"... it does not strike me as healthy or even sane to have such a philosophy that would dare assert that everything is just an accident or the end result of unthinking processes."

Why not? I do it everyday! (Well, not 'assert'....just assume such in lieu of evidence to the contrary.) I can have almost the same experiences, concerns, feelings...etc...as anyone, without positing something that just 'feels' nice to subscribe to. I guess some folks can't, but the question can always be asked - "What IS the ultimate, factual, non-subjective answer?" If the Earth were to explode tomorrow, would "the universe" care? I 'doubt' it would, though I can't prove it....

It is important to recognize that 'accidental' processes and 'unthinking' processes are not necessarily linked. The processes of the Universe follow laws of physics, even if we do not understand all of them yet, but to assert that ANY of those processes are thinking ones is to go quite far out on a limb.

I have been out on limbs, and I don't like it when they prove unstable. I like poetry...it ennobles us....but I don't care to base my life on assumptions that poetical concepts describe existance-in-itself.

But you knew that *wry grin*