Rational Insanity
How do we talk about God?
How do we talk about God and not sound like the over-zealous Christian sects who hound us in buses, on the streets, and even in big crowds like food festivals and such? How do we talk about God and not sound moralizing? How can we talk about God and not sound boring to our peers? How can we talk about God and not sound corny, dramatic romanticizers? I don't know the answer to these questions, but how can we NOT talk about God? How can we not talk about God when in our desperation there is always a ray of hope as long as we keep ourselves alive? How can we not talk about God when there are so many things to talk about that involves Him -- 'Is there a God? being the foremost question that would definitely spark a lively conversation among peers?
I am currently in Bacolod to attend a seminar and after chilling out with friends, having a few glasses of wine, and a cup of coffee, the topic of God began to creep into the conversations. The reason for this is that one of my peers is an atheist and she insisted on talking about theological issues. In this kind of conversation, the theological aspect being the focus, the topic of God is far from boring, in fact it borders between blasphemy and philosophy.
Once people talk about theological issues God comes alive and becomes a point of argument. This is one way of talking about God. There are other ways, and all ways are good because the mere act of talking about God is a means of understanding the mystery of an omnipotent being overseeing the universe. The understanding of this mystery is the origin for man's search for purpose and meaning. For instance, if all people do not believe in the presence of an Omniscient God then all people will eventually question so many things in the universe. This curiosity is the beginning of science. For those who believe in a God, science actually complements religion if only time was taken to study and look at the facts, but for those who do not believe in a God, the scientific pursuit of facts would eventually come to a dead end and man will be forced by his own meager intellect to recognize that there is something more left unexplained by science. How far can human intelligence go? How long can brain cells survive to question a mystery that transcends the lifespan of even the oldest living human being? To add to this, we don't really spend our entire lives dwelling on the question of science - or do we?
Every man and woman in this world is hard wired to recognize mortality, hence, the existence of a real fear for death and the avoidance of pain and suffering that steal away fruitful time from each of us. Following this line of thought, there is a very huge possibility that humans would eventually seek means of pacifying the raging fear of death and saving effort wasted in dealing with pain and suffering. For most of us, the recognition of God is a means of pacifying this fear and saving the effort spent on avoiding pain and fear. Undeniably, most prayers are directed towards asking for a long, happy, and healthy life. What we all don't realize is that longevity, happiness, and health are merely concepts we aspire to achieve or acquire the more mundane and material elements that life has to offer consequently forgetting that in our prayers we have failed to ask for that one thing that is able to transcend all these abstract concepts -- love.
Love is an abstract concept; we all recognize this fact. It is not something that we can hold and touch, or see. It is immaterial and only things that are immaterial can survive the forces of the universe. Why do some of us ask for love and not longevity, happiness, or health? We ask for love because we are given a glimpse of how life can be without love -- in our parents, our friends, and our own interactions with the world -- and so we want more of it. How can we deal with the abstraction that is Love and refuse the abstraction that is God? God is love -- is a Christian concept, but does it really matter whether it is a Buddhist, Hindu, or Islam concept? Does the explaining love / explaining God really matter when we know that eventually all our brain cells will become food for maggots eternities before we are even close to rationalizing whatever it is that science has already failed to rationalize?
It is futile to argue about the presence or the absence of a God, just as it is futile to hypocrites who claim that they don't believe in love (because of a jarring experience in the past that has left them calloused and jaded? ) Anyway, let me end this with another question -- eventually, we will all be left with questions to ask whether we like it or not.
How can you talk about Love? How can you talk about how wonderful love is? How can you NOT talk about love? How can you talk about love and NOT be interesting?
Be rational; be insane... every once in a while!!! TTFN!
I love you all guys! Byers!!!