God and a few other things

A1 / A2 are entering a phase where some of the questions they ask lead to interesting discussions at the dinner table.  Given that the wife is a believer and I am.. well, you could say I am an atheist , an inevitable topic is on belief, or absence of belief, in god. Contrary to popular perception, an atheist is NOT someone who says there is no god,  but someone who dis-believes in the existence of god. The distinction is important. I am equally dis-believing on the existence of mermaids or unicorns for that matter, but I will change my belief if I ever see enough evidence proving the existence of any of them. My position on god is the same – there has not been any evidence to prove the existence of god, and hence I reject the existence of god. But if there is enough evidence anytime, I will change my position.

Its been fascinating to watch both of them, as 10 year olds, form their own views on the subject. At this point of time, A1 is somewhere in-between, not really wanting to force the issue with V or me, either way. A2 has clearly taken to the idea that there is no god, and even challenges his (mainly older) friends on this one – something i find amazing as on most other things, he gets influenced by their POV and comes home to relay it back to us.

This is probably going to be an ongoing dinner table conversation as the boys get older, with multiple nuances coming into our stated beliefs, as befits this very complex subject. I wanted to put down my thoughts using a slightly circular approach – stating my POV from the perspective of the general role that that i see god playing in the world around me.

So here goes:

God as a mechanism to deal with the insignificance / pointless-ness of our lives in the larger scheme of things, also known as the universe.

It is very difficult for us to come to terms with the fact that our existence is just a random occurrence, and has no meaning beyond the duration of our lifetime. When we die, we die. Thats it. Nothing more. This is a huge deal, and i see belief in god as a strong crutch for humanity in this process of reconciliation.

We believed earlier that the earth was the center of a universe created by god  (a universe which was then thought to be consisting of our Sun and a few other planets and stars). We now know that we are just one species among millions, in one average sized planet, which orbits around a star called the sun , which is a kind of average star among billions of other stars in a galaxy known as the Milky Way, which is one among billions of other galaxies, all of which together comprise the universe. Another fact: Humans as a species, have been in existence for only about 1 million years of the 4.5 billion years that the earth has been around, which is a negligible 0.02%.

Pause and reflect on all these numbers for a moment. To think that we have been put here by a Higher power for a purpose, is frankly akin to this very famous “puddle” idea from Douglas Adams :

Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, “This is an interesting world I find myself in —  fits me rather neatly, doesn’t it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!” This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it’s still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything’s going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise.

Those magnificent creatures that roamed the earth for over 160 million years (note: One Hundred And Sixty million years versus our pathetic 1 million years), till they were wiped out by a random event 65 million years ago – a passing meteorite gently nudging our planet which came in its way – those huge dinosaurs must have felt the same way, isn’t it? That the earth was created for them to rule. The bottomline is, we are all puddles, and to surmise anything else is clutching at straws.

And in this case, god and associated theology do provide some very useful straws to clutch at – karma, the soul continuing to live even after the body is dead and buried, heaven, hell – all very good ideas, but just that – ideas – to help  us to cope with the fact that there is no larger purpose or meaning to our existence.

God providing a moral compass for our lives

From childhood, we are conditioned via our parents and elders saying things like  “Don’t do that, or god will punish you”, “See, because you did not obey us, god punished you”, etc. God plays a very effective policeman to help us frame a moral compass by which we can supposedly live a virtuous and fulfilling life.

I have no problems with this, except that it also creates other, very undesirable perceptions. First, there is this implicit bias in some (from my experience, the majority of )  believers that tends to associate belief in god with “goodness” of character, and more importantly, the absence of belief, with “heretical-traits” which are frowned upon. The second and more critical fallacy of thought which arises from this mass conditioning, is best exemplified by this brilliant essay by Mr. Lizard, the first few lines of which are reproduced below (Hat tip: Amit Varma’s blog ‘India Uncut’):

“Presented for your consideration: Two gentlemen, both with what one might term a mild delusion — they are deeply involved with people who don’t exist. Both spend a lot of money on this obsession. Both can recite, at length, the putative words, thoughts, and deeds of their fictional obsessions. Both have allowed the ideals expressed by these non-existent beings to shape their lives, and both proudly proclaim their allegiance in a sect of followers. Despite this odd obsession, both men hold down jobs, have families, pay taxes, and commit no more than trivial crimes, such as jaywalking, or speeding, or ripping the tags off of mattresses.

One of these men, though, has a serious problem — he won’t acknowledge the fictitious nature of his fantasy friend. The other one has no such difficulty distinguishing between reality and fantasy.

Yet, in our society, the former is considered normal and healthy — while the latter is, at best, a figure of mockery, at worst, a reviled outcast. The former man, you see, is a ‘Christian’, and the fictious being he admires is called ‘God’. The latter is a ‘Trekker’ and his fictional focus is called ‘Mr. Spock’.

Neither God nor Mr. Spock exist. Both are creations of the imagination. There is no such thing as being ‘slightly fictitious’ — a thing, or a person, either exists, or it does not. God does not exist, making him as fictional as Spock, Fox Mulder, Tom Sawyer, Hamlet, Bart Simpson, or President Clinton’s ethical standards.”

( Read the whole essay here. )

Mr. Spock is as relevant to someone who wants live a purposeful life, as “god” is to a “believer” (both quotes intentional). As for me, I try to be brutally honest with my own conscience. For the most part, it has helped me sleep peacefully at night.

God helping us cope with extremes of life

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same”  (from Rudyard Kipling’s “If”).

A great line from one of my favourite poems, but a whole lot easier said than done. Life throws surprises at us – an untimely death of someone very dear to us, phases of extreme suffering which seem beyond our control, unexpected good fortune, and such like. In such scenarios, faith in god does provide a way to cope with the extreme vicissitudes of life (of course, we tend to invoke god’s support more during the bad times than the good).

The belief that its all “written”,  apparently enhances our capacity to deal with tragedy and trauma. On the contrary, it may also happen that such tragedy provokes us to question doctrines of theology (read this beautiful review of Arun Shourie’s book, to see what I mean).

I also am a staunch advocate of dealing with fortune & sorrow equally, except that destiny or faith doesn’t come anywhere in the picture for me. I call it luck. Life is not fair, and you have to expect, and deal with, the good, the bad and sometimes, the downright ugly. If an idea called god or a belief that whatever you do or don’t do, everything is pre-destined, makes coping easier, then good for you.  But in no way does it make a case for faith in god as a way of life.

I have to admit though, that my god has given me many moments of ecstasy, and some of sheer agony.

So long for now, and thanks for all the fish.

A tale of a few cities

A work-related trip to Warsaw last month offered the perfect opportunity to extend my travel into an eastern Europe vacation. Courtesy some commendable planning from the wife, and despite some serious tension over visas, managed to get Warsaw, Prague, Salzburg and Vienna into a 2 week schedule. Austria had been on my must-see places list for ages, while Poland & The Czech Republic (no longer Czechoslovakia, as i learnt while researching for the trip) had the mysterious allure of being the sort of names that one has heard often enough, but don’t really know anything about, beyond a few basic geography references.

And it turned out to be a fascinating couple of weeks. Warsaw reflects a modern city juxtaposed with a strong acknowledgement of its past, Prague is steeped in centuries-old history everywhere you look, Salzburg is even more picture-postcard-pretty than i had imagined, Vienna throbs with the sophistication of its culture. Despite barriers of language  (English not being the prevalent language in any of these cities), an efficient public transport infrastructure and a helpful local populace made getting around an incredibly pleasant experience. Had a wonderful time overall.

Another abiding memory of the holiday is how a rich history of art & culture is so deeply integrated in the ethos of these cities. Warsaw proudly celebrating Chopin’s 200th birth anniversary year, the magnificence of the frescoes & sculptures in Prague, the omnipresence of Mozart & the enthralling art  museums  in Austria.. this trip was like being transported a few centuries back in time.

As i mulled over this, a parallel thought which struck me strongly was how a rich artistic legacy is closely inter-twined with the progress of a civilisation.  Europe’s history reveals  that the era of the Baroque and Classical periods (16th -18th Century AD), where art & music thrived, was followed by the Industrial Revolution which paved the way for western dominance of scientific thought in the last 200 years. A post by Dilbert creator Scott Adams refers to a book called ‘Art and Physics’ by Leonard Shlain, which makes a case for co-relation between the flourishing of art & scientific innovation.  Shlain uses examples throughout history – from the classical Greek sculptors to Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, and from Aristotle to Einstein – to hypothesise that artistic breakthroughs have foreshadowed discoveries of scientists. Closer home, the Gupta dynasty which stretched between 4th & 6th century AD and is referred as the Golden Age of India for its patronage of artistic & scientific pursuits, produced geniuses like Kalidasa and Aryabhatta.

While it might be far-fetched to draw a conclusion of causation between the flourishing of art & a country’s progress, I can’t help wonder:  amidst all the chest-thumping about India’s march towards being the next world superpower, will our apathy and neglect of our artistic & cultural legacy be a stumbling block?  Because as i caught up with the pile of newspapers & magazines on a Sunday afternoon after coming back home, I came across this.

Dhrupad going the way of the dollar is not good news, I think.