Are you REALLY an atheist?
I’m up late for no particular reason here again, and I’ve been wanting to put this out there for a while…
but…are you really an atheist? Or an agnostic, for that matter?
Are you sure??
REASON I ASK IS
In our culture we define “God” using far too narrow a focus. IMHO. We confuse religion with spirituality. So for many people, “God” is associated with all the usual religious dogma. I used to tell people, “I am not atheist…but I am atheist with respect to Christianity”!
If you happen to be one of those folks who relies on cold, hard logic to determine your belief or disbelief in God…this post is for you.
ASSUMPTIONS
Let’s assume for sake of argument:
1- There’s nothing spiritual or metaphysical about this universe. Nothing Divine.
2- Our own consciousness is just the product of chemical, electrical, and other physical processes.
Let’s define God as:
1- Omnipresent
2- All-Knowing
Fair Enough?
I’d expand the definition of God to include things like “all powerful” or even “Loving” but I’d rather leave that to your imagination when you’re done reading the following sections.
CONSIDER
Consider then:
We are made of purely physical matter and energy. Nothing “mystical” for the sake of this argument. Our brains- supposedly the part of us that forms thought and holds memory- are pretty damn tiny. The size of a small cabbage. And yet in that small space…that tiny compartment of nothing but physical matter and energy- this amazing consciousness is spawned. And it isn’t confined to internal experiences. Thanks to our senses- sight, hearing, touch- our consciousness can stretch far beyond our physical location, perceiving things far off, and integrating awareness of those things into itself.
Arguably, the power of a physically-based mind is dependent on total computing power…which in turn is dependent on:
1- Computations per unit volume per unit time; and,
2- Total Volume
(and perhaps time spent computing but that’s so obvious it’s a no-brainer)
So basically, a physical brain- in order to increase computation power- needs to either:
1- Pack more computation into a small area
or
2- Take up a bigger area.
In our model, conscious awareness is derived from (and limited by) the number of physical and chemical interactions possible within it. But we’re asserting that consciousness naturally arises from purely physical and chemical interactions.
SO YOU’RE TELLING ME
There’s enough physical movement and chemical reaction and energy transfer happening in a human brain (the size of a small cabbage) to elicit a fairly complex consciousness capable of emotion, expression, art, mathematics, abstraction, and everything else we do….
And yet you simultaneously believe that the sum total of all the physical, chemical, and energetic exchanges happening across the sum total of all existence (and across an infinite time span) are not enough to elicit any form of consciousness?
Hilarious!
Take Care & God (no matter how you define it) Bless,
– Brandon Novogradac
Earth Scientist, Holistic Cancer Coach, Reiki Dude