Beyond the Prison of Beliefs - Where Science Meets Spirit

CHAPTER 1:
The Awe-Inspiring Universe

Nature is beauty. Beauty is nature. We are engineers, but who engineered us? As we scan our universe, from the tiny flower to the awe-inspiring galaxy, we see the fingerprint of a creator, the fingerprint of intelligence. The universe consists entirely of waves of motion which spring from stillness and return to stillness. Nature is designed according to a sequence. This sequence appears to be a trademark of a designer. A proof of a creator, something left behind indicating the one who was there… a finger print. Anahera

Creation of the Universe

There’s a sequence to life that has led us to this point, and if you follow the trail of this sequence back, you will find no evidence of anything as intricate as the universe occurring by coincidence or fortuity. Why is it that, when we gaze at the pyramids, we have an understanding that an intelligent ancient civilization had something to do with it? Someone could argue that they came together as a result of sandstorms piling rocks up on top of each other, but that’s highly unlikely, of course: there’s no room for chance to mount an exquisitely erect monument in such precision. We tend to believe our history regardless of who recorded it, and we deduce the undeniable existence of ancient civilizations even though we haven’t personally witnessed any of them. When we visit a museum or a monument, we sporadically inspect the ancient remains in obscurity, and every so often we express our interest in identifying who created the artifact, yet we only link human-made structures with a creator. However, when it comes to nature, be it a flower, animal, mountain, lake, sky, planet, galaxy, or spatial bodies far more complex in constituents than concrete buildings and relics, we argue that it’s a spin-off coincidence!

The universe is so intricate in function, design, composition, and beauty, that it makes me susceptible to believe that it’s a product of intelligent design rather than a by-product of chance. We are fingerprints of a creator, even if the initiation happened by coincidence; it’s still considered a creation, a remarkably accurate and flawless formation! When a scientist oversees an experiment, and the outcome is providently undesirable, it doesn’t mean it won’t be deemed a sanctioned invention even if a twist of fate was evident. Most groundbreaking discoveries came to pass by accident; many scientists would acknowledge that. The happenstance wouldn’t emerge out of oblivion. It’s the fundamental rule of any science experiment: studies include an object and a stimulant to be able to induce results—cause and effect. So, whether the blueprint of the universe was providence or luck, it doesn’t change the fact that whatever came to existence is nothing less than exemplary. There is perfection in the balance of life, the order within the chaos, and vice versa. Everything is deliberately designed in a way to serve a purpose. There’s always a sense of deliberation in the serendipities surrounding us, so what makes the big bang any different than a deliberate act? We are naturally inclined to have suspicions about the design instead of spending that energy to grasp the wisdom behind it. Would you be grateful for the good if there were no bad at all? Would you even fathom what is good if bad was nonexistent? The tale of Adam and Eve depicts this subject matter thoroughly and proficiently.

The big bang itself is a result of a reaction, but what spawned this reaction? Who triggered it? Aren’t we breaching science when we say that it was a reaction set in motion by nothing? A higher power setting it off may strike someone as pseudoscience, yet it’s equally (if not more) scientifically skewed to allege that nothing elicited this reaction. With no evidence, we’ll find ourselves locking horns to the point of stalemate. Therefore, we must consider a daring leap forward in the direction that makes more sense scientifically, until we manage to prove otherwise. The answers will reveal themselves over time. It has always been the case.

Meanwhile, invalidating the opposite likelihood of what you believe is the truth is wrong; one should be receptive to everything. Many theories about the origins of our universe have come and gone until another method came along that physicists could agree on. It’s the big bang theory. They decided on it because there is scientific evidence to support it. Georges Lemaître and Alexander Friedmann were the founders of this theory in the 1920s. They used Einstein’s theory of relativity to prove that the universe is in a continuous motion of exponential expansion. In 1929, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble reinforced this theory after discerning evidence that practically all clusters of near and distant galaxies seemed to be moving away from all other clusters, which also betokens that the entire universe is expanding. In chapter 51, verse 47, the Quran affirms “And it is We [God] who have built the universe with [Our creative] power and verily, it is We [God] who are steadily expanding it.” The emerging universe expanded from an infinitely dense point of singularity, which was very unstable, so it exploded as blistering gravitational waves. One thing we are informed about the universe is that space was formed first and then gave birth to galaxies, stars, planets, the Earth, and then us. The Quran addresses the order in which numerous events took place in a consistent alignment with scientific findings. For instance, in chapter 18, verse 51 it says “I [God] did not make them witness to the creation of the heavens and the earth or to the creation of themselves.” That implies that the order of creation was space, Earth, and then us respectively.

The archetypical bedtime stories of the beginning of time, of sanctified heroes and revered messengers, were illustrated in a way to feed our human imagination and to gradually assimilate the prowess of the divine. They are just analogies to put strenuous matters into perspective because what is real cannot be set in words. We cannot pump faith into a three-year-old child by explaining quantum physics to them. Alternatively, we adhere to Disney metaphors to drill in concepts of morality. The human mind was wittingly devised to relate to figurative imaginations. We are prone to gravitate toward miraculous affinities. The reality about the truth is not in the stories conveyed but in the means of interpretation.

Another mind-boggling controversy is what existed before the big bang. What will we find if we go back infinitely into the time preceding the big bang? These questions will compel us to reflect on the verisimilitude of time and life as we know it. Let’s consider that the big bang was an erratic act of mere chance, and that galaxies and other Milky Ways were formed coincidentally. Stars came into existence, and planets eloquently and gracefully revolved around their host stars. If we pore over planet Earth, what are the chances of it whirling systematically around the sun, at a safe and uniform radius in the Goldilocks zone where the temperature is just about right for the liquid to exist, and thus life also?

The human body is a captivating establishment. The exquisite intricacy of its vital organs and exuberant systems function in unsurpassed consonance that makes one wonder if there was an intelligent mastermind, and then how impeccable must He be to come up with such a design! It doesn’t matter if it was evolution that led us here: evolution is still an act of a pristine creator. Many call our creator God. The indoctrinated concept of God varies from one person to another. Some refer to Him as the highest power and the source of everything that was created; some refer to Him as intelligence, others refer to Him as everything in existence that is external to us (i.e., the universe), and yet others believe He is everything in existence, including us. A manifestation of all consciousness in life! As long as we find meaning in and purpose to our existence, it doesn’t matter what our belief is. If we don’t find meaning to everything around us, we lose hope and faith, and without faith, there is no reason to live. Not having a desire to live defies human nature. Hope is the pulsating quasar of life.

Faith that life goes on is deeply engraved within our being. It’s persistently progressive by nature, and it’s the reason evolution supervened in the first place. There is a cogent internal force within every living being that thrusts us forward. A force that drives us onward and outward the same way the big bang surged matter (and antimatter) forward at an accelerating speed. What is this tenacious force that accompanied us to where we are today and is still propelling us to a mysterious future? The unknown is never going to be fully unveiled, nor will it fail to delight.

Space is a vast and dark void governed by an extraordinary power called gravity. Gravity is a force that exists in all material objects in this universe and attracts them toward each other. Without gravity, life on Earth would not exist; the planet would not continue to revolve around the sun and drift in random directions. The moon would float away, the satellite stations would wander aimlessly, and everything on Earth would sail off its surface. When Isaac Newton was relaxing under a tree in his garden, an apple fell on his head, and he deduced that gravity must have been pulling the apple downwards. However, centuries later, Einstein had a different theory:...