Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "religious-extremism"
Reformation of Religion and Natural Selection
Perfection is not a feature of our world. On this planet nothing is perfect. Yet we crave for perfection. Especially biological life on this planet is definitely far from perfect. We are not perfect. That's where the process of evolution comes in. Biological life including us the sapiens, keeps evolving from an imperfect species to a less imperfect species. So, we keep going in the path of getting less and less imperfect. The process of evolution is a relentless journey from imperfection towards perfection. This perfection is defined by its survival value. And those who can't keep up with the process, get extinct. That's how natural selection works. Either you are a winner, or you lose your license to survive on this planet. It is the very basis of biology. And biology is the bedrock of life.
And when a biological species evolves, in order to adapt to its environment, it adopts some new biological features and gets rid of the unnecessary ones. And this process of adoption and exclusion of biological features is a crucial element in the path of survival. And it has been going on since the birth of the very first life form on this planet, and shall go on in the future.
Human life is a hodge-podge of various biological features. However, the features that distinguish humanity from the rest of the species on this planet are those of our uniquely advanced neurobiology. Our very pride on being the smartest species on earth is predicated on a highly complex and magnificent neurobiology. Our fascinating neurobiology puts us apart from the entire animal kingdom. Without our advanced neural network of a hundred billion nerve cells, we are nothing compared to the brawn of the wild animals.
And this very neurobiology has endowed us with a beautiful psychological system, called the human consciousness. It has endowed us with uniquely majestic cognitive features. The 3 pound lump of jelly, which we call the human brain, is the birthplace of all our extraordinary achievements. Human Brain is the most complex organized structure in this entire universe. It is made up of a hundred billion nerve cells or neurons. The relentless activity of these neurons gives rise to all the richness of our conscious experience. All our feelings, emotions, thoughts, ambitions, love lives, our sense of self, and even our religious sentiments are simply born from the activity of these little specks of jelly in our head.
All our sentiments, whether they are religious, romantic or any other, are born in the neurons. In fact, religion itself is a natural biological feature of the human brain. And as I said earlier, any biological life-form must evolve in order to survive, while modifying its basic biological features. And one of the most significant features of human life, is its religious sentiments. Hence, when Mother Nature decides that some of those religious sentiments are not working properly, she puts selective pressure on the human brain in order to modify those sentiments, and if needed, terminate some and develop new ones. And in this process of religious evolution, two of the most glaring specimens, are Jesus of Nazareth and Siddhartha Gautama, whom you know as Buddha.
In the process of biological evolution, change in a biological feature takes a long time to become noticeable. However, the first step towards that change, leads to a big leap for the whole species.
For example, around 1.89 million years ago something extraordinary happened, that changed the course of mankind history forever. At that point of time your ancestral lineage reached the crossroads of evolution. Henceforth, evolved one of the most advanced early humans. They were the Homo erectus. You really owe a lot of your brilliance to them, because they did something that was and still is beyond the wildest dreams of the entire animal kingdom on planet earth. They solved one of the most important pieces of your evolutionary puzzle -the mystery of fire.
There was not a single species on your entire planet, that could thwart its instinctual fear of fire, until the arrival of Homo erectus. These early members of your evolutionary tree achieved the unthinkable. They conquered their primeval fear of fire and reached into the fascinating blaze like a true brave-heart. But for this to actually happen, there had to be one or a couple of brave Homo erectus, filled with vigor, who took the first step toward achieving their own fear of fire. And as soon as they conquered their own fear, following them came all the fellow erectus. As a result, for the first time in the history of life, a biological species harnessed fire. Naturally, they became superior to all other contemporary species, including the wildest ones. Suddenly everything changed. It was absolutely mesmerizing. As if your evolutionary timeline witnessed the captivating dawn of human excellence.
Similar extraordinary events of evolution in the human religious sentiments occurred when two brave men, took the first step outside their circle of orthodox system of beliefs. They took the first step towards shaking off the unnecessary and quite harmful elements of religious dogma, that were bestowed upon them by the environment. Their minds wanted to evolve into better versions of themselves, with new and refreshed religious sentiments.
Those two were Christ and Buddha. They were ordinary humans who, upon the attainment of Absolute Unitary Qualia (transcendence/nirvana/god – see What is Mind? to learn in detail) wanted to adorn humanity with better and less wild religious sentiments. They wanted to adorn humanity with true humanism. And above all they wanted to adorn humanity with plain ordinary everyday kindness and empathy.
Their attempt to reform the contemporary system of religious sentiments was hailed as blasphemy by the orthodox believers, however, as it always happens in nature, if a change is beneficial to a species, then that change eventually sinks into the psychology of that species. Naturally, two new systems of religious sentiments were born upon the foundation of the teachings of Christ and Buddha. These were Christianity and Buddhism. But, like all of their predecessors these systems are also man-made, hence are prone to orthodoxy and authoritarianism. And when such orthodoxy gets intense, an urge for a new system appears in the mind of thinking humanity.
As long as the teachings of great minds remain as a kind of philosophical literature, which you can read and analyze, and then embrace the parts that appeal to you while discarding the rest, they shall flow pure and strong in the hearts of many, but the moment, representatives of those teachings start making the peculiar claim of their exclusive textual possession of divinity while defying all other philosophies, the world will imminently plunge into chaos.
Thus, whenever fundamentalism, be it religious, political or educational becomes an impediment in the progress of thinking humanity, it becomes a sociological responsibility of the children of Mother Earth to break free from the bonds of textual orthodoxy, and if necessary build a new system aligned with rational thinking and universal acceptance.
Belief is indeed psychologically important for the human mind of general population, but that belief should be nicely compatible with scientific reasoning, otherwise that belief turns into prejudice, which is never beneficial to the human life.
Above all, it is the quality of life that matters. While, Science plays the most influential role in improving the quality of life as a whole, Religion on the other hand, plays the major role in strengthening life from within. In some occasions, both science and religion become expendable. But in no circumstances, the quality of life can be compromised. Religion and Science both must help a person wherever he or she stands, or else, they are of no use.
And when a biological species evolves, in order to adapt to its environment, it adopts some new biological features and gets rid of the unnecessary ones. And this process of adoption and exclusion of biological features is a crucial element in the path of survival. And it has been going on since the birth of the very first life form on this planet, and shall go on in the future.
Human life is a hodge-podge of various biological features. However, the features that distinguish humanity from the rest of the species on this planet are those of our uniquely advanced neurobiology. Our very pride on being the smartest species on earth is predicated on a highly complex and magnificent neurobiology. Our fascinating neurobiology puts us apart from the entire animal kingdom. Without our advanced neural network of a hundred billion nerve cells, we are nothing compared to the brawn of the wild animals.
And this very neurobiology has endowed us with a beautiful psychological system, called the human consciousness. It has endowed us with uniquely majestic cognitive features. The 3 pound lump of jelly, which we call the human brain, is the birthplace of all our extraordinary achievements. Human Brain is the most complex organized structure in this entire universe. It is made up of a hundred billion nerve cells or neurons. The relentless activity of these neurons gives rise to all the richness of our conscious experience. All our feelings, emotions, thoughts, ambitions, love lives, our sense of self, and even our religious sentiments are simply born from the activity of these little specks of jelly in our head.
All our sentiments, whether they are religious, romantic or any other, are born in the neurons. In fact, religion itself is a natural biological feature of the human brain. And as I said earlier, any biological life-form must evolve in order to survive, while modifying its basic biological features. And one of the most significant features of human life, is its religious sentiments. Hence, when Mother Nature decides that some of those religious sentiments are not working properly, she puts selective pressure on the human brain in order to modify those sentiments, and if needed, terminate some and develop new ones. And in this process of religious evolution, two of the most glaring specimens, are Jesus of Nazareth and Siddhartha Gautama, whom you know as Buddha.
In the process of biological evolution, change in a biological feature takes a long time to become noticeable. However, the first step towards that change, leads to a big leap for the whole species.
For example, around 1.89 million years ago something extraordinary happened, that changed the course of mankind history forever. At that point of time your ancestral lineage reached the crossroads of evolution. Henceforth, evolved one of the most advanced early humans. They were the Homo erectus. You really owe a lot of your brilliance to them, because they did something that was and still is beyond the wildest dreams of the entire animal kingdom on planet earth. They solved one of the most important pieces of your evolutionary puzzle -the mystery of fire.
There was not a single species on your entire planet, that could thwart its instinctual fear of fire, until the arrival of Homo erectus. These early members of your evolutionary tree achieved the unthinkable. They conquered their primeval fear of fire and reached into the fascinating blaze like a true brave-heart. But for this to actually happen, there had to be one or a couple of brave Homo erectus, filled with vigor, who took the first step toward achieving their own fear of fire. And as soon as they conquered their own fear, following them came all the fellow erectus. As a result, for the first time in the history of life, a biological species harnessed fire. Naturally, they became superior to all other contemporary species, including the wildest ones. Suddenly everything changed. It was absolutely mesmerizing. As if your evolutionary timeline witnessed the captivating dawn of human excellence.
Similar extraordinary events of evolution in the human religious sentiments occurred when two brave men, took the first step outside their circle of orthodox system of beliefs. They took the first step towards shaking off the unnecessary and quite harmful elements of religious dogma, that were bestowed upon them by the environment. Their minds wanted to evolve into better versions of themselves, with new and refreshed religious sentiments.
Those two were Christ and Buddha. They were ordinary humans who, upon the attainment of Absolute Unitary Qualia (transcendence/nirvana/god – see What is Mind? to learn in detail) wanted to adorn humanity with better and less wild religious sentiments. They wanted to adorn humanity with true humanism. And above all they wanted to adorn humanity with plain ordinary everyday kindness and empathy.
Their attempt to reform the contemporary system of religious sentiments was hailed as blasphemy by the orthodox believers, however, as it always happens in nature, if a change is beneficial to a species, then that change eventually sinks into the psychology of that species. Naturally, two new systems of religious sentiments were born upon the foundation of the teachings of Christ and Buddha. These were Christianity and Buddhism. But, like all of their predecessors these systems are also man-made, hence are prone to orthodoxy and authoritarianism. And when such orthodoxy gets intense, an urge for a new system appears in the mind of thinking humanity.
As long as the teachings of great minds remain as a kind of philosophical literature, which you can read and analyze, and then embrace the parts that appeal to you while discarding the rest, they shall flow pure and strong in the hearts of many, but the moment, representatives of those teachings start making the peculiar claim of their exclusive textual possession of divinity while defying all other philosophies, the world will imminently plunge into chaos.
Thus, whenever fundamentalism, be it religious, political or educational becomes an impediment in the progress of thinking humanity, it becomes a sociological responsibility of the children of Mother Earth to break free from the bonds of textual orthodoxy, and if necessary build a new system aligned with rational thinking and universal acceptance.
Belief is indeed psychologically important for the human mind of general population, but that belief should be nicely compatible with scientific reasoning, otherwise that belief turns into prejudice, which is never beneficial to the human life.
Above all, it is the quality of life that matters. While, Science plays the most influential role in improving the quality of life as a whole, Religion on the other hand, plays the major role in strengthening life from within. In some occasions, both science and religion become expendable. But in no circumstances, the quality of life can be compromised. Religion and Science both must help a person wherever he or she stands, or else, they are of no use.
Surgery on Society
How can we treat a nation? How can we solve its issues? This article is for every single person who wants to do something for his or her nation - who hails himself or herself as a patriot. In this article I am going to show you the biological procedure of treating the issues that torment a nation's soul.
The first step towards treating a nation, is that you must accept that you can't treat a nation, because it is not the nation that requires treatment. Rather it is the people. It is you, the modern human being of the civilized world who needs to work on treating your own conscience and perception. Perhaps I am sounding a bit complicated. So let me simplify.
The world consists of nations. A nation consists of people. A people consists of human beings. A human consists of fascinating psychological elements, collectively called the mind. And a mind is a product of a hundred billion nerve cells working relentlessly in proper harmony. Thus, a little change at the very rudimentary level of the neural network inside one human brain, has the potential to essentially influence a whole nation, and even a whole world. We have countless examples of such individual human minds inspiring the entire planet. Tolstoy, Gandhi, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, Mandela, Subhas Chandra Bose, Vasil Levsky and so on. These are individual human beings who first worked on their own minds, and then embarked on an unforgettable journey to put their wisdom into practice.
So, in order to really do something for your nation, you must first stop trying to do something for your nation, and turn your focus on yourself in order to make a better version of that self. Reformed and rejuvenated selves are what we need to reform the conscience of a whole nation.
Changes in the neurochemistry of one human being have the potential to inspire the entire national organism. After all, a nation is nothing without its people. When you start understanding the biology behind every single emotion and behavioral response of that people, including your own, you can learn to program them on your side in a way that will lead to the best possible outcome. And this very self-control is the key to a better nation. Also, such human action is contagious. When you start being a better version of yourself, people around you would start to feel the need to nourish their virtue of self-control as well. Your awakening will initiate the awakening of others. Remember, a nation with a thousand awakened citizens and a corrupt leader, is much more alive than a nation with an awakened leader and a thousand corrupt citizens.
So how can one learn to become in control of his or her emotions and behavioral responses. The first step is to accept yourself, the way you are. You need to accept your biology, as well as the biology of others. For example, a man's biology is designed by Mother Nature in such a way that it is impossible for him to not get turned on when he sees a hot lady with big boobs and butt in front of him. Now, of course, due to social norms, in most cases, men feel ashamed of those sexual impulses, and pretend as much as possible to act as if they are the most decent gentleman on earth. And there lies a crucial element that acts as a stimulant for the common social issue of sexual assaults. I have discussed this matter in minute detail in my book Prescription: Treating India's Soul.
The point is, if you don't learn to accept your basic biological instincts as normal human elements, then you can never be able to make your country a better place for your children. You cannot fight your biology. Things go nuts, when you try to. Your biology makes you who you are. Without biology you don't exist. And accepting your basic biological instincts does not mean letting them get hold of your behavior. With the help of the frontal lobes of your brain, you can learn how to manipulate your basic instincts in a healthy way. And this is what you need to do, to reform a nation.
Understanding and accepting the biology is the first step towards transforming a nation, or rather a nation's conscience. Let me tell you some of those basic neurobiological facts of human life. First, we humans are born selfish. Without the element of selfishness we would have never survived this long. And this biological element of selfishness makes each one of us corrupt at a genetic level. So, yes, corruption is biological, it cannot be avoided, but only manipulated.
Second, men think about sex way more than women. And a hot figure of a lady always turns them on, whether they are in a relationship or not. Hence, either consciously or subconsciously they end up having an innate desire to have sex with her. That's the reality of the male psychology. Accept it. Because all men from the civilized world may pretend that they are decent and that they only think about sex with their romantic partner, but the neurological reality is that there is a beast inside all of them, who subconsciously wants to mate with every single woman it encounters. However, sexual repression itself is not the cause of sexual assaults in various nations, especially the developing ones, but it does play a crucial role in the society's ability to deal with such issues. We see this mostly in developing countries like India. How can the Indians expect to solve the issue of women's safety when they are not even mature enough to talk about sex. To quote from Prescription: Treating India's Soul
"Stop talking about “rape” and start talking about “sex”, and within a few decades India will attain the true mindset to prevent sexual assaults."
Another crucial biological reality is, religion is a neurological phenomenon. It is born in the human brain and dies with it. It does not come from any Supreme Entity, up in the sky. It has nothing to do with any Lord Almighty running the universe. It all comes from the human mind, including the very notion of God. God is a human creation, and so is religion.
Hence, nobody is qualified enough to teach you how to be spiritual or religious. Get rid of all those religious preachers from your society. Nourish the neurological phenomenon of divinity within your own mind. Do not let this natural human element to be the tool of exploitation in the hands of countless bloodsucking preachers and religious fanatics.
These are only a few among the rudimentary biological elements that influence the true progress of a nation. And as I have said in Prescription, "It is you who needs to transform into a modern human being of the 21st century, not your nation. Your nation shall be defined by the character of each one of you. So, be the change you want to see in your nation. But the change has to come through the methods of Science for an actual ever-lasting impact."
The general human mind has a common affection for philosophy. But philosophy is useless if it is not directed by science. Science and philosophy are the two wheels of development of a nation. If either one fails, the development of a nation gets stuck. And this has been the problem with many nations throughout the ages. Useless philosophy has overwhelmed the vulnerable minds of many nations. Their heads have become filled with metaphysical garbage which does not have any practical application whatsoever in this modern age. To have an actual impact on the development of a nation, you must incorporate the methods of Science in daily life, only then you will become truly civilized, not before that.
Be aware of the science of the human mind. Be aware of yourself. Be aware of your weakness and your strength. Weakness and darkness are common elements of life on planet earth. You cannot avoid them. They are essential part of our evolutionary history. Fear, weakness, rage, lust all are basic features of every biological lifeform, and they serve only one purpose, that is survival of the species. But for obvious reasons we hate these elements and love the good ones, like happiness, peace, strength and love. And there is the biggest psychological impediment in the progress of human civilization. Every time humans try to fight the elements they don't like, their biology reinforces those elements even more and leads the humans to misery. Misery rises in human life, when a human doesn't accept his or her true biological self.
I urge to you in the name of human progress, embrace your biology. Be brave and upright. And have the courage to face your inner self, and emerge as a civilized and liberated being. Liberate yourself from the tyranny of your hatred against your own biological reality, and you shall automatically liberate your nation from all its misery.
Further Reading
Neurosutra: The Abhijit Naskar Collection
Prescription: Treating India's Soul
What is Mind?
The Krishna Cancer
The first step towards treating a nation, is that you must accept that you can't treat a nation, because it is not the nation that requires treatment. Rather it is the people. It is you, the modern human being of the civilized world who needs to work on treating your own conscience and perception. Perhaps I am sounding a bit complicated. So let me simplify.
The world consists of nations. A nation consists of people. A people consists of human beings. A human consists of fascinating psychological elements, collectively called the mind. And a mind is a product of a hundred billion nerve cells working relentlessly in proper harmony. Thus, a little change at the very rudimentary level of the neural network inside one human brain, has the potential to essentially influence a whole nation, and even a whole world. We have countless examples of such individual human minds inspiring the entire planet. Tolstoy, Gandhi, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, Mandela, Subhas Chandra Bose, Vasil Levsky and so on. These are individual human beings who first worked on their own minds, and then embarked on an unforgettable journey to put their wisdom into practice.
So, in order to really do something for your nation, you must first stop trying to do something for your nation, and turn your focus on yourself in order to make a better version of that self. Reformed and rejuvenated selves are what we need to reform the conscience of a whole nation.
Changes in the neurochemistry of one human being have the potential to inspire the entire national organism. After all, a nation is nothing without its people. When you start understanding the biology behind every single emotion and behavioral response of that people, including your own, you can learn to program them on your side in a way that will lead to the best possible outcome. And this very self-control is the key to a better nation. Also, such human action is contagious. When you start being a better version of yourself, people around you would start to feel the need to nourish their virtue of self-control as well. Your awakening will initiate the awakening of others. Remember, a nation with a thousand awakened citizens and a corrupt leader, is much more alive than a nation with an awakened leader and a thousand corrupt citizens.
So how can one learn to become in control of his or her emotions and behavioral responses. The first step is to accept yourself, the way you are. You need to accept your biology, as well as the biology of others. For example, a man's biology is designed by Mother Nature in such a way that it is impossible for him to not get turned on when he sees a hot lady with big boobs and butt in front of him. Now, of course, due to social norms, in most cases, men feel ashamed of those sexual impulses, and pretend as much as possible to act as if they are the most decent gentleman on earth. And there lies a crucial element that acts as a stimulant for the common social issue of sexual assaults. I have discussed this matter in minute detail in my book Prescription: Treating India's Soul.
The point is, if you don't learn to accept your basic biological instincts as normal human elements, then you can never be able to make your country a better place for your children. You cannot fight your biology. Things go nuts, when you try to. Your biology makes you who you are. Without biology you don't exist. And accepting your basic biological instincts does not mean letting them get hold of your behavior. With the help of the frontal lobes of your brain, you can learn how to manipulate your basic instincts in a healthy way. And this is what you need to do, to reform a nation.
Understanding and accepting the biology is the first step towards transforming a nation, or rather a nation's conscience. Let me tell you some of those basic neurobiological facts of human life. First, we humans are born selfish. Without the element of selfishness we would have never survived this long. And this biological element of selfishness makes each one of us corrupt at a genetic level. So, yes, corruption is biological, it cannot be avoided, but only manipulated.
Second, men think about sex way more than women. And a hot figure of a lady always turns them on, whether they are in a relationship or not. Hence, either consciously or subconsciously they end up having an innate desire to have sex with her. That's the reality of the male psychology. Accept it. Because all men from the civilized world may pretend that they are decent and that they only think about sex with their romantic partner, but the neurological reality is that there is a beast inside all of them, who subconsciously wants to mate with every single woman it encounters. However, sexual repression itself is not the cause of sexual assaults in various nations, especially the developing ones, but it does play a crucial role in the society's ability to deal with such issues. We see this mostly in developing countries like India. How can the Indians expect to solve the issue of women's safety when they are not even mature enough to talk about sex. To quote from Prescription: Treating India's Soul
"Stop talking about “rape” and start talking about “sex”, and within a few decades India will attain the true mindset to prevent sexual assaults."
Another crucial biological reality is, religion is a neurological phenomenon. It is born in the human brain and dies with it. It does not come from any Supreme Entity, up in the sky. It has nothing to do with any Lord Almighty running the universe. It all comes from the human mind, including the very notion of God. God is a human creation, and so is religion.
Hence, nobody is qualified enough to teach you how to be spiritual or religious. Get rid of all those religious preachers from your society. Nourish the neurological phenomenon of divinity within your own mind. Do not let this natural human element to be the tool of exploitation in the hands of countless bloodsucking preachers and religious fanatics.
These are only a few among the rudimentary biological elements that influence the true progress of a nation. And as I have said in Prescription, "It is you who needs to transform into a modern human being of the 21st century, not your nation. Your nation shall be defined by the character of each one of you. So, be the change you want to see in your nation. But the change has to come through the methods of Science for an actual ever-lasting impact."
The general human mind has a common affection for philosophy. But philosophy is useless if it is not directed by science. Science and philosophy are the two wheels of development of a nation. If either one fails, the development of a nation gets stuck. And this has been the problem with many nations throughout the ages. Useless philosophy has overwhelmed the vulnerable minds of many nations. Their heads have become filled with metaphysical garbage which does not have any practical application whatsoever in this modern age. To have an actual impact on the development of a nation, you must incorporate the methods of Science in daily life, only then you will become truly civilized, not before that.
Be aware of the science of the human mind. Be aware of yourself. Be aware of your weakness and your strength. Weakness and darkness are common elements of life on planet earth. You cannot avoid them. They are essential part of our evolutionary history. Fear, weakness, rage, lust all are basic features of every biological lifeform, and they serve only one purpose, that is survival of the species. But for obvious reasons we hate these elements and love the good ones, like happiness, peace, strength and love. And there is the biggest psychological impediment in the progress of human civilization. Every time humans try to fight the elements they don't like, their biology reinforces those elements even more and leads the humans to misery. Misery rises in human life, when a human doesn't accept his or her true biological self.
I urge to you in the name of human progress, embrace your biology. Be brave and upright. And have the courage to face your inner self, and emerge as a civilized and liberated being. Liberate yourself from the tyranny of your hatred against your own biological reality, and you shall automatically liberate your nation from all its misery.
Further Reading
Neurosutra: The Abhijit Naskar Collection
Prescription: Treating India's Soul
What is Mind?
The Krishna Cancer
Islam - Religion of Peace or Violence
Islam - is it a religion of peace or of violence? This is a question that torments the entire human society. But just because it is correlated with over-exaggerated discussions and debates, does not mean that the question itself is a genuine one. Let me put it this way - Islam is a religion of course, but neither of peace nor of violence. It is a religion like any other religion, that provides a psychological bedrock of baseline cultural identity and individuality to its people. But it is the actions of these people that should be accounted for to define whether the religion "Islam" is a religion of peace or of violence, instead of judging it based on the scripture Quran. Books are no measure for judgement in the society of thinking humanity. It is the actions of the people that counts, nothing else.
Here you must remember, the so-called Jihadis who are in reality, mentally unstable individuals run by Quranic fundamentalists, do not represent the whole Muslim population of the world. Muslims are just as peace-loving as the Christians, Hindus, Jews or Buddhists. Terrorism has nothing to do with religion, Islam or otherwise. Terrorism is born of fundamentalism not of religion.
Peace and Violence are both biological traits of humans as well as the entire animal kingdom. And since humans are the only species capable of creating literatures, it should not be surprising that these literatures would have the same blend of peace and violence, or simply, good and evil, that the human character possesses. And these literatures include all the scriptures in the world. As such, they are not immune to the innate evil of the human psyche. In fact, since these scriptures are the product of a time when ignorance and barbarianism ran rampant in the human society, it is more reason, for evil traits to appear on their pages alongside the goodness that they teach.
Like all human literatures the Islamic literature, the Quran and the Hadith, were also human creation. No Allah or God had anything to with them. They arose from the minds of the humans. The Quranic messages were born from the mind of supposedly the man named Mohammed in a state of transcendence. This state of mind is an extraordinary one, with such unique elements that often leave the smartest individuals baffled. And Mohammed was no smart man, like say, Albert Einstein or James Watson. He was an ordinary man of his time, who attained the state of transcendence during his daily prayers in a mountain cave. And in that state of transcendence his mind gave rise to all the revelations, both good and bad, that later collectively became known as the Holy Quran. Hence, it is the reader who must distinguish the good from the bad, if he or she is to remain a genuine part of the civilized society.
Let me bring up an excerpt from my book The Islamophobic Civilization: Voyage of Acceptance" to shed further light on this matter.
"Think of the bloodshed there has been in consequence of some of the Quranic doctrines that literally command to kill the infidels if they do not become Muslims! Think of the textual creeds that teach, a man who does not believe all the teachings of Quran should be killed and it is a mercy to kill him! The one ultimate rule of the Quranic fundamentalists is “there is one God and Mohammed is his prophet”. Everything beyond that not only is bad, but must be destroyed forthwith. At moment’s notice, every man or woman, who does not exactly believe in that, must be killed. Everything that does not belong to this set of ideals must be killed."
And because of such barbarian actions of the Quranic fundamentalists, many atheists, including my dear friends and colleagues Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris quite naively want to turn every single religious person on earth into an atheist, which by the way, is a great and progressive notion, but I am afraid, it biologically, or to be more specific neurologically, is an impractical idea. Religion itself is a neurological phenomenon which evolved in the human mind to act as an aid in daily life. Which means, Mother Nature selected it as a neuropsychological feature for the humans in the path of survival. Hence, no individual has the power to take such natural trait away from the human mind, unless Natural Selection gives consent. Therefore, it is more practical to make people transform their mindset about religion and religiousness and walk in the path of creed-less religious harmony, than to convert the entire religious population on earth into atheists.
All we need to do, is to turn human actions into a measure of judgement for religions, instead of some old books. Once we successfully do this, eventually we will be able to build a world where the human self shall be the Alpha and the Omega of the society, not a God self of some old books. In fact, the God self depicted in those books, was nothing but the transcendental manifestation of the human self. Which means, the God of humanity is, in actuality, human, or to be more accurate, man himself. Men in different times went into transcendence and quite unintentionally, due to neurological reasons (refer to Autobiography of God: Biopsy of A Cognitive Reality), mistook the messages rising from their own mind as revelations coming from an external divine realm. Thus, all revelations of all scriptures are the creations of the human mind, not of God.
Now tell me, do you still hail those texts as irrefutable? Do you still think that you are ought to follow every single word of those scriptures with a blind eye? Don't you think that it is the existential responsibility of a civilized human being to measure those texts, as they have such a blinding impact upon the society, with your own rational mind?
Progress of the human society is predicated upon the proper functioning of a key element of the human mind, that is reasoning. Without this mental element we would no longer be a civilized species. And when reasoning runs pure in the heart of the humans, no book has the power to compel them to fight among each other in the name of religion or paradise. Remember, reasoning is the cure for superstitions and bigotry. Once reasoning reigns, love and acceptance become the religion, and hatred and dogmatism become a matter of ancient history.
Further Reading
Abhijit Naskar, 2016, Biopsy of Religions: Neuroanalysis towards Universal Tolerance
Abhijit Naskar, 2016, In Search of Divinity: Journey to The Kingdom of Conscience
Abhijit Naskar, 2017, The Islamophobic Civilization: Voyage of Acceptance
Here you must remember, the so-called Jihadis who are in reality, mentally unstable individuals run by Quranic fundamentalists, do not represent the whole Muslim population of the world. Muslims are just as peace-loving as the Christians, Hindus, Jews or Buddhists. Terrorism has nothing to do with religion, Islam or otherwise. Terrorism is born of fundamentalism not of religion.
Peace and Violence are both biological traits of humans as well as the entire animal kingdom. And since humans are the only species capable of creating literatures, it should not be surprising that these literatures would have the same blend of peace and violence, or simply, good and evil, that the human character possesses. And these literatures include all the scriptures in the world. As such, they are not immune to the innate evil of the human psyche. In fact, since these scriptures are the product of a time when ignorance and barbarianism ran rampant in the human society, it is more reason, for evil traits to appear on their pages alongside the goodness that they teach.
Like all human literatures the Islamic literature, the Quran and the Hadith, were also human creation. No Allah or God had anything to with them. They arose from the minds of the humans. The Quranic messages were born from the mind of supposedly the man named Mohammed in a state of transcendence. This state of mind is an extraordinary one, with such unique elements that often leave the smartest individuals baffled. And Mohammed was no smart man, like say, Albert Einstein or James Watson. He was an ordinary man of his time, who attained the state of transcendence during his daily prayers in a mountain cave. And in that state of transcendence his mind gave rise to all the revelations, both good and bad, that later collectively became known as the Holy Quran. Hence, it is the reader who must distinguish the good from the bad, if he or she is to remain a genuine part of the civilized society.
Let me bring up an excerpt from my book The Islamophobic Civilization: Voyage of Acceptance" to shed further light on this matter.
"Think of the bloodshed there has been in consequence of some of the Quranic doctrines that literally command to kill the infidels if they do not become Muslims! Think of the textual creeds that teach, a man who does not believe all the teachings of Quran should be killed and it is a mercy to kill him! The one ultimate rule of the Quranic fundamentalists is “there is one God and Mohammed is his prophet”. Everything beyond that not only is bad, but must be destroyed forthwith. At moment’s notice, every man or woman, who does not exactly believe in that, must be killed. Everything that does not belong to this set of ideals must be killed."
And because of such barbarian actions of the Quranic fundamentalists, many atheists, including my dear friends and colleagues Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris quite naively want to turn every single religious person on earth into an atheist, which by the way, is a great and progressive notion, but I am afraid, it biologically, or to be more specific neurologically, is an impractical idea. Religion itself is a neurological phenomenon which evolved in the human mind to act as an aid in daily life. Which means, Mother Nature selected it as a neuropsychological feature for the humans in the path of survival. Hence, no individual has the power to take such natural trait away from the human mind, unless Natural Selection gives consent. Therefore, it is more practical to make people transform their mindset about religion and religiousness and walk in the path of creed-less religious harmony, than to convert the entire religious population on earth into atheists.
All we need to do, is to turn human actions into a measure of judgement for religions, instead of some old books. Once we successfully do this, eventually we will be able to build a world where the human self shall be the Alpha and the Omega of the society, not a God self of some old books. In fact, the God self depicted in those books, was nothing but the transcendental manifestation of the human self. Which means, the God of humanity is, in actuality, human, or to be more accurate, man himself. Men in different times went into transcendence and quite unintentionally, due to neurological reasons (refer to Autobiography of God: Biopsy of A Cognitive Reality), mistook the messages rising from their own mind as revelations coming from an external divine realm. Thus, all revelations of all scriptures are the creations of the human mind, not of God.
Now tell me, do you still hail those texts as irrefutable? Do you still think that you are ought to follow every single word of those scriptures with a blind eye? Don't you think that it is the existential responsibility of a civilized human being to measure those texts, as they have such a blinding impact upon the society, with your own rational mind?
Progress of the human society is predicated upon the proper functioning of a key element of the human mind, that is reasoning. Without this mental element we would no longer be a civilized species. And when reasoning runs pure in the heart of the humans, no book has the power to compel them to fight among each other in the name of religion or paradise. Remember, reasoning is the cure for superstitions and bigotry. Once reasoning reigns, love and acceptance become the religion, and hatred and dogmatism become a matter of ancient history.
Further Reading
Abhijit Naskar, 2016, Biopsy of Religions: Neuroanalysis towards Universal Tolerance
Abhijit Naskar, 2016, In Search of Divinity: Journey to The Kingdom of Conscience
Abhijit Naskar, 2017, The Islamophobic Civilization: Voyage of Acceptance
Real Religion of Civilized Humanity
Today, religion gets beaten up in the world of rational thinkers because of what it has become. Religion has become a matter of blind faith upon doctrines, without the slightest bit of rational intervention. And that, my friend, is called religious orthodoxy, which, though being related to the term "religion", has, in reality, nothing to do with true religion. The religion that I advocate, and so did the mortal humans known as Jesus, Buddha and Nanak, is the religion of love, compassion and self-realization. I don't want to take away anybody's religion, but simply to make them see what religion really means.
You need to find the highest form of divinity within yourself, not in any book, creed or institution. That is the true essence of religion, which, unfortunately, we see nowhere in today's world. And from this standpoint of true religion, the atheists are a billion times more religious than all the blind "orthodogs". Religion, in the world of thinking humans should be compatible with reasoning and progress. Any religion that impedes in the progress and rational thinking of the human society, is no religion at all.
"Progress" sounds like a fascinating word to be proud of, yet it comes at a price. A price that most of the human society is often unwilling to pay. It is the price of all bigotry, prejudices and barbarian practices. Without sacrificing these primitive tenets of human character, there cannot be any true progress or any true religion. True progress begins with the recognition of your innate evil. Only after recognizing those evil elements of your mind, you can take action towards having a healthy conscientious control over them. It is this control that distinguishes a civilized human, from the primitive cave-people.
As I have said in my book We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism
"Good and evil are both fundamental features of the human mind."
In a civilized human the good outweighs the evil, whereas in a primitive human, the evil outweighs the good. And one of the most disgraceful and evil tenets of the human mind is today's so-called religion - i.e. religious orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is the biggest obstacle in the path of peace, progress and wellbeing of the society. Take away religious orthodoxy and all the violence in the name of religion and God shall disappear for good. In the face of rigorous rational arguments, any man or woman who, out of blind faith, consistently keeps saying, his or her dear scripture has all the answers in the universe, is either suffering from delusional disorder or simply an idiot. A creature that does not have the basic mental faculty of reasoning, is not worth the title "human".
Here one may confuse orthodoxy with traditions. So, I must make it clear, that you should not confuse traditions with orthodoxy. Traditions can be both healthy and harmful. By choosing not to eliminate the traditions that over time tend to become a harmful impediment in the path of progress, one leans towards orthodoxy, that ultimately drives a people back to the stone-age. Various traditions of various cultures throughout the world make the human species filled with colors. But these traditions must keep evolving through adoption of new practices and elimination of the useless ones, based on the needs of the time. Either one evolves or gets extinct - this is the principal law of Mother Nature.
So, here one may wonder, how can we eliminate the evil tradition of religious orthodoxy, and turn religion into a progressive endeavor of the progressive society! It will not happen by engaging yourself in a worthless debate with the intellectual idiots of religious orthodoxy, as you may think. Because those idiots do not have the cognitive capacity to recognize any rational argument against their dear doctrines. The real answer lies in you - or to be specific, your children. The transformation from a primitive, orthodox society into a real civilized society, can only begin with your children. This means, that your children shall determine the fate of the human society. They shall determine whether religious orthodoxy will keep on prevailing throughout the world, or conscience triumphs over all evil. Hence, it is in your hands, to shape their minds to become real civilized humans of a progressive, loving and conscientious world. Teach your children - "there is no religion better than love, no color better than the color of happiness and no language better than the language of compassion" (quote from my memoir Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a scientist who found himself by getting lost). Once you do that, rest assured, the world will become free from all sorts of prejudices.
Orthodoxy, bigotry, prejudices - these primitive traits only lead to chaos and destruction of all humanity. Hence, it is your existential responsibility to raise your child as a human being above everything else - catholic, muslim, jew, asian, caucasian or whatever. These human beings shall determine the fate of humanity. Remember, orthodoxy has no place in a world of civilized humans. We are not medieval monsters any more, we are civilized beings, and as such our most priced possession is our rational thinking, not mindless orthodoxy.
No tradition is greater than the mental and physical progress of the human society. However, traditions do indeed add value to the survival of a culture, but they must be scrutinize by each generation of that culture in order to get rid of the useless and harmful elements. Traditions that advocate bigotry, misogyny, racism, and fundamentalism, must be thrown away at ones by the responsible, civilized and conscientious beings of a culture. Then only they shall be qualified to be deemed as humans. Remember, no being is a human unless it elicits a character of courage, conscience, compassion and reasoning.
Further Reading
Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a scientist who found himself by getting lost
The Education Decree
We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism
You need to find the highest form of divinity within yourself, not in any book, creed or institution. That is the true essence of religion, which, unfortunately, we see nowhere in today's world. And from this standpoint of true religion, the atheists are a billion times more religious than all the blind "orthodogs". Religion, in the world of thinking humans should be compatible with reasoning and progress. Any religion that impedes in the progress and rational thinking of the human society, is no religion at all.
"Progress" sounds like a fascinating word to be proud of, yet it comes at a price. A price that most of the human society is often unwilling to pay. It is the price of all bigotry, prejudices and barbarian practices. Without sacrificing these primitive tenets of human character, there cannot be any true progress or any true religion. True progress begins with the recognition of your innate evil. Only after recognizing those evil elements of your mind, you can take action towards having a healthy conscientious control over them. It is this control that distinguishes a civilized human, from the primitive cave-people.
As I have said in my book We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism
"Good and evil are both fundamental features of the human mind."
In a civilized human the good outweighs the evil, whereas in a primitive human, the evil outweighs the good. And one of the most disgraceful and evil tenets of the human mind is today's so-called religion - i.e. religious orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is the biggest obstacle in the path of peace, progress and wellbeing of the society. Take away religious orthodoxy and all the violence in the name of religion and God shall disappear for good. In the face of rigorous rational arguments, any man or woman who, out of blind faith, consistently keeps saying, his or her dear scripture has all the answers in the universe, is either suffering from delusional disorder or simply an idiot. A creature that does not have the basic mental faculty of reasoning, is not worth the title "human".
Here one may confuse orthodoxy with traditions. So, I must make it clear, that you should not confuse traditions with orthodoxy. Traditions can be both healthy and harmful. By choosing not to eliminate the traditions that over time tend to become a harmful impediment in the path of progress, one leans towards orthodoxy, that ultimately drives a people back to the stone-age. Various traditions of various cultures throughout the world make the human species filled with colors. But these traditions must keep evolving through adoption of new practices and elimination of the useless ones, based on the needs of the time. Either one evolves or gets extinct - this is the principal law of Mother Nature.
So, here one may wonder, how can we eliminate the evil tradition of religious orthodoxy, and turn religion into a progressive endeavor of the progressive society! It will not happen by engaging yourself in a worthless debate with the intellectual idiots of religious orthodoxy, as you may think. Because those idiots do not have the cognitive capacity to recognize any rational argument against their dear doctrines. The real answer lies in you - or to be specific, your children. The transformation from a primitive, orthodox society into a real civilized society, can only begin with your children. This means, that your children shall determine the fate of the human society. They shall determine whether religious orthodoxy will keep on prevailing throughout the world, or conscience triumphs over all evil. Hence, it is in your hands, to shape their minds to become real civilized humans of a progressive, loving and conscientious world. Teach your children - "there is no religion better than love, no color better than the color of happiness and no language better than the language of compassion" (quote from my memoir Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a scientist who found himself by getting lost). Once you do that, rest assured, the world will become free from all sorts of prejudices.
Orthodoxy, bigotry, prejudices - these primitive traits only lead to chaos and destruction of all humanity. Hence, it is your existential responsibility to raise your child as a human being above everything else - catholic, muslim, jew, asian, caucasian or whatever. These human beings shall determine the fate of humanity. Remember, orthodoxy has no place in a world of civilized humans. We are not medieval monsters any more, we are civilized beings, and as such our most priced possession is our rational thinking, not mindless orthodoxy.
No tradition is greater than the mental and physical progress of the human society. However, traditions do indeed add value to the survival of a culture, but they must be scrutinize by each generation of that culture in order to get rid of the useless and harmful elements. Traditions that advocate bigotry, misogyny, racism, and fundamentalism, must be thrown away at ones by the responsible, civilized and conscientious beings of a culture. Then only they shall be qualified to be deemed as humans. Remember, no being is a human unless it elicits a character of courage, conscience, compassion and reasoning.
Further Reading
Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a scientist who found himself by getting lost
The Education Decree
We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism
It's about religious acceptance, it's no longer about religious tolerance
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
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
Only you can save yourself
I am Lord the savior - I am the God of all gods - I am the messiah that the humans have been desperately waiting to come - I am the messiah, the prophet, the Son and the Holy Father. And through me you shall find salvation in life. Your life will never be holy and religious unless you submit to my all-pervading radiance of divine supremacy. Submit o petty little sinner, for you have sinned, and it is I who can save you from your sins. Only I am pure and absolute, and you are a born sinner.
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You heard everything I just said. Now I have a question of real significance. Do all these statements make you question my psychological sanity! Do they? If yes, then we can proceed with this brief piece, otherwise, there is no use of this entire article filled with a bunch of words. So, I am assuming, the statements that I just made, make you doubt my mental lucidity.
Wonderful - they should. That's exactly what I intend them to induce in your mind - a sense of skepticism about me and about everything I have previously said and written. Are you skeptic of me? Good that you are. Good for both you and me. Now here is the second question. If these statements make you doubt my sanity, then why aren't you bothered with those countless other statements made by various religious institutions that are exactly similar in their narcissistic nature.
Why don't you question the church, the bible, the vedas, the quran, when they relentlessly boast about the indisputable, supreme authority of their own prophet, messiah, image of god over all humanity! How dare an institution claim authority over the humans! Why aren't you shaken at this? How can you sleep so sound, when the whole world, or at least most of it, is basically obsessed with the divine supremacy of these self-glorified institutions and organizations.
Also, there are other organizations that talk relentlessly about religious harmony, tolerance and freedom, and yet they never really address the real reasons of all the harms caused in the name of religion. They never pick up a bible or a quran and point out the verses and instructions that are basically sign of megalomania, xenophobia, misogyny and many other barbarian evils. Yet these organizations call themselves progressive and free from prejudices.
Harmony shall never be installed in the world, especially in the domain of religion, as long as, the people radically attached to those religions are unwilling to recognize and eliminate the evils in their own organized structure of so-called religion. I am saying so-called religion, because, organized religion is an immature attempt to understand religion and be religious. Real religion lies in freedom from all organizations - be it religious, spiritual, or non-religious.
Ask yourself this my friend? Are you free? Are you free from labels? Are you free from conformities? Or even if you are not completely free in all these aspects, are you at least aware of the fact that you are not free? If yes, then only there is hope for you. Only then there is hope for real religion, peace and harmony manifesting in the human world.
I am not the hope, neither is any other historical, imaginary or mythical savior. What am I! Nothing. As far as your life is concerned, I am no more valuable and holy than the particles of dust under your feet. So, I have nothing to give you. Only you my friend, can define, understand and manifest religion within yourself. Only you can save your self.
To quote from my new book 'A Push in Perception'
"Ultimately, beyond the primordial, brutish labels of man-made institutions, true practical religion of the civilized society must bring oneness. This very process of unification without bigotry is what makes religion, religion, for the word religion comes from the latin "religare", which means "to bind", that is to unify humanity."
Further Reading
A Push in Perception
Rowdy Buddha: The First Sapiens
.
.
.
.
You heard everything I just said. Now I have a question of real significance. Do all these statements make you question my psychological sanity! Do they? If yes, then we can proceed with this brief piece, otherwise, there is no use of this entire article filled with a bunch of words. So, I am assuming, the statements that I just made, make you doubt my mental lucidity.
Wonderful - they should. That's exactly what I intend them to induce in your mind - a sense of skepticism about me and about everything I have previously said and written. Are you skeptic of me? Good that you are. Good for both you and me. Now here is the second question. If these statements make you doubt my sanity, then why aren't you bothered with those countless other statements made by various religious institutions that are exactly similar in their narcissistic nature.
Why don't you question the church, the bible, the vedas, the quran, when they relentlessly boast about the indisputable, supreme authority of their own prophet, messiah, image of god over all humanity! How dare an institution claim authority over the humans! Why aren't you shaken at this? How can you sleep so sound, when the whole world, or at least most of it, is basically obsessed with the divine supremacy of these self-glorified institutions and organizations.
Also, there are other organizations that talk relentlessly about religious harmony, tolerance and freedom, and yet they never really address the real reasons of all the harms caused in the name of religion. They never pick up a bible or a quran and point out the verses and instructions that are basically sign of megalomania, xenophobia, misogyny and many other barbarian evils. Yet these organizations call themselves progressive and free from prejudices.
Harmony shall never be installed in the world, especially in the domain of religion, as long as, the people radically attached to those religions are unwilling to recognize and eliminate the evils in their own organized structure of so-called religion. I am saying so-called religion, because, organized religion is an immature attempt to understand religion and be religious. Real religion lies in freedom from all organizations - be it religious, spiritual, or non-religious.
Ask yourself this my friend? Are you free? Are you free from labels? Are you free from conformities? Or even if you are not completely free in all these aspects, are you at least aware of the fact that you are not free? If yes, then only there is hope for you. Only then there is hope for real religion, peace and harmony manifesting in the human world.
I am not the hope, neither is any other historical, imaginary or mythical savior. What am I! Nothing. As far as your life is concerned, I am no more valuable and holy than the particles of dust under your feet. So, I have nothing to give you. Only you my friend, can define, understand and manifest religion within yourself. Only you can save your self.
To quote from my new book 'A Push in Perception'
"Ultimately, beyond the primordial, brutish labels of man-made institutions, true practical religion of the civilized society must bring oneness. This very process of unification without bigotry is what makes religion, religion, for the word religion comes from the latin "religare", which means "to bind", that is to unify humanity."
Further Reading
A Push in Perception
Rowdy Buddha: The First Sapiens
Divinity for Sale (The Sonnet)
When a book becomes religion,
And doctrines become divinity,
Holiness remains speculation,
Society loses sight of humanity.
When institutions claim authority,
And sleeping masses comply,
Religion disappears altogether,
What remains is potential gone awry.
When popes and pundits sell faith,
In the name of divine supremacy,
Rigidity overrules common sense,
And reason is hailed as blasphemy.
But there is a cure for all this atrocity.
It is called individual curiosity.
And doctrines become divinity,
Holiness remains speculation,
Society loses sight of humanity.
When institutions claim authority,
And sleeping masses comply,
Religion disappears altogether,
What remains is potential gone awry.
When popes and pundits sell faith,
In the name of divine supremacy,
Rigidity overrules common sense,
And reason is hailed as blasphemy.
But there is a cure for all this atrocity.
It is called individual curiosity.
Gamblers of Rigidity (The Sonnet)
Rigidity in the name of religion,
Will fill this world with tears and fear.
Prejudice in the name of tradition,
Will turn this land into a graveyard.
Doctrines are truth for dumbbells,
Holy books are life for the unholy.
Hear all fools, all rigid corpses,
Love is the only sign of divinity.
Let us lose religion if we do,
We'll stand proudly as human beings.
Let us lose all faith and allegiance,
We'll live as lovers, not fragmented fiends.
There's no future for gamblers of rigidity.
Let us step forward with reason and amity.
Will fill this world with tears and fear.
Prejudice in the name of tradition,
Will turn this land into a graveyard.
Doctrines are truth for dumbbells,
Holy books are life for the unholy.
Hear all fools, all rigid corpses,
Love is the only sign of divinity.
Let us lose religion if we do,
We'll stand proudly as human beings.
Let us lose all faith and allegiance,
We'll live as lovers, not fragmented fiends.
There's no future for gamblers of rigidity.
Let us step forward with reason and amity.
Muslim Not Terrorist (The Sonnet) | Handcrafted Humanity
I am a Muslim, not a terrorist,
Just like not all whites are neonazi.
To hate, being an animal is enough,
Love is a sign of sapience and sanity.
Nobody is infidel to me,
For my faith is that of oneness.
Disbelief doesn't make one a kafir,
Only kafir is one without kindness.
No matter what we call water,
It quenches everybody's thirst equally.
I accept all religions to be true and equal,
For what matters is our common humanity.
I have but one message, love over all hatred.
Without love nobody's human, no matter our faith.
Just like not all whites are neonazi.
To hate, being an animal is enough,
Love is a sign of sapience and sanity.
Nobody is infidel to me,
For my faith is that of oneness.
Disbelief doesn't make one a kafir,
Only kafir is one without kindness.
No matter what we call water,
It quenches everybody's thirst equally.
I accept all religions to be true and equal,
For what matters is our common humanity.
I have but one message, love over all hatred.
Without love nobody's human, no matter our faith.
Amor Apocalypse (An Excerpt)
Amor Apocalypse is headed our way,
Now that Roe vs Wade is overturned.
Love is where the scrotum-brain scotus,
Will lay next their filthy hand.
First they came for our choice,
Then they’ll come for our love.
Soon they’ll go for good old lynching,
Land of the free will be land of the shrubs.
Straight and queer are products of a bipolar world,
In the sanctuary of love there’s no straight, no queer.
In love’s domain queer is straight, straight is queer,
A heart full of love and light is radiantly nonpolar.
I say this with all my humility,
To the fundamentalists particularly.
This is not meant for those of faith,
Who never claim ideological supremacy.
What do the dumbbells of bible know,
About the bold serendipities of love!
What do the captives of koran know,
About the welcoming language of the dove!
What do the vultures of vedas know,
About the elimination of assumption!
What do the militants of atheism know,
About the sweetness of assimilation!
I learnt my religion on the streets,
Like Jesus, Gautama, Shams and Shankara.
Given the choice between dogma and love,
The human always chooses love over dogma.
Love finds new meaning in every age,
Each amplifies the glory of the last one.
Those who fear expansion out of insecurity,
Deserve only pity not serious consideration.
But beware o lovers, hate not those,
Who stand as obstacle in your love.
Lovers are born to conquer hate and fear,
To reciprocate them is to dishonor love.
Now that Roe vs Wade is overturned.
Love is where the scrotum-brain scotus,
Will lay next their filthy hand.
First they came for our choice,
Then they’ll come for our love.
Soon they’ll go for good old lynching,
Land of the free will be land of the shrubs.
Straight and queer are products of a bipolar world,
In the sanctuary of love there’s no straight, no queer.
In love’s domain queer is straight, straight is queer,
A heart full of love and light is radiantly nonpolar.
I say this with all my humility,
To the fundamentalists particularly.
This is not meant for those of faith,
Who never claim ideological supremacy.
What do the dumbbells of bible know,
About the bold serendipities of love!
What do the captives of koran know,
About the welcoming language of the dove!
What do the vultures of vedas know,
About the elimination of assumption!
What do the militants of atheism know,
About the sweetness of assimilation!
I learnt my religion on the streets,
Like Jesus, Gautama, Shams and Shankara.
Given the choice between dogma and love,
The human always chooses love over dogma.
Love finds new meaning in every age,
Each amplifies the glory of the last one.
Those who fear expansion out of insecurity,
Deserve only pity not serious consideration.
But beware o lovers, hate not those,
Who stand as obstacle in your love.
Lovers are born to conquer hate and fear,
To reciprocate them is to dishonor love.
