I read in the tablet today that a book about jesus by Jose Antonio Pagola has been banned in Spain. Here is a blog entry about this book. I was immediately struck by the author's words.

In the blog entry there there is a reference to a book by Hawking about the existence of God so I went in search and came up with this relevant article by him.
While I was reading this, it struck me that the universe - since the big bang - for all those billions of years, was totally unseen by any living thing - until we came along. But how can time be registered at all if there are no creatures to live it out day by day?  It got me wondering if, perhaps, the 'urge to consciousness' is also actually a part of universal law. We, after all, made of stardust, are indeed the universe contemplating itself . . .