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HAVE I HELPED? |
All you people are crazy! (Sep 2005)
You know, I am just amazed at how seriously people take themselves. We have the atheists and the creationists and now the "intelligent designist's." Somewhere in the middle you have people like me who just wonder about the irrelevance of it all..... Don't you understand that there is absolutely no difference in all these perspectives, once you take the "proper" perspective?
"God" could be a marvelously advanced intelligence somewhere in the universe who has decided to spur on this little oasis of a planet. And given our meager perspective on the grand scheme of things, we could absolutely not tell the difference.
So what is the difference. Why do these people cling to their particular beliefs so tightly, so seriously, especially the ones where you have to kill people who don't believe in them as you do? Can't you just bask in the gentler, more sensible teachings of your religion..... like the main contingent of the human race.
They (he, she, it?) would certainly be an "intelligent designer" as well. No question about it!
Or if you are an atheist, you would posit that this "designer" wasn't really a God at all, because he (she, it?) is part and parcel of the universe!
But by normal definitions, the universe is everything..... even God would be a part of the universe by most definitions of "universe." Most religions have put God outside of the universe however. But they have, and have had, absolutely little clue what the universe is comprised of anyway. How would they know what "outside of" the universe meant? Historically the "universe" has been taken to mean the material aspects of our lives. God has derived from the "immaterial" aspects of our lives. This is Judeo-Christian-Islamic theology condensed to one sentence. The eastern religions have even more bizarre theologies.
But this division of material and "extra-material" just doesn't hold water anymore. That will probably be one of the main "contributions" of late twentieth century physics and cosmology when historians look back in a hundred years. Recent findings and theories of fundamental physics suggest that the idea of a "physical" universe just doesn't fly anymore! Quarks, strings, gravitons, whew! If you think these are pieces of "matter" you are seriously outdated! Physicists would have a very hard time telling you what matter and non-matter are these days.
The idea that God is outside of our universe comes from our (now mistaken) belief that there is a physical universe. We really don't know what the "physical" part of our universe even is anymore at the fundamental level.
So just where does God fit in these theories? Maybe he is out there in the "inflationary" universe! You laugh, but read on.
According to "inflation theory," if I understand its essence, there is even a part of our universe which is outside of the physically observable universe! This comes about because in the early stages of our universe's history, there was a "superluminal" expansion, because there is no "speed of light" limit on the expansion of the universe. The speed of light limit just applies to the speed of light! Maybe this is can take up the role of our non-material universe!
So can you tell me whether this "inflationary" part of the "universe" is part of our "universe?"
We are basically just bumping our gums together here, people. You and I have basically no clue about the grand scheme of things.
There is just a little voice inside of our heads, or maybe it is just the leftover little voice from the time when our brains were bicameral, and weren't so tightly intertwined. You people have voices talking to you! Or maybe it is Jesus or Mohammed talking to all you people via modulated tachyon beams.
The essential thing that you have to know is that you must have "faith" (I am using "faith" very generically here....) and you must be "optimistic." You really have no other choice. It is a simple "blind" choice to live, and not die. This is echoed in about a gazillion fine pieces of literature. It may even be the "grand theme" of most novels.
George Coyne, the director of the Vatican observatory (I know that sounds a little crazy, but it is true!) has a pretty enlightened view of faith and science. If you can ever catch the George Coyne Danz lecture webcast put out by the University of Washington, you should watch it. Especially the last 6 minutes where a scientist in the audience asks him how he can still believe in God. "You are not stupid if you believe in God!"
Me, I believe in God! Just don't ask me to explain what I mean by God. On my sadder days, he is an extra-terrestrial intelligence (an "intelligent designer") who thought a good deed, or joke for the day might be creating this here human race. On my brighter days, I believe in a grand scheme of things. My death will only complete the picture where it will all make sense...
You know, it just doesn't make any difference.
Would you just stop killing other people because you think you have the right answer. Maybe we wouldn't have to kill you to keep you from killing us. Let's have some perspective here, OK?
There are no answers, there are only choices...
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