God - a valid or invalid concept ?

Positive Lifeskills

The concept of a supreme God, as is popularly understood, is self-contradictory, invalid and more harmful than helpful.

Theoretically and ideally, prayer is a means of thanksgiving to a supreme being. However, I have seen it mostly as a submission of a wish list seeking health, money, promotion etc or other such forms of happiness.

That in itself negates the all-knowing concept of God. My logic goes like this -

1. We ask God for help because what he has given to us is different than what we want.

2. If we still want what he did not intend to give us means that we know better than him as to what is good or deserving for us.

3. Hence, praying to God for help negates his supremacy as an all-knowing entity.

Seems logical enough, however unpalatable it may seem to many.

I have placed this logic tree of mine at an excellent free web-discussion site. Do visit it today.
Once there, you will be able to comment on the premises of the arguement I have placed there.It also allows you to uncover the inherent assumptions in the arguement, if any. I find this site to be an excellent tool for checking the logic of any arguement. I urge you to visit it once. Place your logic here. Give it the test of masses.

Don't just hate me for saying such things about God. Prove me wrong. An unexamined life is not worth living.

I have an objection to another typical feature of praying. In most cases, there is a quid-pro-quo statement attached to the wish list. Usually it is in the form of ' If you grant me this wish, I will offer sweets, re-visit to the temple, have a grand celebration etc in return' . To me, it is the absolute nadir of relationships. Is this the right way to approach your father? A biological father, being essentially human, may change his decision based on what you are offering in return, but not the supreme father. I suspect he knows what we deserve and does not take biased decisions.

So, are there no benefits in a belief about a supreme God? Oh yes, there are. To the conditioned minds of most, God provides a necessary device for grievance handling and a source of succour when all else fails. The need is so great at times that is is aptly said - If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

We need to objectively analyse whether the concept has more advantages or disadvantages? As long as you use it as a psychological device necessary for survival, it is OK. It helps in some cases. But then - so does drinking in some cases. Does that make drinking a good thing, a recommended solution?

I did say that God provides a source of succor. It does, but only temporarily. Quite like drinking. There is temporary respite, but soon the reality confronts us again.

I think the concept of God would make a good umbrella but a poor roof.

I did say that this is my radical blog. You had been warned.

Let be and let go

We just do not let others be what they are. We also cling to our young ones for too long. Of course, this may be truer of Eastern cultures than Western. We like to control the lives of our dependants in every single matter, whereas we are not given the power to change even a comma in their lives.

Read the book 'Sidhartha' by Herman Hesse. Sidhartha was the son of a Brahmin (Indian priest class) who was very respected for his piety and knowledge. Sidhartha got restless as a youth, disobeyed his father and left the house in search of truth and wisdom. After going through a lot of pleasure and pain, he settled down to a simple life. From the pleasure episodes of his life, he had a son from a city courteasn. The death of the mother forced the boy to leave the comforts of the city and move in with his father. Being accustomed to the city life, the young bird was not able to adjust to the rustic one. Sidhartha was forever compelling him to do the chores of a simple life and the son was getting rebellious. Sidhartha was getting frustrated at his inability to teach his son the right ways. After one such episode, Sidhartha's old friend talks to him thus, " Why do you want him to do as you wish? Why don't you let him be. You resented your father running your life for you and now you are doing the same to your son. All the knowledge and virtue gained by your father due to his religious sacrifices did not help you escape the pain of life you were to undergo. You had to start afresh and learn it your way. Now you want your knowledge to shield your son from his destiny. Don't make the same mistake, my friend" ( ideas are of Hermann Hesse, words are mine ).

Stop playing God. Let be and let go. Advise, when necessary but be content with it being rejected. And, do not feel so responsible for the lives of others. It would be blasphemy to do so.

The curse of expectations

I have a full grown labrador which is blind by birth. Surprisingly, he seems quite unperturbed by his shortcomings and happily keeps bumping into things. I wonder if he would remain so unconcerned by all this, if he were a human.
Is our power of thinking a boon or a bane?
That may be a radical provocation, but I have noticed that we humans have made our lives miserable by our expectations. If only we could live by what is, rather then what would be or could be! The irony is that the future remains mostly unaffected by our expectations. Remember the old saw - Half the things I worried about did not happen and half the things that happened were not seen by me!
There is a sensible concept of randomness, which explains all this. In any case, how do we know whether whatever is happening is good or bad for us? Remember the case of some people in New York who got delayed in traffic on 9/11? Well, the delay saved the lives of some of them. Equally, it might have caused some of them to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
Expectation also seems to directly insult our concept of God. Why refuse what HE has granted to us? Do we profess to know our needs better than HIM? Once I did hear something nice like - You are not what I had prayed for, but obviously you are the answer to my prayers.
Does such a philosophy make us lazy, aimless and adrift? Well, my labrador seems quite active, bumping into one thing after another.
Indian philosophy ( Geeta ) has good practical advice when they tell us to ' Do your duty, but do not get attached to the result'.
Never complain of anything, not even the weather. Nothing matters to the man who says - Nothing matters. The problem is not in the event, it is in it not coming up to our expectations.
What is, is.