Ludwig
Feuerbach was a 19th century philosopher who started as a theologian
and soon became an atheist. He was of
the opinion that religion and God diminished the greatness of man. Religion and God alienate man and impoverish him
by transferring to them the qualities that man should possess. Love, truth, justice, and other such
qualities are transferred by man to God.
God is love, God is truth, etc are statements we hear frequently. But it should be the other way around, says
Feuerbach. Love is a human virtue. So is truth.
So are compassion and other virtues we transfer to our gods.
If
we bring these qualities back from gods and religions to human beings, we will
have a better world. Haven’t we been,
throughout history, adjusting our gods to our own needs, longings and purposes?
Asks Feuerbach. Haven’t we been reducing
our gods to the demands of our banal everyday reality? Haven’t we fought enough battles and wars in
the name of our gods – gods who are supposed to be love and truth and
compassion and what not?
Have
we not talked about God and meant by this our own interests? Haven’t we been seeking our own wishes in the
name of divine purposes?
God
is merely a projection of our personal wishes and selfish interests. He is the sum total of the qualities we should
possess but actually care not to cultivate.
Feuerbach
gave up God and religion in his honest pursuit of meaning in life. He could not relegate the responsibility for
his actions to any other being. He even
gave up his job as a professor and lived a simple and highly disciplined
life. He was such an exemplary human
being that a Catholic priest, Ildephonsus Muller, praised him as a “man of
character who is in the habit of expressing his personal conviction freely and
frankly.” The priest wished, “Being what
you are, if only you were one of us.”
The priest knew that the atheist Feuerbach was more ‘religious’ than
most religious people!
I have found atheists generally more religious than most religious people..
ReplyDeleteTrue. My experience has not been different either.
DeleteYes, it is the other side of the coin and fairly impressive one at that!
ReplyDeleteThere are many like him. People generally do not take interest in getting to know them.
DeleteLogical. Not a single statement that I can deny.
ReplyDeleteDid I manage to shake your religious faith a little? :)
DeleteActually, you managed to agitage the radical surface of my mind. :)
DeleteI like this part where you say - God is merely a projection of our personal wishes and selfish interests; It reminds me of the so many gods we create - one for wealth, one for knowledge, one for pleasure and the other for pain..lf we look closely, I guess we can see all the human emotions right there in front of us :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, polytheism creates separate gods for each wish. In India, we have deified 33,000 crore wishes!
DeleteThat really is a very interesting read. And that is also so true.. that at times the irreligious amongst us sometimes are more religious than the 'religious'
ReplyDeleteThose who question religion and such 'sacred' things are on genuine quests. That's why they are more virtuous.
Delete