Contemplating Hard Questions (Excerpt from Radicals, Religion and Revelation)

Contemplating Hard Questions


I wonder if God is real. Is YHVH of the Old Testament the one and only God as has been said? Is He one of many gods brought forth by a people who, in radical racism and nationalism, claim to be the Chosen People, superior to all others in God's view? Are those people actually a priest class who are meant to minister to and judge the rest of the world?

I wonder if this God, or any other goddesses or gods, exist outside humanity. I wonder if He/ She/They are beings outside us, or if He/She/They are but a codified expression of the Higher Self, the Ideal, the Freudian superego, or the Jungian collective awareness. I wonder if there is any true power in the universe to eliminate suffering and hardship and to reward kindness. Does a being, or beings, exist who help the individual in times of trial and celebrate with him in times of joy? If so, who are they?

Is life simply suffering thousands of pinpricks, each small and insignificant, but collectively torturous, that drives the good mad? Are there other realities, or are there absolutes? Is that which we see the only reality, or is there really anything beyond this plane? Are we beings that conceive and create the gods, or are we the creation of the gods? Does it matter how we pray, what we believe, what we hope, in whom is our faith; how, where and when we cast what spell? Is it all an illusion that is taken away by the strong man as he imposes his will on others around him? Are there any answers, truths, or absolutes?

Are all the fairy dust, visualizations, and fire chants just games we play with ourselves to minimize the pain that is life and to generate a focus out of the mundane drudgery of common existence? Are these rituals simply painting on the canvas of life that add color to the dark and gray, and having added that color take away the gloom?

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