Q&A: A Change in Reality Not by Way of a Miracle
A Change in Reality Not by Way of a Miracle
Question
Following a question about magnetic fields that I asked GPT, I got into and was exposed to field theory, and I wanted to ask a question about prayer and involvement in the world.
Hello Rabbi Michael,
I wanted to direct to you a question that touches on your view regarding prayer and requests from the Holy One, blessed be He, using scientific language that you yourself know deeply.
As is known, according to modern physics (quantum field theory), all reality is built from universal fields spread throughout all of space. Everything that appears as matter, a particle, or a physical action is nothing but local oscillations in these fields. There are no "separate" atoms or independent material entities, but rather vibrating patterns in a unified field.
In that sense, the human body, the brain, and consciousness are also complex patterns of oscillations in physical fields. If we go one step further, then emotions, thoughts, consciousness, imagination, and so on are also expressions of oscillations in these fields (especially electromagnetic, chemical, and others).
My question is:
If prayer creates oscillations in these fields, as every mental-emotional act does, is there not room to say that prayer does in fact change reality, not as a miracle, but as a natural result of a change in the field?
Would it not be possible that the request itself "resonates" in the universal field and causes a change in more distant structures, similar to how an oscillation in a magnetic field affects objects at a distance?
That is, prayer does not "persuade" the Holy One, blessed be He, to change His will; rather, it itself constitutes the activation of a natural mechanism in reality, exactly as every physical process operates according to the laws of the field.
Therefore, ostensibly, prayer can be understood as not a miracle at all, but rather an integral part of the internal causal system of creation, which is based entirely on interactive fields.
Is there any principled reason to reject this possibility?
I would be glad to hear your response.
Best regards,
Answer
Ignore all the colorful descriptions about fields and folds. They have no importance or significance whatsoever. If prayer acts on physics, then it can act on it in any way, even without field theory. If in your opinion prayer is answered, then there is no problem and no need for fields. As a matter of fact, there is no indication of this, with or without fields.
Discussion on Answer
We already agreed that this has nothing to do with fields.
So basically you’re proposing that the effect of prayer is part of the laws of nature. It would be worth updating the physicists about these findings. I never learned about this, but it’s never too late.
Hi, I wanted to ask a follow-up question on a point that got missed (I’ll be honest and say that GPT helped me arrange it nicely in wording)
**Hello Rabbi, thank you for your response.
I would just like to sharpen a point that seems not to have received a direct answer: your response focuses on the question of whether prayer does or does not actually have an effect, and brings the lack of indication as an argument.
But my question was not on the empirical plane at all, but on the conceptual structure: does every effect of prayer have to be a "miracle," that is, a deviation from natural causality?
When you mentioned in the past that there is no essential difference between a hidden miracle and an open miracle, and that nature as a whole is continuous, I understood that in your view there are no "gaps" in which the Holy One, blessed be He, "intervenes" — rather, everything operates as part of one causal system.
From this I tried to propose a model in which prayer is part of that system itself, meaning that it does not produce change because a request is accepted, but as a natural action that resonates in the field of existence (in the scientific or metaphorical sense), and therefore has the potential to influence as part of the regular laws, not outside them.
Therefore my question was whether there is any principled difficulty in seeing prayer as a natural process — not a "miracle," but an integral component within the network of influences in creation.
I’d be glad if you could address this again, not the question of whether it has been tested or observed, but the very conceptual possibility itself.**