Posts Tagged "God"

Where science meets spirituality- what will you tell your kids?

Posted by Dad on Dec 23, 2008 in The Blog | 8 comments

“Remember, young one. It’s OK to question and try to understand more. It’s in our nature to be curious. It’s how we advance as a species. But, realize that understanding can only take you so far. Faith will take you the rest of the way.”
Jesuit school teacher, my high school, many moons ago

Have you ever taken the time to learn more about the universe and how it came to be? It’s a subject that fascinates me.  It always has.  It’s a subject that your kids may one day ask you about.  Like me, you too may be fascinated.

Theoretical physics is the study of our world in an attempt to understand and explain it. It’s incredibly complex and is pursued by this world’s most brilliant minds.  It is from theoretical physics that we get the leading scientific explanations of the origin of our universe.  It is the study that gave birth to a theory called the Multiverse Theory.

The latest issue of Discovery Magazine has a wonderful article that explains this theory in layman’s terms (so that is how I think I understand it).  The theory bases itself as an explanation to why our universe seems tailor-made for us (life as we know it).  You see, theoretical physicists have noted that the universe has too many coincidences that allow for like to grow. Way too many for a simple “coincidence” explanation thereby leading to the question, “How can this universe be perfectly tailored to us?”

The thing that I find funny is how the supporters of the Multiverse Theory find it so impossible to consider that the answer may lie in faith (i.e., an intelligent creator).  They refuse to acknowledge that understanding and science has taken them as far as it can take them and it is faith that will take them the rest of the way.

The only other explanation these theorists come up with is theorizing that there are an infinite number of universes along with ours. And, with all those iterations, we are lucky enough to live in one that has the exact requisites for maintaining life as we know it.  In other words, with so many possibilities, coincidence is still the explanation for all things being right in this universe for life as we know it.

The article has a great explanation of the issue:

Physicists don’t like coincidences. They like even less the notion that life is somehow central to the universe, and yet recent discoveries are forcing them to confront that very idea. Life, it seems, is not an incidental component of the universe, burped up out of a random chemical brew on a lonely planet to endure for a few fleeting ticks of the cosmic clock. In some strange sense, it appears that we are not adapted to the universe; the universe is adapted to us.

I find that when science meets spirituality or religion, science always seems to focus on finding an alternative explanation.  Oh well, lets wait and see what the Large Hadron Collider tests reveal…

In the end, I find a balanced person should do their best to understand science and explore their spirituality.  It doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game where one side wins over the other. Both can co-exist in harmony.

What do you think?

All the best