Allah -- a journey, not a controversy

A brief thought on God
Azly Rahman

Fundamentally religion is a complex topic; understanding "what-where-how-why-and what next" of "God" is even more complex exercise in reasoning and feeling -- a daunting psychological undertaking that can be taxing on the amateur human mind not trained in philosophy. Hence instead of engaging in controversies surrounding this or that term that has evolved from time immemorial (from the time of Indus Valley and the Fertile crescent',) we ought to look at this idea from a phenomenological perspective. But what does this mean? What is a phenomena and how does one engage in a phenomenological analysis the most sacred of all topics?

How might the "Creator" be looked at from the historical, cultural, ideological, psychological, anthropological, or even scientific perspective before we engage in a "phenomenological" dialogue of this concept.

We continue to argue over this and that term. This can be a futile engagement. We will be trapped in the prison-house of language and truth is embedded in the particularity of language; in the "Babeli-ism" of the tower human beings are incarcerated in.

Language mirrors reality. Language imitates reality. Language defines reality. Language alters reality. Language imprisons reality. Language is reality.

These are the cages humanity build albeit language opens doors. This is the paradox of language; almost as if humanity is cursed for its ability to evolve as a language-producing specie.

Even more complex is the idea of the Creator and the multidimensional aspects of the subconcepts this has produced. We cannot know the Ultimate truth until our veil is lifted so that we may see Ultimate Reality. But then again, again and again, as in any circular argument we engage in, "reality" is subjective -- as subjective as the reality of the sadhus in the streets of Calcutta or the little Bernie Madoffs in Wall Street.

I suppose the statements above are meaningless; as soon as we put thoughts into language, we create realities that are confined to our own experience with the language we use to define, deconstruct, or even destroy our reality.