My dog Ivan is sitting next to me as I type, his head nearly on my keyboard. He is content simply to be.
Those of us of the human variety seem compelled to do more. We are driven to consider the world around us and try to understand it. “The creation of meaning to interpret and communicate perceived phenomena is a fundamental trait of human intelligence.” Interestingly, this quote comes from a study about creating artificial intelligence.*
As they try to engineer intelligence that mimics the human, these scientists meticulously parse the ways we operate in the world. "Humans create meaning. In fact, it is a fundamental trait of humans to attach meaning to the objects they perceive in the world, to their relationships with others, to their own physical form, and to the various manifestations of agency encompassed by the category “self” – a trait that is as universal as that of language."*
From our earliest days, we have tried to make the world make sense.This trait has caused us to look for explanations. It has caused us to look for God.
Yet, perhaps it is the poets who say this best.
He, who through vast immensity can pierce/ See worlds on worlds compose one universe,
Observe how system into system runs/ What other planets circle other suns
What varied being peoples every star/ May tell why Heaven has made us as we are.
--Alexander Pope
Or, more recently, Rabbi David Wolpe:
No doubt you have all read about/ The stunning confirmation
That the collider replaced Mount Sinai/ As the site for revelation.
God is out, Higgs Boson in/ Invisible, unseen
Particulate angels on a pinhead/ From absences, we glean.
But who can help but wonder if/ At the dawn of dark and bright
A voice pronounced “Let Boson be”/ And we’ve just seen the light.
We do want to be-- as long as it is in a world we can explain.
*Journal of Evolution and Technology (Vol 17, Issue 1, March 2008) “The Role of Meaning in Human Thinking” by Sky Marsen, Victoria University, New Zealand
Ivan
