Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "toleration"

Identity is selfishness, heritage is selfishness, culture is selfishness, that is, the way these constructs have been sustained in society all this time.

All this time things have been going on like this – my identity versus all others – my heritage versus all others – my culture versus all others. And such behavior has only fostered a paradigm of division.

This must change – from division to unison. And how will it happen? We gotta perform a complete overhaul of notions of identity, heritage and culture. We gotta turn each of them from a prison into a path. In simple terms, we gotta humanize them all – we gotta make them more about people than anything else – more about the people of the present and future than those of the past.

We gotta make them about life, not habits, beliefs and rituals. One may wonder, aren’t habits, beliefs and rituals also life!

No they ain’t – they are part of life, a microscopic part at that, but not life itself. So first and foremost, feel, think and walk past habits, beliefs and rituals, of your ancestors as well as your own.

Expansion, expansion, expansion – only way forward is expansion. If you are afraid that your ancestors would be offended at your expansion, then let me tell you this. It’s better to have no ancestor than to have one offended at your expansion.

All our ancestors made this mistake. They were all against expansion. Make not the same mistake my friend. Expand yourself, and encourage the children towards further expansion. Encourage them to surpass you, instead of sentencing them to the prison of your own beliefs and notions.

Without expansion there ain’t gonna be no earth left, that is, one fit for human existence. And to be honest, the day is not far when planet earth will be absolutely unfit for human existence, both psychologically and physically.

Diversity is no gimmick,
Diversity is no belief.
Diversity is life itself,
Diversity is uplift.
Diversity is sanity,
Diversity is joy.
Diversity is monsoon,
After a drought most dry.
There ain’t no humanity,
If there is no diversity.
We ain’t no human,
If inside we have no amity.
It ain’t enough to talk of toleration!
Each of us is to be the vessel of unification.

Dear believer, I don’t believe in an Almighty God.
Do you hate me for it? If yes, you have
learnt nothing from your faith.
Dear atheist, I don’t believe in supremacy of facts.
Do you hate me for it? If yes, you have
no mind but machine, my friend.

Everybody has imaginary friends,
My imaginary friend is my late teacher,
And I find it therapeutic to talk to him,
Whenever I hit rock bottom during disaster.

Quite like air, water and food,
It’s something we humans need to survive.
Last thing this world needs is more war
to prove whose imaginary friend
bears the greatest of might.

Militant atheists are no more humanist,
than religious fundamentalists are religious.
Secularism is not the absence of religion,
secularism is the absence of religious intolerance.

Naskar the scientist says,
Science that lifts no human condition,
is not science but superstition.
Naskar the monk says,
Inclusion is illumination,
discrimination is delusion.

Naskar the philosopher says,
Better lose truth, than lose humanity –
Better lose truth, than lose love.
Naskar the sufi says,
Sense yourself till
you sense nothing but love.

Naskar the humanist says,
I don’t care about your belief or disbelief,
all I care about is your behavior with others.
Naskar the humanitarian says,
each human must earn their admission
into the human race with humane actions.

The spirit of love speaks of love,
no matter the faith and field.
Hate is but a mark of narrowness –
When you expand heart and soul,
whole world becomes kin and kith.

I call it curiosity,
You call it science.
I call it integrity,
You call it defiance.
I call it contemplation,
You call it philosophy.
I call it accountability,
You call it sociology.
I call it correction,
You call it revolution.
I call it existence,
You call it inclusion.
All I see is humans
finally living a human life.
You with your brainy fancy
philosophize it as DEI.

“Now more than ever the hateful, intolerant, separatist bigots need our help, for they are ill, terribly ill. They are suffering from a condition, I call, Clinical Culturitis. So next time you see one, offer them a flower, and say – get well soon!”

“Get Well Soon (The Sonnet)

Upon absorbing all cultures into my blood,
I realize, the supreme culture is love.
Upon studying all scriptures as my own,
I realize, the supreme gospel is love.
Even after speaking six languages,
I say, the supreme language is love.
Upon observing all political ideologies,
I say, only ideal worth submission is love.
Unfolding the neural underpinnings of behavior,
I realize, seed of civilization is love.
Unraveling the cellular mysteries of life,
I realize, existence oughta be a record of love.
Tiny-brained know-it-alls will still yell,
their culture beats all, like some tipsy loon.
To which all I can say is – get well soon!”

English is my second language,
My first language is love.
Neuroscience is my second sense,
My first sense is love.

Theology is my second faith,
My first faith is interfaith.
Philosophy is my second nature,
My first nature is to assimilate.

Analog is my second passion,
My first passion is dialogue.
Law is my second task, my first,
Is taking beings out of the bog.

All labels are second labels,
Our native label is human.
All tradition is second tradition,
Earth’s native tradition is compassion.

Intolerance is the enemy, not illogicality. Argumentation without empathy is just hate speech. If someone is doing no harm, then who the hell are you to take away their fantasy! On occasion, healthy fantasy does indeed turn into harmful superstition – at that point it is the duty of every conscientious human to stand up to such superstition. Until then, keep your judgment to yourself.

You can never be a first class human being, until you have learnt to have some regard for human frailty.

The problem is not that we believe in a lot of weird stuff, the problem is that often we end up confusing our belief with reality. Keep your belief if you need, no matter how illogical it is, but always be observant of your belief. Be the believer as well as the observer of the believer. In your mind be a child as well as the guardian of the child. Allow yourself some fantasy if it’s not doing any harm, but never let it run amok.

Let me put it to you another way – a little bit of fantasy actually enhances your mental faculties. Which means, just like there is such a thing as too much fantasy, there is also such a thing as too much logic. Apply logic where logic is needed, permit fantasy where fantasy does good. Learn to be flexible, learn to be human.

Turban, Hijab, Habit or Tuxedo,
Wear whatever feels like second skin.
No need to justify to judgmental apes,
Life’s too short to be wasted on fiends.

Let them just fade away,
as vestigials of evolution.
Savagery requires treatment,
not serious consideration.

To be treated as a human being,
One must behave as human being.
Faith, intellect, both are poison,
If the heart remains ever so mean.

There’s plenty room for all thoughts,
No matter the measures of books ‘n brain.
Fiction, reason, all are welcome,
On my earth where but love reigns.