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Everyone worships something. Self, stuff, or supernatural. What's the motivation for someone to arrive at the doorstep of their "god"?
I believe deeply in the existence of Someone bigger than me. While I am intimately familiar with the "calling of God," and subsequently believe that the ones brought into relationship with Him are chosen by Him, my culture loves to argue the point that it's merely a pathetic attempt to make sense of a senseless life; that I only depend on those beliefs because I am too weak to make it on my own.
But you cannot escape the fact that human beings are hardwired to make sense out of the senseless. Therefore we pursue the things that lead us to our goal. Society's gods can be found in self, stuff, or supernatural beliefs. The problem arises in the choosing of those three. You cannot sensibly choose all three. If I am wrong, and there is no God who calls his followers, then what motivates people to make their choice?
Eva M
Every single person has an intuition of something/someone bigger than oneself, and the inner drive to get to know Her/Him/It, and various feelings about that. We intuit such an endlessly beautiful being, that we get to think “too good to be true”, “to good to be real”. Or maybe “to good to be true to”? God chooses all the people, the question is who is willing to chose God?
If one REALLY admits God is here and everywhere – omnipresent - how ones own life would need to change to make it compatible with what is godly? Think about that. Surely, it would take a lot of effort to eradicate egotism and embrace love to make it pure for God.
What would it mean to agree for God to be? It would mean falling in love with God, and marrying Him/Her at the spot. This is how I feel about God, sincerely.
God is Love. And God needs love to be present. God needs to be loved for God to prove His/Her existence in people’s life. If one lives a life of love, the presence of God is obvious. It is palpable even.
Love is what makes sense in life. Life is empty without it. You cannot make sense out of the senseless, ultimately. But you can make sense of your life, if you live love.
The heritage of humanity as the children of God is revealed when one loves others. Take a look and you will see God – in the moments when someone sincerely expresses love and care you will see the beauty that is of God. If people can be so gorgeous, what about the Creator?
Let’s not buy so easily the notions of God. They may not be accurate. Lets not be satisfied with what is merely the ideas of our minds. The desire of God is the desire for what is real. Pursue God as a lover. How are You, God? Show me Your splendid Self? What Love is? Show me. Guide me. I love You.
Abhiram Lohit 10+
I adopt the stance of the mystic and rational philosophy traditions (both East and West). These traditions cut asunder all the humanistic, societal obligations that characterize formal religion, and attempt to find an "essential" explanation. A typical "essential" explanation is to see an eternality, constancy in the totality. This is somewhat similar to the conservation laws of physics, but taken beyond the distinction between physical world, and some apparent non-physical entities, e.g., mind, consciousness, etc
Helen Hupe 30+
anthony bruni 30+
Chandramouli Pandya
We are a highly complex, emotionally intelligent species. Consider for one moment a world where we all "know" that there is no power greater than our meager control over our surroundings. That truth would be psychologically devastating for a majority of our population.
The entire humanity in its current state is unable to ensure its own survival in the event of a minor cosmic event. At a time like this, its always reassuring to "know" there is a greater power looking out for us. I am sure the day we evolve to a level where we are more in control of our existence, we will not see the need for a "God".
Whether God exists or not, I will wait till I see him / her /it :)
Krisztián Pintér 200+
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_dennett_on_dangerous_memes.html
this a short TED talk only, if you are interested, you can find other, longer lectures on youtube.
Andrew Buchmann
If lack of understanding and rejection of truth can count as a form of motivation, then there's my answer.
Seriously, this god stuff i getting old around here....
Matthieu Miossec 100+
"that I only depend on those beliefs because I am too weak to make it on my own."
It's good that you're honest about it. I wish more religious people would admit to this. I'm kidding of course.
Andrew Buchmann
Krisztián Pintér 200+
Amily shaw 10+
Christophe Cop 500+
- Being hardwired for something, does not mean that the wire-ing is correct. (As we see illusions, even though we know they are illusions)
- Imagining a God and praying to him/her/it, being honest against it, feeling comfort and love from it,... they are all very interesting meditations to do (in my opinion), but that does not mean it is true (the experience is true, wether it is real, is another question)
- We do indeed pursue things. be it truth, beauty, goodness or some other ideal. It might be seen as a goal. I see it as a path.
It is indeed difficult to walk different paths all at once.
Following the path of (what you call) God makes you a follower. It has a lot of appeals and (probably) some hard wiring that can lead us to wanting to follow that path. (There are a lot of ways to follow God, depending on your image of it)
On motivations:
From all possible motivators (a human can have), only a limited set comes from the worldview one holds, I assume that not having any motivators from it can allow you to live a nice life (without a chosen path).