Time whizzes by and I, I write of glimpses I steal

Friday, February 01, 2008

Belief

There is a celestial guardian angel looking after each one of us. All living beings reincarnate. Heaven and Hell are places you go to after death.

I could cry myself hoarse on this subject and it would make no difference. I know. I actually tried it. Had this discussion (we'll steer clear of the 'Argument' word) with a friend and he was fully convinced that all the above statements were true. Needless to say, I didn't. We were posing as rational beings and therefore the weapon we used was logic.

It is said in the Vedas that we reincarnate. Vedas are ancient. Vedas also tell us that they are divine revelations to seers and they are the truth. If Vedas are true, then we must reincarnate and since their truth is self-evident (because if it weren't true they wouldn't have written that it is true, right?), we must reincarnate. Aah! Beat that.

My friend's line of reasoning was that it was impossible to refute with any sort of evidence that the statements were indeed false. Therefore they must be true. Q.E.D.

I am reminded of the case of Bertrand Russell's Celestial teapot.

If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.

Giving enough credit to my friend, he understood that this may be a sticky wicket to bat on and changed the rules. We no longer parried in logic. His new argument was that it was a matter of faith. These ideas were beyond the grasp of logic or reason. In fact logic and reason are obstacles to the proper understanding of it. Translated loosely, heaven exists if you think it exists. Isn't it amazing that mere thinking of something can conjure it into existence?

I don't think my friend should be allowed to have it both ways. Either it was a matter of faith and he just believed it and I didn't. If he cannot articulate why he believes it, he should not expect me to articulate why I don't. Or believing such things were a matter of logic and we could both trade arguments for and against and arrive at an understanding.

The problem, my friend was kind to point out, was that by questioning I lose all chances of finding out. Why can't you just accept it, he asked me. His charge was that I was not open to both possibilites. I plead guilty. I will stick my neck out and say that though it is possible that there is someone up in the sky looking after me, that I will reincarnate after this lifetime and that I may be deep fried in a huge pan of oil for such blasphemy, I think they are improbable.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I almost got confused with the teapot :)!

Yess.. tell your friend no taking two chances two sides.. wither he believes OSO is the truth or he doesn't...no way out :D

I loffed the last para :D
*giggles :)

Renu Sharma said...

Hi Guy,


This is vishal from Melbourne Australia.

Main reason to contact you is :


VS Consulting Group is starting a carnival for startups in Australia. Startups covered during this carnival will be from telecom, web, green computing, media and other segments. We are expecting more than 60 startups to be covered during this carnival. This will be a good place to know about people who are behind these startups, their approach, technology and their future plans. Details of how to enter into the carnival will be posted here next week.

We are offering sponsorship ad units, in the sidebar of the startup portal similar to this site. As a sponsor, you will be associating your brand with this coverage of Australian Startups, read by thousands of influential people every day.

What we are hoping is that you can help us by spreading the word
Details here

http://blog.sharmavishal.com/2008/02/australian-startups-carnival-2008.html
http://startups.sharmavishal.com/2008/02/offering-sponsorships-for-australian.html




regards

Prufrockster said...

You can conjure stuff up. Heaven and hell. For real. First hand experience. Read up on Solipsism.

Anonymous said...

I dont know if you read any theoretical physics (maybe even the popular sci types) but if you do, you'll not fail to notice the truth in your exclamation that something exits merely because one can conjure it up.
I think it has become fashonable nowadays to say "I dont believe". But the vehemence with which one says that matches the fundamentalism of those who blindly say "I beleive". It is one thing to aspire to be rational and another to understand that logic is just one parameter with which you can view the world.

Speech is Golden said...

theoretical physics... theoretical being the operative word.

Unknown said...

Balls to theory being the operative word. Dude, what's with you?

And why haven't you responded to the criticism?