Nothing makes noise

(NON) EXISTENCE OF GOD - Part 5

(…continued from previous post. If it’s necessary check it from here)

If you were crazy enough to read all of these since the first post, well, then my compliments, probably you didn’t have anything better to do. Now leave the computer, go outside, take some fresh air, spend time with your girl friend…

Oh, I forgot, the conclusion..

Of course all these discussions and arguments don’t prove the existence or non-existence of God, only weaken the basics of belief in God. Therefore the agnosticism emerges that knowledge of whether or not God exists is unattainable. There are two approaches to arguing for this view: first, it can be argued that knowledge of God’s existence is unattainable because no evidence could ever justify religious belief, and second, it can be argued that knowledge of God’s existence is unattainable because evidence of God’s existence is unattainable. There is a strong theistic tradition that holds that our ability to comprehend God is limited. Our concepts are derived from our experiences, and our experiences are of flawed and finite existence; we therefore lack the conceptual tools necessary to understand what God is really like. God is unintelligible to us. In stressing God’s incomprehensibility, the distance between his being and our categories of thought, this tradition gives ammunition to the agnostic. To the extent that God is beyond our understanding, knowledge of God is presumably also beyond our understanding. The greater the distance between God and that which we have known, the more difficult it will be to answer the question as to whether or not God exists.

I kept the subject of religion out in these arguments on God’s existence and also didn't want to analyse each and every religion's mystical/philosophical thoughts. I've tried to concentrate in more general subjects on God which is pretty much similar on all main religions. In fact the idea of God is strongly related to religions, I believe that religions, in the form of hierarchic, organized system in the society, are far away from answering the questions on God. Its political and social powers are nothing more than a control mechanism for individuals and society. However, religions can play an important role to raise great thinkers and mystics, our history is full of good examples. And of course certain individuals can find the meaning for their existence in different beliefs but it doesn't mean that "It's the truth" (if there is any but nevermind!). Maybe later I can write a post about religions, differences and common influences between them, like how Judaism effected Islam and Christianity or Jesus didn't start with Christianity or what is the influence of Eastern philosophy on Islam Sufism and main religions' mysticism etc. but so far it's not my concern.

What is the point of all of these?. Most probably nothing. What I believe is that neither existence nor non-existence of God is important. The important thing is that YOU exist. But what is our existence then? We gave a meaning to our existence in our lives with our choices and deeds. The thing that we call life is just a result of our interaction with our physical and social environment. We build up our existence by reacting to our environment, we shape our identity, our existence by this interaction, biologically, genetically, physically and socially. Our beliefs, our thoughts, our reason is just a way of survival that we create through our evolution. And therefore we create some mental safety zones to keep ourself sane, just being able to survive... And God is the most important safety zone we have.

Our understanding of reality is based on a dualistic approach as Immanuel Kant explained in his Categories where he distinguishes between phenomena (things as they appear to our senses, including the inner sense of time) and noumenon (things that are purely objects of thought independently of sense perception, which, by definition, we can never experience). In fact a dualistic view is not strange for our perception; hot-cold, love-hate, full-empty, evil-good, hell-heaven, god-devil etc. I suppose, this is the main problem of God in religious point of view, although they talk about oneness or wholeness (of God), the real understanding doesn't come even close. They replace it as something outside of us. Actually this "Oneness" is the only subject that Sufism (Rumi), eastern philosophy (Buddha) and Christian mysticism (Meister Eckhart) come together. This idea of God is an quite important subject for mystics and gnostics. There is no dualism in their view.

Are we God, each one of us, as some mystics and even some mild agnostics claim? Was Buddha right when he said that everyone has Buddha Nature (in fact, he never talked about God)? Did Sufi master Mansur Al-Hallaj mean the same thing when he said "Ana al-Haqq" (I am the Truth/God)?.. I like that idea more appealing then anything else. At the end we are like water drops which make the ocean. Each water drop is different but the ocean is one whole thing. And still we see ourselves like one seperate water drop but we can't see the ocean.

Does God exist? If it does, what is it? Is it an higher being outside of our perception that we cannot truly understand or is it an all loving, omnipotent and omniscient being that we have to fear and love. What is it? Or what is not? In fact all these questions are meaningless. God is in reality nothing. God is a thought, an idea, a ghost, a reason which is created by our own mind to explain our own existence, that later we cannot even think and concieve that he cannot exist.

Me?... I prefer to swim in the Ocean!

Noise made by . nothing .