"Blasphemous!"
That was what we feared would be the reaction of our church to our 8 year old's quiet declaration to his mother that there is no God. Of course, acting as a "dutiful" parent, she made tried to make him "understand" and "realize" that everything had to have a creator and therefore, God, that we could not see him, feel him or hear him (as opposed to Abraham et al) and that the whole point about God was belief. I did my part by giving a solemn lecture of my own, more or less on the same lines - since one does not differ with the wife (old jungle saying). He did not quite concede the point and with a rather doubtful shake of his head refused to discuss the topic again.
All this brought in a surge of nostalgia to yours truly. This was a dilemma that all of us believing types had faced at the threshold of youth - Is there really a God? or Gods? Are the experiences of good and bad times mere threads in the self evolving fabric of time or does the unseen hands of a weaver mold time and space and our experiences to suit his will? So then are the varying patterns of life then chaotic patterns permitted by the creator within a defined framework?
The demanding requirements of earning a living and settling into a married life leave no room for such "useless" questions. But now that our child had made an emphatic declaration that did not augur too well for his status as a believer, I decided to renew the search for an answer (knowing well that I am more likely to meet the Yeti first).
I must first search the usual the sources of wisdom (meaning books, wikipedia, discussions with certain persons after they have been elevated intellectually with the aid of "nectar" etc). In the meanwhile, I am praying for an Epiphany - it would drastically cut the time involved.
