Pondering once again...
A couple months ago I was re-reading a manga series I once read, called 'Berserk'.
Its a quite violent, gory and dark manga about Guts (I know, stupid name, these Japanese just have no imagination when it comes to names), a swordsman who is haunted by demonic and undead forces while trying to get his revenge from the man who branded him as an unholy sacrifice.
In what is now called the 'lost chapter' of Berserk, a chapter that was not published by the mangaka because it was considered too revealing (it can be found here in case someone wants to read it for himself), a very interesting (in my opinion) view on the existence of god and the nature of evil is presented.
According to that chapter the idea of evil, the desired god was created by the collective consciousness of all the humans, as the ego of this world.
This entity portrayed in the chapter as a heart-like lump of flesh, that feeds on the emotions of humans, was created due to the innate need humans have for reasons, reasons for their pain & suffering, their search for the meaning of life & death. Their need for answers.
Thus, this creature humans created weaves their lives and destinies, controls the world it embodies.
Here are two images of how 'God' is portrayed in the chapter
Well this thing got me thinking quite a bit... What if we humans actually created this omnipotent, ever-present and arbitrary god that the faithful claim it 'just exists'?
Ever since the beginning, us humans struggled to understand what happened around us, and when we could not, either because we were not developed enough or because it was too overwhelming for us, we attributed it to 'God'.
So, what if this being just come to life because of our collective need for something to watch over us, someone to turn too in our hour need and someone to curse and blame when life turns bad?
To clarify, I am not doubting the existence of god (which is a completely different story) but I merely ask what if god exists just because we created him/her/it?
Note: I would like to clarify that what I am pondering here is not whether 'God' was created by man merely as an idea, but whether god has a physical form, whether he actually exists, with a corporeal form just because humans have willed him to existence.... More on that to follow
References (download, read and learn about Berserk):
Yeah but I was not talking merely god merely as an idea because this is more or less accepted as we have no hard facts of god's existence.
ReplyDeleteI am speculating whether gods actually exists as a result of our need for him to exist. What if the common thoughts of these billions of people over the millions of years of man's existence actually caused this entity to manifest into something physical???
This is what I am pondering...
(there are theories about the above, theories that show up in more or less in all the religions (or at least their mystic parts), from the Golem of the Jewish tradition to the tulpa of the Tibetan monks to angels and demons of christianity)...I'll do a little more research on this and probably come back on this matter...
You must stop reading manga right now! Or start thinking alternatively, if you can "create" god with your thoughts (ok, not just you but all the humans), why can't we create the golden goose!? You know, the one that makes golden eggs? Huh?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all my ignorant Japanese-bashing friend, this idea has been presented in countless examples.
ReplyDeleteSecond, manga is awesome!!!! :D
As for the golden goose, I think that if enough people believed with all their heart that it is real (as millions do believe in god) it would manifest... That would be awesome as well :p