There is a character in The
Book of Laughter and Forgetting (by Milan Kundera) Mirek who remarks that
“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against
forgetting”. One of the pernicious attempts of herd controlling systems is to make
people forget. Controlling and manipulating memory is an assault on being a human.
Species evolve to survive by awareness of surroundings, lack of awareness and incapacity
to sense evolving habitat will make them vulnerable hence extinct. Memory is
significant aspect of consciousness and helps to evolve new thoughts and ideas hence
limited awareness and flawed sensing leads to controlled. Lacking discerning
skills sycophancy acquires survival template. Individuals many times try to forget
injustice to seek solace. Forced to forget -by herd controlling totalitarian
forces -whether State, Religion or Market, through control of state
institutions or deep entrenched systems, redacted history, supplanted myths of
glory, narrative will to power and entitled worldview, redundant degrading choices,
is to deceive basic sensibilities that define being a human and is to deny
diversity of human experience.
As the world gets connected and
individuals get atomized through technologies, ideas and aspirations as also
social conditions, we find that humans are also inexperienced in this emerging,
seemingly alienating, context of life they find themselves in. This moment is
what we got. This human condition is explored by prescient minds, and will have
to be experienced to value life, its meaning and meaninglessness, possibilities
and impossibilities. We will have to shed primal practices and medieval
securities that have lulled us to uncertainties of life and omnipresent chaos
in the horizon. Ensuing arrogance and entitled place in the life scheme is
challenged and falls short of every scrutiny reality presents. Irony -of
existence, is what is experienced, and very soon we realize that this is the defining
human condition. The improbable irony of being alive.
Irony irritates certainties -that
define herd controlling systems. So instead of creating awareness, exploring
ideas and frameworks of aesthetics to explore and evolve with amazing
opportunity presented, what we get is insidious attempts to manipulate and
control by nurturing herd valuing systems. Instead of aesthetics of diversity
and myriad expressions that coalesce into collective synergy what we get is grotesque
fantasies to ensnare and dehumanize -to impose systems on others and silence
them into submission. It is an attempt to provide easy solutions to existential
uncertainties of contemporary world and eternal absurdity. It is an attempt at
pandering egos of herd controllers and the worst of humanity at the expense of
common people. It is a vulgar imposition of herd will on common people.
Some extremely devious people are
working to normalize herd controlling systems specifically religion -which
works in tandem with power (State) and money (Market). Also, communism
(referred to as Left) has the habit of identifying with herd (in the garb of
minority) -in an enlightened society religion cannot be defining factor at all
since it rarely evaluate human being as human. Minority voices are undermined
when religion usurp this space. In the dialectical materialistic version of
history humans are just pawn. In this scheme eventual emancipation is that of
humanity lacking humans but comrades. This reductive obscene version of human
is not unsimilar to what religion or market proposes. These are fake binaries
to control for power. It also needs to be pointed out that not all religions
are same. This semantic generalization is flawed. It doesn’t really factor in important
aspects of journey and contexts of each religion and their impact on the individual
and the world. You cannot codify each religion into same scale. Ofcourse this isn’t
about showcasing superiority and exceptionalism but to bring out critical
aspect of understanding. What need to be made clear though is that whatever the
context of each religion in the evidence of contemporary world it has more nuisance
value than anything else and is a persistent threat to humanity. This
anachronistic pestilence has been segregating, dehumanizing and degrading, and
over the centuries and decades some religions were challenged and hence evolved,
or interpreted to update, with the need of the time. While some have stuck in
space time warp to ensnare common people into ever widening medieval mindset
immune to contemporary reality hence present a constant threat. The progress we
have made has much to do with ecosystem that some religions have provided or
tolerated or help ignore. Christianity, has seen criticism, reformations and debate -working on rationalism and reason, hence
relatively tolerant space, as also protest and assertion of common people to
support the best among them against the onslaught of juvenile premise that they
started to ridicule. Sacred was also profane. These ecosystems have elemental
impact on the way people pursue their thoughts, deliberated and decided. Likes of Francis Bacon was impossible in any other ecosystem hence rapid progress of human civilization. Judaism too provided an ecosystem that nurtured best of humans as is evident from
contribution to humanity. Let’s be clear these scientists or philosophers were
not practicing religion, nor did gave a damn about religion, but they benefited
from the ecosystem which quite clearly many religions were incapable to provide.
Buddhism invested in humans to provide subtle expressions and peaceful
meaningful life for centuries. Zen is pinnacle of possibilities of human mind. This
is not about Christianity or Judaism or indeed Buddhism -to take few examples, what
is clear from the contemporary evaluation of religions is that they are firmly
rivetted in juvenile premise -that surely is dehumanizing and degrading, and capitalize
on insecurities of people. Buddhism is as violent and viciously herd churning
as any other including Hinduism -brutalities against which it was proposed (if
temples were destroyed by Muslim invaders -nothing wrong in the context of the
time indeed welcomed, then study must be conducted regarding Buddhist temples
destroyed and appropriated by Hindus). In the contemporary evaluation, by the
very definition and premise, all religions without exceptions are dehumanizing and prey on human insecurities and uncertainties of life.
They have no value for human being, and seek to control and propagate. They
hold nothing for humanity to face the challenges of future nor add any value to
progressive thoughts. Faith as it exists in religion -anchored in miracles and instructive ideas of many centuries back, is not compatible with critical thinking gained from contemporary understanding. Modern mind and social relations cannot be trapped in juvenile conceptions and regressive value systems that it perpetuates. Herds live in glory of past and have fantastical fatalist
view of future, an outcome of lack of application of mind. They are provided all the
answers. This surety adds to the danger. They are no longer human but herd
waiting to be instructed, and at the most they can contribute is by innovating
within status quo needs, some incremental money savers or staid creative
expression to be good herd members and reaffirm herd values. Sometimes we do
come across surprisingly subtle and elevated creative expressions attributed to
religion (in the contemporary world, not what happened few centuries back which is entirely different context) that one doubts can really emerge from juvenile
controlling narrow premise of religion. These elevated experiences are
spiritual that precedes religion. These yearnings are part of human
consciousness hence cannot be appropriated by religion as religious experience.
What is not confined cannot be part of narrow systems and its simple
elaborations and prescriptions written when people lived in caves. Religion is
too small a space for immensity of life.
Religiophilia, particularly Islamophilia, of the West has become serious threat, and has potential to undermine all the amazing progresses made by humanity over the centuries. Appropriating progressive semantics to nurture religion is a new low. They have used UN to institutionalize degrading values (UN has become sideshow for redemption while they exaggerate cold war relic NATO). Burning specific book may not be an aesthetic expression of protest nevertheless it is an indelible part of freedom and what it is to be a human. OIC inciting violence is a serious breach and characteristic pattern that should be worrying, and they should have been warned -it fulfills definition of inciting terrorism. A book or any fantastical myth or ritual or cow cannot be under any circumstance valued over human life. These primitive brutal ways have no place in civilized settings. It is a blatant use of religion to bludgeon and blackmail. It can be said with much certainty that contemporary Islam, specifically sunni version, has created an ecosystem that pose as a threat with least of contribution to humanity. Not that other religions are not a threat. Religious nutcases in every religion and region have created barren pockets of depravities across the world. They demand exceptionalism and consider themselves as superior as if god is on direct call with them. While some carry gun in the name of god to kill people others carry caste to eviscerate soul. It’s a severe mental crisis that instead of being pointed out as absurd is being validated as freedom. Attack on Iraq -leading to killing and maiming of millions of innocent people, complicity of media in ‘sexing up’, greed for fossil fuel, inability to prosecute Blair, has made monarchist Christian feudal compromised Britain particularly vulnerable. Pretentious western elite are using common people across the world as fodder. West is seeking redemption through islamophilia. It’s a serious breach. Spread, reach, money, as also lack of meaningful revolt or protest within the religion -trapped in brutal medieval setting, makes Islam -specifically the sunni version, a serious threat to idea of progressive world. It has emboldened regressive violent forces in other religions, cults, as well as the state. You cannot hide behind Islamophobia -it can only be dealt case by case basis; no religion can be given carte blanche against criticism or scrutiny. We are not fodder for religious supremacist nutcases nor are we ready to sacrifice democracy and liberty -hard earned values that defines each human on this planet, and all the possibilities of future, for regressive values posing as diversity. No religion is sacrosanct nor sacred. What impacts humanity is open for questioning. All the technologies that empower me, and common people around the world, right from internet to each and every part of laptop or mobile phone I use- the electrons to satellite, the ideas and thoughts behind it, has not come from Saudi -despite the fact that it’s one of the richest societies (its contribution to humanity woefully lacking nor do we expect anything much in future, and there is a reason. It’s quite likely they are investing hugely in western media to work the narration), it has come from open societies that nurtured inquisitive values and potential in human beings through critical thinking, reasoning, debate and differences. All the ideas and systems that nurture me, and common people across the world, like democracy, liberty, valuing contrary ideas and egalitarian thoughts, asking every possible question that arise in mind, reading wide range of books -and not to follow any one book or scripture or idea but to understand, seeking answers and accepting with scrutiny, respecting human irrespective of gender or region or race, being empathetic and be aware of human frailties and contemporary realities, has not come from any Mosque (or Temple or Church or any herd churning pit and its pedantic sickening morals). That doesn’t mean everything about religion is crap some mentions are poetic, amusing, and interesting insights. Nothing more can be granted to it. Period. Religion by its very premise is a threat to humanity. Be very wary of herd controllers who use benign ideas and progressive semantics to degrade the world. There is money, control and power riding on posturing. A society that protects most vulnerable thoughts, contrarian ideas, and nurture weakest person to his/her fullest potential, is deemed advanced and progressive, is richer to contemporary realities and equipped to face future complexities. Most importantly we must not forget, they will make every attempt to make us forget -that is first step towards being controlled. We must read, objectively verify, critically scrutinize, and understand. We are mere mortal to seek truth we can only try to understand and value as much this miracle of life.
