Response to Irvin Yalom

Abstract

First, I would like to applaud Committee on Psychiatry and Religion for its selection of Dr. Yalom to be recipient of this award-not for stated reason that he dedicated himself to religious questions (though with antireligious perspective), but because they knew deep down that he is a believer. In fact, everyone is a believer, doubters and negators being real believers. As Jung said, are all wired for God; we all need God. The atheists too need a God, however nonexistent He might be. Marathon swimmer and author, Lynne Cox, a confirmed nonbeliever, has a charming anecdote: Late afternoon. I am standing above Western Wall, also known as Wailing Wall, in old section of Jerusalem. All cracks [in Wall] are filled with paper. Some are brittle and yellow, some are mere fragments, and some are in airmail envelopes and hotel stationery. I could see a few with words exposed: there was one in French, others in German and Hebrew and Russian and English. I wondered what these prayers were all about. Were they praying for someone who was ill, for friends, for family, for peace or prosperity? What were their hopes and dreams? Did they really believe they could get a message to God through this wall? Every single crack in wall to my right and left, above my head and beside my feet was filled with paper. I kept looking. Three meters above my head was a hole size of a tennis ball. I crumpled my note up into a tight wad, looked around, hoping that no one was watching. I leaned back and tossed my message. We negate God, we complain about Him, we accuse Him of all sorts of things. But, at end of day, we still pray that He exists. Similarly, Karen Armstrong tells a story of Jews in concentration camps who decide one afternoon to put God on trial. God is brought up on charges of cruelty and betrayal. Despite believing that God is supposed to counter evil, this impromptu death-camp court finds no evidence of divine intervention in their horrible world nor any extenuating circumstances that relieve God of culpability. The Rabbi announces verdict: God is guilty as charged. But then Rabbi glances up at those assembled and announces that trial has concluded, It is time for evening prayer. Not unlike this Rabbi, after a very persuasive argument negating God's existence, Dr. Yalom glanced up at us and said, I quote, Divine Essence. Now that we have firmly established that Dr. Yalom is a believer, let me move on to content of his talk. Based on his early experiences, Dr. Yalom grew up to consider faith as a burden. God brings no burden. The distasteful training cloaked in rigidity and authoritarianism that he was unfortunately subjected to is commonly practiced religionism, not religion. We all know that, if anything, all religions teach tolerance, love, and compassion. God brings no burden. Sophists say, in fact, that man and God are like a bird and its wings. Imagine if a bird were unaware that its wings enabled it to fly; they would only add extra burden of weight. Dr. Yalom says his understanding of existence led him to inescapable scientific world view, however lamentable it was. Extraordinary claims of religion require extraordinary evidence, he says: facts! As far as I am concerned, it is facts that require explanation. Even Stephen Hawking is yearning to know the mind of God. There is a cap on actual knowledge we have about ourselves, obtained via psychology, philosophy, or science. In fact, there is a potential for a degenerative process. The search for meaning of life through these avenues has brought man to impasse, because Man is fundamentally more than he can know himself, Victor Frankl says, an existentialist, mind you ...... The existence of God can neither be proven nor disproven, because proof and disproof are exercises of logos (logic), which is human attempt to master reality through language. …