MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

This part is in two sections. The first (5.1) concerns your beliefs about the origin of the world (i.e. the whole universe) and the second section (5.2) concerns your beliefs about the origin of life, including human life.

5.1: The origin of the universe

How did the world begin?

As with Part 4, spend as much time as you need thinking about your beliefs on this matter. Allow your mind to come up with possible answers that make sense to you. You don't have to spend just one session on this: your thoughts may return to the subject in those idle moments in the day when you are not thinking of anything in particular; you may be surprised by what comes up at such times. Jot down some notes if it helps.

It will make sense if your beliefs are consistent with your belief about the world expressed in Part 4.

It may be that you don't have any particular beliefs about these matters and they don't play a part in your personal philosophy. This is absolutely OK and you can make this clear when you write this up.

When you've done enough free-thinking on this, before recording anything of your own, you may find it helpful to have a look at some beliefs and ideas that people may express on these matters. These are listed below. Or you may wish to do this entirely by yourself. It may also help you to refer back to the 'Hints' given in Part 2: Preparing the Way.

Some commonly-held beliefs about the origins of the world

Some possible beliefs are given below, but they are only suggestions to help you. You are not being asked to choose any of them and your beliefs might not appear here. However, if you do find that one of them describes your own beliefs, please feel free to put it in your own words.

• You may believe that the world was created by some kind of intelligent being (or beings).


• Most often, people who accept the above refer to the 'intelligent being' as 'the Creator' or 'God'. If your answer is along these lines, it may be that you accept the teachings of one of the world's religions that tell us that the world and everything in it was created by one true God. So you might say something like, 'I believe that the world was created by God, as the Bible (or other religious texts) teaches us.'


• This may be all you need to say. If you do want to say a little more about how God created the world according to your religious beliefs, then it's probably best to summarise this in a couple of sentences, referring to where the account of this is to be found in the scriptures.


• If you believe there is a Creator who is not the God of the main religions, you will want to say what sort of Creator this is. For example, some people believe that the Creator is a computer programmer and that the universe, including ourselves, is the software produced by this Creator.


• You may believe that the universe as we know it was created naturally in ways that may be studied and explained by scientists, although they are not at the moment fully understood. Or you may want to be more specific than this - e.g. 'I believe that the universe began by natural processes when, billions of years ago, it rapidly grew from a single point to how it is now'.


• Some people's beliefs about this are combined with their religious teachings. For example, you may believe that that 'the universe began when, billions of years ago, it rapidly grew from a single point and expanded to how it is now', but it was a Creator (or God) that started this off.


• Perhaps you believe that the universe was not 'created' but has always existed in the form it is now.


• There are many more beliefs about how the world began.


• But maybe you don't think much about how the universe came about as we may never know, and it does not matter to you - it's not important for your personal philosophy. No problem.

You don't have to write very much about this unless you want to expand on your beliefs (you can do this later): a short statement may be all you need at this stage.

If your beliefs include the existence of a God, Creator or Designer, you will also probably want to say more about their nature, but at this point you do not need to go into details - this comes later.

When you are ready, go to your 'My Personal Philosophy' record and begin writing up your beliefs under the heading 'What I believe about the origin of the world and life'.

Once you have written as much as you wish, and when you are ready to resume, proceed to section 5.2 below concerning your beliefs about the origin of life.

5.2 The origin of life

How did life, including human beings, come about?

As before it may be that you don't have any particular beliefs about these matters and they don't play a part in your personal philosophy. This is absolutely OK and you can make this clear when you write this up.

When you've done enough free-thinking on this, before recording anything of your own, you may find it helpful to have a look at some beliefs and ideas that people may express on these matters. These are listed below. Or you may wish to do this entirely by yourself.

Some commonly-held beliefs about the origins of life

Some possible beliefs are given below, but they are only suggestions to help you. You are not being asked to choose any of them and your beliefs might not appear here. However, if you do find that one of them describes your own beliefs, please feel free to put it in your own words.

• As with the origin of the world, many people believe that all life, including human beings, was originally created by some kind of intelligent being (or beings). This could be the same as the Creator of the world or 'God'. In addition, some people believe that all living creatures have not changed since the time of creation.


• If you believe in the account of the creation of life, including human beings, that is given in your religious texts you may want to say a little more, but again it's probably best to summarise this in a couple of sentences, referring to where the account of this is to be found. Also, you maybe want to say more about the Creator or God, but you will be able to do this later.


• Some people believe that all life was created by natural processes that may be studied and explained by scientists and there was no Creator or Designer.


• You may want to be more specific than this and add that life on Earth began by natural processes when, billions of years ago, the very first simple organisms formed.


• You may wish to add to this that all living things today, including human beings, have evolved from this one common ancestor.


• Some people combine their religious beliefs about these matters with science. For example, they may agree with the above but believe that human beings are the exception and were created as they are now by God.


• Some people believe that all life that we see now, including human beings, evolved from this common ancestor but it was God or a Creator that created these earliest forms of life (or set things in motion for this).


• But maybe you don't think about how life came about and it's not part of your personal philosophy. This is perfectly acceptable.

When you are ready, go to your 'My Personal Philosophy' record and begin writing up your beliefs about the origins of life under the heading 'What I believe about the origin of the world and life'. You don't have to write very much about this unless you want to expand on your beliefs (you can do this later): a short statement may be all you need at this stage.

When you have written as much as you wish, and when you are ready to resume, return to 'Part 3: Setting Off' and choose your next part.

Return to Part 1: What it's all about