Hawaiian Mage:
[QUOTEBlue algea is not a very complicated life form. It is very possible to have been created acidentally with all the cosmic forces comeing into play.[/QUOTE]
Understood.
But you said (emphasis mine):
All I have to say is that we are really lucky.
We, of course, are
not blue-green algae (or cyanobacteria). The mutations involved in evolution into multi-celled organisms, then plants, fish, rodents, and primates (to name a few) are - while generally slow in coming - quite dramatic. Mysterious, you might say.
The rise to sentience is particularly intriguing, as we humans seem to have stepped outside of evolution altogether (meaning that we adapt our environment, rather than adapting
to it).
This suggests to me that there is purpose, perhaps even intention, involved.
What is that purpose?
I don't know. I choose to not live my life worrying about it.
Let me give a simple analogy.
Suppose you want to make a cake from scratch. Must you not
start somewhere? Do you walk into the kitchen and say, "Let there be cake!"?
No, of course not. You need ingredients; flour, eggs, baking powder, maybe some milk and cocoa. You need some untensils and a bowl or two. You need to pre-heat the oven.
Now imagine "god" wants to make something as well (we might even arrogantly assume that it's
us "god" wishes to make).
There are a few laws fashioned, involving chemistry, gravity, magnetism, quantum mechanics...
Starting with some elementary particles, these laws can describe how hydrogen is formed, and how hydrogen can be fused to make helium, and so on...
They also regulate the processes by which those elements join together to make more complex structures like water.
In time, we have carbon and water getting together along with some amino acids, the right temperature and amount of light, and... algae.
Do you expect me to believe this just "happened?"
...
I want to reinforce my notion of "god" too, to clear up the notion that I perceive a "supreme being" that makes things like blue-green algae on a cosmic whim.
Remember that in my view the entity responsible for the universe isn't in the universe, it
is the universe.
It would take a long time to clarify and debate this, so I'll wrap it up here and reiterate my invitation to anyone who'd like to share her or his ideas with me -- and vice-versa -- to contact me via email or catch me on ICQ (good luck on that one).
...
And remember, I'm not telling what to believe, only what I believe.*
*
(note: Chaos Turtle's beliefs are subject to change, void where prohibited, and have no cash value)