The Desperate Need for Something Greater
What if there is no one in the pilot’s seat?
Being an adult is scary. Being children meant that someone else was in charge. For people with nurturing or at least non-abusive parents, it meant that someone was looking out for them, taking care of them, and ensuring their needs were met.
Before long, however, we are expected to take care of ourselves. And yet, we live in a big, complicated world, where very little is within our control. To a large extent, we are pushed around by forces we can hardly identify, let alone tame.
I suppose, then, that it isn’t too surprising that many people feel an intense desire to still have a mommy or daddy. The desire is so great that they are quite susceptible to those who tell them that there is such a being, and all they have to do is put their faith in that being to have everything taken care of. The desire for protection supersedes their intellect, and they ignore the inconsistencies, self-contradictions, and claims for which there is no proof.
I was not protected and watched over as a child, but still, or perhaps as a consequence, the prospect of being a child in a loving being's arms was irresistible, at least for a time. However, like many others, I realized that the story that sounded so wonderful wasn’t consistent with the realities of life.
Many who ultimately reject conventional religion still cling to some idea of a higher power or purpose. They talk about “the universe” sending them messages or showing them things, or talk about “love” as something like a person, with whom they can converse and from whom they can learn. Or they talk about being “exactly where I’m supposed to be,” or state that “everything happens for a reason.” There is no more factual basis for these claims than for those of religion, yet again the ache to make sense of things, to be cared for, overwhelms rational thought.
I see no evidence of intent in the universe. The diversity and beauty of the natural world are amazing and humbling, but that doesn’t mean it was someone’s art project. If sometimes things seem to happen just when you need them to, there are as many or more times when what you need doesn’t happen. For each time you feel as if “the universe” gave you direction, there are as many or more times when cries of despair, cries for help or guidance or wisdom, elicit no discernible response.
This is identical to the situation with those who cling to religion — the one prayer that seems to have been answered is much more important than all the prayers that weren’t. We grasp at straws and defy logic, to allow ourselves to believe in something greater.
What if there is no higher power, no hand on the wheel, no entity guiding or running the whole big universe? What if there is no higher purpose or meaning, nothing that binds us together and makes sense of the world and our experience of it, other than the fact that we’re all living here?
A universe without intent is a universe without malice. It is a universe where the concept of fairness, in terms of what happens to any particular person, is not relevant. Things happen randomly, or because a chain of other things happened. The starting point is not a deity's decision or a grander purpose, but a random event.
I have two children with significant health challenges. I hate that they are suffering as they are. If I believed there was some entity in charge, I would be enraged at that being for afflicting two such fine people who have so much to give to the world. But there is no such being.
It may be that their health issues are the unanticipated consequences of one or more decisions we made at some point, the choice of a particular house location, for example, or it may be that they are just unlucky. I hate that, and it doesn’t make their struggles any less heartbreaking or tragic, but it’s the truth.
Taking out the intent, the higher power, the grand purpose, is, for me, actually somewhat reassuring. Things don’t have to make sense. There is no need to try to understand why a deity didn’t act, or how a tragedy fits into some grand plan. Bad things happen — it’s just the way the world works. It sucks, but at least not maliciously.
