This has been much debated. And there are various opinions on this. Most often the opinions are colored by the existential problems of the individual. There are the blind believers on one hand and the complete atheists on the other. Then there are the liberals, people who do not believe in God but do not infringe, belittle or override the super believers. We have the growing number of fundamentalists whose belief in their kind of God is so strong that their faith pushes them to infringe upon their fellow beings’ belief or non-belief. However I belong to the group who outnumbers the rest – the opportunists.
Generally our creed is pretty emotionally insulated towards the idea of God. These are the only occasions when God and our paths cross:
- When we need to fulfill an need (external or internal)
- When we are faced with a crisis and cannot depend on the average human
- When we participate in a religious festival
There is a constant pull between the right and left part of our brain. Our insecurities and our rationale pull us in two directions. Confused we choose the middle path. Hence when we are at peace with our circumstances we choose not to remember God and when we are in midst of crisis we desperately fall back on God. What leaves us in this dilemma?
It is a complete lack of faith in our understanding of us that is at the root of our confusion. For one there can be no denying that there is an entity that is outside our scientific rationale (at least the rationale that has evolved till now). But a deep reading of modern physics would lead us to a hint in that direction. A few examples could have been cited but that is beyond the scope of this piece and would require a lot of research. The average mortal’s faith in oneself leads to an overriding faith in God. It is this faith, which becomes the guardian angel and leads the person on the path of humanity and fairness towards fellow beings. It is what finally becomes the cornerstone of our soul.
To believe in God is to believe in oneself. Opportunists often stop believing in themselves.