Just an honest question:
Can you really NOT care?
While there is the high availability of funds to buy diversions, the question is squeezed out of thought...but when one is alone, or unable to purchase new diversions, the thought comes to mind, doesn't it?
I'm just curious as to whether one can factually not care.
This is a good question, I think.
Can I really "not care", as you put it?
Specifically, I assume you mean, "can you not care whether god exists?"
my response is: what kind of god?
Do I care whether a jealous god who demands his followers claim a universal monopoly on the Good, exists?
No, I dont care that that kind of god exists. I'd rather he didnt, actually. He's been nothing but trouble. He's been astonishingly destructive and immoral, even by the standard of his own declared laws.
What if you offered me a god who allowed people to experiment and act and improve their lives on their own? Accountable to each other? Recognizing each others basic divinity despite regional and cultural differences, differences which he sees as legitimate?
I wouldnt mind such a god.
But such a god wouldnt mind my being an agnostic, either. In fact so long as my agnosticism produced a "live and let live" attitude, such a god might even find
me to be ethical.
A thought expressed in this classic poem--
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
-leigh hunt
(leigh was a deist, btw
)