God, hope and power

Done with the 5th season of Game of Thrones and so far the least impressive (as in, did not make an impression that will last long). Don't worry- there won't be spoilers if you haven't seen the season yet, except for a very minor one. You have been warned, nevertheless.

The idea of God is an interesting one. As I've probably written about him in the past, I firmly believe that he is a construct of human imagination which serves a very real purpose- one which has become less relevant over time but is still very important to a majority of human population. The fact that all Gods of all religions have such strong connections with humans as compared to other creatures is a basic indication that this is the case. But I will not go into the details of proving why God probably doesn't exist and rejoice at the fact that his existence doesn't really matter- since he is all loving and would not differentiate between his children on the basis of the love his children have for him. Thus I am sure that I will be loved by the God who does not exist- even more so than others who waste time trying to impress him.

While the idea of God and the cause of his creation are interesting things (kings and noblemen probably created him to authenticate their power, and to control citizens through fear of divine punishment in case they escaped punishment on earth)- what is even more interesting is how God has completely overdone his stay. A concept created thousands of years ago, it is amazing how God is well and truly alive to this day- where thousands of people die in his name every year.

One reason I've always thought of is the hope that God gives us- humans don't always get what they want, and can lose hope and thus the willingness to live. The fact that there is someone looking after us gives us the hope that better days might come. Thus, a sense of purpose is also created within people and thus they lead happier lives, and have a sense of purpose while doing things to survive. The hope that God will help you with getting a better job, or in getting a better girl, or in buying that new phone will keep you from giving up altogether.

Only recently did I think of a side-effect of this hope creation. Certain people who are highly intelligent, yet realise the true meaningless of life may not be able to live with their sense of powerlessness and hope. They might not survive long enough to reproduce and even if they do- may not do well enough in life with all their sadness. A highly philosophical person would find life much less fun to live than a high flying investment banker who fucks around in Beverly Hills. Thus, by a process of natural selection people who are highly skeptical- at least some of them become extinct and are replaced by people who are have hope and faith (and God certainly helps).

 A connected, and less important reason might be the difficulty people have in comprehending the choices in front of them and in knowing they have an eternal father figure to protect them even if their real world parents are not. God can also be a convenient construct who will help you reinforce your beliefs (which may include questionable ones like killing Jews or killing non Muslims, or indeed less questionable ones like cheating or stealing to help your own family survive).

The most recent reason I observed has to do a lot with the corporate world. While this reason is again connected to the other two, it is a fresh perspective and helps explain the often seen higher amount of faith that adults display in God, compared to their younger folks in the same society.  In GoT Season 5 *Minor Spoiler Ahead* Cersei is kept in the dungeon by the High Sparrow and his followers. This is probably the worst time Cersei has gone through till now, even though she's had pretty much half a dozen blood relatives murdered. She's deprived of food, water and company and placed in a dungeon. Once in a while she is teased by a lady- lets call her 'lady' for now. This lady confidently defies all the threats that Cersei (the queen mother) makes about how she will make the lady regret every bit of what she was doing. The lady goes on to tease Cersei with water and ensures her of being given water if she confesses to her sins (of incest). Cersei's stubbornness in refusing to beg or plead for mercy is understandable given her family's position. However, the same amount of stubbornness is shown by the lady (who ends up being the more stubborn of the two in the end). BUT HOW? The lady is an absolute nobody, yet she gets the power (along with the other followers of the 'High Sparrow') to keep Cersei in their prison in spite of being absolute nobodies in the real world. The answer of course is their faith. They believe in the power that a queen has- but more than that, they believe in God, who has higher power than those who have power over them on earth. From our horrible bosses, or the parents that we hate or the corrupt politicians- to this day it is a problem for humans that they are governed by people whom they despise. A higher power which no one can see, which supports their beliefs is so much more convenient than reality.


For the sake of completeness, I'd like to mention a bias believers have in perceiving events that often helps sustain their belief- they would notice successful prayers more than failed ones and this also contributes a lot to how adults have stronger faith over time. Another reason is the high amount of responsibility adults tend to have, resulting in lack of self belief in handling all the responsibility by themselves. The list is far from complete, but Ive highlighted the important reasons hopefully.

To conclude I should say I do love God- not because I am selfish and expect anything in return (I do not assume God is selfish enough to love only those who love him), but because I am in awe of the magnificent creation of man that gives billions of people a reason to live. I should also mention that a strong morality, and love of human beings is absolutely essential for sustained happiness of an atheist, in case you're a non believer.

Is retribution given individually or as a group?

I'm not a great believer in God, although I appreciate the importance of the concept. The fact that pretty much all nations had developed belief separately shows the importance of the concept. It's as crucial to human civilisation as language- which again was developed separately among different populations, but with a common purpose and with the use of speech/writing as means of communication- and much the same way, the concept of God as all powerful and all knowing, all forgiving and punishing the wicked is also mostly common across the world. However, the number of atheists/agnostics has been quickly on the rise, and although they still don't have enough confidence to proclaim themselves in public, there are several online groups and communities that are springing up. Atheism wasn't uncommon in 17th and 18th centuries in Europe and Nietzche's writings which I came across talked about how atheism was quite common in his days. In India however, the movement is very recent. Development- especially philosophical development (through books, movies and music, and not the GDP kind of development which possibly precedes it), along with scientific progress probably help the movement towards atheism. There is a society called Indian Atheists which conducts meets in different parts of the country and the meets are organised through social networking websites. Although atheism/agnosticism lacks acceptance in society, it is commonly accepted online. Communities such as those on 9gag and reddit, and even some posts on facebook these days have accepted atheism as a philosophy.

I've been talking about atheism and agnosticism by clubbing them together, though they've very different. I myself belong to a third group which does not care if God exists. It's probably closer to atheism than agnosticism, and revolves around the fact that if God is as he is spoken about in scriptures and stuff, he wouldn't hate atheists for not believing in him, for he is not an asshole who is self-obsessed. The same way most religions portray Gods as being human in physical form (in spite of millions of other species that God has allegedly created), they think of him as being human in thought as well, and having requirements such as wanting love and affection and appreciation for all his work. Which is kind of silly, really. I reckon that atheists are in general, more honest and would be preferred by God over the selfish theists who more often than not, pray for their own needs and desires. Having said that, I do love theists, and do in a way, wish that I had faith. It's something that gives great strength and courage to do things atheists may not do, and also gives a great sense of purpose to life. The Darwinian theory or classical economic theories about the purpose of life are more accurate, but less appealing to us, as humans. Although dangerous when in huge groups that hate other religions, theists are loving people who are also possibly more successful than their atheist/agnostic friends.

Coming to the topic, I started thinking today if according to religious books, whether sin can be delegated. By this what I mean is that, if there is something that is sinful and I don't want to do it, can I ask someone else to do it for me? Today afternoon someone asked me to take their 'pappad' (a kind of snack) which was about to be wasted, because she didn't like wasting food. She's a strong believer and I'm fairly sure that she doesn't want to sin. I, as always wanted to irritate her and kept saying no and making up excuses, but finally agreed, even though I did not want it and would end up wasting it myself. Giving rewards and punishments individually is not a very efficient method of management in a corporation. They are mostly given to top performing groups/teams and there may be separate, smaller incentives to top individual performers, if any. Punishments are not always done in the same fashion but I do believe that it would be more efficient. In corporations, the punishment is often not being rewarded, and thus it is naturally built into the system when rewards are given likewise.

So does God punish/reward as individually or as a whole? If not individually, is it our family or our neighbourhood, or is it earth as a whole? Do animals also get punished for their sins? Only those who've never played with pet cats or dogs would say that animals are incapable of thinking or acting with intelligence. I'm certain that even among animals, there would be a few evil ones, as is the case with us. By giving me the pappad, the girl shouldn't relieve herself of her punishment, because she is not creating any value by doing it- she's only transferring the sin. A corresponding situation in a company is where one division transfers it's losses using accounting loopholes into another. Thus in this case, we should be given our punishment as a group. But then, we interact with so many people that it's difficult even for God to constantly keep track of different groups,  which keep on changing and intersect at several instances with each other.

I think it was Valmeeki in the Indian mythology, who was the hunter who killed animals to feed his family who changed his 'evil' ways when his family shamelessly told him on his face, that they wouldn't share his sin since it was he who killed the animals and not them. Dumb stories like this make people do dumb things like delegating the sin of wasting a pappad, even in this day and age. Similarly, my grandfather makes others kill insects and other creatures that get into the house, scared of sinning himself - believing strongly that sin can be delegated.

Along with the hope that God would not care about whether we believe in him or talk to him or whatever, I kind of hope that all the punishments that we get are given as a group and never individually. I don't think that anything in this world can benefit only a single person, and if someone else benefits from it even without their knowing, that is still a sin of ignorance. Even in small groups that constantly change, it is impossible to give out punishments, since others may get benefits group their sins, some time in the future. And in a very remote and connected argument, since anyone in this world has the ability to stop sinning of humanity altogether (yea right!), it is everyone's fault when someone in this world sins.