There is ‘no’ benevolent God
There is no God ‘out there’ or ‘up there’. There is no merciful or benevolent God (much less one who created us, then tests us).
In this short clip from the film Avatar, the protagonist, Jake Sully in his Pandorian Avatar body, is seeking help from ‘Eywa’ — the Great Mother (of the Universe) — to protect the native Pandorians from the invading and destructive humans from Earth. His girlfriend/wife on seeing this emotional plea of Jake Sully, reminds him that “The Great Mother does not take sides”.
This idea resonates with me. The idea that there is a big-boss one-Creator (One God or One Allah or One Bhagwaan) sitting out there who created all life and is watching it play out from outside is quite a silly one (you will find it truly silly, and even highly objectionable, if you get over your fear of asking questions).
Hence, i have learnt to replace the word God with the word, ‘Life’. I have observed that the moment you do that, the ease of living through it, goes up manifold. This happens, because the responsibility of ‘my state of being’ (my happiness and sadness, my challenges and their solutions, the conducive or poor state of society that i live in), and the power to change it or manage it, shifts to me — and not remain with some outside force, who i must plead with, to go through this life. Life may still remain difficult, but the responsibility of dealing with its difficulty shifts to me.
‘Life Force’ does not take sides between one ‘idea of the creator’ or another.
(Much less valid is an idea of a merciful God/Allah, as the Christians or Muslims speak of his goodness to ‘save us’ — because that idea is completely abhorring — that the creator first creates creation, then offers humanity free will, and in this test of life, passes/fails humanity on the basis of whether they followed his ‘instructions’ sent via the son of god or other prophets. There is no greater, less worthy, an idea than this. But let’s not distract this dialogue into Abrahamic theologies).
As i close i leave the perplexed reader with Eastern — Hindu and Chinese — ideas of this concept called ‘Life’.
