But who can really address it because we are mere mortals. All we can do is apply logic and say we know that an endless string of causes, that is, who caused the causer and who then caused that causer and so on leads to infinite regression and infinite regression can never arrive in the present. So how can it be addressed? We have to accept that for something to exist in the present it did so because something is eternal, because nothing can arise from absolute nothingness, or the universe caused itself before it existed. I'm not trying to be difficult here, help me out if you can.
The universe is full of complexities that will ever be beyond the capacity of the human mind. That which causes our reality is also outside of our reality and we are limited to our reality. Yes religion makes all sorts of claims about God and none of them are real in any understandable way. I can't convince you of anything, first cause or other. This is a subject that is not subject to the definitive beauty of science. It must be teased out with subtlety, logic, reason, even hypothesis. Scientists get caught up in this stuff because in their heart of hearts they are somewhat troubled, for want of a better word, by so many unknowns. Whenever I think of something to add to the debate re the subtle evidence for a force of God I try to share it, wrong or right. I'm a simple man and logic is not my strong suit.
Yes, yes, religion is rife with assumptions, and thank God we have science to keep religion on its toes. If religion contradicts proven science then with absolute certainty you can junk that religious belief, because there is one reality and religion must adhere to it instead of telling fairy-stories. Creationism has been junked by science. Literal Biblical accounts, junked by science, but that only junks human assumptions and perceptions, not the true intended meanings of religion which are based on the capacity of humans in a time and a place and having a specific need. Scripture is a midsection between absolute abstraction and our common reality, so the language of religion is not definitive or absolute. Scripture is only a relative truth.
Hindu cosmology does not suggest first cause because the cause is an aspect of its cyclic system. First cause then becomes the eternal motivating force, the enabling force, the coordinating force, the limiting force of our reality. So let's not get bogged down by religions slogans, I have no intent to be defending religion. Rather, without some cognitive force of purpose and will inanimate realities do organise themselves in perfect cooperation, each with its special properties to form universes and life forms simply because it exists. Nothing moves without will or purpose. Nothing lives unless it has been willed to live.
