Inside
Where Life happens
When Robert was about, I don't know, 7 or 8 I guess, there were times when he would hear what sounded like many people, too many to count, all whispering to him at the same time. He couldn't make out what any of them were saying. But from the tone of their voices it sounded like they were insisting he do something. Or somethings. He didn't know. He couldn't tell.
But he did find it pretty disturbing! He told his mom about it.
She told him to pray: Explain it to God, and ask God to make them go away.
Which is exactly what he did. And that is exactly what happened. God made them go away. And they never bothered him again.
Robert Benelux:
The things I do make me the most happy; much more than the things I have.
Oprah Winfrey:
Ain't that the truth!
[Audience applauds]
"God is the way human beings relate to the ultimate truth (of which science is an estimate). And religion is the way two humans aware of God relate to each other." -- Robert Benelux, "My Best Guess At The Truth"
Oprah:
So, tell us about God inside us.
Robert:
Well, first off I should tell you it's not my idea. Some schools of Hinduism identify Atman as the divine aspect inside you, and Brahman as the Supreme Spirit. It's like that. But I think that Atman is like a window on Brahman. Or maybe a telescope. We don't always know what we're looking at, but we know we're looking at something.
Oprah:
I like that, I like that. "We know we're looking at something." Or someone? Maybe? What are we looking at Robert?
Robert:
We're looking at evidence.
Oprah:
Evidence.
Robert:
Yeah Oprah, like Gil Grissom in CSI. [Robert grins.]
Gil is my favourite. Some would say Chuck Norris is The Man. For me, Gil Grissom is The Man. [Audience laughs.]
Oprah:
I know what you mean. I love CSI, don't you? [Addressing the audience. Applause.] For me, Las Vegas is the best.
Robert:
Definitely. And Gil is the best of the best. Oh, and Sara Sidl. She's cool. So I've tried to do what Gil does. He concentrates on the facts. He doesn't try to invent stories to explain what he sees. He just lets the story tell itself. I looked through my telescope (in Gil's case that would be a microscope, but my topics of interest are bigger than hair fibres [Robert grins] if you know what I mean). And I realised that I wasn't looking at an old guy on a golden cloud with a long white beard. All I could see were the workings of laws. I don't know exactly what those laws are. But I know enough to tell you that Isaac Newton's estimations of those laws can accurately tell you how an apple falls. We also know that Newton's laws are only estimations.
Oprah:
You're telling us that there is nothing but laws out there.
Robert:
That's all I'm seeing, Oprah. Like Gil Grissom, I'm only telling you what I see. And all I see are laws.
Oprah:
Ok. So, do you call yourself an atheist?
Robert:
On the outside, I'm an atheist. On the inside, I'm a strong believer in God. God is our relationship with The Ultimate Law -- The Law that the greatest scientists only provide us with estimates of. There are things that no one can explain. But we can see them. Some people have models and statistics. Most people have common sense. In some ways, God is our common sense, and in other ways he's the guy we call on when our common sense has run out, or just can't cope.
Oprah:
God is the guy we call on when our common sense has run out.
Robert:
Yeah! God is the stuff inside us that helps us get up again when we've run out of our own strength.
Our faith in God helps us to overcome diseases when doctors have given up hope. We know it happens. Some of us have felt it. Some of us have just seen it. An atheist will say that the guy on the golden cloud with the white beard couldn't possibly have made you better. And I agree. But the fact remains that you are better. So there is something that the doctors and the atheists don't know. My guess is that inside we have an instinct for a truth that we haven't yet explained. That instinct for the Truth is what I call God.
Oprah:
Robert Benelux's book, "My Best Guess At The Truth" first printed a hundred copies. It is now in its third print. His second print run was for five thousand copies. His third is for two million copies. [Audience applause.]
Robert, when you say that an instinct for the truth is God, does this God relate to the Christian God in any way.
Robert:
Yes. If you read the Bible, and you keep in the back of your mind that what is referred to as God is a combination of The Ultimate Law, and our instinct for that Truth -- or let's take it a step further, and call it "the way we relate with the Law" -- then all sorts of stories that seem a little unbelievable to the critical reader make a lot of sense.
Like Noah, his pairs of every animal, and his rainbow. Rainbows have been around for as long as rain has been around, a long long time before Noah. But when Noah finally got out of his boat, he knew what that rainbow meant. And to this day we tell our children what rainbows mean. The flood and God's promise are indications of the ruthlessness of the Laws of the universe, and that fact that it is only because of those Laws that we could exist.
Richard Dawkins wrote:
"Benelux has it half-right: there is no creator. But he does not follow his logic all the way through. He insists on inventing an imaginary friend in our hearts. He fails to identify that the pearl of religion comprises the grain of sand of mythology, whose purpose is originally to explain the big questions of existence and purpose; and the layers of calcification that result after generations of societal manipulation, political conniving, and the intentional obfuscation and accidental broken telephone of the passage of time."
Robert Benelux responded:
"Dawkins is not wrong. What I have called the God inside us, or our relationship with the laws of the universe, and what he calls 'an imaginary friend', is indeed an explanation of the big questions.
"But it is more than that, and the difference is crucially important. I can explain how electricity works; but I don't have a relationship with my explanation.
"Our relationship with the law of the universe, maybe only because we don't know it but try to understand it in terms of our own nature, gives us hope and strength, and allows us to behave in ways that are more positive than if we believed in nothing more than our own perceived limitations. The U.S. Navy Seals are subjected to training that teaches them to go beyond their perceived limitations. But a personal God offers a shortcut. We are able to act beyond our limitations without having to graduate from Navy Seal boot camp. -- Believing in the assistance of an external power could even have given us an evolutionary advantage. --
"It also helps us to develop a value system based on both rational evaluation and emotional response. In order for people to act in harmony with the nature of a society, having an emotional response will affect their behaviour a lot more strongly.
"In other words, individuals benefit from a personal God, and society also benefits. In order to uphold the observable law of the universe -- that law that allows for the existence of both individuals and societies, and results in the ongoing struggle of both to survive -- not only must we allow for a personal God, but are compelled by that law to embrace it, as much as we are compelled to eat."
Robert once said, "If you have children, you'll know that each of your kids relates to you differently. It's just the same with the way we relate to the Laws of the universe. Our relationship is a personal response. So if one person says that their understanding is correct and someone else's is false, unless they can back up their claim in a provable way, it's about as ridiculous as saying that your relationship with your dad better reflects his nature than your sister's relationship with your dad."
