Leaving the world and your surroundings a better place

Every person of faith has his temple or church or mosque or synagogue to revere and use as his guiding light in his or her life. Religion serves that one purpose quite well in that the fear of divine retribution keeps most people 'on track' shall we say. For atheists there really isn't a formal guiding light or principle to go by and for that reason most cultures tend to think the atheist is not someone you want to associate with, he/she must be evil. For this reason most atheists hesitate to announce to the world that they are atheists, much like people of alternative sexual preferences plying their sexuality without announcing it to the world for fear of being ridiculed or even cast aside by the public.

In western societies gay and lesbian communities have been reasonably successful in their fight against discrimination and have succeeded to a large extent to be accepted as normal people. Its a different story in our oriental cultures where being gay or lesbian can often lead to disastrous consequences, even death. Mercifully, us atheists are not stoned to death but shunned by most oriental societies as 'not so nice people'! So it was with some pleasure that I read of atheism becoming acceptable in many western societies so maybe there is hope for us here in the East!

But what really can be a guiding light for atheists who don't believe in a god that will show them the path? For me its about the laws of Nature - its about being respectful to Nature and leaving a place better than I found it. Starting with the washroom in a hotel or restaurant, I think it is possible to leave the place better than one found it when you stepped in to use the place. I find it strange that even well-educated people in these parts will wash their mouths after a meal and spit into the washbasin and think nothing about leaving the washbasin with food particles from their mouth lying all over the basin. I would think the least they could do is rinse the basin out after use so it looks presentable to the next person who uses it. One would imagine this is basic to most people but no its not so.

Cleaning up after ourselves seems anathema to most Indians - thats somebody else's job right? One wonders how this scenario can be changed in generations to come. Will we ever be able to make our people understand that spitting, urinating and defecating in public spaces is unacceptable in the 21st century? Can all these religious teachers and spiritual leaders prevail upon their people to atleast live clean and keep their surroundings clean? If that were possible I guess I'd become a believer too, in the goodness religion!!

Ramblings on atheism continued

A friend wrote in with this quote from Freud "The more I study religion the more I become convinced it's about mankind's unconscious desire to worship his egoistical Self". Now isnt that interesting - Man creates God in his own image possibly for the reason cited by the father of psycho-analysis! Every religion seems to do this - except perhaps Islam which refuses to put a shape on Allah but his intermediary Prophet Mohammed is ofcourse human in form. Freud's explanation is perhaps also the basis for all the wars that are fought in the name of religion - the ego is at the centre of it all!

Buddha preached that adherents of Buddhism should avoid focus on a form but by design or default, practitioners of Buddhism seem to hold the human form of Buddha in their minds while in prayer and prove Freud right! On the other hand Buddhism advocates detachment from all things material and mental thereby implicitly advocating atheism. Buddhists are therefore perhaps the closest to rationalism compared to adherents of other religions.

My quarrel is with ritualism - it is rampant in most religions - one wonders why. My pet theory is that it provides the priests of those religions with work in that they are the ones people look to to learn the specific rituals of that religion. Thus, there is employment for such priests and they in turn advocate orthodoxy and strict adherence to ritual as a means of self-preservation of the priest class. Nice way to ensure that you and your ilk are taken care of by the believers for their entire life! Once again Buddhism scores here because priests in that religion are supposed to live on alms (bhiksha) but then organised religious structures are quickly developed and hierarchies develop within the priest fraternity even among Buddhists and put paid to the concept of living entirely off alms! Guess its too tedious to have to live by alms alone - it doesnt leave the priests with enough time to perpetuate ritual! Religion therefore is 'of the priest, for the priest and by the priest'!

Random thoughts

If you have been following all the news happening in developed parts of the world you may have noticed the distinct anti-immigration stance that most countries seem to be taking of late. I find it strange and positively selfish when first generation immigrants, like some of the Indians who are naturalised citizens of the UK, Australia, USA, France and several other countries take up issue against immigration. Don't these folks realise that not too long ago they too were people clamouring to enter that country? Its almost as if these folks have gotten into this life boat and will not allow other poor wretched folks to get in for fear of the boat sinking!! Well, I guess once you are on the inside you dont want others to share 'your' space!! In my humble opinion, its alright for the indigenous people of that country to take that anti-immigrant position but completely unacceptable for immigrants to take that position.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this recent article in the Times of India on Atheism in India - the writer, Prakash Shesh actually brings up an interesting point about Hinduism which seems to have a God even for Atheists! Brihaspati, is the God of Atheists he says! Indeed, its nice to know that Hinduism openly tolerates the concept of atheism and is absolutely ok with the idea that there are people who will not be able to accept the concept of God in their lives. Not so with other religions I understand - in Christianity and Islam you either believe in their God (and no other) or you do not qualify to be Christian or Muslim.

In a recent article author R Jagannathan argues that "Hinduism is essentially agnostic in nature because it allows you to customise god to your requirements. If god can be whatever I want him/her/it to be, it must be my creation rather than something separate from me. This aspect of Hinduism cannot but be appealing to people who seek god without religion." Now thats an interesting take isnt it? But for a rationalist like me even that discount that Hinduism provides me doesnt entice me into buying into the concept of God & religion! Maybe it has to do with the biologist in me - I dont regard creation as something that requires a supernatural element (read God) to cook up!