The Book About God That I Wanted To Write

My father did not believe in God. There were no Gods, Religion or Rituals at home. So I had the advantage of pondering over the question of God, without the baggage of indoctrinated beliefs.

When I first created a definition of God, I was just a school kid. I wrote it on a piece of paper and proudly showed it to relatives in my family. Most people could not comprehend what it meant. Except for a very old man. He was the father-in-law of my maternal aunt. Well educated for his generation and a deeply spiritual person. He said “You are 80% there, but you need to work on it more”

I had written: “God is the sum of all energies contained in all particles in all atoms of all matter in the entire universe”. It was over simplistic and naive. And it was factually wrong.

Particles are not containers of energy. They are energy waves. And there is a lot more energy in the universe than what we can see or detect – known as dark matter and dark energy.

So can I say God = The sum of all energies in the universe? A School kid can get away with it.

But it is grossly inadequate. It won’t explain why people pray to it. It won’t explain why people believe that God responds to their prayers. It can’t help an entrepreneur trying to identify an opportunity. Or an activist trying to transform her society. It can’t help a government resolve a dispute between two religious communities.

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Most people who believe in God have a very poor understanding of their Gods. Some fall prey to religious extremism and superstition. Some succumb to fatalism and lethargy. Some are content with their limited lives because of their belief. Very few attempt to expand their perception and understanding of what they believe in. If you are reading this, you are one of them.

People who don’t believe in God, stand inside a frame of reference, within which they are absolutely right. They do not see any value in stepping out of their paradigm. At most they are willing to be agnostic and respectful of others’ beliefs and feelings. Or they say, “even if God is there and can help, we don’t need it”. They do not see how or why exploration of this topic could possibly amplify their impact on the world. But a few among them are curious. They don’t mind temporarily suspending their belief – that there is no god – just to embark on an intellectual journey that might show them new truths. If you are reading this, you are one of them.

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Does God Exist?

Is God a Person like a human being? Does that person have a Gender? Can you travel to a place where you can meet him or her like the way you meet a fellow human being? If so, where is that place? What does it mean to “exist”? How do we conclude whether something exists or does not exist?

Most atheists come from a paradigm that defines “existence” in terms of “what is it made up of”. Most believers come from a paradigm that is rooted in their “subjective-personal experiences”.

God as an “Objective Entity made of Matter” with a definitive place and position (coordinates) in the universe where you can travel to and meet with, is one way some people believe and define it that way. You can never prove or disprove this definition, unless we have mapped the whole universe and even then, we will be left with a world outside that known universe, where that GOD could possibly be. So this definition cannot bridge the gap in our understanding. It only widens it.

God as a “Phenomena perceived through Subjective Experience” does not easily lend itself to scientific enquiry or proof. Even if the subjective experience is true, even if it is shared across many people, it does not prove that there is something or someone who can be called GOD.

So even before we get into questions related to WHO is God and WHERE is God, we need to first address WHAT is God?. Is it a concept like “liberty or freedom” that is created and shared by the human mind? Is it a phenomenon like “Love” that can be seen through behaviour but never directly? Is it a “hardware” made of matter or is it just a “software” with no independent existence except the symbols or mediums through which it is represented? Does it refer to some “intelligence” or “agency” similar to what we notice in ourselves, dogs and cats? What about Alexa or Siri? Do they really exist?

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I was about 23 Years old, when I happened to meet a spiritual sadhu / master in a face to face interaction. I had zero wisdom and some bookish (undigested) knowledge. And I was still an atheist at that time – The way I was brought up by my father.

I asked him “Is God a person independent of us? Or Is God a system in which we are a part?”

The master did not answer my question directly. Instead he said “When it is itching in our leg, our fingers reach out to scratch it. Likewise, when God is helping us, he is actually helping himself”

It was like a KOAN. It has stayed with me ever since and has driven me in different directions.

Over the next 30 years..

..in the world of science, I studied more about systems, emergence, complexity theory, hive minds and collective intelligence.
..in the world of leadership, I studied more about group dynamics, team work, organizational culture, social change and about scientists, entrepreneurs and community leaders.
..in the world of spirituality, I embarked on an inner journey to discover myself and my higher self.
..in the world of arts, I learnt Bharatanatyam (a classical dance form that has origins in Southern India) from a guru who specializes in devotional repertoire.

While all these quests over three decades happened in 4 different directions, I slowly started seeing a convergence. Which was initially surprising, but later it made more and more sense.

Could there be a frame of reference or paradigm that unifies science, leadership, arts and spirituality? If so, shouldn’t I try and articulate it?

It is not something that can fit into an article or a blog. It has to be a book that slowly and painstakingly builds its theory, brick by brick.

Why does the world need a “Universal Theory Of God”? I have three simple arguments for that.

1. A world full of competing gods, is creating violence and destruction everywhere.
2. A godless world is emerging in parallel. Where most individuals are either slaves to a faceless system or slaves to their own arrogant greed. It resembles a world of cancer cells.
3. There is a small empathetic world that is concerned about the inequalities in society, the future of our civilization, survival of our species and the protection of our planet. But sadly, people in this world, in spite of working so very hard, are still not able to move the needle sufficiently and their time is running out.

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