IS THE UNIVERSE REALLY INDIFFERENT?

                                                                               

' समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रियः ।' ....( Bhagwad Gita 9.29 opening line )

(I am equal toward all beings, To Me none is hateful, none beloved.)

 

IS THE UNIVERSE REALLY INDIFFERENT?

 

To say that the universe is indifferent does not mean that it is unkind, hostile, or deliberately unjust. Indifference is not malice. Rather, it names something quieter and more unsettling: the universe does not recognise us in the way we recognise one another. It does not attend to individual hopes, moral effort, suffering, or innocence. Earthquakes do not discriminate between saints and sinners; diseases do not spare children; accidents do not consult merit before striking. Events unfold according to impersonal processes, without regard for human meaning.

This idea unsettles us because human beings are moral and relational creatures. We expect concern, fairness, or at least explanation, especially when suffering appears undeserved. When these expectations meet the silence of the world, the gap feels intolerable. The claim that the universe is indifferent emerges precisely from this gap between what we feel ought to matter and what the universe appears to acknowledge.

Importantly, this perception does not arise solely from pessimism. It arises from honest attention to reality as it presents itself. Natural laws operate without intention. Stars explode, species vanish, and individual lives end without ceremony or justification. The universe neither rewards virtue nor punishes brutality. It neither consoles nor condemns. It simply unfolds. That absence of concern is what indifference means.

Albert Camus articulated this condition with unforgettable clarity. For Camus, the human being is a meaning-seeking creature trapped in a world that offers no answers. He called this confrontation the absurd; the clash between our longing for meaning, justice, and clarity and “the unreasonable silence of the world”. When tragedy strikes, the universe does not explain itself. It does not justify suffering or promise redemption. Camus rejected both religious consolation and nihilistic despair. His response was revolt: a lucid refusal to lie to ourselves, paired with a stubborn affirmation of life and human solidarity despite cosmic indifference.

Jean-Paul Sartre pushed this insight in a more radical direction. If the universe is indifferent, Sartre argued, then it provides no predefined meaning, essence, or moral script. Human beings are “condemned to be free”. There is no God or cosmic order to tell us what we are; existence comes first, and essence must be created through action. This radical freedom is not comforting. It is anguishing. In an indifferent universe, every choice rests entirely on our shoulders. Yet Sartre insists that this very absence of cosmic concern is what makes human responsibility absolute. If the universe will not care for us, then we must care for ourselves and for others.

Arthur Schopenhauer, writing a century earlier, reached a darker conclusion through metaphysics rather than existential ethics. For him, the ultimate reality beneath appearances is the Will, a blind, restless striving that manifests as nature, desire, and life itself. Individuals are fleeting expressions of this Will and have no privileged metaphysical status. Suffering is not an anomaly but the normal condition of existence. The universe is indifferent because it is not guided by reason, compassion, or moral purpose, but by endless, unsatisfied striving.

Soren Kierkegaard accepted much of this diagnosis but refused to let it be the final word. He agreed that the objective universe offers no secure meaning for the individual. Science explains how things happen, not why they should matter. Ethical systems cannot guarantee harmony between virtue and happiness. This leaves the individual exposed to anxiety and despair. Yet for Kierkegaard, this exposure is precisely where authentic existence begins. Meaning is not discovered in the universe but forged inwardly through a passionate relationship with God, achieved by a leap of faith. The universe’s silence becomes the stage on which faith acquires its urgency.

Eastern philosophies approach cosmic indifference by questioning the assumptions that make it so painful. Buddhism begins with the recognition of Dukkha (suffering ), the pervasive unsatisfactoriness of existence. But suffering, in Buddhism, does not point to a cruel or neglectful universe. Reality operates through dependent origination: causes and conditions give rise to effects without intention or moral judgement. There is no cosmic agent who cares or neglects. Suffering intensifies when we cling to permanence in a world defined by impermanence. Nagarjuna, one of Buddhism’s most profound philosophers, radicalised this insight through the doctrine of emptiness (Shunyata). He argued that all phenomena, including the self, lack inherent, independent existence. The question “Why is the universe indifferent to me?” presupposes a solid self-standing apart from a solid world. Nagarjuna dissolves this opposition. Once we abandon reified notions of self and reality, the sense of cosmic abandonment weakens. Indifference, on this view, is not a fact of existence but a misunderstanding of how things exist.

The Bhagavad Gita offers another response that speaks powerfully to modern anxieties. Sri Krishna teaches Arjuna that the world of action is governed by Prakṛti and Karma, impersonal forces that do not bend to individual emotions or expectations. The universe does not care whether actions bring pleasure or pain. Suffering arises when we bind our identity to outcomes. The solution is not to demand meaning from the cosmos, but to act without attachment (Niṣhkaama Karma) and recognise the deeper self that remains untouched by success and failure. Cosmic indifference, here, becomes a condition for spiritual freedom.

The Upanishads go even further by challenging the very notion of individuality that makes indifference distressing. At the deepest level, they teach that Atman (the true self) is identical with Brahman (ultimate reality). If this is so, then the universe cannot be indifferent to the self, because there is no ultimate separation between the two. What appears as neglect or abandonment belongs to ignorance (Avidya), not to reality itself. With realisation comes release from the anxiety of being uncared for.

 

Kashmir Shaiva philosophy offers perhaps the most affirmative vision of all. According to this tradition, reality is Shiva: pure, self-aware consciousness endowed with absolute freedom (swatantrya). The universe is not an indifferent mechanism but a dynamic self-expression of consciousness, a cosmic play (Leela). Apparent indifference arises when consciousness freely contracts itself and experiences the world from a limited, egoic perspective. From this narrowed view, the universe feels uncaring. From the standpoint of ultimate awareness, nothing lies outside consciousness itself. Indifference is not a property of reality but the consequence of partial vision.

Across cultures and centuries, thinkers converge on a sobering insight: the universe does not care about individuals in the way individuals care about one another. Yet they diverge profoundly in their responses. Camus urges revolt, Sartre insists on responsibility, Schopenhauer counsels renunciation, Kierkegaard points to faith, Buddhism dissolves attachment, Nagarjuna dismantles metaphysical assumptions, the Bhagwad Gīta teaches detached action, and Kashmir Shaivism affirms cosmic consciousness.

Perhaps the deepest lesson is this: meaning and compassion are not guaranteed by the structure of the cosmos. They are ethical and spiritual achievements forged in a world that neither promises nor forbids them. The universe may be indifferent, but how we respond to that indifference remains, unmistakably, our own responsibility.

 

( Avtar Mota )

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