Question Hi Mr. LaRouche. I've been thinking a lot lately about the creation of the universe and the idea of God. And my question to you, is: If God created the universe, what created God?

LaRouche: Hmm. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I'm not going to say "I did"! We'll eliminate that proposition, right away!

No, the point is: What do you mean by "God"? Before you define something, as in how is it built, you have to know what it is!

Okay. Now, what do we know? Let's go to Vernadsky; we'll go to one of the stronger sides of Russian culture: Vernadsky. What did Vernadsky accomplish, and how does this apply to this question of God? And, Vernadsky, if he were standing here, would tend to look at me--"maybe I agree with you"--that kind of thing. You find that there are three phases in the universe, three phase-spaces. There are what we call, from the standpoint of physical chemistry, which is his standpoint: You have the so-called "abiotic," in which there's no necessary evidence of anything that would be called "life" in the universe. None of the effects require the existence of life. Or, of intelligence. There may be intention, but not expressed, active intelligence.

Secondly, you find, as Pasteur, Curie, and so forth demonstrated more effectively--and also, Vernadsky himself--who developed a comprehensive demonstration of the universality of this principle: Is that there is a principle in the universe, which is not to be found in the abiotic; a principle of life, which is universal, whose manifestation is, that it produces physical effects, in the universe, which can not be produced by abiotic processes. For example: The atmosphere could not be produced by an abiotic process. The waters, the ocean, were produced by a living process. Most of the sedimentary material, including soil, of this planet, were created by a living process. Could not be produced by an abiotic process.

Then, thirdly, you have effects, which are physical effects, on the universe, which are produced by the intervention, of the discovery of universal principle--effects which can not be produced in any other way; effects, such as the fact that man, who biologically, if he were not intelligent, would be either Henry Kissinger or some form of ape, would never have exceeded several million individuals on this planet, under the conditions of the past 2 million years.

But, man is now over 6 billion people, at latest estimate. How did this happen? Because the principle of human intelligence, that is, creative intelligence--the discovery of principle; [interrupted] My trousers! This dog has got a rep, you know!--anyway, therefore, we know that intelligence is unique.

Now, then it goes to a next phase: What is intelligence? We discussed it before. It is the ability to discover a universal physical principle; or, the equivalent kind of principle, a principle, which--who produces, universally, certain specific kinds of effects, which can not be produced, except by that principle.

What about human intelligence? The ability to discover a universal principle? How does it occur? It does not occur by a discussion. It may occur in the context of the discussion. But, the discussion doesn't generate it. It's generated within the mind of the individual. It's generated in the form, initially, of what's called a "Platonic hypothesis." And, if the hypothesis is proven experimentally, then you called it a ["principal principle"--audio breakup here].

Now, the problem then, the next thing you have to do, is you have to communicate that. You can communicate that, not by wiring. Wires from one head to another will not do the job. As a matter of fact, they will tend to prevent the job from being done--as Al Gore showed, with his idea of "Wired Society." It's done, by replicating the experience of discovery, in the mind of a second person.

This is, for example, optimal Classical humanist education. What does the teacher do, in a class, in communicating a discovery to a group of students? The function of the teacher, is not to ay, "Learn this, or I'll kill you! Learn this, or I'll flunk you!" The function is, to stimulate, in the body of students, an act, a discussion; an active ferment, where you pose the problem. You say, "Here's a contradiction! How do you deal with this contradiction? How do you explain it!" And, when you get them all hot and bothered, then you begin to get a discussion. You steer the discussion as a teacher, by throwing more and more things in, to provoke them--once you've got their attention--so that, they themselves begin to make and experience this kind of a discovery, hypothesis.

Once one or two catch onto the idea of the hypothesis in the class--a class of 15, or 20, is a good optimal number--then, you get a discussion among the students. And so, now, the whole idea, "What are these hypotheses? Which one is right? Why is this one wrong? Why is this one right?" [inaud]. Then, the instructor will intervene a little bit more--not to give the show away, but to steer consideration of additional facts, which will help the student body.

Now, they're in focus on the question; it's now a controversy. Now, they're really engaged. And, they will begin to hypothesize.

Then, the instructor will say, "Well, how would you prove, which hypothesis is correct, if any?" And make [suggestions]: "Would you do this?" Or, "would you do this?" Or, "what would you do? Which of you guys is right? Or are any of you right?"

At that point, you begin to focus on an idea. And, if you find the right experiment, and the right hypothesis, they'll walk out of the class, and everybody will have a fairly good idea--some will know; others will have an idea of what they don't know; and that's the process of healthy education. Which is not accomplished by rehearsing people in computer-scored, multiple-choice examination.

So, now. What does this tell you? This tells you that the act of discovery of a universal principle, a principle by means of which man increases man's power in, and over the universe, as a species. This is creativity! For mankind to be able to increase mankind's power in and over the universe, is a creative act. That's what we mean by "creativity": The discovery, and proof, of a principle, by means of which mankind is able to increase mankind's power to exist, in and over the universe.

So, this is a result, of a spark, of a sovereign act, within the confines of an individual mind. A sovereign act.

Now. We say, "universal principle." We have this universe, wonderful universe. It has real collection of entertainment in it. One is called the "abiotic" division; the other is called the "living" division, the division of life; the other's called the "intellectual" division, or "discovery," "cognitive." It's a wonderful universe. How's it organized? It's organized, on the basis of physical principles! Discoverable, physical principles, which are efficient! We don't know anything else--except these universal principles, which are efficient. That's all we know! Everything else is guess-work: a stab in the dark.

Well, what about these principles? Where'd they come from? Did we create them? Well, not exactly. We discovered them. They existed beforehand.

Ahh! So, life always existed in the universe! So, intelligence always existed in the universe! And, intelligence is sovereign: It's a sovereign act, of a sovereign individual. Therefore, the universe is God. And the character of the universe is, that it is a sovereign personality.

Does the universe have a beginning?

No.

Does it have an end?

No.

Does anything exist outside it?

No.

So, how could anything have created it? The universe is the universe. We call it "the universe," because the principles we discover, are universal. And, there's nothing outside what we discover, that controls the universe.

Therefore, the universe always existed. There was never anything outside it, before it, behind, or after it. The universe is governed by a principle of creativity, of principles that we, as man, are able to imitate God, by discovering! When we discover a pre-existing universal principle, it becomes our property. We can use it. The universe has changed, now, because man, as a willful agency, in the universe, can change the universe, by adopting a pre-existing principle, and using it.

Before, after, when, who, what? No! What we know, is all that's all that we know! We don't know anything else! Once we identify what we mean by a "universal physical principle," we don't know anything else. That's why Descartes and Euclid and [inaud] were such idiots. [applause]

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