My Journey to Free Thought: INTRODUCTION

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." Galileo Galilei

Source: Pixabay.com

I was having a chat with my friend (Stanley) a week ago about some unusual occurrences in my neighbourhood and during our discussion, the issue of religious faith sufficed. My friend was rather surprised and slightly uncomfortable about my views as the chat took a new twist. Then suddenly, he asked: "Do you believe in God?" I smiled and responded without much wonderment "how do you define God?" ...WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!!!!! He queried with a now slightly raised voice and utter astonishment. I had simply replied him with that question because how he perceives God apparently differs from how I perceive God. I am always met with such reactions of sentiment, anger, bias and rebuke when I divulge my views which are often divergent from the mainstream beliefs.

When it comes to matters of faith, people have been made to believe that the authority of the 'Almighty' is not to questioned. When bold assertions about God are scrutinized, we hear statements like "who are you to question God; why do you question God?; God knows best; You can not fully understand God". I believe that these statements come as a result of their constant indoctrination which has made them to become mentally lazy.

Stanley further queried me to understand how my thinking became so 'skewed' ...lol. I couldn't continue at that point because my earlier efforts to make him understand things from my perspective came across to him as outrageous, impious and blasphemous. I had learnt to keep my relationships with friends intact by not letting my divergent views come in between.

So, to end our discussion on a cordial note, I had these to say to Stanley:

"I do not question God as you would feel, rather, I question my fellow man's perception of God for he being a human is neither perfect nor infallible in his judgement and can easily misrepresent reality".

Perhaps Stanley was not satisfied with my response. I have come to realize that the series of events that leads to the enlightenment of a person is often a personal one. No one can compel you for it must be of your own conscious choice and intention to seek knowledge and find it. So, mine was a fruitful journey and a personal one which resulted from my very inquisitive nature and quest to know more.

To be continued in my next post, Please drop your comments and stay tuned !!!