With The Reality Of A Multi-Inhabited Universe, What Is The Likelihood That Our Vision Of God Is Accurate?
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I am a believer that in a multiverse that consists of infinite universes, in multiple dimensions, there are millions of galaxies, billions of stars, and trillions of planets. Because of that unfathomable number it would be the height of hubris to assume that we are the only intelligent, sentient species in that expanse. More than likely there are millions of inhabited planets, each evolving with their own civilizations, and living their lives in ways that are either similar to, or entirely alien to the way we live life here on earth. It would also be hubris to assume that when and if any of those societies have established a belief system, that system would be the same as that we follow here on earth.
What we must understand is that the religions that are followed here on earth are survivors. They are the descendants of religions that were taken over by modern religion. That being what it may, this planet does not have a singular view of religion. The three Abrahamic religions do not agree with each other. Christianity views Jesus as the Son of God, conceived of Mary through Immaculate Conception and part of the Holy Trinity. Islam view Jesus as a prophet bearing God's word. Judaism views Jesus only as a historical figure who was a Jewish Rabbi throughout his life and the religion named after him was actually started by his followers.
But we also have to understand that there are many other belief systems on this planet. The Eastern religions, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Shintoism, etc. all have a totally different view of deity ranging from no God to a poly-theistic view. There are groups that also have faith views that see the earth as holy and feel that holiness is within each individual. Some Wiccan and Native American faiths have that basis. In the age of science and technology, the fastest growing system is non-belief. It is estimated that almost 15% of the world's population see themselves as either agnostics or atheists. That would translate to almost a billion people.
The debate on the existence of God rages here on earth even when each sentient individual is essentially the same. We generally believe what we were born into. We believe what we were taught. We only change our views when our minds decide that the tenets and strictures of a religion do not make sense to us any more. We then either change religious affiliation or we disaffiliate entirely.
What will happen when we begin to visit other worlds with different species? What happens when we find out that they have completely different Gods or no god? What happens when their system tells them that religion is a remnant of an inferior mind and that truly advanced civilizations outgrow the need? How do we react? Can we accept a God that has three heads, forty eyes, is forty feet long and has fangs coming out it's tail? If not, why not? Why would we be so egocentric to believe that our vision of God was wrong? What if we find out that all other sentient people had a God mythology that more closely resembled the Roman view of Gods on Mount Olympus? Would we revert to an acceptance of those Gods as the true God?
Even worse, what if we are the only ones whose minds force us to believe in a God? Do we accept that as a defect or do we try to explain it as an evolutionary advantage over every other species? The questions are endless, and the answers are shrouded. More than likely, the ancient wise men who created religion, never pictured this enigma. After all, it's easy to paint a picture of an anthromorphic God if you see yourself as the center of the universe. Our view might change if we have to look at ourselves as a speck in a multiverse.
I am a believer that in a multiverse that consists of infinite universes, in multiple dimensions, there are millions of galaxies, billions of stars, and trillions of planets. Because of that unfathomable number it would be the height of hubris to assume that we are the only intelligent, sentient species in that expanse.
I have said this many times....we cannot be the only "life" out there.
There are too many world's in too many solar systems for life to not have evolved. The laws of probability are immutable in that respect. We are already finding planets that are in the ""goldilocks zone". Why would anyone make an assumption of our being alo6?
i for one don't believe that the current mainstream religions view/vision is accurate. I don't bother to get into the many articles declaring that Christianity is the ''right'' or the only accurate view of of religion.
Just on earth there are many different types of religions or beliefs. Many of those religions as stated in the article have a totally different view than that of the two mainstream religions, (Christianity, Muslim), and there is the vast universe or universes that exist. IMO, we are a rather small part of the overall endless universities that exist.
We here on earth can't agree on any one religion being ''right'', even among the Christians and Muslims there are vast differences in what is believed.
Thank you...... having been brought up an Orthodox Jew and then moving into atheism and now in my later years beginning to explore native religions, I think that the search for belief is actually a personal journey and ultimately is defined by the individuals place in the natural world. Age brings me the wisdom to know that everything around me has the same rights as me, often sharing the same feelings and love. Just because my dog doesn't hold a belief in God, it doesn't make her either a less important or spiritual creature than me. But of course, that is my opinion.
We could have some interesting conversations regarding Native beliefs. Being Native I have, at times, discussed it with others. There are a few people on NT that have a understanding of the Native beliefs and actually we have co written articles on it. Jewish and Natives have many view/practices that are comparable.
I would love to read some of the things you have written. I only have some vague memories of an uncle named Merle who was from the Cherokee Tribe. He passed back in 1959 when I was 12, but I always remembered him talking to me about how important it was for me to always remember that the earth is sacred and everything on it was to be respected. That advice has stayed with me for the past 59 years.
Earthly religions are cultural expressions of man's desire to understand his place in nature and in the cosmos.
I expect religions in other places would be cultural expressions of their search for meaning, assuming they undertook one.
By definition there is only one God , the Supreme Being that maintains this existence. I guess if there is more than one existence there could be more than one God, assuming the existences are not interrelated or dependent on one another.
Is that definition applicable in Hinduism? Their religion is very true to them yet there is no need to exhort to a singular God. You are defining a supreme being in Abrahamic terms.
There are ten times more microorganisms in the human body than there are human cells. Without this symbiotic structure, a human cannot survive. Maybe we should be worshipping the tangible, incredibly complex creations that we know are essential to our existence, instead of the invisible, noncommunicative, imaginary things like gods.
"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,-- For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
The problem with this recipe of course is that some of the ingredients are hard to come be-- you really won't find them in the average suburban kitchen.
But I wouldn't be surprised if Whole Foods Market now carries most of them And of course now-a-days you can buy just about anything on Amazon.
I like Newt... He had the balls to yell and scream what a horrible person Bill Clinton was for getting a blowjob while he was having sex with two different women while his wife was dying of cancer in a hospital. Of course, he was eventually thrown out of congress by his own party for being a giant POS but fox fake news still drags him out of the gutter to bash dems.. Newt is the poster child for what's wrong with the GOP.. He is a POS that should just go away and never come back....he is literally human garbage.
Isn't that ultimately what we all think. Our minds trick us into thinking that our perception is the right perception. It happens in matters of religion, politics, world view, beauty, etc. It is almost impossible to accept that our views on life issues are wrong. But 7-8 billion people in the world, each with their own unique views, who really knows what God might be. Multiply that by an almost infinite number of other potential individuals in a multiverse and the definition of a god could become no more than a personal expression.
I think that if there is a God, we all have the same God regardless of what religion people subscribe to. I think that HUMANS over time have twisted and perverted their individual religions to suit their personal beliefs.
As to life in the universe? Undoubtedly. We live on a planet that has life, Mars most likely could have supported life in the past and Venus is much like Earth, it just has a runaway greenhouse problem. That's ONE solar system around ONE star. How many stars are in the universe? Um.... Well....
Kornreich used a very rough estimate of 10 trillion galaxies in the universe. Multiplying that by the Milky Way's estimated 100 billion stars results in a large number indeed: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars, or a "1" with 24 zeros after it. Kornreich emphasized that number is likely a gross underestimation, as more detailed looks at the universe will show even more galaxies.
Now take that number and multiply it by say, 5, (our solar system has 9 planets, (I don't care Pluto is a planet), so I am low balling that number). That is an insane, unfathomable number of planets in the universe. What are the chances that we are literally the ONLY planet with life? Um...zero.
I am a believer that in a multiverse that consists of infinite universes, in multiple dimensions, there are millions of galaxies, billions of stars, and trillions of planets. Because of that unfathomable number it would be the height of hubris to assume that we are the only intelligent, sentient species in that expanse. More than likely there are millions of inhabited planets, each evolving with their own civilizations, and living their lives in ways that are either similar to, or entirely alien to the way we live life here on earth. It would also be hubris to assume that when and if any of those societies have established a belief system, that system would be the same as that we follow here on earth.
What we must understand is that the religions that are followed here on earth are survivors. They are the descendants of religions that were taken over by modern religion. That being what it may, this planet does not have a singular view of religion. The three Abrahamic religions do not agree with each other. Christianity views Jesus as the Son of God, conceived of Mary through Immaculate Conception and part of the Holy Trinity. Islam view Jesus as a prophet bearing God's word. Judaism views Jesus only as a historical figure who was a Jewish Rabbi throughout his life and the religion named after him was actually started by his followers.
But we also have to understand that there are many other belief systems on this planet. The Eastern religions, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Shintoism, etc. all have a totally different view of deity ranging from no God to a poly-theistic view. There are groups that also have faith views that see the earth as holy and feel that holiness is within each individual. Some Wiccan and Native American faiths have that basis. In the age of science and technology, the fastest growing system is non-belief. It is estimated that almost 15% of the world's population see themselves as either agnostics or atheists. That would translate to almost a billion people.
The debate on the existence of God rages here on earth even when each sentient individual is essentially the same. We generally believe what we were born into. We believe what we were taught. We only change our views when our minds decide that the tenets and strictures of a religion do not make sense to us any more. We then either change religious affiliation or we disaffiliate entirely.
What will happen when we begin to visit other worlds with different species? What happens when we find out that they have completely different Gods or no god? What happens when their system tells them that religion is a remnant of an inferior mind and that truly advanced civilizations outgrow the need? How do we react? Can we accept a God that has three heads, forty eyes, is forty feet long and has fangs coming out it's tail? If not, why not? Why would we be so egocentric to believe that our vision of God was wrong? What if we find out that all other sentient people had a God mythology that more closely resembled the Roman view of Gods on Mount Olympus? Would we revert to an acceptance of those Gods as the true God?
Even worse, what if we are the only ones whose minds force us to believe in a God? Do we accept that as a defect or do we try to explain it as an evolutionary advantage over every other species? The questions are endless, and the answers are shrouded. More than likely, the ancient wise men who created religion, never pictured this enigma. After all, it's easy to paint a picture of an anthromorphic God if you see yourself as the center of the universe. Our view might change if we have to look at ourselves as a speck in a multiverse.
I have said this many times....we cannot be the only "life" out there.
Why?
(Why do you think that is so?)
There are too many world's in too many solar systems for life to not have evolved. The laws of probability are immutable in that respect. We are already finding planets that are in the ""goldilocks zone". Why would anyone make an assumption of our being alo6?
i for one don't believe that the current mainstream religions view/vision is accurate. I don't bother to get into the many articles declaring that Christianity is the ''right'' or the only accurate view of of religion.
Just on earth there are many different types of religions or beliefs. Many of those religions as stated in the article have a totally different view than that of the two mainstream religions, (Christianity, Muslim), and there is the vast universe or universes that exist. IMO, we are a rather small part of the overall endless universities that exist.
We here on earth can't agree on any one religion being ''right'', even among the Christians and Muslims there are vast differences in what is believed.
Interesting article DocPhil.
Thank you...... having been brought up an Orthodox Jew and then moving into atheism and now in my later years beginning to explore native religions, I think that the search for belief is actually a personal journey and ultimately is defined by the individuals place in the natural world. Age brings me the wisdom to know that everything around me has the same rights as me, often sharing the same feelings and love. Just because my dog doesn't hold a belief in God, it doesn't make her either a less important or spiritual creature than me. But of course, that is my opinion.
We could have some interesting conversations regarding Native beliefs. Being Native I have, at times, discussed it with others. There are a few people on NT that have a understanding of the Native beliefs and actually we have co written articles on it. Jewish and Natives have many view/practices that are comparable.
I would love to read some of the things you have written. I only have some vague memories of an uncle named Merle who was from the Cherokee Tribe. He passed back in 1959 when I was 12, but I always remembered him talking to me about how important it was for me to always remember that the earth is sacred and everything on it was to be respected. That advice has stayed with me for the past 59 years.
I'll try to find some and will contact you about them.
Your uncle was correct, the earth is our core and mother, all of it's inhabitants and the earth are sacred and each has a soul.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches that there are many inhabited worlds created by God...
I am not familiar enough with all of the teachings of the Latter Day Saints. How would they approach the questions that I am posing?
Read what is called "The Book of Moses" in the compilation called "The Pearl of Great Price" that would give you an idea on how we view the universe:
Beam us up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here.
Or, in the alternative, we can always beg the Vorlons to come back and save us all again......
Earthly religions are cultural expressions of man's desire to understand his place in nature and in the cosmos.
I expect religions in other places would be cultural expressions of their search for meaning, assuming they undertook one.
By definition there is only one God , the Supreme Being that maintains this existence. I guess if there is more than one existence there could be more than one God, assuming the existences are not interrelated or dependent on one another.
Is that definition applicable in Hinduism? Their religion is very true to them yet there is no need to exhort to a singular God. You are defining a supreme being in Abrahamic terms.
I believe there are religions on earth today tht believe in more than one God.
I believe that the Philadelphia Eagles are all gods and that's why they're going to win the Superbowl this season!
Amen to THAT, FLY Eagles FLY
That's a good point. We are assuming that other "worldly" inhabitants have taken on a religion / belief.
What if they hadn't and we are the only ones to do so?
There are ten times more microorganisms in the human body than there are human cells. Without this symbiotic structure, a human cannot survive. Maybe we should be worshipping the tangible, incredibly complex creations that we know are essential to our existence, instead of the invisible, noncommunicative, imaginary things like gods.
"Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,--
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
The problem with this recipe of course is that some of the ingredients are hard to come be-- you really won't find them in the average suburban kitchen.
But I wouldn't be surprised if Whole Foods Market now carries most of them
And of course now-a-days you can buy just about anything on Amazon.
I like Newt... He had the balls to yell and scream what a horrible person Bill Clinton was for getting a blowjob while he was having sex with two different women while his wife was dying of cancer in a hospital. Of course, he was eventually thrown out of congress by his own party for being a giant POS but fox fake news still drags him out of the gutter to bash dems.. Newt is the poster child for what's wrong with the GOP.. He is a POS that should just go away and never come back....he is literally human garbage.
Don’t forget that Newt’s scary, adulterous wife impressed Trump so much that he made her Ambassador to the Vatican. Draining the swamp!
Well, she is a bird of prey.
She looks like a surprised catfish.
Have we as humanity even settled on what our unified vision of god is?
Lol it doesn't matter cause they're all wrong and it's my vision that's correct.
Isn't that ultimately what we all think. Our minds trick us into thinking that our perception is the right perception. It happens in matters of religion, politics, world view, beauty, etc. It is almost impossible to accept that our views on life issues are wrong. But 7-8 billion people in the world, each with their own unique views, who really knows what God might be. Multiply that by an almost infinite number of other potential individuals in a multiverse and the definition of a god could become no more than a personal expression.
I think that if there is a God, we all have the same God regardless of what religion people subscribe to. I think that HUMANS over time have twisted and perverted their individual religions to suit their personal beliefs.
As to life in the universe? Undoubtedly. We live on a planet that has life, Mars most likely could have supported life in the past and Venus is much like Earth, it just has a runaway greenhouse problem. That's ONE solar system around ONE star. How many stars are in the universe? Um.... Well....
Now take that number and multiply it by say, 5, (our solar system has 9 planets, (I don't care Pluto is a planet), so I am low balling that number). That is an insane, unfathomable number of planets in the universe. What are the chances that we are literally the ONLY planet with life? Um...zero.