Willy Everlearn
Just a little while ago a friend asked me “Just what do you believe?” I began my reply. Within 60 seconds I was interrupted and was asked “Do you believe in God or not?” Only a tweet length answer would suffice. My reply, in that situation, was simply “Forget it.” We found ourselves a bit frustrated with our conversation. Yes or No. Black or White. Where is the nuance? Where is the subtlety? Is there no place for reasoned answers anymore?
I shall endeavor to explain here what I was not permitted to do so in person. As they say in show business, prepare for a bit of a long walk. While I will do my best to be as brief as reasonable, do not think that I am ducking or obfuscating any part of the question. In what follows, I hope to address any and all points I believe pertinent. I will, of course, be open to questions, observation and additional data. Suffice it to say, I am open to anything having a basis in reason and evidence.
I will open with some very simple observations to which I became aware after my experience as a young Christian in my youth. Most people have some vague recognition that life itself is based in chemistry. Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen and many other chemicals are essential to us walking, talking, breathing, in short living. Where did these elements come from? They come to us from the death of stars. Any element heavier than Iron comes to us from super novae. As Mr. Sagan put so succinctly, “We are star stuff.”
Someone asked Pierre-Simon Laplace why he hadn’t mentioned God in his book on astronomy? His response was quite elegant, “I had no need of that hypothesis.” For me, I would rather have questions that I can’t answer than answers that I can’t question. The only attribution I can find is Richard P. Feynman though I know I was aware of this quote back in the 1970’s. There not only does not seem to be a need for a deity in my understanding of the universe I exist in, there seems no room for one as defined by a twelve hundred year old book.
In a sense of awakening, I realized that prayer had no better chance of working than pure random chance. The stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, just to mention a few, to a rational world are complete absurdities in the view of historical context, even in the face of rationality. The stories of Jesus are contrived at best. The only reference is the Bible where there is no Eye-Witness testimony. The bible as we know it is at most fifteen hundred years old, more than likely less than a thousand. Islam fares no better in the face of reason and historical context. The Torah is a remnant from when we did not even know we were on a planet. All of these are vestiges of a time when we were ignorant goat herders just discovering the world. Just as an infant believes you actually disappear when closing your hands in a game of Peek-a-Boo.
Yes, I will admit to taking a bit of umbrage when the faithful suggest that I can neither be moral nor life a full satisfying life with out need of a judge watching my every move. I find it satisfying to help others. I fix neighbor’s cars. I fix the neighborhood’s roads. I teach others and offer advice and resources to further their aims and goals. It is the sort of thing that makes me happy. I have never cheated on any of my partners. I have no desire to hurt or harm anyone. I can not watch “Prank” videos because I think they are cruel. There are charities to whom I donate regularly. Morality comes from evolution and natural selection not from books that endorse slavery, misogyny and genocide.
Voltaire said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. Being conditioned from infancy to believe in absurdities such as Noah’s flood is a life long conditioning to believe whatever Argument from Authority may present. When a young person has a “Crisis-of Faith” by question some aspect of their respective dogma, they are rewarded by their loved ones, community and peers for a “Leap-of-Faith” when they disregard or leave those questions and doubts behind. In short they are rewarded for ignoring reality. No wonder Antivax, Flat Earth, Jewish Laser, Human Skin wearing Lizard Illuminati philosophies abound.
While I can not answer the questions of the universe’s origins nor bio-genesis, the default answer is not “God did it.” The emotional experience I had as a young Christian described as “Feeling the Spirit Upon You,” I experience now when I delve into the intricacies of Quantum Super Position. I feel the same awe and spirituality when trying to understand String Theory or M theory. Dreaming what is beyond the boarder of our universe is even more stirring than any religious experience in my life. We are the universe trying to understand itself. We are how far this little corner of this reality has evolved. Our duty is to learn and understand the universe in which we live leaving behind the old absurdities of a primitive people just trying to survive.
Which is more exciting and full filling? Being a part of the Universe, specifically the part of the universe that is trying to figure itself out or following legends and fairy tales from our younger, less educated selves? Is mulling over the implications of astrophysical observation less inspiring than being knee deep in dogma from our ancient history? Learning the incantations of math or citing from rote memory a few lines that have no real impact on an part of our reality. I am inspired by science, math, electronics and learning. I love discovering the answers myself and regularly seek illumination where I am stumped. I eschew dogma especially when it makes no sense or is indeed straight up contradictory.
In short, We Are the Universe.
