During one of my very infrequent trips to a temple with my parents, a thought occurred to me, a thought that is in its process of crystallization. This post is more of an attempt to crystallize that thought, rather than to state a point of view. As always, the topic continues to be open to discussion.
It has never ceased to amaze me seeing the throngs of people who travel great distances to arrive at a temple, stand in the queue for hours together; all just to catch a moment’s glimpse of the so called Lord. Every time that I am in the temple, I am more interested in seeing the expression of pure joy on the faces of the devotee rather than strain my neck trying to catch a glimpse of the deity.
Being a self confessed non-believer, I needed to know what it was that was driving this effort, what drives the person to do whatever they do, all for a moment’s glimpse. It was then the answer was obvious, to catch a glimpse of what they believe is certainty, to realize something that their daily lives do not provide.
In one of my earlier pieces, I have talked about the fact that belief in religion and belief in a god provides a person with a certainty and a purpose, one that is readily available, something that the other non-believers have to search and find on purpose. Now, armed with this belief, when a person reaches a temple, a church, a mosque, a gurudwara, they realize that they are in the presence of something that to them is greater than they are. This greatness has all the power that someone can think of, to give, to take away, to create, to protect and finally to destroy.
When they are in the presence of this raw power, one that makes life certain, one is overcome with an amazing sense of belonging. This is the one thing that any human is in constant search for, the certainty of life, the knowledge that they are not alone in the world, and they would have eternal company. To see the physical manifestation of all their doubts, in the form of a deity, a cross, a stone, or even an abstract thought called god, is bound to bring joy to any human.
Since I have begun with what it means to a believer, I need to expound how does a non-believer achieve this level of joy, why he goes through immense tests of belief and strengths to achieve certainty.
The simple fact is he does not achieve certainty for all he has is uncertainty. Now, this is no similar to man before he achieved a belief in god. The person who believed moved one step forward and found peace. The one that is left behind, who refuses to acknowledge the god that there is, has to come up with a measure to bridge that gap.
This leaves a non-believer like me with just one option, rush to the only other certainty, death, or make peace with the uncertainty, understand that life as we know it is just a set of infinitesimally small combined probability and move on with life. In the end, it is all about peace.
At this point, I would like to conclude with a few lines from Demons, a novel by the Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky.
God is necessary and therefore must exist. However, as a man I know that he does not and cannot exist. Do you not understand that a man with these two thoughts cannot go on living? Do you not understand that a man can shoot himself for that alone? You do not understand that there may be such a man, one man out of the thousands of millions, who will not want it and will not endure it.
It has never ceased to amaze me seeing the throngs of people who travel great distances to arrive at a temple, stand in the queue for hours together; all just to catch a moment’s glimpse of the so called Lord. Every time that I am in the temple, I am more interested in seeing the expression of pure joy on the faces of the devotee rather than strain my neck trying to catch a glimpse of the deity.
Being a self confessed non-believer, I needed to know what it was that was driving this effort, what drives the person to do whatever they do, all for a moment’s glimpse. It was then the answer was obvious, to catch a glimpse of what they believe is certainty, to realize something that their daily lives do not provide.
In one of my earlier pieces, I have talked about the fact that belief in religion and belief in a god provides a person with a certainty and a purpose, one that is readily available, something that the other non-believers have to search and find on purpose. Now, armed with this belief, when a person reaches a temple, a church, a mosque, a gurudwara, they realize that they are in the presence of something that to them is greater than they are. This greatness has all the power that someone can think of, to give, to take away, to create, to protect and finally to destroy.
When they are in the presence of this raw power, one that makes life certain, one is overcome with an amazing sense of belonging. This is the one thing that any human is in constant search for, the certainty of life, the knowledge that they are not alone in the world, and they would have eternal company. To see the physical manifestation of all their doubts, in the form of a deity, a cross, a stone, or even an abstract thought called god, is bound to bring joy to any human.
Since I have begun with what it means to a believer, I need to expound how does a non-believer achieve this level of joy, why he goes through immense tests of belief and strengths to achieve certainty.
The simple fact is he does not achieve certainty for all he has is uncertainty. Now, this is no similar to man before he achieved a belief in god. The person who believed moved one step forward and found peace. The one that is left behind, who refuses to acknowledge the god that there is, has to come up with a measure to bridge that gap.
This leaves a non-believer like me with just one option, rush to the only other certainty, death, or make peace with the uncertainty, understand that life as we know it is just a set of infinitesimally small combined probability and move on with life. In the end, it is all about peace.
At this point, I would like to conclude with a few lines from Demons, a novel by the Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky.
God is necessary and therefore must exist. However, as a man I know that he does not and cannot exist. Do you not understand that a man with these two thoughts cannot go on living? Do you not understand that a man can shoot himself for that alone? You do not understand that there may be such a man, one man out of the thousands of millions, who will not want it and will not endure it.
