+quot;FIRST CAUSE+quot; IS EXISTENCE, NOT GOD by Nathaniel Branden QUESTION: Since everyth

             "FIRST CAUSE" IS EXISTENCE, NOT GOD

                    by Nathaniel Branden



QUESTION: Since everything in the universe requires a cause,
must not the universe itself have a cause, which is god?


ANSWER: There are two basic fallacies in this argument. The
first is the assumption that, if the universe required a
causal explanation, the positing of a "god" would provide it.
To posit god as the creator of the universe is only to push
the problem back one step farther: Who then created god? Was
there a still earlier god who created the god in question? We
are thus led to an infinite regress -- the very dilemma that
the positing of a "god" was intended to solve. But if it is
argued that no one created god, that god does not require a
cause, that god has existed eternally -- then on what grounds
is it denied that the universe has existed eternally?


     It is true that there cannot be an infinite series of
antecedent causes. But recognition of this fact should lead
one to reappraise the validity of the initial question, _not_
to attempt to answer it by stepping outside the universe into
some gratuitously invented supernatural dimension.


     This leads to the second and more fundamental fallacy in
this argument: the assumption that the universe as a whole
_requires_ a causal explanation. It does not. The universe is
the total of that which exists. Within the universe, the
emergence of new entities can be explained in terms of the
actions of entities that already exist: The cause of a tree
is the seed of the parent tree; the cause of a machine is the
purposeful reshaping of matter by men. All actions presuppose
the existence of entities -- and all emergences of new
entities presuppose the existence of entities that caused
their emergence. All causality presupposes the existence of
_something_that_acts_as_a_cause. To demand a cause for all of
existence is to demand a contradiction: if the cause exists,
it is part of existence; if it does _not_ exist, it cannot be
a cause. _Nothing_cannot_be_the_cause_of_something._Nothing_
does not exist. Causality presupposes existence; existence
does not presuppose causality. There can be no cause
"outside" of existence or "anterior" to it. The _forms_ of
existence may change and evolve, but the _fact_ of existence
is the irreducible primary at the base of all causal chains.
Existence -- not "god" -- is the First Cause.


     Just as the concept of a causality applies to events and
entities within the universe, but not to the universe as a
whole -- so the concept of time applies to events and
entities within the universe, but not to the universe as a
whole. The universe did not "begin" -- it did not, at some
point in time, "spring into being." Time is a measurement of
motion. Motion presupposes entities that move. If nothing
existed, there could be no time. Time is "in" the universe;
the universe is not "in" time.


     The man who asks: "Where did existence come from?" or
"What caused it?" is the man who has never grasped that
_existence_exists._ This is the mentality of a savage or a
mystic who regards existence as some sort of incomprehensible
_miracle_ -- and seeks to "explain" it by reference to
_non_existence.


     Existence is all that exists, the nonexistent does not
exist; there is nothing for existence to have come out of --
and _nothing_ means _nothing._ If you are tempted to ask:
"What's outside the universe?" -- recognize that you are
asking: "What's outside of existence?" and that the idea of
"something outside of existence" is a contradiction in terms;
_nothing_ is outside of existence, and "nothing" is not just
another kind of "something" -- it is _nothing._ Existence
exists; you cannot go outside it; you cannot get under it, on
top of it, or behind it. Existence exists -- and _only_
existence exists: _There_is_nowhere_else_to_go.


***********************************************************

Copyright American Atheist Press. All rights reserved. Printed
copies of this pamphlet can be obtained from: American Atheist Press
P. O. Box 140195, Austin, Texas 78714-0195. Stock #8230.  Please
refer to current catalog and price list for pricing and availability.


***********************************************************************
*                                                                     *
*      American Atheists           website: http://www.atheists.org   *
*      PO Box 140195                   FTP: ftp://ftp.atheists.org    *
*      Austin, TX  78714-0195                                         *
*       Voice: (512) 458-1244              Dial-THE-ATHEIST:          *
*         FAX: (512) 467-9525               (512) 458-5731            *
*                                                                     *
*      Atheist Viewpoint TV: avtv@atheists.org                        *
* Info on American Atheists: info@atheists.org,                       *
*  & American Atheist Press    include your name and mailing address  *
* AANEWS -Free subscription: aanews-request@listserv.atheists.org     *
*                              and put "info aanews" in message body  *
*                                                                     *
*      This text may be freely downloaded, reprinted, and/other       *
*      otherwise redistributed, provided appropriate point of         *
*      origin credit is given to American Atheists.                   *
*                                                                     *
***********************************************************************