After I gave an abbreviated version of this book
as a paper to the Dallas Metaphysical Club, one of the attendees asked the question, "When did you first start thinking about these things?"
I thought for a brief moment and said, "When I was five years old." I remember as if it were yesterday. I was playing alone in our family’s yard. I was suddenly struck with
the questions: Why am I me? Why am I here? Why me? I suddenly became aware of my own existence. I became self-conscious.
During my teenage years, I became interested in science. I was fascinated by its answers to how the world worked. I avidly read science-fiction during its classic 1950s heyday, delving into authors such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke. My mind was opened to all the unlimited possibilities of the future - space travel, other intelligent beings in the universe, the potential powers of mind, and much much more. Alongside science was my love for history. The rise and fall of civilizations, the struggle and accomplishments of individuals, the rise of technology, and the conflicts of classes and cultures opened my mind to the broad expanse of the human drama that is continuing and will continue into the future. It seemed to me, even during those formative years, that humanity was but an adolescent going through its own difficult, formative years on its way to a mature future.
My attraction to science led me to study medicine,
which not only fed my appetite for knowledge about the human body, but gave me a practical income so I could still indulge in history and by that time philosophy. For it seemed to me that science did not have all the answers. The ancients delved into deeper questions: What is the basis of true reality? What is the reason behind existence? What determines basic morality and ethics? And why are we here?
I have always considered myself a spiritual person, and my questioning mind has led me to investigate many religious persuasions. My scientific bent is too logical to believe in supernatural events, such as miracles or a literal interpretation of Biblical events. That said, I also believe that science cannot give us all the answers. There are deeper questions that empirical science, as it exists, is unable to address. These are left to philosophers, theologians, and others. As one of the latter, I have spent a great deal of time pondering the questions of the universe, and in this book, I have attempted to merge the sometimes conflicting view-points of science, philosophy and religion. I have not intended this book to be an extensive examination of the science-religion-philosophy relationship but more of a glance into my quest for the truth.
The dialogue of scientists, philosophers, and theologians has shown an enormous growth concerning the beginning and ending of the universe; the point at which consciousness (the soul?) begins; and the morality of human cloning, stem cell research, etc. An interest in mystical thinking and Eastern philosophy is also growing. Our interest in these is a result of resurgence in our ongoing search for an ultimate truth and a hope for approaching an ultimate destiny.
Other thinkers and authors
before me have contemplated the growing and evolving universe of which life and humanity are parts. Louise B. Young in her book, The Unfinished Universe, said, "I postulate that we are witnessing—and indeed participating in—a creative act that is taking place throughout time." The Jesuit paleontologist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, believed that the entire universe from its beginning to its far future is a single, unfolding process. He stated that the most characteristic feature of this process was a "complexification" of smaller units combining to form larger, more complex, and more diverse structure. My research led me to Paul Davies’ The Last Three Minutes, The Cosmic Blueprint, and The Mind of God. I was surprised and amazed that Davies had already explored concepts similar to my own. From his mathematical and physics point of view, he had developed the ideas of self-development, growth of organized complexity, and reverse entropy. I have used the works of Davies and Young freely in the scientific discussions of chapters 2 and 3 and the concept of self-organization in chapter 7. I acknowledge their contributions.
When I was first putting these thoughts together, I gave them to Bob Berman, a retired philosophy teacher whose incisive mind I admired. He encouraged me to present my thoughts as a paper to the Dallas Philosopher’s Forum, on whose board he sat. I presented my paper to the largest audience they had ever seen. I guess many people were intrigued by the title, “A Theory of Universal Existence.” A local radio station had even interviewed me about it a few days prior to my presentation.
Afterward many people told me that I should expand these thoughts into a book. I want to acknowledge Bob Berman for encouraging me in this project.
In an E-mail message of Nov 18, 2005 to the author, Berman stated, “Beginning with the observations of science and philosophy and ontology, you legitimately turn your attention to a metaphysical explanation of the process of the universe and hominids in that process. You give me reasons why you believe what you believe by the reinforcement of scientific observation. A non-directional
teleology is a legitimate outcome of evolution and a non-a priori meaning also developing in hominid evolution is also a legitimate result of evolution and neither contradicts the process of evolution itself but merely give it a metaphysical hermeneutical explanation.”
I also want to thank Kathy Pauley and Karen Bouton, who diligently and without complaint helped in the preparation of this manuscript.
I have always been a searcher.
I have met many other sympathetic or at least inquisitive minds along my search. They have helped enrich my thoughts. I continue to search for truth wherever it may lead me, sometimes painfully working out my thoughts and beliefs. Science and philosophy, hard facts and imaginative thought, must work together to give us meaningful answers. This book is part of our quest for the truth. The quest is not over; the search will continue.
