He says with certainty!
Dear friends around the world,
I’ve lightly followed this physicist and his works over the years. I cannot say I’ve read most of his thinking, but some. I find his statement here concluded with such certainty intriguing. I do not endorse or promote exactly his views and I mean no offense to anyone by sharing Hawking’s views. I just find such an eminent thinker using research and science to come to such a conclusion very thought provoking. We should always provoke our own thoughts and not be stagnant or satisfied per se.
Most of the comforts and needs we have in life, eg: phones, electricity, heating, cars, planes, internet, the light bulb, etc, all came from someone believing the possibilities then hardcore research and voila! When these and many other new inventions first were conceptualized before it’s appearance, the contemporaries were skeptical it was possible or even downright discouraging. Everything we have in life from our clothes, possessions and even beliefs came as a result of research either from ourselves or others. So I guess it is special human privilege to keep researching all things animate and inanimate that surround our lives. Sometimes our research may touch areas traditionally, fundamentally and mainstream accepted for centuries but could do with some altering. But let this not be a hindrance to keep thinking, keep researching, keep trying. After all everything is impermanent. Everything is man made and a result of it. Men find ways to fulfill questions and needs over time that in time perhaps needs new ways.
Please take a good read and think it over for yourselves. After all what we believe and what we choose is our choice that affects how we live our lives.
Tsem Rinpoche
Stephen Hawking makes it clear: There is no God
The physicist explains that science now offers more convincing explanations for existence. He is therefore an atheist.
by Chris Matyszczyk /26 September 2014 5:33 pm BST
Stephen Hawking comes right out and says it. He is an atheist.
If I were a scientist, I’d stick to the Goldman Sachs principle: bet on both sides.
“Believe in science, believe in God” seems to cover all the possibilities and gives you the best chance for a cheery afterlife.
For a time, it was thought that astrophysicist Stephen Hawking had also left a tiny gap in his credo window for a magical deity. However, he has now come out and declared that there is no God.
He gave an interview to Spain’s El Mundo in which he expressed his firm belief that el mundo was the work of scientifically explainable phenomena, not of a supreme being.
Hawking said: “Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation.”
I’m not sure whether there was a specific moment in which science overtook the deistic explanation of existence. However, El Mundo pressed him on the suggestion in “A Brief History of Time” that a unifying theory of science would help mankind “know the mind of God.”
Hawking now explained: “What I meant by ‘we would know the mind of God’ is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God. Which there isn’t. I’m an atheist.”
He added: “Religion believes in miracles, but these aren’t compatible with science.”
Perhaps. But some look at, for example, the human eye and wonder how that exciting ball of jelly could have come about scientifically.
Hawking’s been tending toward such an absolute pronouncement for a while. In a speech last year, he offered an explanation of how the world came to being without God. He mused: “What was God doing before the divine creation? Was he preparing hell for people who asked such questions?”
I do worry, though, about Hawking’s sweetly divine faith in humanity. He told El Mundo: “In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind.”
If that’s true, the human mind still has to develop exponentially to explain everyday phenomena, such as social networking. And then there’s Hawking’s insistence that his speech synthesizer, which gives him a curiously American accent, has had this consequence: “With the American accent, I’ve had far more success with women.”
We definitely need some serious research to explain that.
[Source: http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/stephen-hawking-makes-it-clear-there-is-no-god/]
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Stephen Hawking is the world’s most famous physicist and scientist against enormous odds.I always enjoyed reading his updates. he is truly amazing .He was 21 years old when he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, a rare form of ALS.Against all the odds he was very succesful travelling around the world giving inspiration to many.I admired such a great man with so much courageous and determination but not some of his speech and he admitted been a artheist.But i like what was said we should emphasised the need to fulfil our potential on Earth by making good use of our lives and to seek the greatest value of our action.
After reading this article i do believe ,what we do regardless of which choices we make individually is our choice that affects how we live our lives.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
We need always to be interested and develop our thinking and curiosity. As Rinpoche shared most of our comforts were developed by people who did not stop at what is already there but went beyond and found new solutions.
Stephen Hawking is very popular and wrote many books although his illness creates a huge barrier, he still goes beyond what is known.
Our mind and ability to think is what gives is the opportunity for life long learning and we should use it and find solutions that help others.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing. While it is not new for scientist to opine that there is no God, but it is rather exceptional for Stephen Hawking to declare it publicly. The beginning of the universe certainly, in my humble opinion, requires a larger than God explanation. But as a Buddhist, I do respect the faith and belief of others, whether they believe in God or otherwise. It is through thi mutual respect of the faith and practice of others, we can learn and grow together in harmonious.
I can’t begin to grasp all the scientific explanations Stephen Hawking gave about space,time and the creation of universe.
Why is that before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe? Why is it that when something cannot be explained, it is natural to assume some unknown created it? For me the scientific explanation of the creation of universe is just as unconvincing as God creation of universe. Not to say that I believe in God but I don’t think science quite answered the mysteries of the universe either.
Even if our brains (at least for some of us) can fathom the beginning of time and the end of the universe is it capable of understanding itself? I mean science can’t even explain how the brain works. What is consciousness, where did our personality comes from, where is our memory, what give rise to different perception, do we really have free will? Who is really in charge? Do we control our thoughts or do our thoughts control us?
I think the statement about there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind by Hawking is intriguing. I wonder what is the reality he sees. There are many accounts of meditators, yogis and various religion practitioners whose mind are able to go beyond this reality. Most of us are prisoners of our mind. Our reality are confined and restricted within the capacity of our mind. That is why different people has different reality because each are confined within the capacity of their mind. Our reality changes as our mind evolves.
Interesting from Stephen Hawkins. As buddhist we do not subscribe to a creator god. But if I was a creator god i might create other beings to see how they lived to ease my boredom?
I do believe in God but not the God such as the God the almighty creator but instead I see God as beings who have not attained enlightenment. Not just that, I also do not believe that the Buddhas feared this world too as for Buddhism never taught us that. My theory is whatever caused the universe to haveliving things living on here can be explained by science, nothing else. I believe that the Holy Buddhas are here to help beings from every single realm to attain enlightenment faster.
Not to offend Christianity or anything, why shoulder we love God and be afraid of him at the same time? If you’re truly afraid of something, how can you still love it from the bottom of your heart? On top of that, how can you believe in a being that still possess anger as your God? That’s all I have to say, Thank you for reading.
Hmm… This article make us to contemplate more details within Science and Buddhism…
I wish that Stephen Hawking can read LamRin one day then try to do the research again in near future…
Real thought provoking. Evolution of mankind cannot be explained by divine creation of God is indeed very true. If Hawking studied the Buddha’s doctrine, he may have more light shed on him, as everything in Buddhism can be explained by science. 😉
It is quite understandble that as a physicist, Stephen Hawkins said that “religion believes in miracles, but these aren’t compatible with science; and that, before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But, now science offers a more convincing explaination, which made him to believe there is no God.” Convincing perhaps, maybe to him, but what we choose to believe that effects our lives, is still one person’s own choice! As what Rinpoche said, “let us not be a hindrance to keep thinking, keep researching, keep trying. After all everthing is impermanent”.
His logical reasoning is pure and cannot be challenged.
Science is basically discovering the truth that has been mentioned, taught and told by Lord Buddha. Perhaps Hawking could take a subject from Buddhism and research or analyse it and makes it clear also, that would be interesting to see how Hawkins interpret and understand Buddhist philosophies 🙂 Most of his findings and understanding are pretty much aligned with Buddhist philosophies. There is no God is what Buddhism teaches but if Hawkins says there is no divine positive energies, then that I would question… what about Buddhas? What about miracles? I do however believe in miracles although he does not… I do think sometimes science or human science are still quite limited but it is interesting what is being discovered or concluded is the same as what Buddha has been saying most of the time.
Most scientists including Stephen Hawking are atheists for their work is based on researches and facts with evidences that can be proven to people. But I think at times when evidences are not produced then they may opine using inferential logic.