Cosmic Therapy - Part 1

The other night I was hosting a program at the community Observatory where I spend much of my time as a volunteer docent. The group, as it turns out, consisted of home-schooled students and their moms. The head mom proceeded to inform me that they were Christians, and that they did not believe that the Earth was more than 6,000 years old, so that she would appreciate it if I didn’t mention anything that would contradict their belief. As one who believes in religious tolerance, I said “Why certainly – I had no desire to counter their belief system or make them feel uncomfortable”.

But it did have the effect of cutting the program I had prepared from 60 minutes down to about 10 or 12 minutes. I essentially had to delete all the information we as a species had gleaned from the past 400 years of study and observation – information that had been gained at the expense of lives and reputation, information gained through the sacrifice of great minds to the religious intolerance and bigotry of long past centuries, and of bodies burned at the stake by the Inquisition, all in the name of Scripture. But hey, as I said, I am tolerant.

So I spent a few minutes showing them pretty views of the Moon, the rings of Saturn, and the orange sands of Mars. I showed them the Orion Nebula as well, as that is only 1,350 light years distant, so doesn’t conflict with their view of the age of things. Sadly, there were some gorgeous galaxies in the constellation Ursa Major that I would have loved to show them, but since they were 12 million and 37 million light years away respectively, it would have put them in conflict with their beliefs, so I did not. Their visit to the Observatory, therefore, was simply an exercise in seeing a couple of pretty pictures, with no room or motive for thinking about the wonder that is the Universe.

I didn’t think much more about it until this morning, on my almost-daily hike through the local foothills. Hiking through nature gives me time to myself and an opportunity to think Great Thoughts and solve World Problems. Except today I chose to think about God, and the other night’s experience at the Observatory. In fact, today I thought “I should have a conversation with God. And maybe talk to God about last night!” But before I had this conversation, I had to get my mind around exactly what or who it was I would be talking to. After all, if God is as they say the Supreme Being, then addressing God as Sir, Him, Madam, or whatever would not make a whole lot of sense, since a Supreme Being would not have a gender. Not only that, I had a sense that God would not matter what God was called, if all you were doing was talking to God.

One more thing – God, being Supreme and all, would not need me to actually say out loud my questions in my conversation, since a lot of my more religious associates tell me that God knows in your heart what you are saying, etc. I figured that was probably a wise avenue for me to take, as on occasion I do pass other people on the hiking trails, and it would be awfully awkward for them to hear only one half of the conversation, especially since I don’t have one of those obnoxious “blue-tooth” cell phone receivers stuck in my ear a-la-Spock from Star Trek. Wouldn’t do to be found talking to one’s self out in the woods all alone now.

Anyway, “here goes”, I thought, and I began.

Me: Hello, God? (inside my head of course)
God: No answer.
Me: Hmmm.
Me (again): Um, hello, God?
God: Still no answer.

OK, I began to have second thoughts on this whole process. What was I doing wrong? Am I not thinking “loudly” enough? Can’t be – a Supreme Being would have supreme perception – thinking it “little” would be more than sufficient. Then I remembered something that I heard somewhere – that God Listens. God might not speak, but God always Listens. Now that makes sense, and does take a little of the pressure off. Because the more I thought about this proposed conversation, the more I was convinced that I didn’t really want to hear voices in my head.

Me: Hi God, it’s me again. Testing. 1-2-3.
God:
Me: OK, I think I understand this now…
God:
Me: God – here’s the thing… I had some visitors to the Observatory last night, and they believe, based on how they interpret scripture, that the Earth, etc. is only 6,000 years old. Is that true?
God:
Me: This is going to be a little bit harder than I thought…
God:
Me: Perhaps it would be more productive, God, if I thought about this some more on my own. Oh, and thank you for listening…
God:

So I finished my hike, with my thoughts more or less to myself (unless God was eavesdropping). I was in a bit of a quandary though – if we are God’s creation, God obviously gave us the brain we have as well as the body. And giving us this brain with its capacity for thought and investigation, would God not want us to use it to its full potential? Why would God dictate to us to not use it and instead believe something that is so clearly not true? Or is God intentionally trying to “trick” us? No, wait – that is what Rene Descartes reasoned 300 years ago – the infamous “cogito ergo sum” – I think therefore I am. So God is not trying to trick us. Does God, then, really care? Perhaps God wants us to use the brain God gave us because, essentially, we are on our own and we better figure things out right!

Well, that part makes sense. And, God didn’t pipe up and disagree, which is a Good Thing, because if God did then I would be facing that quandary of hearing voices in my head. Which, at this stage of my life, I am not quite ready for, it turns out.

By now I had reached the end of my walk. I figured I had better write this all down so I would remember it, and perhaps continue the conversation on my next walk. And more importantly, it would serve as a clue should I be inadvertently struck by a bolt of lightning or other some such natural phenomena for no reason. I think that is called “covering one’s bases”.