Saturday, June 21, 2008

Universal Indifference

Here's a Charles Darwin quote that is often ascribed to Richard Dawkins by... 'persons of a certain worldview'.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there
is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind,
pitiless indifference."
Generally I imagine this inspires either anger or listlessness amongst those who read it, anger in those "differently mentally abled" individuals mentioned above, listlessness in the rest of us - a kind of psychological "meh". But why?

What would it matter to us if there were no great and mighty plan behind the universe? Why should you live your lives any differently depending on whether or not some one "up there" has a plan for you?
You have no clue what that plan might be, so you might as well just live your life the best you can, as if there were no plan, since you can't do anything to change said plan. And if you're going to do that, you might as well assume there is no plan and just live your life. That's not too stupid, right?

It seems for a lot of people that it is stupid to think like that, that the concept of the universe not centering around man, that it just is without any consciousness coordinating everything, is tantamount to thinking that the moon is a cardboard cut-out. Which brings us back to the why?
Why do people need to see purpose everywhere they look? And why does the thought that there isn't purpose fill even some atheists with a feeling of purposelessness and dread?

I reckon it's probably based in our self awareness. We're aware of our own existence, we're also aware of our own mortality. Seeing the universe as an indifferent monster, not caring whether the insignificant specks encrusting its planets run free or get splattered doesn't sit well, it brings home to us our eventual mortality and suggests that it could be sooner rather than later.
When you think of it like that, is it not surprising that people cling to ideas and stories about super powerful beings, that are like we are, and that look out for us? And is it then not surprising when the people who hold these stories and their characters dear, react in fear and anger when reality shoves their beliefs out the way and stares them in the face? We can't blame them for scrabbling after their myths and pasting them to their eyes with faith, at least I don't think we can.

So what are the alternatives to the denial outlined above? Well there is only one, acceptance, but the manner of acceptance can vary dramatically.
You can accept that you're an insignificant speck on the verruca of the toe pad of the universe's pet cat, and that acceptance can lead unto a feeling of depression and that life is inherently pointless and worthless. But is that real acceptance? I would say it's more like accepting that your golf day has been rained out, but then resenting the weather and moping around the house wishing you could be playing golf - uh huh, its that Buddhist concept of attachment creeping in again, its a wily devil that one.

So what is the correct way of accepting this reality I hear some of you ask, yes I'm talking to you in the back.
To find an answer to this we can look at the philosophies of dead people, the tastiest kind. We could try nihilism, since this whole post seems to pretty much scream about meaninglessness. But I feel if we walk down that road we're just going to come round full circle, so we'll try a related philosophy, it's first mention outside the Introduction, and that is H.P. Lovecraft's Cosmicism.
Within Cosmicism human insignificance and the indifference of the universe are emphasised, but unlike nihilism meaninglessness isn't. Cosmicism teaches us that we can accept our insignificance and relative unimportance on the universal scale, but we can also give life our own meaning, however insignificant and unimportant that may be to the grander influences of our world.
But more than accepting reality for what it is, if we embrace it we can "go with the flow" much more easily. Rather than accepting the rain but mourning our ruined day of golf, we can embrace the rain and use it's presence to our advantage by carrying out other tasks we find meaningful but would otherwise not have the time for, such as writing, meditation, painting, rabbit shaving, the list is endless.

However, more important than all of this, if we embrace an indifferent universe we are also embracing a significant part of own nature which is what enlightenment is really all about. You can't wake up to the world if you're constantly gluing your eyelids shut with fantasy and the desire for the unattainable.

That's all for now folks, I'll try to make the next post less essay-like and with a dash more humour.

Ceryx