Friday, May 29, 2009

Dreaming of a better future ... in heaven

I came across this article discussing the role Bush's religious beliefs might have played in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The prophecy in the Old Testament reads as follows:
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle … and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."
Bush is said to have told France's president Jacques Chirac:
“This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”
It is disturbing to see the president of the world's sole super power exhibit such delusional thinking. Bush is not alone. I was talking with a friend from Iran last week and he mentioned how Ahmadinejad often says that he has the backing of the Imams when justifying his decisions. Most of the Imams are dead, and the last one, Imam Mehdi, is prophesied to come when Christ returns. Its hard for any sane person to take him seriously if he openly goes about making such claims.

Most religious people, save the most die hard literal fanatics, would probably balk if their leaders profess such opinions. Yet, prophecies are part of most religions, and as true Muslims, Christians, Jews or whatever, believing in those prophecies is a required tenet of faith.

The depiction of the end times in the ahadiths has always disturbed me. They paint a picture of such doom, gloom and death and destruction -- and with such assurity and certainty. As disturbing as the details of those prophecies are, even more disturbing is the fact that large swaths of human population believe in such utter crap with unflinching faith. Its scary.

You have to dream before you build. You have to get inspired and see a better future before you go about working for one. Religious belief can mentally handicap and paralyze one's imagination by forcing its ghastly version of the future upon oneself. Not only does religion erect divisive boundaries between humans, but its teachings have the potential to subtly influence human decisions and actions, steering humanity on a path of mutual death and destruction.

I once shared these concerns with my mother. Her reply was innocent, though disturbing. She told me not to worry -- after all, everything will be fine in heaven.

Monday, May 11, 2009

May the master be with you

Certain experiences can totally catch us off guard -- I happened to have one today.

On my way back home on the bus this evening, a caucasian guy sitting besides me asked me about the spelling of 'beneath'. He appeared to be a drunk junkie from his disheveled appearance, and his inability to spell 'beneath' only strengthened my suspicion. I spelled it out, taking a quick peek at the text he was writing. The writing was far from neat but I could make out references to 'love' and 'heart' from the little I was able to peek at. It appeared to be some sort of a love letter.

A few moments later, he inquired where I was from. Upon hearing Pakistan, he mentioned that he was a poet and in fact had read many of the poets from that region. He mentioned Kabir and Rumi among several others and inquired whether I knew about any of them. Most of the names were alien to me, other than Rumi, and the guy seemed rather surprised at that, rightly so perhaps, exhorting me to read more about my culture and heritage. He also appeared rather concerned, almost a little angry, when talking about the present situation in Pakistan, rhetorically asking about how one can put a life back once its taken.

My stop was near when he volunteered to read aloud his poem. I reluctantly agreed. I don't remember most of it as I was still taken aback by the suddenness of the experience and the anxiety of my stop arriving, but it did sound very beautiful and spiritual -- ending with 'beneath your feet'.

He mentioned sos.org several times during the conversation -- turns out that its a spiritual organization led by a Sikh guy. From first impressions, it seems to be have a low fishiness to usefulness ratio.

My stop finally arrived and I shared my first ever fist bump goodbye with him along with the parting expression: "May the master be with you".

Its not everyday that you get to have such eventful and novelty filled bus rides :-)