Knowing whether God is part of the equation or not is crucial to our future prospects.
I read an article recently about 32 new planets being discovered beyond our solar system, bring the total to 400. Most of these planets are huge, like 5 times the size of Saturn huge. The smallest are still 5 times the size of our planet. For reference, that means if you weigh 100kg on Earth, on these other giants it will feel like 500kg. So, none of these are alternatives.
When you watch the documentary EARTH, when you read about what astronauts say about being in space [and seeing a moon sized Earth, being able to hide it behind your thumb] and when you venture out of the city and go and have a look at nature up close...it is easy to be awed. It is an incredibly special planet, some scientists call it 'the lucky planet'. And there are a host of reasons why. The tilt of the axis [caused by a big meteor hit some eons back], our large moon [acting as shield] and the large oceans all contrive to create conditions that stimulate not just life, but an utterly dazzling array of competing life forms.
It is easy, in a way, to imagine in an infinite universe, that another Earth might exist. But for practical purposes, it is also easy and reasonable to assume that there isn't. We've certainly looked and found nothing to jump up and down about. Perhaps, a million light years away, there is another planet, but at those sort of distances, it wouldn't matter.
The point I am trying to get to is that when you realise how special the Earth is, even magical, this ball of life, perfect, fragile, beautiful, it is tempting to imagine there is a rhyme and a reason behind it. It's tempting to believe that God waved his wand and POP! Earth.
It's also a reassuring thought. Because if God isn't behind the creation of Earth, then Earth's fate hangs in the balance, quite literally. It is swooping around a pretty dangerous place - that's what space is. And ultimately faces a very uncertain future. It also implies that the abundance of life that we see and enjoy now may be a temporary aberration. Survival in the universe may be a very rare event.
When we say God created everything, as I say, it's reassuring. It means there is a plan, and there's insurance. After all, if we fuck up the planet, God is our safety net. he can always just do additional wand waving and weave creatures back into existence. If you believe that. It's also, ultimately, God's responsibility. Unless, of course, it is ours. And let's be absolutely clear here. If God doesn't exist, we are nowhere near even beginning to face up to our responsibilities. We are a ways away from even beginning to manage ourselves, let along pursuing sustainable living habits. The abundant dogma of our time, whether heathen or Christians remains simply - greed. Consume. And there is a path for that sort of belief system. We're on that path.
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms. -Albert Einstein, Obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955
At my high school reunion I encountered a chap who I last saw, oh, 20 years earlier. I'd seen him making some pretty churchy comments on Facebook, so I called him on them. I said, "You know when we were at school, I don't remember you being a Christian. I mean, I was a Christian. I don't know if you remember that. You know, a dedicated oke. But I'm not a Christian anymore, so I'm interested to hear your story."
"No, when I was at school, I was. I just wasn't sure when I was at school."
"Oh? What happened?"
"Some paradigm shifting stuff happened."
"Like what?"
He then quickly and somewhat clumsily changed the subject.
I've done a fair bit of writing in my time. Curiously, two of my manuscripts have been met with a fair bit of praise from, of all people, Christians. THE HALF FULL MOON and HEAVEN IS IN YOUR HEART has been described as having strong christian overtones. Really? I certainly didn't mean to implicate christian doctrine. I simply tried to write a spiritual and affirming story.
The Devil Smokes Dunhill is almost the antithesis of this. It questions God, it has an entirely satirical approach to life. And yes, the same person wrote all of these stories.
I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.- Albert Einstein, responding to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein who had sent Einstein a cablegram bluntly demanding "Do you believe in God?" Quoted from Victor J. Stenger, Has Science Found God? 2001, chapter 3.)
My point is that perspective has a way of defining you and your life, and also your prospects. I see nothing wrong with someone who believes in certain things, being part of a community who believes, reinforces those things. Such a community will take care of its own. Because villages in South Africa, and towns, once upon a time started around churches. People's faith helped to build this country. Of course we can tell the other story, that the church also maintained divisions in this country long past the sell by date of those ideas. And here's where my concern comes in. What if we're wrong? If God isn't out there, and we're the ultimate decision makers on the destiny of Earth, what are we doing? Some people say that the world is stubborn, and will be effective in getting rid of us, rather than the other way round. I find this to be probably true, in spite of the beliefs most people say they have.
The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. - Albert Einstein
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