The Faith Paradox

A short dialogue between a professor and a student regarding the almighty. An enlightment session

"Do you believe in God?", a large writing across the blackboard read.

Staring at the class of a hundred, he rapped the duster on the board, to settle the room. Everything became still for a moment as students began to scrounge their brains for the question scribbled on the board.

"Roll Number 23!"

"Roll Number 'Twenty' 'Three' ", the professor repeated.

A lazy hand stood up among the last row of prodigies.

"Do you believe in God?".

"Depends.", he replied.

"On?".

"On how you define it."

"Could you enlighten the class with the concept of God?", the professor requested with a grin spreading around the corner.

99 heads turned toward him, while he stood there with his hands in the pocket, staring at the board.

"How many of you have seen God?"

No hands went up as all continued to look at him with piercing gaze that could've shredded glass into a million pieces.

"What about you, sir?".

"No! I would prefer if you could get to the point, instead of beating around the bush", the professor remarked.

"Well, how could you see it, when you don't know how to recognize it. I could be God for all you know. You believe God to be a divine form that has limbs ranging from 2 to two-hundred and can magically turn water into milk. Give me some water and I'll show you how to convert water into milk. Bring some milk powder alongside, would make my task easier.", he paused to let it sink in.

"You believe in the books written by enlightened men ranging a millennium back, but you have a hard time accepting the existence of something when I say it. Of course, why would anyone bet their 100 Rs. on a middle schooler, he could be murmuring piles of gibberish for all you know. Apparently, the testimony of the existence of some entity should lie in books dated eons back. I detest the concept of God being an entity that can wipe out all your troubles if you soak it in a pool of milk and offer a million rupees onto its feet. Aren't you self-contradicting yourself by doing this? You say God is the purest form of existence, then how do you expect that such an entity to be pleased with these materialistic things you offer every day? Wouldn't this entity rather be rather pleased when you offer a liter of milk to someone in need for it, rather than to a stone? I feel for those writers who wrote these books eons earlier. Those books didn't ask you to find God in stones, but scrounge this divinity within yourself. We cry when we feel lost in our quest for salvation, but the reality is, we cry to let those tears prevent our eyes to open up and face the path that lies ahead, which leads to salvation."

He took a deep breath and paused once more. Noticing, the jaws left open seeking to ingrain more, he continued. "Professor! You wished me to explain the concept of God? 'Why?', may I ask? You, yourself know God is nothing more than an entity in which we keep our faiths in; to reassure ourselves, that things would get better with time; to walk along the dark alleys boldly, knowing there is someone watching over you. You shouldn't just read the books written by our ancestors, you should imbibe what's written in those books, and implement it. You shouldn't groan in the middle of the street about the things going wrong, rather get up, gather your **** together, and do something about it. Don't wander the streets in the search of God, when it resides all the while, inside you. Take a peek inside yourself, understand your existence on this planet, and act. You'll find what you're scrounging for".

"Th.. Thank you, you may sit."

"Class is dismissed, you all may leave", and the professor left with an enlightened smile spread across his face.