God Or Nihility

The existence of God has been a bone of contention among the most intellectual of beings ever since the possibility of His existence was thought of. And I am probably the least qualified to even contemplate a subject so intricate and delicate, let alone express opinions about it. Well, now that the disclaimer has been stated, let me put together an assortment of random thoughts on my idea of God.

People hardly need a reason to congregate into factions and get cosy in them. It is like snuggling into your wife's arms and feeling secure(more so because you'll then know where she is). Everyone seconds your thoughts and makes you feel more correct to yourself than you thought you were. And so were formed the factions of Theists and Atheists. While the members of these groups went about displaying their vehemence, there came a new bunch of blokes saying "People! We are agnostic!"(I know its tempting to draw an analogy with the 'Third Front' here). And as the arguments got heated, the intelligentsia turned to the ultimate tool that would lead them to the clincher - Science!

Science provided logical explanations to a myriad questions that had hitherto remained mysteries. It spawned several new questions and then provided even more answers. Things that had seemed abstruse and inexplicable started looking obvious. And yet, there remained certain matters that could not be effectively explained by science. This is where science made provision for God. God became the reason for everything that could not be accounted for by science. And this is what I have a small problem with.

It is said that people considered rain to be a sign from God in ancient times because they found it impossible to explain the cause of such huge amounts of water pouring down from heaven! But as it turned out, rain was just a part of the water cycle. What was credited to God then has now become something that a first grade kid can perceive and appreciate. We could make an exaggerated extrapolation of the same situation to the present time and the future. I know we now speak of the big bang and singularity and an expanding universe and black holes and what not! And it may, therefore, seem ridiculous to compare these to the just mentioned case of 'rain'. But there could well be a time when science becomes capable of explaining the universe in its entirety, without having to accommodate the idea of God in the whole structure. Or it may not, hence leaving the poor human race to keep wondering about His existence.

Now, this brings me to a fundamental question - why do we need God(that is, if you think we do need Him)? When we are to ourselves, estranged from all the noise that the rest of the world is making, we need God to ask Him for things we wish to have and thank Him for what we already have. We look up to Him for help and inspiration in times of distress. We attribute those qualities to Him that we should ideally cultivate in ourselves, and then use Him as a reference to measure what we have become. And hence, the relationship (if one could call it that) we share with God is too personal and individualistic to include the entire universe. We say, "Thank You God for our daily bread". We do not say, "Thank You God for having engineered the big bang and created quarks and mesons and gravitons"!

Irrespective of whether or not God created the universe, the 'God' that we have conceived in our minds, the form that we have given Him, and the features that we associate with Him will not change. The idea of God has been a medium for self-check and a scale for introspection, and it should be only that. Even if, by chance, it does get irrefutably proven that God does exist, He would still remain a fictional entity to us. We would still not be able to see Him or hear Him or feel Him.

A person who has faced constant grief and suffering would probably say 'God does not exist' for he would find it difficult to think of a God who would be so 'cruel' to him. But, at the same time, there would be more fortunate souls who have their own reasons to believe in His existence. So, the result (whatever it may be) of the great confabulation notwithstanding, people shall cling on to their notions of the Almighty's actuality - the whole idea is exclusive, not generic.