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Denial of Continuous Creation

Many forms come into existence on their own without needing external help.  This seems to be a concept that the human mind naturally rejects.  Whether you call it self organization, or continual creation, it is the basic idea that you don’t need something external to a form, to cause that form to become. So we invent Gods.

TL;DR​

Continual creation is the idea that new things are being created all by themselves all the time, starting from the big bang and continuing into the far future.  Self organization is the idea that forms can come into being and organize themselves without needing external cause to do it.  Continual creation is the idea that self organization not perfect and occasionally organizes into a form that never existed before, however when such a form is stable it can persist as a new form in the universe.

The human mind has a very hard time understanding this.  The human mind developed in order to hunt, find food, and ultimately reproduce. You don’t need to understand self-organization to feed yourself, so there is nothing intuitive about this.  This is a kind of blindness that you have to get beyond in order to understand how the world works.

These forms do not “come from somewhere else” but instead are created in place without external help or guidance.  Biologists see this in the emergence of new species.  Geologists see this in the emergence of mountains.  Cosmologists see this in the emergence of stars and galaxies.  Sociologists see this in the emergence of new art forms and other cultural inventions.  Psychologists see this in the emergence of intelligence and consciousness.

Theists find this so hard to understand, that they have to invent a God to make all this happen.

How this Blindness is Expressed​

A theist invents a god to be the cause of things that organize on their own.

  • A flower is beautiful. The theist says that the beauty came from somewhere and so insist that God gave this flower beauty. Otherwise it would not be there. Theists can not imagine beauty forming all on its own.
  • Lions exist. The theist says that the idea of a lion came from somewhere and so insist that God created lions. Otherwise there would be no lions or any other species. Theists can not imagine species forming all on their own.
  • The wilderness has forests. The theist says that the forests came from somewhere and so insist that God gave the wilderness forests. Otherwise it would not be there. Theists can not imagine forests forming all on their own.
  • Stars exist. The theist says that the ability for there to be stars came from somewhere and so insist that God created stars and stellar evolution. Otherwise they would not be there. Theists can not imagine stars forming all on their own.
  • Crystals have an organization.  The theist says that this organization came from somewhere and so insist that God gave crystals their organization. Otherwise it would not be there. Theists can not imagine crystals forming all on their own.
  • Humans have consciousness. The theist says that the consciousness came from somewhere and so insist that God gave humans consciousness. Otherwise it would not be there. Theists can not imagine consciousness forming all on its own.
  • Humans have morals. The theist says that the morals came from somewhere and so insist that God gave humans morals. Otherwise it would not be there. Theists can not imagine morals forming all on its own.
  • Humans love others. The theist says that the ability to love came from somewhere and so insist that God gave humans love. Otherwise it would not be there. Theists can not imagine love forming all on its own.

This is a trick of the mind. The mind simply has a hard time seeing things form on their own in a complex mixture of all other things. Until you understand self-organization, you can not understand the world.

Form​

We think of the world as being composed of objects.  In every case (except one) these objects are a form imposed on an underlying substance.  Cats and dogs are made out of the same substance, but it is their form that makes them different.

An object is formed by putting substance together in a particular arrangement.  Protons are formed from quarks.  Atoms are formed from protons and other particles.  Molecules are formed from atoms.  Cells are formed from molecules.  Humans are formed from cells.  Cultures are formed from humans.  etc.

Form is important:  Take an animal and put it in a blender.  All the same substance remains there, but the form of the animal disappears.  The animal no longer exists.  The thing we learn from this is that forms can appear and disappear, and the form does not need to come from somewhere.

Intelligence is Magic​

Intuition about forms is biased by human experience.  If I want a canoe, it is not just going to appear on its own, a human being will need to do some work to put the material in to form desired.  This is true of so many of the objects that humans use: cars, houses, streets, parks, blenders, beds, roofs, windows, martinis, french fries, birthday parties, etc.  It seems like an object can not come into existence without something making it come into existence.

Notice the wording: objects come into existence.  In other words, we are talking about creation: something coming into existence.  Creation is always about putting substance into a particular form.  Our human experience suggests that creation can not happen without someone doing something, and you can’t do something without intelligence.

Intelligence then is the magic sauce that makes creation possible.  in our daily life, some sort of intelligence is involved in the creation of every object we see around us.  Intelligence itself because responsible for all formation, all creation.

But then we notice that trees grow on their own, but we think that some intelligence must have designed that.  We notice that crystals and snowflakes form on their own, but conclude that some intelligence must have designed that.  We notice that mountains and rivers form on their own, but conclude that some intelligence must have designed that.   We notice that fire burns on its own, but conclude that some intelligence must have designed that. We notice that children gain consciousness on their own, but conclude that some intelligence must have designed that.  We notice that people have morals , but conclude that some intelligence must have designed that.

What is the Limit?​

I mentioned that one thing is not a form of some other substance, and that is the fundamental wave forms that satisfy the Schrödinger equation.  These wave forms simply exist and we don’t know why.  They interact with each other, and are the basic substance from which everything else is formed.

At this level, I don’t speculate.  If you want to believe that God created the Schrödinger equation, I will not object. But everything above that level, and I really mean everything, is a process of self-organization.

This concept of god is probably held by many people, even non religious.  But religion in various forms have put forward concepts of gods that extend far beyond that.  When one says one is a theist, the meaning is that it is more than just the inventor of the Schrödinger equation.

Implications​

Christians believe humans are inherently valueless, and have to believe in God so they can see value in themselves.  In reality we have value without needing a God to give us value. We become inherently valuable to ourselves.  We become valuable to others if we get along with others, and it is not that this value is given from one to another, but that this value is a self-forming form.

This is the idea that value forms on its own, without needing something external to give it value.

Belief in a god is a denial of this basic concept of self-organization.  Belief in god is a denial of continual creation.  We see self-organization around us all the time.  Plants grow, that is self-organization.  Weather happens, that is self-organization.  Rivers flow downhill, that is self-organization.  Not only that, but continual creation is the appearance of new forms that have never existed before, because self organization is not closed.  It is possible to organize in new forms, and if those forms are stable, they will persist.

Resources​

  • Self-Organization – a nice summary and explanation with a lot of links to other resources.