Is there a God? (4 min)

This is one of "The questions", right? 

Let's try to answer. If we go deep into the question itself, there is one very important idea you'd want to explore first- what exactly do you mean by 'God'? Lets assume we're going for the popular view of God as the creator and manager of the creation, as someone out there somewhere, outside of the creation as we experience it, who created everything and subsequently also governs everything. If I be honest, this is the image of God which I was brought up with, and so were all my closest friends around me.

So, I'm modifying the question to 'Is there a creator?'

Image source: Profbond07 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Now, let's start with answering with a Yes. Yes, there's a creator who created everything. Whatever we see around us, including us, is the creator's creation. Isn't the next obvious question - "Then who created the creator?". You may answer that in the affirmative too, but then the next question would be - "Who created the creator's creator?" You may answer that with a Yes too, but I think you get the picture. At some point in this recursion, you'd have to step out and say - "This just exists." 

The idea of there being a creator away from the creation will definitely lead you to finally accept that "something" can exist without there being a "creator" apart from the thing itself. Just in that sense, there is no creator. So, the answer to the question is a firm No. 

You see the idea of someone creating everything is based on the way we humans make sense of the world. When a potter picks up some mud and very skilfully creates a pot out of it, we say the potter created the pot. In a similar manner, the world around us is full of so many "things", so many beautiful and mysterious "things", and it makes sense to us that someone would have created all of this at some point and has now left them for us to play with, of course having created us too in the meantime and all the while creating more and more "things" for ever and ever.. 

But does this mean there's no God? Is this an atheistic standpoint? Of course not.

Or does it mean we need to look into the question more deeply? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

What does this mean for you? Let's find out.

How do we make sense of the world with this 'truth'? Again, let's find out.

I should pause here but if there’s one thing I’d like to add in closing, it would be that the idea of this post is not to deny God, but to put forth the truth that the idea of God as a creator apart from the creation, which is the most commonly held perception, is limited and incomplete. Rather, if there is such a thing as God or Godliness, it is here and not somewhere far far away, it is now and not sometime in the far off future. 

To be continued...

<Next recommended reading: Who am I?>

I talk about this topic in a bit more polished manner at my podcast, The Unlearning Playground, here - Episode 3 - Is there a creator?

In all honesty, I prefer having personal chats rather than back and forth in the comments' section. If you feel like you want to have discussion with me regarding the content on my blog or anything else, please connect with me on my Instagram here: Chetan Narang - Instagram