In the film Equilibrium, Mary O’Brien asks the main character in her cell why he exists. He answers: “I live… I live to safeguard the continuity of this great society, to protect Libria.”
In reply she states that his argument is circular, as he lives to continue his existence. He in turn asks her why she lives. She answers: “To feel. Because you can’t do it, you can never know it, but it’s as vital as breath. Without it life is nothing but a clock, ticking.”
In essence her own argument is also circular, as she lives to experience her own existence. There is no real difference if the reason to be alive is a cognitive or emotional decision. Without a higher power, human life and all that exists just doesn’t make sense.
Someone from an earlier discussion made the point that the stars, to him/her, has no significance as they are only atoms. The question why they are there is therefore pointless. I, however, look up at the stars and see possibilities, potential other worlds. They signify my own relative insignificance and therefore accentuate my place in the cosmos, as an observer and respecter of all that is. The stars therefore, although not on a personal religious level, do have personal meaning and from all the astrologists as well as all people who flip to the stars section in the newspaper each morning to check on their “future” as well as all the astronomers and cosmologists out there, I am not the only one who see meaning in the existence of stars.
The question can be asked “why does it matter if human life has a point?” The question touches on many aspects of society, including morality, justice, sociology, etc. Without a point to our existence, without an external reference frame to make up for our own insecurities and shortcomings, life is “but a clock, ticking.” All is then meaningless and all hope is taken out of the equation.
Many scientists (I being one myself) think that the only world view is that of facts from which, through the process of deductive reasoning and logic, theories of how things work can be wrought. The problem with this is on an emotional level. Love, for example. A man loves a woman, yet there is no guarantee the relationship will work. The risk is not justified in purely logical terms, yet we go from relationship to relationship in spite of being hurt each time and making a commitment with yourself that it will not happen again. This transcends the mere need to proliferate genetic material.
The nature of information is another problem. We know it exists, because of the organised way the universe operates. Planets orbit stars, cells in the body go about their daily functions keeping us alive, yet know one knows where this information comes from. It is conceivable that a singular mathematical point with infinite density can exist and explode. What is perhaps less conceivable is that the singularity also contains all the information upon which the future universe and life is based upon. In essence, the singularity also contained a blueprint of everything which was to come into being. With life in mind, what foresight from an unintelligent, dimensionless mathematical point of infinite density.
I would therefore argue that evidence for a higher power does indeed exist, but that this evidence is ignored due to personal prejudice and willful denial.
In reply she states that his argument is circular, as he lives to continue his existence. He in turn asks her why she lives. She answers: “To feel. Because you can’t do it, you can never know it, but it’s as vital as breath. Without it life is nothing but a clock, ticking.”
In essence her own argument is also circular, as she lives to experience her own existence. There is no real difference if the reason to be alive is a cognitive or emotional decision. Without a higher power, human life and all that exists just doesn’t make sense.
Someone from an earlier discussion made the point that the stars, to him/her, has no significance as they are only atoms. The question why they are there is therefore pointless. I, however, look up at the stars and see possibilities, potential other worlds. They signify my own relative insignificance and therefore accentuate my place in the cosmos, as an observer and respecter of all that is. The stars therefore, although not on a personal religious level, do have personal meaning and from all the astrologists as well as all people who flip to the stars section in the newspaper each morning to check on their “future” as well as all the astronomers and cosmologists out there, I am not the only one who see meaning in the existence of stars.
The question can be asked “why does it matter if human life has a point?” The question touches on many aspects of society, including morality, justice, sociology, etc. Without a point to our existence, without an external reference frame to make up for our own insecurities and shortcomings, life is “but a clock, ticking.” All is then meaningless and all hope is taken out of the equation.
Many scientists (I being one myself) think that the only world view is that of facts from which, through the process of deductive reasoning and logic, theories of how things work can be wrought. The problem with this is on an emotional level. Love, for example. A man loves a woman, yet there is no guarantee the relationship will work. The risk is not justified in purely logical terms, yet we go from relationship to relationship in spite of being hurt each time and making a commitment with yourself that it will not happen again. This transcends the mere need to proliferate genetic material.
The nature of information is another problem. We know it exists, because of the organised way the universe operates. Planets orbit stars, cells in the body go about their daily functions keeping us alive, yet know one knows where this information comes from. It is conceivable that a singular mathematical point with infinite density can exist and explode. What is perhaps less conceivable is that the singularity also contains all the information upon which the future universe and life is based upon. In essence, the singularity also contained a blueprint of everything which was to come into being. With life in mind, what foresight from an unintelligent, dimensionless mathematical point of infinite density.
I would therefore argue that evidence for a higher power does indeed exist, but that this evidence is ignored due to personal prejudice and willful denial.
