There are special days, when epiphanies stir and venture out from under rocks and from within crevices, and roam the land looking for unsuspecting minds lost in dreamy wakefulness. There was one such day in summer of 1957-58. The sun was playing hide and seek behind a migrating herd of cotton-wool clouds. Warm caressing breezes stirred the balmy air. Grasshoppers buzzed happily in the waving grass. One of those wandering wonders happened upon an eight year old boy immersed in a timeless moment. It pounced.
It was thus that I was awoken into the real world. It was this that turned my face to the sky, struck in awe and wonder at the reality that spread around me to the ends of time and space.
In a daze, I ventured inside where my mother was in the kitchen. I simply asked “Where did everything come from?”. “What do you mean?” she asked. “You know. Everything!” I indicated, spreading my hands out. Realising my state of mind, she said “Well. There are people who believe it was all made by god, and others who believe that ‘something’ has always existed”.
Again I found myself outside contemplating it all. For the first time I realised what was meant by “God”. Until then it was just a vague superman like character. I pondered her answers and there at eight years of age, standing again where I had been engulfed, I concluded that the 'God' answer just didn’t make sense. I had felt no such thing.
Somehow I understood that for all the wonder and awe of the experience, for all its moving power, it was however all a product of my own mind. Awe and wonder gave birth to an atheist. From that point on I had an insatiable interest in science. I wanted to know about everything. I didn’t just want beliefs. I wanted to really understand how things worked and changed.
oOo
An Atheist’s Universe
As an atheist I live in a most interesting universe. It inspires and uplifts.
For all its size and complexity it is nevertheless a complexity born of simplicity - a few elementary particles under the influence of a few basic forces in a sea of space and randomness.
In this universe the march of entropy drives the formation of stars, development of planets, evolution of life and the arising of consciousness in accordance with the laws of nature. Altruism and ethics arise in the minds of social beings driven by the survival advantages of mutual support and compassion.
It is a universe with no absolute beginning. No innate fearful side. No supernatural component. No ghosts to haunt. No demons to torment. No gods demanding worship. No devils savouring torture.
It is the sort of universe that is very comforting to live in. The sort of universe that makes the reality of life and conscious awareness all the more amazing and beautiful. The sort of universe that lifts you up with awe & wonder and a zest for life full of meaning, with everything to live for and nothing to fear from the reality of our eventual return to the void from which we arose.
oOo
