How the Universe Works And What Really Matters (As Explained by Lego Bricks)

Roughly 13.8 billion years ago, according to the experts, the Big Bang happened.

What was that like??

Basically, some force threw a big box of Lego bricks across the floor. And they rolled out every which way –?in fact, according to the latest research on the universe expanding, they are still rolling away.

But the Lego bricks in the box opposed this. They hate being separated from the other bricks. Despite them being so violently thrown apart, they are focused on getting back together.

This desire toward togetherness manifests via gravity, one of the most powerful forces in the universe. Gravity is still mysterious; Einstein hypothesized that it's the weight of heavy objects bending the fabric of time and space. When I think about it, it seems like magic – objects having an effect on other objects millions of miles away.?

Not so much different than the force in “Star Wars.”

Either way, gravity works to undo the work of the Big Bang. Lego bricks are violently thrown across the floor. Over time, because of gravity, they come back together and form larger and larger structures. But then something will come along and kick over that structure, scattering the pieces across the floor.?

And the process repeats. I see this trend over and over.?

Take life on earth. What we call life on Earth is nothing more than a collection of complex Lego structures. The Lego bricks on this planet joined together over millions of years and formed things like kangaroos, giraffes and humans.

But we’ve had many minor Big Bangs here on Earth that have violently destroyed all of those structures. The best example is the meteor that killed all the dinosaurs – in one instant, all those beautiful, complex Lego structures across our planet were destroyed, their parts scattered across our world.

Good news for us – the bricks eventually reformed into us. If it weren’t for that meteor, we would’ve never been created.

We ourselves might be the first Earth species to create our own Big Bang. A world war, particularly one that used nuclear weapons, would probably do the trick. Imagine that – the Lego structures become so complex, they actually decide to destroy themselves.?

We see this pattern emerge within our physical desires as well. Over many weeks or many years, we slowly gain influence over the Lego bricks around us. And then, occasionally – often caused by an out-of-control desire to dominate over Lego bricks – a big violent event will come by and destroy that connection.?

Money is a good illustration. By working hard, we slowly amass more and more money, which we use to buy more and more Lego structures. Except sometimes we can lose big amounts of this money in one singular event – a stock market crash, a scam, a stupid gamble.

Relationships tend to follow the same pattern, even more so. Over time, we slowly build trust with the Lego structures around us. But occasionally, an event – cheating, lying, stealing – can destroy the relationship, and those two complex Lego structures go spiraling into other directions.

Here’s the point – in the physical world, we are driven by the physical desire to gain influence over other Lego bricks. Of undoing the Big Bang, of it all being back together, with us on top.

Except what would happen if we ever accomplished our goal? If we ever actually did get everything back together again, and put all the Lego bricks in the box, with us on top?

Well, all of that pressure would cause us and everything else in this universe to explode into another Big Bang. Another scattering of these Lego bricks all over the room, only for them to want to come back together again.?

And that’s exactly what happens. Everything is scattered apart, everything comes together, over and over, on various scales.

When you step back and see the physical world for what it is, it seems pretty pointless. Correction – it is entirely pointless. No matter what we do, no matter how much money we make, no matter how people feel about us, no matter how many followers we get or how many books we sell or how many people we “influence,” everything will be destroyed and rebuilt and destroyed 10,000 times over and none of it will ever matter.

Inspirational, right? Yet it's the truth of the physical world.?

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The good news – there is more to the universe than just the Lego bricks, aka the physical world. There also exists another, more interesting world we call consciousness.

We have lots of ideas about consciousness. Some say this is created by God, others by Allah, others by Judah; and people fight wars about that. I think it’s fair to say we don’t know exactly who created it, at least not yet, or what it really is.?

But even the most reluctant scientist will admit that consciousness does exist. Descartes said it best – I think, therefore I am. In fact, consciousness is the only thing in this world we know for sure exists.

The real question is this – is our minds, and this feeling of consciousness, just an unintended and quite unnecessary byproduct of the proverbial Lego bricks coming together in a usual way that gives us the power of thought?

Maybe. Most scientists would say so. That what we think, what we feel, and all of our deepest emotions and most profound experiences are nothing more than an evolutionary accident. That the only real reason we have the brains we have is to give us an advantage in the jungle.

I consider myself a rational man. That's a very rational explanation. Not a particularly inspiring one, but a rational one.?

Although, there’s a big part of me that doesn’t believe it.?

The science crowd will say that part of me is driven by fear. That we refuse to accept that our lives are nothing more than the unusual arrangement of these comic Lego bricks. That the truth is we don’t matter, nothing matters, and we’ll all be forgotten soon enough.?

Except there have been experiences in my life that have transcended rational explanation.

One example – for years, I struggled with what I should do with my life. Then, one night, I woke up and had this overwhelming urge to write. It was a calling; a message I received that felt like nothing I’d experienced before or since.

From that point forward, I’ve focused on being a writer, which has led to great success. Why did that idea come to me – was it my rational mind finally figuring out my biggest struggle or some deeper force showing me the way?

The science crowd would say the former; in my heart I know it’s the latter.

Additionally, I’ve had many times in my life where I cannot solve a problem or I’m not sure what to do. It’s only when I stop thinking about it, when I let go of the problem and allow the universe to answer, do I get clarity.

Scientists have probably done some research to explain how this works. Maybe it makes sense. But, in my heart, I know there’s something bigger at work.?

A better example: I had a conversation with my mom once about the death of her mother, my grandmother. Shortly after her mom died, my mother said she saw a white butterfly in her garden. She had never seen a white butterfly before nor since in her garden.

She obviously had experienced great sadness over the death of her mother. But when she saw that white butterfly, she knew that was her mother trying to talk to her in some way that simply could not be explained.?

It gave her peace. She knew, in that moment, her mother was in a better place.

And then there are the countless accounts of people who have been declared clinically dead for a short period of time and were resuscitated. These near-death experiences have been formally studied and people’s descriptions of death are eerily similar: The feeling of their soul leaving their body. Moving toward a white light. All of their worries and concerns were erased. A lightness of being; a feeling of euphoria. Some even report speaking directly to a higher power.

The science crowd has countered these experiences by saying they are merely delusions. To me, there are too many similarities in all of these stories to just brush them off.

But forget all of those examples from other people. Let me ask you a question: Have you ever had an experience that simply cannot be explained by science? Perhaps an intuition. A message received from a loved one who was either far away or passed on. A calling of some sort, or a coincidence or string of luck that led to a life-changing event?

Think about that moment, if you had one. Do you believe that came from this physical world? Or from another place entirely, beyond explanation?

I’m thinking many of you had. It’s a shared human experience, this feeling of something almost otherworldly. I’d argue that’s exactly what it is – it is our connection to the spiritual realm.

Quick qualification – I have nothing but respect for scientists. They’ve done an amazing job understanding the physical world and all the technologies that make this world better are only possible because of them. I think we should listen to them when it comes to physical matters; they are amazing pioneers in furthering human knowledge.

But I don’t believe there has been the same study into the spiritual world. In fact, I think it’s been mocked by many, despite most of us having experiences that defy reasonable explanation. I believe there’s shame involved here, as people are questioning other people because they themselves are questioning their own experience.?

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Either way, let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that there is indeed a spiritual realm we call consciousness. And this consciousness is beyond the physical world that our bodies and brains inhabit.

Now, go back to what I wrote about the physical world. Everything in this universe is made from the same stuff. Humans, rocks, billy goats, stars, moons, ice cream – all are created from the same matter that created this universe. The stuff is just rearranged in different ways.?

If this spiritual world exists, you tell me what’s more likely – humans are rearranged in such a perfect way that only we can tap into this spiritual world. Or, that all things can experience this spiritual world, and what we as humans experience every day is the human version of that, processed by the tools we have – i.e., our brains and bodies.

To me, logic suggests the latter. To me, it’s far more likely that all matter in this universe experiences consciousness, as opposed to us humans hitting the Lego jackpot and being the only creatures able to do so.

And then I go a step further. Is this consciousness unique to us? In other words, do we all have our own conscious, our own spirit??

Or, is there just one consciousness, one spiritual realm, that we all tap into? How we process that experience depends on the tools our physical body has – primarily, for us humans, what’s in our brains – but there’s just one consciousness. There’s just one spiritual realm we all share.

To me, once again, it’s far more likely we all share one consciousness. We all tap into it, and while our experience differs dramatically depending on how we interpret it, it’s all the same.?

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Picture this – all of these Lego bricks spread across a carpeted floor. All of those Lego bricks have their own unique relationship with the carpet on the floor, all thinking that their particular piece of carpet is unique to them.

Except it isn’t. The carpet is shared by all the Lego bricks. It’s the realm beyond the physical world that keeps it all together.

That, to me, is what’s really going on. All of us are a collection of Lego bricks in a physical world. The physical world is ever-changing, with these physical forces constantly either bringing things toward us or pushing them away from us.

Contract, expand. Contract, expand. That’s what the physical world does.

It all sits on this spiritual world, which is the carpet. And the carpet doesn’t move. It’s ever-present, always still, possessing complete knowledge.?

When we die, the Lego bricks merely break apart and form into something else, which once again has its own unique experience with the carpet. We then become attached to that experience and fear losing it when we die.

Except we don’t lose it, do we? Because it isn’t ours to gain or lose. It merely is. And it isn’t just for us, it’s for all the Lego structures in the room, regardless of how they are formed.

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All of this raises questions. Like, why does the carpet even bother with the Lego? I don’t know, maybe the carpet was bored. Or, who created this whole thing to begin with? I don’t know that one either.?

Here’s what I do know though – the carpet is the important thing, not the Lego. Don’t get tied down on the needs and wants of the Lego, as all of those are temporary. And most of those urges will ultimately lead to destruction.?

Instead, tap into the carpet, which is best done by quieting your mind and really listening. That’s where the true purpose is.

Listen to that, and you’ll find your true purpose, your true meaning. And it’ll be far more compelling than endless expansion and destruction.

The following piece is a chapter in my book, How I Found Peace: 14 Revelations That Cleared My Mind. To read more, get it on Amazon today.