By its nature, spirituality, to my understanding, is personal and subjective. In other words, to each his own.
Organised worship, on the other hand, is general, subjective as well but objective by force. In other words, it is imperative.
Faith and belief are optional, though mostly irrational. Virgin birth, for example, which is a classic oxymoron, is a prerequisite for subscription to Christianity.
So it was with myths that preceded Christianity and from which it obviously borrowed.
Romulus and Remus, were supposedly born of the virgin Rhea Silvia. In ancient Egypt, Ra was born of the virgin Net, just as Horus was the son of the virgin Isis. It was a favorite theme of ancient folklore.
So when this adherent asked me quite aggressively during a conversation, ‘do you believe in God?’ I did not want to be drawn into any liturgical cul de sac. But when he insisted, I had to say to him, ‘hang on a second, we first need to define what or who God means to you and I.
Is God a general concept of goodness and morality or is he an anthropomorphic virtual native of Israel? Is it an amorphous impetus towards love or is he someone that would permit a hundred infants to die in an earthquake in Turkey, while helping one businessman to win a fraudulent contract in Abuja?We had a hard time trying to scale this initial hurdle. It was clear that the fellow had in mind that God is a virtual Superman of Hebrew persuasion, if not extraction. He has ears, eyes, mouth and no doubt by logical extension, other parts of the human anatomy, since we were made in his image and likeness.
In that event, I suggested, there must be absolutely no exception to the physical characteristics we shared. At this, he became suspicious, defensive, then a little hostile.
He was adamant that God had a chosen people and that they were not from Onitsha but from Israel. I couldn’t wrap my head around that one. Why he would create us all and blatantly take sides for no reason? That should be ungodly.
Not so, he said stridently. He reminded me that Jacob defrauded his blind, dying father in one of world history’s most cynical crimes but remained one of God’s favorite sons. So, what’s Hushpuppi doing in jail?
He dismissed my every scepticism about Genesis with quotes from Genesis itself, a real catch-22, quite the ultimate paradox!
At this point, he was developing a rather short fuse and in exasperation, he then demanded I tell him where I would be going when I eventually leave this earthly realm.
I told him I couldn’t claim to know my posthumous destination, if any.
However, if I should hazard a guess, I may likely be heading back to wherever I was before I was born, about which I have no recollection. Therefore, by that same token, I should in all honesty be headed back to the same place, about which I will
have no recollection still.
It struck me amid considerable misgivings that the motive, which drives him on to perceived piety, presumed righteousness and supposed benevolence, is the prospect of earthly reward, followed by an everlasting life of ease and comfort in the hereafter.
One finds such mercenary considerations and mercantile motivations quite embarrassing. Good deed should be its own reward. Trade by barter should remain in the mundane market place. Bad things can even happen to good people. And the most monstrous man may live a fulfilled life. There is no symmetry, no justice.
The eternal, unattainable pursuit of good, is my humble idea of God and Godliness.
