💾 Archived View for library.inu.red › file › sebastien-faure-does-god-exist.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 13:59:23. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
➡️ Next capture (2024-06-20)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title: Does God Exist? Author: Sébastien Faure Date: 1908 Language: en Topics: atheist, religion Source: Retrieved on 5 July 2011 from http://www.bastardarchive.org/?p=75 Notes: English Version by Aurora Alleva and D. S. Menico Kropotkin Library, Stelton, N.J. This edition published by See Sharp Press, P.O. Box 1731, Tucson, AZ 85702–1731. Free catalog upon request
This translation of Sébastien Faure’s classic essay, “12 Proofs of the
Nonexistence of God” (also published under the title “Does God Exist?”)
was first issued more than 60 years ago by the Kropotkin Library. That
“Library” was, to the best of my knowledge, the work of Italian
anarchist immigrants who had fled Mussolini’s Italy in the 1920s and
1930s; and the two translators of this pamphlet, Aurora Alleva and D.S.
Menico, were members of that admirable group — a group which more than
any other was responsible for keeping anarchism alive in the United
States in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
That this translation exists at all is remarkable, given that the
translators were native Italian speakers and were translating from one
secondary language to another (French to English). The result is a
comprehensible but far from fluid translation — and, unfortunately,
still the only one available in English. (A good Spanish translation by
Benjamin Cano Ruiz was published by Editores Mexicanos Unidos in 1979 in
the collection, El pensamiento de SĂ©bastian Faure.) But despite the
flaws in this translation, Faure’s meaning is always clear, and this
essay remains a very persuasive exposition of the atheist position.
Â
— Chaz Bufe, May 28,1999
The career of SĂ©bastien Faure did not turn out to be exactly as it had
been planned. His parents longed to see him enter the Church and, as he
was favored by special qualities of intelligence and ardour, become a
standard-bearer for the Catholic Hierarchy. Therefore, they confided his
intellectual upbringing to Jesuit teachers and schools which we said to
have reached a very high, degree of efficiency in teaching the young and
promising ones.
Guided by such tutoring, young Faure acquired a vast amount of knowledge
and became one of the foremost orators in his land and time. But the
faith did not last in heart as long as did the knowledge in his mind.
The religion of God was soon superseded in his heart by a deep-rooted
devotion to the welfare of mankind, and Faure became an atheist,
uncompromising in his life-long battle against Religion and the Church.
Once he had repudiated all beliefs in the authority of God, SĂ©bastien
Faure — being a very logical person — repudiated also the right of man
to impose his own authority upon man. For the last fifty years or
thereabouts, Anarchism has had in France no more convinced, persistent
and capable an exponent than SĂ©bastien Faure. Ă„s a teacher, as a writer,
as a lecturer, his whole life has been dedicated to the cause of liberty
and human emancipation. To this day — past his eightieth birthday,
undaunted either by persecution or age — he holds a foremost place in
the line of those who battle for the spread of knowledge and the triumph
of freedom in the world.
His work has been enormous: half a dozen of large books: “La Douleur
Universelle”, “Propos Subversifs”, “Mon Communisme (Le Boniteur
Universe!)”, “L’imposture Religieuse”, etc.; over a score of pamphlets —
of which “Douze preuves de l’inexistence de Dieu”, herein translated, is
one; countless articles on newspapers and magazines (often translated in
many languages); and, last but not least, the “Encyclopedie Anarchiste”
— a set of four large volumes of 3000 pages, wherein all the social,
economic and cultural problems of Society are examined from the
Anarchist standpoint — of which he was the editor and principal
contributor.
To this should be added his lectures — thousands of them — each one of
which is in itself a masterpiece. For SĂ©bastien Faure is an orator in
the classical Latin sense. Not a ranter but an artist of the spoken
word, whose appearance on the rostrum is even now an intellectual event.
No one can weigh the influence his word has had on the minds of two
generations of Frenchmen.
Here is but a sketchy idea of the kind of man Faure is. In the following
pages the reader will find a spark of the intellectual light that he has
brought to mankind in his lifetime.
There are two ways of studying and trying to solve the problem of the
inexistence of God. One way is that of eliminating the hypothesis God
from the field of plausible and necessary conjectures by a clear precise
explanation through the exposition of a positive system of the universe,
its origin, its successive evolutions and its final scope. But such an
exposition would make the idea of God useless and would destroy
beforehand the whole metaphysical edifice upon which it has been placed
by spiritual philosophers and theologians.
However, taking in consideration the present status of human knowledge
and duly confining ourselves to that which is demonstrable and has been
demonstrated, verifiable and has been verified, we have to admit that
there is neither such an explanation nor such a system of the universe.
Of course, there are certain ingenious hypotheses not at all
unreasonable; there are various systems, more or less plausible, based
on a quantity of facts and observations which give them a very
impressing character of probability. Frankly, these systems and
suppositions could face the arguments of the theists with some
advantage. But, in truth, on this point we have only hypotheses which
lack the value of scientific certainties. And, finally, since each being
is free to accord his preference for this or that system, the solution
of the problem — for the present, at least — thus viewed, appears to be
held in reserve.
The adepts of all religions are so sure of the advantage they derive
from examining the problem thus presented that they constantly try to
bring it back to this very point. If they do not get the honors of the
fight on this ground — the only one on which they can yet stand fairly
well — it is still possible for them to keep the doubt in the minds of
their religious brothers. The doubt! A capital point for the
co-religionists.
In this hand to hand scuffle where the two opposing theses belabor each
other, the theists receive some blows and also deliver some. Poorly or
well, they defend themselves. Although the results of the debate are
somehow uncertain, the mob, the believers — even if they have been put
with their shoulders to the wall — could still claim victory. This is a
thing which they do not fail to do with an impudence that has always
been peculiar to them. And this comedy succeeds in maintaining the
immense majority of the flock under the staff of the shepherd. That is
all these “bad shepherds” wish to do.
Nevertheless, my friends, there is a second way of studying and trying
to solve the problem of the inexistence of God. It consists of the
examination of the existence of that God which all religions offer for
our adoration.
Where would you find a single, reflective, sensible man who would admit
this God who, we are told, could exist free of every mystery — as if
nothing about Him would be unknown, as if we had received all of His
secrets, as if His thoughts had been fully divined? Yet, they dare say
of Him: “He did this; He did that. He said this, and He said that. For
this reason He spoke; for that end He acted. These things He permits;
those things He does not. These actions He will reward; those He will
punish. That He did and this He wants because He is infinitely wise,
infinitely just, infinitely powerful and infinitely good.”
Alas! Here is a God who makes Himself known. He leaves the Empire of
inaccessibility, dispels the clouds which encircle Him, descends from
the summits, converses with the mortals, confides His thoughts and His
will and charges some with the propagation of His laws and His
doctrines. Not only that: He asks them to represent Him down here and
gives them full power of doing and undoing in heaven and on earth.
This God is not the God-Might, the God-Intelligence, the God-Will, the
God-Energy who — like everything that is Will, Intelligence, Power and
Energy — can be, from time to time and according to circumstances,
indifferently good or bad, useful or harmful, just or iniquitous,
merciful or cruel. Oh no! This is the God about whom all is perfection
and whose existence is and can be compatible — since He is perfectly
good, just, wise, powerful, merciful — only in a state of things of
which He would be the author and by which His infinite Justice, Wisdom,
Power, Goodness and Mercifulness would be affirmed. You all know this
God. He is the one taught to the children through the catechism. He is
the living and personal God to whom temples are erected, for whom
prayers are given and in whose honor sacrifices are made, whom all the
clergy and the priesthood of every religious denomination on earth
pretend to represent.
He is not the mysterious Principle, the Unknown, nor is He enigmatic
Might, impenetrable Power, incomprehensible Intelligence, inexplicable
Energy, hypothesis to which the human mind resorts because it lacks the
power of explaining! the “hows” and the “whys” of things. He is not the
speculative God of metaphysicians but the God that has been profusely
described and detailed to us by His representatives. He is, I shall
repeat, the God of all religions. Since we are in France, I shall say
that He is the God of that religion which has dominated our history for
fifteen centuries: that is, the Christian religion. This God I deny, but
I am willing to discuss the subject. If we are to derive some positive
gains and get some practical results from this lecture, it is befitting
to study and analyze the facts involved in the issue.
Who is this God?
Since His procurators on earth have been so polite as to depict Him to
us with an abundance of details, let us treasure this gentility and let
us examine Him at close range. Let us put Him through the microscope. To
properly discuss the subject it is necessary to be well acquainted with
it.
This is the God who, with a powerful. and fecund gesture, made
everything from nothing, who called the emptiness into being, who, of
His own will, substituted movement for inertia and universal life for
universal death. He is the Creator!
This is the God who, having completed His gesture of creation — rather
than re-entering His century-old inactivity and remaining indifferent to
the thing created — is concerned with His own work, takes interest in
it, administers and governs it. He is the Governor-Providence!
This is the God who, like a Supreme Tribunal, calls us unto Him after
death and passes judgment according to our deeds, establishes the
measurement of bad and good actions and then imposes, as a last resort
and without appeal, the sentence which will make us for centuries to
come the happiest or the most unfortunate of beings. He is the
Justiciary-Judge!
It is obvious that this God possesses all the attributes and that He
does not possess them to an exceptional degree; He possesses them all to
an infinite degree. Therefore, He is not only just but infinite Justice;
He is not only good but infinite Goodness; He is not only merciful but
infinite Mercifulness; He is not only powerful but infinite Power; He is
not only wise but infinite Wisdom.
Once more, this God I deny, and with twelve proofs — where one would
suffice — I shall undertake to demonstrate the impossibility of His
existence.
Here is the order in which I shall present my arguments. I shall divide
them in three groups. The first will mainly deal with God the Creator
and will consist of six arguments; the second will be concerned chiefly
with God the Governor or Providence and will consist of four arguments;
the third and last group will deal with God the Judge or Justiciary and
will consist of two arguments. So, we shall have six arguments against
God the Creator, four against God the Governor and two against God the
Judge. These will be the twelve proofs of the inexistence of God.
Now that you know the plan of my exposition, it will be easier for you
to follow its elucidation.
What do we understand by the word “creating”? What does “to create”
mean?
Does it mean, perhaps, to take some scattered separate but existing
materials and, by utilizing certain experimental principles or applying
certain rules, bring them together, re-group, fix and coördinate them in
such a way as to make something out of them?
No! This does not mean “to create”. For example: Can one say that a
house has been created? No! It has been built. Has a piece of furniture
been created? No! It has been made. And, again, has a book been created?
No! It has been compiled, printed.
Therefore, taking some existing materials and making something out of
them is not creating.
What, then, does “to create” mean?
To create!... Verily, I find myself in difficulty in explaining that
which cannot be explained, in defining that which cannot be defined.
Nevertheless, I shall try to make myself understood.
To create is to extract something from nothing and with this very
nothing do something: it is to call the void into being. Now, I think
that we cannot find a single person endowed with reason who could
conceive of and admit that something can be extracted from nothing, that
nothing can be turned into something.
Just take a mathematician, the most expert of calculators; give him a
gigantic black-board; now beg him to write some zeros and some more
zeros. Let him add and multiply to his heart’s content; let him indulge
in all the operations of mathematics. He will never succeed in
extracting one single unit from all those zeros.
Nothing is just nothing; with nothing you can do nothing, and the famous
aphorism of Lucretius — Ex Nihilo Nihil — remains an expression of
manifest certainty and evidence.
The creative act is inadmissible, is an absurdity.
To create, then, is a mystical religious expression which can be of
value only in the eyes of those persons who are pleased to believe that
which they cannot comprehend and on whom faith exerts an imposition
conversely proportional to their lack of comprehension. But to any
intelligent man, to any observer for whom words have value only in the
measure that they represent a reality or a possibility, to create is an
expression void of sense.
The hypothesis of the Creator is, then, loth to reason. The
Being-Creator does not exist; He cannot exist!
To the believers who, in spite of reason, persist in admitting the
possibility of creation I shall say that, at any rate, it is impossible
to attribute that creation to their God.
Their God is “Pure Spirit”. And I say that the Pure Spirit — the
Immaterial — could not have determined the Universe — the Material. This
I say for the following reasons.
The Pure Spirit is separated from the Universe not merely by a
difference of degree and quantity but by a difference of nature and
quality. The Pure Spirit is not and cannot be an amplification of the
Universe, and the Universe is not and cannot be a reduction of the Pure
Spirit. The difference here is not only a distinction but an antithesis,
an antithesis of nature: essential, fundamental, irreducible, absolute.
Between the Pure Spirit and the Universe there is not only a more or
less deep ditch that could perchance be jumped over or filled, but there
is an abyss whose depth and extension are such that nobody, try as he
may, will ever succeed in filling or leaping over.
I challenge the most subtle philosopher, the most expert of
mathematicians to establish whatever relation possible — although in the
case of cause and effect the relation should be very close — between
Pure Spirit and the Universe. The Pure Spirit does not tolerate any
material compromise; it does not bear form, body, matter, proportion,
extension, duration, depth, surface, volume, color, sound, density. On
the contrary, in the Universe all is form, body, matter, proportion,
extension, duration, depth, surface, volume, color, sound, density.
How can one admit that the latter was determined by the former?
It is impossible!
At this point of my demonstration I shall draw the following conclusion
to the two preceding arguments:
We have seen that the hypothesis of a Power truly creative is
inadmissible; we have also seen that, although persisting in the belief
of that Power, we could not possibly admit that the Universe,
essentially material, could have been determined by the essentially
immaterial Pure Spirit. If you believers are so obstinate as to affirm
that your God is the Creator of the Universe, I shall hold myself
justified in asking you where Matter was originally found.
Now, then, one of the two things: Matter was either out of God or in
God, and you believers cannot find a third place for it. In the first
case, that is, if it was out of God, it means that God did not need to
create Matter because it already existed; rather, it was co-existing,
concurrent with Him. Therefore, your God is not Creator.
In the second case, that is, if Matter was not out of God, then it was
in God. Therefore, I conclude: first, that God is not Pure Spirit
because He carried within Him a particle of Matter. And what a particle!
The whole Matter of our material worlds! Second, that God, carrying
Matter within Him, did not have to create it because it already existed;
He merely had to let it out. Therefore, Creation ceases to be a true
creative deed and is reduced to a simple act of exteriorization. In
either case there was no Creation.
Were I to ask a believer the question, “Can Imperfection generate
Perfection?”, I am sure he would answer “No” without hesitation or fear
of erring. Well, I likewise say that Perfection cannot determine
Imperfection, and for identical reasons my proposition is as strong as
the preceding one. Here, again, between Perfection and Imperfection,
there is not only a difference of degree and quantity but a difference
of quality and nature — an essential fundamental, irreducible and
absolute antithesis. Here, again, we have not only a more or less deep
ditch but an immeasurable and deep abyss which nobody could possibly
fill or leap.
Perfection is absolute; Imperfection is relative. Compared with
Perfection, which is all, that which is relative and contingent is but
nothing. Compared with Perfection, relativity has no value and does not
exist. And it is not within the power of any philosopher or
mathematician to establish any relation whatsoever between that which is
relative and that which is absolute. Such a relation is then impossible
— especially when it need be of the rigorous and precise kind which
should unite the principle of Cause and Effect.
It is, therefore, impossible that Perfection should determine
Imperfection.
Vice versa: there is a direct relation — a fatal and somehow
mathematical one — between the work and its artificer; the value of the
work is measured by the value of the artificer. As you will know a tree
by the fruit it bears, so will you judge the artificer by his work.
If I am to peruse a poorly written work, full of grammatical errors,
where sentences are badly constructed, where the style is poor and
neglected, where the ideas are common and quotations incorrect, I
certainly would not think of attributing so ugly a page of literature to
an embosser of phrases, to a master of letters.
If I rest my eyes on an ill-made design in which the lines are wrongly
drawn, the rules of proportion and perspective violated, I surely shall
not attribute so rudimentary a scrawl to a professor, to an artist, to a
master. Without the slightest hesitation I shall say that it is the work
of a novice, an apprentice, a child. And I am sure I would make no
mistake, for so clearly does the work bear the stamp of its artificer
that from it you can judge its author.
Now, then, Nature is beautiful; the Universe is magnificent. I, as much
as anybody else, admire the splendors of this everlasting natural
spectacle. Nevertheless, no matter how enthusiastic I am about Nature’s
charms, whatever may be my homage to it, I cannot say that the Universe
is perfect, irreproachable and faultless. Nobody dares to hold such an
opinion.
The Universe is, then, an imperfect work. I can consequently say that
between the work and its author there is always a rigorous, strict,
mathematical relation. The Universe is an imperfect work; its author,
therefore, cannot be but imperfect.
This syllogism hurls the attribute of Imperfection at the believers’ God
and implicitly denies Him.
I can yet pursue a different line of reasoning: either God is not the
artificer of the Universe (and I express my own conviction) or, if you
persist in affirming that He is and the Universe being an imperfect
work, your God is also imperfect.
As you see, syllogism or dilemma, the conclusion remains the same.
Perfection cannot determine Imperfection.
Moment Inactive, Useless
If God does exist, He must be eternal, active, necessary.
Eternal? He is so by definition. It is His reason for being. He cannot
be conceived enclosed within limit of time; He cannot be imagined as
having a beginning and an ending, as an appearing and disappearing
being. He exists with time.
Active? Why, yes. He cannot be otherwise since His activity — so the
believers say — has been confirmed by the most colossal majestic act:
the Creation of the Worlds.
Necessary? Since without Him there would be nought; since He is the
author of everything, the initial fire whence everything gushed, the
unique and first source from which all has been derived; since He, alone
and self-sufficient, had it dependent on His will that either nought or
everything should be; He is so and cannot be otherwise.
He is, therefore, eternal, active and necessary.
I then assume, and shall also show, that if He is eternal, active and
necessary, He must be eternally active and eternally necessary.
Consequently, He could not have been at any moment inactive or
unnecessary. This shows, finally, that He has never created.
To say that God is not eternally active is to admit that He has not
always been active, that He became so, that He began to be active, that
before being so lie was not. Since His activity was manifested through
His act of creation, it is the same as admitting that during the
billions of years possibly preceding creation God was inactive.
To say that God is not eternally necessary is to admit that He has not
been always necessary, that He became so, that He began to be so, that
before being necessary He was not so. Since the Creation proclaims and
testifies to the necessity of God, we must also admit that during the
billions of years possibly preceding creation God was useless.
God was useless!
God idle and lazy!
God superfluous and useless!
What a bad situation for the Being essentially active and essentially
necessary! We must admit, then, that at all times God has been active
and necessary. But, then, He could not have created because the idea of
creation absolutely implies the idea of a beginning. Something that
begins could not have existed all the time. There necessarily must have
been a time when before coming into being the thing was not at all. No
matter how long or short the time preceding the creatcd thing may be, it
cannot be ignored.
The results are:
Either God is not eternally active and eternally necessary, and in this
case He became so with Creation. If it is so, God, before Creation, did
not possess the two attributes of activity and necessity. Such a God was
incomplete; it was a fragment of God, nothing more. And to become active
and necessary, to complete Himself, He needed to create.
Or God is eternally active and eternally necessary, and in this case He
has been creating eternally; the creation has always been going on. The
Universe has never begun; it existed all the time; it is eternal like
God; it is God Himself, and He is lost in it.
If it is so, the Universe never had any beginning; it has not been
created.
Therefore, in the first case, God, before Creation, was neither active
nor necessary; He was incomplete, that is, imperfect — and, then, He
does not exist. In the second case, God, beipg eternally active and
eternally necessary, has not become so and, therefore, He has not
created.
It is impossible to conclude otherwise.
If God exists, He is immutable. He does not change; He cannot change.
While in nature everything goes through modification, metamorphosis,
transformation, change, and nothing is definite, God, a fixed and
immutable point through time and space, is not subject to any
modification, does not and cannot know any change whatsoever. He is
today what He was yesterday; He will be tomorrow what He is today. Think
as you may of God in the far gone centuries or think of Him in the
centuries to come, He is constantly identical to Himself.
God is immutable!
I claim that if He has created He is not immutable because in such a
case He has changed twice;
If I decide that I want something, I change. It is evident that a change
which has brought about this desire to want has taken place within me.
If I want today that which I did not want yesterday, it is because
certain circumstances around or within me determined the wanting. This
new wanting within me constitutes a modification: there is no doubt
about this. It is unquestionable. Likewise, to act or to determine
oneself to act is to modify oneself. Through and through, it is certain
that this double modification — wanting and acting — is especially
notable and marked when the point in question is of a more serious
resolution and a more important action.
“God has created”, you say. Let it be so. But then He has changed twice:
first when He took a determination to create and secondly when, putting
in execution this determination, He performed the creative act. If He
changed twice, He is not immutable. And if He is not immutable, He is
not God; there is no God.
The immutable Being could not have created.
Discern One
From whatever side you consider Creation it remains inexplicable,
enigmatic, void of sense.
Evidently, if God has created, it is impossible to admit that He
performed this grand act — whose consequences had to be fatally
proportionate to the act itself, i.e. incalculable — without having been
determined by a prime reason.
What can this reason be? What motive could have induced Him to create?
By what incentive could He have been moved? What desire had betaken Him?
What was the prefixed design? What aim did He want to reach? What was
the proposed end?
Multiply queries and questions in this order; turn the problem as you
may; consider it under any aspect, and I dare you to solve it in a
manner other than with a great deal of subtlety and meaningless prattle.
Take a child brought up in the Christian religion. His catechism and his
religion teach him that he has been created by God. Now let us suppose
that the child should put this question to himself: “Why has God created
and brought me into the world?” He will not succeed in finding a serious
and reasonable answer.
Since the child has faith in the experience and knowledge of his
teachers and is convinced that they possess particular faculties and
special intelligence, let us suppose that he will go to them for an
explanation. Because of the character of sacredness and holiness with
which priests and ministers encircle themselves, it is logical to
believe that they should be better acquainted with the Revealed Truth.
Yet, it is clear that when the child asks them why God has created and
brought him into the world, they will not be able to give him a sensible
and plausible answer to the simple question. In truth, there is none.
Let us press the question. Let us delve deeply into the problem. Let us
examine God before Creation. Let us take Him in His absolute sense. He
is alone, self-sufficient and perfectly wise, happy and powerful.
Nothing can improve His wisdom; nothing can increase His happiness;
nothing can strengthen His power.
Such a God cannot experience any desire because His happiness is
infinite; He cannot look toward any aim because nothing is lacking in
His perfection; He cannot formulate any plans because nothing can
increase His power; He cannot be determined to want anything because He
has no need for anything.
Go ahead, you deep philosophers, you subtle thinkers, you able
theologians, go ahead and answer this child who is questioning you; tell
him why God has created and brought him into the world. I am sure you
can only answer that God’s designs are impenetrable, and you will hold
this answer sufficient. But it would be much wiser for you not1 to give
any answer at all because an answer from you on this matter would mean
the ruin of your system and the crumbling of your beloved God. There is
only one logical and unrelenting conclusion: If God has created, He has
done so without a motive, without an end, not knowing why.
Do you know, my friends, where the consequences of such a conclusion
would forcibly take us? To this point:
The difference between the actions of a man endowed with reason and
those of a man struck by insanity, that which indicates the
responsibility of the former and the irresponsibility of the latter, is
the fact that the sane man always knows — or, at any rate, can always
know — the motives which have prompted and determined his action. For
example, in the case of an important deed whose consequences might
involve serious responsibilities, it suffices for the sane man to make a
thorough examination of his own conscience, to reconstruct in his mind
the series of events that took place, to live again his past hour so
that he can discern the mechanism of the movements which determined his
actions.
He is not always proud of the motives that urged him; he is often
ashamed of the reasons that moved him into action. But, be they vile or
generous, noble or ignoble, he always succeeds in discovering those
reasons.
An insane person, on the contrary, acts without knowing why, and after
having completed his deed, no matter how full of consequences, he cannot
account for it. You can press him with as many questions as you can
think of, but the poor wretch will only babble a few disconnected
phrases and you will never succeed in pulling him out of his
incoherences.
Therefore, what distinguishes the deeds of a sane person from those of
an insane one is the fact that the deeds of the former can be explained,
have a reason for being; their cause and scope, their origin and end can
be determined. Those of the latter have no explanation, have no apparent
reason for being; the insane himself is unable to determine the scope
and the end of his own deeds.
Well, then, if God has created without an aim, without a motive, He has
acted like an insane man, and Creation is an act of insanity.
To get it over with the God of Creation, it seems to me indispensable to
examine two objections.
Pray, believe that in this matter I have an abundance of objections, so
that when I mention “two objections” to be examined, I refer to two of
them which are considered both classical and capital. Their importance
is derived from the fact that with the habit of intelligent discussion
the rest of the objections can easily be brought within the realm of
these two.
They say: “You have no right to talk about God the way you do. You
present us with a God-caricature systematically reduced to the
proportion which your comprehension is only capable of according. The
God which you present is not ours. Our God you cannot conceive because
He overtakes you; He escapes your comprehension. Knoweth ye! that
whatever in the way of might, wisdom and knowledge might appear
fantastic and immense even for the most powerful man is only child’s
play to our God. Do not forget that Humanity could not move on the same
level with Divinity. Remember that it is as impossible for man to
comprehend God’s ways as it is impossible for minerals to imagine the
ways of vegetables, for vegetables to conceive of the ways of animals
and for animals to understand the ways of men.
“God rises to heights that you could never overtake and occupies summits
inaccessible to you.
“Knoweth ye! that no matter how magnificent human intelligence may be,
no matter how great an effort it may realize, no matter how persistent
the effort may be, human intelligence will never rise up to God.
Finally, remember that, however great a man’s mind might be, it is
finite and, consequently, cannot conceive the Infinite.
“Have, then, enough loyalty and modesty to confess that it is impossible
for you to comprehend and explain God. However, the fact that you can
neither comprehend nor explain God does not give you, as of consequence,
the right to deny Him.”
And here is my answer to the theists.
You are giving me, my good sirs, some advice on loyalty with which I am
very well inclined to conform. You are calling me down for the
legitimate modesty becoming to the humble mortal I happen to be. Loyalty
and modesty! From neither I like to depart.
So you say that God overtakes me, that He escapes my comprehension? So
be it. I shall admit that and also that the finite can neither conceive
nor explain the Infinite: this last contention is so true, so evident
that I have no desire to oppose it. Up to this point we are in full
accord, and I hope you are satisfied.
Only, gentlemen, on my turn, permit me to give you the same advice on
loyalty; please, allow that I call you down for the very same modesty.
Are you not men as I? Does not God overtake you as He does me? Does not
God escape your comprehension as much as He does mine? Or have you the
pretense of moving on the same level with Divinity? Have you the
affrontery of thinking and the foolishness of stating that with a simple
flap of a wing you have reached those summits occupied by God? Are you
so presumptuous as to affirm that your finite mind has embraced the
Infinite?
I do not want to offend you, gentlemen, by believing that you are
tainted with this extravagant vanity.
You have, then, as I had, the loyalty and the modesty to confess that if
it is impossible for me to comprehend and explain God, you also hit
against the same impossibility. And, finally, be sincere enough to admit
that if the fact that I cannot conceive and explain God does not give me
the right to deny Him, the very same fact, which also holds true for
you, does not give you the right to affirm Him!
Do not think for a moment, gentlemen, that we are now on equal
conditions. It was you who first affirmed the existence of God, and you
should first withdraw your affirmation. Would I ever have thought of
denying God if, when I was yet a child, it had not been imposed upon me
to believe in Him; if, when an adult, I had not heard it affirmed all
around me; if I had not constantly seen churches and temples erected and
dedicated to God? It is your affirmation that provokes and justifies my
denials.
Cease to affirm, and I shall cease to deny!
This second objection seems to be quite dangerous. Many consider it
almost indisputable. It originates from the spiritualist philosophers.
These gentlemen say in a self-assuring manner: “There is no effect
without a cause; the Universe is an effect; then, this effect has a
cause which we call God.”
The argument is well represented; it seems well con-strued and solidly
based.
All depends, though, on proving whether it really is so.
This form of exposition is what is called a syllogism. A syllogism is an
argument consisting of three propositions, the first two being called
the major and minor premises and the third called consequence or
conclusion.
For a syllogism to be impregnable two conditions are necessary:
the preceding premises.
If the syllogism brought forth by the spiritualist philosophers embodies
these two conditions, it really is indisputable, and all that would be
left for me to do would be to bow in recognition; if it lacks) one of
these two conditions, then the syllogism is void, valueless, and the
whole argument falls short.
In order to establish the soundness of the syllogism, let us examine the
three propositions which constitute it.
The first proposition is the major premise: “There is no effect without
a cause.”
Philosophers, you are right. There is no effect without a cause: nothing
can be more exact than this. There is not, there cannot be any effect
without a cause. Effect is nothing else but the following, the
continuation, the end of a cause. When you say effect, you say cause as
well; the idea effect immediately and necessarily calls for the idea
cause. Would it be otherwise, the effect without a cause should be an
effect from nought. This is absurd. Therefore, we agree on this
proposition.
The second proposition is the following: “The Universe is an effect.”
Ah! but here I ask you to reflect; I demand some elucidations. On what
do you base so sure and definite an affirmation? What is the phenomenon
or the aggregation of phenomena, what is the observation or the sum of
observations which warrant so categorical a statement?
First of all, do we know the Universe well enough? Have we studied,
scanned, examined and understood the Universe in such a manner that
would permit us to be so definite about it? Have we penetrated its
inward parts? Have we explored the infinite spaces? Have we descended to
the oceans’ depths? Have we ascended every summit? Do we know all the
things within the domain of the Universe? Have we pulled all the veils,
penetrated all mysteries, solved all enigmas? Have we seen all, touched
all, felt all, observed all ? Have we nothing else to discover, nothing
else to learn? In short, are we in a position to give a formal
appraisal, a definite opinion, a certain decision about the Universe?
Nobody can answer all these questions affirmatively. We would have to
pity deeply the fool or the insane who would dare to pretend complete
knowledge of the Universe.
The Universe! It is to say, not only the humble planet which we inhabit
and on which we drag our miserable carcasses, not only the millions of
known stars and planets which are part of our solar system, but also the
other numerous Worlds whose existence we either know or suppose, whose
number, distance and extensions are yet incalculable.
Should I say: “The Universe is a cause”, I would surely provoke the
cries and protests of the believers. And yet my statement would be no
more crazy than theirs. My temerity would be equal to theirs, that’s
all.
If I observe the Universe as man’s acquired knowledge permits me, I see
something like an incredibly complex and entangled whole, an
inextricable and colossal piling up of causes and effects which
determine, link, succeed, repeat and penetrate themselves. I see that
the whole forms a kind of endless chain whose links are steadfastly
bound. I notice that each of these links is, from time to time, cause
and effect: effect of the cause which determined it and cause of the
effect which follows it.
Who can say: “Here is the first link, the link-Cause”? Who can say:
“Here is the last link, the link-Effect”? And who can say: “There is
necessarily a First-Cause, a Last-Effect”?
The second proposition, “The Universe is an effect,” therefore, lacks
the indispensable condition of exactness. Consequently, the famous
syllogism has no value.
I add that even if this second proposition would be exact, before
accepting the conclusion, it should be definitely proved that the
Universe is the effect of a unique cause, of a prime cause, of the
causes’ cause, of a causeless cause, of the eternal cause.
Unmoved and without worry, I shall wait for this demonstration. This
demonstration has been tried many times but has never been successful.
We can easily say that this demonstration will never be established
seriously, positively and scientifically.
Finally, I add that even if the entire syllogism would be correct, it
would be easy for me to turn it against the thesis of the God-Creator
and in favor of my contention.
Let us prove it:
— There is no effect without a cause?
— All right.
— Now, the Universe is an effect?
— Agreed!
— Then this effect has a cause and it is this cause which we call God?
— Let it be so.
But, my good theists, do not proclaim your triumph yet. Listen to me
attentively.
If it is evident that there is no effect without a cause, it is also
plainly evident that there is no cause without an effect. There is not,
there cannot be a cause without effect. When you say “cause”, you say
“effect”? the idea of cause necessarily implies and immediately calls
for the idea effect. Otherwise, the cause without the effect would be a
cause of nothing, and it would be as absurd as an effect of nothing
would be. Therefore, it is well agreed that there is no cause without
effect.
Now, then, you say that the cause of the Universe- effect is God.
Therefore, it is proper to say that the effect of the God-cause is the
Universe.
It is impossible to separate the effect from the cause, but it is
equally impossible to separate the cause from the effect.
Finally, you affirm that the God-cause is eternal, and I conclude that
the Universe-effect is also equally eternal because to an eternal cause
must, necessarily, correspond an eternal effect. Otherwise, during the
billions of centuries which perhaps preceded the creation of the
Universe, God would have been a cause without effect — an impossibility,
a cause of nothing — an absurdity. Consequently, God being eternal, the
Universe is also so; if the Universe is eternal it means that it has
never been created. Is that clear?
There are those — and they are legion — who obstinately persist in
believing. I understand that strictly speaking one can believe in either
a perfect Creator or a necessary Governor, but it seems impossible that
anybody can reasonably believe in both at the same time. These two
perfect Beings categorically exclude each other. To affirm one is to
deny the other; to proclaim the perfection of the first is to confess
the uselessness of the second; to proclaim the necessity of the second
is to deny the perfection of the first. In other words, one can believe
in the perfection of one or in the necessity of the other, but it is
unreasonable to believe in the perfection of both. One has to choose.
If the Universe created by God would have been a perfect work; if in its
entirety and in its minor details this work would have come out without
defects; if the mechanism of this gigantic creation would have been
faultless; if its movement would have appeared to be so perfect as to
prevent any fear of unbalance and damage; if, in short, the work would
be worthy of this incomparable artist called God, the necessity of a
Governor would not be felt in any way.
Once the first initial thumb stroke had been given, once the formidable
machine had been set in motion, the only thing to do would have been to
leave this work to itself with no fear of possible accidents.
What would be the use of this engineer, of this mechanic whose task is
to watch, to direct this machine and to intervene for repairs and
corrections after it has been set in motion? The engineer would have
been useless and the mechanic superfluous. Therefore, in this case we
would have had no Governor.
If the Governor exists, it is because his presence, his surveillance and
his intervention are indispensable. The necessity of a Governor is a
challenge and an insult to the Creator; his intervention shows the/
clumsiness, the incapacity and the impotence of the Creator,
The Governor denies the perfection of the Creator.
The God-Governor is and must be powerful and just: infinitely powerful
and infinitely just.
We assume that the multiplicity of religions proves that He is lacking
in both Power and Justice. Let us put aside the defunct Gods, the
abolished cults, the extinct religions which are counted by thousands.
Let us be concerned only with the existing religions.
According to the most reliable calculations, there are today 800
different religions, claiming the domination of the 1600 millions of
consciences living on our planet. It is doubtless that every one of
these religions claims for itself the right to represent and possess the
only true, authentic, indisputable and unique God and1 that the rest of
the Gods are bootlegged, false, ridiculous, deserving to be dutifully
combatted and destroyed.
We shall add that if instead of 800 there would be only 10 or even two
religions, our contention would hold true just the same.
We repeat, then, that the multiplicity of Gods proves the existence of
none because it certifies that God lacks Power and Justice.
A powerful God could have spoken to all as easily as to a few; He could
have revealed Himself to all instead of to a few, without any additional
effort.
A man, however powerful, can reveal himself only to a limited number of
people; his vocal chords have only a limited strength. But God...? God
can speak to a multitude as easily as He can speak to a small group.
When the voice of God rises high, its echo can and should resound over
the four cardinal points. God’s word ignores distance and obstacles; it
crosses the oceans, ascends the summits and overtakes space without a
shade of difficulty.
Since He chose — as Religion affirms — to speak to humanity, to reveal
Himself, to confide His plans to them, to indicate His will and let His
laws be known, He could have spoken to all of them rather than to a
handful of privileged ones. Tho fact that some deny and ignore Him and
others oppose Him with rival Gods indicates that He has not done so.
Is it not wise, under the circumstances, to think that God never spoke
to anybody and that His supposed multiple revelations are nothing more
than multiple impostures? Or that if He spoke only to some, it was
because He could not speak to all? This being so, I accuse Him of
impotence, and where this accusation does not apply I accuse Him of
injustice.
In fact, what would you think of this God who reveals Himself to some
and at the same time hides from others? What would you think of this God
who speaks to some and remains silent toward others? Do not forget that
His representatives affirm that He is the Father and that all of us,
without discrimination, are the beloved children of this Father who
reigns in Heaven.
What would you think, then, of this Father who tenderly frees some
privileged ones from the anguishes of doubt and the tortures of
hesitancy by revealing Himself to them and at the same time deliberately
dooms the immense majority of His children to the torment of
uncertainty? What would you think of this Father who to some of His
children reveals Himself in the full sparkling splendor of His Majesty
and for the others remains encircled in complete darkness? What would
you think of this Father who, while exacting worship, reverence and
adoration from all His children, lets only a few chosen ones understand
the words of truth and deliberately refuses the same favor to others?
If you maintain that such a Father is a good and just one, do not blame
me for holding a diverse opinion.
The multiplicity of religions proclaims that God lacks Power and
Justice. On the other hand, according to the believers, God must be
infinitely just and powerful. If one of these two attributes is missing,
God is not perfect. If God is not perfect, He does not exist. The
multiplicity of Gods proves that none exists.
God-Governor or Providence is and must be infinitely good, infinitely
merciful.
The existence of Hell, however, proves that He is not.
Follow my reasoning attentively: Since God is free, He could very well
not have created us; yet He created us. Since God is omnipotent, He
could have created all of us good; instead He has created us bad and
good. Since God is good, He could admit all of us in Heaven after our
death and be satisfied with the trials and tribulations we undergo on
earth. Since God is just, He could admit to Heaven those of us who are
worthy and refuse admission to the perverse ones. But rather than damn
the latter to Hell He could mercifully destroy them after death. We
presume that He who can create can also destroy. He who can give life
can also deprive it.
Let us see. You are not Gods. You are neither infinitely good nor
infinitely merciful. Nevertheless, I am certain that if you could save a
fellow human being a tear, a trial, a sorrow, you would do it gladly.
Yet, you are not infinitely good or infinitely merciful. Are you, then,
better and more merciful than the God of the Christians? After all, Hell
exists. The Church teaches that it does. In fact, Hell is the dreadful
vision which frightens the children, the elders and the timid souls; it
is the specter which is evoked at the bed of the hopelessly sick whom
the coming of death deprives of energy and lucidity.
Well, then, the Christian God, the same one who is supposed to be the
God of piety, forgiveness, indulgence, goodness and mercy tosses — and
forever — some of His own children into this dreadful abode spiked with
cruel tortures and ineffable torments.
What a good merciful Father!
You know the words of the Scriptures: “...for many be called, but few
chosen.” And if I am not mistaken, the number of the chosen ones will be
small and that of the damned large. This statement is so cruel and
monstruous that many attempts have been made to change or modify its
meaning.
It does not matter. Hell exists, and it is evident that — regardless of
the number — the condemned will suffer these atrocious tortures. Let us
see who will benefit from these tortures. The chosen ones? Evidently
not. By definition the chosen ones will be the just, the good, the
virtuous who love and understand, and it is impossible to believe that
their inexpressible happiness could be increased by the sufferings of
their own brothers.
Would the beneficiaries be the damned ones themselves? No, because the
Church affirms that the tortures of the unfortunates will last unto the
centuries to come and will never decrease. Who then? Aside from the
chosen and the damned ones there is no one else but God.
Would God, then, be the only one to benefit from the tortures inflicted
on the damned ones? Would this infinitely good and merciful Father
sadistically gloat over the agonies of His own children? If this be the
case, I would look upon this God as the most ferocious executioner, the
most implacable torturer. Hell bears proof that God is neither good nor
merciful. The existence of a merciful God is incompatible with the
existence ofl Hell.
Either there is no Hell, or God is not infinitely good and merciful.
The problem of Evil gives me the fourth and last argument against the
God-Governor and, at the same time, my first argument against the
God-Judge.
I am not saying that the existence of Evil — physical and moral — is
incompatible with the existence of God. I shall say, though, that the
existence of Evil is incompatible with the existence of a God infinitely
good and powerful.
This argument is known, if not for anything else, for the numerous but
nevertheless sterile refutations of which it has been the subject.
This argument is attributed to Epicurus; it is, therefore, over twenty
centuries old, but age has not deprived it of its vigor.
Here it is. Evil exists. All sensitive beings know its pain. God, who
knows everything, cannot ignore it. Then, one of these two things is
true:
Either God would like to suppress Evil and cannot do it;
Or God could suppress Evil and does not want to do so.
In the first instance, God appears sympathetic toward our sorrows and
our trials and would want to destroy Evil so that happiness would reign
on earth. In this case, God shows Himself good, but He cannot destroy
Evil. Therefore, He is not omnipotent.
In the second instance, God could destroy Evil. Since He is omnipotent,
His willingness to destroy Evil should suffice. But He does not want to
do so. Consequently, He is not infinitely good.
In one instance God is powerful but not good; in the other He is good
but not powerful.
Now, for God to exist it is not sufficient for Him to have one of these
two qualities; He must have both. This contention has never been
refuted, but it has been disputed. Mere is a fair example of such
disputations:
“You present the problem of Evil erroneously and wrongly hold God
responsible for it. Certainly Evil exists, but the responsibility for it
must be given to man. God did not want man to be an automaton, a machine
functioning mechanically. God, in creating man, gave him freedom and
generously left him the faculty of using this freedom as he pleased. If
man wastes this freedom in an odious and criminal manner, it is injust
to blame God for it. A sense of equity demands that man be held
responsible.”
This is the classical disputation.
What is its worth? Nothing. Let me explain. First of all, we need to
differentiate between physical and moral evils.
Under physical evil we can enumerate sickness, pains, accidents, old age
and its trail of infirmities, death and the cruel loss of our loved
ones: babies are born who die within a day with pain as their only
experience; a large number of people live whose life is an endless chain
of sorrows and afflictions and who would have been better off had they
not been born at all.
In the realm of nature, cataclysms, fires, draughts, famines, floods,
tempests and the whole sum of tragic fatalities spelling agony and death
come under the classification of evil.
Who would dare say that man is responsible for this physical evil?
Who does not understand that if God has created the Universe, if He has
set for it rigorous governing laws, and, that if physical evil is the
sum of the fatalities resulting from the normal play of the forces of
nature, the responsible author of these calamities is, undoubtedly, He
who has created the Universe, He who governs it?
It is indisputable. God who governs the Universe is alone responsible
for physical evil.
This should suffice. But I maintain that moral evil is as much
attributable to God as is physical evil. In fact, if God exists, He must
have presided over the organization of both the physical and moral,
worlds; man, although victim of the consequent physical and moral evils,
is responsible for neither.
What I have to say on moral evil I shall bring forth in my third and
last series of arguments.
What are we?
Have we presided over the conditions of our birth? Have we been asked
whether we were glad to be born? Have we been called upon to set our
destiny? Have we ever had our say on any point?
If we had had our say, we would have bestowed upon ourselves all the
good things of life: health, strength, beauty, intelligence, courage,
goodness. Everyone would have embodied in himself total perfection; each
would have been some kind of a miniature God.
But what are we?
Are we what we wanted to be? Certainly not.
Granted the hypothesis God, we are — since He created us — what He
wanted us to be.
God, being free, could have not created us at all. God, being so good,
could have created us less perverse than we are. He could have made us
just, vigorous, valiant. This omnipotent God could have presented us
with all physical, moral and intellectual gifts.
But, for the third time, what are we?
We are what God wanted us to be, for He has created us to His
satisfaction and caprice.
If it is admitted that God exists and that He has created us, there is
no other answer.
God has given us our senses, intellectual faculties, the means of
comprehension, hearing, reasoning and acting. He has foreseen, wanted
and determined our conditions of life; He has pre-established our needs,
our wishes, our passions, our thoughts, our hopes, our aversions and our
aspirations. The entire human mechanism is what He wanted it to be. He
has conceived and regulated, in its details, the environment in which we
move about; He has prepared the circumstances which, in every moment,
will affect our will and determine our actions.
Before a God so formidably armed, man is irresponsible.
Man’s freedom is proportionate to the degree of independence he enjoys.
He who is completely independent is completely free. He who is
completely dependent is completely a slave and has no freedom at all.
If God exists, man, in relation to God, is placed in the second of these
two positions. Man is in the position of the slave, and the greater the
distance between him and his Master the greater his servitude will be.
If God exists, He is the only one who knows, who has Power and Will; He
is the only one who is free. Man knows nothing, wants nothing, has no
power; his dependence is absolute.
If God exists, He must be everything; man is nought.
Man, in this state of slavery, fully dependent on God, cannot have any
responsibility whatsoever. And if he is irresponsible, he cannot be
judged.
Every judgment implies reward or punishment. But the deeds of an
irresponsible being — having no moral value — escape all sanctions. The
deeds of an irresponsible being might be useful or detrimental. Morally,
however, they are neither good nor bad, and it is impossible to either
punish or reward them with equity.
God, appointing Himself Justiciary, punishing and rewarding man — the
irresponsible — is an usurper; He arrogates an arbitrary right and uses
it in contempt of all sense of justice.
From what has been said above, I draw the following conclusions:
attributed to God;
neither rewarded nor punished.
Even if we would admit for a moment that man is a responsible being, we
could prove that Divine Justice violates the most elementary rules of
equity.
Admitting that the practice of justice implies a consequent sanction and
that it is the judge’s task to fix such a sanction, we also must admit
that there is a generally recognized rule which establishes a fair
proportion between merit and reward, crime and punishment.
Once this principle is accepted, we can safely state that the best
practicing judge is the one who fairly and proportionately applies
reward to merit and punishment to crime; that the ideal perfect judge is
the one who can fix a rigorous mathematical relation between deed and
sanction. Such an elementary rule of justice can be accepted by all.
God, however, with His administration of justice in reference to Heaven
and Hell, disregards this rule. In fact, He violates it. Man’s merits,
whatever they be, are limited, but the reward for them — Heaven — is
unlimited, if not for any other reason at least for its character of
perpetuity.
Man’s crimes are also limited, but punishment for them — Hell — is
unlimited, if not for any other reason at least because it is eternal.
Therefore, we have a disproportion between merit and reward as well as
between crime and punishment. God violates the fundamental rules of
equity.
My thesis is finished. What remains for me to do is to recapitulate and
conclude.
I promised you a definite substantial demonstration that God does not
exist. I believe I can say that I have kept my promise.
Please do not forget that I did not propose to give you a System of the
Universe which would have rendered useless the recourse to the
hypothesis of a supernatural Force or Principle prior and superior to
the Universe.
With due spirit of fairness I warned you that on those grounds the
problem — with the present status of human knowledge — affords no
definite solution and that the only reasonable attitude in this respect
would be one of waiting and hoping.
The God whose impossibility of existence I set out to prove — and have,
in fact, proved — is the God of all religions, the God-Creator, the
God-Governor and Judge, the God infinitely wise, powerful, good and just
whom the clergy claims to represent on earth and whom it wants us to
worship. There is no room for equivocal positions: this is the God that
I deny and, if we have to benefit from a discussion, this is the God
they have to defend from my attacks.
They might try to take you on other insidious grounds, but a discussion
on any other grounds will be a diversion and an additional proof that
the God of religion can be neither defended nor justified.
I have proved that, as a Creator, God is inadmissible, imperfect and
inexplicable; I have established that, as a Governor, God is useless,
powerless, cruel, hateful and despotic; finally, I have demonstrated
that, as a Judge, God is an unworthy magistrate and a violator of every
essential rule of equity.
However, this is the God that, from time immemorial, has been taught and
is being taught to the people.
How many crimes have been committed in His name! What hatred, wars and
disasters His representatives have brought about! Of how much pain this
God has been the source! How much harm He still engenders!
For centuries Religion has kept humanity in fear, has brutified it with
superstitions and has made it meek through eternal submission.
Will, then, the day never rise when humanity — ceasing to believe in
this so-called eternal justice, its fantastic decrees and problematic
amends — will really and earnestly work to bring about immediate,
positive and fraternal justice on earth?
Will the hour never strike when man — wise to the fallacy of heavenly
hopes and consolations — will make of this planet an Eden of peace,
freedom and abundance whose doors will be open to all?
For too long a time the Social Contract has been inspired by a God
without justice. It is high time that it be inspired by a justice
without God. For too long a time relations among nations and individuals
have been derived from a God without philosophy. It is high time that
they be derived from a philosophy without God.
For centuries kings, rulers, churches, leaders have been treating the
people like a vile miserable herd to be fleeced and butchered. And for
centuries the disinherited — thanks to the deceitful mirage of Heaven
and the terrible frightful vision of Hell — have been docile and have
stood misery and slavery. It is time that this odious sacrilege, this
abominable fraud come to an end!
To you who listen to me, I say: Open your eyes, look, observe,
understand. The heaven of which they have incessantly spoken to you, the
heaven with which they try to lessen your misery, deaden your pain and
suffocate the protest which, in spite of everything, comes from your
heart, is unreal and deserted. Only your hell is peopled and positive.
Enough of lamentations; lamentations are fruitless.
Enough of prostrations; prostrations are sterile.
Enough of prayers; prayers are impotent.
Arise, ye men! On your feet! And with a rebellious cry of indignation
declare an inexorable war against that God whose depressing veneration
has been imposed upon you for so many years. Free yourselves of the
imaginary tyrant and shake the yoke of His self-appointed
representatives on earth.
Remember, however, that by this first move — of liberation you will have
attained only a part of your goal.
A partial liberation would serve no purpose. It is necessary that, along
with the chains with which the imaginary Gods have spiritually bound
you, you also break those with which the passing but actual gods of the
earth have bound you physically and materially. Remember!
When you will have chased away both the earthly and the heavenly Gods,
when you will have liberated yourselves from the masters above and the
masters below, when you will have completed this double act of
liberation, then you will escape Hell and attain Paradise!
Only then!