Friday, August 5, 2011

To be or not to be

Whether or not one believes in god is one of the most important moral questions we come across in life.One way or the other though,it always  tends to end up in an inordinately biased judgement.It has a lot to do with the way one has been brought up.Its in human nature to unquestioningly trust elders on their judgement.From an evolutionary perspective<winks at zar’roc>this helps our survival.But like any other system it is not without its flaws.Sometimes this mechanism misfires and in the case of religion,so much so that one does not see the blatant fact that it isn’t different from any other superstition.The only thing that gives religion the illusion of credibility is the fact that its an epidemic of sorts.


Being an atheist or at least sceptical almost always indicates an active and healthy mind.
That some of the most brilliant minds of our generation are atheists is testimony to this fact.
Oscar Wilde put it brilliantly when he said ‘If god existed religion would seem much more of an insult to him than atheism’. Consider the scams that happen in our country in the name of religion.Whether or not god exists may be open to debate but the notion of god manifesting himself in human form is ludicrous and outrageous at the very least.Sathya Sai Baba(said to have performed several “miracles”) declared himself the re-incarnation of Sai Baba of shirdi (who was a famous saint who died a few years prior to baba’s birth) around 1940.People/followers were so naïve that they didn’t see through what was very obvious sleight of hand.And it seems his death(curiously off the date he had predicted) was god showing off his sleight of hand.The amount of publicity and following such a person (arguably a giant fraud) gets in our country is appalling.In a country like India this event seems to draw parallels with the apotheosis of Tendulkar in which case the man did not ask for the adulation he receives moreover, it is warranted.


Sometimes people in an effort to validate the existence of god argue that there are many questions science still can’t answer.But such a question raises another-how is god any better?How is the concept of god by any stretch of imagination, a better alternative?.Creation was the great deed that god had supposedly performed.Darwin gave us something else entirely.Science has always been asked to back up its claims but when it comes to god,it smugly asks us to get rid of our rational mind, abandon all reason and embrace blind faith.Science hasn’t shown us that god doesn’t exist but,it has shown us that he does not have to exist.


Right from the beginning the human mind has been plagued by a baseless entity-an entity that is omnipotent and omniscient at the same time.For some people it is a figure to be feared,feared because he’s always watching,keeping count.I mean,some creep this god is!
Considering the things people do/don’t do in fear of god wouldn’t life be easier without him to worry about,to just let go?If you are confused as to where you stand and if god turns out to be more than just a figment of people's imagination, wouldn’t he respect you more for showing some spine and firmly believing in his non-existence than some nut job pretending to be a staunch believer for fear of retribution?The world might not be ready for a massive spiritual and religious revolution just yet though.Most people are so hopelessly dependant on religion that they will fight to protect it.
Like Douglas Adams said-‘Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe there are fairies at the bottom of it too?’Enough said.

(The following link is not intended to hurt anyone’s sentiments,its just amusing is all.)

5 comments:

  1. It is excellent from an evolutionary perspective, but only while your brain is so small that the deepest thought you might have is, did i just poop?
    After that it pays to be curious, unless you are a cat.

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  2. you know darwin only gave an explanation for the 'continuation' of life, not the 'creation' of it right? like, how it first came to be- it didn't just pop put of nowhere. the big-bang couldn't have happened if there wasn't any thing there to explode...another thing, religion and spirituality/faith are totally different things. religion was man-made.i wholeheartedly agree with Wilde on that, that god would find that more of an insult. the point is, u can be spiritual without being religious. ur religious when u chant a whole list of prayers off the top of ur head, u push urself into ur religious communities activities and celebrations and pray 10 times a day cuz u think that will get u into heaven. u can be spiritual by respecting others, helping them, seeing different points of view, loving unconditionally and striving to achieve perfection within yourself. that's spiritual. ur and also, the things that ppl do in the name of god, are their problems. they've deluded themselves into believing that god would want that, which im sure he wouldn't because it says so in all the religious texts of the world, that god is, essentially, Love. and if atheists can just follow that one concept, i dont see how it can hurt them.

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  3. Errm,darwin didn't give it a name but he did lay the foundation to this.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis
    its an entire branch of study dedicated to the origin of life.We still don't know why it all happened but i don't see why science cannot come up with an answer for it in the near future but,to take god as an agreeable explanation in the meantime is something i cannot do because its not really an explanation at all.Hell,even the religious texts have been rehashed to suit the times.Forgive me for the irony but,god only knows how many more new testaments the world is going to see.

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  4. Just as wars have been fought over god, people have come together because of the idea of him as well. God is one's salve when life burns your skin. Whether it really works or not is not the question. What matters is whether you BELIEVE it works. Simply with that belief, you may be compelled to do things (for better or worse). I don't believe in a god, but it awes me how much the idea of him permeates our lives. God is ultimetely just your conscience. And for many, god is a crutch.

    Religion is a whole other deal. And the way it is manipulated by, and manipulates people is stuff that needs to be sent to the shredder. But even so, it is so much a part of our social fabric, so much a glue that binds us, it's hard to imagine it not being there.

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  5. http://www.videobash.com/video_show/dewey-the-ant-hill-god-199311

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