Confession: I’m not sure I know what that statement means.

Given this: The universe is a cold, unfeeling, empty, and lonely place that somehow begat life. Or, better, which is where life somehow began.

Question for anyone: Where is the beauty in that?

Dilemma: The universe is strikingly beautiful and contains life. Life is the only way possible to experience the universe. In other words oxygen, silicon, aluminum, black holes, iron, calcium, magnesium, nebulae, galaxies, helium, potassium, sodium, rocks, hydrogen, and whatever else in the universe (which is not qualified to be called life) can’t “experience” the universe. These elements and objects form the furniture of the universe. Yet, furniture doesn’t have the opportunity to reflect on itself. Furniture is to hold and carry and decorate. We need characters who have personality to experience the universe.

Assumption: Characters with personhood alone can experience the breath-taking nature of the universe.

Interpretation: The statement strikes me as odd. The universe seems to be like a beautiful but vain woman who only wants to be looked at. So she takes selfies. She looks in the shop windows to see herself. She visits the restroom more often than she needs to. She is in love with her reflection: the curves of her face, the smoothness of her skin, the roundness and fullness of her lips, and the perfect almond shape of her eyes. She is stunning. Every man, woman, and child who pass her, instinctively and without hesitation, looks at her. Many can’t stop staring due to the sheer awe of her majestic comeliness.

But, what if she were the only being in the universe? No one to look at her. No one to comment effusively about her grace and charm. No one to make comparisons of her with others. No one to say, “I saw this woman today and I couldn’t believe my eyes!” And on and on. How tragic!

But, the confusion is seen in that no woman that vain cares about anyone but herself. She is like Narcissus who can’t pull away from her own image. She needs no other voice than her own to tell her how wonderful she is. She needs nothing else than the knowledge that she exists and that her existence is all that matters. She revels in her beauty.

But the problem faces even greater obstacles when we realize that the universe doesn’t feel. Else, why would the statement say “experienced by someone.” If there are no “someones,” then there is no one to marvel at the beauty. What, then, does it matter if people experience beauty or not? From the universe’s perspective, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of incentive to encourage reflection on anyone else’s part but its own. But this it cannot do.

Question: What does it matter? The universe either is cold, unfeeling, and alone or it is something else. In other words, it is self-defeating to say that people need to be around to experience the beauty of the universe when the universe itself doesn’t seem to care if people are around to experience it or not. Humans or no humans; “experiencers” or no “experiencers”; for the universe, there is no difference.

Summary: You can’t have a universe that demands affirmation and which is also cold and unfeeling at the same time. Maybe she wants herself all to herself. Maybe she thought she would try some other voices to reflect upon her comeliness. But, in the end, she realized that all she really wanted was herself. Maybe that’s better. Maybe the universe has decided that it alone is all it needs. And maybe it decided that long ago. And for a prank, it pulled humans into its orb only to revel in the joke that it is alone and all it needs.

At any rate, let me plainly state that I reject that interpretation.

The heavens speak of the glory of the One who made them. The universe and all that is in it shouts out that there is but One who set everything in motion.

And he wants to share himself with us. The most beautiful being in the universe (and beautiful from many different perspectives) is interested in sharing himself, not in being alone.