The Full Spectrum

I remember the moment I first had the thought, while riding home in the back of a minivan, returning from church with my family. It was a rather ordinary time; an unoccupied teenager scanning out the window at the passing scenery.

I thought for the first time how interesting it was that I could see through the glass, on to the trees and grass beyond. The glass was hard as rock, indeed made from rock. It ably directed the strong currents of air around the car, with no hint of yielding. Yet it allowed light, which I then considered to be an immaterial nothing, to pass right through.

Then came the big idea: I could not see the trees, grass, or glass. I was only seeing light. In fact, I could only see light.

Have you ever thought about this?

We can see nothing except for light. We think we can see things, but we only see light. The only difference between what we call "black" and "white" is how light is being reflected into our eyes.

Don't believe me? Visit a mine or cave and tell me what you can see when all the light is turned off. Nothing. Is there nothing there? No, all the rocks and things are still there, it's just that there is no light to bounce off of them and transform into the varied patterns that impress upon our eyes the image created in our mind.

The light we can see is all within a narrow portion of an infinite spectrum. We can only see red and violet light, and what lies between. All the colors we can imagine are made up of one or more of the following: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The other colors, created by invisible wavelengths, are so foreign to our eyes that the best we can do in naming them is to use the horribly unimaginative descriptors of infrared, and ultraviolet. "Infra," below, "ultra," above. So all we can say is below red, and above violet.

What if we could see those other wavelengths? Yes, really. X-ray vision, Gamma-ray vision, microwave and radio vision!

Think of how these types of electromagnetic radiation can penetrate many different substances, which are opaque to visible light. We could see through any kind of rock, no matter how dark. We could look down into the earth and see every layer of rock all the way to the center, back out the other side, out into space, and through every planet, star, asteroid, and comet located behind. We could pick up a book, and as fast as our brain could process the information, we could read every word simultaneously. We could observe, in real time, the operation of hidden material processes we now only claim to begin to understand. We might even see chemical reactions in their minute majesty.

I now wonder if some part of God's omniscience is due to His ability to see more wavelengths of light than we can as mortals. If He can see all the different types of light on this spectrum, He can literally see so much that is totally out of our reach.

I claim nothing like any kind of complete knowledge in this area of Godly science, but this idea does make some passages of scripture more interesting for me to ponder.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."

1 John 3: 2

"Shrink beneath the glance of His all-searching eye."

Mosiah 27: 31

"Under the glance of the piercing eye of the Almighty God."

Jacob 2: 10

"O that he would show you that He can pierce you, and with one glance of His eye He can smite you to the dust."

Jacob 2: 15

"The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness."

Luke 11: 34

"And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things."

Doctrine & Covenants 88: 67

"And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through Him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space—the light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon His throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things."

Doctrine & Covenants 88: 11-13

"They who dwell in His presence are the church of the Firstborn; and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of His fulness and of His grace; and He makes them equal in power, and in might, and in dominion."

Doctrine & Covenants 76: 94-95

"The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth; but they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord. The place where God resides is a great Urim and Thummim. This earth, in its sanctified and immortal state, will be made like unto crystal and will be a Urim and Thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon, whereby all things pertaining to an inferior kingdom, or all kingdoms of a lower order, will be manifest to those who dwell on it; and this earth will be Christ’s. Then the white stone mentioned in Revelation 2: 17, will become a Urim and Thummim to each individual who receives one, whereby things pertaining to a higher order of kingdoms will be made known."

Doctrine & Covenants 130: 6-9

"There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; we cannot see it, but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter."

Doctrine & Covenants 131: 7-8