I have never tried to hide that I do not believe in God. It comes up very often with different people I meet, some old friends, some total strangers. Most of them, of course, are firm believers in an existence of a higher power. It is really funny, I think, how many different reactions I get when I tell someone I'm a non believer. "So, are you spiritual?", "Where do you get your morals from?", "What do you think is controlling all of 'this'?" and this is the most weirdest one, "Of course you believe, Christ is going to help you, He knows". I really felt like laughing my ass off to that last one. I replied, "You're a fucking idiot!", although just under my breath. Now I wish I had actually said it out loud.
I did not grow up in a obsessively religious family. In India, at least in the region I come from, people in our neighborhood, my relatives had various ceremonies celebrating different Gods (depending on the season/occasion) throughout the year. But I do not remember, my parents holding any of these at our house. I won't go as far as to say my parents do not believe in God, my father certainly did (and maybe does now, I don't know after his paralysis and memory loss) and my mother believes in a higher source driving all the things in the universe. I was never forced to go to temples, or read the religious books. I guess, it was left up to me to figure stuff out. So, when I bought a copy of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, I did not get a lot of flak.
All that was, of course, quite a few years ago and all those years in between then and now, have made my non-belief nothing but a lot stronger. When some one asks me, "Where do you get your moral compass from?", they are assuming that religion and belief in God are the only things that can tell us whether a thing is good or bad. There is a quote from one of Ricky Gervais' new series 'Derek', by the main character Derek Noakes, that I like "I don't think it matters if there is a god or not. I've met people who believe in god that are good and that are bad. And I've met people who don't believe in god that are good and that are bad. So just be good. I'm good. Not because I think I'll go to heaven but because when I do something bad, I feel bad. And when I do something good, I feel good." I just feel there is a lot of meaning conveyed in that simple statement. And if some people think that a belief in God is the only thing that can keep someone in line, then just a little more thought would tell you they are simply wrong. Humans are a social species and our evolution over millions of years have developed a support and care system towards other humans. Moral values can arise out of working together for common good. There is simply no need of an idea of a divine being to explain it. It becomes unnecessary, and what do we do about unnecessary ideas? Yes, that's right, we discard them.
Another thing I've started hearing is the word 'spiritual' in a lot of conversations these days. A lot of my friends throw it around quite a bit. "I don't believe in God as such, but I'm spiritual. I believe in an energy that is driving the universe", was something that my friend said to me. A lot of people ask me about spirituality too. In fact, after "Do you believe in God?" and "Where do you get your morality from?", that is the common third question. Yeah, now-a-days I can totally predict these questions once the conversation starts going down this path. For me, a spiritual moment is that instant when something brings out a sense of awe and wonder about the grand scheme of things. And I experience such moments every single time I look up at the night sky, every time I look at Saturn through a telescope or look at the faint smudge in the sky that is the majestic Andromeda Galaxy. That is an entire galaxy of hundreds of millions of suns, whose light has travelled millions of light years and hit my eye. I get a lump in my throat every single time I look at it. The fact that I am made up of star dust, is spiritual to me. And the best part is, it is all real and true.
We question stuff, we search for answers, we figure things out. That is what makes us who we are. That is why I love science and the scientific method. It is so much better than saying, "We can't explain it, that means there is God". So, I think we should be excited to be living in this age where we are learning so much about the universe we live in. There is always something new to be discovered around every corner. That is what has got us this far and I'm sure it'll take us further a long way into the future.
I did not grow up in a obsessively religious family. In India, at least in the region I come from, people in our neighborhood, my relatives had various ceremonies celebrating different Gods (depending on the season/occasion) throughout the year. But I do not remember, my parents holding any of these at our house. I won't go as far as to say my parents do not believe in God, my father certainly did (and maybe does now, I don't know after his paralysis and memory loss) and my mother believes in a higher source driving all the things in the universe. I was never forced to go to temples, or read the religious books. I guess, it was left up to me to figure stuff out. So, when I bought a copy of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, I did not get a lot of flak.
All that was, of course, quite a few years ago and all those years in between then and now, have made my non-belief nothing but a lot stronger. When some one asks me, "Where do you get your moral compass from?", they are assuming that religion and belief in God are the only things that can tell us whether a thing is good or bad. There is a quote from one of Ricky Gervais' new series 'Derek', by the main character Derek Noakes, that I like "I don't think it matters if there is a god or not. I've met people who believe in god that are good and that are bad. And I've met people who don't believe in god that are good and that are bad. So just be good. I'm good. Not because I think I'll go to heaven but because when I do something bad, I feel bad. And when I do something good, I feel good." I just feel there is a lot of meaning conveyed in that simple statement. And if some people think that a belief in God is the only thing that can keep someone in line, then just a little more thought would tell you they are simply wrong. Humans are a social species and our evolution over millions of years have developed a support and care system towards other humans. Moral values can arise out of working together for common good. There is simply no need of an idea of a divine being to explain it. It becomes unnecessary, and what do we do about unnecessary ideas? Yes, that's right, we discard them.
Another thing I've started hearing is the word 'spiritual' in a lot of conversations these days. A lot of my friends throw it around quite a bit. "I don't believe in God as such, but I'm spiritual. I believe in an energy that is driving the universe", was something that my friend said to me. A lot of people ask me about spirituality too. In fact, after "Do you believe in God?" and "Where do you get your morality from?", that is the common third question. Yeah, now-a-days I can totally predict these questions once the conversation starts going down this path. For me, a spiritual moment is that instant when something brings out a sense of awe and wonder about the grand scheme of things. And I experience such moments every single time I look up at the night sky, every time I look at Saturn through a telescope or look at the faint smudge in the sky that is the majestic Andromeda Galaxy. That is an entire galaxy of hundreds of millions of suns, whose light has travelled millions of light years and hit my eye. I get a lump in my throat every single time I look at it. The fact that I am made up of star dust, is spiritual to me. And the best part is, it is all real and true.
We question stuff, we search for answers, we figure things out. That is what makes us who we are. That is why I love science and the scientific method. It is so much better than saying, "We can't explain it, that means there is God". So, I think we should be excited to be living in this age where we are learning so much about the universe we live in. There is always something new to be discovered around every corner. That is what has got us this far and I'm sure it'll take us further a long way into the future.
I completely see eye to eye towards the kind of defeatist attitude - "We can't explain it, that means there is God". That tells me two things about human nature. Firstly, that whatever we observe must have an explanation. Nothing just 'is' and I think thats a good attitude. However, secondly it also shows the when something is sufficiently complex and we don't understand it, it scares us- making us cook up stories. :P .... I was reminded of a Feynman quote- “I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong.”
ReplyDeleteHey Aseem,
ReplyDeleteBeen awhile we have interacted. However, certain phrases and emotions that you convey from this post is amazing. Some have over the years opined that, I have gone crazy and rebellious because I question to find answers.
I can connect to the part on coming from star dust. I also feel, not just in India but overall as human beings (we are supposed to have sentience) there is a clash in understanding the difference between being spiritual and devout.