Is the word “GOD” a designation ? The GOD Hypothesis

You either believe in God or you don’t believe in God. Whatever it is, one thing I am sure of is that you may not quite know what is the meaning of the word GOD. For some, GOD means a supreme divine power who controls the lives of the people in this universe while for some people GOD is an alien astronaut who visited earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. We don’t know which of these assumptions are correct and that is why we should keep an open mind and give each one of the possibilities an equal chance.

As I said earlier, some people ( let us call them people A ) believe that GOD is the one who controls the fate of people and if he wants he can either shower his tremendous blessings on people or can punish people with terrible things. That is exactly the reason why people pray to GOD. But one thing they do not know or do not care to know is that why is GOD superior to humans. Is it because of some enormous power he possesses or because of some divine natural law.

The second set of people ( let us call them people B ) believe that GODs are actually extra terrestrials (ETs) who had highly advanced technology. So when they visited earth,the primitive people who lived on earth at that time, thought of them as GODs. People B believe that the ancient people living on this planet were wrong and since they could not understand technology they named the ETs as GODS.

But what if I tell you that both of them can be right in some way. What if I tell you that people A might be correct in assuming that those were GODs and people B are correct as well in assuming that they were ETs. What ever I am going to tell you is my effort to look into it from a different angle. We don’t know which assumption is correct and until we know that we should keep all options open. From what I see, I think that GOD is a designation, just like we have astronaut or prime minister or president etc. What if GOD is the designation equivalent of an astronaut in the planet from where the they came from. In that case the primitive people were not wrong to call them GODs. In a few years from now, if an astronaut from earth goes to Mars and encounter the indigenous people of Mars (lets assume they are in the stone age right now) he/she will introduce himself/herself as Mr/Ms A, the astronaut of Earth. For those indigenous people of Mars we will forever be known as astronauts. As centuries pass, the word astronaut will become in Mars what the word GOD has become on earth.

Now, let us try to understand the points of view of both people A and people B and let us try to find logical reasons behind their beliefs.

People A believe that GOD is a divine supernatural power who is above humans and can do whatever he wants. This may be true as well. But if it is true, what is the reason that GOD is more powerful than humans? One of the logical reasons can be :

Just how we humans are superior to other animals (in terms of intellect), isn’t it possible for another species to be superior to us. It can be possible that all GODs belong to a species who are superior to humans and the rest of the animal kingdom on this planet. If we assume this to be true, the next question that will come to our mind is “ By virtue of what, are these GODs superior to us ? ” Let us again list the possible logical reasons:

1. GODs can be superior to us by virtue of the laws of nature. Just how we humans are born with superior intellect than other animals, similarly it is possible that GODs are born with superior features than humans. If that is the case, then it will be the laws of nature and evolution that will be the reason.
2. The GODs can be superior to us by virtue of technology that we still don’t understand. It is possible that these GODs have the same structure like humans but because of their superior knowledge they possess advanced technology. These advanced technologies may not only be related to some sort of devices or objects but also related to our body. If you look at our body, most of our body parts are like mechanical devices that have specific functions. In today’s world, due to our advancements in medical technology we are able to replace some of these organs with artificial medical devices. The only part that we are still not able to understand much is the brain and the soul which is effectively the essence of life. As we learn more, as our technologies advance, in future we may be able to replace most, if not all, body parts with artificial devices. Anything is possible.

So we see that the beliefs of people B are actually embedded inside the beliefs of people A. People A have always believed that GOD is the one who wields supreme power but they have never tried to find out what gives these GODs the supreme power. Whereas people B are the ones who try to find the reasons behind the divine powers of the GODs.

As I had said earlier, we do not know what is correct and until we know that we should always try to explore, we should always try to ask questions. You may be one of people A or of people B, but it doesn’t matter. Question everything. Question even your own beliefs because who knows if your belief is right or wrong. The moment one believes something blindly and stops asking questions, is the moment when one stops exploring. And that will be the beginning of the end of our evolution.