Religion: An informed Choice..

We are but a product and result of choice.
Our existence is often incorrectly attributed to chance only, choice had, infact, a major role in shaping how we emerged as the leading species on earth.
We exercise, through freewill, choice, on a daily basis.
What we wear, eat, do, is all in a way a resultant from our experiences, but the end point being, we have the power to choose to not act a certain way, not eat certain things and not wear specific clothes/colors.
WHY then, must we not exercise this choice when it comes to the one and probably ONLY factor that majorly shapes the way we make decisions and live our lives?
Im talking about religion.

If you think you've chosen your religion, you're probably wrong.
Have you really?
Inorder to have chosen the religion you're in, you would, by definition, need to know about the alternatives, else, your choice would be the result of incorrect/incomplete information.
Most of us follow the religion of our parents. A generation that was brainwashed into a false sense of security and complacence.
But today, we're in the information age, where every bit of knowledge is available at your fingertips.
Why then do we subscribe blindly to a religion without studying what we could've been? Because you parents say so? because else, you wouldn't fit into your existing social circles anymore? is that honestly a good enough reason?
You could secretly be a Buddhist or a sun worshiper, but for the knowledge of the religion. How many of you know enough to judge or even talk about another religion? Islam, hinduism and christanity.. Does the general population know anything apart from these religions? Religions that sometimes even predate all these by thousands of years...

Even as a consumer buying a product that would not last forever, you check for alternatives and best prices. But it is indeed sad many of us settle for the first religion, often one that we will remain faithful to forever, to comes our way without checking for alternatives first..

Relationships are messy.. Bewarned.. Yet..

We're all born innocent..
Born into a world that's anything but.
true, we make the best of it, losing a little of our innocence at every stop. The more stops you make, the higher you go..
Gosh I remember being small.. Such an uncomplicated life we lead then..
Who knew it would get this messed up.
But do you know whats really messed up? Complicated lives are optional..
We all are fully aware of how much we opt for.. yet, like bugs to a light..

Know what is really messy? Relationships..
Think of a life that is practical to the core..
Sure mainstream media will lead you to believe we're all societal beings that cannot function without any non-practical relationships.
But ponder over it for just a minute...
Relationships not based in practicality are just plain messy.. they almost never go they way you intend.

As children we all thought life would be a breeze.. Ahh well.. little did we know.
What changed? We grew up in a rosy land of fairy tales and stories..
and suddenly were ripped almost brutally from the cozy womb of lullaby land and thrown into the pit of the brutal practical world..

Its about time we faced the facts.. We live in a world not that dissimilar to the matrix..

We're here as a result of evolution. That almost cuts out the possibility of us having a pre-planned end game or a 'destiny' if you will..
that would make our only purpose here, to further propagate our current species until the need to further evolve arises. And also to progress as a species, effectively cutting out any room for 'emotional' entanglements..
Every action performed in the name of 'emotion' has practical reasoning to it. well almost all. Everything we do in a relationship, we do because of practical purposes. Right from being selfish to being caring to the eternally complicated mind games revolving sex.. Many books on the subject will more than prove my point.

What am i getting at?
All im saying is, identify which of our relationships have practicality deeply embedded in them.. Those are your lasting ones.
and lastly, please don't subscribe to the propaganda sold to you by various forms of media.. Don't let a few people with journalism/media degrees influence the way you think..
If not believing in non-practical relationships makes me shallow, then there exists an urgent need to re-define what being 'shallow' means..

Questions from a child - Part 1

"What do YOU think happens when we die?" inquired the child.
"They've taught us at sunday school" he continued "that when we die, our souls depart from our body and go to heaven"..
"What do you think?" replied the older man seated next to him.
"Well" began the boy, "I'd like to think that's true. Teacher tells me heaven is a nice place filled with all the people who have been nice here on earth"
"Nice on earth?" questioned the older gentleman suddenly intrigued.
"Yes" said the boy after much thought. "If we're nice, we're sent to heaven"
"Did she tell you what heaven is like?"
"Yes" said the boy. "She said heaven was filled with wonderful things and is a place that fulfills your every want by you just thinking it"
The old man pondered over this information for a minute. "What happens if you're bad then?"
"Well, I guess you'd then be sent to hell, where you spend all eternity"
"So" replied the old man, "If I understand you correctly, If I am bad in this life, I'll spend an eternity in a torturous place"
"Yes" replied the boy with certainty.
"And who may I ask judges if Ive been good or bad? God?"
"Well teachers told me that at the gates of heaven sits Saint Peter with a log of our good and bad actions. And if the bad ones outweigh the good, we're sent to hell"
"I see" "So people who steal, kill are sent to hell?"
"Yes and so are the people who lie, do not maintain sunday as a holy day and even people who dishonor their parents, there's a set of rules in the bible, it is called the ten commandments, i just learned them a month ago" said the boy proudly.
"You're quite smart" said the old man. "If you know the rules, its easy not to break them isn't it?" "By the way" he said "have you read the new Testament of the bible?
"Not yet, teacher says we have to understand the old fully before moving onto the new"
"well" said the old man "the new testament is very interesting, it says that Jesus, who was the son of god, loves sinners"
"What? really? does it really say that?"
"yes, he loves sinners because it is them who can repent and go to heaven. He even died for the sins of mankind"
"Died for, um, our sins?"
"Yes. He died and thereby forgave the sins of all mankind"
"So people from hell were able to go to heaven?"
"well no, its not that easy. Let me just say, their sins were forgiven"
"By whom?" questioned the boy..
"well, by God" replied the man.
"What about the people who were sinned against? people who lost family because of murders and people whose things were stolen? don't they have to forgive the sinners too?"
"Well yea" said the old man thoughtfully.
"So Jesus died, to forgive the sins of people, committed against other people who haven't really forgiven them and the sinners couldn't even make it to heaven?"
"well, when you put it that way, I guess you could say that"
"Ok" replied the boy not really satisfied with all that he had learned.

"What about hell then?" questioned the boy after much thought. "If we're forgiven for all our sins and jesus loves sinners, who goes to hell?
"Its complicated" said the old man. "First off, people who do not believe in our god go to hell, but you already know that"
"Just for not believing in god?"
"Yes, well, God punishes all non believers"
"But people who sin and kill others, if they repent, I mean, teacher says, if we repent and feel sorry for our sins, we'll go to heaven"
"Yes" said the old man. "Repentance is the way to heaven"
"So" replied the boy, "I can kill a person, repent and go to heaven, but if I live as a nice person, only, don't believe in god, I go to hell?"
"That's what the Bible says" replied the man
"Ok" replied the boy again, this time unhappy with the realizations dawning on him.


To be continued....

Look before you leap..

People are complicated..
I know very well that what I've just typed isn't ground breaking information and it isn't going to change anyone perceptions about generally anything..
It seems to be common knowledge amongst humanity as a whole..
I mean we've grown up watching tons of movies where the protagonist is a person of a deep personality.. Not easily deciphered.. Even in the case of seemingly simple straightforward characters like Forrest Gump..
Even movies targeting children (like Shrek) tell us that people have layers.. much like an onion.. Or cake.. That taking a person at face value will result in you missing out on the bigger picture.. That misjudging a character's personality in the beginning of a movie will result in shock when he is later uncovered to be the murderous butler..
Yet..
Yet we throw all that out of the window and jump to our own conclusions about people.. Is it in our DNA to do so? I don't yet know, but we do nevertheless.. We often jump to rash and mostly incorrect conclusions based on our immature first impressions of the people we meet.
but it isn't only restricted to first impressions?
Have you even confronted anyone about the reason for a particular action? An action perhaps that you didn't quite appreciate? before speaking to the person about it, you will have already formulated a supposed reason for it before you even confront the person..

let me reiterate my initial statement..
people are complicated.. and deserve a chance to defend themselves against any action if they so choose so.. and even if they do not wish to make clear their original intention, it shows a character flaw within the person that would rather speculate than give the person the benefit of doubt.
The next time you feel badly about the actions of someone, Stop and think not about why he would act that way.. instead think of how small it would make you look to feel bad about just a speculation formed in your curious mind..

Sharing a part of yourself.... Should you?

Now I'm a reserved person, you don't really need to be exceptionally perceptive to know that.. I respect the life and privacy of others and never intrude.. Is it really that tough for other people to do the same? Right now it doesn't seem so bad, so far so good right?
what about later?
why do i need to share personal things with anyone? why is being a social recluse a bad thing? is it because society as a whole is scared of people that they cannot keep tabs on? people with the need for personal space are treated like bad apples..
so what if i don't want to come for your religious laced social gathering, why am i any less of a human being because of it?
in a marriage, it is considered, well, bad isn't the ideal word here, so I'll say, not desirable, to keep 'secrets' from your 'better?' half.. why is that? does being married rob you of your personality? Of late an increasing number of married (and also people generally in relationships) people have begun question their partners about seemingly trivial things.. where are you going? why are you going there? what will you do there? A sense of trust that seem to exist in relationships a couple of generations back seems to be fast vanishing into a cloud of mistrust and suspicion.
A common factor that results in a couple visiting a marriage counselor is "he/she wont share her feelings with me"
What IS this need to completely 'know' someone! you do realize that you'll never really 'know/understand' anyone.. i can attribute the shock of the failed relationship to the grieving partner once thinking they had fully understood their significant other. "he cheated on me! *sob and i thought i knew him!"
Really!! are the majority of you nervous because you don't get along with yourself? is that why loners are subjected to harsh stares at restaurants when they attempt to have a quiet peaceful meal by themselves? or why a single person in a concert/theater is given a look of pity/sympathy as if to denote that he was stood up by someone?
modern science is gradually, with all its technology creating the perfect world where everyone is slanting towards being a little dissocial.. at the same time, it is constantly categorizing us into new mental diseases that seems bent on convincing us that we're all a little less that your average societal alpha man.. we're grouped into mental illness like the one mentioned above "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder#Diagnostic_criteria_.28ICD-10.29_-_dissocial_personality_disorder.E2.80.8E" and we're told that one in five people have a mental illness of the like..

its sad that when most people don't even get along with themselves and cant even spend a day with only themselves for company, they strangely expect you to do so..

Nothing..

Wow.. Its been a while since Ive been here.. And for good reason.
Nothing new to write about..
I mean, we all know that our problems are all petty when viewed from a third persons eye..
we know that we should NOT let a relationship be any indication of us as people and of our personality..
we know that any problem can be solved by talking it out.. As long as you have the power of negotiating..
we know that our beliefs are ruining the planet.. well some of us do anyway..
yet we constantly, whether consciously or not, seek pity from others.
Pity and approval..
Why do YOU care? why DO you care?
what difference does it make if one more person out there has a negative impression of you? are you forever going to try to fit into preset moulds? that is the only surefire way to be accepted..
Why are people who drink, smoke and dope said to be doing a bad/negative/evil thing?
Boohoo you shouldn't eat this and you shouldn't be doing that..
Its like a constant attempt on our part to try and get into this huge fraternity we call 'society'.. only we all pale when compared to the absolute.. the perfect societal man... who exists only in our minds and text books..

most of our basic freedoms have been revoked by we ourselves..

yet instead of attempting to make a change, we go about indulging the very system that has a foot holding us down.

Remember, we're only as free as we realize we are..

Time After Time...

Do you ever wondered what life would be like in slow motion? Do you think we'd have a sudden respect for the nitty gritty aspects of life we often take for granted? Personally, I'd like to know what life felt like slowed down, with a good soundtrack throw in for good measure.. Life imitating art, to use that old clinker..
Days move fast.. way too fast for us to realize the true practical value of them.. Time flies when you're having fun? i don't for a second doubt it..
Days gone back will never return.. many of us spend hours staring into the looking glass at images of our fruitful pasts. we just can't let it go, not even if we wanted to..
Quarter life crisis.. Greatly underestimated.. keep hearing comparisons from elders about how we're losing it.. I mean the term didn't even exist when they were still fooling around..
Having an end plan.. too over hyped.. its a pity that you have to either conform or be shunned.. bend or break they tell me.. its a little late now huh? rebellion has already been hard wired into some of our systems..
Playing the game is easy.. It all depends on how you want your prize.. cash or kind..
Manipulating people is easy too, depending or how heavy you want your emotional baggage to be.. you'll never fly with too much you know..
None of us have the right to say that their life isn't going according to plan, because we're all capable of changing our life.. your job and relationship problems aren't what you should be losing hair over.. Stick around, the big guns are about to be unveiled.
People want to make mountains of molehills.. Correction, they do not 'want' to as much as they 'have' to... exaggeration is part of life..
So spare me the gory details of your past relationships, addictions and other problems, you know that you're only as strong as you want to be..
Emotions cloud all our judgments.. urge people to fly off cliffs and try to take on trains.. yet we'd rather be fooled by them time again instead of getting the upper hand of things..
Our lives would make a pretty interesting soap opera to extraterrestrial secretly monitoring our planet..