God Almighty

My last blog "Which religion is right for you" prompted me to think about this concept. If you look at it, every single civilization that we know of has had the concept of God (or multiples of them). And these concepts evolved without any exchange of ideas between the other civilizations. And yet, we see so much similarity in what each religion tries to teach us.

Things like be nice, dont go around killing people, the concept of a good place and a bad place where you might end up after you die, possibilities of reincarnation, etc. etc.

But there are always people who take things too far. The people could be your own parents, your neighbours or even your friends. It's, I think, a problem of taking things too literally.

When I say - too literally - I mean the fact that the Almighty will wreak havoc on your life if you .... I don't know, something nasty or something very sensible, but which does not agree with the published blueprint of that particular religion. And that's where I have a problem.

This thinking got triggered after I read the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. While you all might say "Aah, now we know what you're talking about", I don't think you do.

The book basically talks about the genesis of the Christian religion & how the Church went all out to make it what it is today. Now I am no authority to say whether the facts in the book are indeed facts. All I can say is that the story is quite persuasive. But this blog is not about the book, it's about the central figure in the book.

A friend of mine, after reading the book, said to me, "How can the Christian people continue, after reading all this stuff?". And my simple reasoning was, "Religion is a matter of faith, not facts"

To elaborate on this point, I say the following. I subscribe to the Hindu religion...maybe because I was born a Hindu. In Hinduism, we worship gods of all kinds. My favourite is one with a human body & the head of an elephant (His name is Ganesha) and he is the god who removes all the obstacles from your life. We have goddesses who represent learning, power, anger & money. We have a representation of the creator of the world, a king of the gods & the ideal human. We have a lot more gods than you can count.

Now the point is not whether there actually exists a being with the head of an elephant on a human body. The point is that all these gods are representatives of faith. And you usually recall gods when you're in trouble, when you're faced with the unknown.

There is so much we don't know about us. How we came into being, how the universe works, what actually happened. We have a lot of theories, but we still have a lot to know. And if it's evidence that we are looking for, I guess we don't have any evidence for the presence of a mind, just the presence of a brain. We can look for the heart, but not the driving force for life.

There are so many unexplained things that we live with in our lives. And that is where faith comes into play. Putting your trust into a higher order when it comes to the unknown.

Everything is just derivative of the concept of faith. Rituals, traditions, beliefs are things that someone interpreted from the base concept & which got passed on through generations.

Which brings me back to the original point (I am not sure whether there was an original point, but then, I would like to think there was, instead of a useless ramble). Which religion is right for you...the one you were born into, the one most universal, the one which you most agree with. What?

But then again, if it is all about faith, you don't need to change religions. Just keep your faith, whatever it is. All religions have the same base concepts, just the interpretations differ. And remember, these interpretations were made by people. So you can have your own interpretations. I believe, that if you keep your faith & keep your mind open, life is a lot better.

Something I dont understand is the concept of forcing religion onto other people. I agree with people believing in their religion, but I do not agree with forcing that faith & that value system on someone else. So I cannot understand the holy wars. But like I said before, there are so many things that I dont know about.

All that matters is that I keep my faith.