Why is the Universe Purposeful?

You are One With the Universal Mind

From a macrocosmic perspective, the universe is an intensely ordered phenomena, with a sprinkling of ever-increasing randomness (entropy) that makes it possible for complex life-forms to have evolved in it. Despite the entropy and the chaos that is rampant in the quantum fields of reality, when we contemplate our universe we find it regulated by constant physical laws that give us a sense of cosmological order, and it seems to be an apparently harmonious place in which a certain amount of certainty exists, enough at least for us to have been able to develop mathematical equations that will always resolve themselves into their own unique answers. It is true that under the surface there is a subatomic world of underlying anarchy, yet it is precisely this chaotic essence of things that allows the form of the universe to unfold and evolve. For progress to develop there has to be a certain amount of instability within the fabric of the form that is evolving. This is also a ‘law’ of nature and, quite frankly, the cosmological order is so perfect that it all seems perfectly planned. There are just too many working principles and there is too much order in the universe for there to be no determination in cosmological evolution. However, if the cosmos is a determined phenomena then it has to be asked why.

To declare what the purposiveness of the universe is may be as absurd as contemplating the will of God, nevertheless, the simple fact that the universe exists indicates its own reason for it: the primary purpose of the universe is to exist.

This statement sounds (and is) mundane. But if we accept this as the only thing that can be said with any certainty about the universe and modify the statement to declare that “The purpose of the universe is to exist”, the statement is no longer mundane at all. To say “the purpose is to exist” requires a definition of being and now we are entering into the thorny philosophical realms of ontology and idealism, and hence into the now almost tabu area of metaphysical speculation.

And so, fully aware of the dangers ahead, let’s dive in anyway and swim in this perilous lake of speculation … If the purpose of the universe is Being, it is anathema to non-Being. Being from a cosmological perspective, therefore, implies the idea of permanent Being.

But, what is Being? If Being is everything, and the universe is everything then the statement seems tautologically meaningless (the universe = Being), and cannot be stipulated as a purpose. However, the tautology is only manifested when we approach the universe (and Being) from a quantitative perspective. Once we make our approach from a qualitative direction, the problem opens up and allows us in. This was the brilliant apperception that Berkely made with his Esse est percipi (to be is to be perceived), which is a qualitative statement on Being.

Esse est percipi / Esse est intelligenti – in qualitative terms, the universe was nothing (and Being was non-Being) in the void it had created before it succeeded in manufacturing biological organisms capable of perceiving what that creation actually was. If the purpose of the universe was to exist in a qualitative sense, then it had to evolve into a phenomenon capable of perceiving itself, and the universe’s answer to this problem was to fabricate environments that would allow the formation of sentient, conscious biological organisms. Being can be found through perceiving and the universe can live through the life-forms that have successfully evolved within itself. Once it is perceived, the universe can be known and fulfilled in an existential way, through the contemplation of itself via intelligence.

Or more precisely, the universe contemplates itself via a vast plurality of intelligences. Intelligences that not only decipher and understand reality, but are also capable of modifying and transforming it – of contributing to the self-same process of evolution in the universe. Intelligent life-forms are creative life-forms: once the universe has these it is also enriched by them and by the art and technological innovations they create.

Esse est percipi – Being is in its being perceived. But what is revealed by this perception? A universe of three spatial dimensions locked in the cage of time and space. Reality (despite the possibilities of quantum physics) is driven by cause and effect. The future is regulated by the present, and the present by all that has past. Mistakes happen, as do accidents, and the past and future are conditioned as much by the errors as by the successful developments and positive, permanent-being orientated achievements.

Yes, permanent-being orientated achievements, for Being is only Being when it is not non-Being. If the purpose of the universe is to exist as being-perceived, then embedded in that purpose is an idea of permanence. Being wants to exist forever. However, from what the laws of physics tell us, the idea of a permanent universe is a fantasy: everything is destined to perish, even the universe itself.

So, the question must be asked: is the universe a mistake in logical terms? For, without permanence, the purposiveness in Being disintegrates within the immanence of non-Being (and its subsequent permanence).

To overcome this pessimism therefore we need a faith in the idea that mistakes can be rectified, even at a cosmological level. If the universe is truly a permanent-being orientated system, then it is also capable of continually rectifying its own mistakes. Mistakes which can be perceived via the sentient, rational beings it has been able to produce. It must be emphasised that the universe is not just expanding, it is also continually evolving. That the universe must eventually die has to be regarded as an undesirable notion for the universe – a fundamental mistake in its own physical nature that needs to be rectified. Our current knowledge of physics tells us that this rectification is impossible, nonetheless, the universe has displayed a capacity for acute fine tuning which enabled the conditions for life in the universe to take place, so why not expect the same universe to be able to re-tune itself in order to fabricate conditions that will eternalise its own existence and Being.

From a logical point of view, if the purposiveness of the universe is permanent-being, its own death must be resolved. Intelligence may play an active part in such a resolution. The universe created intelligence to ensure its own Being, to safeguard the permanence of the universe … therein lies the purposiveness of the universe.