Fear, Vengeance, and Conformity
Some of us had the
misfortune of questioning the existence of God. I say misfortune because
questioning the existence of God can cause stress and anxiety, but more
importantly, a loss of innocence. One wished one had not been too aware of the
contradiction between what people believe in and what they do. They believe in
a God that is all good, and that teaches to do good even to our enemies. Yet,
those same believers do the very opposite as soon as they step out of the
church. One wished one had not been aware of the discrepancy. For that leads to
other questions that could threaten their peace of mind.
For instance, one
asks: "Why do I have to go to mass? It does not make sense to me. We
follow those rituals and people kneel and mutter words 'Our Father who art in
heaven...' without truly understanding the meaning."
One observes that
people go to mass because it is Sunday, and we, Filipinos, are predominantly Catholic; and not going to mass will cause bad karma.
One observes people
praying for their safety, and the assurance that their future would be exactly
what they had prayed for: protection from murderers, untimely accidents; and
financial stability. If they are into lottery, they pray hard to win $20,000,000
at least that could secure their financial for the rest of their lives.
One observes that
the priests and religious laymen claim to have a special access to God's mind:
they know, with great certainty, what God has in His mind. And, given that,
they privileged themselves with the power to command loyalty from their own
fellowmen. They are also sure that other religions are inferior to the Catholic
faith that they lambast the non-Chrisitian for not accepting Jesus Christ as
their one and only savior.
You turn on the
t.v. to a channel you did not intend. But, you stay on for awhile because the
t.v. evangelist was talking about how God can provide you the money you could
have ever dreamed for, if only you pray for it. Seek and shall be yours. Ask
for money from God, you'll get it.
You notice, too, that many of those who
take religion seriously are those who are 'young at heart'. They feel their
body aching every day. Gone were the days when they could jump and feel no
pain. Pain reminds them of their frailty, of their mortality. "Life is
short', they say, 'but I do not want to believe that this earthly life is all
there is. There must be something else, something beyond the grave"
In other words, you
notice that people believe in angels and devils and in a supreme god out of
fear, vengeance, and conformity. And, you wished that you had not been too
aware of this. Innocence is sweet, and peaceful. Yes, you feel physical pain
when you accidentally trip and fall to the ground; but you don't lose sleep
over it because 'it's a small thing'. You can recover from it. However, the
loss of innocence targets your heart and mind. The pain you feel is not
physical, but emotional and mental. It does not go away that easily. Sometimes,
it does not go away. For some, it never does. That's because you, too, once
believed out of fear, vengeance, and conformity. You should have been like
'everybody else.'
Philosophical
explanations
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970) was a
mathematician, logician, political theorist, educationist, ethicist, and
a social critic. He is an atheist, who once was a Christian believer. In his
book, Free Man's Worship, he writes:
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| Bertrand Russell |
Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes....A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men.
People cannot bear
not knowing what the future would be. It is true that people are aware of the
fact that they cannot know the future. Their mortality and human frailty
reminds them time and again the size of their brain. And, it is this reminder
that they experience their greatest fear of the Unknown. "What lies in
the future? No, what really lies in the future? I know that I don't
know, but I want to know." Religion provides the consolation
they desire, not the truth.
 |
| Sigmund Freud |
Another thinker, with a scientific
background, explains this phenomenon. The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund
Freud (1856 -1939), delves deeper into the recesses of the human mind, and
discovers the Unconsciousness. Freud argues that much of what we
consciously do is determined by the workings of the unconsciousness. Freud
claims that our so called good intentions are greatly influenced by our most
basic instincts, namely, sex and aggression. In his book, Totem and Taboo,
Freud theorizes the origins of religion. The father of a tribe, whose sons envy
the father's access to the tribe's women, plans out to overwhelm and kill him.
Despite their success, the sons fail to fulfill their desire to emulate their
father, due to competition amongst themselves. Thus, religion arises out of
frustration - to emulate their father - and guilt - for killing the father. The
process is the same for all societies, be they Western or Eastern. Eventually,
in the face of helplessness and guilt, mankind creates a god. In Freud's view,
the 'created' God is a projection of the unconscious mind. This explanation is
based on Freud's observation of children who feel helpless and guilty, and who
needed a figure (figure of authority) to protect them from harsh reality.
Religion, in other words, is a childish delusion.
To put Freud's
theory in another way: all of us, as children, experienced fear in something
that we do not know. We also experience things and people who can harm us. Our
only means of survival is throw ourselves to our father, who appears to us
children as the most powerful, most admirable being in the world. As we grow
up, although we still admire and love and respect our fathers, we have outgrown
the father. But we have never outgrown our fear of the Unknown. We feel the
awesome power of the storm, the earthquake, death. We seek a more powerful
figure of authority, a father figure, the creator of these natural events.
Isn't it a surprise why god is considered a male?
Is
there a way out?
Despite these
philosophical attempts at explaining our 'weekly' observations of people who
cling to god; who go to mass every Sunday; who don't practice what they preach,
is there a way for you, the reader, to free yourself from fear, and to believe in
a god? That is, is it possible for one not to fear the unknown and be able
to believe in a god? Is god real, not a creation of one's mind? Is there a god
apart from me?
But, why believe in
a god? Many, like Bertrand Russell, reason that one should not believe in a god
for religion oppresses his individuality, his freedom to be what he can be.
Should one decide not to believe in a god, just because he does not want to be
oppressed? Should we bet on God's existence?
Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662) a
Christian apologist argues that, if reason fails you to make up your mind on
whether or not to believe in God, then let us wager. He writes:
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| Blaise Pascal |
But there is an
eternity of life and happiness. And this being so, if there were an infinity of
chances, of which one only would be for you, you would still be right in
wagering one to win two, and you would act stupidly, being obliged to play, by
refusing to stake one life against three at a game in which out of an infinity
of chances there is one for you, if there were an infinity of an infinitely
happy life to gain. But there is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life
to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what
you stake is finite. It is all divided; wherever the infinite is and there is
not an infinity of chances of loss against that of gain, there is no time to
hesitate, you must give all...
What have you got
to lose if you decide to believe in God? If you decide not to believe in God,
and should God exists, you lose everything, including immortality of life. If
you decide not to believe in God, and should there be no God, then you lose
nothing. Believe in God, and there is a god, then you win everything, including
immortality of life, and a chance to live in heaven.
Being
Honest
As for me, I'm not
entirely sure that this is the way out. This would not give the peace of mind
that I am looking for. So, let me propose what I think is a way out. Here is
the situation.
Say that I believe in a God because I am
afraid for myself, I seek God's punishment for those who wronged, and because
many people believe in God. Say that I also believe in a God on the basis of a
wager. I die. I become a soul. I see myself rising out of the body, rising
higher and higher, and I see Peter at the gate. I greet him, but he greets me
with book of my life. All that I have done Peter knows, is written in that
book. Peter smiles. He looks up and says, " You have bet on God's
existence. You believed that you believe in Him, because you are afraid for yourself.
And, you follow the rules just as anyone would knowing that he's being watched.
In other words, you are not honest in your belief." Am I then barred from
entering through the gates of heaven because I have been dishonest? I'll leave
that for you to decide.
In another situation, much as I tried, I
could not get myself to believe in God, for that would be dishonest. I die.
There is heaven. There is God. There is Peter waiting for me at the gates of
heaven. He greets me, then he reads the records of my life. Peter knows that I
don't believe in God. But, Peter also knows that I have been fiercely honest
with myself. If peter admires honest people, he should allow me to go through
the gates of heaven. But, does he? I'll leave that for you to decide.
Philosophy
and the issue of God
It would have been a
nice ending to our spiritual journey if there indeed is a God, and I have been
honest about believing in a supreme being. But that would be wishful thinking
on our part. We are serious. We took up this issue because it matters a lot to
us. Unlike the others who question God out of anger or resentment, we decided
to take up the issue because we desire to know. We may not come to know THE Truth,
but at least we are sincere, because we are driven by our desire for truth.
