Midnight: Miracle or Monster?

The idea that random processes could produce something as complex, beautiful, and varied as life is far more miraculous to me than anything written in any of the holy books.
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This was a hell of an interesting year for speculating about the structure of the universe. And next year we'll pick the so-called leader of the free world. WWRWED - what would Ralph Waldo Emerson do?

A long time ago people began dividing time arbitrarily. They noticed that, at this time of year, seasons began turning from darkness and cold to light and warmth. So they called it the start of a new year. European pagan holidays were celebrated around now for the same reason - because, without scientific understanding, the cyclical turning back toward Spring seemed like a miracle and a rebirth. That's why the date was appropriated, centuries after Christ's death, for Christmas.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a minister, but he didn't appreciate the New Testament's tales of miracles and wonders. In his famous speech to the Harvard Divinity School he said those miracle stories were "monster," using that word's original meaning of "against nature." "They are not one with the blowing clover and the falling rain," Emerson said.

Looking for miracles? Some scientists think we may be able to observe extra dimensions beyond the four we know (three in space, plus time) using the Planck satellite Europe is launching next year. Others think black holes may be gateways to other universes, while others think an inexplicable void in deep space may be the fingerprint of another cosmos. They're even speculating about "Boltzmann brains," hypothetical conscious beings that spontaneously arise out of nothing, observe the universe, then vanish.

All of these theories are only that right now - theories. But in a universe where rational thought and observation can produce ideas like these, how many more miracles does a person need? And the idea that random processes could produce something as complex, beautiful, and varied as life is far more miraculous to me than anything written in any of the holy books.

I use the word "God" sometimes, the way Spinoza and Einstein used it, as a placeholder for "the total impact of known and unknown natural laws." At its best, for me that word reflects the unific nature of all reality, the way Sufis and Buddhists perceive it. At its worst, it's everything dark that Richard Dawkins says it is.

The holy books represent beautiful metaphors for the mystical appreciation of the universe. My guess is that mystics used the word "God" as shorthand, too, but that the fundamentalists turned their metaphor into monster. I'd gladly stop using that word if I could be convinced it's holding back human progress, but I've found even the most perceptive of new atheists tend to misrepresent my questions rather than respond to them (although my piece on Americans' lack of scientific understanding was featured on Dr. Dawkins' website, which I appreciated).

Another new year. Other universes may be throwing their shadow across our own - and we're supposed to care about how 30,000 Democrats vote next week in Iowa? But I have to care, because that handful of voters will have a disproportionate impact on the Democratic Party's future And that Party may either be a vehicle for change or an instrument of profound disappointment in 2008. A lot of human misery is riding on that choice.

2008 could be a year of political renewal and rebirth, a turning from cold and darkness to warmth and light. That would be a miracle. The other possibility - the politics of no-choice, the continued oligarchy of cynical insiders - is not one with the blowing clover or the falling rain.

Which one will it be? That's your call, I guess - and mine. Not to get all heavy for New Years' Eve or anything. Drive safely!

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