Existence of God

I strongly feel it is important here to dichotomize the words God and Religion in the world today and the concept of God using the mainstream philosophical argument.

The word itself means different things for different people. The common argument constructed by theists to convince their atheist counterpart revolves around some essentials:

• Initial motion

All things in the universe are in motion. However, for there to exist motion in actuality (Kinetic energy) there must exist Potential energy and this potential energy can only be converted to kinetic energy by a stimulus. So everything which is in motion must have an initial stimulus. This stimulus is god.

This is a completely valid argument. My dispute with this argument is that how does one explain the seeming chronological, spatial and conceptual infinity of god? The concept is created to put a stopper to a concept that escapes the intellectual block that we humans face when dealing with the question of infinity. "God is infinite," theists would then claim. Well, if God is infinite and so is the universe, I don't see any reason to believe that one form of infinity is different from the other... both are conceptually the same. So, God is the Universe and the Universe is God. Both interchangeable words... I prefer the former to avoid the ridiculous connotations of the word "God" propagated across society through religion.

• Original causation

Everything we see around us is connected in a chain of causation similar to that of motion. So what is the original cause?... God.

This argument is parallel to the infinity concept. What is the original cause? I don't know. Many call it God. I call it incomprehensible infinity or the Universe.

• The superlative

We have formed in our minds the conceptual framework for qualitative assessment for everything in existence. The man is strong. That woman is honest. The mountains are beautiful. Every qualitative assessment is in comparison to a superlative... an entity that possesses the best of all virtues. Such an entity must be god.

I'd like to deconstruct this idea. The ultimate of all virtues, this argument claims is this singular entity of God. I would simply ask... who sets the standards here?... the standards of virtue. Isn't it humans? Our perceptions of beauty and virtues are different depending on the personalities, value systems and circumstances each of us is subject to. This disintegrates the concept the singularity of God. If each of us were to name our perceptions of the superlative as God, we'd have many more Gods.

• Original existence

We are surrounded my thronging existence. Before existence is non-existence or nothing and for something to be born of nothing is absurd. Therefore, for something to exist in the beginning from nothing, there needs to be an antediluvian (etymological religious connotation unintended, I hope!) something that instigates the creation of everything else.

The Buddhists believe in part of this concept as well. Madhyamaka practitioners stress on the importance of the fact that before existence came non-existence; before something came nothing. However, they add that nothing has the potential to create everything else. The don't detach the divine from existence and non-existence. They believe is is possible for humans to reach that state of nothingness through meditation. That is their concept of nirvana. I prefer the Buddhist way of thought where this is concerned and would like to add that if one were to claim that god was hanging around in nothing to create something and that God is something, then the nothing did not exist in the first place.

On the other hand, when one says that nothing and everything is divine, that implies that every one of us is divine. Using theist terminology, that makes every one of us God. I'd rather call you by your name :-)

• Universal governance

Nature is crafted to perfection. Every leaf, every mountain, every animal is crafted in a way so as to co-exist in functional synchrony and perfection. The functionality is a product of circumstances or environment. All this takes intelligence to design. That intelligence is god.

I feel this is the strongest argument made so far. Intelligent design has been long debated. If God is mystery and infinity and if we as humans are incapable of understanding the true nature of God the only method of knowing whether this God exists is to go by his/her intentions. These seem pretty clear. Building the universe, of which Planet Earth, our home, seems to be of barely importance but means the world to us and us alone. This god went into the detail of creating these handcrafted odds and ends like plants, animals, humans, and so on... and then we have theists who believe that this god had an intention... how? and what is that intention? The planet we're on has an expiry date on it and so does every one of us and the intention of God is an inappropriate phrase given to what it really is... the purpose of life itself. I call it life force... a power potent and intelligent enough to direct the evolution of every being in existence... and as for the non-living things, I call it physics.

True, this raises more questions than answers and that's the point. There are unanswered questions and we could start with seeing things for what they truly are instead of settling in for misunderstood, inadequate and inappropriate nomenclature and conceptual fantasies.

Religion adds more frills to this concept of God further contorting it into a melange of mysticism, customs, rituals, intolerance and shrouded ignorance all sparked by elements of shame, low self-esteem and a lack of courage to face the truth or embark on this seemingly infinite voyage of finding the truth where it isn't apparent.

Why?

It's the one question that can topple the monolith of pretenses. Forget every axiom, every convention, everything "normal", look yourself in the eye and ask yourself this. Dig deep into the depths of your soul... Cleave through the undergrowth of conditioning... Hack those dead stumps... clear the field... because you are about to sow the seeds of your essence.

Every answer to the question "Why?" is a seed sown. Every confirmation of that answer from your interaction with the world around is fertilizer. Every action taken on the basis of that idea is water.

Some answers will not be very appealing... some will threaten to tear you apart with grief or anger... some might deflate that image you have of yourself... What matters is that you know it is the truth. What matters is that you aren't fueling your own facade by sowing dead seeds.

The only reason to do this is to run your fingers through that golden harvest even if it is just once before winter sets in.

I Believe

Why believe in that which has no evidence?

I find this a profound question. Why do people believe in the irrational?

I have dealt with this question in one of my articles on religion. People are eager to brand the darkness as divine. For example, one belief I commonly encounter is about the creation of the universe. Some believe in intelligent design... that is, some “intelligent” chap up there carving out the intricate structure of this wonderful universe. Others believe in the Big Bang. What do I believe in? … Neither. My reluctance to believe in this regard stems from the inadequacy of either theory in answering certain basic questions like what existed before the Universe? Nothing… my father once said. I remember being dumbstruck by the sudden omnipresence of NOTHING. “What is nothing?” I remember having asked him as a 12 year old. I am still fascinated by this concept! I do not understand it yet and don’t pretend that I do.

That brings me back to the question… Why do others want to believe so fervently and so urgently in something at the cost of rationality?

It could be a feeling of insecurity at being surrounded by mystery. A few might ask… “Aren’t we always surrounded by mystery?” Others will say… “That is the mystery of god”. I feel this feeling of insecurity grows from a deep feeling of inadequacy with one’s own existence. The fact that YOU exist doesn’t give you enough courage to embrace life with all its mysteries.

Another possible explanation for this could be the reluctance to shoulder the responsibility to face all these mysteries with a sense of curiosity… that I feel is natural to any life form. One must find an answer to every question! We don’t stop until we do find our answers. When they don’t… they make a grave error… They create an answer. People will enthusiastically believe this fabricated shred that I see as an excuse to mask their lack of courage.

I am a dot on this world. My existence may not make any difference to anyone. What is most important is that it makes a difference to me.

I believe in many things. Every one of these beliefs is founded on reason and open to challenges and change. Sometimes, I must admit, I crave to be challenged.

Bible studies 1 - Sexual Relations

I was privileged to be given the holy bible a few months ago. Untouched books make me itch and as a result, i chose to begin my excursion through these crisp pages written thousands of years ago by a bunch of people who have, to a large extent, steered the social currents of the world.

The copy that I own has a very handy list of subjects at the end that gives the reader the exact location of the Bible's take on a whole array of issues. Oh yeah! God was extremely opinionated!

"Homosexuality" caught my eye. You can blame it on my proclivity for the provocative.

Anyway, as my eyes were hovering over the all the "Do not's" indoctrinated in Leviticus, Ch. 18 caught my eye. "Unlawful Sexual Relations", speaks about everything you must not do with regard to the cravings of your genitals.

I would rather title this passage as the "Beginners guide Incest and more". I definitely admire the guy's creativity at placing a "Do not" before every possible variation of a sexual relation. Son with mother, Father with daughter, nephew and aunt, daughter-in-law with father-in-law, man with man, neighbors wife, sister-in-law and brother-in-law, animals and humans, amongst others. He seems to have brainstormed this issue thoroughly! It makes me wonder about where the Porn industry might have got most of their brilliant ideas... Interesting!

Those who do experience attraction for someone from within the family or for the same sex is bound to look at these doctrines and say, "God says it is wrong. So, my desire at this point is wrong. That makes me a sinner!". A more pragmatic approach for this person would be, "Great! God says it is wrong. Firstly, why should I trust Leviticus with knowing God's will and secondly, God doesn't bother giving any explanations other than death threats and a very handy reassurance that he is my God".

The first person will land up prostrate in a church begging for forgiveness. The second guy will probably shut the bible and meet a psychologist who will probably tell him that sexual desires are human and natural. However, consider the social system and the biological and psychological impact of an action based on such an instinct before indulging in it.

Homosexuality, for instance, is one of those acts that draws the rage of God. In Leviticus 20:13, it is written "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."

A gruesome end to any inappropriate romance for sure! This death threat has been given profusely through most of this chapter sometimes explicitly mentioning method of inflicting this death as well. Burning these folk and stoning them to death are apparently God's favorite techniques.

In the Romans 1:18-32, I find a logical fallacy culminating to the same damnation of those who give in to their "impure" thoughts. The passage says that in the beginning God made himself quite clearly known to mankind. He damns those who understand and have the opportunity to understand but try to cover it up with their "wickedness". It goes one by asserting that it is God who "gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another." "God gave them over to shameful lusts." "he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done".

This makes God sound like an extremely obsessive and substantially retarded bigot. Why?

Firstly, this entire theory is based on the assumption that God made himself adequately clear to mankind. So one has to be either stupid or wicked not to understand his magnificence. Either way, you end up being burnt or stoned for some "shameful" sexual act. If one thinks about it in a little more detail, this sexual act was not done of the victims free will... it was the divine will of God that "gave them over to shameful lusts".

So what have I learned today from the holy gospel?

If I do not recognize God's infinite powers, he will give me over to my base desires leading me to being sexually attracted to one of the many people and animals listed in the Bible after which I should be either burnt to death or pelted with stones until the life drains out of me. Going by this leather bound holy book, this guy (I've always wondered about why God can't be a woman!) called God is a perverted freak! Reminds me of those sadists in some of those porn videos that revolted me as a teenager.

There was more written about Sexual relations in the Bible, but, I've lost my appetite!

Next time, I'll try looking for something less gruesome.

Coincidence

To start with, I will attempt to clarify this term. This is the meaning I attribute to the word through the rest of the posts I dedicate to the issue of coincidence.

It is the occurrence of multiple events at the same time. This makes it sound like quite a harmless term which raises the question... Why is coincidence attributed to divinity of predestined road maps for every event in the past, present and future? Because, it seems uncanny that two people should meet at the same place without any plans to do so more than once? Because, a hatrick is awe inspiring? Because you travel half way around the planet to discover another human being who thinks, feels and acts just like you? Because pure rationale is limiting to explain such startling negations of mere chance? So, should we humble humans do what the majority of our magnificent race indulge in... attribute everything seemingly inexplicable to divinity?

So, is there a master plan? Are we mere puppets in the omnipotent hands of destiny? How do we explain certain happenings that seem almost too good or bad to be true?

Let's embark on a short excursion on the paths of our lives. I will not tread as far as the controversial Adam and Eve but to something more relevant and believable like your parents. Somewhere in their individual lives, out of the billions of people on earth and the thousands of people they were acquainted with, they chose each other. On one particular day, a particular sperm cell from you father fused with the ovum of you mother and that managed to find its way back to the uterus and fuse with it marking the beginning of a new life... you. Do you see how narrow the possibility was even for your existence. Had one little link been out of place, you would not exist and I only went as far as your parents. Think about the Big Bang, Dinosaurs, Apes, Evolution, epidemics, wars and numerous other factors and you will feel the full intensity of your very existence. Getting here wasn't easy.

Every day, without realizing it, you have probably evaded death, saved lives, walked past the person you will be spending the rest of your life with after 2 years, probably even shortened somebody's life... who knows?!

So what makes things happen in us and around us? Firstly, human choices. A Chinese businessman might get tired of his bourgeois lifestyle and choose to reduce raw material expenditure in his toys to increase profit. In the US, you choose to buy this particular toy on the shelf of Walmart that you think your child will like. You child likes chewing on the toy more than playing with it. He dies of lead poisoning. It might sound extremely grave but let's face it, it's a possibility. The hundreds of billions of choices, not only your own but also of everyone around you, that have gone into you being where you are is no laughing matter.

The second factor is natural circumstances or quirks of mother nature. Earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, a snapped electrical conduit, an oil spill... I don't have to elaborate on this I'm sure.

So the bottom line here is that any occurrence is a melange of choices (everybody's) and natural circumstances (quirks).

What I do not understand is why does tomorrow have to be predestined. Even if one sits down to calculate the probability of an event happening tomorrow, we are walking a tightrope when dealing with the highly complex and uncertain variables involved. The predictions will have to be made considering the likelihood of a natural (uncontrollable and unforeseeable) event happening at a particular time in the future accompanied with a certain choice made not only by you but also by everyone affecting you. The easiest variable to predict would be your choices though even this requires a tremendous amount of insight into human nature and is still not fool proof.

We've definitely come a long way in the science and art of prediction but lets not fool ourselves with the presence of divine interventions. Agreed, we cannot explain certain events of mammoth proportions like the creation of the universe and the genesis of life. But, that is an indicator not of god's infinite powers but our own limited intellect. Whatever makes us think that the human race is the smartest species in the universe! There are definitely realms of knowledge far too complex for our brains as things stand today. I'm not being a cynic but quite blatantly optimistic about human potential. We have come this far and I believe we will get much farther if only we live our lives by our virtues and not our weaknesses.

From coincidences to god... One could ask about what brought about the shift of my flow of thought. Humans try to glamorize their lives. Why? Because they think it isn't significant the way it is. Add some magical presence external to our beings capable of transforming our humble existence into something meaningful and you've caught the attention of the majority. What they don't realize is that we are already magnificent just the way we are. Born free with the virtue of potential for productive endeavor.

I am immediately taken back to what Ayn Rand stood for. "My philosophy", she said, "in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest ability, and reason his only absolute."

So things happen the way they do happen not because there are some unknown designs to your life that were drawn out by this divine entity that many call God but simply because of the intricate interaction of the delicate matrix of choices and natural circumstances that are, within the limitations of my intellect, unpredictable.

Instead of giving meaning to the fact that something happened, it would be more productive in making the most of whatever has happened because it will never happen again. Moments lost are moments lost. Nothing can be done to relive those moments. So if confronted by moments that have seemingly been given to you by divine intervention, try not thinking about what has been written in your destiny. Think instead of what you wish to write on the empty slate of your future.

The Atheist

We often succumb to usage of incomplete words to define a consummate thought or feeling. I made the same error while using this word... "Atheist". Literally, it means a person who does not believe in God. Though this is a sweeping statement, I would like to define each of these terms for myself.

God. People regard God as everything they are not, everything that is beyond their comprehension. It is in this context that I am an Atheist. I do not believe in what I do not understand. Blind faith is an emotion that I will not evoke, not as a conscious choice but a natural way of life. That makes me an Agnostic Atheist to be more specific.

Now If I were to assume that God were a supreme entity. Then that would be me. I am the center of my world, so that makes me God according to this analogy. I assume that every self respecting individual would say exactly the same thing and not subjugate his or her own existence to that of a higher being.

However, this entire exercise is futile. Firstly, I label myself and then try explaining it. What a thorough waste of time!

Glory to God!

What instigates such a passion for this guy called god that brings tears to peoples eyes as they sing with all the energy they've got worshipping and praising Jesus?! I had to ignore the meaning of every hymn to enjoy the rhythms in isolation.

They disembodied the concept of God for starters and labelled Jesus with it. The implications of this is self-evident. I can never be what I believe is god. So you are a servant down on earth simply to exercise God's will? You'll find most Christians nodding vigorously in approval to a statement such as this.

The implications of this could be disastrous. All I have to do is create an amorphous, benevolent entity that will always love and forgive you no matter how pathetic you think you are (which is usually the case), and I'll have a bunch of individuals flocking to this theory with every ounce of potential they have. These religious honchos don't need to be spectacularly intelligent to see this as an opportunity to further their personal purposes.

I'm an Atheist and it amuses me to have people asking you everything but, "what do you feel?" They don't want to hear anything that would lead them to questioning their faith. I am not capable, on the other hand, to have faith in something I do not understand. I refuse to bow down to some one's image of greatness detached from everything human. "Don't be afraid to shout Alleluia in this church!", the priest told me at the church today... He thought I was afraid! The thought of it had me smiling in mirth for the next 5 minutes. Afraid of what?! Their God?! The congregation?! Him?!

Every task that requires human potential to see it through they, "leave unto the hands of Jesus" as though humans are born impotent! They are born subverted to the power of some twisted amorphous conception either of an idiot or an exceedingly smart and evil man.

What disgusts me is that they can use this entity and concept to justify any action in the name of their damn God (paradox intended!).

Look inside yourself with an open spirit, free of fear and preconceived notions. See what you find and then tell me if it's anything less powerful than this concept of God. I've found myself and that's all I will require to take me through my life. The spiritual food of religion is nothing but bullshit for me useful for producing a lot of gas... That's all.

Judge not

For ye shall be judged in the kingdom of heaven.

From childhood, I’ve been asked not to judge. Why? Because the authority to judge rests with god. “Blah!”, I thought as a child. “Then all I’m supposed to do is see!”

This made life look pretty boring changing me from an almighty human being to a docile living creature whose life itself depended upon the judgment of the lord.

Why do I say that life is restricted to seeing? Because, understanding something in totality is what leads to wisdom and holistic understanding involves not only the subject in question but also its moral/ethical and allied impacts. So wisdom then would mean logical interpretation and judgment.

I must add to this that being an agnostic atheist adds a considerable advantage to this stance. There is no big guy writing the rule book for me perched on a throne in heaven… So hey! I guess I’ll have to do it by myself!

What makes a judgment of a human different from that of a wine? I analyze the characteristics of both and decide what I like about them and what I don’t. Then what does the world have against the former?

A human without these opinions is more like a non entity watching the world pass by and doing nothing because it isn’t allowed the right to react. Very much like a surveillance camera that watches stoically as a bank is looted with nothing more than empty black stare to offer.

I’d like to rewrite a couple of the commandments then.

1. I judge therefore I am.
2. I am, therefore I fear not another man’s judgment.

Sorry big guy. The glory is all mine for now!