{"id":12045,"date":"2012-12-09T13:59:50","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T18:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=12045"},"modified":"2012-12-09T13:59:50","modified_gmt":"2012-12-09T18:59:50","slug":"does-the-universe-have-a-purpose-your-vote-counts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/12\/09\/does-the-universe-have-a-purpose-your-vote-counts\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Universe Have a Purpose? Your vote counts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

http:\/\/vimeo.com\/51960515#<\/a>\n<\/p>

Joe Hanson<\/a> shared this quote from Michio Kaku: \u201cPhysicists are made of atoms. A physicist is an attempt by an atom to understand itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

And vorjack<\/a> shared this from Phil Hellenes:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like the universe screams in your face, \u201cDo you know what I am? How grand I am? What are you, compared to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

And when you know enough science, you can just smile up at the universe and reply, \u201cDude, I AM you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Vorjack says, \u201cI like the sentiment, but we\u2019re only a tiny part of the universe.\u201d And thus it\u2019s a stretch to \u201c[equate] ourselves with the universe because \u2018we are all star dust\u2019 or something similar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
You are here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I agree. Each of us is only a tiny part of the universe. A tiny, tiny part.<\/p>\n

But undeniably a part of it nonetheless.<\/p>\n

And that, it seems to me, has to be an essential consideration for considering the \u201cBig Question\u201d recently posed by the John Templeton Foundation: \u201cDoes the Universe Have a Purpose?<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal deGrasse Tyson\u2019s response<\/a> to this question \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m not sure\u201d \u2014 seems to have gone viral. That\u2019s deservedly so, since it\u2019s his usual Sagan-esque mix of science and near-poetry (and has already been transformed into another terrific NdGT-narrated YouTube video<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Tyson emphasizes how very, very tiny we are against the incomprehensible vastness of space and time. This is science, but it reads like one of the monologues spoken by the character God in the book of Job:<\/p>\n

If you are religious, you might declare that the purpose of life is to serve God. But if you\u2019re one of the 100 billion bacteria living and working in a single centimeter of our lower intestine (rivaling, by the way, the total number of humans who have ever been born) you would give an entirely different answer. You might instead say that the purpose of human life is to provide you with a dark, but idyllic, anaerobic habitat of fecal matter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tyson concludes:<\/p>\n

So in the absence of human hubris, and after we filter out the delusional assessments it promotes within us, the universe looks more and more random. Whenever events that are purported to occur in our best interest are as numerous as other events that would just as soon kill us, then intent is hard, if not impossible, to assert. So while I cannot claim to know for sure whether or not the universe has a purpose, the case against it is strong, and visible to anyone who sees the universe as it is rather than as they wish it to be.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The problem there, as Kaku and Helles remind us above, is that our wishes for how the universe ought to be are part of the universe.<\/em> A tiny, tiny part of it, perhaps, but a part of it nonetheless.<\/p>\n

We have a say in this.<\/p>\n

We cannot consider the question \u201cDoes the Universe Have a Purpose?\u201d without considering the sub-question \u201cDo I Have a Purpose?\u201d or even the sub-question to that, \u201cDo I Want<\/em> to Have a Purpose?\u201d<\/p>\n

Answering \u201cYes\u201d to that third question means answering \u201cYes\u201d to the second. And that means \u2014 even if only in a very tiny, tiny way \u2014 answering \u201cYes\u201d to the first.<\/p>\n

Consider Jane Goodall\u2019s response<\/a> to Templeton\u2019s question. Maybe all that talk of wonder and beauty and spirit is just her wishful thinking. But even so, as she argues there, the wishful thinking of Jane Goodall is also a part of the universe and thus must also be at least a part of what we consider when we ask if the universe has a purpose.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not really disagreeing with Tyson here, just trying to approach the question differently than his essentially Thomistic take. He echoes scholastic arguments when he says:<\/p>\n

To assert that the universe has a purpose implies the universe has intent. And intent implies a desired outcome. But who would do the desiring?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many theologians have posed that question in just that way, of course answering, \u201cGod<\/em> \u2014 God does the desiring, and God supplies the intent.\u201d I believe<\/em> that\u2019s true, but I can\u2019t supply any more evidence that it is than the God-character supplied to Job.<\/p>\n

As Nancey Murphy said in her response<\/a> to Templeton\u2019s question: \u201cNothing can be known of any plan for the future perfection of the world or the human condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s try another answer to this question from Aquinas and Tyson: \u201cWho would do the desiring?\u201d<\/p>\n

How about us?<\/em> You and me \u2014 we<\/em> can do the desiring.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s actually a terrific word for what we are capable of doing as incomprehensibly tiny parts of the universe. We can\u2019t ensure<\/em> any outcome, or impose our intent on the universe. But we can desire<\/em> a purposeful outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arc of the moral universe is long,\u201d Dr. King said, \u201cbut it bends toward justice.\u201d That\u2019s a statement of faith, not of science. It\u2019s a statement about the universe as we wish it to be rather than as it is \u2014 \u201crandom,\u201d with \u201cevents that are purported to occur in our best interest \u2026 as numerous as other events that would just as soon kill us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

But our desiring, our wishing it to be, is also part of what is.<\/em> A tiny, tiny part, perhaps, but there it is.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why as much as I like the responses from Tyson, Goodall and Murphy, my favorite of all the responses from Templeton\u2019s conversation comes from Elie Wiesel. Does the universe have a purpose?<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope so,\u201d<\/em> Wiesel said. \u201cAnd if it doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s up to us to give it one<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does the universe have a purpose? Do you<\/em> have a purpose? Do you want<\/em> to have a purpose?<\/p>\n

Three forms of the same question. And my answer is the same as those of Goodall, Tyson and Wiesel: Certainly, I\u2019m not sure, I hope so.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have a say in this. We cannot consider the question “Does the Universe Have a Purpose?” without considering the sub-question “Do I Have a Purpose?” or even the sub-question to that, “Do I Want to Have a Purpose?” Answering “Yes” to that third question means answering “Yes” to the second. And that means — even if only in a very tiny, tiny way — answering “Yes” to the first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[30,50],"class_list":["post-12045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-science","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes the Universe Have a Purpose? Your vote counts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We have a say in this. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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