Your Faith Is Not Irrational

A Quick Question

There’s a man I know who every day washes himself thoroughly and goes, barefoot, into a separate small room in his home within which sits a small table. In front of the small table is a cushion and upon that table is a sculpture of a creature with the head of an elephant, four arms, and a large portly body. Every day this man brings fresh flowers, water and fruit to that table and places it in front of the statue. He lights incense and wafts it around the statue while he mumbles some strange words that are quite hard for me to understand because they are spoken in a foreign language. After doing this he will usually sit for a while in silence and stillness. Eventually he will walk away seemingly calm, happy even, and go about his business.

Is this man irrational?

Where Reason Begins

In a previous article I wrote:

Reason is an excellent tool for any human to utilise in making sense of the world around them. But, as Spock would certainly concede, logical deduction is limited by the assumptions from which one argues. Thus, in forming our world-views, beliefs and (ultimately) faith we are reasoning from somewhere. I’d like to ask you, “from where?”

And from this question we explored the basis of my own theory that, when dealings with issues of faith and world-view, people allow three other key influences to help them with their use of Reason, that faculty of our human brains that allows us to figure things out for ourselves.

Since writing that article I have had the privalege working with more and more people who sit outside of any kind of belief system or world view that requires or accepts religious assumptions. That is to say that the starting point for many of these people is entirely different to that which I have experienced when I walk into my local church or visit a nearby mosque, gurdwara or synagogue.

My observation is simple: these people who have different starting points in the way that they interpret the world around them are unlikely to be able to understand the world-view of the differing starting point. If you don’t see any need for god, gods or goddesses then you are going to be pushed to understand the person who does… at least in any way that doesn’t start to border on being patronising.

This article, then, seeks to reassure those of you who start with assumptions about the world that do involve those “other beings” that you are not irrational and unreasonable. It also seeks to challenge those who see the world through natural (as opposed to supernatural) spectacles to consider taking them off for a few minutes.

Reason Starts From Your Core Assumptions

I was raised in a family where the basic assumptions included the following:

• God does not exist, and neither do any other supernatural beings (including ghosts, angels or fairies).
• The entire natural order is a colossal accident from which beauty has arisen from chaos.
• There is no purpose to human life except for that which we make for ourselves (in our case, have children and make money).

Imagine what it is like when, as a person of faith, I come home to visit nowadays with these alternative assumptions in my head:

• There is only one God and we humans are supernatural beings.
• The entire natural order is designed and beauty is part of that design.
• The purpose of human life is to know our creator and to serve his design.

Now, for those readers who are not monotheists or who don’t believe in a created order, bear with me. I simply ask you to make the comparison.

It is clear that now, despite the impact of my family to socialise me otherwise, we have belief systems that arise from totally different assumptions about the nature of things.

And, consequently, whenever a discussion about how the latest evidence from science points towards how something else in the universe might have come about by accident rather than design, the various pro- and con- arguments focused on the science might as well wash over all of our heads. Why? Because, at the core, our assumptions immunise us against understanding the other point of view.

Your Positive Assumptions About The Supernatural Are Not Irrational

I’ve got to be honest, I don’t like using the word ‘supernatural’. For me many things that are outside of the secular world-view are simply natural parts of the created order… but, in deference to those of you who find that a tricky idea, we’ll continue to talk of things supernatural in the sense of those things that defy scientific measurement and material definition – such as the concept of deity.

If you hold a positive view about the supernatural (such as god, gods, goddesses, angels, fairies, ghosts and the like) then you are not suddenly rendered an irrational human being. Even if you hold such matters in a place of possibility, instead of outright ruling them from existence, then you are not crazy to do so.

Many people look out of the window at the morning sun rising across the open fields of their homeland and see beauty and order, something that seems to defy randomness. Others look at that same scene and regard it as nothing more than a beautiful accident. Whatever your basic assumptions about our world, whether it is something created or something that simply happens to be, you are neither way building the rest of your life on an irrationality. On the contrary, your mind is seeing and interpreting the world through different eyes… and forming conclusions based on different first assumptions.

If you believe in some kind of creative force in the universe then it is not unreasonable to feel that there are other supernatural beings. It is not unreasonable to believe that human beings, from our very ability to perceive that which is beyond, are ourselves in some way supernatural. If you believe, as the Hindu might, that we are all Atman (the eternal self) residing for a time in these temporary bodies then you will live out your life in a very different way to that person who rejects all such ideas as mummery. The point is that you simply look through different assumption spectacles.

Your Reaction To The Supernatural Is Not Irrational

The man in my initial story is Hindu. He worships Ganesh, a deity who is believed to be the Remover of Obstacles and the Lord of Beginnings. His morning act of Puja (worship or service) honours that deity and hopes to draw favour from him. For a man who believes himself to be an Eternal Self living temporarily within a physical body that has a purpose and which resides within a universe in which supernatural forces exist who might be able to help him, this is not an unreasonable act.

I have another friend who believes that she can influence change upon her life through the incantation of special words and the repetition of specific ritual acts. She calls upon the supernatural force she names simply as ‘The Great Mother’ to help her make the positive impact she desires to have upon the world around her. She also, in deference to this supernatural power, seeks to take only what she needs from the earth and, consequently, is inspired to recycle and repair rather than buy and throw away. Once again, given that she holds the assumptions about the world that she does, this is not an irrational act.

For those of you who do not hold belief in the supernatural it may all seem quite strange and, frankly, superfluous. After all, we can all recycle and repair to protect our environment. We can all choose to light incense in our homes, or choose to serve other people, or work to make a difference in the world we live within… and all without the need for deity or the supernatural.

Yet… to make such an assertion misses the point.

For those people who are inspired by the supernatural, these acts are rational consequences of the assumptions they hold. My Pagan friend is an environmentalist because of her beliefs about the sanctity of life and the special quality of planet Earth… and those ideas were born in her devotion to Mother. The Hindu chap lives his life with purpose and devotion to Ganesh because it arises naturally and reasonably from his way of looking at the same facts that you or I do.

Most human beings are rational. They do things for a reason. You simply may not understand their assumptions.