The meaning of life part I - the universe
The central, and possibly the only question that one should ask about religion is the question of sense or meaning. Basically, the meaning of life. We could divide the human attitude towards the universe in this way.
Let’s look at a few possible perspectives.
Either you believe that there is a meaning to this universe, or you don’t.
Generally, religion gives some sort of answer to this question. The so called mythic religions tend to view the universe in a cyclic way. In that case the universe does not have a meaning in the sense that we are generally accustomed to. Maybe it has the simple meaning of a bug’s life. Perpetuation of life. The universe is cyclic and has no other purpose than the perpetuation of itself. The role of man in this context is to avoid disturbing the order of things, this fragile equilibrium, so that this perpetuation can go on. The gods in that context did not create the universe: they organized it and they maintain this order. This is why one talks about the man living in a mythic world view as someone who does not try to change the world, but as someone who tries to maintain it as it is, thus pleasing the gods. This is also why the mythic framework is so appealing to ecological thinking. Given what we are doing to the planet right now, maybe a little less changing and a little more maintaining would be good. Problem is that this view can lead to pretty traditionalistic behaviour, including a strong dislike of any change in the way we do things.
We can take the word “meaning” here to mean also direction. The universe is going somewhere. It has a beginning and an end. The Judaeo-Christian-Muslim perspective has a God who created the world from nothing: literally from nothingness. There is therefore a beginning, and if there is a beginning, there is also an end. The universe is going towards that end. The role of man is therefore to fit into god’s plan for the universe, to help it along in some cases. The notion of progress as opposed to the notion of cycle is involved here. It does change things. Change can be good, but only the change that helps god’s plan. Change that hinders god’s plan is bad. The problem is to know which is which.
Atheism considers that there is neither a direction nor a meaning to the universe. It is just there, and we are in it. There is no particular need to maintain it either, except for our own particular purposes.
Let’s look at a few possible perspectives.
Either you believe that there is a meaning to this universe, or you don’t.
Generally, religion gives some sort of answer to this question. The so called mythic religions tend to view the universe in a cyclic way. In that case the universe does not have a meaning in the sense that we are generally accustomed to. Maybe it has the simple meaning of a bug’s life. Perpetuation of life. The universe is cyclic and has no other purpose than the perpetuation of itself. The role of man in this context is to avoid disturbing the order of things, this fragile equilibrium, so that this perpetuation can go on. The gods in that context did not create the universe: they organized it and they maintain this order. This is why one talks about the man living in a mythic world view as someone who does not try to change the world, but as someone who tries to maintain it as it is, thus pleasing the gods. This is also why the mythic framework is so appealing to ecological thinking. Given what we are doing to the planet right now, maybe a little less changing and a little more maintaining would be good. Problem is that this view can lead to pretty traditionalistic behaviour, including a strong dislike of any change in the way we do things.
We can take the word “meaning” here to mean also direction. The universe is going somewhere. It has a beginning and an end. The Judaeo-Christian-Muslim perspective has a God who created the world from nothing: literally from nothingness. There is therefore a beginning, and if there is a beginning, there is also an end. The universe is going towards that end. The role of man is therefore to fit into god’s plan for the universe, to help it along in some cases. The notion of progress as opposed to the notion of cycle is involved here. It does change things. Change can be good, but only the change that helps god’s plan. Change that hinders god’s plan is bad. The problem is to know which is which.
Atheism considers that there is neither a direction nor a meaning to the universe. It is just there, and we are in it. There is no particular need to maintain it either, except for our own particular purposes.
posted by cassandreos | 10:40 AM
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