For many, many years now my father and I have been involved in a never-ending but enjoyable discussion about the origin and essence of the universe. My father believes in what he calls an “architect” who designed the complex and diverse structures of nature. My father comes from Eastern Turkey and I am proud of the fact that he managed to develop his views from an origin of orthodox religion to a relatively progressive blend between religion and science.

When I was a kid I believed my father when he said to me that all the dazzlingly beautiful systems that surround us just have to be “designed” by a superintelligent, omnipresent higher being. It is a romantic view that adds a comforting layer of meaning to life, as long as you don’t abuse what you believe for acts of discrimination, oppression and violence.

But my interest in science gradually convinced me that the concept of being part of a project by some kind of supernatural intelligence is not a satisfactory explanation for me. Nature is simply too full of trial and error, full of flaws and full of randomness to be consciously designed in any way. Hence, the evolution theory makes perfect sense to me and I am a believer in the essence of Charles Darwin’s conclusions. But there are still things that keep dazzling me.

Although the evolution theory perfectly explains how all elements of nature genetically evolve as circumstances change, I still wonder what drives all living things to come into existence, reproduce and develop themselves.

Why am I being hormonally driven to prolongue my species and am I equipped with the tools to do so? I didn’t ask for that, just like I didn’t ask to be created by my parents and to get a conscience in a wondrously self-regulating, self-regenerating biological body that lasts for about 80 years until it decomposes. This gives me the impression that I am not as individual as I like to see myself. My conclusion is that there seem to be two golden rules in the universe:

1: As much different universal elements as possible should come into existence, ranging from complete solar systems to individual lifeforms in life-supporting environments, in many different shapes to maximize the lifespan chances of an entity.

2: Everything that has come into existence should try to exist as long as possible, with evolution being an effective tool for the preservation and development of all lifeforms.

‘The force’

I like to call this phenomenon the force (I am not a Star Wars adept, but I like the sound of it). In my humble vision everything in the universe has the force in common: the same driving force that programs our DNA to make us instinctively feel obliged to reproduce and prolongue our species.

Continuing this philosophy I guess the universe might be called one extremely extensive, complex and coherent entity, manifesting itself in countless shapes and lifeforms, continuously evolving and reinventing itself. The universe might just as well have been an endless, motionless, matterless emptiness, but it is far from that. Don’t get me wrong, I am not insinuating that the universe is a god-like being. I am just trying to philosophize.

If the universe can be regarded as one immensely complex entity, it would seem logical that the laws of reproduction and evolution apply to the entire cosmos. This would mean that even massive entities such as stars should improve their properties with every new birth, unless it is not necessary, just like some Earthly creatures have remained the same for many centuries because their ‘design’ has already evolved to a sufficient flawlessness.

I guess my father’s philosophy evolved into my own view. He prefers to stick with the reassuring notion of a supernatural designer, and I prefer a scientific approach, but the awe remains the same.

In my humble opinion people have invented a god to keep themselves from going insane while wondering what life is all about. I can fully understand that, but I think that there is not a higher reason/cause for the way things develop in the universe. What does still dazzle me though is:

1: the unbelievable universal improbability of things to develop as they have developed, as they are currently developing and as they will undoubtedly keep developing;

2: where the never-ending drive of all elementary particles comes from to unite and form more complex systems and lifeforms.

The biological cells that form a lifeform together might just as well not cooperate and cease their existence, but in stead the ‘will’ to stay functional as long as possible remains existent in every cell. And on top of that the cells are programmed by a fascinating blueprint called DNA to ‘know’ how they should group together to form more complex organic systems and be a link in the existence of complete lifeforms.

Even the very existence of matter itself in a space/time environment is already dazzling to me. As I mentioned the universe could very well be a matterless, motionless, endless void. But in stead of that many different elements exist and collide to give birth to new, more complex elements, and so forth.

I remember Richard Dawkins mentioning in The God Delusion that if a creator is necessary for things to exist, then he would have to be created by another creator, and so on. That recursive question makes perfect sense to me, but ruling out a creating god does not rule out the looping question: earth matter was born out of a chemical reaction involving several types of gases, but what caused the gases to come into existence? They were probably formed by different elements that collided, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum. That is equally incomprehensible as the concept of a superbeing who created it all.

A common scientific theory of what has existed before the birth of the universe is a so-called singularity: something comparable to the physics-defying nature of a black hole, where time, space and matter are stretched into infinity. In other words: the closest thing to an absolute void. But existing elements in the universe, no matter how elementary and no matter how old, can’t just have come into existence out of nothing. If that did happen, then that would be non-scientific magic in the likes of religious explanations. Hence there must always have been some sort of element in the universe that made it possible to evolve into new forms and ultimately create a planet with complex lifeforms (and probably many planets with complex lifeforms, given the extent of the universe).

The very fact that something must always have been there is dazzling again. That’s what I mean when I write that some things just keep dazzling me. And I am glad I am still dazzled, because that is one of the things that keep me from becoming a nihilist who wouldn’t care about the wonders of this beautifully complex universe anymore.

I guess that’s the essence of the universe: for each answer we manage to retrieve by utilizing science and technology, a new question will rise. The cycle keeps repeating itself. With each improved telescope and each improved microscope we will manage to advance a level in our discovery journey, only to find that there is yet another level beyond that stage. It’s like a puzzle with an innumerable amount of pieces, and oh well, at least it keeps us busy. Imagine the feeling of emptiness if we would reach the point where nothing is a secret to us anymore. In other words: imagine how bored god would be if he would exist.

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