Why is the universe the way it is? In fact, why does it exist at all?

These are the questions that the English cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, was trying to answer before his death in March of this year.

He was also looking for the reason behind his existence and the way he was. At age 21 Hawking was diagnosed with ALS, and had to face the reality that the muscles in his body would slowly cease to function.

Later he developed his own theory of the universe, and eventually ended up concluding that, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark”, and that, “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going”.

According to him then, Hawking’s battle against his fate and his gifted cosmological vision have all faded away and become nothing.

But is this true?

The Problem Of Atheistic Scientists

The answer is no. On the 4th of April three weeks after he passed away, the spirit of Stephen Hawking approached Master Ryuho Okawa, founder and CEO of Happy Science. Master Okawa used himself as a spiritual medium to let Hawking speak.

Hawking’s spirit began the spiritual interview expressing his perplexity at the fact that he was conscious after death: “It’s a mystery. Am I alive or not? Are we alive? I’m thinking, thinking, thinking or dreaming, dreaming, dreaming . . .”

While not everyone believes in the afterlife, one can still imagine how confusing it would be if you didn’t believe in the existence of a soul but found yourself perfectly conscious after your death. You may even doubt that you ever died.

The interviewer explained to Hawking that he was a spirit, to which he retaliated, “No one can prove that”. He was still perplexed that he could talk without his speech-generating device, and could move around without a wheelchair. He was unable to explain this inconsistency.

The more people rely on science to explain world phenomena, the more they come to deny the religious worldview. Hawking’s perplexity is the quintessence of this major social problem.

Was He Cursed By God?

He also explained why he became an atheist. Unlike his usual scientifically oriented thinking, his reasoning was surprisingly irrational.

“If God made me, I cannot accept the reason why he so heavily destroyed my physical actions and perceptions. I hate God. If you think, you believe, that you are like gods, or God, I cannot believe that kind of God”.

As the interview went on, however, his idea that his life was cursed by God began to change. He began to draw parallels with his own life and that of Job from the Old Testament.

The Book of Job tells the story of a righteous man, Job, who faced many difficulties beset upon him by God, such as death in his family and illness. Eventually this leads Job to curse God, but God replies by questioning Job as to whether he really understands God: does he understand how and why God created the universe? Does he understand why God showered misfortune unto Job?

Job then realises his mistake, and attains great happiness.

Hawking made significant contributions to the world of cosmology and theoretical physics while fighting his bitter fate, and this gave hope to many people around the world. It may have been a life full of suffering for Hawking himself, but he contributed much to others and the planet, and now that his spirit is free, he can look over his life of hardship and turn that into spiritual growth and happiness.

Hawking is sure to continue exploring the reason behind his existence, and the reason behind the universe as a place where happiness and unhappiness coexist.

Other topics covered in the spiritual message are as follows:

• Did the spirit of Hawking realize he had travelled to Japan?
• What sort of world had he returned to after death?
• What was Hawking’s idea of God?
• What are his thoughts on Superstring Theory and Parallel Universe theories?
• His thoughts on Newton and Einstein
• His thoughts on aliens
• Predictions of the future of mankind