Assorted Cogitations

-God? Are you out there?

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-Calling all transcendent entities, please respond if you exist.

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-Maybe I’m understanding this incorrectly, but when something is actually there, there is, by definition, some tangible evidence of its presence. This is a fact established by even the most primitive sciences. But I also find it hard to believe that the majority of the world’s population could be wrong. Weigh in?

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-Or am I just arguing semantics? When people say that God exists, maybe they mean that he is a very, very important manifestation of their imaginations. And the imaginations of many around the world. In my opinion, something can’t exist unless I can detect it. It is not enough for me to realize that I don’t know what animates life and the goings on of the universe in general, and from there extrapolate the presence of some omnipotent and omnipresent force. And to personify said force is even more anathema to my beliefs.

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-I think the belief in God stems from the fear of the unknown. If one is unable to determine the origin of or the impetus behind something, like, say, the universe and our existence within it, it’s vastly comforting to have an explanation. God is a tool of the unsure and frightened, used to reassure them that there is something looking on, something protecting. That there is a purpose and design to this otherwise ostensibly meaningless and chaotic existence.

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-I don’t intend to preach the superiority of the confident. If you need a manufactured explanation to allow you to live comfortably, I support the fulfillment of that need. God is like medicine: it will cure the fundamental ailment of fear. If one is born with asthma, would I look upon him with disdain solely because he needs medication to maintain his comfortable existence? Certainly not. In the same way, if one is brought up to need his belief in God to deal with his fear and live happily, let him have it.

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-The only way a believer or group of believers can engender my contempt is if they tries to push their belief upon me or others who do not natively share it. I find this contrary to the whole nature of religion, as it is an individual pursuit to remedy an individual ailment. I do not take issue with churches or organized religion in general if it is only providing a template for one cure to fear. But when a church begins to proselytize it’s doctrine, claiming its superiority and attempting to “convert”, it has surpassed its purpose and rightful domain, and deserves no respect from me or anyone.

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-And yes, I believe belief in God is a matter of nurture, not nature. As I have already established, I believe God is merely a construction of the mind, and thus belief in “Him” is neither genetic nor inherent to the human character. The fear of the generally unknown could be the latter, but a belief in God is only one way to cope with that. One obtains his belief in God by the vector of those who have brought him up, either providing him with the traditional means of dealing with the aforementioned fear, namely religion, or by leaving him to come up with his own means. I am exceedingly grateful that my parents have left me to be one of the latter, allowing me to start out with and maintain an open mind.

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-But how do I personally deal with the fear of the unknown, that which seems native to the human? Certainly not by any god. I label myself as an atheist, and thereby claim to not utilize any personified idealogical construct to extirpate the fear inherent in my species. Instead, I personally follow a path of scientific optimism. True I do not know why I am here and whence I have come, but I have a conviction that it will become apparent with time. This belief that the unknown is temporary quite lessens my fear of it, and leaves me mobilized to seek truth in life, rather than merely adhere to supernatural explanations. I believe that science, the field I wish to pursue, shall eventually uncover the foundations of our existence, physical and otherwise. Until then, I believe that we must pay attention to the fact that we know a lot about the origins of ourselves and the universe already, and are well on our way to understanding everything there is to be understood.

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