Life is a balance of needs.
We expend much of our effort in scheduling
to fulfill the basic needs of our existence.
Providing the fundamental necessities of water,
food and shelter for us and those that depend
on us takes effort and planning.
But what about nature,
and the complexities of the Cosmos?
Do we schedule or attend
to the laws of nature?
Do we provide what is needed for everything
that is out beyond the stars?
We live our lives as participants
within the Cosmos.
While fulfilling our role, we are able to
observe and enjoy the beauty of our Cosmos
through the elegance
of its finely-tuned arrangement.
The elegant fine-tuning that exists
within the Cosmos can be seen
by the host of interactions
happening all around us.
Science tries to mirror that natural elegance
through the mathematical expressions we use
to describe the processes
that we're observing.
For instance, the gravitational
relationship between masses
forms the basis of our understanding
for all cosmic motion,
including everything from
planetary orbits to galactic dynamics.
The equation describing gravitational force
between two objects
includes three important factors:
first the masses involved,
which addresses the existence of structure;
second the distance between those masses,
which addresses the existence of space itself;
and third Newton’s Universal
Gravitational Constant,
a fundamental physical constant
that addresses the scale of this force.
Both the relationship between mass and distance
in this equation, which scales directly with
mass and inversely with the square of distance,
and the presence of the Gravitational Constant
show a finely-tuned balance for
the overall strength of gravity’s force.
Why is it that gravitational interactions
follow this relation?
Why inversely with the square of distance
rather than a direct relationship?
Why is the Universal Gravitation Constant
the value it is?
These are questions which
humanity does not decide.
We have discovered the relation and we have
assigned the units by which we measure it,
but we did not decide for the Cosmos
what form of relation
or what scale the
gravitational force should have.
Current understanding categorizes the interactions
of nature into four fundamental forces:
gravitational, electromagnetic,
strong nuclear, and weak nuclear.
Each of these forces has a relative
strength and scale of operation
that is finely-tuned to balance the others.
The relations of these forces depend on the
finely-tuned arrangement of our Cosmos,
from the material constants--such as mass
and charge of elementary particles--
to the spatial relations
for how each force is exerted,
to the Universal physical constants
that balance their effects.
The scientific pursuits of
investigation and exploration are thrilling,
from the discovery of subatomic particles
to mankind taking its “giant leap”
on the surface of the Moon.
The complex nature of the Universe has both
confounded and astounded humanity.
Yet, the fact that such a vast Cosmos exists,
that its complexities function so precisely,
independent of any human intellect,
demands that an Intelligent Creator
designed and ordered this finely-tuned Cosmos
that we are now privileged to study.
