁם מִפָּנֶיךָ: ה לֹא בְצִדְקָתְךָ וּבְיֹשֶׁר לְבָבְךָ אַתָּה בָא לָרֶשֶׁת אֶת-אַרְצָם כִּי בְּרִשְׁעַת | הַגּוֹיִם הָאֵלֶּה יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֶיךָ מוֹרִישָׁם מִפָּנֶיךָ וּלְמַעַן הָקִים אֶת-הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָֹה לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקֹב:
9:1 ‘Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven, 9:2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 9:3 ‘Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you. 9:4 ‘Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. 9:5 ‘It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 9:6 ‘Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. (NASB)
The key phrase here is from Devarim / Deuteronomy 8:20 in which Moshe says, כ כַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר יְהוָֹה מַאֲבִיד מִפְּנֵיכֶם כֵּן תֹּאבֵדוּן עֵקֶב לֹא תִשְׁמְעוּן בְּקוֹל יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם: 8:20 ‘Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God. (NASB) Here we are told the Lord God will cause the nations to perish before Israel. The reason for their destruction is due to their pagan practices. We note according to the prophet Jeremiah, that the people would sacrifice their children to the false god Baal. (Jeremiah 19:5, remember, there were other nations that performed child sacrifice with Israel ending up practicing these wicked ways, i.e. Molech and Chemosh). Reading through all of the Tanakh, it appears as if child sacrifice was a part of all of the religious practices of the people of Canaan. The Lord God calls this “the wickedness of this land and of the nations” (לָרֶשֶׁת אֶת-הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת וּבְרִשְׁעַת הַגּוֹיִם הָאֵלֶּה). According to Devarim / Deuteronomy 9:1-5, Moshe writes that it is the Lord God Almighty who is at work in Israel that will cause them to possess the Land. The most significant aspect of Devarim / Deuteronomy 9 is that it is not by their righteousness that they are receiving the Promised Land. It is God’s faithfulness as the reason why they are receiving the Land and not by any righteousness of their own. Note this does not presuppose that they are not to walk in righteousness, holiness, truth, and justice, but that their actions are a direct function of their relationship with the God of Israel, and not the cause of their receiving the land. When we think about the total destruction of the nations, we must understand the historical situation. While the loss of innocent life is something that should be avoided, the situation of the religious practices of the nations was they sacrificed children to their gods. The Nation of Israel was chosen to be a witness to the world for righteousness, holiness, justice, and truth as representatives of the living God. They were to show the love of God for men, women, and children, and His Mercy by walking in His ways and avoiding the wicked ways of these nations. The Israelites are warned about the surrounding nations, and they were to avoid being influenced by the nations religious practices. Notice how this parallels the Pauli crystal in the sense that when these particles are confined together in a vacuum, they seemingly cooperatively form geometric structures which scientists call Pauli crystals. Israel was supposed to be a positive influence, and the opposite actually happened because the people did not listen and obey God’s Word. The Promised Land was settled by Canaanites who had corrupted and perverted God’s truth. These people had corrupted themselves to such an extent, and God instructed the people that they were not to take to themselves any of the elements of their practices. The scientific research draws these things out in our lives in the sense of how the world around us influences us even when we do not realize. How much of the world system has causes us to be conformed to moral depravity in the sense of acceptance of LGBTQ? The outcome of these issues of the stain of the nation’s pagan practices, the Land needed to be purged of the culture entirely. As time went on, the failure of Israel to totally eliminate all of the pagan practices (and the people) in the Promised Land eventually led to the nation’s downfall in the times of the Judges. We read the following according to Joshua 6:17-21.
Joshua 6:17-21
יז וְהָיְתָה הָעִיר חֵרֶם הִיא וְכָל-אֲשֶׁר-בָּהּ לַיהֹוָה רַק רָחָב הַזּוֹנָה תִּחְיֶה הִיא וְכָל-אֲשֶׁר אִתָּהּ בַּבַּיִת כִּי הֶחְבְּאַתָה אֶת-הַמַּלְאָכִים אֲשֶׁר שָׁלָחְנוּ: יח וְרַק-אַתֶּם שִׁמְרוּ מִן-הַחֵרֶם פֶּן-תַּחֲרִימוּ וּלְקַחְתֶּם מִן-הַחֵרֶם וְשַֹמְתֶּם אֶת-מַחֲנֵה יִשְֹרָאֵל לְחֵרֶם וַעֲכַרְתֶּם אוֹתוֹ: יט וְכֹל | כֶּסֶף וְזָהָב וּכְלֵי נְחשֶׁת וּבַרְזֶל קֹדֶשׁ הוּא לַיהֹוָה אוֹצַר יְהֹוָה יָבוֹא: כ וַיָּרַע הָעָם וַיִּתְקְעוּ בַּשֹּׁפָרוֹת וַיְהִי כִשְׁמֹעַ הָעָם אֶת-קוֹל הַשּׁוֹפָר וַיָּרִיעוּ הָעָם תְּרוּעָה גְדוֹלָה וַתִּפֹּל הַחוֹמָה תַּחְתֶּיהָ וַיַּעַל הָעָם הָעִירָה אִישׁ נֶגְדּוֹ וַיִּלְכְּדוּ אֶת-הָעִיר: כא וַיַּחֲרִימוּ אֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר בָּעִיר מֵאִישׁ וְעַד-אִשָּׁה מִנַּעַר וְעַד-זָקֵן וְעַד שׁוֹר וָשֶֹה וַחֲמוֹר לְפִי-חָרֶב:
6:17 ‘The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the Lord; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 6:18 ‘But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. 6:19 ‘But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.’ 6:20 So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. 6:21 They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. (NASB)
Even though we know the historical situation regarding the pagan practices of the nations in Canaan (i.e. they sacrificed their children to demons, their false gods) we still ask the question “Why did God order everyone destroyed including women, children, and animals?” To some this may seem like a cruel and warlike attitude. Again, the reason for such destruction was to prevent the practice of human sacrifice from continuing, and to prevent the people of Israel from taking on these practices and joining themselves with these immoral rituals. In the book of Judges we see a similar warning:
Judges 2:1-3
א וַיַּעַל מַלְאַךְ-יְהֹוָה מִן-הַגִּלְגָּל אֶל-הַבֹּכִים ס וַיֹּאמֶר אַעֲלֶה אֶתְכֶם מִמִּצְרַיִם וָאָבִיא אֶתְכֶם אֶל-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם וָאֹמַר לֹא-אָפֵר בְּרִיתִי אִתְּכֶם לְעוֹלָם: ב וְאַתֶּם לֹא-תִכְרְתוּ בְרִית לְישְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת מִזְבְּחוֹתֵיהֶם תִּתֹּצוּן וְלֹא-שְׁמַעְתֶּם בְּקוֹלִי מַה-זֹּאת עֲשִֹיתֶם: ג וְגַם אָמַרְתִּי לֹא-אֲגָרֵשׁ אוֹתָם מִפְּנֵיכֶם וְהָיוּ לָכֶם לְצִדִּים וֵאלֹהֵיהֶם יִהְיוּ לָכֶם לְמוֹקֵשׁ:
2:1 Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, ‘I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, 2:2 and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? 2:3 ‘Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’‘ (NASB)
We note here how the Angel of the Lord (מַלְאַךְ-יְהֹוָה) reprimands the people saying they are to not make a covenant with the people, they are to tear down their altars, and they are to drive them out of the Land otherwise they will be ensnared by their false religious practices. Unfortunately the people disobeyed God. This reminds me of liberal ideologies which lead one to having a moral superiority to others, presupposing their acceptance of LGBTQ practices is acceptable and is something God would be proud of. The people of Israel found out the hard way, their disobedience led to their own captivity, both spiritually, and physically.
The people of Canaan were not innocent victims however. We note how the people that lived in Canaan were not ignorant of the God of Israel. We know this because Rahab said “I know that the Lord has given you the land…” Many times we are given the impression that God ordered the Israelites to just go in and destroy innocent people. This is not the case, these people had heard about the God of Israel but they rejected Him. Let’s read what Rahab has to say when she is talking with the spies who were sent to spy out the Promised Land.
Joshua 2:8-11
2:8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 2:9 and said to the men, ‘I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. 2:10 ‘For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 2:11 ‘When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. (NASB)
This suggests to us that there were witnesses to Israel crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan river and how the Lord God divided the waters so the people could cross. The people of Jerico had heard about the power of their God and were afraid. We note they heard of the one true God, but they did not glorify Him, they rejected Him and shut themselves up in the city. The entire city acted in a sinful way. Paul wrote of these types of people when he said what he did in Romans 1:21-25.
Romans 1:21-25
1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (NASB)
Notice how the people of Jerico were neither ignorant nor innocent victims. They had heard of the God of Israel, and they had knowingly turned away from Him. Because of their 430+ years of worshiping false gods, sacrificing their own children in their false religious practices, their immoral behaviors, the land was filled with blood, God judged them and used Israel to bring that judgment. The length of time that it took for judgement to come is a testimony to us of God’s mercy allowing us to repent and turn from our sins. These things are drawn out by this type of research, the Pauli exclusion principle, and the experimental work performed which produced Pauli crystals. In the scientific research we are told the particles do not impute a force upon one another but yet they form these specific geometric shapes. This parallels the world in which we live, which has the tendency to conform us to a particular shape in both our thought-life and our actions. The Torah God gave a very clear warning about this very thing, how the influences of the nations will draw us away from God Almighty. We are told in the Scriptures the Lord God sent His Son Yeshua to die for our sins and by believing this is so, we receive the Spirit of God in our hearts and in our lives. The purpose of this is so the Lord God Almighty Himself will help us to live for Him. God Himself will help us to walk in His ways, so that we DO NOT exchange the truth for a lie, or worship and serve created things as opposed to the Creator and Lord of all, the God of Israel! Paul writes that the God of Israel is “blessed forever, amen.” Indeed He is and worthy is He to be blessed because of all that He has done for us, in His love and Mercy. With such a powerful, wonderful, and loving God, how can we reject Him for something else?
