THE'I'SM

    Recently, I was asked by my good friend, Viji, if I believe in God.

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    Albert Einstein was once asked the same question. And here was his reply:

    “I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a [personal] God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings.”

    Courtesy: SJG Archives

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    My reply was way too snappy! But first,

A Primer on God-belief:

    Atheists disbelieve in the existence of God.
       
    Deists believe that God is the architect of the universe. And like all [human] architects, God only built the         universe and does not control its inhabitants.

    Theists on the other hand believe in a Personal God - He who watches over everything and He who has         complete control over every happening in this world. A theist may be:

    Monotheistic - believing there is and worshipping only one God (and hence one deity).
    Polytheistic - believing there are and worshipping many Gods (and hence many deities).
    Henotheistic - believing there is one God but worshipping many deities.
    Monoaltristic - believing there are many Gods but worshipping only one deity
    Pantheistic - believing that God is the whole [universe]
    Panetheistic - believing that the whole [universe] is in God.

    Fedeists believe that [religious] faiths are independent of reason.

    Agnostics believe that the truth about the existence of God is unknown or unknowable. An agnostic may be:

   
    Strongly Agnostic - "I can't know if God exists or otherwise... So can't you... Ever!"
    Weakly Agnostic - "I don't know whether God exists or not... But one day [in the future] we will find evidence!"
    Agnostically Atheistic - "I don't claim the existence of God... And [hence] I certainly don't believe in any!"
    Agnostically Theistic - "I don't claim the existence of God... Still, I certainly believe God exists!"
    Apothetically Agnostic - "Only you and I are arguing about God... But God doesn't seem to be concerned about     the fate of the humans! If He really cares, why isn't He proving His existence [to us]?"

    And finally, Apatheists aren't interested in claiming or denying the existence of God.

    (Clearly, Einstein was more of an agnostic deist.)



Look ma! I've a theory too:

    [After my first introspection about God in all my life,] I see the the word 'God' as the letter 'i' used in algebra which denotes the square root of -1. Just like the Italian mathematician Gerolamo Cardano, while trying his hands on solving cubic equations, had helped in the conception of the idea of complex numbers, I believe that the ancient philosophers, while trying to answer fundamental questions like "How life and the worlds originated?", had helped in the conception of the idea of 'God'. Just like the idea of 'i' solved many polynomial equations which were never before 'solvable', the idea of 'God' had helped answer many a question which could never be 'answerable'.

    I also believe that it is very likely that humans may lack the intellectual capability to see / understand the answers which explains their very existence. Just like, say, a canine when crossing the road shall be unable to answer questions like "Why are there alternating white lines in the middle of the road?", "What are these beings [on wheels] moving at insane speeds and where are they heading to?" let alone - "By what degree is a V-twin engine more efficient than a V-3 engine?"

    Although these road-crossing-canines, [possibly] have theories of their own as to what cars and buses are (or even have no theories at all), they don't argue with fellow canines to press their theory - don't form herds based on their theories - don't  indulge in"dog-fights" with other herds having different theories - don't kill each other for the sake of their own theories.

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    "For God's sake Viji, I give a damn about God!" I snapped.

    (Non-empathetic apatheism maybe?)