By design or by chance?

Springtime is simply a stupefying season here in Bergen. After months of incessant downpour, the months of April and May usually uncover some mind-boggling sights never too common to become repetitious.

As the sun's rays collide head-on with budding flowers of almost any colour, the human eye can relish in nature's extravaganza once again. And if you don't feel the slightest sensation of joy, you had better search deep down to recover that supreme virtue: the ability to enjoy, free of charge, the beauty that exists - seemingly out of nowhere.

Both the atheist and the believer can share this experience. This they can have in common. But whereas the former attributes this stunning beauty to an unsupervised, haphazard process, the latter will recognize the characteristics of design.

I am not saying that the atheist is being dishonest or less intelligent than the believer, but I am claiming that the e.g. colossally intricate phenomena called ecosystems cannot be satisfactorily explained as products of sheer chance. These systems are found in a finely attuned universe, not in an environment characterized by chaos or random selection.

Yes, I do think the wonders of spring are here by design. And I even think I know the brilliant mind behind all these ravishing beauties gracing my backyard.