The other day my cat and I were watching a program on the Science Channel -- hence the title of this post -- that featured famed physicist Stephen Hawking. The focus of the program loosely was about the beginnings of life. Somewhere about the midpoint, the narrator said something that really caught my attention: There is no such thing as perfection.
To be quite honest, I only paid half-attention to the rest of the program because I kept rolling this concept through my mind. It is not that it represented a great epiphany or something similar; I have been toying with this general idea for most of my life. I guess it is more that I had never stated it to myself as a declaration or something I felt certain of.
As I have pondered the notion of perfection, the first thing I realized is that I'm not sure anyone really knows what it could genuinely mean. How can finite creatures such as ourselves define and understand such an infinite ideal? On what basis would any of us be able to ascertain what is perfect and what is not?
Another point of consideration concerns perspective. What may seem perfect to me might be anything but perfect for you! Wouldn't this same dynamic apply across the cosmos? Even if we accept the notion of a creator, could this entity create anything that was viewed as perfect by each and every creation?
Of course, I have always thought that the previous question begs another. If there is a supreme entity and this entity is perfect, why would it ever create anything in the first place? A perfect entity would have no needs or desires. It wouldn't have curiosity either. I don't even think there would be a purpose in creativity or imagination. A perfect being would be perfect in itself and, therefore, would be what we term, self-sufficient.
The fact -- if it IS a fact -- that this world exists at all suggests to me that whoever or whatever created us does not embody perfection. If it needed to create life, then it isn't self-contained and self-sufficient. If it is neither of these things, then how can it be perfect? And, if it isn't perfect, what could be?
Finally, I believe that science has shown that every substance, particle or doodad that we have been able to study to date contains imperfections. Some of these imperfections are so slight that they are almost nonexistent, but they do exist, nonetheless. Consequently, we have never observed anything that is perfectly perfect. If we can't find some thing that is perfect, then how could we ever know if perfection exists at all?
To be quite honest, I only paid half-attention to the rest of the program because I kept rolling this concept through my mind. It is not that it represented a great epiphany or something similar; I have been toying with this general idea for most of my life. I guess it is more that I had never stated it to myself as a declaration or something I felt certain of.
As I have pondered the notion of perfection, the first thing I realized is that I'm not sure anyone really knows what it could genuinely mean. How can finite creatures such as ourselves define and understand such an infinite ideal? On what basis would any of us be able to ascertain what is perfect and what is not?
Another point of consideration concerns perspective. What may seem perfect to me might be anything but perfect for you! Wouldn't this same dynamic apply across the cosmos? Even if we accept the notion of a creator, could this entity create anything that was viewed as perfect by each and every creation?
Of course, I have always thought that the previous question begs another. If there is a supreme entity and this entity is perfect, why would it ever create anything in the first place? A perfect entity would have no needs or desires. It wouldn't have curiosity either. I don't even think there would be a purpose in creativity or imagination. A perfect being would be perfect in itself and, therefore, would be what we term, self-sufficient.
The fact -- if it IS a fact -- that this world exists at all suggests to me that whoever or whatever created us does not embody perfection. If it needed to create life, then it isn't self-contained and self-sufficient. If it is neither of these things, then how can it be perfect? And, if it isn't perfect, what could be?
Finally, I believe that science has shown that every substance, particle or doodad that we have been able to study to date contains imperfections. Some of these imperfections are so slight that they are almost nonexistent, but they do exist, nonetheless. Consequently, we have never observed anything that is perfectly perfect. If we can't find some thing that is perfect, then how could we ever know if perfection exists at all?
Nope, sorry, disagree. I'm living my perfect life in my perfect universe. What other kind of universe could there be?
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