How many times have we religionists heard from people who, when asked in what they believe reply, ‘I don’t really know, but I believe that there is something, something greater than all this’? We are tempted to think when confronted with such sentiments about how poor this ‘belief’ is, how empty and even, perhaps, how lazy to come to this thought and then stop, instead of following intuition, curiosity or common sense to a point further along the road that may reveal more of what this ‘something greater’ might be. But halt a moment. Whilst clearly wrong, whilst naïve and simplistic in this view, and even though blameworthy, we must understand these people are victims of one of the greatest achievements of wishful thinking yet conjured!
This idea of ‘something greater’ we can call Life Force, and it is born from our proclivities to ease and idleness, to satiating desires and avoiding consequences. This Life Force can be switched on and off, yet even if left on this Life Force will not bother you when you are up to no good for it is blind. It has no mind, no morals, it just is. When you are feeling good, on top of the world, riding on the crest of the wave, it is convenient and nice to think of the mysterious Life Force assembling before you the beauty of the world. It is an emotional comfort without any unpleasant consequences, and conveniently, an object of blame when you falter, fail or are besieged by tragedy. You hold it to account and it is so latent and dormant that it will not hold you to account. How attractive all this is – how delusional, false and what better example of wishful (un-) thinking? And all the while Judgement looms.
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