Worldviews - Part 3

Here is the next installment of answers to the four questions my daughter asked four friends of ours.  To see the questions, take a look at the first post in this series.  This person was gracious enough to spend a lot of time in giving a full explanation of the their worldview.  (I know that's not proper grammar, I'm just trying to maintain anonymity.)  In the interest of full understanding, I thought I'd include both the short and long answers to the questions.  

SHORT ANSWERS:

1. Who Is God?

As an atheist, I do not believe in a god or in any supernatural explanation of our existence.  God is not a 'who' but a 'what': an invention of the ingenious and creative human imagination based on emotional need.

2. How did the world begin?

Through a series of well documented cosmic processes which we can see at different stages all around us, beginning with the Big Bang.  As the explosion cooled, stars formed, then planets formed around them.  Lucky for us, conditions were perfect for life on Earth, but thus far, nowhere else in the universe that we know if yet.

3. What is your purpose on earth?

To leave the world better than when I appeared on it, and to love.

4. What will happen to you after you die?

I will return whence I came – non-existence.

LONG ANSWERS:

1. Who Is God?

God is not a who; rather, god (or, more accurately, the gods) are an idea invented by humankind.  I may refer to god as a 'he' because it is the convention used by our culture, but I don't believe god is a person or an entity of any kind.  There is no god outside the confines of the human imagination; the gods are a human invention. 

So if it's not a 'who is god' question, I should at least try to explain 'what is god'.  The gods were invented by humanity to explain many things.  Where knowledge failed, people ascribed the cause of many things to a god.  First and foremost, the gods helped early peoples to explain natural phenomenon.  The earliest religions that we know of were naturalistic – they attempted to explain happenings in the natural world like lightning, eclipses, and tides.  Some of these were frightening events, often deadly, and people asked 'Why did that happen?  Did we do something wrong?  If we make some sort of sacrifice (a virgin, a bull, a sheep, some grain) will the power behind it be appeased and stop?'  You can see why humanity sought supernatural explanations of frightening things, especially since we were exerting so much control over our natural environment in agriculture

Slowly people began to see the effects of natural events had consistent causes.  There even began to be explanations for why things happened in the natural world – they knew, for example, that tides were not caused by god, but by the motion of the moon in the sky.  "Great – we don't need a god to explain the tides!"  Eclipses could be predicted by monitoring the position of the sun, moon, and earth.  "No need for a supernatural explanation of eclipses – in fact, I can tell you when the next one will happen!"  As humans began to be able to understand the natural causes of these phenomenon, a supernatural explanation like god was no longer necessary, and so over time the gods of volcanoes and earthquakes fell out of fashion.  Indeed, you would think someone throwing a sheep into a volcano to appease and angry god was backward or primitive, would you not?

As cultures became more sophisticated, so did the idea of the gods.  There were gods of fertility to ensure many children and a good crop of wheat, gods of protection you could call on if you were under attack, and of course gods of war that rode into battle with you and your family.  Then as now, humans want to believe that no matter what the moral underpinnings of their actions, they are sanctioned by a higher authority – and there is no higher authority than a god to approve of what you're doing. This particular use of god continues to this day.  Believe it or not, there are religions in the world that use their god's perceived morality to persecute minorities, force people to their point of view, and deprive people of civil rights. 

Once society began to reach a more advanced technological level, like the ability to produce surplus crops, and complex societies where people could live in large, relatively stable communities, religion also evolved.  We got rid of the idea of gods and decided there would be only one god, and that god was also very interested in each person's moral behavior.  So interested, in fact, that the old testament of the bible lays out some pretty strict rules – and I mean strict!  Some samples: A 'stubborn' and 'rebellious' son should be stoned to death.  You must not wear clothing woven part of wool, part of linen.  All male prisoners of war must be put to death.  Interestingly, many Christians quote certain of the strict rules when it comes to the behavior of others in their society, but choose not to follow rules like those I mentioned above when it comes to their own behavior.  Religion became largely a code of conduct for this world to ensure you could make it into the next world.  The best explanation I've heard is that god became Santa Claus for adults: in the same way that children are told to be good so they are rewarded by Santa on Christmas morning, adults are told to live a certain way in order to go to heaven when they die.  We don't need god to give us morals, for as you can see by my answer to number three below, being a good and moral person can be done without a belief on god or in a higher authority. 

So in brief, god has been necessary to make sense of the unknown, and as science and knowledge have shed light on those areas of existence, the human idea of god has evolved.  God has been pushed out into the last remaining frontiers of those things that science has yet to explain.  Those are chiefly 1) the origin of life, which I address in question two and 2) what happens when we die which I address in question four.  Where did we come from, and where are we going?

                                                                                           

2. How did the world begin?

My understanding of this is purely scientific, so my explanation is easy to find in any basic geo-science textbook.  To the best of our knowledge the earth accreted into a planet as dust and gas cooled around the gravitational center of our solar system, which became our sun.  Science tells us that this took place over about 14 billion years, and indeed we see evidence all around us that time on the scale of the universe, galaxy and solar system is a whole different equation than what our human minds can easily conceive. 

As far as the beginning of life, that's still a mystery that scientists all over the world are keen to solve, but science does not and will never look for a supernatural explanation such as god: science must rely on evidence, and there has never been evidence of god.  Indeed, there is plenty of evidence pointing to the fact that life can begin in a laboratory.  Every religion that has existed into historic times has had its own version of the Adam and Eve tale.  These myths were invented by people to try and explain how we came to be – an important question (I think) for everyone to try and answer – but no different than early people seeking a supernatural explanation of tides or tornadoes.  

However life began, the best evidence we have found on earth indicates that life started out very simply and over billions of years slowly grew more and more complex.  Everyone has heard of dinosaur fossils, but few people appreciate that fossils go much much much further back in time, and that we can actually see more primitive animal and plant forms changing in the fossil record over millions of years to become more and more sophisticated: evolving.  It was exactly in this way that humans came to be the dominant species of our world: we can see it throughout the fossil record.  We are nothing more than highly evolved bacteria!  :O)


3. What is your purpose on earth?

It might surprise you to learn that my purpose on earth is very similar if not identical to the purpose of many people of faith.  I want to live a good life, always seek the truth no matter how much it might displease me, to help people, to not impose my beliefs or values on others, to leave the world a better place than I found it, to foster peace and love in my every action.  Actually, one of my favorite quotes does a pretty good job of summing up my purpose on earth:

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

4. What will happen to you after you die?

This is the probably greatest question at the center of religion these days.  This is one area where even science can be of little help, although there are studies attempting to probe the recesses of death (scientists study everything!)  I believe the best explanation of what happens when you die is to ask another question: where were you before you were born?  Is it not logical to assume you'll go to the same place (if, indeed it is a place at all)?  Were you with god, or did you simply not exist?  What does 'not existing' feel like?  I don't know about you, but I have no memories before I was about 2 years old.  The obvious explanation to me is that when we die, we simply cease to exist.

I don't know if you have ever lost a close loved one – obviously your Mom and Dad are still here for you, you lucky kid!  But since I have two children of my own, I worry about them as some day you might worry about your own children.  I have been lucky and never lost anyone closer to me than a grandparent.  My siblings, parents and close friends are all still with me – but I can't imagine what it must be like to have a parent die, or a best friend, or probably worst of all, one of my children. 

I can tell you if that did happen, I would be in the depths of grief for a very long time.  The emotional anguish would be almost too much to bear, and one of the greatest comforts I could imagine is that one day I would get to hear their voice again, hold their hand, smell their hair and simply hug them and never let go.  Grief is incredibly painful, and we clever humans have developed a means for making death not quite a final departure.  We imagine that those that die go to be with god, and if we live a good life, we, too, will go to the same place, to be with them.  This idea is very comforting to most people, and you'll hear it at funerals all of the time: "He's gone to a better place.  She's waiting for you on the other side.  You'll see her again one day.  He's with god now.  Her suffering is over."

The only statement above that I agree with is the last.  It's unpleasant to talk about, but many people die a death, full of agony, horrible pain and unending anguish.  We as humans like to think that death is a reward for our worldly suffering, that in death we will be made whole and healthy again, and most of all that death is not the final farewell to those we have loved.  The idea is that if we only believe in god, we never have to say goodbye.  We also want to believe that life has a purpose and a meaning beyond simply living.  That's important to most humans, as it is to me.  I think many people of religion find that purpose and meaning in 'achieving' the afterlife they dream of.  Only they know, of course, if they reach it!

Imagine if, instead of focusing on making it to heaven on the outside chance that we could spend 'forever' together (what does eternity mean?) we spend the short time we have on earth loving and appreciating and not taking for granted the people we love, so that when they do die we have no regrets, no harsh words to take back, no unkept promises.  My plan is to live in the here and now and not the hereafter.