By Maggie Hall
Maggie is a former Chair of Brighton Humanists, a member of the Humanists UK Dialogue Network, and a Humanists UK School Speaker. She is also a retired teacher of speech and drama. In this article, Maggie looks at what various religions have to say about the mystery of existence.
The question “Why do we exist?” can have two meanings: the causal one (What caused us to exist?) and the teleological one (For what purpose do we exist?). The pragmatic answer to the causal question is that currently we don’t know for certain, but the “Big Bang Theory” is commonly accepted as the best explanation for the beginning of everything as we know it. The question of how living things, including us as human beings, came to exist is also still not fully answered, but scientists have made great strides in recent years studying abiogenesis (the origin of life from non-living matter) and will no doubt eventually come up with an answer. The Theory of Evolution is still unquestionably the best explanation of how human beings and all other living things evolved. As for the question of purpose, there is no reason to think that the natural processes involved in creating life are the work of an intelligent agent with purpose, rather than that life, including human life, is the result of unguided natural forces acting or reacting against each other.
Christianity and Judaism
For those with supernatural beliefs about “creation”, these scientific explanations pose a problem. When Darwin published his Origin of the Species in 1859 it was met with mixed reactions. Some Christians accepted that the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection was not incompatible with the belief that these natural processes were guided by God, whereas others considered the publication blasphemous. “Why not at once admit that new species were introduced by the Creative energy of the Omnipotent? Why not accept direct interference, rather than evolutions of law, and needlessly indirect or remote action?” raged a review in the Athenæum magazine of 9th November 1859.
The greatest difficulty for the religious, especially those who take their sacred texts literally, is their inability to reconcile the science with the theological explanations within those texts. Faced with this dilemma many solve it by a complete rejection of the science in favour of acceptance of the theistic explanation based on faith alone. To do otherwise would set up a level of cognitive dissonance which they would find intolerable. From their point of view they would rather accept the “word of God” than the word of mere mortals, however many scientific degrees they may have.
In a 2014 “documentary” film entitled Questioning Darwin, Pastor Peter LaRuffa said "If, somewhere within the Bible, I were to find a passage that said two plus two equals five, I wouldn’t question what I’m reading in the Bible; I would believe it, accept it as true and then do my best to work it out and to understand it”.
It should be noted, however, that many Christians and Jews find no difficulty in accepting the scientific cosmological hypothesis or evolutionary theory, believing that the whole thing could still have been kick-started and guided by God.
Islam
Responses from the Muslim community are similarly divided, some accepting the “guided by God”
viewpoint and some rejecting all the science in favour of creationist beliefs. There seems to be little opposition to the “Big Bang” theory of cosmology, as the idea of an expanding universe can easily fit into a convenient interpretation of the Quranic creation story: “Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke...” (Quran 41:11). As the IslamReligion.com website explains: “Because the earth and the heavens above (the sun, the moon, stars, planets, galaxies, etc.) have been formed from this same ‘smoke’, we conclude that the earth and the heavens were one connected entity. Then out of this homogeneous ‘smoke’, they formed and separated from each other. God has said in the Quran: ‘Have not those who disbelieved known that the heavens and the earth were one connected entity, then We separated them?...’ (Quran 21:30).”
Evolution is also generally accepted, that is until it comes to human evolution, which is more problematic, since the Quran states quite clearly that Adam was made from clay, separate from the rest of creation: “And indeed, We created man from sounding clay of altered black smooth mud.” (Quran 15:26)
Hinduism/Sanātana Dharma
In Hinduism, too, evolutionary theory is widely accepted, but there is also a form of Hindu creationism, largely derived from a literal reading of the Bhagavad Gita, which was promoted by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the Hari Krishna movement. However, according to the Dashavatara (a term which refers to the ten incarnations or avatars of Vishnu) the first avatar, Matsya, was a fish and all the following avatars were progressively more complex animals, culminating in human civilisation, all of which, in one interpretation, provides a very neat analogy for evolution.
As far as the origins of the universe are concerned, the Rig Veda (also known as the Hymn of Creation), insists that no one can claim to know. There is a rather beautiful passage which I think deserves inclusion here in its entirety, if only for its poetry:
“In the beginning there was neither existence nor non-existence; there was no atmosphere, no sky, and no realm beyond the sky. What power was there? Where was that power? Who was that power? Was it finite or infinite?
There was neither death nor immortality. There was nothing to distinguish night from day. There was no wind or breath. God alone breathed by his own energy. Other than God there was nothing.
In the beginning darkness was swathed in darkness. All was liquid and formless. God was clothed in emptiness.
Then fire arose within God; and in the fire arose love. This was the seed of the soul. Sages have found this seed within their hearts; they have discovered that it is the bond between existence and non-existence.
Who really knows what happened? Who can describe it? How were things produced? Where was creation born? When the universe was created, the one became many. Who knows how this occurred?
Did creation happen at God’s command, or did it happen without his command? He looks down upon creation from the highest heaven. Only he knows the answer – or perhaps he does not know.” (Rig Veda 10:129.1–7)
There are, however, various different creation stories in Hinduism. The details differ, but generally the belief is that the universe was created by Brahma and is preserved by Vishnu, who also preserves human beings. Eventually the end of the world will happen by the power of Shiva, upon which Brahma will start the process over again. This is the eternal cycle of life. There have been many worlds before this one and there will be many more after it.
Jainism
Jains are an interesting group. They don’t believe in a creator god at all. They believe that the universe has always existed and that all living creatures hold within them a spark of divinity, or “soul” and that whenever any living thing dies its soul transmigrates into another body, which could be one of any species. Hence they are vegetarians and pacifists and take great care not to harm any living thing since even an ant could contain a soul that was once an ancestor. Jains are critical of any form of creationism and have no difficulty accepting the Theory of Evolution. Jainism is so ancient that its origins cannot be accurately dated, but it may predate or be contemporary with Buddhism. Its founder was Rishabhdev, with further development by Vardhaman Mahavir, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism. A Tirthankara is a saviour who has succeeded in crossing over life’s stream of rebirths and has made a path for others to follow. Each cosmic age produces its own group of 24 Tirthankaras.
Buddhism
Buddhists also have no belief in a creator god, but believe that the universe is only one of many which have existed in the past and will exist in the future. Worlds come into and pass out of existence continually. Humans are reincarnated after death, and the form and place of your rebirth are determined by the good or bad karma you have accumulated throughout your life. Existence is cyclical and eternal. Unlike Jains, Buddhists do not believe in the concept of a soul as a distinct personality or identity, but that there is a kind of expansive eternal essence that transcends material existence. The “primordial soup” hypothesis about the origin of life is compatible with Buddhist teachings, as is evolution.
What are we for?
The question “For what purpose do we exist?” is irrelevant to those ancient Eastern religions where there is no belief in a creator god to assign purpose. Their objective is liberation from attachment to the material world and the eventual achievement of Nirvana – a state of permanent existence without suffering or desire, or any sense of self.
The Abrahamic religions, however, very much look to God as the giver of purpose. “Replenish the earth, and conquer it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Humans were created as God’s overseers and curators of his creation and to serve God. “When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
Christians believe that God has a purpose for each of his followers: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). This suggests that God has a purpose for each individual person even before they are born. I’m not sure how this is reconciled with the concept of free will unless, of course, one has freedom to decline God’s purpose to pursue one’s own, which would no doubt be considered “sin” and not end well for the independent-minded apostate. Indeed, in Isaiah 1:19-20 we read: “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Naturally, different believers interpret these verses in a variety of ways, but most Christians seem to believe that God has a particular purpose for them as individuals and to keep praying about it is the way to find out what it is.
Muslims are left in no doubt as to what their purpose is: “And I have not created the Jinn and the men but that they may worship Me” (Quran, 51:57).
Hindus are exhorted to seek “kama” (pleasure, desire, love): “O Lord of all, hail unto Thee!/ The Soul of all, causing all acts,/ Enjoying all, all life art Thou!/ Lord of all pleasure and delight!” (Maitri Upanishad, 5:1). However, Hindus also have as their life purpose that of ending the cycle of samsara (in Hinduism, Buddhism/Jainism and Sikhism, the cycle of life, death and rebirth) by making morally right decisions in order to achieve good karma (the law that every action eventually has an equal reaction).
Conclusion
I’m very glad that I am free to determine my own purpose and meaning for my life. Interestingly, however, the purposes we assign to ourselves as humanists are often not very different from those of many religious people. Making good moral decisions is key, whether that is to increase our good karma or simply because we feel it’s the right thing to do. Trying not to harm animals, for example, has the same result whether we do it because we think they contain the souls of our ancestors or whether we just abhor the unnecessary suffering of defenceless creatures. Championing human rights is a worthy aim whether we’re doing it because we believe we are all children of the same God or because we know that ultimately we are all members of the same extended family of human beings. No matter how we believe we got here or where we think our purpose comes from, we’re all ultimately struggling to understand ourselves and our place in the world.
References and further reading
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