Do you believe in God?
If so, what is God like?
If not, how do you explain the order in our universe that we merely uncover with our "discoveries"?
If so, how do you explain the chaos in our universe?
If not, then are we alone? And what is life and why does it exist? Why are we even capable of asking the question "why?"
If so, why would God make us? What purpose do we serve?
Einstein had a quote that I think is a pretty great jumping off point for this discussion. He said, "The only thing incomprehensible about our universe is that it is comprehensible."
Mission control can you read me? Am I loud and clear?
There is a cloud between the two of us.
A static fear.
Where am I going?
Where have I been?
Do You have my position?
You got to tell me this is how it ends -
With a break in transmission?
Mission Control can You read me?
These are the questions of the conscious and self aware mind. Only those beings who are aware of themselves are capable of asking a question at all. Was consciousness born when the first question was asked?
? -> .
6 comments:
i KNEW these questions in Last transmission I had a significance regarding singularity itself.
this is fantastic.
Jacob, to me singularity describes the Human form in its most intelligent state. but is this possible? 2,000 years ago, im sure beings were thinking that their advancements we're groundbreaking, and they were indedd (paving a path for what we know now), but is there such thing as singularity? Our intelligence has been building up since the spawn of human life, is it possible to estimate when we will achieve singularity? Or if it is indeed achievable?
If not, how do you explain the order in our universe that we merely uncover with our "discoveries"?
It is that very question that always, always leads me back to God. It just makes no sense to me any other way, and I have considered the alternatives much of my life. At some point something had to exist that we cannot comprehend - infinity. Something had to be here before us. How does one get around that?
"If so, how do you explain the chaos in our universe?"
Free will... without the capacity to have chosen chaos, there would have been no capacity to freely choose love. Unfortunately when we chose wrongly, the result was chaos, and it still is the result.
I believe that God is infinite, omniscient, loving, just (sometimes those two seem at odds), patient and incomprehensible.
The thing that struck me about Einstein's quote was that the universe is comprehensible. On the other hand, a God that I could completely comprehend, would be too small - we would be equals. I don't happen to believe that. On the other hand, a God that I could not understand anything about would be irrelevant or tyrannical.
Somewhere there is a healthy balance there from my perspective.
Personally, I'm pretty grateful for the patient part -- I'm still here. LOL That's pretty amazing.
I was not really raised to believe in anything in particular. My dad was an athiest, my mom called herself an agnositic. I did go to church on occasion as it gave my mom a break, I think, but I'd have to say for a good long while, my view was more along the lines of "swear there ain't no Heaven and I pray there ain't no Hell."
I'm still trying to sort through my view of God vs. who He really is. I trust He will get me to the end of that road successfully. I guess that's where faith comes in.
I am a Christian, and I took a fairly round about road to get to that point. But one thing that strikes me is that most endeavors are man's attempt to reach God. With the faith I have it is God that reached to mankind. It's not the normal order that man usually establishes. It blows me away, actually.
It could literally take books to deal with all of this, and I don't know how much closer we'd all be. Now we see through a glass darkly, then we will see face to face. That is my belief, my hope and my faith.
This may not be as in depth and what not as the other comments but I think that these questions like "how we came to be" and why certain things happen are things that just cannot be explained. I beleive in God and I've had things happen to me that make me 100% sure that some things (not nessecarly everything) were meant to happen for a reason, but we are just better off not knowing why. I think that some things are just too incomprehensible, too much for us ever to understand. I think that we should just live our lives to the fullest and not worry about why we came to be and other questions like that.
Those are still some very good questions that you ask though, and it is good to want to know more, but maybe some questions, we will never quite know the answer to.
Tom does hold a point.
half of the thrill in life are the mysteries.
So many questions.
I do believe that there is a God. My faith is not very strong - it's kind of rare that my heart feels fully about practicing my faith. In the moments that I'm alone, and it does feel right...and I leave that state to see the world again, I feel so detached. Like I'm looking at everything new again. Or I've just woken up.
But the only reason that I believe in God, is because I don't know what else to believe. How do you explain things you don't know first hand? You kind of take things here and there and hmmm, suddenly, it feels right. I think as much as anyone wants to talk about the creation of everything, it's still a guess. It's endless. If one thing created everything, what created the creator? So, as abstract as it might be, the idea of a God is just an easy way to explain things.
I will tell you...I have not been shaken enough to know what I need to believe in. I mean, I believe in the power of music to bring hope, the value of hope, the good nature of people, and love. I function well on my solid upbringing. I'm not illogical. And as far as faith can go, maybe God created the Earth and allowed everyone to do whatever they wanted. So we created different religions. Maybe the reason I don't feel wholeheartedly about what I practice is because I ask "What if this is entirely wrong?" I lack conviction in faith. I think it's worth considering that every faith has value. What if by the end of your life, all that matters is how much you've invested in your soul, and how you treated people?
Maybe something in my life will happen that will clarify things, and maybe I'll know what religion truly had their stories right when I'm dead, but for now...I believe in a God. I just don't feel his presence all the time. It's not black and white.
Really, I just think it's important for people to be inspired, and to believe in what they believe in. I hope that people are good, and if not, there is enough good for humanity to grow.
(...rambles on some more...)
some really great thoughts here!
nick, you have a great point and i want to clarify that what i am suggesting is that "the thrill" of the mystery is magnified by our awareness of the mystery. think about how much we have learned as a species and think about how much there is still to learn. the mysteries we are aware of are only thrilling because we are aware of enough to appreciate them.
think about how much more there is to this story :)
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