On Deity’s Non-Consensual Romanticism
Recently I have been working on Death and Afterlife article by Douglas J. Davies. To examine his work, it is important to highlight that Professor Davies himself is a Theologian based in Durham, specialising in the Sociology of Death. I admire this work of his specifically, due to the fact that he made a few theory that dropped my jaw entirely.
He began the article with a captivating statement, “The human drive for meaningfulness is faced with challenges, not the least of which is death.”
He then explored the idea presented with a few theoretical approaches, which included Blaise Pascal’s wager. This flawed wager, however, does not rhyme with religion dogmas. That it is not enough just to believe in God, but one has to also follow rituals and/or earn as much as good karmas to reach the eternal happiness, heaven.
He also mentioned about Sigmund Freud’s death drives (Thanatos), to be simply put, is the internal unconscious urge for human beings to return to state of matter. This urge forces human beings to either internalize or disentangle this very urge within themselves that often result in violence and suicidal thoughts.
His explanation goes way beyond my capability to handle when he started to talk about Love, Grief and Eternity.
Here he stated precisely;
Through hymns, songs, and prayers devotees express their love of their savior or god. It is inconceivable to devotees that this bond of attachment can be broken even by death.
I was stoned and my jaw dropped. As an atheist who grew up within an islamic society for decades in Indonesia, this points out something I have never even noticed before.
As a believer, we subconsciously, form a romantic relation with the Deity.
When I was a muslim myself, I remember vividly how my relationship was to my beloved God.
When I woke up, I vocalised my gratefulness. I used to pray five times a day, to make sure that I remember Him on every step I took. Whenever I had bad days, I refuged to Him. When there was injustice, I asked him to bring justice. I went to mosques, just to feel peace upon myself.
It created such a huge structure in my viewpoints in life.
Whether people were born rich or within poverty, it was a God’s plan. When I failed or successful, maybe God had not heard my prayers yet. When I had difficulties, God would help. When I had an ease, it was God’s blessings. The list goes on.
All I saw was, everything that happened in the world has presented itself as the by-product of my relations with God. I loved him; through prayers, through my Islamic semiotics at that time, through my admiration to God and His messengers.
Hence, the moment I turned into an atheist, I have lost that relationship that I did not know I had. The kind of strong unconscious romantic relationship that was bound to me since I was a kid.
In Science, everything is based on logic and analysis. There is no “Saviour Figure” that can give the absolute answer for everything. Social scientists that I am very much into, even, are very much prone to criticism and anti-thesis.
This is where I understood Theology is not only interesting to learn, but also mind-twisting.
This romantic attachment was immediately cut-off when I turned my back against Him, and followed the path of Science. Following the path of fellow atheists, who live without Saviour.
At that “Death of God” point, I have lived within a vast amount of freedom along with the consequences this life has served.
The aches I paid for the heartbreak too, was rather not cheap. Given the limitless possibilities to serve any form of supporting and/or opposing arguments against the existence of God has been thrilling and overwhelming at the same time.
But aren’t all these, the beauty of Social Science?
Now the “til Death do us part” element relies merely in one’s ability to think and survive.
