Our Mind's Logic Points Us to a Creator
Before beginning the discussion of our personal beliefs you need to be aware of the fact that each one of us has a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitute our way of viewing reality. This is sometimes referred to as "our paradigm."
Our paradigm is the "box" where we think and live. It is the filter through which we screen, categorize, or reject information we receive, and it forms the basis for our actions. It simplifies our lives by creating short cuts in our thinking process.
What you may not have thought about is that many of our beliefs are based on incomplete assumptions about the real world. Some of those incomplete assumptions are because we lack knowledge. It may be that we have not assimilated the known knowledge, or possibly the knowledge we lack is not yet known. Today, knowledge is a fast changing commodity; it is estimated that the world's accumulated knowledge doubles every 24 months.
Also, some of our incomplete assumptions are the result of the fact that the real world is usually different from the way that we perceive things. This happens because our mind is selective in how it records the information it receives through our five senses. I experience this every time I look at the picture on my driver's license. I can't believe it is the same person that I see in the mirror every morning.
And finally, our beliefs are heavily influenced by the assumptions of the social groups that we are affiliated with. This happens because we tend to assimilate the beliefs of those we know and trust without examining the assumptions underlying those beliefs.
One assumption central to our paradigm is our concept of a creator. With that in mind, let's examine why the concept of a creator is so widely held.
So why would 90% of Americans as well as the vast majority of humanity, even the most remote peoples on earth, regardless of time in history, believe there is a creator? A major reason for man's belief in a creator is because his mind is pre-wired for logical thinking.
So what are logical arguments that support this almost universal belief in a creator?
Albert Einstein, the great physicist, developed the theory of relativity. A key part of this theory is the concept that the fourth dimension is time. Like length, width, and height, time is a dimension that is an important part of our everyday lives.
We human beings think in the dimension of time. We are all familiar with the concept that events happen in a time sequence. We naturally think that every sequence of events has a beginning and an ending. So we naturally are inclined to think in terms of the universe having a beginning.
The law of cause and effect says that everything that exists is the result of some cause. For instance, parents cause a child's existence, the sun's heat warms the earth, gravity holds the planets in place, etc. So, it is natural for us to think that everything in the universe was caused by something.
However, if we follow that line of reasoning, something had to be the original cause of everything. We call the original cause the creator because the original effect had no normal cause.
We humans, by nature, are curious. This curiosity is on display from early childhood on. It drives us to explore and ask why things are the way they are. Over time, this curiosity has driven us to develop a vast storehouse of knowledge about everything that we are aware of.
As we learn more we are struck by the complexity and order of things, the vastness of the universe, the laws of physics, and the complexities of biology. Our logical response is that there is a grand design and that design originated with the creator.
We now know that our blueprint is contained in our DNA that comes into existence at our conception. Just as DNA contains the blueprint for our physical bodies, it also has the design for our mind and its core thinking processes. And it is in the make-up of these thinking processes that the framework for our concept of the creator being a spirit that relates to us exists.
Our concept of a spirit is derived from our concept of self. Our concept of self resides in our mind and we have a perception of its existence being separate from our bodies. This sense of self is prewired to believe that it has an eternal existence.
Our thinking processes are divided into two primary categories: our conscious mind and our subconscious mind. Our conscious mind does only a small part of our thinking because its function is to primarily be a real-time intermediary between our subconscious mind and the outside world.
On the other hand, our subconscious mind is the real workhorse. It regulates most of the functions of our bodies, stores all of our accumulated knowledge and all of our history. In addition, it operates all of our emotions and our senses. And finally, it is the place where almost all of our quality problem solving occurs.
Another key aspect of the subconscious mind is that it is prewired with a sense of right and wrong. This sense of right and wrong is what we refer to as our conscience. In most of us, this conscience considers wrong to be unfinished business (guilt) that needs to be dealt with.
Our minds perceive wrong to be a hindrance to our relationship with others, so it naturally assumes that wrong hinders our relationship with the creator.
At this point we cannot prove the existence of a creator by the scientific method because it is only useful when dealing with measurable, material things. So we are left with trying to explain our universe in the absence of a creator.
Questions like:
• How did it all begin?
• How do we explain how the order and design of the universe came about?
• How did life come about?
• Why does the human mind's logic support the argument that there is a creator?
These are questions that challenge most thinking people.
Why? Because how we answer these questions has far reaching implications for us. Our thoughts, actions, how we live our lives and how we spend eternity could be impacted by our answer.
If you assume creation happened by chance, you have to ask, what are the odds against that happening?
If our answer is that there is no creator, then it follows that we humans are the supreme beings on the earth and possibly the universe. We are in control. We make the rules. We are alone! Our existence begins at conception and ends at death.
However, if we believe that there is a creator and that we are a part of its creation, we are inclined to want to know what implications that has for us.
"Otto, I enjoyed your book. I got a lot out of it. I am getting a copy for each of my children."
—B. Murray