Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1453: Chapter 80: [God] Is One Who Has Been Through It

[What is God?]

The second class of the morning, in the large classroom… but there weren’t many students—this was, after all, a relatively obscure subject. On the projection, this question appeared.

This was Teacher Prin’s course. Perhaps there were quite a few students attending today, but it was clearly still less than in some of the more popular subjects, even on a slow day… The students sat in clusters in different places.

The attention on the question projected by Teacher Prin was evidently not as high as the attention on the two new students—or rather, since the class began, these two new students had captured almost everyone’s attention.

One was a young man with very typical Asian features, clearly of Eastern descent—while the other was a beauty with a bit of Russian lineage, yet as delicate as a porcelain doll.

The two new students were clearly acquainted—they entered together and then sat together on adjacent seats.

The university campus was relatively more liberating, unlike in high school, so there wasn’t a situation where the instructor would introduce transfer students before the class… Thus, the students were all the more curious about these two new students.

After all, it had been some time since the school year started, and it was indeed rare to choose to transfer at this point… Not to mention whether they could catch up with the course, just choosing the relatively obscure subject of theology was intriguing enough.

What exactly is God?

Even so, the class had already begun, and Teacher Prin’s question required thought as well.

Teacher Prin looked quite gentle… Gentle like a laboratory white mouse, yet his attitude towards academics was very rigorous. Students had previously disregarded courses just because Teacher Prin seemed gentle, and were then mercilessly judged as unqualified in the subject… not even given a chance for leniency.

“What is God.”

Teacher Prin picked up the microphone, looking at the classroom in front of him. He didn’t focus particularly on any student… not even the newcomer he’d met twice yesterday: Luo Qiu.

“Perhaps you’re very curious why I’m asking you this question again after the semester has already started.”

Teacher Prin leaned nonchalantly on the lectern, “It’s because today I suddenly want to conduct a test… Do you know what I want to test?”

“Our understanding of theology after this period of study?” A proactive student raised a hand and answered directly.

“Perhaps you’ve come to a new understanding of the definition of God recently, and decided to tell us… Oh, damn it, this garbage subject should have been canceled long ago! How about transferring and learning economics with me!” The mischievous answer came from a student dressed in hip-hop style.

A wave of subdued laughter flowed through the somber classroom like an undercurrent… The atmosphere seemed to lighten a bit. Teacher Prin also showed a slight smile, “First, if you transfer, you’d probably need to pay tuition again, and then you’d need to complete this semester’s credits in half the time others do.”

Another bout of stifled laughter followed.

Teacher Prin gently tapped the microphone, quelling the classroom into quietness, “So, new students, can you tell me, what exactly is God?”

Finally, Teacher Prin cast his gaze upon the two new students, “Will it be the young gentleman, or shall it be ladies first?”

Oh… It seems that the so-called test was actually intended to gauge these two new students—the students curiously locked their attention on them.

This association was difficult for Boss Luo, contrasting it with his previous university days—about a year ago in his campus life, there were just two students in his class… and often, he was the only one attending.

Of course, by this time, Boss Luo hardly had any sense of embarrassment anymore, indifferent to everyone’s gaze, he thoughtfully responded in English as fluent as to shame even British students: “From ancient times till now, from kings to commoners, whether academically, politically, educationally, or even in medicine and commerce, wherever there’s human presence, such behavior as ‘belief in God’ arises. The prevalence of ‘belief in God’ is so vast that we can’t clearly determine how many ‘Gods’ there are in the world. Yet according to modern scientific concepts, we know there is no actual ‘God’ in the world, so what exactly is God?”

Boss Luo’s first paragraph cheekily ended with the same question… as though he hadn’t answered anything—this kind of response would generally be seen as cheeky if there are no subsequent points, certainly something instructors wouldn’t appreciate.

But nothing showed on Teacher Prin’s face—he merely lifted the microphone and said: “God is a prophet, God is also a scholar.”

Luo Qiu smiled and said, “Because, during different times in various disciplines, ‘God’ always seems to serve a guiding function… In old times, humanity often deemed the unseeable, the still unexplored as ‘God’s Forbidden Zone.’ People thought it was an area that mortal men should not transgress, that stepping into ‘God’s Forbidden Zone’ would incur God’s wrath.”

“That was simply ignorance and fear of nature,” a student in the classroom suddenly retorted… Spontaneous questioning was not restricted, even if it was a classroom setting and the instructor hadn’t asked them yet, it was more than just pure listening.

Boss Luo looked at this student… with small freckles on her face, wearing half-rimmed glasses, and with her hair in small braids, she appeared to be a spirited Caucasian girl.

“What do you think God is?” Boss Luo asked the female student.

Without thinking, she said, “God is just a concept, a spiritual embodiment of those admired and revered people around us. This spiritual embodiment provides us mental solace, and naturally, we name this spiritual solace as faith. Thus, God is essentially just a faith.”

This was a very official and safe statement… In theological study, they mostly relied on such a perspective as the foundation—under modern academic opinions, it was evidently not erroneous.

“If God is a faith, what specifically does faith manifest as?” Boss Luo unexpectedly continued to ask.

Teacher Prin blinked, seeming intrigued by such a question as well, he looked at this female student like an observer.

The female student pondered briefly, “Faith is a subjective product of the mind.”

Boss Luo shook his head, “Consciousness is something we cannot see or touch, it’s intangible.”

The female student furrowed her brow slightly, “Statues, myths, biblical figures, totems!”

Boss Luo curiously asked, “If God is a faith, and the specifics of faith are depicted through statues, legends, totems, etc… does that mean the specifics of faith are then God?”

“Humans naturally have faith in God, but would you believe in…” The female student hesitated — besides faith in God, there actually exists another direction of belief.

For instance, in real life, there are those who believe in the Devil — the opposite of God.

“So, what do you think God is?” The female student paused for a moment and then asked somewhat unwillingly.

Boss Luo didn’t answer the question directly but pondered and said, “I don’t deny the meaning of faith… In fact, everyone needs spiritual support and faith, that’s indisputable. Because a person without faith has no moral baseline or spiritual pursuit. Especially in modern society, most young people feel boredom, meaninglessness, depression, living a life that resembles walking corpses… They can’t even find the answer to why they live. So within such groups, it might be easier for God to emerge, regardless of what they ultimately worship or long for, it’s considered a form of God, a form of Spirit.”

“This isn’t the God described in Theology.” The female student hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, clearly not intending to agree with such a viewpoint — but didn’t completely refute it either.

Theology and philosophy have always been unable to completely distinguish from each other; theories from different schools are intertwined and corroborate each other.

“Therefore, in my view, God is actually someone who’s been through it.” Luo Qiu suddenly said — looking at Teacher Prin, giving the current positive answer, “God is both someone who’s been through it and was once a Prophet and a Scholar.”

God is someone who’s been through it, was once a prophet and a scholar.

They remembered that Teacher Prin initially said the sentence, God is a prophet and a scholar… This student finally connected the topic again — after being interrupted by the female student.

Of course… no one was overly amazed, since most of the students present have the attributes of academic elites and wouldn’t easily admire a suddenly arriving new student — unless this new student could earn enough wealth during school that could astound them, then that would be a praiseworthy object.

“If according to this saying, wouldn’t the people from the future becoming God when they travel to the past?”

The student in hip-hop attire laughed and said, “As people of the future know too much knowledge, master too many trends, to the people of the past, they are prophets, also grand scholars. In past times, people of the future are the greatest geniuses, leading an era!”

“First, you should be sure that you can truly master a useful discipline and a lot of knowledge, rather than being someone who can skillfully use modern tools but can’t create anything,” the braided female student said suddenly, “I haven’t seen a God who claims to have individuality.”

Hahaha… This time the laughter was evidently not low.

The hip-hop style male student wasn’t bothered at all, shrugged his shoulders, and then pointed his finger at the female student.

Teacher Prin simply clapped a few times to make the classroom quiet again, he smiled at the students and said, “Whether modern people returning to the past could become God, in fact, I don’t know either, because even the Back-to-the-Future-part 123 didn’t tell me these. But Claudia was quite correct in saying that even with the opportunity to go back, becoming a pioneer of an era indeed requires a lot of knowledge, exquisite skills…”

It turned out the braided female student’s name was Claudia.

Teacher Prin’s speech continued.

“… So for the possible time-space journey in the future, what reason do you have not to cherish the opportunity to study well – Markel, can you stop texting in class now? I believe your girlfriend surely doesn’t like her boyfriend to be the kind that only tries to cheer her up when bored in class.”

The named male student was suddenly dumbfounded, opening his mouth — he thought he had concealed it very well, so how did Teacher Prin know?

He even knew the chatting partner was a girlfriend?

Oh my…

Another bout of low laughter erupted.

After this, Markel hurriedly put away his phone, and then opened his book to show he’d seriously listen to the class.

Teacher Prin smiled indifferently, then also opened the lecture notes in his hand, “Alright, enough idle talk, let’s continue where we left off last lesson… The two new students can find me at the office after class, I’ll provide you with the previous teaching materials. Now, please open your books to page 36, today we’ll talk about the Concept of The Trinity…”

Boss Luo also opened his textbook… He was quite interested in Teacher Prin’s understanding of the concept of The Trinity.

The Maid also opened her textbook — she propped it up.

This familiar routine instantly brought Boss Luo back to high school times — without any surprise, beside the textbook, the Maid also opened something else: a recipe!

Luo Qiu was taken aback, wondering if asking her to join him in class was a wise choice… At this moment, a female student in the front desk suddenly turned around and quickly placed a folded note on Boss Luo’s desk.

Luo Qiu was dumbfounded, seeing the female student in the front point forward — she was pointing to where Claudia was seated — this note seemed to have come from Claudia.

The Maid clearly noticed these subtle movements too, her gaze shifted.

Boss Luo just smiled and opened the note directly — Claudia wrote:

——If God were someone from the past, can future people become God?

——Additionally, I want to know your contact information and name — Claudia!

Luo Qiu thought for a moment, then picked up a pen and wrote under the question:

——God is someone who’s been through it, and people are the future’s God.

After writing, Boss Luo had the female student in front pass the note back, but didn’t leave his contact information or name — joking, You Ye was watching right beside him.

Though the Maid was quite considerate, understanding, and thoughtful… Boss Luo still had some survival instincts.