To Believe in God

“There is no God” says Stephen Hawking in his latest book. Compare this with the paragraph with which he concludes his most famous book, “ A Brief History of Time”:

“ However, if we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we would know the mind of God.” (emphasis mine).

I think the problem here is the definition of what we mean when we say the word “God”. If we limit our definition to the mythological concepts developed by the various religions, we can understand why Hawking made the first statement above. However, if we come at this in a different way, we may see why Hawking is talking about the “knowing the mind of God”.

Basically, Hawking spent all of his life exploring “how” the universe operates, yet he could not explain the “why” of it all. 

Let me try to explain. Modern interstellar telescopes have enabled us to discover that the universe seems to be continually expanding. If we then move backwards in time, that is to a contracted universe, we logically come to a point where all this expansion began. Not only do we come to a point in time, but at that “time” the universe is very compacted, even in theory at least, to a small concentrated point. This is impossible for our small minds to grasp, but to explain all of this, scientists have come up with the theory of an original “big bang”. This is the time at which the universe itself began about 13.8 billion years ago.

So, there you have it. According to the latest scientific theory, there was a time when there was nothing, except perhaps near infinite concentrated energy (In the beginning was the word…?), and then, bingo, the universe exploded into being. Now all of this, like all scientific theories, could change with the advent of additional data, but for now this is our best available explanation.

We know “how” this may have happened, but “why” it all happened continues to baffle us.

Let us then redefine our view of God as creative mystery. This primordial energy is amazingly creative. One of my favourite pursuits is to pour through Netter’s illustrated book of Human Anatomy. Each page reveals the phenomenal complexity of our human bodies. They are unbelievably complicated. What drove the evolution of such complexity? Why is it so full of purpose? What is the life force that is driving this all on? And the pages of Human Anatomy do not even get into the question of spirit and consciousness that cannot be revealed on written pages.

The creative complexity revealed in our human bodies just describes one species inhabiting a lonely planet. This creative energy extends into the entire cosmos. Hawking spent much of his remarkable life trying to explain this cosmic structure. He discovered black holes and other mysteries.

Finally, this creative energy is mysterious. Why? Why? Why? We cannot answer it. If the universe began with a big bang, why did it occur? What is its purpose? What was its origin? We don’t know,  and we most certainly will never know.

God, creative mystery. I believe in it.