Each of us lives in a universe of her or his own creating. Our individual universes certainly overlap and intersect, but each of our universes is the product of the way that we experience and interpret the universe we are living in as physical creatures. Though most English speaking people will agree that the leaves of most trees on this planet are green, there is no way to say that my experience of what green is and your experience of it are the same. When we layer qualia, or the subjective experience, of the color there is even more diversity; for me green may give the feeling of health and vibrancy, whereas it may cause another to turn away with thoughts of the unsanitary conditions of nature with its molds and greenish sludge. We are each the creators of our own universes. And as we are, there is one primary decision we must make for ourselves which will determine whether we will live intentional lives.
Albert Einstein is attributed with an extensive quote which to all indications he most probably did not say. Whether he said it or not, it is a thought worth considering and returning to on a regular basis. “Is the universe a friendly place?” In the rest of the quote (which you may find here) he gives three options: one is that the universe is unfriendly, the next is that it is neither friendly nor unfriendly, and the last being that the universe is indeed friendly. In the past and present, many probably have found the universe to be downright hostile, and have used religion or spiritual practices in many ways as a prophylactic to protect themselves and those they care for. While there surly are many people who feel that way today, people living in modern industrial or post-industrial cultures would probably side with the more neutral model that the universe is neither friendly nor unfriendly and that there is a very strong random element to how events unfold. This second option does not preclude a belief in God or the supernatural. I’ve know people who were devout Christians who still complained of the randomness of nature.
Living an intentional life, I am convinced, requires a conviction that the universe is indeed friendly. If we believe the universe is either against us or indifferent to us, what we want to do, and who we want to be, it is beyond imagination that there could be any intentionality worth noting. This is how I would explain my understanding. The entire universe is manifest from the non-physical, which is essentially God (you may substitute your own nomenclature here, but I believe all of the names from Allah to Zeus are cultural icons of the same creating Being). God created the physical with an intention that is referred to as the Word or a sound. Before there was time to mark befores and afters, God had an intention which was a relationship. Christians describe this relationship as the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This relationship was neither accidental nor random, it was an intention, and the rest of what we call the physical universe flowed forth from intentions created in that relationship. This universe was born from the loving, intentional, original Divine relationship with the same loving, joyful, well, and aware intention. This kind of intention was not to create a universe of randomness, mishaps, and uncertainty. The Divine intention was for a supportive universe that allowed the free generation of further intentions with the certainty that all is and will be well.
Let’s take a simple example and interpretations. Have you ever seen a cherry tree in bloom? The pink blossoms are very short lived and a tree covered with blossoms will be bare within a couple of days from when they pedals begin to fall. If you look at where the pedals land, you may say that it is proof of the randomness of nature. You may insist that there is no order or pattern to the way that the delicate pink petals fell. In this instance, a lack of recognition of the pattern is not a fault of nature but rather a fault of our limited capacity to see order. It may be very difficult to predict where each petal will land, but each is following a course that is influenced by intentions that were set in place beginning with the intention of gravity that began the formation of physical objects to the intentions related to air currents on this planet, to the intentions regarding the size, shape, and color of cherry blossoms, etc. A truly random universe would see some petals falling up, not floating up on a draft, but simply falling up, which does not happen. A random and unfriendly universe would also have some petals never leaving the branches, which also never happens. If we pull back and look at a broad area of ground on which the cherry tree grows, we will see that the petals aren’t heaped up in little piles, but rather there is a generally even scattering of blossoms gently blanketing the earth. There is order and intention in that evenness.
We live in a friendly universe which is being created by an intelligent Being, and each of the participants in the physical universe also have their diverse intentions, which are supported by the creating intention. It is beneficial to remember that we do indeed live in a friendly universe that is supportive of us and our intentions. This physical universe, or rather these physical universes that we create through our perception and molding of experience are as supportive of us as we will allow them to be. The intentions that were in place before our birth into the physical form we have and the intentions that we create as we live our lives all flow together like currents in a river in the direction of evolution supported by the Love, Joy, Wellbeing, and Awareness which are the very substance of each of us.
