In Bertolt Brecht’s Stories of Herr Keuner someone asks Herr
K if there is a god. Herr K said, “I
advise you to consider whether your conduct would change in the light of your
particular answer to this question. If it would change, then I can help you at
least to this extent, that I say, you have already decided. You need a God.”
When Dostoevsky’s Ivan
Karamazov declared that “There is no God and hence everything is permitted,” it
was a painful realisation that God was a need for most people to give the necessary
reins to their behaviour. God is a moral
police who tells us what is right and wrong and why we should do the right
things. That’s why we find the gods in
various scriptures giving too many commandments.
As many thinkers have
pointed out, however, “A God whom one needs, is not needed.” Catholic theologian Hans Kung, in his magnum
opus Does God Exist?, explains this
thus: “… God can never be a function or a means to an end (for the education of
children, for politics, Church and so son), if he is to remain God.” Kung also refers to certain thinkers and
theologians who argued that “A God who is there, is not God.” What such thinkers argue is that God is not
an entity like the Qutab Minar or the Chilka Lake or even the “love between two
human beings.”
Most people view God as
an entity: a moral police, a solace, a protector-preserver-destroyer, and so
on. Such a God may fulfil certain
meaningful functions in our life and make life’s drudgery easier. But that God will remain a tool, a means and
little more. Such gods can turn deadly
in times of strife. They become our
beloved possessions in need of defence. Instead
of the God protecting us, we protect our God by fighting wars and jihads.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “I
do not regard God as a person. Truth for
me is God… God is an idea, Law Himself…. He, therefore, does not rule our
actions and withdraw Himself. When we
say He rules our actions, we are simply using human language and we try to
limit Him.” It is only when we can rise
to such a level of understanding God that we will be genuinely spiritual. Anyone who has reached that level of
understanding will never indulge in any kind of violence in the name of
gods.
Today, as the country
waits with bated breath for the reaction of certain religious people to the
verdict on a godman, it is good to think about our god and religion. Let us liberate god from our jejune clutches
so that God will liberate our souls.
God is definitely a need for most of the people and sadly God is also a mess to fool those ready to be fooled in his name.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I'm suggesting to redefine God. But most people will prefer to clutch their favourite idols and remain deluded!
DeleteHi Tomichan,
ReplyDeleteThe real problem is people fail to understand the true God. Jesus claimed to be God and said He will die and rise up on the third and fulfilled that promise. Even many people claiming to be "Christians" do not want to know the true God because their sins will be exposed.