In an earlier post I suggested that, because of fundamental limits of what we understand, an appropriate way to think about metaphysical matters is as “hopes”. In other words, because we cannot be certain about things like the existence of God, or life after death, or the ultimate nature of reality and the destiny of the universe, we need to hope that certain things are true about these questions.
In related posts1, I describe some examples of using this way of thinking to compare Christian and atheist perspectives, describing both as specific hopes. This post will focus on describing just Christianity as a series of hopes in certain metaphysical perspectives.
In the early days of the scientific revolution, it became popular to think of the universe as a clockwork mechanism. We now know that such a view does not match the realities revealed by discoveries such as relativity and quantum mechanics. Relativity and some surprising astronomical observations led scientists to understand that the universe had a beginning – the big bang – which implies some existence beyond the universe. Similarly, quantum mechanics revealed aspects to reality that do not match a mechanistic view, including the seeming involvement of consciousness in certain physical phenomena.
Taken together, these have shown us that the idea of a clockwork universe, although naively appealing, is inadequate to describe reality. While we don’t know all the answers, it is reasonable to place one’s hope in the idea that the universe was created by an agent outside of it, and thus the universe is the result of an intentional action. This not only fits the more complete understanding that we have, but also a lot of human experience that points to the existence of such a Creator.
One characteristic of the current universe is that it is running down; this is described as increasing entropy and can be pictured as increasing decay. Over time, it’s generally expected that everything will come to an end. However, the idea of a creator suggests the possibility of another intentional action – a re-creation, that many see having started nearly 2000 years ago.
Until then, decay isn’t the only story in the universe because there is something that works against entropy and decay: life. Life counters entropy by growing in complexity, contrary to the lifeless trend of universal decay. The process that results in growing complexity is evolution, and selfishness is the engine of this process (often referred to as “the selfish gene”).
However, just as the darkness of universal decay is countered by the force of life, the darkness of selfishness can be countered by love. I choose to hope that the future is one which is fundamentally driven by love much as today’s world is driven by selfishness. Unfortunately, we cannot live perfectly aligned with such a future because our nature is fundamentally flawed – we are still physical creatures that bear the characteristics of this existence. A transformation is needed, and my hope is in the reality of a new existence that includes my own re-creation as well as that of the universe.
This hope is based on the nature of the creator that was best revealed by Jesus, the one which Christianity points to, whose nature is the very definition of selfless love. His death and re-creation validated the reality of this hope.
- See, for example: Hope in Mind, Eternal Hopes, and Hope and Trust.
Kelvin's Clouds 