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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Religious Texts: Not A Collection of Facts, But About Ethics


The good thing about reading fiction is that it reveals the various ways of interpreting a certain human condition such as love or compassion or suffering, or the meaning of life. Everyone can relate to a story one or another, talk about it in a way that the other can comprehend even though he may a different way of looking at it. The variety of interpretation of a certain human condition reveals that life is layered with meanings, all of them valid and existentially true.

Unlike scientific treatises, fiction invites the readers to engage in a world different from theirs. Fiction transcends the limited world view of a single individual and opens him up to other world views, and to deepen his appreciation of life, as well as his.

Story telling has a power just as effective as the written form of fiction; but, unlike the written word, the storyteller and the listener are physically present, making engagement much easier and smoother, and exciting.

The whole point of mentioning fiction and its efficacy is to stress the fact that all religious texts are a work of fiction, which convey existential truths that serve as ways of moral living. Fiction and storytelling keeps the meaning fluid. It uses words, but it does not allow the words to be taken literally. A dialogue: a sharing of various interpretations ensure that life is not to be lived by following a word.

Religious texts then are meant to keep the spirit alive. The spirit lives not in the word. A word kills the spirit. Rather the spirit finds its life and rebirth in the variety of, and every, interpretation that is to be spoken and to be heard.

This is why I am against religious fundamentalism. It kills the variety of meanings. It kills the spirit ‘behind’ the word. When the spirit is imprisoned in a word, the word is taken literally. And, when the word is taken literally, other interpretations are prohibited. The solidified word, now, becomes a political weapon. It wields more power and explosion than any nuclear weapon known to man. Placed in the wrong hands, the solidified word will trigger another holocaust.

That was how the Crusade got its misguided direction. That was why the Islamists will continually be a threat to World Peace. That is why the Christian fundamentalist will make sure that peace will be won on their unconditional terms. You need not go that far to recognize that the beginnings of fundamentalism are borne right in our place of worship, possessing and brainwashing our young.

So, for the sake of humanity, for the sake of your children, for the sake of God, allow religious texts to be what it was meant to be – a work of fiction.





Monday, October 22, 2012

Tolerance Is Not Peaceful, But Morally Desirable

Homosexuality used to be a taboo. Speaking about it in public is offensive to many people, and also to their moral sensibility. It had led many religious people to believe that homosexuality is a sin. That was a hundred years ago, and you could still hear its echo. But, today, we recognize that homosexuality is not a sickness of the mind, and that every homosexual has as much right as any other heterosexual to live the lives they chose to live. Now, why did we finally acknowledge homosexuals? It was because homosexuals were not harming anyone. They were merely asserting themselves to be recognized as human beings. So, we have come to learn to live with them side by side. Killing in the name of God is one that no one should tolerate. Harming a human being is never justifiable, and I think that to link God and killing in his name is a perversion of His Message. It is unfortunate that some people take the written words in the literal sense. As I had said earlier, the Bible and other religious are stories that are fictitious but true - true in the existential sense. You can have your beliefs and customs. But, for as long as your beliefs and customs do not harm anyone, even one as young as a baby, then, I can live with the views that are different from those of mine. So that settles the issue, at least for most part of it. Let us now talk about situations in which beliefs and customs do not lead to physical harm, but nonetheless do feel as though harm has been done. Homosexuality was once an issue that brought some harm to close minded people but it never held any belief that would cause death to others. Let us, in other words, talk about those views that are not only so different from yours, but views that you simply, just simply cannot accept. You see it is so easy to talk about being tolerant of other views if you’re not involved, if you’re not in the center of it all. You may appear to be accepting. But that is not being tolerant; that is being indifferent. Tolerance is not indifference. Neither isindifference tolerance. The two have never been the same but only appear to be so. The two are confused, mistaken to be one for the other because you have not been involved. Your involvement tears them apart. So, you are involved in a discussion with someone whose views you cannot accept. How, then does tolerance come into play? Assuming that you agree with Voltaire who would defend the rights to freedom of speech even though he may vehemently disagree with him, what is tolerance? Remember you cannot get yourself to accept his views. You cannot, in your dreams, see his perspective. But, you ought to try. You can imagine - with a tremendous amount of effort - to see both the negative and positive aspects of a set of differing and opposing views. You may still not be able to give much justice to seeing the positive aspect. But, at least you tried. You may not be able to see things as he does. You try though, but you fail. And, you would think that tolerance failed. But, that’s missing the point of tolerance. Tolerance cannot be found in succeeding to see things as the other does, or accepting his views and beliefs. What then is tolerance? Tolerance is to be achieved in this trying, this effort to soften the hardness of your stance. It is standing vigil to the Opening to the views of the others. Tolerance is the effort of keeping the Open open, no matter how narrow it is. Tolerance therefore is that moral effort. And, it is that effort that you offer to the other that you makes you realize that you could be the one to whom the other, too, is making the effort to keep his Opening open. Because of that effort, the ‘sweating it out’ to stand vigil to this Opening, you will defend the other’s right to live. The Opening to the other is fragile. It can close any time. There is no letting down your guard. There is no peace in the struggle to keep it Open; in word, in being Tolerant.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

It Is Fiction, I Know. But It Is True!

How does a child experience love and compassion and belief and trust if not from his own immediate experiences with loving parents, compassionate individuals and trusting friends? They are experiences that were later on given words. They are not words to start with, and therefore they are not abstract, nor are they objects of rationality.

They are living words. They are experiential. And they are existential. And once they are felt, they become as tangible as solid things: they stir the emotions, the imagination, which are then reflected upon. We must not forget that these words are living.

But that’s where the problem starts. We teach our children about love and compassion, trust and belief about some abstract word like God. God, as taught as word, comes to children as abstract.  But, because of their imagination, God is ‘felt’ because the words like Devil, evil, and pain and suffering seem more real and make God seem more real.  Rather than talk about these words first, or as we talk about the words such as love, compassion, trust and belief, the ‘teachers’ must practice them towards the children. Rather than talk about God, children must be shown love, compassion, trust and belief.

A good approach is to tell them stories about real people who practice these values. Children can relate, and believe in them the right way.

That is, I believe, how stories found in religious texts should be taught. More importantly, children must see that the story teller is an embodiment of those values.

If they are to believe in God, or at least recognized a reality beyond their egos, the story teller, the parents, people whom they encounter on a regular basis, must live those values themselves. Stories may involve fictional character; but the morale is real. There must have been a time when upon finishing reading a book of fiction, you, nonetheless remark, “That is true” What is true is not the people. What is true is the experience that these ‘people’ went through. It is true not because they dealt with facts. It is true based on experiences. This truth is existential truth; not factual truth.

So, when we read religious texts that deal with fantastic feats, read them like you would read a high quality book of fiction. Yet, be receptive to the existential truth that they convey.

Approaching religion that way is the best remedy to indoctrination, and fundamentalism. Science would never have had any reason to pick up a fight with religion in the first place. 

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Shall I Love You Because You Have First Proven Yourself To Me?


Logical arguments about, or a scientific investigation into, the existence and the nature of God is a waste of time. Yet it was necessary for every reflective and questioning human being to undergo in order to know that it is the case. The Bible is filled with stories, with a moral meaning, an understanding of how to live, and about the values. It would wrong for believers to treat it as though it was a scientific treatise; and it also would be wrong for scientists to treat the Bible as though it were a scientific treatise. In fact, I think it was the believers who got duped into approaching it scientifically. They went beyond their heads. On the other hand, those who are scientists are no different: they also fell into their own trap. It is their belief that scientific knowledge is the only valid kind of knowledge there is out there. With that wrong thinking, called scientism, they impose it on every aspect of human life – and non humans.

Proofs are for those who need convincing. And these people are looking at a specific kind of proofs. Looking for a specific kind of proof or evidence may have some utilitarian purpose, scientific even, but focusing only that limits one’s perception to other aspects of reality, especially the whole human experience of the whole person. To impose such a requirement on something like faith is fail to witness other aspects of being human.

The Bible like any other religious texts is a story about universal human conditions and about the relationship between humans and a reality that is beyond their comprehension, but a reality that has a significant effect on human lives. The bible and everything it stands for cannot be boxed within the confines of a laboratory. As such, the bible is not a scientific treatise. There is no need for proofs. Therefore, logical or scientific investigation for God’s existence is meaningless. However, the experience of asking for such proofs for God’s existence is necessary to realize the meaninglessness of such investigation. Rather than lose hope in a reality that is too large for any scientific venture, the realization should lead to another path. And, it is the path of understanding the existential experiences of faith and love. Existential truth is not scientific truth. It cannot be proven or experimented on. It can only be lived and known through the totality of being human.

So, the proper approach towards Religion, and God, and faith and love, is this: Understand then how you learned to believe and trust the person who bears great significance and influence in your life and theirs. Reflect on your relationship with your parents, your best friend, your brother or sister. The understanding of how we believe leads to a deeper understanding of the nature of trust and love for our significant other. Faith in, and the love for, the other are two experiences that are interwoven. Love begins when there is faith; and faith begins when there is love (as opposed to liking or having a crush on someone). Faith and love engender a respect for both parties. Neither imposes on the other. Faith and love requires no proof or evidence (You don’t say: “First prove to me that you can be trusted and love, then I will love and trust you!”). Rather, faith and love grow like a flower that trusts reality and, as a result, desires to live.