The Universe is Intelligence Itself
I was listening to a talk by Alan Watts the other day and he asked the question, “How do we know if there is intelligence in the universe? What are its signs?”
Watts Defines Intelligence as Patterning
He concluded that intelligence reveals itself in patterns, surmising that one could then define God as the totality of the interrelated patterns of the universe.
The question then becomes is there a mind behind these patterns, and if there is, is it outside the pattern itself? If it is, then we are talking about dualism where we have a creator and a created.
This is the perspective behind the intelligent design argument for the existence of God. God stands outside the universe and creates it, just as Michelangelo stood outside his sculpture of “David” and created it.
Watts says the problem with dualism is that now we have to figure out what this mind or God stuff actually is in contrast to the physical stuff that makes up the visible universe.
Organic and Mechanical Patterns
When we look for intelligence in the universe, Watts says we see two kinds of patterns: Organic and Mechanical. The difference is that in organic patterning the intelligence is the pattern itself, whereas in mechanical patterning, the intelligence is located outside of it.
Mechanical forms are constructed by assembling outside parts together in stages. An external designer has preplanned this whole step by step process.
Organic patterning on the other hand is creative and is not assembled using outside parts, in fact, it’s not assembled at all. Instead, all of its parts grow together simultaneously in a manner completely different from the way a machine is constructed.
In short, mechanical patterning has intelligence, while organic patterning is intelligence.
Examples of Patterns
For example, from the outside, a human body can resemble a machine. The parts of each work together in a seemingly similar manner.
But from the inside, we notice that the creation of the human body is completely different from the creation of a machine. The human body is created organically with all its parts developing simultaneously and organically, whereas the machine is created by an outside agent assembling external parts. .
The human body doesn’t need an outside agent. It creates itself organically from a simple form, like an ovum, that then naturally develops into more complex forms on its own. The process itself is intelligent.
Watts claims there is no mechanical patterning in nature; it’s all organic. The intelligence is embedded in the process itself, and no outside designer is required. From this non-dual perspective, there is no creator and created. There is just the creation.
Aristotle Agrees with Watts
The fourth century BCE Greek philosopher Aristotle understood this. He outlined four causes of change; one of which he termed the “efficient cause”. This cause is the catalyst for the change that is occurring. This is the cause that creates the change. Many religious people believe that God is the ultimate efficient cause of everything.
Aristotle claimed that the efficient cause for inanimate (without life) objects is always an outside agent. In other words, the efficient cause of a bookcase or a salad is the person making them. No outside agent, no bookcase or salad. They won’t make themselves.
However, for animate (with life) objects, Aristotle says the efficient cause is inner; something he called the entelechy or the inner urge of something to be what it is by nature.
When we plant the seeds for a rosebush, the growth of the rosebush is caused by the entelechy of the rosebush itself. We don’t have to do anything to “grow” the rosebush, except maybe making sure it has proper sunlight and water. Other than that it grows by itself. Nobody has to build it.
Likewise, we can’t grow a bookcase by sticking its parts in the ground, making sure it has plenty of sunlight and water. If we did that, nothing much would happen except maybe the wood rotting and the metal rusting
So Watts concludes that when we look at nature we see no mechanical patterning, only organic patterning. Thus the intelligence of the universe is the patterning itself. This means the universe is intelligence itself.
To learn more about the magic of the universe: Click this link: The Magical Universe.
