Considerations about the Existence of God

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy"

 - Hamlet, act 1, scene V, William Shakespeare

1. Let’s start by considering that Man is mentally free, meaning that has own free will.

This apparently simple fact may explain the reason why God does not show itself through visible or measurable expressions, thus opening the possibility of faith.

If God would express Itself undeniably, we would not be entirely free, but only well or wrongly behaved, more or less disciplined.

Once God’s existence cannot be confirmed, the concept of conscience can take place, namely the option between good and evil. If there was evidence of God’s existence, this freedom would not be possible.

Many of those that do not have faith argue that they do not believe on what they can’t see. Yet, if they would see, they wouldn’t be free.

These considerations do not prove the existence of God, but rationally eliminate one of the main arguments why many people do not believe in God.

We may then conclude that the existence of God cannot be demonstrated through human reason, otherwise there would be a contradiction with the previous point because God would not show itself but since its existence could be demonstrated, once again Man’s free will would not occur.

Without the mentioned freedom, Man would have a reduced dignity; its eventual merit would be restricted to the capability of more or less complying with any given idea of good and evil.

This idea would certainly not be necessarily the same among all human beings nor even coincident with the current one. Even so, it is highly probable that every social group would follow some kind of moral system for two main reasons, which could be related: either because it would arise instinctively and/or be a necessary condition for the functioning and survival of this social group. Since we are considering the scenario of evident expressions of God’s existence, the idea of good and evil would also certainly be influenced by the actual form these expressions would assume.

In that context, and independently from the specific set of accepted moral rules, people would tend to think that God would “want” them to comply with these rules as much as possible, as they would ensure more prosperity for Its Creation and as such, people would fear to be made accountable, after life, for the degree of their compliance.

We may then ask if the possibility of evil is not just an indispensable consequence of the free will that was given to Man and, as said, of its dignity.

2. Let’s consider the following questions: is the Universe finite or infinite? And time?

We cannot imagine one nor the other. We cannot even fully understand the concept of infinity or its application in any real situation. Also trying to idealize a finite Universe generates paradoxes impossible to overcome.

Yet, these questions are pertinent and the corresponding answers would have a major impact on multiple areas of knowledge. The consequences of the inability of Man to understand the concept of infinity can be largely extended up to a point that one may consider the possibility of this issue to be the corner stone of all major interrogations and paradoxes that mankind faces.

If our perception of space and time is compromised with these apparent paradoxes, how can we than accept that rationality explains everything and should rule, exclusively, our vision of the cosmos?

Being aware of this, we should open the possibility of integrating in our logical analysis, concepts that cannot be proved and usually considered as non objective, such as Faith, Truth, Goodness and, why not, Beauty or Love.

In an era where the usage of reason is a real dogma, it’s useful to demonstrate that when applied exclusively it produces a limited perspective of reality, although we know that this excess of objectivity is an historical reaction to other mindsets where the lack of objectivity produced not lesser limited perspectives.

3. Imaginary numbers may also help to understand the concept of faith.

Shortly, an imaginary number (i), has been mathematically defined as being such that when multiplied by itself, the result is -1, which is the same as the square root of -1. Of course, such number doesn’t really exist because both -1 x -1 and 1 x 1 produce the result of 1. Nevertheless, we may define that this number (i) exists and therefore we shall have i x i = -1, i + i = 2i, i x –i = 1 or even e*xi = cos(x) + sin(x)i (Euler equation, where * stands for the power), of more complex demonstration.

These principles are a pillar of Mathematics. Today’s scientific world is unconceivable without the discovery of imaginary numbers and its practical application is huge and non replaceable by any other concept.

And all this, derives from something that doesn’t exist, according to our most basic understanding of integers.

The analogy with the idea of faith is direct. If we assume that God does exist, even if it’s against our tendency to not believe in what we cannot see, we may reach a level of knowledge that may not be reached otherwise. From the non believer point of view, we are starting from a false premise and thus, any conclusions we may take are flawed. Yet, we’ve just seen that something similar happens with imaginary numbers and therefore, according to that same rational approach, we should have the legitimacy to do so.

In fact, it’s quite extraordinary to where the principle that God exists can lead us. It allows us to take conclusions that may seem strange to those that never “entered” that way. St. Anselmus said “to believe, to be able to know”.

Similarly to the previous considerations, this does not prove the existence of God, but it’s a good point against one of the arguments against its existence.

4. The attempts to prove God’s existence, when approached from the affirmative side, are essentially based in Creation. Who created what exists?

Not the plants or the animals (these are certainly a consequence), but the Universe. Everything started, so it seems, with a massive explosion 15 billion years ago but, what existed before? Or, ‘who’ did generate it? Even if that explosion was integrated in a cyclical system of implosions and explosions of Universes, again ‘who’ started this cycle?

We instinctively, and also objectively, ‘feel’ the need for the existence of a Creator, which is totally legitimate since, as we’ve seen before, pure rationality will always be insufficient in this field.

Maybe this need is at the origin of the natural and common tendency among people of different origins, races and cultures, to believe in a supernatural entity.

5. It’s remarkable that the doubts about God’s existence still remain after so long, so many centuries of reflection. There are several external manifestations such as miracles and apparitions but they are on the extremely narrow frontier of not proving unequivocally the existence of God, only reinforcing the conviction of the believers, and not forcing the non believers to do so. Also the scientific evolution produces continuously new discoveries which, at least until now, have not definitely put aside the concept of faith.

Although these facts do not prove God’s existence, they may be a starting point for reflection.

6. There is also the big question of “why” has God created the Universe and, consequently (with or without divine intervention), men capable of deciding between good and evil, with self conscience, physically and mentally limited who question themselves about Its existence. Because this question doesn’t have an obvious answer and yet, seems pertinent, leads some people away from faith, since there isn’t a meaning or an objective for the Creation.

From a rational perspective, it would certainly be easier to reach the idea of faith if the objective of Creation was understandable. But, this human assumption that a certain action should have an objective is not applicable in this case. An almighty being, with the capability of creating a Universe does not have to have objectives because whatever they may be, they are surely attainable. The reasons for God having created the Universe generate questions that do not necessarily have answers and shouldn’t therefore be an argument against faith.

Alberto Mesquita

Text translated to English on the 14^th of March 2010