Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "philosophy-of-religion"

There is a question in today's society that has got quite a grip over people's psyche - rational and not so rational alike - whether religion is basically good or basically evil. Here my question to you is, how do you define a religion as either good or bad? How do you define good religion and bad religion? Do you define based on the books, like scriptures, or do you define based on humans? What's more important - humans or scriptures? And if you still define religion based on the elements that come from some ancient books, then what's the difference between you and the fundamentalists who actually cause all the violence in the name of religion? If you still think that religion is violent because its scripture has some violent instructions then what's the difference between you and others - others being the fundamentalists? There is no difference.

You are a rational being. You have your own mind. You have your cognitive capacities to think for yourself - to give humans more attention than books, than doctrines, than dogmas. Then how do you define a whole religion - an entire population of people - your own kind as terrorists! Are they! Are you! Say your culture has a scripture that says, "if somebody does not obey every word in this scripture, then that person must be demolished from earth by the chosen few to whom this scripture has been given by the Lord Almighty himself". Whether you follow it or not, doesn't matter. Whether you accept it literally or not, doesn't matter. Just because it is a part of your culture, does that make you a terrorist - a religious terrorist, since it is the book of your people. Being a part of your culture, that book instructs you to kill people for holding different belief system. And without even knowing whether you follow it directly, indirectly, consciously, subconsciously, if somebody simply assumes that because it is a highly venerated book in your culture, you must be absolutely obedient to it and would be willing to kill the infidels, is that person making a rational assumption, or simply a lousy mistake!

Being religious does not make a person terrorist, even if his or her scripture has fundamental elements of terrorism. Religious people are just as peace loving as anybody else. Not all the people who call themselves religious, actually follow every single word of the scripture. They don't feel the urge for it, without even being aware of it in most cases, they just don't. When a brain is healthy, it has the capacity to filter information and distinguish between good and evil. In most cases, this process of filtering happens quite subconsciously, and in some other cases not so much. That's what you know as the human sense of morality which is a magnificent construction of the brain circuits, especially the frontal lobes. In case of one's religiousness this morality comes into action as well.

A good human being will never accept things like beating a wife for not having sex with the husband or killing people for holding different belief system, even if his or her scripture says thus. So it doesn't matter what the scripture says - a healthy human brain has the capacity to filter those instructions. An atheist brain does this quite consciously, whereas the peace-loving religious population does it in most cases quite subconsciously. Their brain does that for them, because they are conscientious civilized beings. And unless you are a mental retard - unless you are suffering from delusional disorder, like the fundamentalists, you still can judge for yourself, so do the religious people. That's why all religious people are not terrorists.

Those who are terrorists, they only hold on to the few instructions of certain scriptures, that fuel their predominant rage against some parts of the world, some people, and that rage becomes the driving force behind those acts of terrorism. Those instructions in those books fuel that rage. So they feel like they are doing it for a greater purpose, because their brain lacks healthy and civilized functioning of the frontal lobes, but this is not true for religious people. Religious people are just as peace-loving as anybody else. And not all religious people say - their religion is the best and everybody else's is false - their god is the only god and everybody else who follows different gods are all doomed to burn in hell for eternity.

They are simply happy with their religion, and what's wrong with that! Of course it would be wrong if they say - you hold a different belief system so you are a lesser human, you are doomed, you are possessed by Satan. But they are not saying that. They are happy, they are talking to people from different religious backgrounds, because that's what makes us humans. That's what makes us civilized humans. We accept each other, we love each other, we embrace each other. It's about religious acceptance, it's no longer about religious tolerance. Toleration may make you decent, but it's acceptance that makes you civilized. Toleration was a matter of the previous centuries - through this idea of toleration, thinking humans took the early steps towards a society free from religious sectarianism. The parliament of religions was and still remains a glorious emblem of this endeavor of religious toleration. However, time has changed and so has its needs. The need of this century is acceptance. Every generation must think several steps ahead of their previous generations. That's the way to progress and that's the way to become more and more civilized human beings.

We are the most civilized species on earth, because we grow every single day - we grow - and we will keep on growing with each other. We will keep on growing with our brothers, sisters and friends, whether they are from different religions, different race, different languages, colors, sexual orientation, gender - it doesn't matter. We are all humans and we have to grow together. It's not enough to be diverse. For a species to evolve, for a species to survive, you need to accept that diversity. Because if you don't, then that diversity has no value. Accept the diversity and the growth of us humans - the progress of us humans, will be much faster and smoother.



Further Reading

In Search of Divinity: Journey to the Kingdom of Conscience

Illusion of Religion: A Treatise on Religious Fundamentalism

Right to religion, is an actual basic existential right of humankind, at least, at its present evolutionary condition. I am beginning this piece, with this, perhaps a bit radical statement, because it would reveal to you your own deep stance on religion without any ambiguity. It would either enrage you fueled by your illustrious atheistic superiority, or it will soothe you, fueled by your innate closeness to your own religion. But to go deeper into this piece, neither of these two extremes would do.

You would have to take off your glasses before you begin – the glasses of theism as well as the glasses of atheism. And when I say “have to”, I do not mean it as an obligation, rather I mean it as a necessity. Because broken souls cannot perceive wholeness. And both the theist and the atheist have obvious perceptual limitations because of their innate brokenness – because of their innate loyalty to a label. Labels may help you feel comfortable in a certain domain, but to see the whole picture, these tiny internal domains must be destroyed first. If, and only if, you are willing to do that, then we can proceed with utmost naivety, with no thesis or antithesis in mind.

What is a right – is there any such thing? The term “right” only exists in a society where people don’t have something that’s necessary for sustaining existence. If this were the animal kingdom instead of a human society, we would not need the term “right”, instead we would simply fight and acquire what’s necessary or die fighting. We use the term “right” in a so-called civilized society, because we want to acquire it with as little fight as possible. In a truly civilized society, we would not need the term “right”. Think about it. You breath in air all the time for its content oxygen, which is necessary for existence. But what would happen, if clean air becomes scarce, like it has become in China, and slowly becoming in India! Then clean air would be manufactured, like some companies are already doing. Hence it becomes a product, which you may or may not have access to. In the extreme case that you do not have access to it for free, clean air which clearly is an existential necessity for humans, would become a matter of right. But it would ultimately depend on the companies whether or not to give their product of clean air away for free – or to be more specific, you would be at their mercy. You may feel access to clean air is your right, but in reality, you no longer have that luxury. Because the companies manufacturing the product, have the ultimate right to that product.

Religion is not much different from clean air, for religion is basically the psychological counterpart of clean air. Clean air is a physiological necessity, whereas religion is a psychological necessity. Here you may think of the term “religion” to be a very simply term with very specific common meaning to all humanity, but in reality, no other term could have as diverse array of meanings as the term “religion” has in the psyche of the humans. But when I say “meanings”, I am not talking about etymology – etymology does not say anything about the place of a term in the human mind. Here I am talking about the wide range of human perceptions of the very term religion. What is this whole religion phenomenon – is it a kind of shampoo – is it a kind of smartphone – is it a kind of computer – or is it a kind of ideals! I don’t think anybody would see it as a shampoo, or a smartphone or a computer even, but perhaps some or perhaps most humans would see it as a kind of ideals and beliefs. Let’s be a bit articulate here. Most humans see religion as a set of beliefs, sustained through rituals. This is what you know as organized religion, that is, an organized structure where an institution of fake superiority determines the lifestyle of a group of people. These institutions say – “give your life to us, to our savior, or to our prophet, and you will have peace.” And they call it religion, by it, I mean this blind obedience to a fake authority, in the hope of psychological security and well-being. Most people are too entangled at a deep subconscious level with this sense of illusory security, hence they shall do everything in their power to defend their beliefs, which to them are synonymous with “religiousness”, if confronted with refutal.

Now the real question is – if this is the global idea of religion and religiousness, can it be hailed as a basic human right! Hard as it may be, a civilized human being would have to be willing to recognize the basic need for this so-called organized religiousness of the humans as a basic human right. But – yes, there is a “but” involved – not the double t one, you dirty fella! This little “but” is involved because, this very religion that we are talking about here, is a messed up form of religion, and has a lot of negative implications on the human society as a whole – here I am referring to the global human society, not a specific group of people. The problem with organized religion is that, because it involves, its own customized god, its own messiah, its own prophet, its own scripture – it inadvertently induces its followers to foster a kind of implicit hatred or simply a sense of conflict towards people of other organized religions. So, though right to practise one’s own religion, may be a basic human right, by all means, it must be watched over by the very humans practising those religions, so that they do no let hatred creep into their heart, no matter how many verses in their beloved scripture proclaim people of other religions to be infidels.

If the humans are able to keep hatred out of their religious practise, then and then only it’s a religious practise – and then only organized religion as it is, can be hailed as a basic human right. But any religion that endorses such hatred, instead of trying to eliminate them, has no right itself to be a part of a civilized human society. Anybody who says – my religion is the only true religion, all others are fake or inferior, has no right to any religion whatsoever, for this creature is not a human – it’s ancient animal living in a modern society under the skin of a human. Religion is for humans, not animals. And any religion that advocates its own supremacy over all other religions, is not religion, rather it’s merely a sophisticated form of tribalism, which belongs in the jungle, not in the human society. So in short, a human can have right to religion, only and only if, that human, as well as the religion he or she wants right to, do not endorse any kind of conflict, either explicit or implicit. Which means, a human has a right to religion, not an animal with self-imposed superiority. Bear in mind, religion must bring oneness, otherwise it’s not religion, but merely a cheap parody of religion. And that’s the religion, every single human being of pure soul has the existential right to – or to simplify even further, without the religion of oneness, there shall be no human life in human body, but only animal life in human body.

Keep in mind, my friend – “We are not divine beings in mortal bodies, We are mortal bodies in pursuit of constructing divine perfection within us.” (quote from Lord is My Sheep: Gospel of Human)




Further Reading
Illusion of Religion: A Treatise on Religious Fundamentalism
Lord is My Sheep: Gospel of Human

This piece is meant for all conscientious humans, except for those who call themselves fundamentalists. No scientist in the world has the capacity to turn a fundamentalist into a conscientious human, because they possess the worst form of broken minds. And we scientists do have the power to fix a little bit of brokenness of the mind, but not the brokenness of the fundamentalist. We do though have the ability to play God and make that brokenness go worse, and make that fundamentalism ineffective, without killing the host, but that would also mean killing the soul of an individual, which if we commit, would make us the same kind of sectarian barbarians as the fundamentalists and their loyal slaves – the holy warriors.

The point is, even if a handful of scientists come together, we would easily outsmart and eliminate the so-called terrorism from the face of earth. But the scientific community has lost its original sense of responsibility. Innovators with resources and smartness, are more busy with pompous dreams of colonizing mars, while their own kind suffers on earth. If we really wanted, we could end terrorism once and forever, right at this very moment, but in reality, no one really cares – they only pretend to care! Those who have the sense of responsibility, do not have the resources, and the ones who have the resources are chasing their self-centered dreams. Seeing all this, what appears to me is the irony of being the smartest species on earth. We may be the smartest species on earth, which we undoubtedly are, yet at the same time, possessing all that smartness, we are also the most irresponsible species on earth, desperately chasing after instant gratifications. We are always running, from one gratification to another, never to really fathom the true beauty, value and gravitas of human existence.

And as for scientists, who are somewhat interested in religious issues harming the world, they are more obsessed with criticizing religion as a whole, than to go deeper into those issues and construct a solution. They are just plain old intellectuals discussing plans in a room, and going to the grave with those plans with them, with almost no practical impact upon the society. Religions, i.e. organized religions do indeed inflict harm to the world, not because fundamentalists bring out the worst of religion, rather because we the conscientious humans on the other side, don’t do anything of real significance above and beyond the petty old acts of criticisms. Criticisms are pure wastage of time and resources. Actions bring change, that change could be either good or bad. The holy warriors act on their dogmas, hence they are effective in bringing destruction upon the world – that destruction is nevertheless a substantial change, however, negative that may be. If only we the genuine humans had the real guts, and sense of real responsibility to act as the holy warriors on our own beliefs and ideals, then you wouldn’t see any trace of terrorism in the world whatsoever, religious or otherwise. The so-called holy warriors are driven by a cause, no matter how disgustingly barbarian that cause be. If only we the conscientious humans were as driven as them, by our urge for real peace and real harmony, then we could, for real, not in theory, live in a world of pure compassion and hatelessness.

Now here is the real question, that matters. Are you driven? You, the person in front of the screen. Are you driven enough to do something really original, really novel, and not just walk on the paths paved by your ancestors who were as narrow-minded and conditioned as you are. Can you break free from that condition? Or rather you should ask – why haven’t you broken free from those conditions? What prevents you to do so? Why do man-made labels matter and not human life? Why is it that, labels have gained more importance than the core values of a human being?

As a child, I truly believed that there was some blue alien-like god named vishnu looking after humanity, and when the time comes, another angry god, named shiva, would destroy everything, and then the god of creation with four heads, named brahma would create the world all over again. That’s what my environment conditioned me to believe. It wanted me to conform to its delusional thoughts and beliefs. But as I grew up, I discovered something rather remarkable. It was that, all those stories were mere means for an uncivilized and ignorant people to be content with their lack of real understanding of the world. These stories are mere delusions imposed upon the mind to stay cooped up in a ship-shape structure of illusive security. The whole world is filled with such stories. And once you conform to these stories, you start to live second-hands lives like your ancestors did, and my ancestors did. Fortunately, some are crazy and driven enough to tear apart all that conformity, and begin to live as original humans. Are you an original human? I am not judging you, neither should you. Simply ask without any prejudice.

To be an original human, you must die to all labels. This death brings the real vitality in life. Now one may ask, how can one achieve it? And there is the problem of the so-called modern humans. They all want somebody to tell them, how to achieve something. Here is a fact, calculus can be taught, quantum physics can be taught, molecular biology can be taught, but not freedom of mind. And why do you need a path in the first place? If there is a bottle labeled poison, on the shelf, you don’t just bring it down and drink the poison to know whether it will kill you. Likewise, once you really see the poisonous implications of the socio-culturally passed on labels, you simply tear them apart – throw them away as far as possible. Does one need to deceive oneself, to understand self-deception! If not, then why do you deceive yourself, by conforming to the social labels, be it a religious label, a non-religious label, a nationalist label, an intellectual label, or a gender label. You are a human – that’s it. And once you recognize the simple fact that labels only destroy the world and disrupt peace, you simply are no longer bothered with those labels and terms. And that’s the time that you are really born as an original human. An original human would never consciously hurt or kill another person, in the name of any book, institution, messiah or god. And this original living is real religion – it is not instructed by any book, by any institution, by any priest, prophet or messiah.

Why should any book have any authority over human life? Books are supposed to give a helping hand to humanity’s progress, not to instruct humanity how to progress. Plato wrote his books to help humanity understand knowledge and wisdom. Tolstoy wrote his books to help humanity understand morality. Einstein wrote his papers to help humanity understand the universe. Darwin wrote his books to help humanity understand the biological history of lifeforms. I write my books to unify humanity beyond all labels. But the point is, none of us ever said that our works are the ultimate measure for humanity to behave properly. None of us ever said that our books are the authority of human life and that only through us humanity can find salvation. Your life is a vehicle that is driven by you, and books can be the helper in the journey, but never the driver themselves. And the moment you let books to drive your existence, you inadvertently set yourself out on a course for imminent collision with other creatures whose lives are driven by their own books.

I must make it clear, I am not a teacher or a preacher or a messiah. I cannot teach you anything, for I know nothing. I have nothing to preach you either. I have only this one ultimate sense of responsibility to make you think, seeing all the disastrous incidents that are taking place in this world. Even before I was a scientist, I could not sit still and accept things as they were, so I thought being a monk would somehow solve the situation, since most prophets walked that path. Then as a monk, I experienced what the prophets experienced – I met God, I became one with God, I became God. But that’s the time when I really began to question the authenticity of such experience, and the significance of it in elevating conflicts and misery from this earth – an experience which apparently has been hailed throughout the world as the ultimate state of spiritual enlightenment. As I have stated in my book “The Film Testament”
“After I attained the Absolute Divine state of Unification with the Universe, I realized that the purpose of life is not renunciation of anything, but the realization of the purpose itself.”

These are all experiences that can happen to anyone, given either enough perseverance or enough hallucinogenics. But this experience does not in any world make a person an authority of humankind. Attaining god or nirvana or the so-called ultimate truth has nothing to do with everyday, ordinary, worldly problems. These worldly problems are to be solved by every single human being. These problems can only be really solved when you have freedom in your mind – freedom from all labels. And, you do not need to follow me or any other, in order to understand freedom or make it manifest yourself, because freedom does not come through me, or any other thinker, teacher or messiah. A human mind is born free, it is only the society that ties it up with the chains of bigotry, prejudices, biases and self-centrism.

Why do we need to hate anyone on earth, for whatever reason. What makes others lesser human than us! Nothing. To quote from my treatise on parenting
“No other being is lesser human than the one who thinks of others as such.”
So, if one thinks of others as lesser human, because one’s own so-called holy book says so, then that one is the real lesser human. And unfortunately this whole world is filled with these lesser humans. So, one wonders, how could we ever change this disastrous situation?

It begins with you, because from you a new generation of humans is to be born.You the human – the one being courageous enough to ask questions and not give in to conformities. If only you become free, then you, my dear sister or brother, will give a truly liberated family environment to your child, and that child will give the same free environment to his or her child – and it will go on, and eventually make the world filled with enough conscientious free original human souls to outweigh all the negativity of the remaining tiny portion of second-hand humans – the real lesser humans. Raise your kids and grand-kids not as strong men or strong women, not as good Christians, Jews, or Muslims, not as responsible Americans, Europeans or anything else, not as efficient professionals or smart academics, but as strong, good, responsible, efficient and wise human beings.


Further Reading
Human Making is Our Mission: A Treatise on Parenting
The Film Testament

Hinduism - this is a term which has, in reality, nothing to do with the religion it refers. In fact, the people who follow that religion referred by the term Hinduism, do not even have a clue what that religion really is and where its fundamental roots lie. That religion is originally called Sanatana Dharma or the Eternal Duty/Religion. However, do not focus too much on the words here, because these words that are used to point a religion are all shallow with no practical implication in modern society whatsoever. People take the words to be the real thing and forget to ask the question - what that real thing might be - that real religion might be! They have made a mess of this world in their attempt of proving their unshakable loyalty to certain words. So, let's go beyond words and ask the question what real Sanatana Dharma is, instead of believing what the deluded and power-hungry priests of the Hindu society have been imposing on a people as religion for ages.

"Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ."

Or to put in simple language, real sanatana dharma or real eternal religion is the religion that's not a religion - a religion without doctrines, without the need of a thousand scriptures, without the need of a million illusory gods, goddesses and messiahs. That's Real Hinduism without all the illusory and imaginary 33 million Gods and Goddesses for you to show your childish obedience to, and in fact, that is real Christianity - that is Buddhism - that is every single religion on earth that has ever done any good to the world.

Religion means liberation from doctrines, rituals and illusory gods, messiahs, prophets and trinities of organized institutions - religion means liberation from all labels - religion means liberation from all self-centric activity - religion means liberation from all egotistical pride and every form of tribal loyalty. One cannot understand religion, in the truest sense of the term, unless one is genuinely willing to give up the so-called religious identity that has been imposed on him or her by his or her culture. That's what the ancient Indian philosopher Vyasa intended to refer to in the above shloka, but the authoritarian Hindu priests turned it into a potential tool for controlling the ignorant people of the Indus Valley Civilization and started preaching that one cannot attain God unless one renounces all religions and becomes a Hindu.

The truth is, you can attain the great ultimate godliness, only when you renounce all petty sectarian identities of religions, including the so-called identity of Hinduism. And once you do, you no longer are a Hindu or a Christian or a Jew or a Buddhist, in the common sense of the terms, yet at the same time you become the ultimate combined manifestation of all those terms - a manifestation of pure divinity with actions of compassion and kindness being the tools for real worship. And that my friend is Real Sanatana Dharma, Real Christianity, Real Buddhism all together.

In simple terms, it is only when you stop calling yourself a Hindu, that you rise as a true Hindu, it is when you stop calling yourself a Christian, you rise as a true Christian, it is when you stop calling yourself a Buddhist, you rise as true Buddhist. As long as the label of an organized institution, created by orthodox barbarians, holds more value to you than the necessity of everyday human kindness, than the necessity of true compassion, than the necessity of true liberation, you can never in a million years become religious. So, shred the labels and rise as a human being - a human being of compassion, a human being of kindness, a human being with real psychological freedom.


Recommended Reading:
In Search of Divinity: Journey to the kingdom of conscience

Science and Religion have no feud,
Both are expressions of naturalism.
The real feud has been between,
Intellectualism and fundamentalism.
Facts help us take the world forward,
Reason helps us treat primitiveness.
But facts and reason alone won't do,
Without warmth all matter is lifeless.
Of course there are flaws in religion,
In science too there's greed and bigotry.
If in religion we have extremist nuts,
We also have plenty of scientific bully.
Instead of picking on each other's mistake,
Let us be human across intellect and faith.

A new day starts with a new you,
And I ain't talkin' about born again nonsense.
A bigot baptized a thousand times is still a bigot,
A human helping another is Christ himself.
There is no second coming, there’s no reincarnation,
Except when we go from selfishness to kindness.
We are the messiahs and saviors of our people,
Nobody's gonna fall from the sky to lift the helpless.
The liquor store sells you the same divinity,
That the holy store sells you for even higher price.
We'll be born again when we abolish such divinity,
By baptizing the soil of society with our sacrifice.
The tears of joy someone sheds because of you,
Are the only holy water to build the world anew.

A new day starts with a new you,
And I ain't talkin' about born again nonsense.
A bigot baptized a thousand times is still a bigot,
A human helping another is Christ himself.
There is no second coming, there’s no reincarnation,
Except when we go from selfishness to kindness.
We are the messiahs and saviors of our people,
Nobody's gonna fall from the sky to lift the helpless.
The liquor store sells you the same divinity,
That the holy store sells you for even higher price.
We'll be born again when we abolish such divinity,
By baptizing the soil of society with our sacrifice.
The tears of joy someone sheds because of you,
Are the only holy water to build the world anew.

Belief sustains a person,
But behavior sustains a society.
Belief has nothing to do with truth,
It is just a matter of mental necessity.
Often our belief defies all reason,
That's absolutely okay to a great extent.
What's not okay is to impose it on others,
To sentence others to our imprisonment.
I believe, that my teacher watches over me,
Even though he walks the earth no more.
This belief has nothing to do with your life,
But it helps me walk past my crippling woe.
All beliefs are good beliefs with or without reason,
If they help you in life to become a better person.

Every sapiens is atom bomb,
Every sapiens is a power plant.
Reckless mind is mayhem machine,
Hateless mind is lightland.

Land of love is godland,
There’s nothing else more divine.
Divinity is but a lesser synonym,
There’s no god, only lover divine.

Aşk vatanımdır,
Milliyetim aşık.
Benim adım insan,
Benim adet insanlık.

Faith is subordinate to love,
Philosophy is subordinate to love,
Science is subordinate to love.
Until you feel it in your bones,
You’ve got plenty dust to wash off.

La fe está subordinada al amor,
La filosofía está subordinada al amor.
La ciencia está subordinada al amor,
Sentir esto en tu alma es ser humano.