...just thinking

Thinking about it, we begin life as the most helpless of creatures, so of course we look to some outside source for protection and guidance. We do what we are told not because it is right or just, but because we fear punishment or withdrawal of affection. As we grow most of us go along with whatever spiritual/religious beliefs we are reared with or rebel against them totally, then as teenagers we pull away looking for our own path. We then have society telling us what the rules are that we must follow and the consequences of noncompliance. I don’t think the majority of people stray too far from the beliefs of their origins, or if they do, they return to what’s comfortable. There are those of course who do embark on a spiritual journey that last from the moment you begin until the end of life because it is not possible to know the answer. Is it?

What came before? That is the ultimate question of cosmologist. What happened before the Big Bang? If there is a singular god, a supreme being controlling creation, where was She before? And if She is all knowing, all-powerful, and all goodness, what possible reason could there be to create an inferior form of life and then watch it suffer? Why create it on one planet like an experiment in a petri dish? Buddhists handle this question with dependant origination – there is no beginning, and there is no god – we are responsible for our own fate, and we have to keep doing it until we get it right.

How could a human understand the divine? Won’t that understanding always be filtered through the human brain, through our instinct for survival? Even when holy texts are revealed through divine revelation, that text is filtered through a human mind, then through translation and the current political prism. The interpretation of that text, as we have seen, depends on the man and his agenda.

If we concur with modern thought, then evolution moves from simple to complex. A human thought process is infinitely more complex than a star. We are all made from stars you know. The atoms that were dispersed throughout the universe after the Big Bang are contained within us. There is a line of thought that what we call god or dependant origination is the Universe becoming aware. The swirling mass of atoms becomes aware. But that still leaves us lonely doesn’t it? No great father figure, no justification for a patriarchal society and control. No hell, so we are responsible for our own morals and ethics. If there are levels of humans (evil, not-so-evil, good, better-than-good, exceptional) does that not by definition imply that there are levels of gods? If there is a learning curve for humanity would that not apply in a divine sense? Doesn’t that make more sense than an all powerful, all knowing being with nothing better to do than create one race of inferior beings and let them run?

I read in various text and publications that the majority doesn’t care if it’s real, their faith gives them comfort and a sense of protection from the callous arbitrary events of life on Earth. I can understand that. That’s what faith is, not asking for proof. But what if you are not one of the majority where do you find comfort then? What is your explanation for the presence of evil? How do you explain the presence of evil if God is goodness yet evil exist? What is the reason for your existence? Why live a moral or ethical life? To what end?

But can it be possible that the genius or compassion or sacrifice that we see in the lives of humans is only in existence for sixty or ninety years? Does that make sense? That the music of Mozart was here and then blinked out of existence forever? The genius of Hawkings? The compassion of King? Or is that just human hubris to think that anything we are capable of as individuals is worthy of survival in the universe?

I’m making no judgment, I’m just thinking…