5-27-2011

Let's suspend disbelief for a moment, see what there is to see with eyes unfocused..

There is an entity; from the start, this is a woefully inadequate description of the subject at hand. Emphasis may help to somewhat compensate for this deficiency in what follows, but for the sake of convenience one must, for the moment, accept such a gross understatement. “An,” indeed..

There is an entity which is, in fact, all things: everything that can be described or even obliquely referred to, and everything else as well. This entity spans, not just one piddling universe, but the grand intercosmic dramas that give rise to universes. Its depth begins at the thin sliver of reality humans can directly observe, and extends through and throughout the vast majority they cannot. It is all matter, all energy, all motion and, so much more, it is the progenitor of these same things. It is its own creator, maker of itself as everything, birthed in a purely rational process which is nevertheless simply beyond the scope of human comprehension.

It has a particular gender, opinions about whatever the current political issues are, a strong desire that people who talk about it a lot should be given lots of money, and a suggestively vitriolic hatred of gay people. Also, bears a remarkable resemblance to the cultural norms of whatever small handful of humanity it reveals itself to at any given time.

I think it would be better for everyone, especially believers, if people thought about their deities more and talked about (or listened about, rather) them less. There would be less inconsiderate violence and hatred, to be sure, and maybe smooth talkers wouldn't run the world quite as much as they do. Further, the thought experiment of speculating about one's creator might help people to a better understanding of their own moral responsibilities; or not, but that's beside the point in any event. My point is only a manifesto of my own: that the absurdity of the above description, of trying to resolve what people said about their gods with what such a being would actually have to be to exist, is why I've never been capable of religion, even when I did entertain the possibility of having an imaginary friend with superpowers.