IF THERE IS NO GOD , WE HAVE TO INVENT ONE
It was,it is and it will be a never ending debate whether God is a reality,concept or
myth.Whatever may be the reality He plays an important role in human life.Those who
try to find a tangible proof,fail to find any but those who start with faith,find him in every
atom and every creation.There is unlimate reality,if we take our reasoning to its logical
conclusion;there is the final truth,if we purchase the idea of basic truth behind
apearances,to final end.
A scientist,without admitting God to be a reality,concedes His presence by reducing Him
to some inexorable and unchanging and ultimate laws;a mathematician may call Him
infinite; a religious pundit finds in Him some invisible power which is
omnipresent,omniscient,benevolent and just,an embodiment of moral virtue,all
powerful,controlling the natural phenomenon of the universe;an aesthete considers Him
ultimate beauty.Theists,despite their unflinching faith,may entertain doubts about His
existence and atheists,despite their disbelief perceive the glimmer of belief behind it.If
God is a concept,it is clever,ingenious stroke of imagination because many systems of
metaphysical philosophies,many moral principals have direct or indirect bearing upon
the idea of god.If God is a myth,it underlies the story of man’s adventure,man’s search
for a better life,man’s relation with man and nature.If God is a reality,it is to be
discovered by science,percieved through senses,tested with reason and verified with
facts.Perhaps that stage will never be reached;if the mystery is unravelled man may
change into another Satan to claim equality and consequently will meet Satan’s
fate.Whether concept,myth or reality God’s significant role in man’s life cannot be
discounted.
In the earlier times man was leading the life of savages;reasoning faculty
was stunted and subordinated to physiological needs.Sympathy was limited to personal
self and there was no society,no laws,no code of conduct and nothing else but animal
desires and personal demands.In such a state of affairs we will have to subscribe to
hobbes’s belief-"life was poor,nasty,brutish and short".The dawn of reason,in the case
of a few,made them to formulate a code of conduct through the idea of religion.To a
man who was terrified by the forces of nature like rains,floods,hurricanes,volcanic
eruptions,earthquakes,etc.,reposed unqualified faith in the imagination,discovery and
invention of God.Fear of life after death,fear of the painful death due to long sickness or
disease,the idea of hell and heaven (even if God is a reality,heaven and hell seem to be
an idea only)the realisation that sinners are punished and saints are rewarded made
people God fearing and the relations were regulated according to the moral principles.It
is imposible to trace the history of the origin of the idea or reality of God but it played a
significant role in stabilising and improving community life.But for it,life upon earth would
have come to an end.God was considered to be above man’s petty troubles,selfish
designs and earthly desires to his order were obeyed without demur.Moreover
all-powerful God cannot be cowed down.His laws are inexorable and this made man to
resign to His fate,which was God’s agency to administer justice.
With the estabblishment of political organisations,the people in power found God a lever
to wield power without encountering opposite and to retain power without any
manouvring.The concept of the divine rights of the king’s elicited complete faith from the
subjects.The king was supposed to be a privilaged citizen favoured by God.In
administering justice he was supposed to carry out the wishes of God;he was supposed
to commit no mistake because he executed the orders of the infallibli God;obviously
disobedience of the king meant defiance of God’s law.Whatever harm the theory might
have done,it was able to hold the people together and had created conditions for
political organizations and for inculcating the sense of duty and obedience to the laws of
the land.It was difficult to bring the people of different tribes under the one political
authority without invoking the name of God.At a later stage idealists like Hegel and
others considered state as a march of God upon earth and state is the ideal.This did not
have much impact and perhaps reference to God was to emphasise perfection.
Coming down from the political and social advantages to the concept of god to the
benefits reaped by the individuals,we have many to count.Life is a struggle,where the
fittest survives and as such involves risks of failure.Apart from determination,courage
and capability one should entertain hope to succeed.Once frustrated in one’s effort,a
person may give up the desire to carry on with it.It is the faith in god that keeps the
spirits alive;a christian repents over sins and hopes to get pardon because God is
charitable;an optimist finds every thing alright,when God is in heaven every thing is right
with the world,sings the optimistic poet,Browning.Had this not been the case,sins would
have been hanging heavy over the conscience of the individuals as was the case with
Lord Jim,the hero of Joseph Conrad’s novel.Such a person has a tendency to become
indifferent to social obligations and becomes abnormal in behaviour.Had optimism died
out there would have been no contribution to the deliberately managed social
effort.Tennyson correctly thinks "More things are wrought with prayer than the word
dreams of".Of course prayer gives confidence,and confidence,in its turn,gives sharper
edge to effort.Man works because he believes he is to be blessed;the moment man
starts disbelieving God’s benign attitude and presence he will lose zest to work.Hope
sustains life and the struggle of life.An atheist’s attitude will be inimical to effort and a
pessimist’s wings are are often clipped by melancholy.So the belief that God exists
keeps us alive in terms of spirit,effort and confidence.
Realisation of the existence of God,as a superintending power,awakens the conscience
man and makes him God-fearing.Spiritual enlightenment,which follows meditation over
god,brings higher realities to light.Gautama Buddha discovered the futility of this life and
the significance of other worldliness.Non-attachment with earth kills anti-social
activities,make one to feel that earthly life is a preparation for another life,which is
higher,ultimate and everlasting.People undergo penance,do good deeds,acts of charity
and what not just to enjoy a better life in the other world.Meeting God is the sublimation
of the self and obedience to him,the highest duty.Blind Milton may feel much
handicapped to use one’s talent which is death to hide’ yet he consoles himself by
saying "they also serve and get served who stand and wait".
It is a complete resignation to God’s will and such an attitude,in no case,generates
hatred for life.Fatalism,with all the inherent and implied defects,never saps the energy to
forge ahead.
B.Shaw,the famous english dramatist,propounded the theory of life force,which is
working,in more or less,an impersonal manner.Perhaps he discovers it is a scientific
minded man’s substitute for God.His unconventional attitude makes him to decry the
conventional concept of God when he says-"beware of the man whose god is in the
skies".If God is not in the sky man will loose faith in Him because it is the mystery which
surrounds the concept of the God that keeps man’s interest alive.Similarly Tennyson’s
Lotus Eaters think that God from his watch towers is enjoying the tragic,sense of sinking
ships and praying hands.Even here the concept of god makes one to realise the futility
of man’s arrogance,conceit and misplaced confidence.taking Wordsworth’s words,out of
there context,we may say that god is the "anchor of our purest thoughts and the soul of
moral being".Fear of death looses its power to shake,zest for life gets newer
sharpness,community life becomes more disciplined,desire to move ahead never
becomes dull if God is the presiding deity of our thinking and actions.While passing
through sorrows and suffering,wails and travails one needs some booster for depressed
feelings,some support to lean upon, some pole star guide over the stormy sea and that
is God whether concept,myth or reality.
Bibliography :
G.W.F.Hegel,Stephen Houlgate(Editor) : The Hegel Reader (Blackwell Publishing,1998)
Chopra R. : Invention of God, (Cosmos Bookhive,1981)
G.W.F.Hegel,E.S.Haldane(Translator) : Lectures on the History of Philosophy (Univ.of Nebraska,1995)
G.W.F.Hegel,H.B.Nisbet(Translator),Allen W. Wood(Editor) : Elements of the Philosophy of Right (Cambridge Univ.Press,1991)
– DR.NAVRAJ SINGH SANDHU
P.A.H.S.1
www.navraj@gmail.com
+91 99157 75742