Just a few days ago, on last sunday, I had to accompany my parents to the temple again, grudgingly. I don’t know why I just didn’t refuse to go to the temple. They told me that according to the Indian astrology, my timing is not good at the moment. So I should go to the temple and do some simple rituals that might neutralize my bad time. I was really reluctant to go, but I didn’t want to spoil the my day and their day, so I went with them eventually.

Yesterday, I had a chat with my friend and he told me that no one can be an atheist. He just felt it strange that I was an atheist. Here is a snippet of the conversation we had on gtalk:

(Some parts have been edited)

Friend: But what is he definition of GOD in your sense? You say GOD doesn’t exist, so no definition?

Me: I say supernatural GODs don’t exist.

Friend: But I say GOD exists in the form of energy, waves and vibrations. Wherever there is life energy, there is GOD. GOD is full form of energy…

Me: Ok.

Friend: So I believe there is energy within you and around you…so how can I say there cannot be any GOD? GOD is energy… So focusing this energy, our old people gave GOD a form. Form of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu.

Me: Ok.

Friend: So when we pray brahma, we focus on the power energy of creation and creativity. Shiva energy is to burn your negative in around. Vishnu is to hav awareness to protect. So if you believe GOD is energy, you cannot say you are an atheist.

Me: Ok. I’ll say this again, friend, just for your clarification. I don’t give a heck for supernatural gods who punish us or send us to hell and all that. But I believe that man is God. That God is energy, the force. I believe in the ability of man.

Friend: Yea.. life is within you, you are GOD as said in Anbesivam.

Me: I completely agree with that.

Friend: See… we just naming that energy GOD. If you believe in the existence of energy, then how can you become an atheist? … No one in this world can be athiest.

Me: Why?

Friend: As you and I said, GOD is energy, you believe in energy. It means indirectly you believe in God’s existence as energy.

(End of conversation)

Well, later it all came to the conclusion that we were just playing with words; semantics. This chat with my friend made me think a lot on this subject. I have to think about my own belief system and do a little soul-searching. Do I really believe that GOD is energy? Where does energy come from? They say energy cannot be created, nor can it be destroyed. But where did that birst of energy come from in the first place, to bring about life on earth? What is this energy that moves us all? If energy cannot be created, then how can there be a GOD? If we can control that energy and manipulate it to suit our needs, then how can GOD be energy? How can GOD be manipulated if GOD is something above us? A lot of questions to think and ponder about. A lot of things to analyze and sort out.

My friend above puts this question forward to me. I say that I don’t believe in GOD. So I should naturally have my own definition of GOD, something that I believe in. But it doesn’t mean that all atheists have their own definition of what or who might GOD be. Then my friend postulates that if I do believe in that definition of GOD, how can I be an atheist?

Therefore, I have come to this conclusion. As an atheist, according to me, there is no such thing as GOD. My definition of GOD is a supernatural being who has been postulated to have created this universe and all it’s life forms. I say that kind of GOD does not exist. I also do not want to advocate metaphorical meanings to GOD, because people usually misunderstand that, like my friend did. It is still a vague concept and people will not buy it. I believe in natural phenomena. This energy that my friend talks about and I talk about, this mind power, the power within us and all that is just natural phenomena. Something that pertains to nature. I don’t want to name these as GOD, in case of any misunderstanding. I just want to name these natural phenomena. In this sense, I am an atheist.

In the conversation above, I have said a lot of things on the spur of the moment without thinking my response out. But writing this post has made it possible for me to lay out my thoughts. My friend said here that no one in this world can be atheist. But it is definitely possible. He might just have to look at them carefully and realise that there are people out there who completely do not believe in GOD. They might have a lot of reasons. Some find it unbelievable. Some lose faith on GOD and hence deny its existence. Some think scientifically and therefore deny the existence of GOD. There are a lot of reasons.

If you want to believe in energy, power and all that, just believe in yourself. Everything is within you, and whatever is within you is around you. So just believe in yourself and do not rely on external things like GOD and such crap. I say people like that are cripples. They have not learned to walk without their crutches. I have learned it the hard way, but now I walk on my own. I feel proud and independent. You might call me arrogant. I do not care what people say about me, because I know what I feel. I know if it is arrogance or self-confidence.

I say they are cripples because everytime people are broke, or sad they want something or someone to hang onto. They desperately need that pillar of consolation and most of them find it through GOD or spirituality. Nothing is wrong here. But it is definitely not going to help them any better. Just take my case as an example here. My mum says that according to my astrology, it’s slightly bad time for me. In such a case, going to the temple and praying helps to relieve her and make her believe that nothing bad is going to happen to me. Now, in the first place, if she had not believed in the astrology thing, she wouldn’t have to do anything and nothing would have happened. It’s like GOD commands you to become the president of United States and therefore you become one. When will people realise that GOD is an invention made by man? Do you certainly believe that there is something above all of us?

I welcome all comments from my readers who are both atheists and theists.