Friday, November 22, 2013

GOD and the notion of Uncertainty...

The nothing of GOD is extremely intriguing. All of us have different notions of the Generator, Observer and Destroyers (GOD) based on our own experiences. Yes I said Experiences - read on to see why I make this claim. 

One of the comments on my last blog on the trinity of Hindu Mythology and the possible purpose behind the design mentioned - 
"Wonderful Article :-)
Reading this, I could not help myself but think these gods are man-made; they represent what our ancestors thought a wise idea worth sharing. However, the mystery is not solved yet. I just wanted to point out, I personally feel there is nothing divine and supernatural about gods as they have been portrayed for millenia!"
 
- Anonymous
The comment got me thinking about why the notion of divinity and supernatural ability might have been attributed to GODs. I think I possibly got the answer! or may be not! However this is definitely an interesting thought - worth sharing. 


Scientific Thinking which found its feet has been built on the concept of reasoning. The ability to question and associate a cause and affect relationship has definitely served the human society well. The near exponential growth in the number of invention, and its commercialization that has quickened the pace of economic growth and gotten more CERTAINTY into our lives. 

Extending this, the possible origin of the notion of God, then has to be on the other extreme - when one feels or experiences UNCERTAINTY. These two observations sort of reinforce my interpretation.
  1. The first one is definitely from my own personal experience of facing uncertainty which is so much a part of the entreprenuerial journey.
  2. The existence of a high belief rate in God in the lower economic strata of society!
 Let me try explain this observation a bit elaborately:

As an entrepreneur and you will realize the complexity of the issues that (s)he faces from various directions and the limited cognitive ability wouldn't be completely enough to handle this. Even effectuation strategy, which through its principles provides a very very effective way to handle this entrepreneurial uncertainty, acknowledges the role of surprises (Lemonade Principle). In handling such a high uncertain situation where the distrution is unknown and hence a risk cannot be associated requires one to be positive and optimistic all through - and also believe in the strength of miracles. Miracles that just emerge when you least expect it - while some could attribute it to luck, it could also be attributed to the ability of God to influence things in one's favor. An extension of the above claim where this relation of uncertainly in business and a religious bent of mind can be seen in most businessmen being devout to a specific deity.

I also extend this uncertainty to the economically weaker sections of the society, where people have no idea where their next day's meal would come from! The physical strength, minimum skill and the effort of these people is all that they would need to rely on in being able to sustain themselves on a day to day basis. This is possibly one of the reasons why this section of the society is highly susceptible to religious conversions - when there is a slightly better quality of life could be expected!

PS: The above is just a thought that I put across and would appreciate your  feedback on the same.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good thoughts, Sachi. When you strongly believe that someone else is planning your activities and is also looking after you and you just focus on your activities without worrying about the results, your chance of success increases multi-fold!

Naveen said...

It's a nice thought dear Sachi. It looks like many people see GOD as there LEADER of their life.

The notion of god is a multi-dimensional one. If we search for the origin of the gods or the names of the gods, it ends in the Vedas (Rig Veda). The names of the GODs were used to describe the natural phenomena (anthrophomorpism) and other things which relates to human growth. Those names were meant to convey the working mechanism of the Nature around us in a way that we can relate to and understand. Because GODs represented the Nature, they had the super-powers that human`s could not. Vedas are the source of the Knowledge.

Even if one denies the fact that Vedas contain any Knowledge about the working of Nature (although there are many proofs), they form the epitome of the beauty, elegance, and creative force of literary work. Because of this richness in the literature, the Purana's and the Upanishad`s made use of these descriptions and narrated stories to promote the concept of morality and spirituality. So, these stories, created multi-dimensions for the same GOD. Unfortunately, many times, these stories mis-represented the original meaning associated with the name of the god. These mis-representations, created conflicts among the different dimensions of the same god, leading to confusions in the current thinkers. So, we need to decipher all these dimensions to see for what, actually, that GOD stands for!!!

If we see, even in the lower-economic level of the people, in earlier days, GOD was just a means to attain Mukti, Nirvana, or something like that. GOD was not the ultimate. That was and is the case even today in majority of the higher class and other classes of people. In case of people who are clear of that goal -- to attain Mukti -- there may not be any uncertainty, they just follow a way that suits them and work towards attaining their goal.

However, in case of people of who are not clear (or uncertain) about their goal in life, as you have said, they might seek CERTAINTY in the name of GOD.