the universe according to lynx

So i’ve been thinking about religion, gods, spirituality a lot lately, as readers of this blog can probably tell. I’ve arrived at a few basic conclusions about what i believe, and while i don’t expect to make any converts i figured laying it out on the record so to speak might be useful for folks trying to figure out what the hell i’m on about when i rant about how stupid i think christianity, islam, judaism, and other revealed religions are.

In a nutshell, I’ve come to the conclusion that I do not know the ultimate nature of reality and that anyone who claims they do is probably a liar. Based on that it’s a pretty short step to assert that all of the religions founded by those liars are not true. The universe is a very big place with a virtually infinite number of worlds. As everyone with even a basic grasp of statistics knows, infinite worlds mean infinite chances for life to evolve, and therefore an infinite diversity in that life. In such an infinitely diverse universe, the Abrahamic idea of an anthropomorphic God who is peculiarly devoted to one particular species on one tiny little planet and who created that species (humans) in “his” image is utterly absurd. It’s even more absurd to suggest that any god capable of creating the universe would be interested in dictating and enforcing morality among humans on this tiny blue dot we call earth. Based on that we can pretty much rule out the Abrahamic conception of a personified creator deity. Without a giant Santa Claus to promise us toys, virgins, and eternal life after death, the Christian and Muslim concepts of Heaven and Hell are obviously irrelevant as well, and these religions become relevant only for what they can tell us about techniques of population control in the feudal societies where these religions originated and how those methods have been adapted by the ruling classes in the modern world.

The question then becomes does divinity exist? and if so what is the nature of that divinity?

Having eliminated prophets and revelations along with the anthropomorphic gods they sell, we don’t have any quick and easy method of establishing what the nature of divinity is. The only honest response has got to be that no one knows for certain, but that some things are more probable then others.

Over the years I’ve looked at a lot of belief systems. I like the Buddhist idea of mutual co-creation, that we all created each other through a collective act of belief, but I very much dislike the Buddhist contention that the universe is an illusion we must transcend. Reincarnation also seems fairly unlikely to me on the basis that there are more people alive now then in all of prior human history combined, so if the universe is just recycling souls then there obviously wouldn’t be enough to go around. Which would actually go a long way to explain modern corporate Capitalism, but still seems unlikely. I also like the non-dualistic Hindu idea that all of the universe is in fact divine, that all life – including the gods – are manifestations of the same divine reality, and that the universe and deity are essentially synonymous. The Caste system and the emphasis on escaping this earth and this existence through meditation in order to transcend reality pretty much kills Hinduism for me though. I also really like the way many Pagans show a profound love and respect for nature and this earth – which, after all, is the only world we have – but I’m wary of the tendency among many Pagans to first reject the Abrahamic ideas of personified anthropomorphic deities and then turn around and attempt to resurrect the anthropomorphic deities of other religious traditions. Goddess worship doesn’t really do much for me, it replaces a patriarchy with a matriarchy but leaves all of the fundamental problems with personified deities intact.

or me at least – speaking only for myself and with no claims or pretensions towards religious authority of any kind – this earth is the only heaven I need or want and I would rather live one life according to my own conscience and without fear then be endlessly re-incarnated or sent to heaven or hell as a reward/punishment for failing to comply with someone else’s morality. The only thing I can think of that’s really worth worshiping is nature itself on a universal scale. And even that would be less a matter of “worship” then of showing respect. To me the very act of worship – of giving away ones power to a projection of deity that may or may not exist – is dehumanizing at best. Also, if nature is divine I wouldn’t expect that divinity to have the kind of individual self-aware consciousness that humans have, it would be a networked consciousness similar to the Internet only infinitely more complex- where the total consciousness is the result of the interactions between all of the beings who are a part of it. It would be similar to the Buddhist idea of mutual co-creation but it would involve every aspect of the universe as a whole – not just “sentient” beings – and it would be happening constantly as the universe as a whole created and recreated itself from one moment to the next.

The closest word I’ve found to describe that sort of belief system is Pantheism, but i could also call myself an agnostic (because I don’t claim to know if my own conception of divinity is ultimately true) or an atheist (because I believe that religions based around personified deities are definitely not true). In the past i’ve gone so far as to self-identify as a Pagan based on the idea that paganism = nature worship, but if paganism = worshiping nature-identified deities and not nature itself then I’d have to count myself out. i guess it all depends on where we draw the boundaries. I try not to get too hung up on labels anyway, I’ve got enough labels already from my political activism without attaching more to myself.

At the end of the day the thing i find most intriguing about spirituality is that – like the universe itself – it’s both infinitely complicated and utterly simple. There is no god, no savior, no sin, no redemption, no afterlife; only us and the universe we live in. And if we want to continue living in this particular corner of the universe it’d be a good idea to start taking care of it.

Posted: June 30th, 2007 under gods & religion, personal.
Comments: 5

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