I used to think that science, one of my favorite fields, was the opposite of imagination—that it was all about facts, formulas, and strict rules. If I wasn’t in a creative arts field, then I wouldn’t be using my originality. But the more I’ve learned, the more I’ve realized that science is full of wonder. It’s driven by people who imagine what the universe might be like beyond our current understanding—and then set out to test that vision. In that way, science and spirituality aren’t so different. Both ask big questions. Both lean into mystery. And both begin with the courage to imagine something more.
One of the most creative acts in science is forming a theory. It starts with observations— something doesn’t quite fit, or something unexpected shows up in the data. Scientists have to imagine why it’s happening, what might be causing it, and how it all fits together. It’s not just about collecting facts; it’s about seeing connections that aren’t obvious, and daring to suggest a new possibility – by using your imagination.
Let’s start with some of the fundamentals in science: math, and a very obvious example of ‘imaginary numbers’ If your high school math is rusty I’ll remind you that there’s literally a class of numbers called imaginary, because by definition, they shouldn’t exist. These are numbers that relate to the square root of a negative number – which is impossible (you can’t multiply a number by itself and end up with a negative number). But mathematicians imagined what it would mean, and instead of discarding the idea, they explored it. And guess what? We got a whole new dimension of math – which gives us the basis of electrical engineering and signal processing. In other words, imagining the “impossible” gave us the tools to build the modern world, including the cell phones each one of you has in your pocket today.
Think about light— something so ordinary we barely notice it, yet it’s full of mystery. For centuries, scientists couldn’t agree on what light actually is. Some insisted it was a wave, like sound or water, spreading smoothly through space. Others argued it behaved like tiny particles, as photons, moving from one place to another. The strange thing is… both sides are right. Light behaves like a wave in some situations and like a particle in others. It refuses to fit neatly into one category. So, no one fully knows what light really is— we just know how it acts. Something as common as sunlight pushes us into the realm of imagination, where our models are helpful, but never the whole story.
My most favorite examples come from outer space.
Let’s talk about black holes. Points in the universe so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape. There’s physically no way to ever know what they look like inside, so we have to imagine. Even if we were to create the most advanced space probe that could stand the immense pressure, no information would be able to be relayed back to us. Instead we’re forced to think outside the box whenever we’re working with black holes.
And what about the beginning of the universe? Was anyone there to witness that? (I know my kids call me old, maybe some of you can vouch that I wasn’t there to see the beginning of time). To some of us the big bang theory is obvious, but think about the imaginative steps that had to take place in order for that story to be developed.
Here’s a cosmic twist: the universe isn’t just expanding—it’s expanding faster over time. That surprises scientists, since gravity should be slowing things down. To explain it, they imagine something invisible—dark matter and dark energy. We can’t see or touch them, but they seem to shape galaxies and drive expansion. These ideas remind us that sometimes, science moves forward by imagining what might be out there, even when we can’t yet prove it.
My final example is something near to my expertise – computer science. But it’s an application that you all use probably every day – for every time you visit a website, login to your accounts, or check your email, you’re sending encrypted messages. In order to encrypt something, the computer has to come up with random numbers. Sounds simple – but in reality computers are so logical, that coming up with something truly random is extremely hard. A computer follows instructions, so how can it do something unpredictable?
Programmers have come up with some amazingly imaginative solutions for creating randomness. My favorite is a company called Cloudflare. At their headquarters they have a wall of 100 lava lamps with a camera snapping photos of them at regular intervals. Each image—just a collection of pixel values—is turned into a stream of unpredictable numbers, which the servers use to generate secure encryption keys. Who would have imagined that the randomness of lava lamps would help keep digital data safe?
So now, when I think about science, I don’t see a dry collection of facts—I see a deeply human act of imagination. Scientists wonder about things no one has seen, play with impossible ideas, and take mental leaps into the unknown. Similar to how we as UUs are always on our journey to understand. We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we keep asking better and better questions – and we dare to imagine.