Agnostic Universe

The following account of human evolution has been kept simple in order for it to be more understandable. Most of the information presented here is widely accepted by the scientific community, but many of the details are still being argued over by evolutionary biologists. There are some things that we may never know for sure, and so when it comes to exploring our origins, we may need to accept that there will always be a degree of myth in our history.

Evolutionary Metaphysics – The Story of Human Evolution

I do believe that the study of evolution is probably on the right track. The link above will take you to a very nice summary of what we think we know so far. The beginning of the universe is still a huge mystery to us though. I think the beginning of the universe, as the scientists believe so far, is just the tip of a complicated iceberg of knowledge that we may never fully understand.

In this area I believe there will always be a “degree of myth in our history” as the author alludes to. As I’ve said before, just because you see where the road appears to end on the horizon, it does not mean you know where the road actually ends.

I also agree with the following viewpoint on ancient religions:

Desperate to give meaning to their confused and often miserable lives, people listened to those who claimed to have special knowledge of the gods. Ancient priests became skilled in the art of crafting idols for the people to worship. Beyond calming people’s fears and anxieties about the unknown, religions helped to bind early civilizations together under a common set of beliefs.

Priests worked with kings to prohibit unacceptable acts and promote family and community values. They performed sacred rituals such as crowning kings, sanctifying marriages, and burying the dead. Temples offered ambitious men an alternative path to power. Priests often helped to soften the cruelty of kings by forcing the palace to compete against the temple for the loyalty of the people.

Most of us are still being confused by beliefs that have long lost their value, and there is now a desperate need to provide clearer explanations of the issues that give meaning to our lives.

Like in the days of the ancient mythmakers, recent discoveries and new technologies have provided an unprecedented opportunity to take the best of our existing historical narratives and scientific explanations and carefully weave them together to craft a more enlightened understanding of our existence that is more suitable for the times in which we live.

In the hope of bringing some clarity into this confused world, this book was written to offer a realistic and convincing explanation of our place in the universe, hopefully crafted well enough to restore the faith of those who believe, and to give faith to those who do not yet believe, that there may be a purpose to our existence, and that the world may be progressing towards a peaceful and prosperous future.

Evolutionary Metaphysics – Troubled Times

One interesting side effect of putting together a site devoted to Agnosticism is that I receive e-mails from people with other sites that are compatible in their ideas. Evolutionary Metaphysics appears to be one of those sites. So I will read through it from the Agnostic point of view and post excerpts and my thoughts here. It will be interesting to see what the author sees as the purpose of our existence…