Moments of Introspection

Before you begin, allow me to apologise for the random incoherency and complete lack of order in the following. It’s just whatever spewed forth from my mind, when it did, before I lost my already derailed train of thought. Enjoy.

I have been thinking about my concepts and beliefs about things again. After a conversation with my father I am almost left doubting my own thoughts and convictions regarding certain fundamental questions about life and the Universe.

For instance, I steadfastly refuse to believe in a God, or a ‘higher being’ that either created man, the Universe or anything else. I can’t bring myself to accept that there is some greater... thing that made us, put us here, possibly controls things that we experience, causes events, or any and all of the aforementioned. The reason for that is this: There is not one single shred of proof. At all. If I’m going to believe a theory (and it is just a theory) so fantastical and wondrous, then I’m really gonna need some kind of evidence before my brain can even begin to accept it, lest it start dribbling out of my ears in incomprehension. No matter how much faith someone has, how many ‘miracles’ have been performed, and how perfectly constructed and efficient at sustaining life the Universe is, there still isn’t any intrinsic actual proof. There isn’t a message etched in stone from the grand high being itself proclaiming its existence. There is no interaction between man and said being. It has never stuck its head round the door and just reminded us of its presence. No, you see, I have a scientific mind; I need to see evidence, proof, tangible reasons to believe in something before I can do.

However.

I was watching an astronomical program on television with my father, which spurned this thinking streak. We were sitting there in amazement and the sheer scope and awesomeness of the Universe. The size, the scale, the numbers involved. My father asked me whether I thought there was some form of life out there, other than our own here on Earth, and my answer was thus:

When you consider how long the Universe has been in existence, how unfathomably large it is, and how many trillions of trillions of galaxies and systems there are out there, probability-wise, it is an almost statistical certainty that there is other life somewhere. The huge amount of systems that there are, it is mathematically nigh on certain that somewhere, somewhen, there was a star system that formed with a planetary body around it a similar size to earth, in a similar orbit around the star as Earth is around the sun, and made up of similar chemicals and minerals. Should this be the case, given the same conditions that Earth was under (which we’ve already established are very probable) it is very much likely that life would start on this other planet, just as it did here.

So that’s honestly what I believe from a scientific viewpoint about life somewhere else in the Universe.

However.

Later, after the conversation with my father I was thinking about it because he couldn’t see my point. And then I considered something that I’ve never thought of before. For all that I believe about life elsewhere and the entire scientific basis for my feelings on the matter, there isn’t actually one single bit of proof for that conclusion.

So now I’m stuck questioning what I think about things. Could it be, that believing in an all-powerful God and having faith in Him is exactly the same as believing there is life elsewhere in the Universe? Surely not? One is based on a faith in an intangible being that there is not one bit of evidence for, and the other is based on proven theories on the formation of the Universe, beginning of life, and other such things. And yet, for both... there is no conclusive thing that says “Yep, this is right.”.

This has made me stop and question myself, and I hate when I have to do that. See, I’m confident in what I do believe in. I generally make sure I know what I’m talking about before I’ll debate a point, because it doesn’t do well to go into an argument armed with ignorance. And yet, here I am now asking myself whether what I think could be flawed. And it would be arrogant to assume it couldn’t be, but still.

So, are the concepts the same? Blind faith in a religion or God, and thinking there’s life elsewhere because that’s what science and probability almost certainly indicate? I didn’t used to think so, but now I’m not so sure.

Another point I made to my father regarding life on other planets is that of arrogance and naivety*. Given the massive numbers and probabilities mentioned earlier, it would be ignorant to think we were the only life in the Universe. To sit here and think we were simply special enough in this enormous place to be the only life around is arrogance pure and simple.

Or faith.

This is where science and religion cross paths. They’re a parallel, almost. God created the Universe, everything in it, and man. Man is the only life in the Universe, because God made it that way, because we are special as His creation. Or. The Universe began, grew, life on Earth started, and somewhere else there’s a mighty high chance it started there too and we’re not alone or special whatsoever. Hmm, ok, religion and science aren’t parallels after all – they’re opposites. I think. Whatever they are, it seems they are fated to be intertwined within each other forever.

And don’t get me started on fate...



* Credit to mUrph for ‘naivety’. Happy now?