Paul Kemp in ‘The Rum Diary’ says, while high on drugs, ‘”I wonder what it is you might think about our different worlds,” he (lobster in a tank) looked at me kinda sideways and said, “Human beings are the only creatures on Earth that claim a God. And the only living thing that behaves like it hasn’t got one. Does the world belong to no one but you?” When he said that, I was taken aback. Not because of who was doing the talking. Because I finally understood the connection between children scavenging for food and shiny brass plates on the front doors of banks.’
Not all human beings claim a God, though many do claim many gods. Indeed, despite such a wide range of ‘moral references’, many do behave ‘godlessly’. Ironically, some are ‘godless’ yet ‘virtuous’. The Buddha is the best example, the ‘Teacher of humans and gods’, who realised what it means to be completely virtuous by taking bearing from complete wisdom personally realised. True virtue is not only about not doing any evil; it is also about doing all that is good. And what good is a ‘godless’ bank that glistens with gold in excess if it doesn’t help the poor in the most basic ways?
If one believed in a god and one does not follow every word one’s god says but like a buffet, one pick what one wants to hear and ignore the rest. One is oredi godless in some ways. It’s like buying a curry recipe yet by not following all the instructions in it, one ended up with another different dish. Is man following the will of god or rather it is our will that is overwriting his all the time based on our whims and fancy?Free will perhaps. If the will of man is free then how does free will fit into a concrete infallible plan of his? If everything that happens is happening according to plan….then can I say that my colleague falls very Ill becos it is all happening to plan and his will overwrites all. If not, then it is by my own will that I create my own heaven. By my own will, I create my own hell. Which is why the Buddha teaches that there is no creator god for man are heir to their own karma and by what one create for oneself, one will receive it in return. The universe and it’s occurrences are a result of the sum of the parts that make the whole. How “whole” is it to be complete? There is no end to what new parts can come out to make the whole for all things change. An ant has no intestine and yet it is a completely “wholesome” life. We always question who put it together. I like to think of our universe as a result of another universe that occurred spontaneously. Putting a godhead to an endless and beginningless circle only seek to put an end to our curious minds. Before we even go further with it…..we should ask which god is it really? The answer will always be ” the one I gave my heart to”.
Oh yes. That is definitely another of our whims and fancies.