Accidents Happen...

Yes, accidents happen. This isn’t much of a revelation for anyone who has ever stubbed their toe, spilled coffee on their shirt, or deleted an important e-mail (in other words, all of us).

Although some of my friends and family may believe I’m an expert on the subject, this blog is not really about accidents. It’s about things that are NO accident, and how they may affect our everyday lives.

Let’s begin with the very creation of the universe. Some people believe in the “Big Bang” theory. A sudden explosion of universal proportions (literally) happened nearly 14 billion years ago.

However, others have different beliefs. The very first sentence in the King James Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” Genesis, Chapter 1. And he did it in 7 days.

So which origin story is true? Does it have to be one or the other? God or Science? Or can both be true?

There are hundreds of variables that, if they were different, the universe wouldn’t have formed. For example, if the Big Bang had been a tiny bit more powerful, the universe would have expanded too quickly to form galaxies. If gravity was a little weaker or a little stronger, clouds of hydrogen would never have formed into stars, atoms would not hold together. Life would never have made an appearance.

But the explosion had just the right strength, as does gravity. So, it's pretty clear to me the creation of the universe was no accident, and that God, Spirit, the Creator or however you choose to think of your higher power, is the Intelligence behind it.

Science and Religion have long been foes. Famous scientists like Galileo and Darwin were once labelled heretics by the church. Galileo for suggesting that the sun and all the other planets do not revolve around the earth. Darwin for his theory of evolution.

"We all look forward to the day when science and religion shall walk hand in hand through the visible to the invisible."

~ Ernest Holmes

Fast forward a few centuries, and now “a growing number of scientists believe their scientific discoveries offer support for spirituality, and hints of the very nature of God.” That passage comes from a 1998 Newsweek article titled “Science finds God”. Charles Townes, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics told Newsweek, “Many have a feeling that somehow intelligence must have been involved in the laws of the universe.” The article goes on to say that “Big-Bang cosmology, for instance, once read as leaving no room for a Creator, now implies to some scientists that there is a design and purpose behind the universe.”

All this affirms my belief that the Big Bang was no accident, that universal intelligence was behind the physics and chemistry that resulted in the explosion that gave birth to the universe.

Which leads me back to… well… me. To us. There’s little doubt that I am part of the physical universe. My body is composed of carbon and other “stardust”. So, if the universe is no accident, and I’m part of the physical universe, then I AM NOT AN ACCIDENT.

When asked the proverbial question “If you could go back in time, what would you want to tell your younger self?”, the answer is clear to me. I would want the little boy, the teenager and even the young adult that is Derek to know that he isn’t a random human being, just one of 8 billion on this planet. No, I want him to know that the stars had to align when he was born. (As they did for all the other 8 billion people). I would want him to know that there are an almost infinite number of variables that could have prevented him from existing. For example, if his great-great-great grandmother had not met his great-great-great grandfather. Or if his father had not survived the World War II plane crash that killed most of the other crew members. I would want him to know that over the eons, everything came together in perfect order to produce “Derek”.

I would also tell him that he doesn’t have to become a movie star or famous athlete to make a lasting impact on the world. That he can do that in everyday life, by simply being his true, authentic self.

And if I am here on purpose, that means my life has a purpose. That purpose could be as grand as finding the path to world peace. It could be as simple as giving a smile to someone who really needed it.

Or maybe it is writing this blog.

The reality is that I may die, without ever really knowing what my true purpose was. That is the reality. My hope is that I never stop trying to fulfill it. Because in the end, my very existence didn’t happen by accident.

And neither did yours.

Peace and blessings.

Derek Hinchliffe