(This post was inspired by a comment from a reader named Chris in response to my Thanksgiving post.)
Does our universe's creator (if one exists) deserve praise? Or more generally, for what types of universes would their creators deserve praise? This may be impossible to answer without knowing the circumstances that led to the creation. For example, how much choice did the creator have in the types of universes that could be created? (Einstein: "What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world.") Obviously there is both good and bad on our planet, and assuming that evolution is as fundamental as it appears to be, there is likely to be both good and bad elsewhere in our universe. Should a creator be praised only if its universe has only good and no bad? What if it were impossible to create such a universe? Maybe a universe with a lot of good and a little bad is better than no universe at all? (Negative utilitarians might disagree.) If so, then we can praise the creator in proportion to the relative quantities of the two. On our planet there is currently a lot of both, but maybe elsewhere in the universe there is more good than bad, or maybe suffering is temporary in our universe and eventually intelligent life escapes from it. (Combine the concepts of Biocosm and Nonzero for an idea of what I'm suggesting here.) Also, everything above assumes that humans are qualified to judge what constitutes good and bad. It's hard to make the case that suffering is anything but bad, but the difference between a creator's intelligence and a human's could be vastly greater than that between a human's and an ant's, and maybe we're simply not equipped to understand why a creator would allow suffering. I'm not prepared to completely withhold judgment and assume that the creator (if there is one) has created the "best" world, but I do have a great deal of respect for the creator of a universe which has enabled the progression, at least on one planet, from matter to life to intelligence to consciousness to something approaching free will, and I think the best may be still to come.
Does our universe's creator (if one exists) deserve praise? Or more generally, for what types of universes would their creators deserve praise? This may be impossible to answer without knowing the circumstances that led to the creation. For example, how much choice did the creator have in the types of universes that could be created? (Einstein: "What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world.") Obviously there is both good and bad on our planet, and assuming that evolution is as fundamental as it appears to be, there is likely to be both good and bad elsewhere in our universe. Should a creator be praised only if its universe has only good and no bad? What if it were impossible to create such a universe? Maybe a universe with a lot of good and a little bad is better than no universe at all? (Negative utilitarians might disagree.) If so, then we can praise the creator in proportion to the relative quantities of the two. On our planet there is currently a lot of both, but maybe elsewhere in the universe there is more good than bad, or maybe suffering is temporary in our universe and eventually intelligent life escapes from it. (Combine the concepts of Biocosm and Nonzero for an idea of what I'm suggesting here.) Also, everything above assumes that humans are qualified to judge what constitutes good and bad. It's hard to make the case that suffering is anything but bad, but the difference between a creator's intelligence and a human's could be vastly greater than that between a human's and an ant's, and maybe we're simply not equipped to understand why a creator would allow suffering. I'm not prepared to completely withhold judgment and assume that the creator (if there is one) has created the "best" world, but I do have a great deal of respect for the creator of a universe which has enabled the progression, at least on one planet, from matter to life to intelligence to consciousness to something approaching free will, and I think the best may be still to come.
posted by howtolive.org at
10:15 AM
2 Comments:
The universe is a combination of material existence and logic. If one cannot exist without the other, then in making the universe, this design constraint forced God to include such mixed blessings as natural selection and the second law of thermodynamics.
But then there's quantum uncertainty - in the first moments of the big bang, when the universe was very tiny, a small uncertainty could have huge effects. Eintstein struggled with this, asserting that "God does not role dice". And yet, it seems, God does.
Now your question: does such a creator deserve our thanks and praise? NO! The only good done by this creator is in making it possible for a limited number of us to enjoy a limited heaven on Earth. And since our time on this planet is also limited, it should be spent working to create a better world for all people. To worship the creator is to waste creation.
By
Chris, at 11:23 AM
What an inspiring post. In deed it is a waste of creation to worship the creator, great point. Just recently I got a newsletter from a friend who is running a religious school - she talks about purpose and meaning and requests people's prayers to help them continue against all odds. Prayer and praise to god is the fabric of unconsciousness. I have mixed emotions; while I'm glad she is doing something noble like running a school for poor children, it's not really free, these children have to pay a price. All in the name of the creator. I guess being a doctor doesn't guarantee that one gets any closer to consciousness... what a contradiction.
By
Anonymous, at 6:02 PM
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