I’ve tried and tried for the past three days and I’m just having one of the longest writer’s blocks I’ve had in years. I’ve written a first sentence twenty times and I can’t get my thoughts to flow. So this post you’re about to read is called “Unanswered questions of the curious mind”. A long time ago, I wrote this post on the Notes section on Facebook.
Difficult times give you the need to believe in something and I am no longer an atheist (not very spiritual either) but this is a pretty good look into my teenage version’s brain. So, here goes :
Unanswered Questions of the Curious Mind – January 1, 2011
I was at the temple with my dad this evening. Considering how it’s New year and there are very few temples around this area, it was extremely crowded. I being the person who doesn’t pray was looking around. If there were approximately 100 people, I saw 70 of them with eyes closed, praying like there was no tomorrow. I thought, does God answer every single prayer? That was when I remembered, someone told me, We are all God’s puppets. If God is making us do the things we do, then why do we put ourselves in a situation where we need such desperate help from the unknown power?
I remember the times when my mother told me, Pray to God before you go for your exams. How does that help? He helps me in writing my exam better? If God was going to help me, why did I have to study? Why not play more?
I saw in front of a church,’ God answers all prayers.’ If he does, why the war widows? Why not let a happy family be a happy family? Why the infinite amounts of orphans? I could swear, most of their parents died during a happy period.
Why the number of families who commit suicide?
I’ve heard stories that said “Lord Shiva is the God of death.” Really? So how come Yamadharma exists?
I tell my sister a story, and the tenth person who hears it, hears a completely different one. We’re the hundredth generation. What makes everybody think the story is true?
They just found the place Krishna lived in, underwater. Where is he now? Heavens? How did he go there?
Who told us about heavens and hell?
Psychiatrists can prove through hypnotism that people see a light when they die, that they see souls and a soul master who can predict the future. Is that God? Which God is he?
5th grade History text book says, Man came from monkeys. Were Adam and Eve monkeys?
Who were early men? God had kids. God had clothes. So Adam and Eve came into existence before God?
In that case, Who put them here? If you tell me that the story of Adam and Eve is just a fantasy, how can you believe that the story of God isn’t ?!
Who has seen God? Who saw the way they dressed?
Ramayana was written by Valmiki said my comic book.
How about the other stories? Who wrote them? Who saw them? Which of them is still alive to prove it?
I saw David Blaine’s magic on tv yesterday. He survived doing the kind of magic, most people would die doing. Is he God? Does he have supernatural powers? How?
A confused soul I may be. But if one person can answer every one of my questions with proof, I’ll believe that God existed.
Yet again, this was written a long time ago and I don’t really agree with all of it right now, but I find it interesting that I would have given something like this so much thought because over the years, I’ve developed a very “don’t know, don’t care” attitude towards these questions.
Anyway, I’m going to find a way to fix my writer’s block. Until then, have a good week ahead of you 😀
Loud Thoughts Voiced Out 
A very thought-provoking topic indeed !!
I believe that even if there’s no physical ‘God’ who would do miracles and save us every time, the importance of a religion lies in the faith that it instills in us. To help others, not to do a wrong thing.. because somebody is there looking out, and that we will be rewarded/punished suitably..
I, however, have more belief on the concept of ‘human God’.. We serve Him by serving the people around us..
Anyways, we all are entitled to belief whatever makes our life and principles simpler.. Existence or non-existence, its just a excuse..
Human God – that is a very interesting perspective and I don’t think I’ve really heard anyone say that.. Good going 🙂
Like I mentioned, this was a few years ago and my perspective has changed. I’m not full on spiritual but I do believe there is a higher power somewhere that’s doing his/her thing but if I’m going to sit around and expect this power to feed me and protect me, it’s not going to happen. Whatever I do, good or bad, I have to live with it – the shit we do is the shit we get. Does that make sense ? 🙂
Thank you 🙂
As kids, we used to say a prayer in school, that when translated, would be :
I do not ask you to take me, just show me the way..
I do not ask you to protect me, just strengthen me..
Your words sounded familiar.. so mentioned this.. 🙂
Ahh, the mention of prayer in school brings back so many memories. Me and my friends hated prayer time at school, we’d find any excuse to stay holed up in our classes. Thanks for the trip down memory lane 🙂
My pleasure 🙂
I used to have a lot of these questions…not so much as I get older. Not sure if this is true, but my husband says some faiths are reconciling evolution with creationism.
Same here.. These questions keep fading as I get older.
That is a very different perspective. I’m not sure if it’s true, but it is definitely a way to look at it.. 🙂
Thank you for reading and the comment 🙂
Well, im always intrigued by what people question. And I must say that I lovr every single qurstion listed. Personally, I am a spiritual person…so I have one question for you just out of curiosity. What changed your mind? Why do you think differently now? Okay, that’s 2 questions but closely related. Haha.
I hit rock bottom beginning of last year and my life just came crashing to a halt. Nothing anybody did worked and I needed something to believe in. I still am not very spiritual, but I do believe that there’s a higher power somewhere in the Universe.
Thank you for reading 🙂
Sorry for the typos. I did this while juggling lunch.
No problem:)
Well the prayer thing is relatively easy to answer: it’s a reminder, not a litigation process. It’s for us, not for God. It sounds dumb, until you realize how, as with anything else, a lack of study or practice easily leads to being distracted from spiritual matters, which we can’t afford to do because those matters determine how we live our life. Same for all the ceremonies and such.
Unlike some other comments here,I don’t think we should abandon the idea of religion being the pursuit of factual truth, because that’s kinda the whole point. But I digress.
People seem to always struggle with the whole “why do bad things happen” thing, but don’t seem satisfied with free will as an answer. But consider this:
1) Genesis’s “created in his image” thing. What’s the one big thing that separates us from most from other animals (“soul” doesn’t count, stop cheating, you naughty thing, you)? The refined creative impulse. Aka “Art”. I think this is what it meant, since, you know, we’re not exactly transdimensional brings.(OR ARE WE?)
2) What does the creative impulse require? Why, free will, of course.
3) Finger getting tired. This tablet is small.
4) The only way to have real free will is to have at least one choice with negative implications. God knew that we would have no real concept of free will until destructive options became available, utilized, and then allowed to follow to their logical conclusion. There was no other way to sacrifice ignorance of the destructive impulse without creating a destructive impulse. No matter what you’re told, you don’t GET sex until you start experiencing sexual impulses. There’s no way around it. You have go through that chaotic phase in order to be mature enough to experience and appreciate the beauty of physically bonding with your significant other. OR you become another Charlie Sheen, or something.
Sorry, rushed through this, got a new, completely nonsensical post to write. Also, homework, but that’s not important.
Wow. That is probably one of the best answers I’ve heard put in such a cool way. Have you ever considered being a lecturer or a teacher? I swear you’d be amazing at it !
Charlie Sheen, you had me giggling at that. I agree with the destructive impulses. I do, more often than not, struggle with the “why do bad things happen” and I have never considered ‘free will’..
I have absolutely nothing to say. I feel like a kid that learnt a cool fact – you kind of just put a very different perspective on things.
Thank you for reading and the comment 🙂
No problem, and I’m glad I could answer some questions. I did seriously consider being a theology professor for a long time, then backed out because, like politics, is intellectually exhausting and leaves me ultimately unsettled and unsatisfied. Focusing on my music now, even though the lecturing impulse is always there, which makes me wonder if I should go back to the former choice. But I digress. In fact, that’s pretty much all I do when I talk. Digress.
Well, I enjoyed it. I have [had] many of the same ?’s. I think God is a feeling. That’s all I can tell you. haha. Did I mention I enjoyed the post? 😉
Haha yes you did. And thank you very much 😀
I really loved this read. I went down this road couple years back and still came up with no answers to those questions. It is important to know though, that some questions will never be able to be answered. We can wonder, we can philosophize, yet, they still remain. I have come to a certain level of peace with that. Still, the act of wondering is still so much fun… for while I may come up with no tangible or satisfying answers, there is a certain satisfaction to be derived from a functioning mind. let each man believe what he may… as long as it works for him.
I used be super curious about these things and demanded for answers all the time. But like I said, as I grew up, I just developed a ‘Don’t know, don’t care’ attitude about it because I figured I might never learn these answers and all it did was start arguments.
Thank you so much 😀
Oh and please check my blog out… it seems we may have a bit in common.
ramblingsofnekaaar.wordpress.com
Thank you.
Are still asking for answers to those questions in order to believe that God exists?
Aul
Not really, no. I’ve accepted that I may never find the answers I’m looking for and that my faith cannot come from logic. It has to come from the heart. 🙂
I see….
That’s a bittersweet answer. Would you not agree that things that come from the heart can change over time and that they are very easy to be swayed?
Aul
Not necessarily. I mean when you love someone, it comes from your heart and you don’t usually get swayed. The same could be said for faith.
What do you think love is, if I may ask?
Aul
You’re asking me to explain the most unexplainable feeling on the planet. Why oh why? Shakespearism apart, i really don’t know how to explain love and i know a lot of people who say love is but an idea or a myth but i think its an emotion that just fights all odds. Like a mother towards her child. I sound cheesy I know but there’s no way to explain love without sounding that way.
Ah my friend, then perhaps I can clear some things up for you.
Love is waaay more than an emotion; love is an act of will; it’s giving, to be short. If love were just a feeling, wouldn’t it vanish once the feeling vanished? Say I’m dating a young girl and all of my feelings are directed towards how amazing she is, protecting her, and making sure she’s happy. That’s a big part of love. But say some other guy starts trying to “mess around” with her, and I just stand by and watch. Could you really say that I love her? Maybe, but only insofar that I feel like it. If I choose to be selfish instead of selfless and stand up for her, can your really say that I love her.
Perhaps, if you really want to say love is an emotion, you also must say that an action proves that love exists.
Relating this to faith; faith, which should be set in love, cannot necessarily spring forth from emotion, which, even if it isn’t lost, can still remain “unreal” in a sense because no action proves it. There are logical answers to faith; God intended for there to be, because logic is firm, but emotion is unstable.
Whoops, that was kinda long 🙂
Sry! I’m totally happy that you’re talking with me about this! Good stuff!
Aul
God is amazing & working in your life !