The journey to discover God stems from a deep-seated urge that is innate to man’s very nature. It is actually so very easy and simple that every person can undertake this journey, and in their own vicinity. One does not need to physically travel anywhere for this journey. Here is a story that illustrates how very easy it is:
Someone once asked a peasant what evidence there was for God’s existence. The peasant replied that sheep dung was evidence for the existence of a sheep, footprints in the wet mud were evidence for the existence of a person who had walked there, and so were not the vast skies, the wide earth and the enormous sea filled with waves sufficient evidence for the existence of a Creator of them all?
This story is about a humble and wise man. From it, one can understand that realizing the existence of the Creator is so very easy that every human being can come to the conclusion that God does exist by reflecting on their immediate surroundings. To discover God, there is no need to visit a library and read many books or to set off on a long journey. One can discover the existence of God wherever one is, for His signs are everywhere around us, and even within us!
Here’s another story that illustrates how easy this discovery actually can be: Once, a boy asked a wise old man how one could know God. The wise man asked the boy to reflect on the fingers of his hands and the toes on his feet. Had his fingers been very short and his toes very long, the man pointed out, how difficult his life would have been! “Our fingers and toes are just the right size for our hands and feet to function smoothly and to do the tasks that we usually use them for”, he explained. “They are an indication of wise planning, of a sort that only the Creator and Provider of the universe, who is beyond man, could have arranged for.”
Knowing God is actually as easy as knowing oneself, this story seems to convey.
This sort of discovery can be called discovery of God at the level of commonsense. But there is another level of discovery, which man has discovered in modern times—and that is, discovery of God through scientific evidence. Today, man can easily discover God through new and abundant scientific evidence that clearly points to the existence of a Supreme Being behind the universe and involved its functioning.
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Science is the study of Nature, which consists of everything that is contained in the universe. Scientific research began with some initial issues, and the more it expanded, the more it became clear that the universe is an exceedingly meaningful realm. Any explanation or interpretation of the universe that is not based on its meaningfulness cannot be compatible with scientific research findings.
Through scientific research, it has come to be known that the universe is characterized by intelligent design. Now, if one does not accept that this intelligent design indicates an Intelligent Designer—or, in other words, the Creator God—who arranged for this intelligent design, the various phenomena of the universe are completely inexplicable.
Likewise, scientific research has shown that our universe is a custom-made universe—that is, that it is completely in line with the needs of all the many different types of living beings that inhabit it. Now, if it is not accepted that this compatibility between the universe and the various living creatures in it points to the existence of a Creator who caused this to be so, it is simply not possible to provide a comprehensible explanation of this phenomenon.
Similarly, findings in various fields of scientific research show that the different parts and features of the universe are intricately and deeply interconnected and that they are immensely finely-tuned. There must definitely be some explanation for these mindboggling phenomena. The only truly meaningful explanation for them is one that is based on the concept of a Creator God, who has designed the universe in the most appropriate way possible.
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Science is not a religious subject. The subject-matter of science is not God, or the Creator, as such. Rather, its subject-matter is Nature, or, in other words, the creations of the Creator, which can also be called as ‘signs of God’. But attributes of the Creator are reflected in the creation, and so the study of the creation can indirectly become a journey towards the Creator.
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