God! Who? What? Where? and Why?
"Why Is God?"
by: Shmuel ben Shlomi
CHAPTER FOUR: “Why Is God?”
This is the fourth and final chapter on our journey to find the answer to "God! Who? What? Where? and Why?"
Several years ago singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson wrote a song titled “Why Me Lord?” The opening lyrics asked “What have I ever done, to deserve even one, of the pleasure I’ve known…?” A profoundly deep question that is as old as humanity itself. Yet, there is one other ‘Why’ question that is more fundamentally significant than the “Why Me Lord” question. It is “Why is God?”
The 18th Century philosopher Voltaire quipped, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.” While Voltaire was being somewhat satirical his point was yet well made — the drive within the human being to need to believe and trust in something bigger and greater than themselves is so ingrained within a human’s makeup that God becomes humanity's greatest “Why” in life.
This however, leads to another contemplative: how and why did this innate drive to look to something greater and beyond themselves become such a part of the human (both individual and collective) consciousness and identity?
Some may argue that this draw to a Greater does not exist in all humans. After all the world is full of what has been termed atheists (people who do not believe in the existence of a God or any gods). Some of the most famous in the 20th and 21st Century were and are Richard Dawkins, George Carlin, Warren Buffett, Stephen Hawking, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Branson, Adam Carolla and Mark Zuckerberg. There have been many ancient humans known for their atheism, including Greek philosophers Theodorus and Aristippus, Epicurus, Lucretius, poet Xenophanes and more.
When one takes a closer look at each and every one of these so-called atheist it will be clear that they have simply changed their believe and trust of a God into another avenue or vein. The drive to find or look for something greater than themselves is still very much the core of their lives. Each of them have, at times, openly admitted that they have replaced a Supreme Being as the Source of their ‘Why’ to things like science, mathematics, logic, art, creativity, economics, politics, communications and on and on and on. The inner nature of the beast hasn’t changed at all, only its focus.
History and academic study has made it very clear that human beings are creatures on the search for something greater than themselves and are forever exploring new/old paths of that discovery of the “Why?” History is replete with myths, tales, folklore, religions and spiritual disciplines that speak to this exploration.
That journey, regardless of the trail chosen, always leads back to the ultimate question — “Why is God?”
Assuming my assessment of the human condition is correct then some amount of rational logic combined with the intuitive might lead us to at least a glimpse into why there is a God, a Supreme Creative Being/Force/Source. In one of the earlier chapters I used the example of a watch and if you will indulge me I will return to that. Not a digital one, albeit those are also uniquely made; but an old 15th to 18th Century pocket watch. If you have ever seen one of those, held them in your hand, opened it to look at its intricate design and movable parts then you become acutely aware that something this magnificent in structure and function must have had an experienced and knowledgeable watchmaker behind its creation. All those parts did not just haphazardly or by the sheer force of eons of time come together as the work of genius you are holding in your hand at that moment. It had a source, a designer, a creator who was intelligent and purposeful.
That same premise can now be applied to the entire Universe, and as we now understand from Quantum Physics/Mechanics - the Multiverse. As Earthling humans we, since the Renaissance (some would say as far back as the first post-Deluge civilization of Sumer) are only now taking the first baby steps into unlocking many of the mysteries of the Universe in which we find ourselves while physicists, geneticists and other scientific disciplines are beginning to unlock the treasure trove of knowledge and information behind the workings of this world, this Universe, our genetic code and the actual history of us and the planet we have been inhabiting for at least 2.5 million years at various levels of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual development as a species. 2.5 million years is a drop in the ocean of time compared to the at least 13.8 billion years since the creation/big band of when we suppose this entire Universe began. And, in all that time — nearly 14 billion years, not one pocket watch just happen to come together on its own. It had to wait until its maker, its creator, its designer came up with the idea, manufactured the parts and put it all together as a functional working timekeeping device.
Why is God? Because, the Universe, the Multiverse and all that is and is not, including us intricately designed human pocket watches, need “Him.”