I’ve decided there isn’t a God - at least where God is a singular being that we only know of through passed-down anecdotes and elaborate man-written texts. I THINK I’ve also decided it’s not possible to prove the existence of God. How can we possibly? Unless of course we redefine God.
I’m on a bit of a journey here so things are developing. As a fairly recently 'converted' atheist, I’ve come across another wrinkle. As mentioned, my wife Jan is a spiritualist and a medium. She believes without doubt that there is SOMETHING else and/or SOMEWHERE else after we depart this life. This is neither the Christian 'Garden or Eden' nor the Muslim Barzakh for example, no, it's more of a non-specific, universal place. Now, I quite like this theory, not only because it offers some comfort as I get ever-nearer my wooden box, but also some flexibility from a spiritual point of view. In other words, we must have come from somewhere. Not just us, everything. We're told the big bang started with an infinitesimally small speck, but even that had to come from somewhere. The tiniest speck is made of something, and that something is made of something so ultimately we arrive at the smallest possible something - and that had to come from somewhere! We end up with something so infinitesimally small that our human minds can't compute it. Is it so small that it's just energy and not yet matter? Blimey.
My belief, or at least very strong suspicion, based on Jan’s spiritual beliefs, is that there is 'something else'. So, let’s have a peek at what spiritualists believe? They have a seven point code, which is based on a kind of spiritual logic. I think it’s very different to the multitude of ‘mainstream religious texts’ that contain all sorts of unlikely nonsense. One of the big stumbling blocks is that followers of each religion believe theirs is the right one; and that they have the ultimate set of principles by which to live – and die. But they can’t possibly all be correct can they? They are all written by various scribes who have to make themselves sound interesting otherwise people would go next door. To the mosque perhaps – or the other way, to a church of whichever denomination. In other words, the authors have a vested interest, both spiritually AND materially, to make their stories engaging.
Here are the Spiritualist's 7-Point Code:
- The Fatherhood of God.
- The Brotherhood of Man.
- The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels.
- The Continuous Existence of the Human Soul.
- Personal Responsibility.
- Compensation and Retribution Hereafter for all the Good and Evil Deeds done on Earth.
- Eternal Progress Open to every Human Soul.
I won't delve into all of them, but what about the first point, The Fatherhood of God. Oh, hang on, that’s immediately sounds like it’s going against my atheistic beliefs. But it turns out that this God is quite different from the grand, all-powerful figure sitting in judgement on a throne. Spiritualists believe that God is a creative force or energy. Here from their creed:
“By a study of nature, that is, by trying to understand the laws of cause and effect, which govern all that is happening around us, we recognise that there is a creative force in the universe.* This force, or energy, not only created the whole universe but life itself in its many forms and is continuing to create today, creating, not from nothing, but of itself, and the effects of this eternal creation can be seen around us today, even in the farthest reaches of outer space, as has been shown in its astounding grandeur by the remarkable photographs taken through the medium of the Hubble telescope. This leads us to acknowledge that God, the Creative Force, manifests directly or indirectly in all things. We know this power as God and, as we are a part of the life created by God, we acknowledge God as our Father.”
I think this is saying that rather than being a figurehead which is quite separate and superior to everything, the Spiritualists’ God is part of everything in the form of an energy or force. I’m far more prepared to accept this. It’s a gentler, less threatening theory.
(* I've starred the above specifically because I've recently heard theories (from, for example, Philosopher of Science, Stephen Meyer) that the complexity of life in all it's forms simply couldn't have evolved naturally - it's just not possible. With that of course, he's questioning Darwinism. The data from discoveries in cosmology, physics and biology support not just the existence of an intelligent designer of some kind, but also the existence of a personal god.)
Then points 4 and 6 about the continuation and eternal progress of the human soul. I like that too, particularly because some spiritualists, my wife for example, communicate with 'spirit' and appear to endorse our progress after we're finished with our bodies 'down here'.
Am I shoe-horning this Spiritualist interpretation of God into my new atheistic beliefs? Indeed, can they co-exist? I think they can, particularly if I eschew the concept of God to be the singular being on a throne. I'm basing the whole thing on Jan’s (and many other people's) certainty that there is something beyond, something bigger than we have in this life. I don’t want to turn this into a crusade for spiritualism, rather use it to try and organize my thoughts.
One thing in its favour is that Spiritualism doesn’t seem to bully us with threats of eternal damnation in the afterlife nor burning at the stake in this one. It’s more of a personal responsibility thing where we become a huge brotherhood with each other which is in turn part of a wider universe. Here again from another of their writings:
"Spiritualism bows to no creeds or dogmas; its philosophy is centred around seven principles which were received direct from Spirit through the mediumship of Emma Hardinge Britten (1823-1899), one of the pioneers of British Spiritualism. It should be borne in mind that these are principles, not commandments and in accepting them, one is accorded complete liberty of interpretation."
This philosophy seems to allow us to make our own minds up rather than face eternity in a fiery pit if we mess up. I refer here to the first of this series where I expressed the hope that children be allowed to make up their own minds and not be indoctrinated by adults or the world in general.
Does consciousness survive death? Or is our life and death on earth just a part of one eternal consciousness? Part of a never-ending universe? It’s easy to believe in something when it’s written convincingly and you WANT something to believe in or NEED something to believe in - perhaps because you’re ill, or lonely, or recently bereaved, or elderly. God, as in the Holy Bible, promises everlasting life if you both behave yourself and give your soul (and worldly goods) to HIM. And much of that belief is taken on what is termed faith. I'm not taking the micky here, but having faith like that must be very reassuring. I came across a woman in the local park recently and we got talking about religion (for some reason!). I told her about my newly found atheism and she was aghast. How can you go through life with nothing to look forward to, facing a blank wall? I go back and paraphrase Mr Gervaise, 'it means I'm free to live today.' She was genuinely distressed for me. The lady and I met before I'd reached this point on my little journey and begun to consider Spiritualism. I could have told her there's no need to be distressed but if I'd mentioned my new beliefs (or theories), I think she would have been horrified. Her dedication to her branch of religion would not allow such diversity or leniency of thought for fear of damnation. I wish I'd left her alone, she was perfectly happy on her bench in the park before I happened along!
One conundrum is that man (or is it mankind) came on the scene roughly 300,000 years ago in Africa. That, I believe, is scientifically verifiable. Though science is NEVER settled and we must be prepared to consider changing our views as different theories surface and are proven. A big question for me is, why then did ‘God’ wait approximately 298,000 years before announcing himself by sending his son? We only have the son’s word that this God exists at all and some of the stuff Jesus got up to while he was here was difficult to believe, particularly because there’s dispute as to who actually wrote much of the bible, a question about which there appears to be no definitive answer and suggestions are numerous. If fact, they can't even agree how old Jesus was when he died - 33 seems a decent guess and that after only 3 years ministry. He certainly achieved a lot in 36 months. A miracle almost.
There’s so much that we have to take on trust. Take the ten commandments, that were ‘given’ to Moses after he prayed to God. Some of them are eminently sensible, like not stealing or committing adultery or killing, but the first one given to Moses to pass on to the rest of humankind was, ‘thou shalt have no other gods before me’, which could be considered a bit presumptuous. This of course refers to the single, sitting on a throne God, as opposed to the spiritualist God, the creative, universal force. Presumably at this point, which incidentally is in the Old Testament, and very early on the piece, nobody was aware that the reward for those who obeyed the ten commandments would spend eternity in a sunlit garden in heaven. And those that didn’t obey would sit for ever in a fiery pit.
I will say though that, leaving aside the ‘singular God’, the thrust of the commandments is a move for the good. Did Moses, with help perhaps, take it upon himself to make the world a better place so invented his commandments. That would have been a noble act would it not? He could have invented the God angle for gravitas. Perhaps he engraved the tablets (or whatever they were) himself!
Though I haven’t really explored this yet, there is a synergy between Moses and Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha). They were both born rich, both renounced their wealth, saw ‘signs’ through a journey and prayer and taught ‘a better way’. Overall that's noble, until you factor in the bullying and combat that appears to go on in the Christian and Moslem faiths.
Suggesting that Moses invented the commandments is being a touch sarcastic, or to believers, cynical, but personally, the whole house of cards hinges on things I find it difficult to reconcile - like who actually wrote the texts and why. The only way we can make sense of it is through trust – or faith. Christianity for me is too rigid, and frankly too unbelievable. The spiritualistic (and Buddhistic) approach at least offers some flexibility.
If I’m not careful, I will be writing about this for ever – like proper theologians – which I’m not. I’m just an ordinary Joe, one of billions, who would like to find some sort of answer, and also perhaps, some sort of comfort before my eternal hole in the ground - which believe me, is fast approaching. In the context of time, for all of us, some sort of transition will here in the mere blink of an eye.
At this point I’ve concluded that I like the spiritualist ideas which are based around principles rather than commandments. Basically we are part of a universal force, from the tiniest creatures here on earth to the ever-changing enormity of outer space and beyond. We are part of it, and we will remain so for ever, in whatever shape or form,
I think the reason why the acknowledged 'major' religions are the biggest is because they shout louder. They also fight harder to grab souls from what is, after all, a finite pot. There are only so many souls to go round and so many tithes to collect. It takes a certain courage to believe in something that is not mainstream. Just as it takes courage to stand up to anything that is forced on us by an ever more frantic and bullying establishment, religious or political. Finally, if I look at it dispassionately, do I really want to be part of a religion that bullies and threatens me to be part of it?
Let's get this clear, I would never try and dissuade someone from a religious belief when it is obviously such a huge part of what they are. For many, religion probably becomes more important later in life when regular worship, and the friendship that goes with it, may be the most important thing in their life. That cannot possibly be a bad thing. I would never compromise that for anybody else. My ideas are my own and it was being too close to some pretty awful things that started me asking questions.
Ultimately, to follow any religion, there must be a pretty large element of trust. If we go just off the written word, it all seems rather unlikely and we find ourselves having to justify miracles and improbable scenarios. So, my current personal 'belief' is angling towards a universe of which we are all part and within which we'll continue to evolve. I'm not a spiritualist per se, but I do like their creed. It hasn't bullied or threatened me, nor has it fought wars to prove it's the most compassionate. Nobody has emerged from within to use it's influence for spiritual profit. Sure, the odd medium has 'fiddled the books' for personal profit and been exposed as a fraud - that is human nature. No real harm done, nobody died, no war was fought and the phony would thereafter live 'without' the movement. There is no big, singular figurehead with a large garden, nor is there a hell. There is just a huge and wonderful universe of which we are all an ongoing part.