Far more complex than the nothingness of Evolution theory?
I don't know how, exactly, to interpret that.
I find the notion that forms arose from the actions of various elements within a rule-based system to be absolutely amazing. It's far from nothing. It's its own something.
The complexity of all life, I think, is sufficiently accounted for in Evolution, given the astoundingly large amounts of time involved in the process. It seems improbable from a perspective, almost impossible from others, but it isn't impossible... and so we must take the possibility into account.
The universe is composed of materials and is governed by rules that make it likely to produce life given the right circumstances.
Matter may be said to have the property of being inherently self-organizing. It seems to me that it is. Look at the activity of atoms. They seem to do very well in creating all kinds of complex structures all by themselves.
If we give responsibility for the organization of these elements to an intelligent designer, then we must ask, who designed the designer? For surely the designer of all this must be complex. If complexity demands design, then the designer must be designed. But by whom? And who created that being? And so on, ad absurdum.
Well, the designer perhaps just is.... but in that case why couldn't matter and the laws of physics themselves "just be."
It certainly looks in many cases that life must have some sort of intelligence behind it. But, if it is possible for life to form from "random" activity within a rule governed system, and the length of time we are talking about is very, very long, then isn't it probable that life as we know it would exist SOMEWHERE given the chance? And isn't it also likely that this somewhere is HERE?
Do what you may ask others to do regarding your system of belief. Try it on for size. If you really start acting as if Evolutionary Theory is true, and you produce more than a minimal effort at it, you'll see that the world is full in a different way, a wonderful way.
For me, the implications are that we really don't need a God. Perhaps God doesn't exist? Perhaps what we see is what we get? If you get past the apparent emptiness (and here you *really* have to conquer a void, which is what a lot of people give lip-service to in a lot of spiritual rhetoric), you find the world is full of meaning. Meaning that is mundane, but wonderful. Real and tender. Glorious and terrible.
It's just us here on this planet, using our own wits to figure things out and live life. It is in our hearts that justice and love find their creation and their homes. We do not need to rely on God. In fact, we become more responsible. This is it. No one is going to direct us or save us. We must rely on ourselves, on what our species has learned and passed on.
Knowledge can be seen for the fragile and precious thing that it is.... not some commodity that is delivered for obedience to or adherence to a set of instructions. Rather it comes from human curiosity and effort.
I don't know, I find all of that tremendously liberating and beautiful. I find a lot of personal responsibility in it. I see the meaning of my life in it, the importance of treating others in it. Redemption and damnation are in our hands, where they should be. It's all up to us.
The universe wasn't made for us by some caretaker who is going to fix it if we screw up. We aren't completely screwed or saved if we just believe in something. It is up to us to define our own standards and it is up to us to live up to them, for we are our own judges.
It is sad, at times, but sad in a poignant way. And it is glorious and wonderful, for look at what we are and all that we have achieved... and without God, Angels, or Devils.
*shrug*
I think it's wonderful, and far from empty or bleak. It makes expressions of love all that more meaningful and violence all the more terrible.
