Believe?
In our moments of weakness, we look for strength outside of our inner self. We start with the people closest to us, we knock on few hearts, they all open, but very quickly we realise that some people are fully taken by their own projects and others are seekers of strength themselves, and, therefore, are incapable of giving us any.
So, at the end of this short process we start to look for strength elsewhere. We divert our focus to the people who are no longer with us, but whose memory still provides us with a sense of security and a feeling of strength. As we do this, gradually, we find ourselves imploring the cosmic energy that holds all this universe together, and us within it, for a dose of power. Then, not to leave any possibility unexplored, we think about the circumstances and chances that led us to where we are and we try to convince ourselves that they could not always be against us, that after a storm comes sunshine, and that suffering will eventually lead to joy. From that thought we are then transported towards this idea of subjective balance between good and bad, we find it natural that there should be a balance, therefore good things would follow bad things and vice versa. We feel like we’ve reached some level of reassurance, that things will start to improve, after they have worsened, then a sudden thought takes hold of our brain: “what if the balance is not at an individual level, but at a universal level? Some will mostly suffer, and others will mostly enjoy and the balance is maintained at the end?” We try to shake off this depressing thought by going back to the words of religions which state that we are all created equals in the eyes of God, and then as we become adults, only one thing will set one group apart from the other and that is faith! One group will believe in God and the other group will not. God will protect the believer, not at the scale of the universe, but at the scale of each individual. Wow, this is a very comforting thought: “God will give us our individual balance!”. But is there a catch? Well, there are two catches better expressed as questions. The first catch is: “do you believe or have faith?” And the second catch is: “would the balance happen in this life on earth or in the eternal life after our body dies?”. There is always a catch, a twist and an overhanging uncertainty! Without these, most of us, normal humans, would be basking in heavenly joy and enjoying an everlasting peace of mind.
It is useless to answer the second question on when balance will happen if we don’t fulfil the first criterion, the faith part. So, the initial question that is worthy of an answer is: “should we believe or not?”.
It is a very interesting question because it requires an accurate analysis and a clear explanation before it could be answered. What does it mean to believe? And consequently, who should believe in whom or in what?
My wife, Vesna, is a fervent believer, and as I was talking to her about my uncertain situation, she told me:
“In my prayers, I saw that things will get better because you are protected by a higher power. You have to believe and let yourself in the arms of God and you will see how strength will fill your soul.”
I thought to myself:
“These are beautiful and tender words from a loving wife to her husband. Because she feels that she cannot provide me herself with the strength I need, she is invoking a higher power to make her claim more credible and reassuring”.
Nevertheless, I didn’t want to close this door before exploring where it leads, so I asked her, and in reality, I was asking myself:
“What does it mean to believe? To let oneself in the arms of God?”.
I waited a bit for her answer, but I knew that it was not an easy question and I didn’t want to temper her enthusiasm, so without giving her a real chance to answer this self-posed question, I quickly carried on saying:
“I believe that believing in the existence of God is irrelevant!”
She was a bit surprised by this statement, and she replied:
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, If God exists, my faith in their existence is irrelevant to the relationship between them and me”
“Ah really, this is the first time I hear this!”
“Sure, what is the point of me believing in the existence of God, if God doesn’t believe in me? But if they do believe in me, then it doesn’t matter if I believe in their existence or not. Simply put, they know I exist and if they have good reasons to believe in me then they would surely do, and if not they won’t no matter how much I believe in their existence.”
“Yojen, you are really funny sometimes! Are you joking?”
“No Vesna, I am not joking! The real question that people, who think God exists, must ask themselves in every waking moment of their lives is: what should I think, say and do for God to believe in me?”
Clearly, my wife was not expecting this kind of narrative, she didn’t add anything and looked at me as if she wanted to know more.
“Vesna, you always tell me that the God you believe in is a good God, a merciful God, a giving God, a forgiving God, and most importantly a loving God. Based on these qualities of God, and as indications of what they are looking for in the humans they originally created, there is little doubt in my mind that our belief in their existence is not a requirement to be protected by them. What is important though is how we are living our lives? Do we adhere to the values of goodness, mercifulness, giving, forgiveness, and love? Do we live by them every day, in every thought we have, every word we utter, and every action we take, towards all living beings? And if we are doing all this, then whether we believe or not in God’s existence is really NOT relevant”.
Blaise Pascal wrote about this question in a probabilistic context, and he concluded that, given the odds and the outcomes of the existence or not of God and our belief in this existence or not, it is better for us to believe. Pascal argues that:
“A rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not actually exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.), whereas they stand to receive infinite gains (as represented by eternity in Heaven) and avoid infinite losses (eternity in Hell).”
This is called “Pascal’s Wager”.
I would like to provide a different point of view, I will call it “Yojen’s Wager”:
“Regardless of God’s existence, their good or evil nature, any rational person should always choose to do good and leave a good feeling in other living beings’ souls”.
To explain and maybe prove my point of view, here are all the possibilities that we might face in our current life and in the afterlives if they exist, and there are four of them:
God exists
They are good. We win! Because God will protect us in this life and the after, as one of their disciples in which they believe.
They are evil. We lose, even if we lead/led an evil life. Their divine evilness will always surpass ours.
So, in this first scenario, where God exists, 50% we win, 50% we lose. Therefore, God’s existence is not a determining factor!
Second, God doesn’t exist
If you live according to “Yojen’s Wager”, you will be rewarded by the appreciation of good people. At the same time, evil people will mock your goodness and abuse it. So, it all depends on what has the higher impact: the appreciation of the good people or the mockery of the evil ones?
If you don’t live according to the “Yojen’s Wager”, you will still have to confront and fight against the evil people. You might be able to protect yourself for a while. Eventually, a bigger evil will overcome you and you lose. So, choosing to live an evil life, is more often than not a losing choice. Only very few evil people prevail to live long and happy.
The conclusion here is quite straightforward: the most determining factor is whether good people’s positive impact on humanity surpasses evil people’s negative one. If it does, then “Yojen’s Wager” is sound. If it doesn’t, then it is anybody’s guess what kind of values and lifestyle is our best choice! I believe that this is exactly where humanity is today!
Finally, at no point in “Yojen’s Wager”, we needed to explicitly state or affirm that we believe or not in God. It is the reverse that seemed more important: God, if they exist, need to believe in us! Therefore, “to believe or not to believe?” is truthfully an irrelevant question!
There remains the question about the balance between good and bad; would it be achieved in this life or in the eternal one? Well considering how sad most people are on the brink of dying, it is safe to write that the balance at the end of life is more in favour of good than bad; then death happens to balance this out. In more explicit words, if we were more happy than sad in our lives, the sadness of dying brings the count to zero, and reversely if we were more sad than happy in our lives, then the deliverance of dying brings the count to zero. So, the balance is achieved exactly at the moment we leave this earth, to somewhere or to nowhere!