Haulianlal Guite - Confessions of a Dying Mind: The Blind Faith of Atheism

Confessions Of
A Dying Mind

The Blind Faith Of Atheism

Haulianlal Guite

First published in India 2017

2017 by Haulianlal Guite

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It is impossible to thank everyone, but here goes a small list.

To doctor Shankaran and associate professor Nanda in Delhi Universitys St. Stephens College, for your complete disdain of theism. Your ideas, tirelessly articulated, inspired an interminable struggle in my head; this book is its fall-out. To my college friend Sharmistha, now an assistant professor of philosophy, for those many hours we spent arguing, and rebuking me for never completing my books. Well, this is a complete story for a change. To doctor Barua, my tutor, whose classes on the philosophy of science, and the timely revisions suggested, substantially contributed to the betterment of this novelization. And of course, professor Tankha, for your sharp, idiosyncratic remarks; and my dear friend Dhiraj Abraham Phillip, for never losing faith even when I lost mine!

My long-time friend from school days Shailendra Singh, who I can never persuade to believe, despite the tomes of discourses we share. I hope this breathes in fresh air.

Also, Dr. C.K Mathew, IAS (Retd.), former Chief Secretary of Rajasthan, for penning the books Foreword. This is particularly gratifying, not only because of your shining erudition, but because those qualms stemming from the skeptical, agnostic position you adhere to, inject a certain objectivity into this work. I can think of no other introduction better suited to the declared purpose.

In the lovely new tradition of acknowledging impersonal forces, special thanks must go to the existing literature on the subject, for leaving a lacuna on the God question a gaping hole this book hopes to fill. Gratitude must, along this same line, be expressed to the philosophers Kant, Popper and Quine, for supplying the arguments I weave my narrative with. Though you are long gone, I have battled with your thoughts on an almost daily basis.

More domestically, my gratitude goes out to my sisters Manlian and Lianching, one who listens and the other who reads, for ensuring that the arguments in this book are comprehensible to the lay reader; my parents, for your unending prayers, and instilling the spirit of curiosity in me; and my brother Goumang, for tempering that curiosity with reality. To you, my dear nephew Sianthuam; I have named you after God for a reason, and this is one of those. And of course, my first nephew Mangboi, for being our living proof of hope. Also, my cousin Biakdik, whose careful readings have improved the overall storyline; your comments are valuable indeed.

And to my wife, for enduring through the agonizing nights I spent phrasing the arguments, and for the hours expended in writing. Thank you for putting up with an overgrown child.

Finally, I thank the Government of Rajasthan for approving the publication of this book in its current form.

To you

my lifes North Star,

Radiating this dark, even from afar;

Unsung, unwanted, and yet still undone;

Till, on that better day, when all foes turn

Beyond the scythe, along the Styx

We shall, perhaps, be forever entwined.

Table of Contents

[From the Prophet Job to the Physicist Stephen Hawking]

[Near-Death Out-of-Body & Disembodied Experiences, Problems of Perception, Appearance and Reality, Simulation Worlds]

[Spanish Fool, Galileo Affair, Scientific Method, Scientific Realism & Instrumentalism, Kants Copernican Revolution, Poppers Falsification, and the Underdetermination Thesis]

[Walkers short, long, perpetual and ultimate choices; Khovel Thought-Experiment; Dyers Underdetermination, Precambrian Rabbits, God/gods dichotomy, Agency/Mechanism dichotomy, Copernican Revolution, Tests of Gravity, Critical Testing, Confirmation Holism, Quines web of belief, Russells Teapot, Occams Razor]

[Theological Holism, Dyers Rant, Swansong, Anti-worship Service]

Over a long and leisurely weekend, I had the occasion to read through Haulianlal Guites masterpiece, Confessions of a Dying Mind: The Blind Faith of Atheism. My first impression was that for a young man, not yet thirty, the comprehensive knowledge he has displayed over both cutting-edge developments in science as well as contemporary philosophy, was truly astonishing. He has meticulously listed out the sources of his readings, and they are indeed eclectic. The fact that he has taken the time and energy to read, absorb and summarize these abstract thought-process of philosophy and then integrate them with the latest, and often quirky, findings of modern science is, therefore, quite fascinating.

The book is presented as a series of novelized discussions between the two main protagonists one, Mr. Dyers who is in a coma and experiencing the effects of a Near-Death Experience; and two, the mysterious Mr. Walker, either a figment of his imagination, or a divine figure sent by some force unrevealed, or a distillation of his own inner contemplations, to teach him the meaning of life, religion and all the rest.

Guite takes the readers, step by step, through the different stages of the progression of his logic, while at each stage presenting the dilemma that Mr. Dyers faces from his discussions with Mr. Walker. These dilemmas have been placed in boxes scattered through the text of the book, enabling the reader to go back and refer to them as he winds his way down the length and breadth of the text. Some of these questions are worth repeating here as they go to the very core of human enquiry and examination:

Is there a way, a criterion, to definitively distinguish the real and the unreal?

Is our scientific knowledge of the world compatible with both theism and atheism?

Or Is our knowledge compatible with either one, but not both?