Adam Blatner

I’ve been reading Prof. Alan Lightman’s book of essays title, “The Accidental Universe,” (2013, Pantheon Books) and what occurred to me is that in talking about the mind-boggling complexities of the sizes of stuff, it’s mysterious energy and all, the author nevertheless omitted (it seems) the most obvious factor: mind.  Or perhaps he did acknowledge this realm, but in my thinking failed to give it sufficient weight. Mind, subjectivity, and also illusion—these also need to be taken into account.

So, confabulating freely, here’s how it really works: God loves a good adventure. It’s more fun not to know how things are going to turn out. At some point, other sentient minds evolved enough so that they could be co-creative. So the cosmos unfolds over the interplay of innumerable minds which are co-creating this cosmos and all its sub-plots.

The implications of co-creativity are mind-stretching. We really want God to be Lord, King, in Absolute Control. Consider though the idea that God is not in control, and the God clearly wants it that way in order to accentuate adventure! Nor are we in absolute control. We need to open to many elements of Grace, which speak to the interplay of divine, angelic, and human action plus some varying degree of pure chance. With all this, we may proceed with taking responsibility.

Actually, it may be decades or even centuries before humans do that well, really step up to the plate, and at the same time, surrender a great deal, two-thirds, and let the angels do their thing. Well, that’s my theory of the optimal balance, anyway.