Wonder and Explanation

I’ve often heard it said that the universe is so complex, so precise, so extraordinary, that it must have been created by God.

I understand the feeling behind that.

When you look at the night sky, or think about the laws of physics, or the emergence of life, it does feel incredible.

But there is something about that explanation that has never fully satisfied me.

Because if the universe is so amazing that it requires a creator, then wouldn’t that creator have to be even more amazing? Even more complex. Even harder to explain?

And if that is true, then it feels like we have taken a mystery we can actually explore and replaced it with an even bigger mystery that, by definition, we are told not to examine.

That doesn’t feel like an answer.

It feels like stepping away from the question.

There is another possibility.

That in a reality with vast possibilities, stable patterns can emerge. Over time, those patterns can become more complex. Complexity can give rise to life. Life can give rise to intelligence. And intelligence can arise not because it was inserted from outside, but because once something exists that can preserve itself, intelligence has value.

It helps the system continue.

That possibility may not answer everything. But at least it stays inside the mystery instead of declaring it solved.

So maybe the wonder we feel is not proof that the question is finished. Maybe it is proof that there is still something worth understanding.

Previous in the series:
If God Gave Us Minds

Next in the series:
If There Were a God

Series index:
A Map of the Questions for Civilization -- Table of Contents