“It is God’s
omniscience that helps Him to endure the sorrows of the world,” says the
narrator of Francois Mauriac’s short story, A
Man of Letters. Why would any God
endure this world of ours for so long had it not been for the empathetic
understanding of the criminality that underlies the crown of His own creation? The question begs a lot of other questions,
of course. Is there a God, did He (is it
He really?) create the universe, was He aware of the evil that he was giving
birth to while creating the human beings...?
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| Michelangelo's The Pieta |
Let us assume
that some God created the universe for reasons similar to why Dostoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment or Michelangelo
carved the Pieta: a creative
urge. Not the whole of creation is under
the control of the creator because there are unconscious motives which underlie
every creation. Sublimation of the
darkness within the creator is one of the motives of creation. The human beings
seem to be the darkness that lay within God.
Even God must have been baffled by the horror of the creation, the
horror called man.
Yet that
Creator, omnipotent and hence able to put an end to the creation, is enduring
the horror and the concomitant grief because his omniscience makes him empathetic
too. That’s what Mauriac suggests. The more you know, the more empathy you
feel. It’s like watching a movie. You know why this character is behaving like
this. Though you can’t accept the behaviour because it is not good according to
your moral standards, you still feel empathy for the character because you know
why he behaves thus.
The more you
know, the greater your empathy. No, it’s
not merely knowledge. It’s more about a
refinement of the consciousness. A
refinement that can come from a greater awareness and understanding rather than
from any religious rituals or platitudes.
If the
terrorist can raise his consciousness level, he won’t be able to kill anyone
even for his god.
The same logic
is applicable to every criminal.
Crime is born
of ignorance. Crime is a form of
crudeness, a lack of sophistication of the mind, even if it is done for the
sake of gods or morality or whatever.
God would have
become Satan without that elevated level of consciousness. With that consciousness, He must be enduring
a lot. Poor God.
PS. A poem I
wrote about two decades ago on this theme:
God’s
Love Song
Well written. On the hindsight of this concept, imagine if India tries to become the God(dess?) to her neighbours. She will be pelted with stones without the fear of retaliation.
ReplyDeleteWe want a god who can instill that consciousness on every being but as you said, with that consciousness he/she does become stagnant.
But if all human beings raise their consciousness level, then there would be no need for endurance and suffering. People with higher level of consciousness don't inflict suffering on others.
DeleteAbout India, I think you are being proved by what's happening now. Who knows what will happen? The next world war? Hope not.
Does it not depend on the economy of the entire world? Capitalism might come in rescue, pun intended
ReplyDeleteEconomy is one of the aspects or dimensions. Man does not live by money matters alone. Religions make use of that fact and exploit them with illusions whereas what man actually needs is confrontation with realities.
DeleteWonderful thoughts Sir. Even your satires are thoroughly rational and to the point. There is nothing here for me to disagree.
ReplyDelete😊
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