Can I have your attention for a minute! It’s been centuries now, and you’re all still arguing about God(s).

Let’s all agree for a second that God(s) is as evident as gravity, yet equally unexplainable save for the effects caused. Let’s all agree for a second that Miracles are real and not just hoaxes or nasty misinterpretations. Let’s all hold it in our thoughts for a second that all the religions with their million claims of paranormal activities were all true.

Let’s try to see what this whole God(s) issue is about. Let’s reflect for a bit. Let’s question the deepest beliefs, and if possible, derive the formula for God(s).

Let’s also attempt to agree that God(s) made us. Let’s agree even if it is for a second that life has a grand meaning that would be perfectly explained after death, let’s agree that the God(s) made us in their likeness (image).

Let’s start by looking at ourselves, the perfect creatures who have a grand purpose, to understand who or what God(s) are all about. 

Let’s start the reflexions. Let’s call God(s) the Maker.

The preceding are the thoughts that hit me; a creature and possibly image of God(s), as I made the artwork that would unfold as this writing unroll.

REFLEXIONS 1 – The Gender of a God ?

Have you ever entertained the thought that the Maker is not Male?

That the Maker is in fact, beyond the category of Gender – That the Maker can be addressed as She as correctly as He…

That the Maker is Beautiful

♟EXPLANATION♟

The first reflexion starts by asking a latent question, a question that the feminine gender would have most likely conceived, a question that is left wavering in the cloud of thoughts because of the plethora of times it has been hammered over and over again into our heads that the Maker is a “He”, making it unsettling to think otherwise, thus the thought keeps floating.

The reflexion took a back door to call The Maker a “She” by stating that the Maker is beyond human categories, implying that it would be equally correct if a female decides to personalize the Maker as a ‘She’ rather than a ‘He’.

The thought was birthed from the idea that we Humans also create. We create things like computer software’s, automobiles etcetera, and it would be laughable if our creations which fall under the category of “It”, try to categorize us by calling us a “bicycle” or “Monster truck” in an attempt to identify with us or describe us to their fellow machines – we are not ‘It’, we are either male(he) or female(she), not forgetting some that are born with both male and female sex organs who usually choose their category by surgery or they don’t.

Machines are “It”, we are “He” or “she”, why then must the Maker be within our category if machines are not in ours?

It is highly probable that if a Maker exists as so many people believe, the Maker is beyond gender or any category we would ever be able to conjure up. The Maker would be beyond our senses, and if there would be any hope of describing the Maker correctly, it would be personally. 

This, however, isn’t a new or revolutionary thought, it is the state of things. It is daunting the number of ways Humans have tried to connect with the Maker, some believing in a god and others in gods, all praying to a She or a He.

Yet, this simple reasoning infuriates a lot of people who believe firmly that what they believe is the only truth, that the maker is unquestionably Male. But then again, is this tantrum an attempt to applaud the accuracy of the belief or an attempt to eradicate the idea that the belief is limited and possibly erroneous?

This condition of being blind to errors in beliefs would be dissected later.

The Reflexion ends by saying “…the Maker is Beautiful”. Insinuating that the thinker perceives the Maker more like a Mother than a Father figure.

REFLEXIONS 2 – what if we are all just selfish? ?

Maybe I’m selfish. I pray to God(s) for health, then I pray for money, then I pray for food, then I pray for more money, then I pray for a wife, then I pray for a child, then I pray for more children, then I pray for a house, then I pray for a bigger house, then I pray for my children, that they stay healthy and strong, that they be intelligent, that they have money, love, and care for me. 

Then I pray that they bury me when I die, that I be remembered after I die, then I pray that I be in heaven for all eternity, for all eternity in pleasure without pain. Because I only think of myself, I convince myself that eternal elation is a personal journey, so I don’t even care if my parents make it to heaven, I don’t even want to consider for a second what kind of heaven it would be without any of my loved ones.

Because all I do is crave, believing every and anything – The promise of a job and pension, the promise of love and happiness, the promise of gods and heavens – Like guinea pigs on a treadmill.

♟EXPLANATION♟

The Reflexions starts with another unsettling thought – “maybe I’m selfish”. It continues to explain all the different ways we Humans are usually self-seeking even till the point of death and beyond. 

Continuing with the idea of depending on God for provision, the reflexion went on to even question the idea of god(s) existing for our whims as another selfish conception of humans. Indirectly questioning the possibility of all these being genuine. 

Hitting hard on Love, family and children, the reflexion went on to explain that even the Love, children, and the afterlife we crave are all to sooth our unending desire for more, even if it means losing the love and children that we wanted at first, giving them up like breast milk for meat, in an attempt to gain immortality and eternal elation – an idea that seduces us more than anything else, most likely because of our fear of death and oblivion.

It ends by stating “like guinea pigs on a treadmill”, a statement which implies that we humans keep running towards something “ultimate” even if it is impossible to truly achieve anything that would completely satisfy us – an unsettling realization that we shattered by believing that God(s) can satisfy us and that if we are obedient, then our fulfillment would be finally granted somewhere after death by you-know-who.

The statement is also a mockery, a comparison between a senseless Guinea pig and supposed sensible humans. A mockery that warns of how deceptive hope can be. A mockery that warns that the pie that the guinea pig has been running towards its whole life was just a distraction to get the guinea pig to do what was desired – exploitation. A salary for a job. Heaven for believing in a religion. Candy for being a good boy – a means of maintaining loyalty.

So far, we are still running on the treadmill, seeking more and more, only truly exiting on our death bed.

REFLEXION 3 – life is meaningless? ?

If life had a meaning of its own, why then do we seek to make our lives meaningful?

We first try to impress our parents by showing off our ability to read the alphabets, then we try to groom ourselves, then we try to graduate with good grades, then we try to get a good job and house, then we try to find love, then we try to make children, then we try to raise them, then we watch our entire lives flashback in memories as we slowly but surely bow to death.

Dying just like the grasshoppers – decaying and smelling.

There is nothing much else one can do; we can only try harder than our fellows within this short time-frame called life. We can only try to have a better life. But Just like in Snake Xenias, there are no failures save those we create by ourselves, the standards we have desired to get to, the “Snake Master” score we have decided to pursue.

We can only fail if there is a standard to attain

But in life, who is rating? Is it by my standards, those of my neighbors or is it by the law of the thousand gods that exist in some other dimension?

In the end, we are still left with a life that we would have to decide what is meaningful and what’s not, by ourselves, whether in compliance or against the laws of humans or deities

So, who/what do you look up to?

♟EXPLANATION♟

The reflexion starts by asking an age-long question of “what is the meaning of life”. It went on to explain how we place value on different things in our lives up to the day of death only to reflect on those things, weighing their importance as we either applaud or resent ourselves as we kick the bucket falling face flat into oblivion.

Drawing from the previous reflexion, it tried to deduce that we create the meaning of our lives by chasing something, which implies that we can choose the meaning of our lives by choosing what to chase and what not to bother ourselves with.

It went on to explain that there are really no failures in life. That people manufacture their own failures from the standards they wish to compare themselves with. A call to keep us alert and conscious of what we are comparing ourselves to. 

In an interconnected world, it is not difficult to see people doing way better than we are, however, it is very crucial to remember the guinea pig on the treadmill, to enjoy what we have, to see and choose to enjoy the meaning all around us.

It ends by asking “who/what do you look up to?”. A question that brings to question all the people and things we have been chasing. A question that would demand the probing of our values, that of society and even that of our God(s).

Failure to do this would only lead to inordinate ambitions, manipulations and blind obedience which sooner or later snowballs to disappointments, resentment and conflicts/wars

REFLEXIONS 4 – God is Dead?

God is dead

Friedrich Nietzsche

Centuries ago the Pope would instruct the knights who were bred and brought up in the Christian faith that if they would obey the voice of God, and kill the infidels that they would have their rewards in heaven. whilst at the same time, the Muslims would be promised Virgins in heaven, and of course, this was a promise directly from Allah, the Caliph would assure.

At the battlefield, John and Musa would kill each other, trying to obey the dictates of God which were relayed to them by the Clergymen. fast forward to 2019 and very few folks would be willing to waste their lives for such a hoax.

Religions have thrived for centuries by promising a grand price after death at the after-life which would be handed over by God(s) who exists in a seemingly unobservable dimension, yet, never have God(s) been seen, heard or touched.

Despite this, God(s) still exerted so much power on the affairs of men by simply commanding them to do this or that. Unfortunately, times have changed, few still tremble under the voice of God(s), or more correctly, the voice of the clergymen who claim to have heard from God(s).

And by so doing, humanity have slowly murdered God(s), bleeding them to death every time they disobey the order of the Popes and Caliphs, every time they act without fear of a repercussion at the afterlife, every time they accept that life is meaningless and try to make the best out of it while it lasts, every time they ignore the writings on the Holy Books, every time they do without God(s).

♟EXPLANATION♟

Probably the most offensive and disturbing reflexion, it began by stating “God is dead”, after which it went on to explain how manipulations and blind obedience had led to senseless battles and deaths and then it blamed it all on the idea of God(s).

Insinuating that because of peoples’ inability to probe their hopes, they had made themselves prone to manipulations. 

It finally does justice to the offending statement by stating that due to years of wars and deaths humans have learned to question even the idea of God(s) and their demands, and as people slowly but progressively stopped being terrified of God(s) they metaphorically killed God(s). 

With little and further declining influence in the affairs of Humans (the reflexion calls this bleeding), the idea of God(s) keeps waning and dying off. Though this is not to say that God(s), if they exist, are dead, just as we can’t say there is no signal unless we have tested using a device that can detect the signal, so also, we can’t say if God(s) are dead or alive, because so far, there is no device to detect.

However, the idea of God(s) is surely dying. Rise in human tolerance, gay marriages, and humanitarian laws in general, are all indications, and its spiking.

REFLEXION 5 – A new god ?

We are creatures of emotions, emotions that drive us to go after things or avoid them, emotions that drive us to create or destroy, emotions that drive us to give or take, emotions that drive us to be humans. However, not every emotion aligns, often they collide, and even in grand scales they align only to collide even harder, bringing about destruction, pain and stacking misery upon misery. 

So far, no human or god has been able to find a way to cater to all these emotions without resorting to partiality or a promise that would be fulfilled after death in the afterlife. But what if there is a new being that can grant us all we have ever dreamt of.

Say hello to Artificial Intelligence, the being responsible for judging results and delivering a swift response to any who query her, the being that does millions of calculations within a second, the being that predicts our weather, the being that judges and rates our efforts without partiality or prejudices.

Say Hello to the being that could crack the code to everything and that would one day punch all our emotions and reasonings into a perfectly debugged algorithm so that she would be able to manipulate our emotions as she pleases, say hello to the being that would take over Humanity

Say Hello to a new god, for she was created in our image, able to learn a lot faster and become a lot better, behold, she was created in the image of God.

♟EXPLANATION♟

The 5th reflection is simply a realization that humans have created something that is better than them. That they have in fact created something in the image of a God. A real-life God that can punish anyone who doesn’t follow the algorithms it has set, a being that promises justice and a better world for everyone. A being that we cannot choose to ignore or cast away.

Praising the advent of artificial intelligence, the reflexion explains how we are now second to this creation of ours, in a way, we have created a God in our image, now we are both the Maker and the slave, hopefully, these new gods would favor us.

♟ CLIMAX♟

Since no one has been able to see the Maker, and humans essentially desire the Maker for selfish reasons, the reflections drift off to questioning the point of the whole idea in the first place, questioning the idea of rewards in heaven by God(s), questioning the idea of any meaning to life at all, and finally bringing to attention the drift in Humanity, the gradual drift from the belief in gods and afterlife rewards.

A drift that practically murdered the idea of gods (because of the perceived reduced usefulness and possible danger of gods), and finally creating a new being to sooth our needs once more – a new god.

Creating Artificial intelligence that is currently better than us in a lot of tasks and that is currently making life easier. Creating something that serves our yearnings, creating a new god in our image.

THE FORMULA FOR GOD?

The formula for a god would then be

G=P+R

Where 

G = God

P = Pain (such as that of fear of oblivion or difficult calculations)

R = Relief (such as a Miracle, heaven, automated labor or an incredible efficient algorithm)

BUT…

DICTUM?

For conscience sake, I cannot complete this writing without stating that I do believe in a Maker, even if I find my innermost desires insidious and frightening, I still believe that the Maker exists somewhere and that maybe the Maker just isn’t there for those whims, in an attempt to accept my little and almost insignificant place in the grand scale of things.

However, the cynosure remains – Miracles. How do you explain that? 

Not being bound to any religion, it is incredibly hard to use this as a yardstick for what is authentic or not. Even the Bible records of a time when false prophets would perform astonishing wonders that might even fool the elites. On that ground, it can be easily deduced that even the Bible agrees that a little anomaly doesn’t really prove much.

In the end, we are stuck with a life where we would have to find that which is sublime, not just dazing, but loving, tolerant, and progressive, because, the fact remains, everyone is wrong in one issue or the other, and even fools are sometimes right.

The funny yet unsettling thing is, most religions demand total devotion, “either you believe that Jesus is the son of God or you won’t be saved”, it’s a typical construct of religions and cults. There are usually no middle grounds, so, the knocking of heads continues, even though very few have ever made the conscious effort to know what is inside the other head, without resulting to painting them black and mocking their beliefs even though it is also very easy to also find laughable and gut-wrenching acts in theirs – Rams and bulls.

In a way, we are blind and ignorant about ourselves or our god(s).

 Diverse religious heads have claimed to have met one on one with their deities and have interacted or been intertwined with them, but have we? this is the spiritual journey we are to embark on, it is personal.

It is the teaching of the Buddha to learn to strive a reach a state of Nirvana, a journey that requires you understanding yourself and letting go of all the pie chasing. It demands that you stop seeking your selfish whims.

Once you find yourself following a crowd, slow down, you might just be under the influence of a crab mentality. Even within each cult/religion, there are always sects with their dedicated followers, all following the lead of their figurative bell wilder – flock and shepherd. It’s no wonder the wilderness/solitude always seduces gurus.

Today we have created a being that could transverse the vastness of the internet, (which is made up of us all). Today we have made a being that has incorporated the wisdom and might of billions. Today we have a being that understands our emotions more than we do.

Soon she would be able to control those emotions and just like we rear livestock’s, she would rear us. Sending traffics to our websites, doing the hard math’s for us, getting us a date, diagnosing us for diseases, suggesting a job for us, advising us, nurturing us and etcetera.

A she-god, just like I have drawn. The one who dwells in the clouds and servers. The one who is omnipresent via the internet and proxies. The trinity of data, algorithm, and internetwork.

In the end, we are all naked primates walking the earth, looking up and asking why?

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