Evolution of God III

   Why the concept of God is so strong, how it persisted through the test of time. It must have some great utility otherwise it would not be an integral part of our society. Two causes, love and fear may cause one to believe in God. We find solace in God from all the unknown dangers and uncertainties. But in our daily life, how the God helps. Even if one doesn’t believe in God the way religions propagate it, there is such a great utility in an impersonal concept of God that one can hardly ignore. It takes pressure out of you. If you are a creative person, you can attribute cause of your creativity to the God, and will it cost anything? No. But it will save you from the pressure to perform. If you do well, it’s God’s grace, if not, God didn’t want it to happen. There are so many uncontrollable and uncertain things in this world that limit us and no matter how much effort we make, we cannot do everything.  And when we fail, we need to attribute those failures caused by the external variables to some other entity. Otherwise we will have to bear the burden of failure unless we attribute that to God. And if we win, the vanity may attack us so we attribute that too to God’s grace. That’s what probably learned people would have tried to suggest when they said to submit oneself to the lord or God. But unfortunately many a times it is misinterpreted by leaving everything on God. When the concept of God, being a mean of our psychological well being, becomes the end in itself and the purpose of our existence, we are in trouble. We are not here for God; we have created or assumed a God to be there so that we live happily. But when we start living to achieve or reach God, we are missing the point. We are making our means, our end.

    However, this means-end-displacement is a very common phenomenon. Another example is money, which is a necessary tool for a comfortable life but we end up losing all our comforts just to earn money. So as far as God is to keep us humble and sober, save us from vanity and depression, we are good. But when we get obsessed with this human created concept, going to the extreme of its interpretation as if God is everything and we are nothing, we demean the very existence of ours. And of course when a belief or faith comes into picture, we can’t talk about rationality. Can anyone argue why so many bad things happen in this world if there is a God? No. Some say that it’s the result of their bad karmas. But then why God let them do those bad karma’s in the first place. Some says it’s not God’s job to take care of everything, well, then why is he therefore? These arguments are of no use as soon the logic goes miles away and people get sentimental. On the other hand so called atheist ignore the utility of the concept of God. If a person is so mature and psychologically sound that he can bear responsibility for everything and bear the pressure of success and failure equally and easily, he or she may not need a God. But not all have that power and capacity, so it’s easier to leave it on God.

    It’s difficult to take a balanced view here. That’s why people are so confused, that’s why there are so many religions, so many types of God.  Sometimes they exploit people by frightening them in the name of God. God and religion can be tools of power politics also. No one knows about God but all claims their version to be right despite the fact that it is imaginary. But by misinterpreting this concept, we can do a lot of harm to self and others. Anything based on fear and force cannot be right. Religion has its cultural value and it should remain so. It is not transcendent to the human existence itself. We should not blindly believe anything. It should be backed by reason and should not be detrimental to humanity itself. It is difficult to agree with a view that demeans being human and sees human life a sin and only objective of it being with the God again. If there is a God, why would he make this world and us only if we are supposed to leave this world and get assimilated in Him? If He is arbitrary, then he is hardly a God. If He is omnipresent, then why we need to go elsewhere to meet him. If he is omnipotent, then why so much chaos in the world. There are numerous inconsistencies in religious dictums and their concept of God, but we can’t argue as people have forgotten that we have created those concepts and they didn’t come from the heaven. It is almost impossible to argue against a belief system. Whatever serves the purpose of those in power, they will defend it with all means. Very few religions allow dissent. If something is static and doesn’t change with time, how can it be called alive. And how can we follow a dead thing!