This
is a sermon that I wrote and delivered to the All Souls Welcoming Congregation
of Kernersville, North Carolina, on December 8, 1996.
I.
Introduction
What are the Laws of the
Universe? Many cultures have attempted to
answer this question in order to bring predictability and order to a chaotic
world. In our relationships with the
physical world, in our relationship with each other, we seek a firm foundation
upon which we can stand: a place where we can understand the past, know the
present, and plan for the future.
In my sermon today, I hope to provide
you with some ideas to get you started or to help you continue on your personal
search for laws and order in the Universe.
I will provide questions, but few answers, for I believe every person
needs to develop their own answers as they develop their own personal
theology. However, I hope that after
the sermon you will participate in a discussion where we offer our individual points
of view on these questions.
II.
The Greek Philosophers
The ancient Greek philosophers, I am
told, were the first to assume that the universe was, despite its chaotic
appearance, at heart an orderly system that was governed by universal laws, and
that man could discover these laws through the process of logical thought and
observation. They asked the questions:
What
is everything made of? What permanent
substance or substances exist behind appearances? (Assuming the universe is orderly, is there a unifying physical
substance upon which the different objects of our world are based?) What is Reality?
How
does the universe change? (In a world
where few things seem permanent, how do things come into being, change, and
then pass away?) How can I know what
will happen tomorrow?
And these questions lead to more
questions:
Is
change random, or is it directed? And,
if it is directed, who is in control of change? Gods, or Man? Can I
control my future? One of our
congregation's members has suggested to me that "Fate doesn't exist, but
choices can be limited."
What
is the purpose of Man on earth? What
is the Meaning of Life?
III.
Rules governing relationships
As I was thinking about ways to
better get a handle on the above questions, it occurred to me that it is useful
to think about how things in the universe relate to one another: how they
affect each other, and what responsibilities such a relationship entails. If we divide the things in the universe into
things that are human and things that are not human, we come up with the
following four possible relationships:
the physical, the social, what we expect from the universe, and what
believe we should give to the universe.
A. Physical
Relationships: The rules that govern
the substance of the universe
Here
we're dealing with physical laws and forces such as gravity, fusion, inertia,
and the interchangeability of energy and matter. We'll be speaking more on this a bit later. But for now, I'd like to share with you a
view from anthropologist Loren Eiseley, who says that there may be something
more to the physical world than just matter and energy:
"Men
talk much of matter and energy, of the struggle for existence that molds the
shape of life. These things exist, it
is true; but more delicate, elusive, quicker than the fins in water, is that
mysterious principle known as "organization", which leaves all other
mysteries concerned with life stale and insignificant by comparison. For that without organization life does not
persist is obvious. Yet this
organization itself is not strictly the product of life, nor of selection. Like some dark and passing shadow within
matter, it cups out the eyes' small windows or spaces the notes of a meadow
lark's song in the interior of a mottled egg.
That principle - I am beginning to suspect - was there before the living
in the deeps of water."
B. Social
Relationships: Man's relationship to
his fellow Man
In
dealing with each other, how should we proceed? Do we choose to compete or cooperate? Do we follow the way of the predator, or is symbiosis the better
strategy? Do we make war, or make
love? I'm reminded here of our
Unitarian Universalist Principles, which affirm and promote:
"The
inherent dignity and worth of every person;
Justice,
equity and compassion in human relations;
A free and
responsible search for truth and meaning;
and The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for
all."
and also of Unitarian Universalist
theologian David Rankin's statement:
"We
believe in the worth and dignity of each human being. All people on earth have an equal claim to life, liberty, and
justice - and no idea, ideal, or philosophy is superior to a single human
life."
C. What
we expect from the universe: The Environment's relationship to Mankind
What
is it that we expect from the universe?
It is a hostile place, or a benevolent place? Is it indifferent to life, or is it life-spawning and
life-nourishing? Is there a supportive
life force that pervades the universe?
D. What
we should give to the universe: Man's
relationship to his Environment
How
do we treat the animals, plants, and natural resources that are vulnerable to
Man's ability to exploit and alter the environment? Again I am reminded of our Unitarian Universalist Principles, which
call on us to maintain respect for "the interdependent web of all
existence of which we are a part".
IV.
The Physical Laws of the Universe
Today's service was originally
inspired by a newspaper column that appeared about a month ago in a local paper. The column, "You Can U, with Beakman
and Jax" is modeled after the "Beakman's World" TV show, and is
designed to provide answers to children's questions about science, but does so
in an uninhibited and original way that frequently brings up even more
questions. Such was the case with this
instance of the column, in which a reader asked, "What are the laws of the
Universe?" The column's author,
Jok Church, responded with four laws. I
think these laws have an elegance that allows us to interpret them not only as
physical laws, but also as philosophical principles that can apply to our own
lives.
1. The
Universe Likes Balance
The
authors illustrated this law with a Yin-Yang symbol, and stated that
"Balance is needed for there to be matter. If an atom wasn't balanced, it couldn't exist. The forces of nature will push tirelessly
and forever to make things balanced."
In
other words, the universe is always seeking equilibrium. One effect of this that I can see is that
even though we may appear to ourselves to be stable and secure where we are, if
we are out of balance with our world, then there is a pull on us that is trying
to re-establish balance, and we are continually expending energy if we try to
resist the pull.
2. Nothing
Ever Disappears
"There
is only so much stuff in the universe.
None of it disappears, ever.
When things seem to disappear, they've really only changed their
form."
Here
the author is talking about the interchangeability of matter and energy, but I
wonder if we can use their statement as a springboard to think about other
things. What about life? What about love? Do these forces, fragile one moment, strong the next, have a
similar place in the universe? Do they
seem to disappear, only to reappear somewhere else in a different form?
3. There
is no Darkness, only Light
"Negative
things like darkness or cold are not really things at all. They're the absence of things. There is only more or less light. There is only more or less heat. To make dark, you must block the light. To make cold, you must remove the heat. Energy will move into cold or dark spaces
until all of the space shares equal light, equal heat. See Law #1."
Although
shadows such as darkness or cold are physical absences rather than presences,
we are able to perceive them by contrasting them to their real opposites. And these shadows are, in fact, necessary
for us to be able to perceive their opposites.
Imagine a world that was evenly filled with total light; it would be as
useless to us as a totally dark world; our perception would be flooded and
useless. As the Greek philosopher
Heraclitus wrote in 500 B.C.:
"It
is not good for men to get all they wish to get. It is sickness that makes health pleasant; evil, good; hunger,
plenty; weariness, rest."
So,
in our world of perception, the absence of things must always be present, and
in that sense, the absences become realities to us, part of the eternal
pair-bond between light and shadow.
D. There
are Different Truths
"Energy
can be a wave... A whole set of laws of Nature flow from [that view]. But energy can also seem to be a ...
particle. ... And whole new laws flow
from [that] view... Both views are way
different. Both are completely
true. They are different truths."
Different
perspectives on the universe may provide us with different rules for the same
reality; it all depends on our viewpoint.
As David Rankin says:
"We
believe in the never-ending search for Truth...All religions, in every age and
culture, possess not only an intrinsic merit, but also a potential value for
those who have learned the art of listening...If the mind and heart are truly
free and open, the revelations which appear to the human spirit are infinitely
numerous, eternally fruitful, and wondrously exciting."
V.
Discussion
"Different perspectives on the
universe may provide us with different rules for the same reality; it all
depends on our viewpoint." I
invite your viewpoints and perspectives!