Sermon Idea: Anthropic Principle in Human Psyche

Perhaps the terminology I have chosen is not the most likely to be heard from any pulpit, but I sure hope that some educated pastor out there will find words suitable for his congregation to express what I think is no less important that observations of order and precision with which this Universe is sculpted.

First of all, I have to give credit where it's due. The gist of what follows was inspired by a few pages in a rather incongruous book called "The Secret History of the World: As Laid Down by the Secret Societies". The book itself is not very useful, and at times simply shockingly ridiculous, but, like I said, credit where credit is due...

Ok, it is a rather well known fact that many properties of the Universe are so finely tuned that even a slightest change would make the existence of humankind impossible. You probably heard of physicists who (quite correctly) assume that if some basic constants that we see in place were different in the slightest degree the Universe would either never be able to sustain its shape or quite likely never would have existed. One such example is the force of gravity. It is exactly as strong as it should be in order for planet Earth to remain comfortably where it belongs: not too far from the Sun and not too close to it. On a greater level gravity also seems to be fine tuned to keep the entire Universe in fairly good balance.

Now, consider this. Our internal makeup is equally dependent on the balance of many forces. A gentle equilibrium is required in order for us to live our lives. Italo Calvino says:"Memory has to be strong enough to enable us to act without forgetting what we wanted to do, to learn without ceasing to be the same person, but it also has to be weak enough to allow us to keep moving into the future." You can apply the same principle to other human capacities. For instance, being able to concentrate on specific tasks is a wonderful thing. However, imagine a person who cannot be pulled away from something not matter what happens. Conversely, imagine someone who is distracted by the least significant things, noises and mental events, thus unable to concentrate on the same idea for more than a second. Both conditions present serious disorders. And yet, the majority of us happily exist within a balanced internal universe of our souls. This truly is the freedom of spirit, if you will. Unlike animals who can safely exist by following instincts only, humans possess the capacity to freely choose between various scenarios of life minute by minute, day by day, remaining the same and yet ever evolving.

What I am proposing here is that the anthropic principle that is sometimes seen as a major component in the Universe's master plan is also at work in the anthropos proper! How could it be otherwise?