The Wonders of Life

LashingLady

Apologies for such a long post for my first foray into the A&A forum but I noticed that a lot of the stuff on this forum is about being a non-believer and not really going into what we DO believe in.

I didn’t think I was going to be very interested in a TV show about space, I wasn’t too into last year’s Wonders of the Solar System, but watching the Wonders of the Universe was a real epiphany for me.

I’d been agnostic/atheist for a lot of my life, I wasn’t brought up in a particular religion, but used to consider the existence of a god during my teens and early twenties, and sometimes might have called myself a Christian even though I was never quite sure about the existence of an interventionist deity. After the big tsunami in 2004 I was pretty much convinced of its non-existence.

When I watched that show and how well it put into perspective the vastness of distances and times involved in shaping our existence I was totally blown away and I actually think I found “peace” – i.e. the kind of piece that theists get when considering the existence of god…….(I’m sure there have been other books/films etc which also illustrated this but I hadn’t seen them or been looking for them)

I get annoyed sometimes about the pervasiveness of religion in society (schools, sacraments, Oscar speeches etc) and I think some people might view me as a “militant atheist” just cos I SAY that I don’t believe in god and give some reason behind my thinking. But I’ve been thinking about it, and this “stamp-collector” analogy that’s going around, but I do hate that we are labelled by what we DON’T believe in. I don’t believe in lots of things and really couldn’t give a toss about what I don’t believe in!

So here’s what I do believe in:

I believe that the universe and everything in it is following a random miraculous path of chance which results in creation and destruction, and

I believe that each and all of us are a product of this amazing randomness and may be equally or unequally blessed or damned by it purely by chance.

I believe that we humans have evolved some sort of spirit or zest or something which allows us to experience empathy and allows us to ponder our own existence but that this is purely down to the laws of science like everything else.

I believe that in the grand scheme of things the universe will “look-after” us – i.e. allow us to exist for as long as we exist but that this random chance will win out.

I believe that when we’re gone we’re gone, but there’ll be millions coming after us and after them again……

strobe

LashingLady wrote: »

think I was going to be very interested in a TV show about space, I wasn’t too into last year’s Wonders of the Solar System, but watching the Wonders of the Universe was a real epiphany for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8up9DnXV7BM

liamw

LashingLady wrote: »

But I’ve been thinking about it, and this “stamp-collector” analogy that’s going around, but I do hate that we are labelled by what we DON’T believe in. I don’t believe in lots of things and really couldn’t give a toss about what I don’t believe in!

That label is only there becuase of the prevalence of theism in society.

So here’s what I do believe in:

I believe that the universe and everything in it is following a random miraculous path of chance which results in creation and destruction, and

I would say that the universe is indifferent, so I don't know what you mean by 'miraculous'. Humans can't create and destroy non-randomly?

I believe that each and all of us are a product of this amazing randomness and may be equally or unequally blessed or damned by it purely by chance.

Natural selection is not a random process.

I believe that we humans have evolved some sort of spirit or zest or something which allows us to experience empathy and allows us to ponder our own existence but that this is purely down to the laws of science like everything else.

Calling it 'spirit' or 'zest' is misleading. The human brain has evolved traits like empathy and hindsight/foresight hrough natural processes. It is amazing when you consider the grand timeline of evolution that came before us.

I believe that in the grand scheme of things the universe will “look-after” us – i.e. allow us to exist for as long as we exist but that this random chance will win out.

The universe is indifferent so it won't 'look after us'. It doesn't allow or disallow anything. In a bizarre way you seem to be attributing human characteristics to the universe?

I believe that when we’re gone we’re gone, but there’ll be millions coming after us and after them again……

Perhaps... that is just speculation.