THE TELEOLOGICAL MIND

Some people assume that the universe has a purpose. Understandably, this sentiment tends to come from an aversion to nihilism. On a cosmic scale, you will not find purpose, only expansion due to Hubble's law of inflation. You will only find evidence for chaos in an environment that is, for the most part, hostile to life as we know it. Space is full of powerful and destructive forces, explosions and radiation galore.

At the microscopic level, we also find clashing particles and waves that often cancel each other out. In fact, the subatomic realm doesn't make much sense to the human mind.

In other words, objective observations inform us that we do not live in a teleological universe. But does this mean that purpose doesn't exist in the universe? Not quite. If we look at lifeforms, we can tell that they strive to survive, generally having the purpose to live long enough to procreate and pass on their genes. And without being anthropocentric, we can tell that people create meaning and purpose, which, if aligned with their interests and wellbeing, will bode well for them because, pragmatically, what is meaningful to them is true enough.

The word 'God’ is too broad a term to define anything concrete, by the way. If you are hoping to find evidence of a creator of the universe, forget it. There is no reason why anybody should sustain a belief in such a being. If, on the other hand, you imagine an unattainable ideal as a source of inspiration to at least better yourself incrementally across time, and that manifestly works for you in making you virtuous (not just morally), then what sits at the top of that hierarchy of values is your personal god, as it were, who is true enough for you and absolutely real in your imagination—it is God for you and you believe Him because if you didn't there would be no effort towards progress and no ability to orient yourself properly in the world.