"The Universe Seems So Simple Until You Have to Explain it," moans a recent New York Times science section headline. "The ordinary matter of the universe, astronomers say, is engulfed in clouds of dark matter . . . . " Dennis Overbye, "The Universe," The New York Times, October 22, 2002 .
Dark matter is that part of the universe which is believed to be there, but whose origin and nature are unknown. It comprises most of the stuff of the universe, according to current scientific thinking. To make things more complex, many physicists believe there are possibly ten dimensions connecting all things in nature, but that six of those dimensions are currently invisible, leaving just the four well-known ones. This all-embracing "theory of everything" is called string theory.
The real icing on the cake, however, is the notion that matter can be swallowed up inside a black hole and compressed there to an infinitesimally small space. This rich mix of opinions—especially the latter one—urges many spiritually minded thinkers today to speculate that the natural sciences are reaching the conclusion that matter may amount to nothing at all.
