Brian’s Reflection: Friday, September 26, 2008


I am, therefore there is a God.

- Moses Mendelssohn, philosopher,
born on this day (though there is
disagreement), 1729


Very self-centered. And subjective (what else can human thinking be??). Irrational, though pretending to be otherwise. I take it as a statement of justification of whatever Moses was thinking about, of his own conclusions about Life, and about God.

More and more, I realize that “God” is Subjective. And that this is ….. OK. That “God” is “real”, and that we humans have “invented” God, are sides of the same paradoxical coin. That “coin” is our utter determination or need to set a goal or standard for ourselves - at least on the part of women and men of common sense and intelligence - of what it is to be human and of how we might achieve that Humanity.

Oh. “God” can definitely be co-opted, for all kinds of nefarious purposes. And has been. This co-option has been, in my opinion, the primary source of un-Godliness, of inhumanity, in the World. There is a great Mystery somewhere here, which I can’t yet get my mind around.

“God” is our alter-ego. For some, a relationship with “God” will lead to Darkness. For some, to Light. I find it quite easy to see which it is in each person, with some leeway for Life’s innate ambiguity. In most of us, there is both Dark and Light - and the Bible cautions us to remember that with “God”, Darkness and Light are both alike.

If we “are”, “God” must exist. For, if God does not exist, there is nothing we can become that has any honour or beauty. In inventing God, we are inventing ourselves.

The big question is: who do we really want to be?

It has been awhile. I think we do not yet know.

Brian+