Personal Revelations

Let us begin this argument by stating the obvious. Many people claim to literally hear the voice of God. He often tells them to do things. Usually crazy things. Every one of those who assert this is either psychotic or dishonest. That should be clear. Many other people, on the other hand, feel God speaks to them through events in their lives. Others just feel in their heart that God is there. How could anyone argue with that?

Sadly we can’t. When all of the facts involved are feelings within someones head, It makes it hard to present counter evidence. What should we say? No, you don’t feel that way? No, that feeling is probably just chemicals pouring around in your brain? Such feelings are an unfortunate argument stopper, plain and simple.

But personal feelings are notoriously difficult to rely on. We misinterpret signs all the time. We may be sure our spouse is mad at us, while they are just having a bad day. We sometimes get unjustly angry, sad or lonely. We hold an irrational fear of clowns. We believe that if we wear a lucky shirt our team will win. Completely ignoring the fact that our opponents fans have their lucky shirt on as well. We’re going to win this time, we say to ourselves at the blackjack table, we can feel it.

And on that third date, after the moonlit walk and fancy dinner, we run to our best friend to try and understand ourselves. Is it love we are feeling?

We humans tend to be unsure about our emotions. Constantly checking ourselves against our friends. Are we really angry or just disappointed? Are we in love or just lonely? Why is it that the personal feeling of God is spoken of with such certainty?

Let’s imagine a different sort of society. One where parents tell their children that anger is the feeling of God. Every time someone does something evil, God enters their bodies to give them power. Could such people tell the difference? Anger is an extremely powerful emotion. Asking people from this society about God, we would get a definitive answer. Of course God exists, they would say, I feel him all the time. Especially in the line at the DMV.

As children we are told God exists and that certain feeling embody him. And as children we accept that claim without question. When we grow up, we begin to see the inconsistencies of what we were told. Some of us stop believing. Others try and rationalize them away, still attributing certain feelings to God. Maybe the feeling of awe. Maybe reverence.

Whatever these feelings are, they are not unique to one faith. In fact, they are not unique to any faith. One can feel inspired without believing in the supernatural. One can feel awe without it being directed at a supreme being. These are experiences that every human being gets to feel. Even atheists.