One of the ways to keep an open mind is to compel oneself to
listen to novel ways of looking at things. Even better is to listen to a view
opposed to our own. I keep reading arguments from distant pasts when Advaitins
and Buddhists argued about the existence of Atman. “Atman is in you” said the
Advaitins. Buddha said that he looked deep inside and did not find any Atman.
Similarly, there are those who believe in “god” and those
who do not believe in “god”, the so-called atheists. Then there are those who
say that they do not know, the agnostics. I have always wondered what lead the
atheists to their belief. I found their
ideas well-articulated by Michael Shermer in a recent article in the Scientific
American (May 2012, page 86). Here is how it goes: If God is the creator and He
created all of these out of nothing, the next logical question is “who created
God?” If the answer is that God does not
need a creator, then why is it that the universe has to have a creator? (But,
that is not an argument. It is countering a question with another question)
If the argument is that God is not the creator of the
universe, but the creator of laws of nature, then God had no choice in the
creation of the universe, since such laws are deterministic. Pretty interesting
logic! But, we started with the premise that God was involved with creating the
laws of nature and therefore was indirectly the creator of the universe.
The problem is that these arguments prove only the
intellectual capacity, verbal skills, the speed of thinking and debating skills
of the discussants. Personally, I like the humility expressed in the Nasadiya
Sukta of Rg Veda (see post on March 21, 2010) which says that we really do not
know. I like Buddha’s teaching even
better. He would rather we spend our time by learning how to live this life
better.
