Does god exist? Vol 1

This question has been asked by millions of people across the world and remains the most debated and contested question in humanity’s history. Luckily the problem does not have multiple solutions and the sides to be debated are only three. God exists, does not exist and we are not sure! I have been fascinated by this issue for many years now but the recent developments in my life have raised the bar for the need to make up my mind. I have comfortably called myself an agnostic for most of my thinking life. My questions on the existence of god were never really answered but the establishment of religious values rooted deep in my family and the people I was surrounded with made it difficult to make up my mind, so remaining an agnostic seemed the most apt.

A few years ago, I began to consider myself a god believing individual. This idea stemmed from the fact that there are things in life; situations and circumstances that one attributes to a force beyond one’s understanding. Though I am unable to clearly recollect these said instances, I can still remember the sense of mystery that clouded my thoughts and consequences for simple actions that seemed inexplicable. Could such a force exist and is it the same force that millions of people around consider to be their invisible god? I was baffled and I gave in to this idea, quite reluctantly perhaps but nonetheless began to attribute certain events in my life to god. Suffice to say, I did not have any relationship with this god! None whatsoever. The existence of god was merely a thought in the remotest part of my mind tickled only by inexplicable events and consequences. My sudden choice at accepting the presence of god did not change my life nor did it bring miracles but what it certainly did was ease my mind of the wanton complex thoughts that had accumulated through constant questioning and reasoning with oneself.

Some might say I had merely accepted defeat but it is also true and I would contest anybody who can deny this, that man’s intellectual capacity to fathom the complexity of the universe is deficient and inadequate. Our mental arrogance has gotten us thus far to question norms, invent things and in many cases self destruct but has not and can never get us closer to comprehending the universe in its full glory. Yes, from Galileo to Socrates to Einstein; humanity has thrown some exemplary individuals who have revolutionized the way we look at life and the environment surrounding us but they still remain blips in an evolutionary trajectory that continues to baffle and put to shame man’s intelligence.

And now I arrive at the core of this debate. I am increasingly coming to believe that this debate as long as it remains amongst mentally inadequate humans, will seize to provide any meaningful outcomes. The exercise is merely indicative of the amusement we seem to derive out of contemplating the flaws of each other in our species. If the outcome that either party seeks is in actually changing the belief of the other, then we are in for an endless battle with ourselves without any worthy consequences.

The debate “Does god exist” has become redundant in the 21st century. We can and will continue to debate but we will have to bear in mind that with a growing number of atheists, there is also a growth in the number of god followers and god fearing individuals. Now is not the time to fight over an non-issue as the end to a religion that is deemed dangerous to humanity will never see the light of day. The dangers we talk of (war, terrorism, fundamentalism etc) that are considered a direct result of religion by many atheists will only perpetuate the faith in god for millions around the world. I say this because as we begin to witness a clear and present danger to our life or the lives of people around us, we turn to the savior that we call god to get us out of our modern misery.

At heart I remain an atheist but I am convinced that the existence of religion is inevitable. But to impose either of these opposing ideologies on anybody, young or old, is immoral and insults a free thinking mind. I leave you with the lines from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat which I find fascinating.

Look not above, there is no answer there;
Pray not, for no one listens to your prayer;
Near is as near to God as any Far,
And Here is just the same deceit as There.

And do you think that unto such as you;
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew:
God gave the secret, and denied it me?–
Well, well, what matters it! Believe that, too.

“Did God set grapes a-growing, do you think,
And at the same time make it sin to drink?
Give thanks to Him who foreordained it thus–
Surely He loves to hear the glasses clink!”

Peace!

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