When The Whole World Is Your Oyster
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
10 May 2024
"When Men Stop Believing In God, It Isn't
That They Then Believe In Nothing: They Believe In Everything."
-Umberto Eco
This quote
highlights how people of faith and non-faith are not necessarily two opposite
extremes, and it can be argued that atheism is not necessarily a complete lack
of faith.
Instead,
this quote suggests that when some people stop believing in god, they
transition to a state of believing in 'everything' - an array of ideas and
beliefs that define their outlook on life. This could be a belief in the power
of nature or the power of science, as well as the power of the collective
intelligence of mankind.
Those who
transition from faith in god to faith in everything may have no one, single
path or doctrine to follow, but have a great deal of freedom to explore,
accept, and reject various ideas and beliefs.
Believing
in everything doesn't stem from credulity. It springs from magnanimity. This
can be further understood by a profoundly oxymoronic couplet in Urdu, "Main
Tamaam Rishton Ko Ghar Pe Chhod Aaya Tha/ Phir Us Ke Baad Mujhe Koi Ajnabi Na
Mila" (I left behind all relations and associations/ After that, I
didn't find any stranger; in other words, I found everyone as my own).
'No belief
in god finds belief in mankind and all that's available and accessible to us,'
wrote French philologist Jacques Derrida, who was a coeval of Eco and taught at
Sorbonne University, Paris. Believing in god is a monomania. Spinoza called it 'Undesirable
Exclusivity.' It's not all-encompassing and magnanimous. To believe in god
often reduces your belief in a specific god and doctrine. This has happened to
the followers of all religions, particularly, all three Semitic faiths. An
average Muslim will be obsessed with Allah, a general Christian will think that
Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, today's Hindus will say, Ram is the be-all and
end-all and so on. But those who've no faith in any god or deity, will remain
unaffected by this futile debate as to whose god and ism are better than those
of others. They'll have a universality of vision and the boundlessness of the
Universe, unlike those who're fixed in their belief in a god or a faith.
Professor Eco would often say in his lectures that believing in a specific
object or idea is much inferior to believing in everything. A belief that
liberates is better than a belief that restricts.
Going
beyond god and religion, this also applies to nationalism which's the measles
of mankind, to quote Albert Einstein. Once you go beyond the boundaries of your
country, which's an accident of birth, the whole world becomes your oyster.
Moreover, specific beliefs tend to degenerate into pettiness.
Nationalism
has shrunk into provincialism and provincialism has further sunk into the muddy
waters of localism which is quite obvious in today's politically polluted
India.
Remember,
faith doesn't always have a religio-spiritual hue, It has elements of
universality and humanity. A person's non-belief doesn't stop him from loving
the whole world and believing in everything.
Eco's words
of wisdom must echo in the minds of those who bother to think. We need such
great minds and their sublime thoughts in an increasingly fanatic world,
which's peopled by god-centric and scripture-driven fiends and monomaniacs.
----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/world-oyster-religion-faith/d/132290