The Incomplete Response to God Question

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.

Thomas Jefferson

Sraddha is commonly translated as faith, but it means the adoption of truth. It is a process of accepting and grasping what truth is. Our intellect must be able to catch the truth, then seek the truth and realize it on our own.

From Samkhya Karika (Karika VI)

The God Question 

Too many people are radicalized by this simple phrase. It produces reactions that range from emotion of disgust to emotion of bliss. I don't think there is any other question that brings so much stubbornness to even slightly delve from the current state of belief. If you ask a theist why does he believe in God? The answer is seemingly simple that the religion is a safe haven that provides a much needed relief from the atrocities of world and seems to point to some kind of abstract joy. 

On the other end of the spectrum the religion is considered the root of evils. It is a doctrine that is millions of light years away from the rationality of science and based on historical facts it seems to bring out the worst in a human being. It has been blamed to have caused millions of death in past and a religious person seems to be blinded by illogical faith. It is considered a poorly thought out myth by human beings which don’t even serve the purpose of providing a moral compass to masses at the least.

The Two Abysses

It is easy to fall into either of these open abysses! Yes, they are abysses as they seem to be bottomless where you keep on falling without any end in sight. It is too easy to say I'm a faithful person without even the slightest inkling what the true purpose of being faithful is. The words seem to fail us in the land of metaphysics. Even the words like spiritualism, metaphysics, divine etc. are at best inadequate to describe the subject (or emotion). The word confusion seems to be the best way to describe faith as it leaves adequate amount of leeway for seeking a solution.

The second abyss is equally dangerous too. If I say I'm a person with rational thinking and a "man of science", what do I mean? Does it mean I don't believe in God? Or it's just a way to keep away from philosophies of religion because they are "uncool". It is too easy to shut yourself from religion on the basis of stories that are in the scriptures of any religion. Also it is too easy to blame the religion for imperfect actions of misguided individuals that seem to even shun the basic human emotions like humility and love.

Truth Seeker

I'm a man of faith or rather should I say I'm confused. Is my faith science or religion? Does my belief in science disbar me from the study of philosophy of a particular religion? It should rather not. As human beings our innate tendency is to seek truth; whether it involves using our intellect & mind to explore the inner workings of a universe or try to understand the "unmanifest" that seems to be an inherent part of our consciousness. We are in fact truth seekers that have the two most powerful computers available - our mind & intellect.

Incomplete Response

So it is about time we leave the incomplete response to "The God Question". We seem to stop at brink of personal journey and take one or the other ready-made response at it's face value. It is not shunning one field or the other but it involves going back to school of thoughts to understand the framework and the fundamentals. So next time if someone comments whether I'm a theist or an atheist - my answer would be I'm confused. 

Inspiration

I would partially attribute this post to the movie 'PK' and all the other seekers who are studying these subjects in their mind and perhaps performing thought experiments that will squeeze the juice out of the subject leading to revelations. I appreciate the questions that the movie provokes. Strangely both believers and disbelievers are studying the same question - “The God Question” ultimately but in their own ways. Our quest for understanding shouldn't stop abruptly at badness or goodness of one or the other. In fact these provocations should become the origin of higher learning in both religion and science alike. So what’s your next step for the question?

A scene from movie PK

Edited: Jan 09, 2015 - Asking questions is the inherent human nature and needs to be encouraged. However letting the questions stopping from further exploration is a sign of lethargy that should not be encouraged. Whether you agree or disagree with the portrayal of religion in a movie or a essay shouldn't stop you from exploring further. Because digging helps in finding the next higher truth. 

“If you want to draw water you do not dig six one-foot wells. You dig one six-foot well.”

Unknown (do you know who said that? I heard it from Reza Aslan and he attributes it to Lord Buddha)