Voices of faith: How do you respond to people who say the human mind created God to explain the

Voices of faith: How do you respond to people who say the human mind created God to explain the unknowable?

Rushdy El-Ghussein, former president of the Islamic Society of Greater Kansas City: As a Muslim and in reverence to God, I hope for the sincerity of the questioner in his search for answers.

To the questioner, I state a fact that every creation must have a creator. If the mind created God, then who created the mind? Who created the majestic universe?

The creator of the mind must have a better mind and understanding of our nature. If truly we value the mind, then it will be our vehicle to recognize God in this magnificent universe that we live in. Who controls the sky, which is a giant structure without pillars of support? God guided us to plant beautiful trees bearing and giving colorful and delicious fruits and flowers. Whatever our mind leads us to believe in, we are still vulnerable to wishes of God the creator.

Faith is to believe in something that you do not see but that you honestly feel its existence without seeing. Do we see our mind? No, but we believe that it exists. You will say that we can see it in the lab. The whole universe is a lab for our minds to explore and believe in the greatness of God.

Arvind Khetia, engineer and a Hindu: In the beginning, the fierceness of natural events caused by sun, rain, wind or fire inspired awe and fear. The forces behind these events were unknowable at that time. These forces were personified and worshipped to earn their grace. This anthropomorphic idea of God was a result of man’s hopes and fears.

The human mind has continued to search for the meaning and purpose of human life and its relation to the divine. The pursuit to unfold this mystery has resulted in varying ideas of the divine.

The vision of the sages of ancient India transcended this limited notion of the divine. They pursued their search by looking inward to transcend limitations of the senses. They concluded true knowledge of the divine comes from the realization of one’s inner Self.

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