Atheism is defined generally as: the belief that there is no God, or
denial
that God or gods exist. This seems simple enough but it really means
nothing until one defines what is meant by God.
In the world society, there are two distinct concepts of God. In the
West,
which I roughly delineate as the area from the Middle East west to
and
including North and South America, there is a concept of God as an
anthropomorphic (human like) super being who is involved in the goings
on of the world society. This Western God is called Allah in Islam,
Jehovah in Christianity, and Yahweh in Judaism. These Gods are referred
to as being masculine.
In the East, which I roughly delineate as China, India and Japan, there
is a
concept of God as an indescribable, incomprehensible, inconceivable
force
that is all inclusive of every thing and every nothing. Any definition
of this
concept of God is limiting and therefore nothing more than a partial
description. In Hinduism, this essence is referred to as Brahma, In
Taoism,
it is referred to as The Tao (The Way) and in Buddhism, as the
Dharmakaya. You really cannot equate these words to God because the
Western concept of God describes a super being and these Eastern words
for God really refer to All That Is and Is not.
I personally equate the words Infinite Potential with these Eastern
names
for the all inclusive God. The Infinite Potential is a non-emotional
set of
words that for me comes closest to stating what this all inclusive
essence
comprises.
Now it is also important to understand that the world society is about
evenly split between the Eastern and Western concepts of God. It is
also
important to understand that these concepts so completely permeate
their
particular parts of the world, and these concepts are so different,
that it is
very difficult for a person from the East to find common ground with
one
from the West in regards to God. There are few bridges between these
two views of God; except to say that the Western Gods are a subset
within
the Eastern concept of God.
Returning to atheism, we have to understand that it is essentially a
mindset
that is a reaction to the Western concept of God. It is a denial that
an
anthropomorphic super being is guiding the affairs of humanity. This
seems logical to some individuals in a Western society which is based
on
logic and the belief in the conventional knowledge that every cause
has an
effect; which seems to be true of the physical world. And when one
is
focused in a scientific way on the physical realities of this Universe,
what
cannot be proven or be shown to exist, simply does not exist. It is
simply a
limited concept of reality, or a concept which limits reality, in which
any
completely intangible force is denied because it cannot be produced
much
less measured. It is an exclusive philosophy that denies the existence
of
everything that cannot be scientifically measured.
So in general, we have the at the core of atheist belief., a mindset
that since
the masculine anthropomorphic Gods of the West cannot be scientifically
measured or scientifically proven, He?, God, does not exist.
Since almost all atheist live in Western society, and since this
anthropomorphic concept of God dominates Western thought, the atheist
after making his or her proclamation that God does not exist, dusts
off his
or her hands and smilingly goes off down the road with the thought
that he
or she has vanquished God and proven all believers to be foolish or
child-like in their nonsensical belief in God.
It is at this point that most atheist are confronted with the outer
realms of
their philosophy. They have been speaking to a Western audience. Now
something new enters the debate: What about the concept of God being
defined as every thing and every nothing? If God is defined as all
inclusive,
as in the East, how can there be a denial of God?
There are no atheist reacting to the Hindu, Taoist or Buddhist concepts
of
God, because to deny this God, or all encompassing essence, would be
to
deny what each one of us experiences and are conscious of at every
moment: that we exist.
Here are the questions that the atheist cannot answer:
If there is no God, per the Eastern definition of God, then how can
one
contemplate anything, much less the non-existence of God?
If the all inclusive Eastern God does not exist, how is it that we are
conscious of our existence?
If there is no all encompassing non-physical, impossible to measure,
energy, then how is it that inert chemicals come together to manifest
consciousness? Or does consciousness not exist because it cannot be
proven or measured?
In the final analysis, atheism is just a reaction to the Western concept
of
God. It cannot be a denial of God, if God is defined as the all inclusive
Infinite Potential. Such a denial would be a denial that anything exists.
Atheists conflicting with Christians, Jews and Muslims are like children
playing in the school yard thinking that the school yard is the entire
universe.
John Worldpeace is an attorney at law in Texas, and is seeking the office of Texas Governor in 2002.