Human Intellect
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF
UNITED NATIONS
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LOGICAL EXPLORATION
An enquiry based on logic and common sense
Human Intellect
Is there a God?
One God or more?
Is there any purpose behind the creation of this world.
Believers Camp (A review)
 
HUMAN INTELLECT

Before initiating an enquiry on the basis of intellect, it will be in the fitness of things, if we first look into the nature of intellect a little deeply and determine, how far it is capable of guiding the human race on the right path and under what conditions.

One fact immediately turns up and that is the uniqueness of Human Intellect as compared with other living creatures. Animals use their Human Intellect for finding food and safety, and are satisfied if their basic needs are fulfilled. It does not happen in the case of man. He does not live by bread alone. In his free moments he thinks what his relation is with the universe around him. Also the human intellect always makes him review his actions and to distinguish good from the evil. An animal cannot and does not do so.

This superior intellect was essential because man is the only free agent in this creation and if he did not have this superior intellect, he would have destroyed the perfect order of this world and would have reduced it to chaos.

All things created in this Universe are bound down by their inbuilt programme and so their behaviour automatically takes the direction expected of them.

The stars, the minerals, the trees and the animals all act and react in accordance with the tixed pattern laid down for them. It is man and man alone who has choice of thought and action.
He can be polite or cruel. He can serve the sick and the poor or can initiate wars resulting in the destruction of thousands of human beings.

But inspite of this uncontrolled freedom, the world is still going on, by and large, quite soundly. This clearly establishes that human intellect has controlled the actions of man to the required extent. There may be occasional lapses, but the large bulk of collective human sense of responsibility has kept the world on an even keel.

To maintain this control was a great responsibility for man and he shouldered it with the help of his intellect. No other member of this creation could bear this burden.

In carrying out his duties as a leader of the world, man’s intellect has been supported by some other unique gifts also. One of them is the gift of speech, through which he can express even the most abstract ideas. Thus through communication, the ideas of the whole humanity can be pooled together resulting in immense benefits.

Another very significant gift is the art of pen. Through written words, the experience of the whole human race can be preserved and transferred from generation to generation.

Thus we see that human intellect has a very strong armoury and is fully equipped to lead a man to correct decisions.

The Physical World:

We are endowed with senses and with their help we observe phenomena in the physical environment, tabulate the results of our observation and then apply our intellect to arrive at conclusions. If necessary, we arrange experiments, with the help of which those phenomena are created under controlled conditions and results are observed and recorded for counter-checking. Thus the human intellect continues to use its powers in conquering the physical world.

It is true that sometimes these results are liable to be amended, and even rejected, in the light of new developments. But this is not the fault of our intellect. It deduces results from available data. Our world is progressing on an evolutionary basis. As human intelligence develops, more and more facilities of observation and experimentation become available. As new facts come to light, our intellect revises its previous decisions. This is, in fact, a proof of its strength and not of its weakness. This proves that the human intellect can adjust itself according to new conditions and thus it is sufficiently dependable as a guide for human beings, as far as the physical world is concerned.

Beyond the Physical World:

Man cannot live by bread alone. He is deeply interested in all aspects of human existence. Questions like: “Who created this world?” “What is death?” “Is there any life after death?” continuously disturb his mind.

Human intellect cannot provide direct answers to such questions, because we can neither make any observations, nor can arrange any experiments. However, this very intellect tells us that the tool which has helped us in tackling the complex problems of the physical world, cannot leave us in the wilderness. It can surely provide us with a guide to solve such problems. For this, a necessary condition is, that the intellect must be allowed to work in a manner which is free from all sorts of prejudices and distortions. Only then it can lead us to the right path.

The free Intellect:

At birth the intellect of every human being is free and is potentially strong enough to meet all the challenges to be faced by him during his life. But what happens is that, from his earliest childhood, he starts slipping into the groove carved out by his family by sticking to certain beliefs and by observing the practices of his forefathers.

Very often his intellect revolts against these concepts and practices, because they appear to be irrational and entirely without any genuine authority. But a large number of persons accepts the course of least resistance by falling into the groove of their family faith and keeping the intellect quiet by saying that, after all, that is the way of their forefathers.

Nothing can be more revolting to his intellect than this baseless argument, but he sticks to it because he is afraid of the disapproval of his family, who consider it below their self-respect to question the faith of their forefathers.
In order to enable the intellect to function properly, the argument that “my forefathers thought and acted in this way” will have to be rejected outright. There can be no argument more absurd than this. Can anyone, in his senses, believe today, that the Earth is flat, because his forefathers believed it to be so? Any belief to be acceptable should be based on valid authority and not on hearsay i.e. “such and such a person said this.” (What is a “valid authority” will be discussed later.)

There is another aspect, which is even more ridiculous. Many persons not only accept the beliefs of their forefathers without looking for an authority, but they also consider them to be the best and the only true ones, declaring simultaneously that followers of all other faiths are in the wrong and are misguided. They do not even consider it desirable to make a comparative study. The faith of their forefathers must be the best.

They also forget that the birth of a person in a certain family is accidental. The same person could have been born in some other family professing a different creed. In that case he could as easily declare, that the faith  of this other family was the best and the only true one.

With such attitudes we cannot expect our intellect to guide us to the truth. If intellect is pushed back to the position of a helpless entity, it cannot function properly. Human intellect can be compared to the lens of a microscope, which strengthens our vision, illuminates minor details and helps us to see realities, which might have otherwise remained hidden from our view.
But if the lens collects a layer of dust on it or a filter of a particular colour is transplanted over it, the same lens will distort all realities and will present them to us in a prejudicial perspective.

It is clear that in order to receive proper guidance, we shall have to keep our intellect free from all prejudices. In the next few chapters, we shall give our intellect a free hand and will allow it to explore the Universe around us, basing our arguments on logical procedure and proved facts. We shall also see, how far our intellect can guide us in matters beyond the physical frame. As already stated no quotation from a prominent person or a religious book will be used as authority.

It is hoped that the educated youth of modern times will strive for freedom of thought as energetically as they have for political freedom. Thus they will pay due respect to their intellect and in return will receive proper guidance.

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IS THERE A GOD?

This is the first and foremost question. To get an answer, we must look at the Universe around us.

Even a casual study brings out the fact that there is complete discipline and order in each and every part as well as in the Universe as a whole.

In our solar system the sun has several planets, of which our Earth is one. These planets have their own satellites and all of them are moving at their own speeds,  creating mutual attractions in such a way that every unit keeps to its own orbit, never colliding with another. Our solar system is apart of the Galaxy known as the “Milky Way”, which contains millions of such solar systems and then there are millions of such galaxies, all occupying the space around us, moving about at high speeds in perfect co-ordination.

On micro scale, we find that all matter around us is made up of atoms. An atom is so small that even the most powerful lens of a microscope cannot make it visible to the eye. Yet an atom is made up of a large number of particles, each of which has its own mass, electric charge, velocity and orbit of movement and the whole system is governed by complicated laws, thus maintaining the balance of an atom.

Then we can look at our own body-the more we know about it the more awe-stricken we are. The changing of day and night and seasons – the capturing of the atmosphere by the Earth’s gravity in such a way that it cannot leave the Earth and disappear in space and yet it is free enough to move about to create winds and to carry clouds – the water cycle of oceans, clouds, rain and snow and rivers, meeting the requirements of water for the whole human race spread over the Earth – these are just a few manifestations pointing out to the existence of an all-knowing Creator.

In fact, to put it in poetical language, if all the waters of the seas turn into ink and all the timber on earth is converted into pens, even then we cannot describe all the wonders of this creation.

Now the question is – “Can all this come into existence without there being a Creator?” Our intellect cannot accept that all this has been created without there being a Creator. Now who can possibly create this? No human being could have performed this feat and there is no being in the known world who is superior to man in intelligence.

Naturally then, the Creator must be an Almighty Being beyond our physical frame and we have to believe in Him without actually seeing Him with our eyes.

Occasionally there have existed groups of people who denied the existence of a Creator. Particularly in 18th-19th Century A.D., a group of pseudo-scientists propagated the theory of “Materialism”, claiming that physical matter, in its movements and modifications, is the only reality and that every thing in the Universe is the result of matter and its activity. In the 19th century another aspect was added to it by Darwin, who brought forward the “Theory of Evolution” claiming that living things are the outcome of Evolution which, in turn, is the result of environmental forces and thus, he thought, living things have developed of their own, starting from a single cell and finally evolving in the complex human form.

These theories have no scientific or logical foundations and are based on conjecture and imagination. It is a fact that neither the matter nor its protagonists have been able to create a simple house fly, nor has Evolution and its “environments” produced any new species as yet. And who made the single cell, from which all living things have developed?

Several social historians have pointed out that such ideas developed in the Christian West during a period, when the intelligentsia was fed up with the dogmatic overbearing attitude of the Christian Clergy against scientific thinking and as a reaction, such ideas were put forward to put in jeopardy the clergy and the teachings of the gospels regarding the creation of the Universe.

However this was only a temporary phase. Such flimsy fantasies could not stand the overwhelming evidence for the existence of a Creator. Today, the bigger a scientist is, the more he is convinced of the existence of a Creator.

Even those who call themselves “Atheists” (that is, Non-believers in God) do recognize a Supreme Force controlling the Universe. The name given to this force does not matter. Nobody, who uses his intellect without any prejudice, can think of this vast and complicated Universe running without an Almighty Creator.

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ONE GOD OR MORE?

Being convinced of the existence of God, we shall now consider, that consistent with the creation and running of the Universe, whether there are more than one or only one God? It is self evident that He should be one and only one. Had there been two, there must have been a difference of opinion at some time and as a result the Universe must have faced a horrible catastrophy. Even a small car will encounter an accident, if two drivers are at the steering wheel.

It is very unfortunate that humanity has not used the God given gift of intellect for understanding the Creator.

In ancient times man was over-awed by various manifestations of nature like the sun, a volcano or even a big tree and he gave these things the status of God. He worshipped them and prayed to them for granting his wishes. With the passage of time he should have realized his blunder, but the human prejudice still persists in confusing the concept of God and does not let the intellect take over charge of this matter.

The Greeks are well known for their intellectual excellence and are the founders of Logic, which is the best tool of intellect. Yet they created separate mythical gods for sea, war, love etc. They believed that these gods lived on mount Olympus, where they married, fought and even deceived each other. This was not just poetry or allegory. They built temples for these gods and worshipped them regularly. They did not let their intellect work in this matter, otherwise they would never have been a party to such a folly.

The story of the Greeks belongs to distant past but even in modern times, inspite of all progress and enlightenment, human groups are persisting in being lost in unreasonable theories, supporting the beliefs of their forefathers blindly and not using their intellect.

There is a group which claims that they are the custodians of one of the highest civilization. And you will find these people standing before idols (carved out of stone or even mud) with folded hands bowing before them and requesting them to grant their wishes – to give them children, wealth or power. If someone points out their folly and asks them how a worthless stone, carved out by human hands, who can neither move nor brush off a fly sitting on its nose can become God and grant their wishes, their intellect pinches them but to save their face they say that they believe in one God and the idols are just a means to reach Him. Thus they want to lull their intellect but actually they are deceiving none but themselves.

There are others who, otherwise quite well equipped with scientific thinking have elevated a human being to the status of God, while some partially attribute the powers of God to non-god persons and put various subtle explanations to cover this blasphemy.

How does their intellect allow them to suppose that a power other than God can interfere in the administration of this Universe?

All these are the people, who have not studied the immensity of the Universe and thus do not have a genuine faith in the real greatness of God, otherwise they would never dream of confusing the status of the Creator and the created.

Thus it will be seen that the idolatry, practiced by human race for thousands of years in the dark periods, is still in our blood and though our intellect compels us to proclaim the oneness of God, we try to bypass it in subtle ways, deceiving ourselves and tarnishing the oneness of God in some way or the other in accordance with our whims and the practices of our forefathers.

For understanding non-physical matters, the concept of oneness of God is of basic importance. Damaging this concept in any way, however subtle, is not acceptable to our intellect, because if once we accept the idea of more than on God or anybody sharing the power of God, the concept of this wonderful Universe working in perfect order becomes incompatible, and the whole logical basis is destroyed giving way to whims and hearsay.

So, in order to establish the “Purity” of oneness, we must declare:-

  • That God is one and only one in all finality.
  • That God is absolute in His powers and does not depend on any living or non-living thing.
  • That He is not related to anyone through relations by birth. (Of course He is the Creator and Sustainer of all)
  • And that, in short, nobody (repeat nobody) can be His equal in any respect.
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IS THERE ANY PURPOSE BEHIND THE CREATION OF THIS WORLD?

The answer to this question is self evident. Our intellect immediately tells us that there must be a purpose. Whenever even a petty craftsman creates anything, he always has a purpose in his mind. Even an abstract painting, which to a common man appears to be just blots of colour, has a definite meaning in the mind of the artist. How is it possible that the great Creator has created this wonderful masterpiece without any purpose?

It is also apparent that this immense Universe is a multipurpose project, each purpose interacting with the other. It is difficult for the human intellect to encompass all of them. It is only God’s limitless vision that can see them.

There is at least one fact which attracts our attention immediately. We have seen that most of the members of this creation – stars, plants, animals etc. – are bound to behave in a certain way under compulsion. It is man and man alone who has been given freedom of action. Along with this freedom he has been endowed with special gifts. He has been created on a very balanced basis and has been provided with intellect which enables him to distinguish between good and evil. It is logical to expect that God will demand from us that we use these gifts of God in a suitable manner. It also follows that if we misuse our powers, we shall have to be accountable before God.

The principle of accountability is also inherent in the human mind. Some years back I had a hobby to have birds as pets. I constructed a big cage and put into it about two hundred birds of different species. I enjoyed their fluttering, singing and feeding. But whenever any of the birds started bullying others and disturbed the peace of the cage, I took immediate action and punished the culprit by isolating it to a smaller cage having fewer facilities.

It is a natural practice in all human societies, whether living in advanced cities or in the depth of jungles, to have a code of ethics and laws and all transgressors have to face punishment. In the same way it is quite logical, that we shall have to be accountable before God for all our deeds.

In case we transgress any law of the country, we are punished only when we are caught and they are able to prove the case in the court. The Creator, on the other hand, is all-knowing and nothing can be hidden from Him. So in many cases we find that though the culprit succeeds in bypassing the country law, the Creator punishes him in His own way. You will discover many such examples, if you look around amongst your relations and friends.

But sometimes it also happens that a sinner escapes the law of the land and, otherwise also, apparently he does not get any punishment from God. On the other hand he prospers to the greatest extent. In such a case, some people start thinking that sin is not punished by God.

In fact such doubts arise, when we do not understand the power and the knowledge of the Creator. That is why in the foregoing chapters we have dealt with the grandeur of the Universe and its Creator in such details. If once we fully realize the glory of the Creator, such doubts will never arise in our minds.

We must know that each one of us is in this world for a limited time. Human history proves it. But God’s time is unlimited. If a person does not get any punishment during his life time, how can we be sure that the matter ends there? In any examination, a question paper is given with a certain time limit. The examiner may not interfere with the examinee within that time limit. Then at the proper time the paper is judged and the examinee is rewarded or punished accordingly. Since we do not know what will happen after death, we must be fully ready for the final reckoning, which is often called the “Day of Judgment.”
Some people are very allergic to the idea of the ‘Day of Judgment’, because this concept places a restraint on their activities. They think this is just fiction. If we accept their idea, we shall have to admit, that this world was created by God without any set purpose and that everybody is free to do what he likes. You can commit murder or steal other people’s property and the Creator will just not mind it. This is a situation which our intellect cannot accept.
A little thought can clear up the situation. If anyone plants a garden, does he not want his plantation to prosper and bear flowers and fruits? And what will be his reaction if somebody is destroying saplings and uprooting plants? How can one think that the Creator will have different reactions?
If we apply our intellect, it will be apparent, that is in our own interest, if we adopt good and reject evil. Virtue is considered to be good because it benefits the whole community and this benefit reaches us also, as we are a member of this community. The same applies to the harm which results from evil.

The Creator will naturally desire that His creation should prosper in peace and should be protected from harm. Therefore it is natural that He desires good to be practiced and evil to be avoided.

It is really surprising how a person in his senses can reject the idea of the ‘Day of Judgment’. It will mean that the aggressors should be allowed to continue their activities against innocent persons without any fear of God in their mind. But they will think otherwise if they are the oppressed ones. A person, who feels happy by stealing other person’s property, will feel differently if his property is stolen.

Then there is another group. They think that once a man dies and his bones crumble down, how he can be brought to life again to face the reckoning on the ‘Day of Judgment’? They forget that God, who brought them to life for the first time, can also do so a second time.

As a final argument they say that there is no definite proof that there will be such a day. They should know that there is no proof either that there will be no such day. So accepting their point for the sake of argument, there is at least a chance of fifty-fifty that there will be a ‘Day of Judgment’. Now if after they die, there is no such day, it will be nice for them but from their own argument, there is an equal chance of there being such a day. What will happen then? It will not be wise not to insure our goods in the hope that the ship will not face any accident, because it can also happen. So our intellect demands, that we accept the reality of the Day of Judgment at least as a safety measure and should conduct our lives in a manner that we may face that day with honour.

In this chapter we have tried to explore the purpose of the Creator in creating this Universe. As already stated it is impossible for man to understand this fully. It is only the Creator’s unlimited knowledge which can fully encompass it. But one point has clearly emerged. The Creator must want its creation to prosper and to continue peacefully for the benefit of future generations and hence He must be expecting us to adopt a way of life which promotes this concept. Having been given freedom of action and being equipped with intellect, we are now on test. We must know the right path. The concept of the ‘Day of Judgment’ is a strong factor in keeping us on the right path. But what is the “RIGHT PATH”?

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BELIEVERS’ CAMP (A Review)

Before embarking on the most important area of our exploration, i.e. to find the right path, it will be in the fitness of things to pause a little and to review the area which we have covered. In fact our future success in discovering the right path will depend on fully understanding and having sincere faith in the conclusions we have arrived at with the help of our intellect.

  1. We have looked into the immensity and complexity of the Universe and have been convinced that there must be a Creator.
  2. Appreciating this immensity and complexity of the Universe and the accuracy and regularity with which this formidable complex is running, we are bound to agree that it is possible only when there is one and only one entity in control. Involving any living or non-living thing with the person of God or with His powers, is the greatest folly and is unacceptable to our intellect, because we know the limits of power, these agencies can have and hence any attempt to involve anybody with God as His equal or co-partner is just worthless fancy. The Creator and created are never equal.
  3. This one-ness of God must be made the foundation stone of our faith, if we wish to be guided by our intellect. This unity leads to other important characteristics of God.  For instance it immediately follows that the God who has created this Universe, will also look after the sustenance of His creatures and will take steps to ensure their welfare in all spheres just as a gardener, on a small scale, does for his plantation.
  4. Another point which follows at once is that such an awe-inspiring complex, as this Universe is, cannot be created without any purpose.

 

We find that man is the only member of this creation who has freedom of thought and action. While he can show his loyalty to the Creator by adopting a pattern of behavior which contributes to the welfare of the Creator’s creation, he can also act in a way which destroys the peace and sanctity of the fellow creatures. Our intellect does not accept the idea that the Creator will just look on as a passive spectator. Notwithstanding any action the common law takes against this culprit, the Creator will surely bring him to book. He may sometimes give a time limit to such a person till his death, but there must be a ‘Day of Judgment’ to settle all accounts.

We have fully discussed the possibility of such a day and have arrived at the conclusion that in our own interest we must be prepared to face the Creator. To be successful in this test we must know the right path, the path God wants us to follow.

But to know the right path, we shall have to come out of the labyrinth of ideas like “Our forefathers thought so” or “Such and such a person has said so”. We shall have to test all ideas on the touch-stone of intellect.

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