I recently read in a magazine something like: “Any distortion in matter or energy will eventually cause a distortion in all other matter and energy.”
The message was supposed to be something along the lines of that we’re all connected to all other matter and energy in existence everywhere.
Is it true that if I clap my hands, I just affected somehow all of the matter and energy in the universe?
It is all connected, but the speed at which the connection manifests is c (also known as the speed of light). This speed is an absolute thing; it turns out that the relative speed between information and influence transfer per se and any physical object is c, regardless of how the object itself is moving. In cosmology, influence propagates outward from every cause at c along what are called “world lines”.
Along the lines of the mysterious, information and matter and energy are all three of them made of the same stuff.
To add to this: due to the expansion of space itself some parts of the universe are actually moving away from us faster than the speed of light (I know, wacky). Because of this, nothing we do here on earth will ever affect these most distant reaches, assuming the expansion never “slows down” (and evidence suggests that it will not). Thus I would answer the OP with no, your clap will not eventually affect everything.
Then again, I probably just put far too much thought into what was really meant as a nice, warm fuzzy proverb.