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In this essay, I wish to address the question, Why does man believe in God? When I use the word 'man', it means both man and woman. I am being old-fashioned here, but this is beside the point.
Man believes in God, precisely because man is man. Man has no control over how he comes into the world. He did not choose his parents. A child born in a Hindu family did not choose to be born in a Hindu family. A child born in a Christian family did not choose to be born in a Christian family.
Even after his birth, man has little control over his life. When he is around 16, he learns to drive a motor vehicle. The very next day after he starts to drive, he can die in an automobile accident.
Even a man or a woman born in a very rich family can die suddenly. The children of powerful dictators die when their enemies defeat them in a coup or war. Recently powerful children of Saddam Hussein died violently when the enemies of Saddam Hussein defeated his regime and his whole family was on the run.
So, a man or woman does not know how long he or she is going to live and how and when he or she will die. This predicament gives rise to need for belief in God.
Let us suppose that I was given the opportunity to decide whether I wanted to live in this world forever, and that too always in good health and in prosperity. Would I accept it? I don't think so. The reason is that it would be terribly boring living in this imperfect world forever and that too in the same state, i.e. always in good health and always in prosperity.
Now let us suppose that I was given the opportunity to decide at what age I wanted to die and I was guaranteed to live up to that age in good health and in prosperity. Would I accept this deal? Perhaps I would. But If I accepted it, then I would stop believing in God, at least not as much as I do now. The reason is that now I would not need God that much. I would still need to pray to God and ask for blessing to keep my loved ones, such as my family, in good health and prosperity. I would also need to pray to keep my countrymen in good health and prosperity. I would also need to pray to keep my fellow human beings away from misfortune and calamities. But since man is essentially selfish and self-centered, I would not need God as much I need Him now.
So, what does belief in God give us? It gives us two things that we need badly.
Without this belief in God, we would need to go to a psychiatrist or a psychologist whenever someone who is dear to us dies an untaural death, whenever we have mental anguish and the business of these medical professionals would flourish greatly. In fact if there was no God, if there were no temples, churches and mosques, those psychiatrists and psychologists who would be very good at psychological manipulation would become much richer than Bill Gates.
Thanks,
Nirmal
Dear sir !
Your article is really interesting, and forces us to think. Whatever you have written is very helpful for the common people, and is the argument which holds the place for the various religions. If we don't believe in God, we will be the loser and nobody else.
But I humbly want to question two of your views:
1. "The reason is that it would be terribly boring living in this imperfect world forever and that too in the same state, i.e. always in good health and always in prosperity." . But most of the motivational gurus teach us to love the way things are and believe that the world is "perfect". Everything on the earth is perfect and cant be different from what it is. I believe it and so have written.
Maybe all this depends on the state of mind. I may be young and energetic, so the world may seem to be perfect to me.
2. "So, the point is that God is a creation of man. "
Well, I cant challenge confidently. The knowledge comes with experience and learning, which I still have to receive a lot...
Yours sincerely,
KUMAR RAHUL
Gopalnagar, Chhattisgarh.
dear mr. berry,
very good article brief and to the point. it makes sense the way you wrote it.
harjit s. galhotra
Dear Nirmal,
The essay has been very nicely written for common man to understand, but a person having an indepth knowledge of philosophy and sprituality may not fully agree with you. You have mentioned that human being has no choice as where he should be born or how he would die. But in fact it is other way. Human being or any living being comprises of three essential things, they are (1) Physical (That is the body which you can see and feel), (2) Mental (mind which you can feel) and (3) Spritual (Soul which only a few can feel). The physical body is made up of five elements that is (a) Etherial,(b) Aerial, (c) Luminious, (d) Liquid, (e) Solid.
Now let me tell you what happens When the human being dies. According to science matter can neither be created nor destyoed. Hence the Physcal body which is made of five elements mixes with the five elements. Only thing that passes out of the body which cannot be seen by these eyes are (1) Soul, (2) Mind, and (3) His Karma (All that he has done through out his life time) which is embedded in the mind. Immediately after death the soul along with the mind keeps on wandering in search of a suitable body and there after as per His own Karma the mind gets attracted towards particular type of body and mind and then takes birth in that house. Hence the human being chooses his own Birth. Dying and taking birth is a long story and I am sure I may not be able to explain even in a thousand pages. I have some knowledge about life and death and someday we may discuss on it in detail.
Best wishes
Nirmal
Dear Nrimal jee,
A good reference to Geeta. A good article.
with regards
KG Malhotra