Guide to Freedom

Book excerpt: This book should be of interest to any reader who has ever stopped to ponder what children usually ask their elders: Why are we here? In the context of history and myth, several aspects of Western and Eastern civilizations such as the ideas about the existence of an afterlife, evolution, creationism, God and lately inflationary cosmology have constantly been a subject of thought in many peoples' minds. The advances of modern science have provoked a clash between the beliefs in the existence of immaterial beings and the findings of historical people. This has resulted in a challenge to various myths and religious concepts that eventually have been neither entirely adopted nor implemented all over the world. This book is not intended to be a polemic about the existence of God. It is rather an account of how the IDEA of GOD originated and evolved in the mind of the most influential thinkers of all time. The advances of modern science in the West have giving rise to variable ideas about the origins of the universe and the possibility of a final end, which have permeated our society. This contrasts sharply with the thought of Eastern civilizations. This book is a reflection of the different opinions and beliefs about the idea of God as conceived by the minds of individuals in the past and present and by those that now continue to be concerned about the role of evolution and creation after more than five millennia of controversial discussion. The contributions of prominent figures, both ancient and modern, are exposed here with brevity and clarity.