Spirituality Door to Door
I'm blogging this now just a few minutes after it happened as it was one of the happiest moments of my life.
I have seen the light.
Working away upstairs, the doorbell went and thinking it was the postman, I scuttled down the stairs, told the dogs to hush and opened the porch door to be met with shadows. Two of them, one tall, one short, one male and one female. Both well dressed.
I knew who it was going to be before I regrettably opened the door to be met with two cheery faces and with a question along the lines of "Do you ever think we are going to have true happiness in the world for everyone?"
I was feeling quite chipper this morning. My cold is easing off and I am hoping to go the gym later and for a swim. I'd just finished a bit of work and so I decided to see what they were on about, rather than feign some important work-related issue to facilitate my closing the door immediately on them.
I discovered their names were Dale and Lesley. Dale was the chap, a tall shaven-headed man with an unnerving smile and a scandinavian twang to his accent. Lesley was a Geordie, but with a soft accent, it was Lesley who was doing most of the talking, Dale just stood behind her looking like some form of biblical bouncer.
"Are we ever going to be truly happy in the world? Everybody, do you think?" Lesley asked me once again.
Now I didn't wish to upset her or Dale. They were smiling, albeit slightly sinisterly, but feeling a little brave. I decided to give it a whirl and answer.
"No, I don't think so..." I said probably a little too tentatively.
Lesley wanted to know why this was the case. Was it because people were immoral? Had we lost sight of the things that truly mattered? Were we too greedy? Too hedonistic? Had we let pleasures of the flesh take precedence over spirituality? I was a little taken aback by the gravitas of the questioning. I'd just finished a kit-kat and needed to blow my nose. To be honest, they were more pressing matters to me at that exact moment in time, than the very nature of the human condition. Still I gave her a fulsome explanation of my rationale. I won't bore you with it here, suffice to say that it explains the frailty and weakness of the human condition in purely human terms, with no spiritual need whatsoever.
Sensing that she was getting nowhere near her goal, probably a forlorn hope I would be brutally shamed into guiltily conceeding that we all needed to turn to God to make the world a happy place, Lesley decided to change tack...
"Can you imagine infinity or how beautiful the universe is and how complex it is? I mean look at a house, they are a beautiful and complex thing..." Lesley stated wide eyed.
"It depends who builds it..." I stated half-jokily, she got the jokey part, but not the meaning behind the other half of it.
"Isn't it strange to think we require all this intelligence to build a house, but you are sure a man built it? Even though you never saw him actually build it?" Lesley asked, as if this was the most stunning insight I am likely to hear in the rest of my days.
"No. I know a man built this house. It was built at the end of the 19th turn of the 20th centure to provide housing for the workers in the docks and shipyards at the behest of the council at the time. I could, if I wished, go to the Wirral Council archives and find the documentation to prove that. Hopefully there would be photos, if not of my house then of others being built. I call that evidence and particularly decent evidence too... Certainly enough to base the belief was built by man on."
Lesley wanted to say something here but was frantically looking at Dale so I continued.
"Besides, I have seen my Uncle, who is a builder, build a house from scratch and I have even taken a small part in completing that task myself (a grandiose way to say I cleared a few shrubs from the plot of land before he started building, but I chose to interpret it that way). I base the assumption this house was built by man, not god, on the evidence I have. Now if tomorrow morning, I wake up and a brand new house suddenly appears out of thin air in the middle of Victoria Park, fully working, huge, lavish and without the need for Ty Pennington and his team to get involved, then maybe I'd wonder if your god had a hand in that."
Clearly the house analogy wasn't having the desired effect. So Lesley moved onto the Universe. "So, if we accept that it takes great intelligence to make something as small as a house, how can we explain something as complex as the whole Universe?"
Unfortunately for Lesley. I am a geek. I love the universe. Only last Saturday night I subjected Josh to watching the 3 Stephen Hawking programmes one after the other until he was half asleep muttering about quasars, gamma-ray bursts and the plausibility of time travel. I've also read a fair amount on it. Don't get me wrong, I am no Albert Einstein or even Patrick Moore, but I know a little.
I gently explained that the universe is governed by the laws of nature that came into existence when the universe began. Gravity is the driving force behind almost all aspects of our universe. It is the binding force that makes everything possible, from the big bang itself, to galaxies and stars, from the moon to tides, from us being here or not. Gravity and the laws of nature and thermodynamics perfectly explain how the universe began from the second of creation until it ends. With absolutely no need for any external deity to will it into existence.
Lesley seemed a bit crestfallen at this point, so Dale chipped in.
"But who created the universe?" Dale asked.
"The Big Bang" I countered.
"Ah, but where did that come from?" he asked clearly relishing this new line of questioning.
"I'm guessing it was a singularity. We don't know for certain."
"But who created the singularity?"
"Nobody. I mean no one person. One theory suggests that A Black Hole probably did - given that we know black holes create singularities for certain, I think it is a reasonable guess to make."
"Ah, but who created the Black Hole? if nothing existed?" Dale was getting a tad excited at this point.
"Gravity creates a Black Hole. Do you really want me to go into multiverse theory in intimate detail here? It's a real pain to be honest and very confusing."
To be fair, I don't think they were expecting to have to go into detail on multi-verse theory this when they knocked on my door, so they returned to more familiar territory when Lesley asked.
"You see, that's the problem I have with that theory. How do you create something from nothing?"
To which I countered. "That's exactly the same problem I have with religion."
Lesley looked slightly confused. "But we know who created the universe in religion. God did."
"True, but then who created God? If you are saying to me that the Universe cannot come into existence from nothing, then God, who must be part of that universe as it contains everything, cannot be precluded from those very laws himself. So if God created the Universe. Who created God?"
I can't recall what happened at this point, but I know it resulted in Lesley fumbling with her bag, Dale looking about for another house to go to before she got out the bible to show me something about how God really had created the universe. A few thousand years ago, to be precise. To which I countered this by asking, why if he only created it about 6000 years ago, which the bible states, do we have fossil records dating back hundreds of thousands, if not, millions of years?
"Ah but there are gaps in the fossil record!" she told me sagely.
"True, but we don't need to fill them with a God. A lack of knowledge on a subject does not mean god must fill in the gaps."
We then began talking about creation and the widely held belief that God created the universe in six days. Lesley stated that the ancient hebrew word for "day" actually didn't mean "day" as we understood it but meant an "unspecified length of time". To which I said that this is entirely open to interpretation and that it is reasonable to assume that if the word of God states 'a Day', when in reality he means 'About 13.7 billion years' he should perhaps use clearer diction and language to get his message across.
She then said she could prove that God didn't create everything in a week, as is stated in Genesis, but showing me a passage later on in the chapter which simply stated that "God created Heaven and Earth on that day." Her reasoning being, that the verse was stating that God created EVERYTHING on a day. Therefore that means everything that was created on the other 'days' as well was created on this day. Ergo, a 'day' is not a specific unit of time.
I know, I was baffled as well, but I think I got what she was saying. It didn't matter as the argument was utterly flawed anyway.
So I read the passage she had highlighted and simply pointed out that the paragraph could be interpreted in two ways. Her way. Or you could read the first line of the creation story, which states something along the lines of "On the first day, God Created Heaven and Earth..." then read the paragraph I had been presented which stated "God Created Heaven and Earth on that day" and reasonably assume that they mean the same thing. I also argued that my interpretation of the ambiguity of the text was at least as valid as theirs, chiefly as it maintained some form of semantic sense and adhered to the basic laws of language and diction.
By now, poor Lesley and Dale were getting a bit shuffly. Lesley slid the bible back into her bag and decided to have one last try.
She picked up on my word interpretation and stated "You see, interpretation is a good word. I have a problem with the idea of evolution as an interpretation of how we come into being... Why aren't there lots of us at other stages of evolution running around?"
By this point, I was so flabbergasted at this nonsensical question and fundamental lack of understanding as to what the theory actually means I actually did open my mouth in shock.
"There are! Have you been to the Monkey house in the zoo? Evolution isn't a nice simple line where we go from ameoba to fish to frogs to shrews to monkeys to you and me (I did it purposely in that order - but I think she missed the significance). The line of evolution isn't horizontal, it is a tree, with millions of branches that have come off it from time to time. Huge numbers of them have failed. We are just lucky to be on the branch that has been lucky and evolved to this point. Though it is hard to believe that is the case when you see some people about..."
To be fair, they did laugh at this. Even though I did mean them.
"But what you are saying is that we can do whatever we like and Evolution will happen anyway..." stated Dale. "That there is no right or wrong, that is a scary world. Kind of like the world we have today."
This annoyed me a little.
"No, what I am saying is that evolution is a random process of mutation which allows creatures to adapt to new challenges in the environment. The random nature means that some adaptations work - and creatures thrive, and some don't and they die out. Survival of the fittest - although I hate that term. That has nothing to do with morality."
"Morality is not linked with evolution and nor is belief in evolution evidence of an absence of morality. I'd argue that I am a more moral person that someone who believes their religious calling is to kill another human being, or to persecute a part of society because they do not share their beliefs."
"In instances such as these, it is not religion that is wrong. But the abuse and interpretation of it to foster hatred, prejudice. That isn't a fault with religion, or evolution, but with mankind. It is a human failing - regardless of which god or gods you do or do not believe in."
This is the bit where I was so proud of myself I wanted to cry. I actually quoted someone verbatim.
"A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." - Not my words. Albert Einstein - and he understood the nature of the universe better than me too.
(NB : I can't do the classic brainy thing of quoting people ad-infinitum, I know this quote not because I am so widely read and generally brilliant, but because I liked it enough to stick it on my Facebook page)
"Annnyyywayy..." said Lesley zipping up her bag. "We've got to go, I'm sure we've detained you long enough!" she smiled before bidding me goodbye. Dale shook hands with me and thanked me for the conversation.
I must admit I quite enjoyed it.
Can't wait until they come back around.
I have seen the light.
Working away upstairs, the doorbell went and thinking it was the postman, I scuttled down the stairs, told the dogs to hush and opened the porch door to be met with shadows. Two of them, one tall, one short, one male and one female. Both well dressed.
I knew who it was going to be before I regrettably opened the door to be met with two cheery faces and with a question along the lines of "Do you ever think we are going to have true happiness in the world for everyone?"
I was feeling quite chipper this morning. My cold is easing off and I am hoping to go the gym later and for a swim. I'd just finished a bit of work and so I decided to see what they were on about, rather than feign some important work-related issue to facilitate my closing the door immediately on them.
I discovered their names were Dale and Lesley. Dale was the chap, a tall shaven-headed man with an unnerving smile and a scandinavian twang to his accent. Lesley was a Geordie, but with a soft accent, it was Lesley who was doing most of the talking, Dale just stood behind her looking like some form of biblical bouncer.
"Are we ever going to be truly happy in the world? Everybody, do you think?" Lesley asked me once again.
Now I didn't wish to upset her or Dale. They were smiling, albeit slightly sinisterly, but feeling a little brave. I decided to give it a whirl and answer.
"No, I don't think so..." I said probably a little too tentatively.
Lesley wanted to know why this was the case. Was it because people were immoral? Had we lost sight of the things that truly mattered? Were we too greedy? Too hedonistic? Had we let pleasures of the flesh take precedence over spirituality? I was a little taken aback by the gravitas of the questioning. I'd just finished a kit-kat and needed to blow my nose. To be honest, they were more pressing matters to me at that exact moment in time, than the very nature of the human condition. Still I gave her a fulsome explanation of my rationale. I won't bore you with it here, suffice to say that it explains the frailty and weakness of the human condition in purely human terms, with no spiritual need whatsoever.
Sensing that she was getting nowhere near her goal, probably a forlorn hope I would be brutally shamed into guiltily conceeding that we all needed to turn to God to make the world a happy place, Lesley decided to change tack...
"Can you imagine infinity or how beautiful the universe is and how complex it is? I mean look at a house, they are a beautiful and complex thing..." Lesley stated wide eyed.
"It depends who builds it..." I stated half-jokily, she got the jokey part, but not the meaning behind the other half of it.
"Isn't it strange to think we require all this intelligence to build a house, but you are sure a man built it? Even though you never saw him actually build it?" Lesley asked, as if this was the most stunning insight I am likely to hear in the rest of my days.
"No. I know a man built this house. It was built at the end of the 19th turn of the 20th centure to provide housing for the workers in the docks and shipyards at the behest of the council at the time. I could, if I wished, go to the Wirral Council archives and find the documentation to prove that. Hopefully there would be photos, if not of my house then of others being built. I call that evidence and particularly decent evidence too... Certainly enough to base the belief was built by man on."
Lesley wanted to say something here but was frantically looking at Dale so I continued.
"Besides, I have seen my Uncle, who is a builder, build a house from scratch and I have even taken a small part in completing that task myself (a grandiose way to say I cleared a few shrubs from the plot of land before he started building, but I chose to interpret it that way). I base the assumption this house was built by man, not god, on the evidence I have. Now if tomorrow morning, I wake up and a brand new house suddenly appears out of thin air in the middle of Victoria Park, fully working, huge, lavish and without the need for Ty Pennington and his team to get involved, then maybe I'd wonder if your god had a hand in that."
Clearly the house analogy wasn't having the desired effect. So Lesley moved onto the Universe. "So, if we accept that it takes great intelligence to make something as small as a house, how can we explain something as complex as the whole Universe?"
Unfortunately for Lesley. I am a geek. I love the universe. Only last Saturday night I subjected Josh to watching the 3 Stephen Hawking programmes one after the other until he was half asleep muttering about quasars, gamma-ray bursts and the plausibility of time travel. I've also read a fair amount on it. Don't get me wrong, I am no Albert Einstein or even Patrick Moore, but I know a little.
I gently explained that the universe is governed by the laws of nature that came into existence when the universe began. Gravity is the driving force behind almost all aspects of our universe. It is the binding force that makes everything possible, from the big bang itself, to galaxies and stars, from the moon to tides, from us being here or not. Gravity and the laws of nature and thermodynamics perfectly explain how the universe began from the second of creation until it ends. With absolutely no need for any external deity to will it into existence.
Lesley seemed a bit crestfallen at this point, so Dale chipped in.
"But who created the universe?" Dale asked.
"The Big Bang" I countered.
"Ah, but where did that come from?" he asked clearly relishing this new line of questioning.
"I'm guessing it was a singularity. We don't know for certain."
"But who created the singularity?"
"Nobody. I mean no one person. One theory suggests that A Black Hole probably did - given that we know black holes create singularities for certain, I think it is a reasonable guess to make."
"Ah, but who created the Black Hole? if nothing existed?" Dale was getting a tad excited at this point.
"Gravity creates a Black Hole. Do you really want me to go into multiverse theory in intimate detail here? It's a real pain to be honest and very confusing."
To be fair, I don't think they were expecting to have to go into detail on multi-verse theory this when they knocked on my door, so they returned to more familiar territory when Lesley asked.
"You see, that's the problem I have with that theory. How do you create something from nothing?"
To which I countered. "That's exactly the same problem I have with religion."
Lesley looked slightly confused. "But we know who created the universe in religion. God did."
"True, but then who created God? If you are saying to me that the Universe cannot come into existence from nothing, then God, who must be part of that universe as it contains everything, cannot be precluded from those very laws himself. So if God created the Universe. Who created God?"
I can't recall what happened at this point, but I know it resulted in Lesley fumbling with her bag, Dale looking about for another house to go to before she got out the bible to show me something about how God really had created the universe. A few thousand years ago, to be precise. To which I countered this by asking, why if he only created it about 6000 years ago, which the bible states, do we have fossil records dating back hundreds of thousands, if not, millions of years?
"Ah but there are gaps in the fossil record!" she told me sagely.
"True, but we don't need to fill them with a God. A lack of knowledge on a subject does not mean god must fill in the gaps."
We then began talking about creation and the widely held belief that God created the universe in six days. Lesley stated that the ancient hebrew word for "day" actually didn't mean "day" as we understood it but meant an "unspecified length of time". To which I said that this is entirely open to interpretation and that it is reasonable to assume that if the word of God states 'a Day', when in reality he means 'About 13.7 billion years' he should perhaps use clearer diction and language to get his message across.
She then said she could prove that God didn't create everything in a week, as is stated in Genesis, but showing me a passage later on in the chapter which simply stated that "God created Heaven and Earth on that day." Her reasoning being, that the verse was stating that God created EVERYTHING on a day. Therefore that means everything that was created on the other 'days' as well was created on this day. Ergo, a 'day' is not a specific unit of time.
I know, I was baffled as well, but I think I got what she was saying. It didn't matter as the argument was utterly flawed anyway.
So I read the passage she had highlighted and simply pointed out that the paragraph could be interpreted in two ways. Her way. Or you could read the first line of the creation story, which states something along the lines of "On the first day, God Created Heaven and Earth..." then read the paragraph I had been presented which stated "God Created Heaven and Earth on that day" and reasonably assume that they mean the same thing. I also argued that my interpretation of the ambiguity of the text was at least as valid as theirs, chiefly as it maintained some form of semantic sense and adhered to the basic laws of language and diction.
By now, poor Lesley and Dale were getting a bit shuffly. Lesley slid the bible back into her bag and decided to have one last try.
She picked up on my word interpretation and stated "You see, interpretation is a good word. I have a problem with the idea of evolution as an interpretation of how we come into being... Why aren't there lots of us at other stages of evolution running around?"
By this point, I was so flabbergasted at this nonsensical question and fundamental lack of understanding as to what the theory actually means I actually did open my mouth in shock.
"There are! Have you been to the Monkey house in the zoo? Evolution isn't a nice simple line where we go from ameoba to fish to frogs to shrews to monkeys to you and me (I did it purposely in that order - but I think she missed the significance). The line of evolution isn't horizontal, it is a tree, with millions of branches that have come off it from time to time. Huge numbers of them have failed. We are just lucky to be on the branch that has been lucky and evolved to this point. Though it is hard to believe that is the case when you see some people about..."
To be fair, they did laugh at this. Even though I did mean them.
"But what you are saying is that we can do whatever we like and Evolution will happen anyway..." stated Dale. "That there is no right or wrong, that is a scary world. Kind of like the world we have today."
This annoyed me a little.
"No, what I am saying is that evolution is a random process of mutation which allows creatures to adapt to new challenges in the environment. The random nature means that some adaptations work - and creatures thrive, and some don't and they die out. Survival of the fittest - although I hate that term. That has nothing to do with morality."
"Morality is not linked with evolution and nor is belief in evolution evidence of an absence of morality. I'd argue that I am a more moral person that someone who believes their religious calling is to kill another human being, or to persecute a part of society because they do not share their beliefs."
"In instances such as these, it is not religion that is wrong. But the abuse and interpretation of it to foster hatred, prejudice. That isn't a fault with religion, or evolution, but with mankind. It is a human failing - regardless of which god or gods you do or do not believe in."
This is the bit where I was so proud of myself I wanted to cry. I actually quoted someone verbatim.
"A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." - Not my words. Albert Einstein - and he understood the nature of the universe better than me too.
(NB : I can't do the classic brainy thing of quoting people ad-infinitum, I know this quote not because I am so widely read and generally brilliant, but because I liked it enough to stick it on my Facebook page)
"Annnyyywayy..." said Lesley zipping up her bag. "We've got to go, I'm sure we've detained you long enough!" she smiled before bidding me goodbye. Dale shook hands with me and thanked me for the conversation.
I must admit I quite enjoyed it.
Can't wait until they come back around.
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