Preparing for the Miraculous

theodicy: “nature does not make mistakes” 215pitiless indifference.” (Richard Dawkins) “Omnipotenceraises some awkward theological questions. Is God free toprevent evil? If he is omnipotent, yes. Why then does hefail to do so? This devastating argument was deployed by[the philosopher] David Hume: if the evil in the world isfrom the intention of the Deity, then he is not benevolent.If the evil is contrary to his intention, he is not omnipotent.He cannot be both omnipotent and benevolent (as most religionsclaim).” (Paul Davies)The God here put into question is the Abrahamic Godwho stands outside the creation brought by him into beingand for which he is therefore responsible. Theologiansof the Abrahamic religions may say that he is an abstractGod, rare mystics in these religions may say that he can bemet in the heart, yet the general idea is that of an anthropomorphicautocrat floating somewhere above the clouds orsitting on a throne in heaven.The “integral Vedantic affirmation” agrees with themystics, because its perception of God is a matter of spiritualexperience confirmed by many great experiencers:rishis, seers, yogis, mystics. According to this affirmationall is God, all is the Brahman, all is That, all is the Self, andthere cannot be anything outside or apart from That. “If itbe true that the Self alone exists, it must also be true that allis the Self,” asserts Sri Aurobindo. “And if this Self, God orBrahman is no helpless state, no bounded power, no limitedpersonality, but the self-conscious All, there must besome good and inherent reason in it for the manifestation,to discover which we must proceed on the hypothesis ofsome potency, some wisdom, some truth of being in all thatis manifested.“The discord and apparent evil of the world must in theirsphere be admitted, but not accepted as our conquerors. ...