I believe in God. If I pick the word ‘believe’ off the four letter starting sentence, the remaining three letters will mean ‘I in God or God in me.’ Looking purely from the syntactic viewpoint, belief appears to be unnecessary, and thus more of a liability than an asset in reaching anywhere near God, for it stands between I and my God as the Berlin Wall. If this wall of belief is not there between me and my God, we get closer or even merge into one. And when and if it is there between me and my God, we drift apart. To put it in other words, belief separates me from my God, doesn’t narrow the distance between me and my God but widens it.

With ‘belief’ another tricky thing about it is that the believer tend to get stuck in belief so deep and blind that he keeps God waiting for eternity and he never makes it. This is just an example, for I know God doesn’t need to wait because the omniscient or the all-encompassing thing is eternally with me, above me, below me, on my right, on my left, on top of me, outside me, beating behind my chest, breathing in and out of me and inside me.

I need the help of God to protect me! I need the help of God to save my soul! I need the help of God to save me from my enemies! I need the help of God to keep me away from all possible threats and dangers! I need the help of God to fill up my house with happiness! I need the help of God to keep me healthy and wealthy! I need the help of God to lift me when fallen! I need the help of God to give me the security cover! I need the help of God for everything that I can think of and others that I can’t think of!

Words and phrases galore coined by men over time came and went, gained wide currency and gone obsolete. But this word ‘belief’ has survived all ages, time, civilizations, and continue to be in vogue. There must be something in it! Some magic! Some pull! Some trick! Fear or desire! Before we go round stripping it away and picking holes in this charismatic or dynamic word ‘Belief’, let’s take a look at the total content of belief, the stuff it is made of.

To begin with, let’s examine why in spite of belief and God being so totally unrelated words and things, what is there in it that we can’t help lumping them together. Is there any transcendental connection between ‘belief’ and ‘God’ that goes beyond our knowledge?

Let’s put the two words juxtaposed with each other and examine how they are correlative or fit in with each other, if in any way. With belief it needs a believer to function. God doesn’t need a believer to function. Belief is all about path. God is all about realization with or without path. Belief varies. God is static.  Belief needs human mind to dwell on. God transcends human mind and is pervasive in the whole of beings. Belief needs a safe and solid ground to stand on. God doesn’t need ground to stand tall. Belief requires men to carry it over. God doesn’t require men to carry it over. Belief leans on the crutch of ideas. God dances in joy where idea ends. Belief protects the faithful. God protects all. Belief is vulnerable to abuse. God is beyond abuse. Belief may have blemishes. God is without blemishes. Belief can be exploited. God cannot be exploited. Belief invites conflict and is battled for. God is above contest. Belief calls for human suffering. God redeems humans from suffering. And so on.

If one is to conclude by looking at it, ‘belief’ cannot be a ladder leading to God. It cannot be a prop, for it needs to be propped up itself.

Now, let’s have a look at the content or covering of ‘belief’. We do it by stripping away layers of contents or covering to see how its kernel looks like, much in the same way as we peel off skins of an onion. An idea spinning off from religion with religious texts forming its basis accepted by a large number of people gets the high seal of ‘belief’. The populace may not always be at liberty to question it or challenge its basis. They may have no choice but to acquiesce to it, for going out on a limb involves being burnt at stake or thrown off into the high sea. Throughout human history we find gory accounts of religious authorities exercising political power with iron fist or ruthless religious authorities having strong influence over people who held reins of power.

In some part of the planet that we live in, religion still reigns supreme and directs the course of politics. Religion continues to be an invaluable tool for achieving political end in some democracies. In autocracies, religion frames and shapes the cardinal principle of autocrat’s rule. There still is a situation where lies dyed in religious color make mockery of truth. And the common herd adoring lies and spitting out at the face of truth. Given the context one cannot expect the common herd to defy ‘belief’ with so much of political and religious power to prop it up.  Ideas as foundation of belief is untenable despite the religious and political clout it enjoys.

If we are to take the religious texts as basis for ‘belief’, we still find plenty of room for questioning the veracity of it. I have absolutely no doubt about it that people who took pain in writing them had lived through a higher plane of existence or what we may describe as a transcendental state of existence. I don’t dispute it. But again, what they saw, felt, sensed and observed using five senses while in physical body or may be going beyond five senses is entirely an individual specific experience. Why should someone ‘believe’ in something experienced by others what they themselves have not been through?  Doesn’t this ‘belief’ become the biggest hurdle for others in exploring, achieving, or reaching the higher or the highest state of existence while still being in the physical form in the physical world?

Once I believe, I need not go further down the road because I believe it. Belief is not hungry for proof! May be what others have seen, sensed, felt or observed by living in a certain state of mind still fall short of entering the realm of reality! May be there are things that lies beyond the point or the frontier where others have stopped!

Finally, ‘belief’ cannot be a fillip to knowing things by going beyond it, but an agent of stagnation, for it doesn’t permit believers to surmount the belief and look beyond it. They cannot go beyond the belief unless they pluck up the courage to question and to challenge it. Lack of courage, fear-psychosis, and superstitions constitute column for belief to sit atop.

Now, as with me I pick the ‘belief’ off, throw it into the gutter, and get closer to God.

I am given 90 minutes to play the game and score. God is my coach. I am not allowed to go down on my knee or prostrate myself before this coach. I got to play the game and rifle the ball through the net.  If I don’t do that the other side will do it. No, I can’t sit back while others score. I go, fight with all my might, and scramble the ball into net. At the end of the game, I’m to see the coach.  I get a pat on my shoulder or a kick on my ass. I don’t fuck my head about it.  I am here to play the game and score before the Sun goes down.