Chemical and Spiritual

While cleaning out my computer, I found this mini essay from adorable 18-year-old Catie. I wrote it for my Chem 105 class (Dr. Macedone, whom I reference, was my professor), and reading it made me cry, so I thought I would share it with y'all:

“Both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual” (Moses 6:63)

I attended my home ward’s relief society over Thanksgiving Break and the teacher taught on how for every temporal thing, there is a spiritual parallel. As I’ve pondered on that, and as Dr. Macedone’s brought up examples in class, I’ve realized just how true that concept is. Covalent bonds require two atoms to share their electrons, integral parts of themselves. In order to form strong relationships, two people must allow each other to see parts of their personalities they wanted to keep close or hidden. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle says that we cannot predict where a particle is and how fast it’s moving simultaneously. The gospel is the Plan of Uncertainty; we all have agency and are not forced to do anything. But it’s also the Plan of Salvation. Even if we can’t predict the movements of others or ourselves, we know that God will always be the same, ready to answer us with love and mercy. The experiments of Dalton, Rutherford and Thomson are bases for our belief in the modern atomic model. In the scriptures we hear the testimonies of those who experimented upon the word, of Nephi, Enos and Alma, which in turn strengthen our belief in things we cannot see but know to be real. In fact, most of chemistry is a test of faith, of believing what Dr. Macedone tells us to be true. But he also shows us why things are true with experiments that we experience, and so we form our own understandings. What has intrigued me about chemistry this semester is how closely connected the spiritual is to the physical. As I continue to learn more about the wonders of the world around me, I will be able to join with Alma in declaring “all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it” (Alma 30:44).