A Something
Mere Christianity, Book I, Chapter 4: What Lies Behind the Law
In very broad terms, there are two explanations for how our universe came to be. The first is the idea that the universe is here by chance. I am not an expert on the subject, but the very basic theory, in layman's terms, is that the big bang happened and since then the universe has been expanding, gases have formed stars, matter has formed planets and moons, and on our own planet, matter has formed over the years into living things with minds, all by chance. (How is that for a run-on sentence?) The second idea says that "what is behind the universe is more like a mind than it is like anything else we know. That is to say, it is conscious, and has purposes, and prefers one thing to another." This thing like a mind made the universe and made things like itself, things with minds. I know there are other ideas but most of them fall into one of these two categories.
Lewis asks us not to think that one idea is old and the other is replacing it. He says, "Wherever there have been thinking men both views turn up." I am not a historian so I can't say if this is true or not, but from what I do know, I would have to agree. Even now, when we understand more about how our universe works than ever before, both views exist. Lewis also states that neither view can be proved or disproved by science. I agree. In case you are like me, and forget what the scientific method is, here you go:
It is my opinion that a lot of people who follow the second view tend to think science is a bad thing, and that it's purpose is to disprove what they believe. I think they are forgetting what science really is. "Science works by experiments. It watches how things behave." So, you have to agree that science, being what it really is, cannot tell us which view is the right one. The questions, "Why is there anything there to observe in the first place?" and "Is there any meaning behind any of it?" must be answered by other means. "Supposing science ever became so complete that it knew every single thing in the whole universe," wouldn't these questions still remain unanswered?
There is, however, one thing in the universe that we know more about than anything else: ourselves! "We do not merely observe men, we are men." How would anyone observing us from the outside, without knowing our language or having any inside information, have any idea about this Moral Law we've been discussing all along? They definitely wouldn't see it from our behavior, because it is not in fact what we do, but what we ought to do.
If the second view is correct, and the universe was made by something with intentions and a purpose, how would it reveal itself? Observation of the facts could not find it. "If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe -- no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house." So the only thing we know beyond the facts we observe has to be something inside ourselves, something influencing our behavior.
Lewis presents an analogy to better explain his point. You see the mailman putting envelopes into people's mailboxes. How do you know there are letters inside the envelopes? Because when you open your own envelope, that is what you find inside. But you can't say you know for a fact that everyone else's envelopes contain letters because you haven't opened all of them. You haven't open theirs because they aren't addressed to you. You aren't allowed to open other people's mail, just your own. So you base your knowledge of other people's mail on your own. That being said, you can't know what everyone else's letters say, but you would expect to find a sender of the letters in both cases. Mankind is the only envelope we are allowed to open. If we were to open a rock's envelope we would expect to find a letter compelling it to obey the laws of it's nature, such as gravity. When we open our own envelope, we find something compelling us to obey the Law of Human Nature (Moral Law). In both instances, there is "a Power behind the facts."
Still with me? This is a long chapter. In case you've gotten lost along the way, I will recap. There is either something behind the universe we live in, or nothing behind the universe we live in. If there is nothing behind it, we may as well stop there. If there is something behind it, it would not be something in the universe that we can observe. It would have to reveal itself in the thing we know beyond observation. It would be revealed within ourselves. When we search within ourselves, we do find something compelling us to behave a certain way.
Lewis wants to be sure we aren't getting ahead of ourselves. "Do not think I am going faster than I really am. I am not yet within a hundred miles of the God of Christian theology. All I have got to is a Something which is directing the universe, and which appears in me as a law urging me to do right and making me feel responsible and uncomfortable when I do wrong."
And that is where we will stop. Next time, we will finish Book I by looking at this Something and trying to find out more about it.
If any of this interests you at all, please get the book and read along!
Thank you so much for reading!!!
In very broad terms, there are two explanations for how our universe came to be. The first is the idea that the universe is here by chance. I am not an expert on the subject, but the very basic theory, in layman's terms, is that the big bang happened and since then the universe has been expanding, gases have formed stars, matter has formed planets and moons, and on our own planet, matter has formed over the years into living things with minds, all by chance. (How is that for a run-on sentence?) The second idea says that "what is behind the universe is more like a mind than it is like anything else we know. That is to say, it is conscious, and has purposes, and prefers one thing to another." This thing like a mind made the universe and made things like itself, things with minds. I know there are other ideas but most of them fall into one of these two categories.
Lewis asks us not to think that one idea is old and the other is replacing it. He says, "Wherever there have been thinking men both views turn up." I am not a historian so I can't say if this is true or not, but from what I do know, I would have to agree. Even now, when we understand more about how our universe works than ever before, both views exist. Lewis also states that neither view can be proved or disproved by science. I agree. In case you are like me, and forget what the scientific method is, here you go:
It is my opinion that a lot of people who follow the second view tend to think science is a bad thing, and that it's purpose is to disprove what they believe. I think they are forgetting what science really is. "Science works by experiments. It watches how things behave." So, you have to agree that science, being what it really is, cannot tell us which view is the right one. The questions, "Why is there anything there to observe in the first place?" and "Is there any meaning behind any of it?" must be answered by other means. "Supposing science ever became so complete that it knew every single thing in the whole universe," wouldn't these questions still remain unanswered?
There is, however, one thing in the universe that we know more about than anything else: ourselves! "We do not merely observe men, we are men." How would anyone observing us from the outside, without knowing our language or having any inside information, have any idea about this Moral Law we've been discussing all along? They definitely wouldn't see it from our behavior, because it is not in fact what we do, but what we ought to do.
If the second view is correct, and the universe was made by something with intentions and a purpose, how would it reveal itself? Observation of the facts could not find it. "If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe -- no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house." So the only thing we know beyond the facts we observe has to be something inside ourselves, something influencing our behavior.
Lewis presents an analogy to better explain his point. You see the mailman putting envelopes into people's mailboxes. How do you know there are letters inside the envelopes? Because when you open your own envelope, that is what you find inside. But you can't say you know for a fact that everyone else's envelopes contain letters because you haven't opened all of them. You haven't open theirs because they aren't addressed to you. You aren't allowed to open other people's mail, just your own. So you base your knowledge of other people's mail on your own. That being said, you can't know what everyone else's letters say, but you would expect to find a sender of the letters in both cases. Mankind is the only envelope we are allowed to open. If we were to open a rock's envelope we would expect to find a letter compelling it to obey the laws of it's nature, such as gravity. When we open our own envelope, we find something compelling us to obey the Law of Human Nature (Moral Law). In both instances, there is "a Power behind the facts."
Still with me? This is a long chapter. In case you've gotten lost along the way, I will recap. There is either something behind the universe we live in, or nothing behind the universe we live in. If there is nothing behind it, we may as well stop there. If there is something behind it, it would not be something in the universe that we can observe. It would have to reveal itself in the thing we know beyond observation. It would be revealed within ourselves. When we search within ourselves, we do find something compelling us to behave a certain way.
Lewis wants to be sure we aren't getting ahead of ourselves. "Do not think I am going faster than I really am. I am not yet within a hundred miles of the God of Christian theology. All I have got to is a Something which is directing the universe, and which appears in me as a law urging me to do right and making me feel responsible and uncomfortable when I do wrong."
And that is where we will stop. Next time, we will finish Book I by looking at this Something and trying to find out more about it.
If any of this interests you at all, please get the book and read along!
Thank you so much for reading!!!
I like it! - Rog
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rog!
ReplyDelete