When bad things happen to good universes

I've been thinking more about what C.S. Lewis called The Problem of Pain – the fact that life on earth is so often painful and unpleasant. As Lewis himself pointed out, pain is a philosophical problem only if we approach the issue from a non-materialist standpoint. Materialism sees no intellectual conundrum in the existence – and even the prevalence – of pain and suffering. The world is an accident, life itself is an accident, and pain is just part of the package. There is no reason to expect things to be any other way.

Philosophically, pain becomes a problem only if we believe there is some higher purpose to existence, some grand design or ultimate end, and that the universe is meant to be a fundamentally good place. The materialist position is self-consistent and alluringly simple, but it's contradicted by a wealth of evidence indicating that consciousness is not ultimately dependent on the nervous system and that other planes of reality exist. The spiritualist position, however we define it in detail, seems better suited to encompass the kinds of paranormal and (for want of a better word) supernatural phenomena that we've often looked at in this blog.

How, then, can we explain the persistence, even the universality, of suffering? Here's an idea that occurred to me.

A great deal of the suffering in the world is related to the fact that organisms so often survive by exploiting other organisms. Carnivores kill and devour herbivores. Parasites infect their hosts. Microbes cause disease and spread plague. Insects and germs kill off crops, causing famine. Even the gentle herbivores survive by eating plants, which are, of course, living things in their own right. Nature is "red in tooth and claw," and Darwinists are right to stress the dog-eat-dog, brutal and ruthless competitiveness of the natural world. All generations of human beings, with the partial exception of our own, have been well aware that nature is out to get us. Only the affluence and comfort provided by modern technology in the developed countries can allow some people to believe nature is benign. Spend a month in the woods without any special equipment, and we'll quickly come to realize that our present-day isolation from the hazards of nature is a historical anomaly.

Nobody is singing "Hakuna Matata" in this movie

Now, why is it that organisms are engaged in all these destructive behaviors? The simplest explanation is that life seems to be programmed to find a niche anywhere it can. It will explore any avenue, exploit any opportunity, go anywhere and do anything – or die trying. Life will find ways to survive on the ocean floor or on the slopes of a volcano or even in the vacuum of space, clinging to the side of the International Space Station, which currently harbors an encrustation of algae. As Jurassic Park told us, life will find a way. The fact that many of these ways entail the destruction of other living things, or their extreme suffering, seems to be quite immaterial. Life is ruthless; it is always on the hunt for the main chance and always willing to take advantage of any loophole or weakness, consequences be damned.

What we have, then, seems to be a world that prizes the diversity of life above all else. The purpose – if there is a purpose – is the constant, unrestricted exploration of every possible form of life, every conceivable method of survival and reproduction, in every kind of environment – a wild, undisciplined, improvisational efflorescence of life ramifying into every nook and cranny of the physical world, from Arctic tundras to the intestinal tract.

To reframe this idea, we might say that the universe is set up to maximize the variety of activities and experiences that can be made real. It's sort of like a cosmic brainstorming session in which no idea, no matter how crazy, is off-limits. Everything is on the table; everything is worth a try.

Of course, a brainstorming session makes no sense if the solution to the problem is already known. Brainstorming is something we do when we don't know the answer. Which leads us to the conclusion that the universe, or whatever lies behind it, doesn't know all the answers. The universe is a work in progress, and the various experiments – whether successful or failed – are  its way of working out its own unanswered questions.

Actually, it's probably wrong to say that any experiments have failed, since even the evolutionary dead ends have provided information in their own right. Thomas Edison famously disputed the idea that his dozens of experiments in making a lightbulb had served no purpose. He replied that he now knew dozens of ways not to make a lightbulb. In the same way, the universe is learning what works and what doesn't, and like Edison's creative process, which was "one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration," it's messy and inefficient and sometimes frustrating and painful.

Notice that this viewpoint leaves no room for an omniscient God. An omniscient God knows all the answers and doesn't need to experiment. On the other hand, it does leave room for a God or Universal Mind that is not omniscient but still vastly more aware than any human mind.  And of course, human minds themselves are exploratory tendrils extending from this cosmic Source, and are part of the same experiment.

In short, we might address the problem of pain by saying that neither pleasure nor pain is the real point of the cosmic drama unfolding around us. The point is to actualize every potentiality, instantiate every abstract possibility, and widen the field of experience ever further. It may be that this complicated and ever-growing meshwork of experiences simply is the point of it all – experience and growth for its own sake – or it may be that the ultimate point is to grope our way to an ideal existence in the physical state that currently eludes us. In either case, pain is built into the cosmic plan, not because the Mind behind it is that of a sadist, but because if pain were foreclosed, too many avenues of exploration would be foreclosed with it.

I have no idea if this notion has any weight, but right now it seems more satisfactory to me than other explanations I've considered. So there it is.

Comments

[SPatel]

If life is a dream isn't it worthless, mattering no more than your "life" in a video game?

Even statements like "All is Love" suggest there is a connection between matter and emotion, which when we look at the world we can wonder if love is by necessity the same as Good.

Love can lead to all sorts of evil, even the environmental degradation and income inequality is about the love of one's own over the world. Same with a variety of conflicts in the world.

I don't see why the evil of this world wouldn't resonate beyond the confines of material existence, but of course the same can be said of the good. The conflict of this world extends beyond, assuming that there is a beyond so doing good here means there being more good elsewhere.

I actually wonder if NDEs are the most ignorant of revelations rather than the most profound, in that they seem so basic and sometimes even silly in their pablum. Another possibility is that there are benevolent realms rather untouched by the "Black Lodge" entities, perhaps thanks to the "White Lodge", and so in their Edenic ignorance they only communicate their own isolated innocence. The entities in NDEs may just be children on a cosmic scale that matters that to be them would be worthless from our perspective.

Not to mention the easiest way to keep anyone from joining the White would be to keep them in the immaterial equivalent of an endless drug high. Anyway just spitballing...

[Julie Baxter]

"The Gita advises to be “In sorrows not dejected, and in joys not overjoyed.” " - David

I like that. It's probably the hardest rule to follow. But if I'm to follow any rule (and I'm quite possibly the world's worst rule follower) I'll follow that one. :)

[Julie Baxter]

"There is a useful function to pain, drawing attention to wounds that require attention, and conditions in need of healing. And, there is mental and spiritual pain that serves to propel us out of ruts and habits that no longer serve the soul. Sorrow and grief hollow out the heart, purging the debris of shallow feeling, often bringing a depth of compassion and empathy previously unknown. The bitter medicine of pain can be a very good thing. Unpleasant yes, but hurtful in a way that leads to ultimate wellbeing." - David

Excellent explanation of the nature and purpose of psychological pain!

Also, I would add here (because I forgot to mention it earlier) the reason, I suspect, why affluent Americans are more than happy to hunt 'Big Game' endangered species is, because as Micheal suggested, they/we in the West are *far* removed from the realities of nature and, therefore, from the holistic pattern of life that sustains our planet Earth.

[Amos Oliver Doyle]

Doug Gaze,
I feel moved to share with you a poem I wrote for a friend of mine whose husband died suddenly. It is written in the style of Patience Worth.

Wherefore dost thou mourn, Oh little one;
Wherefore dost thou mourn?

For each hello must needs good-by
And each embrace a parting.
At each caress, a thousand tears
Across a face astarting.

Grieve not upon a journey ending.
"Tis but a fork, a road abending
And tears are but a soul amelting
From a love afilled.

-AOD

[Matt Rouge]

I also just noticed how funny the title is. Nice, Michael!

[David Chilstrom]

There is a deeper question in Michael's post that I failed to grasp in my earlier remarks. Why does God allow pain and suffering in the world? The disciples of Jesus raised a similar question with respect to a man born blind. Who sinned, the man or his parents? We could say of the state of the world, whose fault is it God's, or a sinful humanity? Of the blind man Jesus said: "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

From above the Earth appears to be a shining pearl set in the dazzling darkness of space. A luminous home among the stars. A stage where, as Jesus put it, the works of God may manifest. The world, with all it's imperfections, is vastly more magnificent then we can ever hope to imagine. It's a privilege to be sharing this ride with you.

[Amos Oliver Doyle]

Thank you David. It is a privilege to be sharing with you. -AOD

[Art]

\\David asks, "Why does God allow pain and suffering in the world?"//
------------------------------

We are spiritual beings having a physical experience. We come from a place, Heaven, where the only thing that exists is that which is first thought of. In order to relate to it and be able to understand it you have to have first spent time actually experiencing it.

Pain is necessary to imprint on the soul the parameters of the physical body. Like getting into a fender bender when you are driving a car and learning where the bumpers and fenders of your car are. And because there is such a strong connection between emotion and memory the lessons we experience here have to be powerful enough to overcome those feelings of oneness and connectedness and lack of time and space in heaven.

Another words, "life isn't supposed to be a bowl of cherries", to quote my mother. What she actually used to say to me was "life ain't a bowl of cherries you know kiddo!" It wasn't till later that I figured out it's not supposed to be. This life is just a hoax or illusion to quote Roger Ebert but while we are here we have to believe that it's all real so that the things we experience evoke enough emotion so that we will remember the lessons that we learned from them.

[Jussi]

Yes~! Generalizing a bit more, all Light/Matter, all strings, seek to occupy every possible permutation at all opportunities; hence the increase in complexity that allows for emergent properties.

Other 'planes' coexist within the same sea of strings, as Intelligence / Consciousness / Awareness / Being / Solidity multiplex, or emerge within the overall equation. "Higher Frequency" and other such simply permit our Being to become Aware of other coordinated collections -- and the purpose of the universe is not Love, is not Pain/Pleasure, is indifferent though aware of humans and our emotions.

[tom ohora]

mike ;I don't know how to contact you other than this.i read about your reading with Georgia oconnor,i recently had a reading from her ,I was also amazed by the specific accuracies,upon reflection the things I was most impressed by were things that apparently were discussed on and I guess could have been hacked off a relatives facebook account.my ? to you is was allthe specifics she gave to you something that could have been of your or a relatives social media account?

[Michael Prescott]

Hi Tom. In my case, Georgia told me things that I had never made public - and in at least two instances, things I had never discussed with anyone either in person or online. Could these have been lucky guesses? Anything is possible, but I think this would strain "lucky guess" to the breaking point.

No One, who comments here, also had a powerful session with Georgia, as have at least two people who've contacted me via email. OTOH, I've also heard from a couple of people who were not impressed at all.

[no one]

Hi Tom, Glad I caught this comment from you on this older thread. Michael is correct. My wife and I had two very powerful and convincing sittings with Georgia. The 1st sitting was in person at Georgia's house. At that time neither of us were on social media and we booked the session with fake names (Georgia actually encourages skeptics do use a pseudonym). For a call back phone number - which Georgia requires - we used a track phone that we keep for emergencies and that cannot be linked to us.

The in-person sitting amazed us. There was a tremendous amount of very personal information that nobody could have known and it was offered without hesitation or fishing. Much of it would have been very audacious, even reckless, if just a guess. For example, Georgia (well the spirit talking through Georgia) diagnosed a member of my wife's family as being a "psychopath". This happens to be true, but who would toss that out there with no prompting (which there wasn't) if just making it up on the fly? It could be down right insulting. Also, one of the spirits had some pretty disparaging things to say about my father who had been the first spirit to talk that session (he had passed over a few months before); again, very risky for a medium to offer if not true.

Moreover, something that was obvious to my wife and I when in person with her, is that Georgia took on the manners of my father when gesturing, etc. Something she did not do when the other spirits were coming through.

Anyhow, yes, lots of personal details that were not available on line - details that were highly specific to myself, my wife and/or the deceased and would not be easily generalized to most people.

The second sitting, on the phone, we took the same precautions as to be anonymous, though by this time both my wife and I had become active on social media. However, the details provided, while equally as impressive as the first sitting, were not those that could be gleaned from our social media (you'd think they would be if that is Georgia's method).

When faced with the incomprehensible, the rational mind seeks ways to bring things back into its realm of control. I went through the same process you are experiencing, Tom. I had to make sure I hadn't been duped and re-check all normal channels of information leakage to Georgia. There is any. I am convinced. I also had to double check my assumption that the information couldn't have been guesses, educated or otherwise. They could not have been. It would defy all reasonable probabilities in each instance, let alone in aggregate.

If you met a perfect stranger, and you were trying to impress them with your psychic abilities, would you immediately pronounce without prompting that their mother had died in an airplane crash? And then go on to describe some of the unique familial circumstances that followed that event despite the sitter remaining poker faced at your pronouncement? What are the odds you'd be correct? But this is the kind of thing that happened during my sittings.

[no one]

"There is any. I am convinced. "

Ugh...multi-tasking....should read "There isn't any. I am convinced"