In rational pantheism, God is synonymous with the Universe. So, the Universe is a conscious supreme being. Can such a notion be proven? Yes it can. To accept the reality of God’s existence you simply need to understand a simple logical argument.
The Argument
From biology we understand that thinking humans are collections of individual living entities called cells and that these cells are composed of molecules. From chemistry we know that molecules are composed of atoms. From physics we understand that atoms are composed of subatomic particles which ultimately are composed of elementary particles. Elementary particles are excitations of quantum fields. The Universe itself is composed only of such fields.
Everything that a human does can be traced down to interactions of these fields. Nothing we do can be caused by anything else unless you believe in the existence of magical paranormal forces. So, the only logical conclusion is that human mental states result from the interactions of fields. The Universe itself is one massive complex system of interacting fields and therefore must also have some kind of mental life, however primitive. Thus the God of pantheism is an established fact.
It’s important to understand that interacting fields wouldn’t cause a mental state to magically arise out of nowhere. Fields themselves must have the simplest possible default mental state. Field interactions would then shape this state. Interactions in a complex system would give rise to complex mental states.
All complex physical states in a complex system result from the shaping of simpler physical states in the simpler subsystems. It would involve special pleading to claim that mental states are somehow an exception to this process.
So to summarize, we have one very important assumption: there is no magic. Matter cannot be magically created from nothing nor can mental states. Simple forms of matter can be organized into complex structures. Similarly, simple mental states can be organized into complex mental phenomena. Since the simplest form of matter we know of are elementary particles, these particles must contain the simplest kind of mental state. So mentality is a property of particles just as mass is.
Argument Summary
- Humans are composed of elementary particles or excitations of quantum fields.
- Human mental states result from these field interactions.
- Every complex physical property results from the shaping of simpler forms of that property in a system’s interacting subsystems.
- It would involve special pleading to claim that mentality works dramatically differently from physicality.
- It is therefore irrational to assume that a property like mentality would magically arise from nowhere when fields interact.
- Therefore fields have simple mentality. i.e. Panpsychism is true.
- Field interactions shape this mental state making it more complex.
- The more and sophisticated the interactions, the more complex the states.
- In a complex system advanced forms of consciousness emerge.
- The Universe is composed only of interacting fields.
- The Universe is the most complex system there is.
- Therefore the Universe must have some kind of mental life.
- Ergo God.
Rejecting the above argument banishes you to an irrational netherworld where the absurd assumption is made that mental states magically arise out of nowhere at a certain point in human development. We never see this magical creation out of nothing anywhere else in any of our scientific investigations so why would a rational person assume it happens with mental states? We do see complex physical systems composed of smaller simpler physical systems, so a rational person would assume that mental systems probably work in a similar way. One better, a rational person would see mental and physical as the same thing; monism as opposed to dualism.
Rejecting the God of pantheism involves: ignoring science, rejecting logic and accepting a plethora of impossible supernatural assumptions. So even Ockham’s Razor is telling us that atheism is an absurd belief system.
Atheist Criticisms
The above argument has received several weak criticisms from members of the atheist community.
- “You are pronouncing that God exists but provide no proof whatsoever!”
The argument providing the logically derived proof of God is found under the section entitled “The Argument”.
- “Simply calling the universe God is no different that calling a rock God!”
We’re not simply equating God with an inanimate object. We are actually saying that the Universe, the sum total of all things, is a being with some form of mental life.
- “Your argument is childish, is full of fallacies and proves nothing at all!”
This is the most ridiculous “criticism” of all. It is simply a pronouncement of faith. Atheists claim to be reason based but when presented with an argument proving their position wrong, most just fall silent and return to their faith. Some of them however, possess only the rudimentary intellect to simply proclaim their faith in atheism by insulting the threatening argument and its proponents. If an argument has problems in it, reasonable people would point out specifically what those problems are and support their case with reason, not faith based claims.
The best atheist response to our argument is the claim that it commits the fallacy of division. That argument is easily dealt with here.
