Whether you believe in a Creator or not, from quark to galaxy, the universe is stupendously complex and magnificently beautiful. The CAUSE that created or began the universe is not understood, and by definition, CAN NEVER BE PROVEN WITH CERTAINTY.
The existence and diversity of life on this earth surpasses imagination, for words or ideas can not do justice to describe the fact of life, much less how it occurred. One stands in awe of it. It exists; it evolved. We do not know HOW life came into being, nor HOW it evolved, and it is enormously likely this knowledge WILL NEVER BE PROVEN WITH CERTAINTY.
Human existence, whether poor or rich, if in peace and in relationships is to be treasured. To be alive and self-aware as a conscious, volitional being is a great mystery. A cause and effect material brain in a human body seems only to create a deterministic being, a biological robot. Therefore, from whence comes the unbounded human spirit, but from the heart, the soul of a person. Still one must say, the SOURCE of our consciousness is not objectively understood, and by definition, CAN NEVER BE PROVEN WITH CERTAINTY.
The answers to “The Existence Questions” lead to….
The Existence Uncertainty Principle: You can be certain of your immediate existence, but then you cannot be certain of your ultimate existence. You can be certain of your ultimate existence, but then you cannot be certain of your immediate existence. If you are uncertain of your immediate existence, then you might become certain of your ultimate existence.
This principle is the essential definition and justification for the spirituality and religious beliefs of humanity.
Beginning with basic questions that are thought to be accepted facts, it is shown that the answers to “The Existence Questions” can never be proven with certainty. Most important, it is clear that a choice, an unjustified “leap of faith”, is necessary to believe “solely” in the natural world and its infinitesimal improbabilities, paradoxes and impossibilities. The SKEPTIC’s proof to this is that no one has ever won the Nobel Prize in answer to any of these questions, for if an answer were to be shown true for either view it would be a significant, global event.
“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”
Sir Francis Bacon
So what can be known? In what follows, these ideas ultimately lead to “self-evident truths” that rejustify the founding ideas of America. Whatever you believe and think, it does not change the fact that without a new philosophy of existence that can justify that life is meaningful and innately precious, and that can withstand rigorous, intellectual scrutiny, we will never again regain the America that depends on these words…
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Table of Contents: “The Existence Questions and America”
QUOTES TO RUMINATE ABOUT
John Davis, editor of Earth First Journal
“Wonders are many in the world, and the wonder of all is man. With his bit in the teeth of the storm, and faith in a fragile prow, far he sails, where the waves leap white-fanged, wroth at his plan. And he has the will of the earth by the strength of his hand on the plough.”
Sophocles, Greek philosopher
“We are an just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star.”
Stephen Hawkins, physicist
“What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a God! The beauty of the world!”
William Shakespeare, English writer
“Look your child in the eyes, and decide what you will say, based on your internally ruthless assessment of your beliefs about the nature of existence. ‘You my child, dear love of my life, are but a random quirk of nature, and quite frankly, your life will be ultimately meaningless, like a slug…. or…. You my child, dear love of my life, are wonderfully, purposefully, created, and your life has great meaning now and forever, so go forth, find your destiny pursuing it to the ends of the universe and I will pray to God to give you the power of his unbounded spirit and wisdom in your life’.”
Ted Bensen, Father
Table of Contents: “The Existence Questions and America”
