My pensieve

Often when you talk to people about God, one kind of people talk about the idea that they do not believe any one particular God or necessarily follow everything that is mentioned in their religion of birth. They believe in the idea of a universal God, One God for all theory and may be they feel that the moral explanation given in their holy books are close to what they also believe, however they are also glad to listen to what other religions say and might also go to some extent criticizing some aspect of their religion. These are the people from the modern society and they accept that Homosexuality is a personal choice and hence if their religion opposes it, it is not correct. Similarly these are the people who feel caste discrimination is not right and they dont mind eating and mingling with people from other castes.
The main reason of such people for belief in God is the notion of Hope that they receive in difficult situations. They believe in the super-natural being who wouldnt allow unjust things to happen to people like them who have always tried to be ‘morally’ correct. Of course, the notion of Hope is very important in the fast moving world of current society where things change rapidly and there is hardly anyone who has time to sit and listen to you. Hence the existence of supernatural being who keeps watching you and ensure that you are safe would definitely bring comfort.
While I was talking to a good friend of mine, he mentioned that this growing market for hope was what the current industry of Gurus and Swamijis trying to cater to. As people start learning about science in their education, even sub-consciously they would start questioning various myths and stories that revolve around their religion. Their idea of this supernatural being starts breaking and this is where Gurus and Swamijis come and patch things up for them. The idea of meditation where you start connecting with the super natural being, the idea of Yoga and Suryanamaskara where you start connecting with the nature seems to be a way of taking people back in that direction by telling them things which they again do not understand fully. However the instructions and manuals and the lectures now have scientific jargons which makes you feel more connected to the idea. However these ideas are something very new to me and hence I wouldnt delve into that topic.
What I am trying to understand in this blog is about what happens to the idea of Hope in a godless world.
I once noticed a beggar sleeping at a corner of a bus stop. Just on the other side of the bus stop was a bog sleeping. It made me realize how the life of the two is hardly different. Both would spend each day trying to find something to eat for themselves and that was probably their main activity of the whole life. Searching and scrounging for food. In this respect, what would the idea of Hope be for both of them. Would the beggar being a human think of existence of a God who would help him get food everyday.
To understand this, I think we should look into the idea of Hope amongst animals. How do animals in this barbaric nature survive? What is the idea of hope for a deer running with all its might to escape from a chasing tiger? Would it also have this notion of a supernatural being who would help it to survive from the hungry beast? I dont think there is way we can prove or reject this. We can only say that we have not yet seen some Dogs meeting every once a year and dancing or howling all at the same time in front of a some stone.
However there is one thing that we do see amongst the animals. They do live in groups (I am not sure if there every species of animals live in a group. Also considering living being, we also need to discuss about the idea of hope for Plants, but I will not delve into it.). Is it possible that the idea of being a part of a larger group which is formed to ensure safety of all its members is the Hope that animals have. Is it possible that the deer running from the tiger has the hope not that there is some supernatural being who is going to save it for its so called good deeds but it has the hope that its group members might help to save it.
I think this idea of group/community is very important even for people who understand that there is no super natural being taking care of them. (To Be Continued….)