Delusion of Religion

Just look at the mass delusion of religion, its the embarrassing dark age fiction through which people put faith in and justify their actions. As cognitive and behavioral imperative, religion was born to understand the phenomenon of the nature. It was built around the primitive knowledge and has intermixed the myths and facts with the deep human experiences. With the more and more use of logic in the ours quest for explaining nature, we observe religion on a hundred fronts losing the argument with science. Also, a class of people have became priestly clan in the religious camps and grow on the basis of collective fear and paranoia of masses. Thus, religion became authorizing in its claim of knowledge and truth, and there starts its fall.

What can be canceled, logically, must have once had value. And thus there can be reforms with new generation as new logic will emerge on the basis of time and new human experiences. That's why fraudulent practices or wrong theories are corrected in science through scrutiny with the time. When the religions are aware of the limits of their claim to the truth, when they allow doubt, the chance of reforms develop from inside.

Religion does not grow in the ideology that continuously goes through scrutiny of several groups and individuals. Any ideological bias can be extreme but they are backing it with the reason. Logic is there in the development of all these ideology. What mankind often does with religion is often more self-serving and abominable as they are mere unproven beliefs. They are treated as factual by many religions and the extremes to which some followers have taken them. Religion takes the path of extremism without any basis of reason.

Nadeem F Paracha summarized about Extremism extremely well : Extremism is nobody’s friend. It only deals in might gained from coercion. It does not rest after it has defeated its ideological opponents because then it goes on to destroy even those supporters whom it deems too soft or moderate.

Perhaps the world can come to realise that the real war is between those who believe in the ultimate sanctity and value of a human life and those who do not. If you are not willing to seriously investigate your faith and ask questions then you are at the mercy of others who will define it for you. Isn't searching for truth personally better than bracing false hopes in existing answers ? Science, constructive doubt and investigation are the tools while faith is positive suspension of critical thinking.

I will produce here a thought about Dharma perceived by Buddhist monk : Excessive faith without sufficient wisdom leads to the blind faith, while excessive wisdom without sufficient faith leads to undesirable cunning. Too much energy combined with weak concentration leads to restlessness while strong concentration without sufficient energy leads to indolence. But as for Mindfulness (sati), one can never have too much of it, it is never in excess but always in deficiency. We need to cultivate Mindfulness.

What's in a Surname?

I read a book review of 'The Indians' By Sudhir Kakar & Katharina Kakar in the blog of my freind Abdusalaam al-Hindi. I will quote a paragraph of the book as it shows about Indians particularly deep rooted in Hindus.

The inner experience of caste : The preoccupation of the caste system with high and low has been associated with suffering and humiliation for several millions through the centuries. As the Marathi poet Govindraj puts it, Hindu society is made up of men 'who bow their heads to the kicks from above and who simultaneously give a kick below, never thinking to resist the one or refrain from the other.' The hierarchy is so fine tuned that even a low caste will always find another caste that is inferior to it, thus mitigating some of the narcissistic injury suffered by it at being seen as inferior. Thus for instance, 'among those lowest scavenging sections which remove night soil there is still a distinction: those who serve in private houses consider themselves higher than those who clean public latrines.' [pp 27, 28]

Few trends happening in our society are shocking and need immediate attention : Khap Panchayat rulings and rape cases against lower caste women. These are two sensitive news stories traced by me on these issue.

Doomed by Caste Damned by Gender: Rape continues to be a weapon of oppression against Dalits in Uttar Pradesh, despite the state having a Chief Minister who is herself a woman and a Dalit. Tracked by Shobhita Naithani of Tehelka.

A Taliban Of Our Very Own: Murder, rape and exile are routine punishments for these parallel Parliaments. Neha Dixit of Tehelka tracks Khap panchayats across north India and covers this burning issue.

There is the bulk of crime happening in the name of honour and caste. Even if the coverage amounts to drive-by journalism generates a ton of anecdote and graphic details about individual case but not a pinch of leavening context to help frame and explain crime and mentality behind it. Let me quote of Dr. Ambedkar in this scenario:

“It is usual to hear all those who feel moved by the deplorable condition of the Untouchables unburden themselves by uttering the cry “We must do something for the Untouchables”. One seldom hears any of the persons interested in the problem saying ‘Let us do something to change the Touchable Hindu.’ ”

When the elite practices social and castiest discrimination in the daily lives, the social order below will follow that only. Bottom up civil consciousness on caste or gender discrimination is absent in our country. Our society is clashing with the struggle between doing the right thing and doing the honorable thing. There should be absolutely no place for traditions that deny another human being dignity.

Mistakes are understandable in this fight. Surrendering isn’t. Whether who will prevail is another matter, there is a limit beyond which law cannot be further broken and conscience further outraged. I have asked a question in the title of the post: What's in a Surname? Its answer is : In A Casteist Society, Everything !

Interview With Jere Van Dyk

It is the most illuminating interview I have yet heard/read on the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Jere Van Dyk is a journalist and author who has focused much of his writing on Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the early 1980s, working as a correspondent for The New York Times, Van Dyk lived with the mujahideen in Afghanistan as they fought against the Soviet Army, an experience that was recapped in his Pulitzer Prize-nominated articles. 20 years later, he returned to Afghanistan to report on the U.S.-led war, only to be captured and held by the Taliban for 45 days in 2008. This harrowing experience, as well as his insights into this "pointless" war, are detailed in his new book "Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban." He is currently a consultant on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and al-Qaeda for CBS News.