Simple Reflection on a Basic Fact of Our Own Existence Can Lead to Realizing God’s Existence

By Ostela

A simply astounding fact—which I don’t know how many of us (myself included) have ever given sufficient (or even any) attention to—is that ample arrangements have been made for us humans during our stay here on Earth for the satisfaction of all our basic needs, and that these arrangements seem very clearly to have been put in place by someone else—by some non-human force or being—because they are obviously not the handiwork of human beings. Consider the following facts in this regard (one could, of course, cite many more to prove the point):

·       We need food to survive and to satisfy our hunger, and for this we have been bestowed with many different types of vegetables, fruits, grains, cereals and so on that we can eat, none of which we humans invented on our own.

·       We need to consume sufficient amounts of water for our bodily health, and water-sources have been made available to us, in the form of lakes, streams, rivers, underground reserves, rain, snow, etc..

·       We need air to breathe, even simply to stay alive, and we also need the force of gravity in order to remain firmly planted on Earth and not fly off into space. Both these needs have been well taken care of without our having to make any effort.

·       We need warmth, and we have the sun, as well as things like fossil fuels, none of which we made ourselves, that help keep us warm and comfortable.

·       We need both darkness and light, and we live on a planet not of our own making that has been designed (not by us humans, certainly!) in such a way as to spin on its axis at a dizzying speed of more than 1600 kilometres an hour, because of which we can experience the darkness of night and the light of day in sufficient quantities.

·       We need to enjoy different seasons, and the solar system has been designed (and in this we played no role whatsoever) in such a way that Earth rushes around the sun, at a mindboggling speed of more than 100,000 kilometres an hour, ensuring thereby that we get different seasons every year.

·       We need to move from one location to another, and we have been given, with no effort on our part, wonderfully-designed legs and feet that enable us to do so. We need to speak (and, yes, also to sing!), and we have been given vocal chords, a tongue and a pair of lips (and whatever else is required in this regard) that enable this to happen. We need to see and to hear, and we have been given the necessary equipment for both these purposes, in the form of eyes and ears respectively (Likewise in the case of all our other bodily needs).

·       We need shelter—a place to stay—and we have access to many materials (none of which we have created ourselves) that we can use to construct every sort of place of residence, from a humble hovel to a plush palace.

·       Most of us need to work to earn a living, and we have been given different resources and opportunities for this to be able to happen.

·       We need to experience giving and receiving love and enjoying companionship with others. We have been provided with ample opportunities for satisfying these needs, in the form of other people as well as creatures like animals and birds who can make great friends.

·       We need intellectual nourishment, and we have been given the necessary equipment for fulfilling this need in the form of the human brain (which we certainly didn't make ourselves), as well as occasions and situations that can help us grow intellectually.

·       We need to experience beauty, and the Earth contains enough beautiful objects for this need to be met.

·       We have a wide range of emotional needs, and we have been provided many different means for all of them to be fulfilled.

And so on and so forth. The basic argument here is (1) that arrangements have been made for the satisfaction of every basic need that we humans have (and this holds true also for all the many other species that also inhabit Planet Earth), and (2) that these arrangements have obviously been made by someone else, and not by a bunch of us human beings (although we humans may need to engage in some work on some of the resources that have been made been available to us by this 'someone else' in order to turn them into things that we can use to satisfy some of our needs—for instance,  we need to process the iron ore that this 'someone else' has kept buried below the surface of the earth and then turn it into a usable product like steel in order to meet this or that need of ours).

Now, who is this ‘someone else’ who has made this elaborate and extensive provision for the satisfaction of all the basic needs that we human beings (and all other living species on Earth) experience? As far as I can imagine, this 'someone else' is either an impersonal force or a personal being. I can't think of a third possibility.

Reason suggests that this 'someone else' just cannot be some impersonal force (as some people want to believe), something like gravity or electricity, because an impersonal force simply does not and cannot possess any intelligence at all, leave alone the immense intelligence that is required for designing and putting in place the elaborate arrangements that are required for human beings, along with all the other species that exist on Earth, to fulfill their basic needs. How would an impersonal force have the intelligence to know what our needs are and make sure that they are met? This would simply be impossible! Intelligence implies personality, and personality implies a being that has a personality. Obviously, therefore, the ‘someone else’ who has arranged for all our basic needs to be met is not some impersonal force and must, instead, be a personal being of some sort (even though likely not entirely in the same way human beings are personal beings), because only a personal being (that is, a being with a personality) could have the intelligence that is required to make the arrangements required for having all our basic needs met.

Given that immense intelligence is required for ensuring all the arrangements for having all the basic needs of all the species that exist on Earth met, it is obvious that this personal being must be super-intelligent. Designing and putting into place the arrangements needed for satisfying our basic needs also obviously requires immense power, and so, it is obvious that the super-intelligent non-human personal being is also immensely powerful. This super-intelligent and immensely-powerful non-human personal being also seems to be deeply caring of others and to love them greatly, otherwise why would it bother to make the many arrangements that are required for all the basic needs of humans, as well as all the other creatures that inhabit Planet Earth, to be met?

From this it follows that the ‘someone else’ who has made all the many arrangements that are required for the basic needs of all the creatures that live in Earth to be met is a super-intelligent, immensely powerful, deeply caring and greatly loving non-human personal being. If we give this being the name ‘God’, we could say that God is that super-intelligent, immensely powerful, deeply caring and greatly loving personal being who has made every arrangement required for meeting the diverse basic needs of humans, as well as all the other species that live on Earth.

No religious arguments are required to come to this conclusion—we haven’t used any in this essay. This means that one does not need to be a religionist—to believe in any religion whatsoever—in order to know that God exists (nor, indeed, to have a personal relationship with God). Simple reflection on an obvious fact that is so basic to our own existence—that we have been provided with all the many things that we require in order to meet our basic needs during the course of our stay on Earth and that this has obviously been arranged for by ‘someone else’, who seems to be a super-intelligent, immensely powerful, deeply caring and greatly caring non-human personal being—can be quite sufficient to realize God’s existence.