Uniting the Worlds: Mysticism, Science, and the Quest for Meaning

Lisa Grunwald’s The Theory of Everything presents a compelling narrative about Alexander Simon, a thirty-something physicist who believes he is on the verge of discovering a theory that will unify all of scientific understanding—the “Theory of Everything.” But Grunwald is less interested in the mere attainment of scientific triumph than in exploring what that quest costs—emotionally, spiritually, philosophically—and how the search for ultimate truth forces him to confront the deeper, less quantifiable elements of his life: love, loss, mysticism, the ghosts of his past.

One of the central metaphors in the novel is that of alchemy, especially the idea of “prime matter” (or prima materia)—the raw, fundamental substance from which all things derive, in alchemical tradition, the essence that alchemists sought, symbolizing both physical, spiritual, and metaphysical unity. Alexander’s scientific quest parallels the alchemical: he seeks not just the equations that unite the forces of nature, but something deeper, something that’s as much about the soul as about the atom.

---

Character Studies

Here are the major characters and their roles in Alexander’s journey, particularly in relation to the search for prime matter and what “everything” means.

Character	Role / Personality	Relationship to Alexander	How they contribute to the theme of prime matter / union of opposites
Alexander Simon	A brilliant physicist, rational, ambitious, somewhat emotionally repressed. He is deeply committed to science, but haunted by childhood, by longing, by gaps in his understanding of self and life.	He is the protagonist; much of the internal conflict of the novel is his conflict — between what science demands and what life demands; between what can be measured and what cannot.	Alexander’s search for his scientific “Theory of Everything” becomes inseparable from his need for personal reconciliation — with his past (especially his mother’s absence), with whether belief / mysticism have a place in his life. The prime matter is not just atomic, but moral, emotional, spiritual.
Alice	Alexander’s mother, who abandoned the family when he was young (age 11), but who instilled in him ideas of ghosts, guardian angels, the mystical. She is charismatic, elusive, somewhat irresponsible in a conventional sense.	Alice is both inspiration and wound: she leaves, but her absence shapes Alexander’s psychic landscape; she returns later, complicating his life.	Alice embodies the mystical side: the guardian angel, the ghost, the hint of prime matter not in equations but in human relationships. Her presence forces Alexander to confront that what he seeks in science—unity, fundamental truth—must also come from his emotional life. She is like the “prima materia” to which he must return to complete his inner alchemical process.
Cleo	Alice’s friend; a “seductive and hilarious blond,” deeply involved in mysticism: palmistry, crystals, numerology, astrology. She is an emissary of the spiritual / magical realm.	Cleo’s return into Alexander’s life (when Alice returns with her) draws him into mysticism and emotion, and away (temporarily) from pure science. She becomes a foil to Alexander’s rationality.	Cleo represents the temptations and possibilities of non-scientific truth. She helps Alexander understand that prime matter can’t be contained in formulas alone; that there are dimensions of experience—beauty, belief, myth—that science either ignores or can’t fully capture. She awakens in him a longing for something less quantifiable.
Linda, Sam, Harold	Note: These characters are not central, or well-emphasized, in the textual summaries / review.  The main characters beyond Alice, Cleo, and Alexander are lesser in profile. We do see Alexander’s girlfriend, Linda, playing a role. There may be supporting characters (Sam, Harold, Linda) but they do not appear prominently.	Given lack of strong details, they probably fill supporting roles: friends, colleagues, or romantic interests, perhaps reflecting Alexander’s world of relationships, commitments, emotional tension.	Even minor characters matter: they represent the “real life” that Alexander often neglects in pursuit of theoretical perfection. They serve to contrast or mirror what he seeks: stability, love, ordinary truth vs extraordinary insight. If “Linda,” “Sam,” “Harold” exist in the novel, they may concretize the personal world he risks failing, or losing, in his quest.

---

The Search for “Prime Matter” as Significance

To understand the significance of the search for prime matter in The Theory of Everything, we need to unpack its symbolic layers in the narrative.

1. Scientific vs Mystical Tradition
• On one side, Alexander’s physics is rigorous, demanding, mathematical. He is trying to unify scientific theories: gravity, quantum mechanics, electromagnetic force, etc. This quest is external, measurable.
• On the other, he has been influenced by Alice and by mystical traditions: angels, spirits, alchemy. These are internal, subjective, paradoxical. Prime matter in alchemy is a symbol of the undifferentiated substance before form—a kind of unified substrate of being. Alexander’s journey suggests that the unified substrate he seeks is not only in the cosmos, but in himself.
2. Personal Reconciliation
• Alexander’s childhood underlies everything: his mother’s abandonment leaves him with unresolved emotional needs. The scientific quest can’t in itself heal that. But the return of Alice, and the presence of Cleo, force him to integrate what he has held apart: love, longing, belief, possibility.
• In alchemy, prime matter is often thought to be hidden, to require purification, transformation. Similarly, Alexander must undergo a kind of internal purification—face fears, vulnerability—if he is truly to live what he theorizes. The journey is as spiritual as intellectual.
3. Thresholds and Paradox
• The quest for a “Theory of Everything” is itself paradoxical: by defining everything you must include the unmeasurable. By being totally rational, you might exclude essential parts of being. Grunwald does not resolve the paradox; instead, she shows how Alexander, at his edge, must live with tension.
• The prime matter is not just stuff; it’s threshold: between the known and unknown, between what can be spoken and what can only be felt.
4. Symbolic / Poetic Resonance in the Novel
• There is correspondence in the novel between the four forces in physics and the classical elements in alchemy (earth, air, fire, water). Alexander’s obsession with the four physical forces is counterbalanced by the four elements of alchemy.
• The prime matter is thus woven into the structure of meaning in the novel: the dualities, the multiplicities, the need for a unifying ground. It renders the novel philosophical as well as emotional.

---

Alexander’s Journey: From Theory to Wholeness

Putting together character, symbolism, and plot, here is how Alexander’s journey unfolds with respect to his search for prime matter / a Theory of Everything.

• Beginning: Alexander is successful in his scientific work; he believes the answer is near. But his personal life is fragmented. There is distance between him and his girlfriend; there is unresolved baggage around his mother Alice's abandonment, combined with beliefs she instilled (ghosts, angels) that he outwardly disavows or ignores.
• Catalyst: Alice returns after many years, bringing Cleo with her. This return reopens old wounds and old hungers. It forces Alexander to confront the longing and questions he has tried to suppress. Cleo’s presence amplifies the tension: she offers something that science cannot quantify but which Alexander secretly craves.
• Conflict: Alexander is torn. On the one hand, science demands clarity, proofs, measurement. On the other, emotion and mysticism demand faith, ambiguity, surrender. The search for prime matter becomes a metaphor for his need to reconcile the two—that maybe the foundation of everything is not strictly scientific, nor strictly mystical, but something that includes both, something that is lived. His mental and emotional state becomes a crucible.
• Resolution or Partial Resolution: Without spoiling for those who haven’t read it, Grunwald does not give a neatly packaged answer. Alexander does not simply choose science over mysticism, or vice versa. Instead, the novel suggests that true wholeness requires embracing the mystery; that the “Theory of Everything” is not static or final but always in flux—between known and unknown, seen and unseen, measurable and mystical. The prime matter is less a thing to be discovered than a condition to be approached: integrity, acceptance, connection.

---

Why This Matters

Grunwald’s novel is philosophically rich in that it asks: What is the point of understanding the universe if you can’t understand your own heart? The search for prime matter invites readers to think about what foundations we stand on: scientific, rational, mystical, emotional, spiritual. It proposes that to live fully, one must negotiate among these, not subordinate one to another completely.

In the scientific age, novels like The Theory of Everything matter because they remind us that knowledge is not merely about quantifiable facts; it’s also about context, meaning, and what we do with what we know. Alexander’s journey suggests that every theory—even the grandest—must answer the question of self.