Asuka, the Existing

A/N – This could be a multi-chapter deal, or possibly just a one-shot depending on how people like this. This is aimed to those curious minds out there in the philosophical world. Hell, who knows? Maybe I'll help a few students out there in college that really can't get this crap. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: On the Existence of God and His Nature

"Hey Asuka, do you believe in God?" the two had been watching television for the past two hours on a Saturday morning, and even this was far from mentally stimulating to the boy. Asuka was far more wrapped up in her handheld video game to even notice his question, "Asuka?"

"Define God," she spoke in an annoyed voice. She hoped that the complex question would shut him up – not a chance.

"I don't know… the big guy up in the sky. Creator, all knowing, you know… God," she sighed as she turned off the game. This was going to be far from a short discussion.

"You mean the guy who tries to kill us on a daily basis? Yes, I believe in him, but I don't think he exists. I take it you believe he exists, don't you?"

"How can… you said you believe in him, but he doesn't exist. That's… a little crazy, Asuka. Seriously, what do you think?" it never ceased to amaze her how ignorant people can be with the things they apparently hold dear.

"That is what I think. But that's why I asked you to define God, because for all I know you're talking about a three-toed sloth up in the sky eating leaves all day. Tell me if this is a good definition – God is a being than which no greater can be conceived," he stared at her like a deer in headlights, "In other words," she spoke with a huff, clearly annoyed, "He's the absolute top of the top. Nothing is better than Him, and you can't think of anything better than Him. Follow me so far?" he slowly nods, "Fantastic. Now, I'm going to use what's called reductio ad absurdum, which basically means I deny what I'm trying to prove."

"So you assume God doesn't exist?"

"So you are paying attention. Good. Yes, assume he doesn't exist. Now, assume that existence is perfection. I have a shiny new red sports car in my mind, and a shiny new red sports car in the driveway. Which would you prefer?" she didn't wait for him to answer, "The one in the driveway, because existence is perfection. But there's a line to be drawn – if I have the influenza virus in my mind and the influenza virus in a glass jar, which one would you want?"

"The one in your mind, I guess. So existence isn't perfection?"

"Wrong. Perfection for the thing, not for the things around it. For the virus, it existing would be perfect so it can go on, replicate, and be a happy little virus. So far, we have the statements that God doesn't exist, He is a being than which no greater can be conceived, and that existence is perfection. We're going to add one more, small detail – think of a being than which no greater can be conceived. I'm not telling you to think about God, think about a being than which no greater can be conceived. With me so far? Great. Now, if existence is perfection, and God doesn't exist, then you can conceive something greater than which nothing greater can be conceived. Right?" he slowly nods, and she throws a pillow at him, "Don't agree if you don't understand it! Listen, this is easy. God is a being than which no greater can be conceived. You understand that, at least. So, since God doesn't exist, he only is present in your mind as you think about a being than which no greater can be conceived. This is all fine and dandy, but then we say that existence is perfection. Well, if existence is perfection, then the being in your mind can have something greater than itself in the real world, which is a contradiction. Therefore, God must exist," he stared at her with a blank look on his face for a good thirty seconds before responding.

"What about a book?"

"What, you mean the Bible? Using the Bible to prove the existence of God is like using The Deathly Hallows to prove the existence of Harry Potter, idiot."

"No, what about a book? Like, if I were to just say there's a book than which no greater can be conceived, couldn't I say a perfect book is out there? How many pages would it have? How thick would it be? Who would be the author? I just don't see how your argument makes sense…"

"For one, I'd never propose such a stupid argument, this is Anselm's. And two, he used the argument of ad hoc, which basically says that this argument can't be used for anything but God. Nothing else. No islands, no blades of grass, nothing. The reason for this is that when you say 'book', you're narrowing down the umbrella of things than which no greater thing can be conceived. In other words, you couldn't say the best book in the world, because then you're only talking about books. A car is better than a book, no? So his argument holds up, to an extent. But this wouldn't convince an atheist, since the argument is a little hasty when it says the definition of God," at this point, Shinji literally had a headache, but this was the first conversation he's had with the girl that lasted longer than thirty seconds and didn't end with him being hit. He endured it.

"So then what other argument is there?"

"Infinity," she replied without a moment's hesitation, "You know about the big bang and big crunch theories, right?" he shook his head, "You're useless… fine, the big bang is when the entire universe is all within a single point of infinite density. A massive explosion occurs, throwing matter in all directions, and essentially creating the universe. As this cools down over the span of countless billions of years, it condenses once again into that single point, and it all starts all over again. Many people believe that this is an infinite, circular cycle… complete bull, in my opinion. Sure, it may have happened a few times, but there has to be a beginning. If this went on for infinity, then there would be no end, right? Well, for there to be no end, there can't be a beginning. It just goes on forever and ever, right? If there's no first action, then there's no second action, and then there's no third action, and so on. So if there was no beginning, our existence would be impossible," Shinji rubbed his eyes in annoyance.

"Hold on, back up… what?"

"This isn't hard. Look, you know basic math, right? Think about the graph of y equals x. It's just a diagonal line that intersects the origin. It goes on forever in both directions, so it is infinite. Let's say that line represents our universe – ignore the positive and negative axis, just go with it. If our universe is infinite, then there was no beginning. With no beginning, there's no first action. Without a first action, there's no second action. And so on and so on. It's kind of like dominos if you want to think of it that way. Now do you understand?" now slightly smiling, he nods, "Good boy. What conclusion do you draw from that?"

"God started it all!" she threw another pillow, and he silently wondered where the pillows were coming from.

"Wrong! How do you know it was God? How do you know it wasn't just some complex physics crap?" his shoulders slumped over, "Because physics could explain all that just perfectly, in theory. You need more than just the two arguments I gave you. I could give you a damn good explanation as to how we're all just imagining all of this."

"Wasn't that a movie? Like, the Matrix or something like that," another pillow.

"The Matrix was written by a few dudes to skimmed through a single philosophical argument and it's full of holes, so keep your mouth shut. I can prove to you that all motion is impossible, so you're just imagining everything. See that television? I'm an infinite distance away from it right now. I can never walk over to it – ever, ever, ever," like a confused puppy, he cocked his head, "Let's say I walk halfway to it. And now I walk halfway through the halfway – so now I'm three quarters of the way there. Now I walk halfway through the halfway of the halfway. Now I'm seven eighths of the way there. This will go on for infinity, and I'll never reach it. Ever."

"Isn't that just clever word play? I mean, of course you can reach it eventually if you ignore the math behind it."

"Math is an illusion, but we'll talk about that later. Are you ever really touching something or ever really at your destination, or are you just close enough to call it good enough? Everything you see is an illusion, and unlike the Matrix where you're a brain in a vat, you're just an illusion yourself. You, me, and everyone on the planet – which, by the way, is an illusion – are all part of something like a nirvana. We are all, and we are one. I guess the best explanation is 'My name is legion, for we are many' from the Gospel of Luke, Luke 8:30. This is called monism, and the only reason that we believe to be living separate lives is because we will it to happen."

"So… God is real…?" she sighed as she rubbed her eyes.

"He can't not be real," his silence told her he didn't understand in the least, "There are four modes of being. That which is impossible, that which is possible, that which is actual, and that which is necessary. For impossible, something can't be. For possible, something can be. For actual, something is. For necessary, something can't not be. It's possible that I can jump ten feet in the air, but not actual. It's impossible that I can jump over the Pacific. Think of a Venn diagram. Have one large circle be possible, another, smaller circle completely within the possible be the actual, and a much smaller circle completely within the actual be the necessary. Everything outside the possible circle is impossible. The actual circle is semipermeable – that is, things can pass from the possible to the actual, and from the actual to the possible. I was possible before conception, and then I was born, so I'm actual. One hundred years from now, I'll be dead, so I'll have moved back into the possible."

"So you're saying that the only necessary thing is God?"

"No, that's stupid. Things don't pass from actual to necessary like they do from actual to possible. Instead, things are formed in the necessary bubble every day. When I went to bed last night, there was no guarantee that I'd wake up this morning. It was possible, but not certain. When I woke up, suddenly the action of me waking up popped into the necessary, since I'm sitting here talking to a monkey right now."

"How… does this link to God?"

"I'm saying that God is within the necessary bubble. He was the first necessary. Remember the infinite motion thing I was saying earlier? He was the first mover."

"Why would he be the first mover if he's sending down Angels to kill us? What would be the point of that?" Misato, who apparently had been standing in the hallway, finally spoke up. Asuka rolled her eyes as she smirked. The woman thought she was being cleaver. She was not.

"Johnson, God and the Problem of Evil. Who told you God is good? Just because he's a being than which no greater can be conceived doesn't mean he's not evil. Shinji has an excuse, but you don't. What the hell did they teach you in college? Look, take the example of an infant dying in a house fire. God couldn't have stopped it? He's God, he can do whatever he wants. Why didn't he stop it?" a few seconds pass before Misato snaps her fingers.

"He works towards a grander scheme!" Asuka spoke along with her in unison, crushing her moment of intelligence.

"That's fine and dandy to help Christians sleep at night, but if that were the case, every single bad event would end up positive in the end. Let's say I grow up and choose to make a habit out of going down to Africa, adopting some kid from a tribe, and killing them in secrecy. I do this my whole life, and no one ever finds out. In the end, I killed over thirty kids, and I die without anyone ever knowing. Where's the good in that? I can see how someone would manipulate the house fire with the infant's death to be positive – raise fire awareness and whatnot – but where's the positive in my killings?" Misato took a seat next to Shinji on the sofa, "Here's how it is. God is one of the following, and only one of the following; all good, all evil, mostly good, or mostly evil. Now, by him allowing the infant to die, even if it was for a cause, that already rules out him being all good."

"Even if it was towards a grander scheme?" Asuka glares at the woman, "Humor me."

"He's omnipotent, apparently at least. He couldn't have found another way to raise fire awareness?" she didn't respond, "As I was saying… he can't be all evil because there is good in this world, so he must, at the very least, allow it to happen even if he doesn't directly cause it. So, that leaves us with either that he's mostly good or mostly evil," the girl stands up and stretches her arms above her head with a yawn, "I'll leave you two to think about that. Night."

"Y-You're just going to leave it there? Come on!" Misato stands up, clearly annoyed.

"I'll continue tomorrow, don't worry. I'll be damned if I'm going to be living with two ignorant children," and with that, her door closed.

A/N – So, yay or nay? Not so much an Eva fic as it is a story explaining some basic philosophical idea with Eva characters in it. If you think it's interesting and think I should keep going, let me know. I minored in philosophical studies all through my B.S., so I could go on for quite some time. If you do want me to keep going and you have a topic you'd like covered, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Keep on keepin' on!