The idea of God is as ancient as the advent of human civilizations and as universal as social institutions like family or marriage.
Historically, the imagination of God served two major purposes:
a) To understand and explain phenomena beyond the objective reality (and perception) of the given community.
b) To tap into some kind of universal force or energy beyond our grasp and use it to our advantage.
Challenging God
Wherever the authority of God was established, there was always opposition to it as well, especially if that God behaved like a despotic oppressive lord of destruction and backwardness.
Western Renaissance, modernity, and rationality are the consequence of a successful challenge to a hegemonic God. It’s just that modern civilization now wants us to believe that it is the only challenge to religious dogma.
Atheism or godlessness is an idea borne out of logical reason. An atheist is trying to challenge that God which claims to be absolute, all-knowing, all-powerful and dictates every bit of a human’s life. Also, a God who punishes some and rewards others and stands in the way of critical thinking, objectivity, and intellectual growth.
Now, it’s an atheist’s understanding that these characteristics of God are as universal as religion. They believe that any ideology that relies on the concept of God or divinity is divisive, irrational, backward, and superstitious.
This belief makes me question atheists and their conviction, is there only one God?
Who am I?
I’m a believer with an inquisitive critical mind, who has rational, progressive, and analytical viewpoints on everything around me.
Some atheists may laugh at this apparent contradiction or doubt my mental faculties to properly understand these concepts. To them I want to say, I’ve evolved from being an atheist for most of my life. Moreover, if someone asks me to bow down before God I mentioned before, my reply would be, go to Hell!
Abrahamic concept of God
An omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God is essentially an Abrahamic one. A god that keeps two doors for mankind: one to Hell and the other to Heaven, one who relies on praters and moral conduct of His followers, one who is very clear where to draw a line when it came to believers and non-believers, men and women, homosexual and heterosexual, and so on is also an Abrahamic God.
The God that ‘created’ the Universe, made Earth flat, provided billions of humans the illusion that they have the answer to every question in the objective reality we call the world.
This is a simple approach to the Abrahamic God but my intention is not to familiarize you with this notion of God, but its alternatives.
Non-Abrahamic concepts of God (or the Spirit):
There were independent versions of the Divine before Judeo-Christian traditions came along. Modern historians call these cultures ancient or tribal; therefore, less developed or less important to the modern man!
Each culture had its own interpretations of the Divine. Zoroastrianism, Toltec civilization, Torres Strait Islanders, Hinduism, Buddhism, Arabic polytheism are all examples of it.
I’ll give you the basic concepts of God in these cultures and their relevance today. This is not an exhaustive list on the subject by any means.
Zoroastrianism: Arguably the world’s first monotheistic faith, it follows the Threefold Path of Asha revolving around Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds. It has a heavy emphasis on spreading happiness, respecting the spiritual equality and duty of the genders protection, and veneration of nature and its elements.
Native American culture: Animistic traditions that revered Nature and the Spirit. They followed a non-dualistic idea of the world and life that was based in harmony and connectedness. They believed that the Spirit was in everything: animate and inanimate, therefore, we were all connected.
Aboriginals of Australia: Yet another animistic spiritual people, destroyed in the wake of colonialization. They too lived in complete harmony with nature and revered and protected their environment through spiritual means and totemism.
Hinduism: It gets rather tricky when we come to Hindu gods, which are said to 33 in number. Hindus believe in one Supreme entity: Brahmam or Ishwara, the three Godheads of Creation (Brahma), Sustenance (Vishnu), and Destruction (Shiva). Prakriti is the Universe or the reality we live in. then, there are the innumerable manifestations of these foundational deities, their offsprings, and so on.
The Naastik traditions:
Chavarka, Buddhism, and Jainism are Naastik or atheist/agnostic ideologies. They understand that God is not an absolute necessity in one’s well being and a human can be spiritual or even enlightened without ever having absolute faith in God.
All three Dharmic traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism) have moral conduct (dharmas), which should be understood without God’s interference. God has nothing to do with who you are or what you are, these are dictated by the Law of Karma and the three Gunas. But, it is also the belief that anyone can attain Ishwara (God) or Moksha (enlightenment), despite their karma or gunas.
The relevance of the idea of God:
Anyone subscribing to a secular modern system of thought would consider the idea of God as futile and even stupid. The rationale is that God was a relevant idea only for a primitive, intellectually, or scientifically undeveloped culture. If we are rational, scientific, and analytical, the concept of God becomes unnecessary.
But there are enough religions that contradict this notion. Science, medicine, art, and literature flourished under religions like Hinduism, Protestant Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, just to name a few. These were progressive and scientifically advancing cultures still rooted in religion or spirituality.
The relevance of God can be placed on many levels. The most obvious ones are the hopeful optimism, the moral and psychological legitimacy and worthiness it gives; the more open and democratic the imagination of God is, the better!
But the significance of a benevolent imagination of God on a deeper level are as follows:
The Supreme abode of knowledge:
Most religions, especially the ancient ones, attribute all knowledge to God. Even the greatest minds dedicate their knowledge and expertise to God. For example, in Hinduism, any new treatise or art form is devoted to one of the Gods.
This has two purposes. One, it makes the knowledge eternal (which knowledge is) and two, it frees the mind of egoism, self-importance, or greed towards anything it pursues.
Attributing life to God:
Most traditions believe that life is a gift of God.
This kind of yajna or sacrifice has been done by almost all civilizations. Humans used to offer something to the Gods before embarking on anything new. Because they used to believe that the Earth is our Mother and the five elements give us life and sustenance. Hindus still continue this tradition, even in modern lifestyle.
By attributing life and nature to God, humans learn how to revere and respect them. As a believer myself, I have confidence that we’re connected to nature and life in this manner: only by revering nature and life, we can live happily. Also, it leads humans to live without egoism, greed, and attachment from material needs.
Love, empathy, and Enlightenment:
These are perhaps the most underappreciated values of the Divine in today’s world. Love, empathy, and compassion can be best understood through the Divine (the Spirit), self-less duty, and unhindered faith.
Every person who misinterprets or rejects God misinterprets and rejects this aspect of human life. All religions, sciences, and logic fall into this trap.
Humans may be frail, sensitive beings who fail most often than succeed. We use logic and the senses to live and grow, and we can accomplish many great things too.
But there is a vast potential of empathy, sensitivity, intuition, and enlightenment in us: we could achieve the ultimate Truth itself (liberation or Moksha).
Spirituality also have an exceptional way of connecting us with nature and other humans, and protecting our natural environments. When we understand how everything is connected, conservation becomes natural and essential for our own survival, rather than a cumbersome obligation.
All of this is possible only through understanding our spiritual side: that which is invisible, intuitive, and accessible only through meditation, mindfulness, and samadhi. Spiritual knowledge is quintessential for understanding the subtleties of life and nature.
And that is the most relevant aspect of God in human lives.
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