"Is there a God?" 

by Syamananda Das

On the surface one might say this is a simple question, but one also very dependent on the motivations of the person making the inquiry. Is the person looking to unravel a little of the uncertainty that pervades our present time?        

                                                         image: Syamananda Das
Or is it someone who, hardened and hurt by the trials of life, is beyond persuasion of the reassuring knowledge that there might still be something or someone in control, and the Universe is made sense of when we get to know who (or what) is running the whole show, and where we each fit in.

Some people respond "yes", others "no", and others maybe give the boring, noncommittal answer of ‘I don’t really know’ or 'how can anyone really understand these 'mysteries', etc.

But more recently I see this question like been asked “ Is there a radiobiologist in the room?”. Now most of us might give a good stab at what a radiobiologist does - something to do with radios and biology maybe!!

If we eventually have to admit that we don’t know (a moment of humility) and we give up bothering our brains, we might decide that its better and quicker to ask someone who looks like they might know what a radiobiologist is. Please forgive me for next introducing what many have come to see as almost a ‘dirty word’ here, and be bold enough to put forward that my response might take the shape of asking them “Is there an authority?”.

As much as the media and advertising world spend untold billions, persuading us that buying their product allows me to ‘have my world my way’, the more sober reality is that we are all permanently subject to some authority or other in life 24/7, like it or not.