The Summary - Finale - Lent 2023: Day 46

As I begin writing this post, it's just gone 8am, the spring sun is already high between the treetops in the neighbouring forest in a cloudless sky. Shortly after midnight as Easter Saturday becomes Easter Sunday, I shall traditionally open a beer and drink it with a whisky chaser and some kiełbasa as zagrycha - cheers! - my first alcoholic drink and meat since Shrove Tuesday, 21 February.

So - to end this cycle of 46 consecutive daily Lenten blogposts, I'll sum up the spiritual side of Lent: 'The Name of God' and 'Alignment with the Unfolding of the Universe'. 

My quest has never been 'whether or not there is a God' - I have always intuited that there is - but to better understand God.

The word 'God' is a useful human shorthand for a phenomenon which we cannot readily define but nevertheless still strongly intuit. There are aspects that need to be pared away though, such as a literal, anthropomorphic reading of the nature of God, as in 'God the Father'. Our knowledge has evolved; we must move on in understanding.

In our universe (one of many?), we can observe some two hundred billion galaxies, each of around a hundred billion stars - so why should we still conclude that the Maker and Purpose of all of this vastness takes the form of a male elder of the species Homo sapiens, as found on the third planet of an average solar system in a galaxy known to us as the Milky Way? 

'Reason', 'Maker' and 'Purpose' as Names of God would be my starting point.

Why is there something rather than nothing? This question has bothered philosophers sever since they started writing down their thoughts, and probably earlier. The 'why' must have a reason; that Reason might well be an integral part of any definition of God.

Where did the Universe come from? Well, scientific consensus suggests a finite beginning of space and time at the Big Bang. But how did that happen? Here one has to either posit a Maker, or just some curious, causeless, random cosmic act. Either notion boils down to pure belief. Sure, you can have a cyclical cosmos in which Big Bangs endlessly repeat. But what started that process? Sure, you can posit 'infinity' and say it's always been like that, but then you have an effect without a cause, the very thing reductionist materialists say you can't have. So 'Maker' it is for me.

And 'Purpose' - I would hold that there is a trajectory, there is a direction, to the Universe's Unfolding. Our Cosmos is on one hand naturally sliding from order to chaos (entropy), while on the other witnessing ever-growing complexity in the form of evolution. A strawberry left on a plate for a week will breakdown into mush; single-celled creatures have evolved to fly to the moon.

Is the Reason righteous? Is the Maker beneficent? Is the Purpose good? I believe so. The infinitely long journey from Zero to One is full of steps back, but overall, we move forward in understanding, slowly progressing away from barbarism - taking pleasure from inflicting cruelty - and towards a more angelic form of life. This journey will take a myriad lifetimes. The end point - All in God, God in All. Total, Universal understanding of everything, ever.

The Jewish notion of not uttering God's name makes sense; God is the ultimate mystery; to utter God's name is to suggest that you understand - you do not, no one does, nor will they for many aeons to come.

Plugging in your will to align with the overall course of the heavens is my way to grow. I have written much about the interface between science and spirituality; I believe that at our stage of evolving knowledge, quantum mechanics is currently the best way to reconcile the difference. That is - the conscious observer's role in any quantum system is crucial to it. Without it, the ambiguity of superposition would endure eternally. 

We will, I believe, in future, have learned to harness our consciousness to go with the flow - indeed, to grow with the flow - willing quantum outcomes to ones that are in harmony with our deepest needs, and synchronised with Cosmic destiny. Right now, we are toddlers in this. Vaguely feeling it, unable to describe it, but sensing that it's there. Growing up in this is a process that must span life after life after life after life. One lifetime is too short even from the most spiritually minded genius.

I'd like to thank Intuition for being with me throughout - it's funny how sometimes (increasing in frequency with age!) I get stuck for a word that I know, and yet when I'm typing like this, I'm in the flow; words just come to me, and the sentence makes perfect sense when I read it back. That's intuition. Channelling, if you will. The perfect guide through life. Once you come to recognise its power. For which I am grateful. I'd also like to thank all my readers, especially those who've stuck with me for the whole of Lent. And a big thank-you to Bożena for supporting this effort on Twitter! Below: just before pressing the 'Publish' button, the view from my desk.

Lent 2022: Day 46
Easter Everywhere, but not Ukraine

Lent 2021: Day 46
The summing up

Lent 2020: Day 46
Nor followers, nor leaders; one's own way to God