Voltaire said, “Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer.” Translated to English it means ‘If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.’ In a discussion I was having with my mother the other day, we were debating the need for physical manifestations of the abstract for people to believe. Therein stems the need for rituals, deities, books and chanting for the average mortal to believe the existence of a God.
I am an atheist and am loved and hated in different circles for it. In the circles that I am hated for my opinions, I am told that the equivalent of being an atheist in their minds is drawn with being an anarchist. And the more I speak with people, especially those who hate me and despise me for being godless, the more I am convinced that Voltaire was right. Let us assume that there was no God – in essence let’s start at the beginning, before religion. The human mind, as I see it, is not independent and does not possess the strength to deal with reality as is. God, genetics, or whoever made man, equipped us with an inquisitive mind; and the natural next step of the inquisitive mind is to seek reasoning and meaning. It is never enough for things to just happen. They must, for us to be able to cope with the reality, happen for a reason and that reason must converge into something that either can be controlled or not. When it cannot be controlled, it is the weakness of the human mind that leads it to attribute the occurrence of an event to a higher power.
If you and I were told that we are organic beings destined to be born, feed, reproduce and die, which would be a depressing thought. The lack of purpose, the ability to not being able to control and alter or change the outcome would be difficult to consume. We then found a way of justifying the outcome in terms of God, religion and complicated theories of sins and afterlife. In essence what purpose did religion and God serve? It helped, us humans, justify the seemingly meaningless organic process of life that would have otherwise been a purposeless journey towards a pre-determined outcome. If you think hard enough and draw out the fishbone long enough, you will realize that everything we do is to make life, as we know it, have greater purpose and meaning, and possibly an outcome in whatever way possible.
So what is wrong in searching for meaning? Nothing, if you ask me! The human mind craves meaning and purpose and therefore we are different from the average stray dog that we run from or the fish that we slay to consume. And different people search for meaning in different ways. Some find meaning in God and religion. Others find meaning through different pursuits ranging from knowledge to money. And to a significant population, a hybrid approach provides greater solace. To the pursuer of money, money is God. To the hungry seeker of knowledge, knowledge is God.
Without the comfort of our individual Gods, we humans would basically end up as meaningless organic existence who, must fight to feed and run from danger to survive, till age or said danger catches up and terminates our lives. There would, in essence, be no motivation to strive for a better or different outcome in the short term or the long term. Without the motivation to strive for a different outcome we would never have become a civilization, and thereafter, a modern civilization spoiled by technology, as we exist today. That is why we need God. As for the argument of whether God is a super-human entity who exists on different solar systems, as energy or in physical bodies, or any of the other manifestation we choose to fantasize into reality, is a question that must be answered by the individual. Because, the individual answer is the source of the individual’s sense of purpose and motivation towards betterment.
I am an atheist and am loved and hated in different circles for it. In the circles that I am hated for my opinions, I am told that the equivalent of being an atheist in their minds is drawn with being an anarchist. And the more I speak with people, especially those who hate me and despise me for being godless, the more I am convinced that Voltaire was right. Let us assume that there was no God – in essence let’s start at the beginning, before religion. The human mind, as I see it, is not independent and does not possess the strength to deal with reality as is. God, genetics, or whoever made man, equipped us with an inquisitive mind; and the natural next step of the inquisitive mind is to seek reasoning and meaning. It is never enough for things to just happen. They must, for us to be able to cope with the reality, happen for a reason and that reason must converge into something that either can be controlled or not. When it cannot be controlled, it is the weakness of the human mind that leads it to attribute the occurrence of an event to a higher power.
If you and I were told that we are organic beings destined to be born, feed, reproduce and die, which would be a depressing thought. The lack of purpose, the ability to not being able to control and alter or change the outcome would be difficult to consume. We then found a way of justifying the outcome in terms of God, religion and complicated theories of sins and afterlife. In essence what purpose did religion and God serve? It helped, us humans, justify the seemingly meaningless organic process of life that would have otherwise been a purposeless journey towards a pre-determined outcome. If you think hard enough and draw out the fishbone long enough, you will realize that everything we do is to make life, as we know it, have greater purpose and meaning, and possibly an outcome in whatever way possible.
So what is wrong in searching for meaning? Nothing, if you ask me! The human mind craves meaning and purpose and therefore we are different from the average stray dog that we run from or the fish that we slay to consume. And different people search for meaning in different ways. Some find meaning in God and religion. Others find meaning through different pursuits ranging from knowledge to money. And to a significant population, a hybrid approach provides greater solace. To the pursuer of money, money is God. To the hungry seeker of knowledge, knowledge is God.
Without the comfort of our individual Gods, we humans would basically end up as meaningless organic existence who, must fight to feed and run from danger to survive, till age or said danger catches up and terminates our lives. There would, in essence, be no motivation to strive for a better or different outcome in the short term or the long term. Without the motivation to strive for a different outcome we would never have become a civilization, and thereafter, a modern civilization spoiled by technology, as we exist today. That is why we need God. As for the argument of whether God is a super-human entity who exists on different solar systems, as energy or in physical bodies, or any of the other manifestation we choose to fantasize into reality, is a question that must be answered by the individual. Because, the individual answer is the source of the individual’s sense of purpose and motivation towards betterment.
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