In Douglas Adams’ book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a story is told of an extra-terrestrial species that devoted itself over many millennia to finding “the ultimate answer”. After several failed attempts, the species came upon a method. To find the answer, it would manufacture a super colossal computer - a computer so complex that it would incorporate biological and geological components. Even with its enormous size and complexity, this super colossal computer would take several millennia to come up with the answer. The super colossal computer took the form of a planet, and the name of this planet was “Earth”.
The computer known as planet Earth delivered the ultimate answer roughly 1000 years ago. (Since that time, at least until very recently, earth just coasted along.) The alien species awaited the ultimate answer with great anticipation and reverence. On the fateful day of the answer’s unveiling - a day of fanfare and ritual - the super colossal computer known as Earth finally spoke. And the ultimate answer was : “forty-seven”. After recovering from shock, the priests and scientists of the species asked - “Forty-seven? What does that mean?” “What does ‘forty-seven’ answer?” The computer responded , “Oh, so now you want the ultimate question. I wasn’t built to find the ultimate question. To find out that you will need to build a much larger computer”. [I paraphrased this from the book]
The species never did find out what the ultimate question was. A few years later it got caught up in some intergalactic trouble and died out. It really is a shame.
Douglas Adams moves on with his story, leaving us with nagging questions: What could the ultimate question be? How could a species devote so much time and energy trying to find an answer without knowing the question? And if it took a planet sized computer many millennia to come up with an answer like “47”, just how big of a computer would be required to come up with the ultimate question?
I love this story - and as the years pass I love it for different reasons. To me now, the story makes a point in "My Weird Cosmology". And that is: the Question is far more important then the answer. The Question is the creative force of the universe - just as in The Hitchhikers Guide where the earth was created to answer a question - I believe that our reality may "arise" in response to the Question.
I am obviously not talking about a literal question. So stay with me here. Imagine you are engrossed in an activity - enthralled. Perhaps you are reading a great book on a new topic you are interested in, or listening to a lecture. All of a sudden, an idea, a wonderment, arises in your mind. Connections start to form, ideas flit back and forth. Its not in the front of your mind yet, but its there behind the scenes. The actual question hasn't formed yet, nor the answers - but its there - or almost there. And in this moment order is being formed from chaos. It is a sacred moment of creation. OK I know a physical object wasn't created, but something was created.
I once read a story by the fantasy writer Michal Moorcock where a hero made his way to the castle at the edge of reality. He looked out over the formless swirling chaos at the edge of reality - and in that moment - his presence - his life force - gave form to the chaos and reality was extended. I think about the Question in a similar way. Reality arises from the Question. But the beauty of the Question is that it is not the answer. It merges order and chaos to create life. Chaos survives, order survives - it is life.
Why do I use the Question as my creative force? Hard to say in words. When an idea forms to me, as part question and part answer, it comes with power, energy, an almost physical force. I sense it as a force. Along with it, it is a source of wonderment - a joy. And in my way of thinking - there are no absolute answers - to anything. So in this Weird Cosmology - the Question reigns supreme.
For those of you who feel my weird cosmology so far is not weird at all - maybe now you will change your mind.
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