Faith and doubt are as old as mankind. Both are the part of evolution, sometimes one, sometimes the other brings forward the natural cognition process. I note that the opposite of belief is not disbelief, this is why I use the term ”non-belief”. Let us now consider the main motivations for the emergence of belief and non-belief. What goes on in the human psyche when one commits to one or the other?

1. Fear 

Since time immemorial, humans have been afraid of the unknown, of natural disasters, catastrophes, death, events beyond human control and all phenomena that are beyond our level of knowledge. God-believers (theists) resolve this fear by trying to replace it with fear of God. The believers' approach is that God is behind every event, so if one behaves 'well', one need not fear that unpleasantness will happen to him/her. If it happens, it is God's punishment, and for that one must keep introspection and penance. 

According to atheists, the world around us is governed by natural laws, and the more we know about them, the less will be the unknown. As our knowledge increases, our fears decrease over time. However, the occurrence of unfortunate events, of random strokes of fate, is unpredictable, and so there is no defense against them. Such is nature, and we have to accept it. Atheism can hardly solve man's fears at the psychological level, since, despite the increase in scientific knowledge, the objects of fear are constantly being recreated. If we know e. g. the cause of lightning, we may no longer fear it, but then UFOs appear which we start to fear of again. In other words, fear never disappears in the atheistic system, only the object of fear changes. Fear does not disappear in the theistic system either, because one must always fear God in it, since an unpredictable, unknowable higher power governs the existence. The theistic system is more reassuring in that, while we cannot expect mercy from natural laws, we can placate the gods and hope in their mercy. In this sense, it certainly increases man's chances of survival, i.e. it is beneficial for society as a whole.  

2. Upbringing 

The attitude towards the question of belief or non-belief is in large extent determined by the narrower (family) and wider (social) environment in which the individual is embedded. In a religious society, the chances of becoming an openly atheist are small. This is not only because one doesn’t undertake the exclusion, but also because religious behavior patterns are given for children what only those individuals are able to call into question who have exceptional intelligence and ability for independent thinking. If only the family is religious, but atheism is present in society, the chances increase that the individual will be able to override the family patterns, i.e. rebel against them and identify with the opposite behavior pattern. In both cases, the common feature is that the individual's choice of attitude towards theism or atheism is not based on his/her own knowledge, but on a pattern that the individual judges to be more favorable to him/her. The majority of people are conformists, i.e., after a temporary rebellion, they will follow the family behavior pattern in the long run.

3. Education 

People growing up in an atheistic school system will tend to think that the results of science can explain everything. So, God will not be needed. Only primitive, uneducated people cling to God, who weak to cope independently with the challenges of our time. Education therefore works against the development of faith in God up to a certain level. 

But those who look deeper, especially if they have a background in the natural sciences or philosophy, are required to realize that the laws of nature regulate all the phenomena and processes of the material universe with such precision that they preclude the possibility that a higher intelligence will be left out of the equation. The operation of natural laws at all levels (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology) testifies to an intelligence which, if we are atheists, we must attribute to the intrinsic property of matter. In that case, inanimate matter would be far more intelligent than we humans. Think about it, we cannot consciously control which DNA segment is activated in our cells, while the molecules in our cells organize this on their own. Would the sub-units of our organism function unconsciously more perfectly than what we perceive with the trillions of nerve cells in our consciousness? Would the part be capable of more than the whole? It is a total contradiction. If we don't want to face this contradiction, we must make matter our god directly. In the latter case, however, we are back from atheism to theism, because we do not believe in God, but in the matter. 

4. Experiences 

Experiences of God affirm one's theism, in many cases they can turn one's perspective from atheism to faith. However, these experiences always occur in the psyche of the individual, i.e. they are internal experiences, even if they are perceived as external phenomena. For example, when Virgin Mary appears, she is only seen by believers. If others are present, they either don't see her, or they see something else, or they explain the seen differently. Experiences of God are therefore personal experiences, cannot be reproduced volitionally, and can only be communicated to others to a limited extent, since they have no evidential value for them. An experience of God is therefore evidence only for the experiencer, for others it is at most a belief. 

In contrast, the presence and influence of matter is experienced by all. If, on very rare occasions, someone overrides the laws of matter and performs a miracle, he/she is either an illusionist, a fraud, or a miracle-working saint. The fact that we all experience matter all the time is not proof in itself that it exists. Precisely, certain psychological experiments prove that our perceptions can be misled, and they also call into question the authenticity of our experiences. In hypnosis, for example, one can give a suggestion that, say, the snowman is your beloved, and you will greet it accordingly. This can be conducted in such a way that the subjects will not remember hugging a snowman after hypnosis. Experimental results under hypnosis strongly question the veracity of our material world. After all, if we are all hypnotized in the here and now, and the hypnotic suggestion is that this material world is the only reality, then few people can 'wake up' from this hypnosis on their own. In this case the question arises, who hypnotized us and why? And the answer can only be that a higher intelligence, which could be God too. Whether we are atheists or theists, the material world as a stable support can easily slip out from under us when we start looking for a higher truth. 

5. Activation of divine archetypes 

The divine archetypes are high-level programs encoded in the central nervous system which, when activated, result in the experience of God or divine abilities, qualities, or turning towards God. They can be activated through deep prayer, mantra, meditation, initiation, yoga practice, special experiences. When this happens, the individual begins to function in the world according to a new program, because his/her previous programs are overridden by the activation of the archetype. This is also the explanation why some people subordinate himself/herself to the service of a particular form of God and believe that to be true and other false, and others why do not believe this all. An atheist can be sure that no divine archetype is active in him/her, but at the same time it is present in an inactive form. If you want to be sure of this, you can activate such a program yourself. It is not easy, but it can be done. The presence of divine archetypes in the human nervous system raises the question: who implanted these programs and why? This is particularly interesting if we have grown up in an atheistic environment and have only heard of God from fame, i.e. it is impossible that we could have been implanted with these programs in this lifetime. A possible answer is that they were implanted in us by God Himself or through past life experiences. But if we accept this answer, we have become theists. 

Another question is, if they are programs, why should we activate them and obey them? This question was also raised by Buddha, who also experienced the activation of divine archetypes in his own mind and eradicated them. Thus, Buddhism is atheism experienced at the highest level. Here, the gods are part of the samsara (cycle of existence), above which our consciousness must be raised. Buddha did eradicate the gods, but he could not eradicate the dharma (the Law that organizes the universe), so he could not escape having to put the Law in God's place. The Law is comforting to the human psyche because it is predictable, gives a framework, but it does not give grace because impersonal Law is eternal and immutable. Thus, Buddha could only propose an idealistic atheism as an alternative to materialistic atheism. 

Theistic systems also have divine laws which are dependent on God, and He has the power to change them or to give dispensation from the Law. Theism is therefore more reassuring in that, by honoring an archetype, through a relationship with it, we can connect with - according to our faith - the programmer (God) and hope that He will free us from the grip of the program. 

6. The meaning or meaninglessness of existence 

Until this time, we have not sought an answer to the question: what is the meaning of existence? For most people, the meaning of existence is to find the source of happiness. The atheist derives pleasure from the enjoyment of the material world. Using the word pleasure in a broader sense, I don't just mean material pleasure, but also the pleasure of doing something creative because that is what one wants to derive pleasure from. However, in the long term, there is no point in creating, because all creations are destroyed, forgotten, there come always new ones, and the iron teeth of time do not spare the result of creation. For this reason, every creator must one day face the fact that he/she has created for himself/herself, in search of his/her own source of pleasure, and consoles himself/herself in vain by claiming that he/she has tried to do good for others. The pleasures that can be experienced in the material world are always limited, because few people are allowed to satisfy their desires without limit. And who cannot satisfy those, suffer and is unhappy. But even the one who has been given everything suffers, because he/she will suffer illness, loss, and he/she will die too. Buddhism's solution to this is to leave it all behind and enter nirvana. There we will be happy, but we have to give up all our desires. 

So, in the atheistic analysis of the meaning of existence, we have so far concluded that existence has no meaning. If you want to enjoy you will suffer, if you want to be happy you will have to give up all enjoyment. In the theistic view, existence is created for reasons outside of us. God created it, it is His responsibility, whether we want it or not, we are part of it. If we behave well, we get a gift that makes us feel better here or in the afterlife. Another thought is related to this. If I live my whole life as an atheist, believing neither in God nor in the afterlife, and yet after I die I find out I was wrong, that will be quite an unexpected challenge! If, on the other hand, I have lived my life as a believer, and after death it turns out that nothing exists, then my situation remains the same essentially. There won't be who is disappointed. And there will be nothing to be disappointed in. For anyone who is frustrated by the meaninglessness of existence, or who does not want to be surprised after death and wants to be prepared for all eventualities, belief in God has more to offer than atheism. 

7. Recognizing the inner IDEAL pattern 

Each person has his/her own ideal image; this is himself/herself in the state of perfection. This is not a schema or role model drawn from the outside world, based on human patterns, to whom we would like to be compared. It is much more and different. Ideals carry qualities in their most perfect form, but they do not contain all the qualities that exist. The multiplicity of ideals, on the other hand, shows the infinite variety of properties. This inner ideal is a fully developed transcendental body, the center of which the Hindus call atman. The ideal is a person who you are when you have attained divine perfection in your chosen qualities. When this ideal is recognized in someone, it, as an inner master, guides the person towards the realization of the ideal. The recognition of this inner ideal destroys the atheistic concept. On the one hand, how did it come into us? It is not possible through other people in the material world, because then they would have to stand on the level of perfection of the ideal. It is possible by masters who have already attained the ideal, but then from where did they get it? On the other hand, the ideal cannot be a property of the material constituents of our body, because matter cannot create an ideal. Yet if we were to suppose matter to generate the ideal, matter would immediately cease to exist, because it would override itself, since the ideal is more perfect than matter. The thought only that the ideal entered into matter to make it perfect, does not lead to contradiction. The ideal can only come from one place, from God. Anyone can meditate forever or examine the whole universe atom by atom and still find no other explanation. The ideal gives meaning to existence, for the goal is to achieve the ideal. And the purpose of the ideal is to serve the God who created it. This also solves the question of the desire for happiness. In this view, the source of happiness is the ideal's love for God. This love arises from the realization that God has given us the possibility to accomplish the ideal, and thus evolving to become consubstantially the same with Him. The experience of love for God is a source of transcendental happiness, and nothing else can be compared to it what has an earthly origin. 

No one can claim that he/she does not have this IDEAL in himself/herself, simply because he/she has not yet found it. Doubting its existence does not make nobody any happier, but the tiny germ of happiness is immediately born in one when he/she begins to recognize it in himself/herself, because the so far experienced meaningless, hopeless languishing, fear and death cease. 

If all you have done was to read through this writing, you have already taken the first step towards the realization of the ideal. Welcome!

Margaret Rhasoda Varga
UCCM head-master
2022. Budapest, Hungary