An exploration of belief & atheism

Could it be that we are going nowhere, into nothingness, extinction of not only body and all physical reality but the annihilation of the soul as well? Or perhaps the soul once evolved will transform through a merger with the infinite all or super-soul? Then what? Is salvation a fantasy? Is there any logic in belief or is it romantic superstition? Religion means to return to the source. Is there something to return to or is this just human explanation of the inexplicable? Is heaven a destination or are we just to strive to make heaven on earth? Could both be true?

Is it folly or arrogant conceit to believe that there is an afterlife free from suffering? Does it make any sense? If a God exists, by logical reasoning evidenced by the world around us, it’s nature must be one of creation? If this is true would not this non- beginning & non-ending BEINGS’ very essence be a force of absolute love?

Could it be possible that a creative God would include all the unfathomable details of nature, the micro & macrocosms of the universe and the human mind quite capable of grasping unbelievable concepts, theories & realities while endowed with the ability to perceive the unperceivable concept of infinite time and space and then… could this same God choose to reject the creation afterwards into some kind of non-existence?

Would God have created a universe and all of this unfathomable creation including human beings with a capacity to think, reason, argue and create personal & unique works of art and then allow it to deconstruct completely into an oblivion of non-existence? Are we merely a brilliant science project that eventually must cease to exist in a process of entropy? This cannot be not a logical premise of a loving God… not one who understands that human beings do love. And can any creator give birth to something with an emotional attribute that does not exist within itself? We know that human beings have a great capacity to love, if there is a creator God would it not necessitate that it be a loving God? I cannot see it as possible any other way. Therefore if love has been endowed upon humans from a source which itself preconditions humanity… then God is the source of love.

It is illogical that the creative force of love in the universe would not use the most creative & loving means at it’s disposal to save us from anything that would finish us off. If this were the case then the only logical explanation would be that there is no God. For a God who loves and is the source of love would not reject humanity any more than a human father or mother would leave their child to die. Why… because they love.

It is illogical that the creative force of love in the universe would not use the most creative & loving means at it’s disposal to save us from anything that would finish us off. If this were the case then the only logical explanation would be that there is no God. For a God who loves and is the source of love would not reject humanity any more than a human father or mother would leave their child to die. Why… because they love.

So perhaps there is no God, hmmm… many things that followers of Brahma, and the God of Moses, Jesus Christ & Mohamed and many other Gods, even the non-God of Buddha, have done throughout history have made powerful arguments for atheism this is undeniable. 'God save us from your followers' is perhaps the believers prayer against the insanity of religious intolerance and violence that has plagued our history like a cancer.

Perhaps the hope in atheism is that we as people can save ourselves by rejecting this destructive concept of God and believing in the absolute creative power of human love & compassion? Is it possible? Is there is a force of goodness so inherent in the human condition that it can save us alone from nationalism, racism, religious intolerance, greed and hate? If human nature is basically good, is that force of love and goodness so strong on our own accord that it will eventually defeat the forces of evil & destruction that so often seem to have the upper hand? Or should we consider that perhaps the evolution of the human race is growing in our essential love nature as we move forward through time and space? Is this possibility logically congruent with the history of the world as we know it?

Today, at this point in history we still face endless war, urged on by the ever increasing creation, distribution & amassing of life destroying weaponry. We face the scientifically proven looming worldwide environmental catastrophe of global warming & the continued stark inequalities of the widening gap between rich and poor even after the great philosophical and political struggles of democracy & communism. We face absolutely solvable problems of poverty, racism, lack of the basic healthcare for curable diseases with medicines available but out of the collective human will fail to provide them. We have before us still nations run by madmen who keep millions of people shackled under the daily oppression of lies, murder & slavery. We live in a world that can’t even stand up collectively and put an end to apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide in full view & knowledge of their existence and perpetrators! Is this not evidence of the kind of self-centered indifference & apathy which reigns as a human sickness today more than ever?

The argument of the atheist I suppose is that our beliefs are the source of evil. Wars come from the intolerance of one belief against another. Yes this does appear to be true. But is it categorically true? I would like to ask does atheism but all the eggs in that one basket? I suppose not. Is it not possible that something in human nature could be responsible outside of beliefs?

On my personal search for meaning I have come to the conclusion that there are 2 kinds of truth. Absolute truth is the unchangeable truth that is God only, for God is the only explanation I can imagine of no beginning and no end. Gandhiji said that truth and love are 2 sides of the same coin, which from this logic would confirm the validity of the statement… God is love.

If there is no God there is no absolute truth, all of existence is relative. This comes to the 2nd kind of truth, which is personal truth, which is relative to our life experience and perspective. As we grow we find things to be true, and often we are surprised to have an experience that then shifts our perspective and shows us a 'different' truth. I find this to be true because of my life experience and where I stand today, perhaps tomorrow that can change. I believe that courage allows us to speak our truth without the fear of being wrong and the anxiety of being challenged from a different perspective.

All I can say for sure is that until someone proves to me by some convincing experiential & logical means otherwise, this is what I believe. My personal truth has proven to me that there is an absolute truth & a creator. This creator has a purpose for us. This purpose has meaning beyond the suffering of this world. God is the name people most people seem to call it, I don’t know why.

This creator or God has manifested its love through creation but something altered the course of that love though the arrogant thought that the creator is not real. Why God allowed this is a great mystery. Perhaps God realized that his creations must be given a choice. Is not the nature of love allowing and giving freedom? Perhaps this creator realized that to fully endow the human race with love they must be given a choice. Since love is manifest through action. How can one love without the freedom to not love? We choose every day whether to act or not to act in love.

We have a choice to love or to cling to our own selfish motives and fears. This is a choice that we make in every moment of every day. There was a man who came two millenniums ago who taught a way in which we can freely choose the path of love by connecting ourselves with God in a direct link. Through this divine connection our fear dissolves and we have the actual capacity to love always out of free will. That man is Jesus Christ and his words are the perfect will of God. He was killed because he exposed the hypocrisy of those who thought they were holy but were self-deluded by their own egos. When he left the earth, he gave the Holy Spirit as his spiritual essence, which flows through humanity within those who are fully present in the moment, open with a pure heart ready to experience the complete joy of our divine inheritance.