I would like to humbly proclaim that this munchkin is humbly grateful for all the divine interventions in my life. I swear, if more people believed how awesome Hanumanji really is, their life would be less miserable. At least, mine is.
After spending much time observing others, I find it a bit sad to find that just to admit a little belief in something, people have to not only fight their own self-doubts, but also the prejudice of others, who despise everything in which the word "religious" appears even once. The pride in being an atheist. The pride in having nothing to believe in oneself. That is okay, of course. What is amusing is the condescension towards those who do need something else to believe in. Something else to fill the gap, when faith in oneself crashes. Something else to help restructure your soul. Many don't even know the difference between religious and spiritual anymore. Did we really become that self-sufficient? I must've missed that.
I am starting to wonder when it became bad to believe in the divine. When religion began to be used for mass control and manipulation? Or later, when it started influencing government policy, scientific education, and altering historical accounts? Or even long before, when different religious views were a cause to separate and divide communities into closed circles? The sort of division that sparks everyone's self-preservation instinct and a discomfort towards those that are different? We may never know.
Beliefs and opinions have always been a cause for argument, but not among people who are curious, and full of wonder towards things that are different and new. These are a cause for argument among self-righteous people, who are not only convinced that theirs is the correct, overarching idea, but also that others should also think so. Trouble really starts when such people are in positions of power. Curious thing is, nothing stimulates the Ego more than these two things, and which is why even close friends will have arguments over these. There is so much complexity to human psychology, and I really do wonder how it evolved.
Even as I write this, through my rambling questions, is a hint of self-doubt. I never pray in public, yet I carry around my Hanuman Chalisa in public, always. And I really am not sure which I despise more: judgment from those who don't understand why I choose to believe, or judgment from those who themselves have nothing to believe in, and are thus unable to accept their faults and move on. Because there is nothing that can catch them to bring them home. Perhaps one day, I shall evolve too, and stop caring.
After spending much time observing others, I find it a bit sad to find that just to admit a little belief in something, people have to not only fight their own self-doubts, but also the prejudice of others, who despise everything in which the word "religious" appears even once. The pride in being an atheist. The pride in having nothing to believe in oneself. That is okay, of course. What is amusing is the condescension towards those who do need something else to believe in. Something else to fill the gap, when faith in oneself crashes. Something else to help restructure your soul. Many don't even know the difference between religious and spiritual anymore. Did we really become that self-sufficient? I must've missed that.
I am starting to wonder when it became bad to believe in the divine. When religion began to be used for mass control and manipulation? Or later, when it started influencing government policy, scientific education, and altering historical accounts? Or even long before, when different religious views were a cause to separate and divide communities into closed circles? The sort of division that sparks everyone's self-preservation instinct and a discomfort towards those that are different? We may never know.
Beliefs and opinions have always been a cause for argument, but not among people who are curious, and full of wonder towards things that are different and new. These are a cause for argument among self-righteous people, who are not only convinced that theirs is the correct, overarching idea, but also that others should also think so. Trouble really starts when such people are in positions of power. Curious thing is, nothing stimulates the Ego more than these two things, and which is why even close friends will have arguments over these. There is so much complexity to human psychology, and I really do wonder how it evolved.
Even as I write this, through my rambling questions, is a hint of self-doubt. I never pray in public, yet I carry around my Hanuman Chalisa in public, always. And I really am not sure which I despise more: judgment from those who don't understand why I choose to believe, or judgment from those who themselves have nothing to believe in, and are thus unable to accept their faults and move on. Because there is nothing that can catch them to bring them home. Perhaps one day, I shall evolve too, and stop caring.
