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Definitely not an atheist

I got some comments on the blog last day, of course from spammers who was trying to put in links to their websites. I deleted them. But in there was something of interest to me (unfortunately I deleted that one too. I shouldn’t have done that.). Though this particular comment I am speaking about was also a spammer’s job, he seemed to have read the article before spamming there and had definitely made a serious say.

He said the post sounded like I am depressed and I am an atheist and he gave some site’s link so that I can group with other people like me. But the link was not genuine and it led to some furniture related site of his. Anyway, the pressing problem here is my readers seem to think that I am some sort of an atheist, someone who has lost hope in everything.

Well they are true to some extend if we consider the thesaurus entries for the word ‘atheist’. I always wondered at the synonyms that word has got. Let me clear a fact that I am not someone who disbelieve in God. I do believe in God. May be I differ from what you perceive about God. I might question His ways, and even question His form. But that doesn’t make me an atheist. I, like you, has no choice than to believe in His existence, may be as a super intelligence who lives somewhere in the vastness of the universe and had visited earth sometime in the past to create life as we see it (how many days He took must be debateable, but He definitely took a day off. Its hard work even for a supreme intelligence to have designed and implemented this complex system.), or may be as the cumulative energies of all the material and nonmaterial aspects that make up this universe (a super energy, as I would like to put it) which most definitely would have triggered the Creation on its own (as scientists would like to think), or may be even as a nonexistent belief. But I believe that He exists and that is what is important.

Then why did I say I agree (to some extend) with those who identified me as an atheist? Take a look at the synonyms ‘atheist’ has got. ‘Free thinker’, ‘idolist’, ‘polytheist’, ‘pagan’, ‘materialist’, ‘questioner’, and ‘rationalist’ are the synonyms (I can’t see why these words are synonyms of ‘atheist’) I would very much like to attribute myself to.

I am a ‘free thinker’, I am a ‘questioner’ and I am a ‘rationalist’. (I will come back to the other synonyms later. These three seem to be sharing something.). Let me ask you, how can a free thinker be an atheist? May be they put it because most of the free thinkers tended to grow long beards and moustaches and gets addicted to drugs (thoughts are so addictive themselves, I can’t complain them seeking shelter in some other addictives which are in every way milder than thoughts). But they are forgetting the facts. Would you not classify Jesus Christ (a great leader, I admire him for his leadership qualities) or Gautama Buddha or Sree Krishna (argumentative that He is part of the fiction or history, we don’t have authoritative resources from the 5th century B.C so as to claim to or for this argument) or Mahavira or Mohammed Nabi or Swami Vivekananda or the legendary Greek philosophers as free thinkers? They did think free, they all changed their present to a better future. With out thinking free, how could have they questioned the existing practices (of their times) and came up with something better? These personalities, these great leaders of the past, they questioned and thought rationally. They were great logical thinkers.

There is no doubt about them being free thinkers, or questioners or rationalists. The question is, are they atheists? You won’t call them atheist because you are seeing only the end results of their free, rational thinking. They all came up with a social system which believes in the Superlative existence. Everyone who has a mere above average intelligence can perfectly understand why they came up with this. That was a proven system. They only needed to change the rules in the existing system so as to get the world changed the way they wanted it to. As long as people will keep wondering at the things they can’t explain they will believe in the Superlative existence. And this belief is the best way to get creative rules implemented in the society.

Now let me come to the other synonyms. I am not a ‘polytheist’, but I won’t call a polytheist and atheist. I mean, they literally contradict each other and still they are synonyms. Has language lost its purpose? My mum is a polytheist and I haven’t seen someone more God fearing than her. I am not a polytheist, but I was. It was the way which led me to ‘Advaita’ (monotheism, for my western readers. But believe me, it is not just monotheism. It is much more complex and comes into the unity of the Creation, that everything is one.). I believed in multiple Gods in my childhood, till I was some five years of age when I found myself questioning whatever (be it religion, be it culture, be it politics) I was forced to believe. But the ironic thing is that, I questioned my religious practices and it was the same religion that held answers to my questions. If I were a Christian (I mean if I were forced to the Christian belief in my childhood) it would have taken more time for me to come to a solution which could satisfy my questions in every respect (I would have definitely reached the answers no matter what I was forced to believe, it was just a matter of how long it takes.). Anyway, the questions I asked and the answers I got caused me to admire Hinduism of the fact that it has a way for everyone to reach the truth. So what I was telling is that I am not a polytheist, but a polytheist can never be an atheist. In fact a polytheist is a much better theist.

In fact ‘polytheist’ is in the list because of the ‘pagan’ there. Pagan civilisations (or religions) are believed by the so called non pagan religious people as devilish. And such a devilish emotion attached to the pagan religions tended the other side to see polytheism (a mark of pagan religions) as something against God. So apparently the mistake is revealed. Why is there a devilish attitude attached to pagans? It may be well because the Church wanted to secure their market share of believers. As any businesses will do, the Church too wanted their competitors to be degraded among the consumers. This is very much like the Pepsi Corporation accusing the Coco Cola Company of having poisonous elements in their drinks. But here the effect is much more than a legal suit. Here it resulted in having a group of extreme believers be called atheists.

I am in all means a ‘materialist’ as well. Why shouldn’t I be? Why should I reject or deny something which is there. I believe in material life. And I don’t believe that someone who believes in God must reject material life as categorising it as an illusion. It doesn’t matter whether it is real or it is illusion. Whatever it is, if you believe in God created all these, He did that for you and not for Himself and if you don’t believe in God then there is no question of rejecting the material life. Or may be as some argue that the illusion is there as a test of our endurance and belief on God. Well… the illusion is too good for me to believe that way. I would fail the test than denying myself the material aspects like food, drinks, entertainment and sex.

Now it comes to ‘idolist’. Who is not one? Who has not yet looked up onto someone to see and learn something? At least you have idolised your parents. The theists who call me atheist must have idolised God or may be some material incarnation of Him. So who gave them the right to call me an atheist because I have idolised some great personalities on my way to this moment?

Coming to the latter part of the comment, being someone who has lost hope in his life. What should I tell them? I don’t fancy wasting my half an hour sleep for something trivial as this. I can think of a whole lot of things to do instead.

That clears it all I suppose, of what I believe and what I don’t, of what I am and what I am not. This is my little explanation for the things I write here. There was no point, when I look back, to have written this long an essay to prove my part. But I believe that understandings are far better than misunderstandings and that will justify me.

The first one who read this (that is to say, I) found something more troublesome hidden in here. My criticism of the Church is in no way my feelings for Christianity or Christ. I agree with the Church’s way of managing the religion and its people. Christians have caused less mayhem in the name of religion than the Muslims or Hindus. But I cannot forget the bitter past where they send missionaries with war troops to win followers. I forgave them when His Holiness late Pope John Paul II confessed their sins. But I can never forget it. I cannot agree with their continuing efforts to make people see other religions as something devilish.

Also I should explain myself on commenting that Christianity would have taken me more time to satisfy my questions. But remember that I didn’t say that Christianity would not have given me my answers. It would definitely have given me the answers as I can see them all over the Bible, now that I have them anyway. But they are hidden in a deeper pit to someone who has only the questions and not the answers.



This post first appeared on Numinous, please read the originial post: here

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