Note from Guru Kurt: I think this is a quite good, though brief, refutation of all Atheistic arguments seeking to disprove the existence of God. In today's world, all belief about the existence or nonexistence of God is merely on the surface. What lies deep below is an unquenchable thirst for material satisfaction--lust, greed, and the like. Words and arguments such as I present here are pointless, like trying to stop an automobile with a pane of glass on which you have written "Danger, cliff ahead!" The idiots just drive right through, breaking the glass and plunging over the cliff, laughing all the while at your quaint notions. Why do men take the world so seriously, but not their souls? A lover of God takes his soul with the utmost seriousness, and laughs at the antics of the worldly. What good is a whole pile of gold at your final hour on this planet? Find God, and then laugh, for you will be secure. This person left me with the smug conviction that he had won the argument, and could win any argument. I call him an idiot, but at my last hour I know the Father awaits me, and that it is not the end. We will go on a long time together, He and I. In fact, I think we shall go on for an eternity, through His loving grace. More, I know that this is so. What is one human more or less to me? A farmer discovered that the slop he had given to his pigs was tainted with rat poison, so he spent a half hour or so lecturing them, giving explicit directions not to eat the food in their troughs. Of course, when he turned his back, the pigs immediately began to engorge themselves, and died. In his case, it was his fault for assuming that the pigs could follow his reasoning. In my case, this may also be the case, yet I persist. Surely you can read, humans! Well, read this, then:
Some time ago I sent refutations of Atheistic arguments against the existence of God that I had written to a certain person. This person did not apparently read my essays as the unitary creations which they were, or try to understand my points in depth. For instance, in my cover letter I explicitly stated that I did not seek to prove the existence of God, but merely to show that His existence could not be disproved either. This person aggressively attacked almost every statement that I made, but it was clear to me that He was arguing against what he thought I was saying, rather than what I was actually saying. There were many parts that were not essential to my argument, and which I admitted openly were not essential, yet were attacked vigorously as though they were central points! I would state that “It is not possible to disprove God’s existence in this way,” and he would respond, “You cannot prove God’s existence in this way!” His whole attitude was very hostile to any discussion about God, it seems. He is a true Atheist, totally antithetical to all talk about God.
I will tell you what such people are like. A certain monastery adopted a young boy who was an orphan, and raised him in the monastic style. He never once saw a woman, and because the monastery had strict rules about discussing women, he never heard about them either. A rational being, he came to the conclusion that there was no such thing as women! As he grew older, he would occasionally run into references to women in the books that he read, and he would think, “There is no evidence to prove the existence of these ‘women.’ ‘Woman’ is just a concept that people have invented, for man is lonely and longs for companionship. He should stand up, and assert the nonexistence of women! This is the brave and rational attitude.” He even developed certain “proofs” against their existence. A new monk came to the monastery, who had recently divorced and was disconsolate. Occasionally, he would call his former wife on the phone and attempt to patch things up with her. Our “Anti-womanist” one day overheard this new monk talking with someone he was treating like a real “woman,” and concluded that he was delusional, talking only with himself. “How low man will sink, out of weakness!” he thought. Later, he confronted this monk and told him to his face that he was likely insane. The monk realized, with a shock, that this boy’s education had been somewhat lacking, and said, “Say, here. I was married to a woman, friend. We had children. Where do you think you came from, anyway? I tell you what, I’ll call her up and you can talk with her yourself. You will see, her voice is different from the male voice, sweeter and more musical. Then, later on I can have her come for a visit. We must remedy your ignorance!” The “Anti-womanist” replied, “I refuse to listen to these ‘voices’ on the phone. I refuse to go to a meeting with this ‘person.’ These are just delusional ideas that you have, and I call you insane!”
Spiritual teachers are in contact with the living Lord. They hold forth a phone for man to grasp, in the form of spiritual disciplines. Atheists, in refusing to even try spiritual disciplines like meditation, are refusing that a phone to the Lord even exists! This is not a rational position, but an irrational one. Simply because you have never met a person, and have seen no evidence of a person’s existence, does not imply the nonexistence of this person. All the Atheists’ 107 arguments against the existence of God are merely different varieties of this same attitude, that we have never seen Him, therefore He does not exist. The proper, rational attitude is, We have never seen Him, therefore He may not exist. I have nothing against Atheists, except when they try to infringe on territory that they should not infringe upon, and that is the minds of God’s true devotees on earth. When they seek to disprove God’s existence, they interfere with God’s friends. If they wish to assert non-belief in the existence of God, this is all very well, although it is a stale, dry, hopeless and vacant position. They should not, however, arrogantly assert that they can prove that someone whom they have not seen or experienced does not exist, for this confuses others who otherwise might wish to pick up the “God phone” and dial “111,” the number of the Lord, by seeking the guidance of an illumined teacher and beginning to deepen their own spiritual awareness.
Again, take the example of Helen Keller. Born without sight or hearing, how could anyone convince her that the other beings around her possessed these things? It took a long time to break through to her. If she instead adopted the Atheists’ attitude, she would conclude that sight and hearing were just delusive ideas for which she had no evidence, and therefore unreal. If she were in a group of similar people, they may learn to communicate by touch and develop their own philosophy, eventually “disproving” amongst themselves that the organs of vision and hearing even exist, and concluding that the rest of the world is deluded and insane. The illumined have spiritual eyes with which they see God, residing deep in the hearts of all those around them. They have spiritual ears with which they hear the voice of God, for the Atman of spiritual aspirants communicates with the teacher in special, hidden ways, of which the aspirant is not aware. If the truth must be told, Atheists who seek not merely to show that God may not exist, but to prove that he does not exist, are of a very low mindset. They seek to use the law of the herd, for they sense they are in the majority and those who make spiritual statements in the minority, and so they talk. I say their arguments are meaningless and vacant, and I laugh at them. This invisible being whom you “disprove” does exist. I know Him. I see Him every day, from morning until night. He also finds your arguments quite amusing. You are in the majority, and I am in the minority, so you will attempt take advantage of your position by calling me insane, proving yourself a scoundrel and a knave. Everything happens according to the Father’s will. If He wishes you to go away thinking that you have defeated me when in truth you have merely done this in your own mind and not in the court of God’s reason, then you will go away. If He wishes that some part of your dark and hopeless soul sees a glimmer of light, a potential for truth in my words, then you will stay to hear more. What have I to do with it? My Father takes care of all these things.
Truth has a higher existence than what worldly men agree among themselves. There is a higher reality underlying the physical world, which only the spiritually minded can apprehend. If you wish to assert that God does not exist, He is not bothered, so long as you draw morality from some other source, as perhaps the idea that the unhappiness of others can never bring you happiness. When you try to prove that He does not exist, He grows wrathful, for you mislead many with false arguments. All arguments attempting to prove that God does not exist are false. It is not possible to construct a rational argument that He does not exist, for He does exist and can be known by man. I will tell you something else. What rational being wishes its own nonexistence? Atheists squeal, like babies, “We have the right to assert that we disappear into nothingness at death!” God sees this, and with a humorous chuckle, replies, “Sure, you have that right. I’ll still be waiting for you at death, I will still take your soul for its rest period, and I will still put you in a fresh body in about fifty years, where you will again arise to spit in my eye with your irrational brand of ‘reason.’” I assert that these things happen. You cannot prove to me that they do not, for I know for a fact that they do. I cannot prove that they happen, but I can unerringly and unfailingly show that any proofs that they do not occur are false. This is the rational standoff between me and the Atheists. There is a middle position, where the possibilities of both existence and nonexistence of God are allowed. The spiritual aspirant takes this position, then adds: “It does not seem likely to me that all these religions could have arisen out of nowhere. Would so many gather around something that was inherently false? There are people who claim to have seen God, and since they seem to have much more powerful minds than mine, and seem to have access to deeper springs of truth, I think these claims may indeed be real. I will seek to find God, too, applying spiritual disciplines. Kurt claims that if I begin such disciplines, I will immediately begin to experience greater joy in my life, and that this is evidence for the existence of the Atman deep within my own heart. Well, let us see if he is right!”
Atheists attain a victory in their own minds over an imaginary foe, while the real, living God looks over their shoulder in amusement. They try to sweep religion under a rug, and feel like kings, having apparently proven that man comes from nowhere, and disappears at death. They assert that man has no soul, and that man’s heart is only an organ that pumps blood. Although they cannot really prove any of these things, to their own satisfaction they do, and I let them go. Religion dies upon the earth if the Atheists win, with hopelessness and despair reigning over all. I do not speak to such people, who are beyond hope and live in a fantasy world of their own, as irrational as the Christians who want Jesus to do everything for them. I speak to those among mankind who have a heart of feeling, who know what it means to love and be loved. I speak to those whose minds are open to broad, new possibilities, who wish to travel boldly into the frontier of spiritual reality, which is ever-fresh and exciting to experience. The soul of man does exist, and each man can plumb the depths of his own soul, purifying it of all evil and encountering directly the light that comes from within, the light of bliss and wisdom emanating from his own divine Atman. It may be that there are no such people on the earth today. It may be that materialism will win its final victory, here, now, this moment. If this should be the case, I am not bothered. I swim in the sea of blissful immortality, and like the white monkey Hanuman in one of the beautiful songs of Sri Ramakrishna, I eat sweet fruit from the tree of knowledge of God. If none care to hearken to my song of love, I go my own way. I witness the entire universe expanding within my own body. I hear the beautiful melody of my Father’s voice, who is my only playmate here on earth. Like mist I came to this forum, and like a ghost I will go, disappearing into the limitless space above that is darkness to you, and bright daylight to me. Shall I stay, or shall I, like Hanuman, declare, “Behold, I go, leaving a bitter fruit for you!”? We shall see. Top