My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the
slight details we are able to perceive
with our frail and feeble mind.
- Albert Einstein
Atheism vs. Reality
"When I really get some time the first thing I'm going to do is...."
I used to say that a lot.
You probably still do.
Now that I've retired to this Florida sand dune with my cat, I've got plenty of time...
...to read, to think, to speculate, to appreciate.
A bit of background on the Albert Einstein quote, the second by him I've used for the start a column...
...when he died even the dinky paper where I worked noted it with a front page banner headline.
The man's not too hard to admire. He revolutionized some pretty serious thinking with his E=MC² equation...
...opening the door to all kinds of things, including, unfortunately, the atom bomb.
Throughout most of my life I kept hearing about his ideas.
Some very sharp people tried to prove Einstein wrong...
...only to discover with a bit more investigation that he was right.
He even thought he was wrong about one of his key concepts once...
...but later he proved himself wrong about being wrong.
Anyway, one of the things I used to say was when I got time I'd try to figure out what this guy was really talking about.
So now that I've finally got time, I've read a few books.
The above quote popped out at about the same time I was reading about former President Clinton's meeting with China's President Jiang Zemia.
...where Jiang said, among other things, "I am an atheist."
Apparently Jiang doesn't get out of the office much...
...to confront some of the realities of the universe...
...the truth that's out there.
Since being out here these few years with mostly only a cat as company, I've come to appreciate the workings of things a bit more....
...realize how little we really understand.
Einstein searched for answers in realms far too lofty for most of us...
...and he regularly came face to face with Something far greater than himself.
The same Something that I (or anyone I suspect who really takes the time) can (with the right frame of mind) experience.
For me long walks on the beach help.
I do that a lot...
...especially very early in the morning or late at night.
This Something doesn't resemble the god that a lot of preachers talk about...
...threaten us with.
This Something is an all-encompassing, inseparable part of our deepest selves...
...that basically observes...
...allowing us the freedom to live life on our own terms...
...experiment with it...try things out...
...experience and learn about what works and what doesn't work.
I have the feeling that this Something is at some level experiencing Himself through us.
Letting us play; freely experiencing things without interference; finding out for ourselves.
Happiness, pain, wonderment, bewilderment...
Without sadness we could not recognize or appreciate happiness; without the bad, we would have no reference for knowing good.
So we've got to know about all these things.
Thus, human imperfections—our imperfections—are essential to the scheme of things.
If you really think about it...
...for Something that is truly omnipotent and omniscient...
...what other answer could there be?
And while I'm talking about things like omnipotent and omniscient...
...can a God who is all things...
...really have needs...
..or suffer with the very human traits of jealousy or anger, etc...
...or even had a need to be worshipped?
Seems to me that we've created a god in our image...
...complete with our imprefections.
What kind of a god would this really be?
Think about it.
