(written 2015/10/20, posted today)
What if there was no God? I don’t mean: ‘What if there was no God anymore,’ or ‘There was a God but now He is gone.’ I mean what if there never was God in any singular form or in any plural form for the polytheists. Neither in full- or semi- human form or in any other form such as wind or air or sunshine or anything. No demi-gods, no deer-God or God of many bosoms, no coming back as a bug or a donkey, no working one’s way up the spiritual ladder life-after-life, no weighing of souls against a feather, no heaven, no hell, no angels, no Satan, no devil, (I’m throwing in…) no witches, no satyrs, no mythical beasts, no super-humans or master race. No almighty power. No one protecting, inspiring, avenging, punishing, exhibiting their will, working in mysterious ways, controlling us poor sad mortals, giving us hope, listening to our prayers, punishing us for our sins or giving-a-damn in absolutely any way about any of us, about what we do of our own volition, what we do in His name, what we do for the greater glory of, what we think, how we behave, how we treat each other, or everything and anything. Just not there, never was, never will be. Uh-uh, just a terrible mis-understanding, a delusion, a parlor trick we play on ourselves or one played upon us by others. What if it’s all just a bunch of bull? What if there is no God, just man. What then?
Is there room in our world for just us? Are we capable of filling the void we invest with God, that we stuff-full with a million imagined thoughts and principles and expectations and attributions, that we ritualize, espouse to others, that we use to justify our support and inclusion of those we like and our diminuation, denigration, suppression and destruction of those we don’t? Is there morality without God? Are we capable of such a thing as morality on our own? Is there any type of morality for us that does not include a clause for the downgrading of those different from us? Is it possible to not rip each others throats out over what icon we worship or what symbol we nail to our walls or hang from a chain around our necks? Is there any reason to be civil to one another if there’s no payoff, no rapture, no heaven, no devine chotchky to be gained as reward for our efforts? Do we have to be payed for being decent, as in “If you eat your broccoli we can go to the movies”? Are we so petty as to profess adherence to dogma that requests just and moral human behavior at the same time we treat each other like shit? Do we even deserve morality? Do we deserve God?
Just asking…
