Abhijit Naskar's Blog, page 101
August 4, 2018
Indifference to Global Warming will destroy your children
You know the weird feeling that you have been getting recently, that the weather is constantly changing. It’s not what it used to be when you were a kid. That’s because we the humans have messed things up on this planet. I know it’s a hard fact to grasp, but be with me on this for a while as I elaborate. Global warming, that’s what we will address in this brief piece, while providing the most effective means to actually treat it. But of course, I am only going to show you the means, but in the end, it is up to you, to either practise or not practise them. But the point is, if you don’t practise them, you may die without actually facing the wrath of mother nature, but your children and grandchildren will surely suffer for your mistakes and callousness. And this is not a prediction, rather a fact.
Let me give you an example. Imagine there is a bottle of poison on the desk. What do you think will happen, if you bring the bottle down and drink the poison! You know the answer right! You see it as a fact, that if you drink it, you surely will bid goodbye to life. Similar is the matter of global warming. If you stay indifferent and don’t act to treat it, then it’s your descendants who shall have to bid goodbye to their life.
Global warming is happening right at this very moment, as you are reading this piece – deal with it. It’s not a prediction or a matter of the future any more. And some of you may think that, there’s nothing to worry, for all humans will eventually move to MARS. Well, here is the news for you. Science does not yet have the means to colonize an entire planet and make it suitable for human living, no matter how much some privately owned space agencies boast about it. Also, when we actually develop the technology to visit MARS, may be in a century or perhaps more, the trip is not going to be available to everyone. Only the richest will get a chance, to simply visit MARS, and not to live there. To actually live on MARS, it’ll take many millennia. So, for the countless millennia to come, Mother Earth is going to be our only place to live – the place called home.
Now here is a shocking fact, since Earth is our only home, which is actually currently in danger, in the coming centuries, this only home is going to become less and less suitable for living. Hence, your children and their children will have nowhere to go. The only factual future that awaits your progeny, is a horrible death. All because you do not feel responsible enough to take actions to treat the damaged home you live in. You will die after living a comfortable life, but the life of your kids and grandkids will be full of misery, because, you think, global warming is not an urgent enough issue to pay attention to. So, pay attention, while there is still time.
To treat our own Mother Nature we need to conserve her wellness, which means, we need to take every single measure that can promote her well-being. Every single measure that I am going to mention now, has utter significance in reducing the rate of global warming and slowly restoring a healthy environment around us.
Global warming is largely cause by greenhouse gas emissions. By taking actions that effect in reducing the greenhouse gas emission that you contribute in your personal life, you can take a real stand against global warming. All you need to do is change your consumption habits and be efficient. Consume as less energy as possible, in any manner possible. Driving is the biggest ways people contribute to global warming. So, by minimizing driving, you can make a huge impact on Mother Earth. Here are some measures that you can take to minimize driving. Carpool to work with others. This not only reduces greenhouse gas emission, but also strengthens social bond. Use public transportation whenever possible, or ride a bike. If you own a car, then make sure that you maintain it regularly. This makes the car emit less greenhouse gas. Also, to reduce power consumption, replace the old incandescent light bulbs at home to compact fluorescent or LED bulbs. Especially LED bulbs are the most efficient so far, and can save a lot of power, also they are brighter than the old incandescent bulbs. This simple act of yours will not only reduce energy consumption but also it’ll reduce your electricity bill.
These are the very simple few steps that you can take right after you finish reading this article. You are not required to read thousands of books on global warming to make a real contributing in treating that global warming. It only takes the simple sense of responsibility. Do you feel that responsibility my friend? Do you? If you do, then start acting right now – at this very moment, and a few other humans around you will automatically learn from your actions and feel responsible enough to do their part as well. You cannot tell them to be responsible, you can only show them, how it is like to be responsible through your actions.
I beg you my dear sibling – please act – don’t stay silent and indifferent any more, to the agonies of Nature, because the agonies of Nature are getting worse and they’ll destroy the very elements of wellness and joy in the life of your own children and grandchildren. Your indifference would only worsen the situation, so awake, arise and act – act not just for the rights of the humans but for the rights of Nature as well, because without the fundamental rights of wellness and peace restored in the heart of Mother Nature, humans will not have a home to rejoice their rights – their unity and their uniformity.
Let me give you an example. Imagine there is a bottle of poison on the desk. What do you think will happen, if you bring the bottle down and drink the poison! You know the answer right! You see it as a fact, that if you drink it, you surely will bid goodbye to life. Similar is the matter of global warming. If you stay indifferent and don’t act to treat it, then it’s your descendants who shall have to bid goodbye to their life.
Global warming is happening right at this very moment, as you are reading this piece – deal with it. It’s not a prediction or a matter of the future any more. And some of you may think that, there’s nothing to worry, for all humans will eventually move to MARS. Well, here is the news for you. Science does not yet have the means to colonize an entire planet and make it suitable for human living, no matter how much some privately owned space agencies boast about it. Also, when we actually develop the technology to visit MARS, may be in a century or perhaps more, the trip is not going to be available to everyone. Only the richest will get a chance, to simply visit MARS, and not to live there. To actually live on MARS, it’ll take many millennia. So, for the countless millennia to come, Mother Earth is going to be our only place to live – the place called home.
Now here is a shocking fact, since Earth is our only home, which is actually currently in danger, in the coming centuries, this only home is going to become less and less suitable for living. Hence, your children and their children will have nowhere to go. The only factual future that awaits your progeny, is a horrible death. All because you do not feel responsible enough to take actions to treat the damaged home you live in. You will die after living a comfortable life, but the life of your kids and grandkids will be full of misery, because, you think, global warming is not an urgent enough issue to pay attention to. So, pay attention, while there is still time.
To treat our own Mother Nature we need to conserve her wellness, which means, we need to take every single measure that can promote her well-being. Every single measure that I am going to mention now, has utter significance in reducing the rate of global warming and slowly restoring a healthy environment around us.
Global warming is largely cause by greenhouse gas emissions. By taking actions that effect in reducing the greenhouse gas emission that you contribute in your personal life, you can take a real stand against global warming. All you need to do is change your consumption habits and be efficient. Consume as less energy as possible, in any manner possible. Driving is the biggest ways people contribute to global warming. So, by minimizing driving, you can make a huge impact on Mother Earth. Here are some measures that you can take to minimize driving. Carpool to work with others. This not only reduces greenhouse gas emission, but also strengthens social bond. Use public transportation whenever possible, or ride a bike. If you own a car, then make sure that you maintain it regularly. This makes the car emit less greenhouse gas. Also, to reduce power consumption, replace the old incandescent light bulbs at home to compact fluorescent or LED bulbs. Especially LED bulbs are the most efficient so far, and can save a lot of power, also they are brighter than the old incandescent bulbs. This simple act of yours will not only reduce energy consumption but also it’ll reduce your electricity bill.
These are the very simple few steps that you can take right after you finish reading this article. You are not required to read thousands of books on global warming to make a real contributing in treating that global warming. It only takes the simple sense of responsibility. Do you feel that responsibility my friend? Do you? If you do, then start acting right now – at this very moment, and a few other humans around you will automatically learn from your actions and feel responsible enough to do their part as well. You cannot tell them to be responsible, you can only show them, how it is like to be responsible through your actions.
I beg you my dear sibling – please act – don’t stay silent and indifferent any more, to the agonies of Nature, because the agonies of Nature are getting worse and they’ll destroy the very elements of wellness and joy in the life of your own children and grandchildren. Your indifference would only worsen the situation, so awake, arise and act – act not just for the rights of the humans but for the rights of Nature as well, because without the fundamental rights of wellness and peace restored in the heart of Mother Nature, humans will not have a home to rejoice their rights – their unity and their uniformity.
July 19, 2018
Real Christian Existence
What is a Christian Life? What is it to be a Christian? You think you already know the answer, I am quite aware of it. But, for the time being, allow me to tell you, that being Christian is not what most so-called Christians think it to be. Most so-called Christians would most gloriously think of Christianity to be a matter of undivided loyalty to the figure known as Jesus. But that’s precisely what being Christian is not, and in fact, that’s precious what being religious is not. What is it to be a Christian, one wonders?
We may begin our investigation here, but only if you are willing to take off all labels. Are you? Good, let’s begin shall we! The first thing we need to be aware of here is that, all of Christ’s philosophical ideas and teachings can be compressed into one simple phrase – “Love thy neighbor”. It elucidates the innate kindness of human heart in the simplest manner. So, being Christian is simply about being kind, being loving, being compassionate – that’s all. And in fact, that’s what being religious is about – it’s about loving your fellow being. One doesn’t even need to call himself or herself as a Christian or even religious for that matter, to be a Christian. A Hindu can be Christian – a Muslim can be Christian – a Buddhist can be Christian – an atheist can be Christian, as long as that person practises love and kindness in everyday living.
A true human being with love and kindness in his or heart, would automatically be a Christian, whether he or she actually calls himself or herself as such, because that’s what Christ was – a true human being, with a gloriously kind heart. Basically, you don’t need to be born in a Christian family to be a Christian. Practise love – practise kindness, as you walk through your day, and you would automatically be walking on the path laid by Christ himself, regardless of whether you are announcing most boastfully that you are a Christian. Any human who practices love and kindness is a Christian. So, it is only the true human being who is qualified to be hailed as a Christian, not the person who utters countless phrases from the Bible all the time, yet does not show a sign of graceful kindness in his or her actions towards others.
Christ was a being of glorious character, who wanted to reinstall the forgotten humanity in the heart of humanity, hence he gave his life teaching humanity the lessons of non-differentiation – the lessons of love – the lessons of true humanity, yet his name has been disgraced by many of his own followers with acts of sectarianism and bigotry. Mind you my dear sibling, sectarianism is no christian act, neither is bigotry and extremism. The whole world is filled with countless creatures who call themselves Christians, yet I see very little, or alas, no trace of true Christianity in them. Be the Christian whose heart aches at the sight of
others’ pain – be the Christian whose acts shine with vivacious kindness and glory – be the Christian whose very life becomes an embodiment of true Christianity – an embodiment of Christ himself. Be a living Christ on earth, then and then only shall you be a real Christian.
Remember, Christ and Christianity are not separate – they are one and the same thing. Christ is a being of pure kindness, and so is Christianity. Hence, forget all rules and regulations of the so-called modern society and be the being of kindness – be the being of compassion – be the being of conscience, for that being is the only real Christian on earth, all others are mere mockery of Christian existence. A true Christian life is a life lived for others, beyond the barriers of words, labels and terms. And indeed a life lived for others, is a true religious life. In the end, to the real Christian, the term “Christian” becomes irrelevant, and what matters to him or her the most, is pure conscientious act of kindness. This pure kindness does not need a label of organized religion to exist, in fact in its purest form it is devoid of all labels, yet you can find traces of it in all organized religions.
Recommended Reading
Neurons of Jesus: Mind of A Teacher, Spouse & Thinker
We may begin our investigation here, but only if you are willing to take off all labels. Are you? Good, let’s begin shall we! The first thing we need to be aware of here is that, all of Christ’s philosophical ideas and teachings can be compressed into one simple phrase – “Love thy neighbor”. It elucidates the innate kindness of human heart in the simplest manner. So, being Christian is simply about being kind, being loving, being compassionate – that’s all. And in fact, that’s what being religious is about – it’s about loving your fellow being. One doesn’t even need to call himself or herself as a Christian or even religious for that matter, to be a Christian. A Hindu can be Christian – a Muslim can be Christian – a Buddhist can be Christian – an atheist can be Christian, as long as that person practises love and kindness in everyday living.
A true human being with love and kindness in his or heart, would automatically be a Christian, whether he or she actually calls himself or herself as such, because that’s what Christ was – a true human being, with a gloriously kind heart. Basically, you don’t need to be born in a Christian family to be a Christian. Practise love – practise kindness, as you walk through your day, and you would automatically be walking on the path laid by Christ himself, regardless of whether you are announcing most boastfully that you are a Christian. Any human who practices love and kindness is a Christian. So, it is only the true human being who is qualified to be hailed as a Christian, not the person who utters countless phrases from the Bible all the time, yet does not show a sign of graceful kindness in his or her actions towards others.
Christ was a being of glorious character, who wanted to reinstall the forgotten humanity in the heart of humanity, hence he gave his life teaching humanity the lessons of non-differentiation – the lessons of love – the lessons of true humanity, yet his name has been disgraced by many of his own followers with acts of sectarianism and bigotry. Mind you my dear sibling, sectarianism is no christian act, neither is bigotry and extremism. The whole world is filled with countless creatures who call themselves Christians, yet I see very little, or alas, no trace of true Christianity in them. Be the Christian whose heart aches at the sight of
others’ pain – be the Christian whose acts shine with vivacious kindness and glory – be the Christian whose very life becomes an embodiment of true Christianity – an embodiment of Christ himself. Be a living Christ on earth, then and then only shall you be a real Christian.
Remember, Christ and Christianity are not separate – they are one and the same thing. Christ is a being of pure kindness, and so is Christianity. Hence, forget all rules and regulations of the so-called modern society and be the being of kindness – be the being of compassion – be the being of conscience, for that being is the only real Christian on earth, all others are mere mockery of Christian existence. A true Christian life is a life lived for others, beyond the barriers of words, labels and terms. And indeed a life lived for others, is a true religious life. In the end, to the real Christian, the term “Christian” becomes irrelevant, and what matters to him or her the most, is pure conscientious act of kindness. This pure kindness does not need a label of organized religion to exist, in fact in its purest form it is devoid of all labels, yet you can find traces of it in all organized religions.
Recommended Reading
Neurons of Jesus: Mind of A Teacher, Spouse & Thinker
July 18, 2018
The Real Karma
The Sanskrit term “Karma” simply refers to “duty”, that is, your everyday duty as a human being. And this duty has no mystical intervention in it – it has no divine law that can determine a certain reward in return. It’s plain ordinary everyday human action. However, the nonsense of Hindu orthodoxy and the gullibility of people have turned the simple idea of karma or human action into a form of divine law – where one receives reward for doing good and punishment for doing bad. This primordial and uncivilized form of Karma is nothing but an ignorant fantasy of ignorant people. It gives them a kind of comfort that if a person does good, he or she would for sure receive a reward in return by the force of this karmic law. And this is nothing but the product of psychological insecurity of the human mind. So, the so-called law of karma is all superstitious nonsense, quite similar to the afterlife nonsense.
Real humans with a beating heart and active conscience would do good in the world, not because of some mumbo-jumbo law, but because that’s what being human means. That act of goodness and kindness does not determine the reward you’ll get for your action. In fact, real karma or real human duty is the act that is carried out with the genuine hope of bringing a change outside of us – in the world, not in anticipation of reward. And that very act of pure conscience is karma, morality, religion, godliness, spirituality all together. These are all varied terms for the one and the same thing, that is being a conscientious human being. In short, to be a conscientious human is real karma – it is real spirituality – it is real religion.
Real humans with a beating heart and active conscience would do good in the world, not because of some mumbo-jumbo law, but because that’s what being human means. That act of goodness and kindness does not determine the reward you’ll get for your action. In fact, real karma or real human duty is the act that is carried out with the genuine hope of bringing a change outside of us – in the world, not in anticipation of reward. And that very act of pure conscience is karma, morality, religion, godliness, spirituality all together. These are all varied terms for the one and the same thing, that is being a conscientious human being. In short, to be a conscientious human is real karma – it is real spirituality – it is real religion.
May 14, 2018
On the Nature of Democratic Psychology
The human society has been running on fumes – the fumes of pleasure, reward, gratification and charm. And while walking on this illustrious path, they have constructed illustrious ideals without thinking about their practicality and actual implications in the society and have tried their best to stand up for those ideals, despite the fact that these so-called ideals have nothing to do with genuine everyday human existence whatsoever. On this disorderly path of delusions, humanity has organized its religions – it has developed its methods of education – and to watch over all these structures, it has developed its so-called governments on an illustrious ideal of democracy. Democracy – that is what it’s called, when a huge population of sapiens are made to think that they are competent enough to choose the individual or individuals who would essentially be in control of their lives in the society.
Democracy is supposed to be a system of government constructed by the people, for the people. Now here is the question? Do people really construct the government! Democracy of today’s society is dictatorship without the bitterness. At the current mental maturity of the human species, democracy is as barbarian and degrading as dictatorship – it just doesn’t feel that way, because of the illusory sense of control. Please don’t freak out or think of me as anti-democratic. I am not anti-anything, except anti-fundamentalism and anti-sectarianism. We are just beginning our journey of investigating the actual implications of the so-called system of democracy upon the human society. And this is not going to be a criticism of democracy. I despise criticism, because it brings out no positive outcome in the society, but only makes one waste time and energy. Criticisms and revolt do not solve a thing, what does, in actuality, not in theory, is awareness of the reality. And the reality is democracy can be effective, productive and progressive only in a society where people live with the awareness of the self, beyond the labels of traditions and ideologies. But in the current mental state of the human society, though superior to tyranny in terms of comfort of the masses, democracy is actually inferior to dictatorship, because of its hypocrisy and its manipulative nature.
Read Full Paper (PDF)
Democracy is supposed to be a system of government constructed by the people, for the people. Now here is the question? Do people really construct the government! Democracy of today’s society is dictatorship without the bitterness. At the current mental maturity of the human species, democracy is as barbarian and degrading as dictatorship – it just doesn’t feel that way, because of the illusory sense of control. Please don’t freak out or think of me as anti-democratic. I am not anti-anything, except anti-fundamentalism and anti-sectarianism. We are just beginning our journey of investigating the actual implications of the so-called system of democracy upon the human society. And this is not going to be a criticism of democracy. I despise criticism, because it brings out no positive outcome in the society, but only makes one waste time and energy. Criticisms and revolt do not solve a thing, what does, in actuality, not in theory, is awareness of the reality. And the reality is democracy can be effective, productive and progressive only in a society where people live with the awareness of the self, beyond the labels of traditions and ideologies. But in the current mental state of the human society, though superior to tyranny in terms of comfort of the masses, democracy is actually inferior to dictatorship, because of its hypocrisy and its manipulative nature.
Read Full Paper (PDF)
April 14, 2018
What is Right Religion
Today we are going to talk about perhaps the most significant element of human existence - the most significant part of human life - that is religion. You know about religion - you have heard about religion - perhaps you have been taught by your traditions to be religious in a certain manner through various rituals and various methods - yet all those rituals and methods vary throughout the world - they are not exactly universal - yet they talk about something universal - they talk about something ultimate - they talk about reaching an ultimate truth. All of the so-called advocates of religion talk about different religions being different paths to the same truth. I'm afraid they are not exactly right on this - they are partially right. I wonder whether they have any idea of what religion really is!
Now before we continue I need to ask you something - I need to ask you to at least try to turn all those predominant ideas, notions and perceptions about religion off, because none of my statements is going to make sense if you try to find meaning in them by using your own predominant perceptions, notions, ideas, thoughts and opinions about religion. Traditions throughout the world have distorted religion - they have dismantled the very fundamental basis of religion - they have distorted it to such an extent that today's humans deem rituals, orthodoxy, dogmas, doctrines, set of ideals, beliefs, imaginations, illusions, prejudices and stereotypes to be synonymous with religion. As a result the whole world is being burnt in the fire of religious violence. Perhaps most of the terrible violence on planet earth are actually occurring in the name of religion - it's not my opinion - you know it as well as I do.
Now one wonders why? Let's go deeper into this why. It is because, apparently devout religious people think by standing true to their own dogmas, traditions, orthodoxy, beliefs, ideals and set of doctrines, they are actually walking on the path of right religion. But that's not right religion - that's precisely the wrong religion - be it Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or anything else. Any religion that has to do with dogmas and doctrines, and does not evolve with time is only the most immature form of religion - it's only the most barbarian form of religion. Now I'm not specifying any religion. I'm not going to say Christianity is barbarian - Islam is barbarian - Hinduism is barbarian. You can look at it yourself - we don't need to conclude anything - we don't need to belittle one religion and glorify another. All religions one way or another have committed great evils because they wanted to stand true to their doctrines - because they held their doctrines and dogmas to be more significant, valuable and holier than life itself. This has caused immense bloodshed.
So, now we must inquire - what is religion? The term religion means to unite - it refers to something that unites all of us. Now let's look at it - don't conclude - don't be hasty please! I urge to you - don't be hasty - let's think over it - what is it that makes us unite! Is it our dogmas! No - because various regions of the world have their own unique dogmas - they have their own doctrines - they have their own scriptures - and because all of those scriptures came from humans, (yes they came from humans - no God gave them to humans - humans created the scriptures) all those scriptures have both good and bad elements just like their creators the humans do - we all have good and bad elements in us.
So books, scriptures, dogmas and doctrines cannot - just cannot - unify humanity. They can unify the humans of a certain region, which was probably the feasible and productive thing to do in the ancient times when humanity was not a global species, but now we have advanced a lot - we have come a long way since our ancient times. When we were barbarians, we needed to stay in groups, but that's called "tribalism" which proved effective in the jungle - in the desert, but now is it necessary? Since, this tribalism is no longer necessary, why should we just give it a pompous name such as "religion" or "nationalism" and glorify it - and be proud of something like that - which is basically an over-glorified tribalism!
So what makes us unite - the whole humanity - not just a group of people thinking that they're modern yet in their mind they're so barbarian and foolish that they want to stay cooped up in their tiny little tribes! Humanism makes us unite - humanism as in the quality of being human - the fusion of all human elements - goodness, kindness, empathy, sympathy, love, compassion, strength of the mind and all these vivacious fundamental elements of civilized humanity - these are the elements that unify us - these are the elements that unite all humanity and these are the elements that can - that do - and that will - construct the foundation of right religion. That religion has no label - it's not a Christian religion - it's not a Jewish religion - it's not a Muslim religion - it's not a Hindu religion - it's just the religion of humanity - "humanity" which is defined and unified by one quality, that is being human. And being human is the right religion - it doesn't need any name - it doesn't need any label - it doesn't need any over-glorified title of an uncivilized barbarian tribalism. Being human is what makes us a civilized species and being human is our religion - the religion of whole humanity.
Recommended Reading
Illusion of Religion: A Treatise on Religious Fundamentalism
Now before we continue I need to ask you something - I need to ask you to at least try to turn all those predominant ideas, notions and perceptions about religion off, because none of my statements is going to make sense if you try to find meaning in them by using your own predominant perceptions, notions, ideas, thoughts and opinions about religion. Traditions throughout the world have distorted religion - they have dismantled the very fundamental basis of religion - they have distorted it to such an extent that today's humans deem rituals, orthodoxy, dogmas, doctrines, set of ideals, beliefs, imaginations, illusions, prejudices and stereotypes to be synonymous with religion. As a result the whole world is being burnt in the fire of religious violence. Perhaps most of the terrible violence on planet earth are actually occurring in the name of religion - it's not my opinion - you know it as well as I do.
Now one wonders why? Let's go deeper into this why. It is because, apparently devout religious people think by standing true to their own dogmas, traditions, orthodoxy, beliefs, ideals and set of doctrines, they are actually walking on the path of right religion. But that's not right religion - that's precisely the wrong religion - be it Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or anything else. Any religion that has to do with dogmas and doctrines, and does not evolve with time is only the most immature form of religion - it's only the most barbarian form of religion. Now I'm not specifying any religion. I'm not going to say Christianity is barbarian - Islam is barbarian - Hinduism is barbarian. You can look at it yourself - we don't need to conclude anything - we don't need to belittle one religion and glorify another. All religions one way or another have committed great evils because they wanted to stand true to their doctrines - because they held their doctrines and dogmas to be more significant, valuable and holier than life itself. This has caused immense bloodshed.
So, now we must inquire - what is religion? The term religion means to unite - it refers to something that unites all of us. Now let's look at it - don't conclude - don't be hasty please! I urge to you - don't be hasty - let's think over it - what is it that makes us unite! Is it our dogmas! No - because various regions of the world have their own unique dogmas - they have their own doctrines - they have their own scriptures - and because all of those scriptures came from humans, (yes they came from humans - no God gave them to humans - humans created the scriptures) all those scriptures have both good and bad elements just like their creators the humans do - we all have good and bad elements in us.
So books, scriptures, dogmas and doctrines cannot - just cannot - unify humanity. They can unify the humans of a certain region, which was probably the feasible and productive thing to do in the ancient times when humanity was not a global species, but now we have advanced a lot - we have come a long way since our ancient times. When we were barbarians, we needed to stay in groups, but that's called "tribalism" which proved effective in the jungle - in the desert, but now is it necessary? Since, this tribalism is no longer necessary, why should we just give it a pompous name such as "religion" or "nationalism" and glorify it - and be proud of something like that - which is basically an over-glorified tribalism!
So what makes us unite - the whole humanity - not just a group of people thinking that they're modern yet in their mind they're so barbarian and foolish that they want to stay cooped up in their tiny little tribes! Humanism makes us unite - humanism as in the quality of being human - the fusion of all human elements - goodness, kindness, empathy, sympathy, love, compassion, strength of the mind and all these vivacious fundamental elements of civilized humanity - these are the elements that unify us - these are the elements that unite all humanity and these are the elements that can - that do - and that will - construct the foundation of right religion. That religion has no label - it's not a Christian religion - it's not a Jewish religion - it's not a Muslim religion - it's not a Hindu religion - it's just the religion of humanity - "humanity" which is defined and unified by one quality, that is being human. And being human is the right religion - it doesn't need any name - it doesn't need any label - it doesn't need any over-glorified title of an uncivilized barbarian tribalism. Being human is what makes us a civilized species and being human is our religion - the religion of whole humanity.
Recommended Reading
Illusion of Religion: A Treatise on Religious Fundamentalism
April 4, 2018
The Distorted Humanism
You know what humanity is best at! It is best at distorting stuff - distorting thoughts, ideas, and more specifically words. Among these distorted words lie terms like religion, philosophy, science, faith, and others. But the one term that we are interested in, in this piece, is the term "humanism". Humanism is next in the line of distorted words, right after the word "religion". To be very articulate in brief - the terms "humanism" and "religion" are essentially one and the same thing, yet a whole so-called human lifetime is not enough for most humans to actually fathom this simple mortal revelation. Most humans neurotically perceive religion to be the system of following doctrines and humanism to be a pompous philosophy of the intellectuals.
In reality, religion is not a system of following doctrines at all. If anything, it is about not following any doctrine and finding out things for yourself. And, humanism is no more a philosophy than love is. Love is not a philosophy, neither is humanism. In fact, if we go underneath the layers of words and labels, we would see that love is essentially plain, ordinary, everyday humanism - it is as simple as that - there is nothing more for me to tell you about humanism. I don't really intend to tell you anything about humanism in this piece. Rather, let's find out together, what humanism is not.
For starters, it's not a pompous philosophy or an ideology for a bunch of people to discuss over a cup of coffee. As I have said in "Principia Humanitas":
“Humanism is not a pompous philosophy to be talked and debated about by a handful of intellectuals - it is the purest form of moral compass, which defines the civilized heart of thinking humanity.”
Humanism simply means to be human. Now you may wonder, what does "to be human" even mean! Does it mean you need to wear a specific sophisticated label that makes you appear as a smart and over-glorified intellectual! Does it mean, you need to talk sense all the time! Does it mean, you stop believing in anything that does not fit your ship-shape limited logical perception! Does it mean, that you have to be the smartest person in the group and make more sense somehow than all others around you! Does it mean, you have to be a so-called non-believer or atheist, and have to defend that atheism, at all costs, like the religious fundamentalists do with their own beliefs and delusions, above all humane fundamentals!
Let me go straight ahead and say it - No. You don't need to do any of it - as in, none of it - you don't even have to call yourself a so-called humanist - because most of the so-called humanists are not actually advocating actual qualities of being human, rather they are advocating radical rationalism - radical logicality. One recent incident comes to my mind in this context - it is their support for corporations that forbid their muslim employees to wear a hijab at work-place. Full-body burqa with niqab that covers the whole face of a woman, may surely be a sign of uncivilized cultural barbarianism, because it basically exudes a clear implication of segregation against all humans, but not a simple hijab, which is basically a scarf that one wears around the head. So, advocacy of banning basic cultural elements, is not a sign of progress or being human. This kind of radical attitude may not look as immediately dangerous as radical fundamentalism does, but, it is nevertheless, as harmful as that. In fact, radical rationalism is nothing but atheistic fundamentalism or logical fundamentalism. As I have said in "Principia Humanitas":
"Fundamentalism of any kind, be it religious, atheistic, political or educational, is the greatest threat to human excellence – it is a threat to progress – it is a threat to greatness."
The whole business of fundamentalism, which is basically an extreme sense of either romanticism or logicality, is unavoidably destructive and needs a bit of scolding from the real humans - by real humans I don't mean intellectually superior humans, for intellect has very little to do with this real human thing - it has to do with acceptance of weakness and rejection of hatred and extremism. This extremism as we see more and more today, does not always rise from the obvious so-called religious sides. It can rise from any side - and it will keep on rising, as long as sides appear to be more important to humans, than human life itself.
We have this remarkable thing called "life", yet somehow, quite disgracefully, it has become less glorious and significant, in front of the fake glory of labels and ideologies. This is what advancement without conscience does to a species. We have advanced externally, before we actually truly evolved internally. Biological evolution is a fact, and that very biological evolution led to our so-called psychological evolution - I am saying so-called not because it is false. We have evolved psychologically indeed and through this evolution we have gained extraordinary psychological capacities, that basically are not possessed by any other species on earth, yet those capacities are not utilized at their fullest and most productive potential. It's like having money and yet wasting it on unhealthy non-sense like alcohol and expensive cigars, while your neighbor is starving in front of your eyes.
Correct application of the mental faculties cannot be taught to a whole species - it automatically starts when the species gets an actual grip over its true necessities. Earth is necessity, not Mars. Food and water are necessities, not alcohol and cigarettes. To be human is necessity, not being a believer or non-believer. Now comes the real question - what are you?
Recommended Reading
Principia Humanitas
In reality, religion is not a system of following doctrines at all. If anything, it is about not following any doctrine and finding out things for yourself. And, humanism is no more a philosophy than love is. Love is not a philosophy, neither is humanism. In fact, if we go underneath the layers of words and labels, we would see that love is essentially plain, ordinary, everyday humanism - it is as simple as that - there is nothing more for me to tell you about humanism. I don't really intend to tell you anything about humanism in this piece. Rather, let's find out together, what humanism is not.
For starters, it's not a pompous philosophy or an ideology for a bunch of people to discuss over a cup of coffee. As I have said in "Principia Humanitas":
“Humanism is not a pompous philosophy to be talked and debated about by a handful of intellectuals - it is the purest form of moral compass, which defines the civilized heart of thinking humanity.”
Humanism simply means to be human. Now you may wonder, what does "to be human" even mean! Does it mean you need to wear a specific sophisticated label that makes you appear as a smart and over-glorified intellectual! Does it mean, you need to talk sense all the time! Does it mean, you stop believing in anything that does not fit your ship-shape limited logical perception! Does it mean, that you have to be the smartest person in the group and make more sense somehow than all others around you! Does it mean, you have to be a so-called non-believer or atheist, and have to defend that atheism, at all costs, like the religious fundamentalists do with their own beliefs and delusions, above all humane fundamentals!
Let me go straight ahead and say it - No. You don't need to do any of it - as in, none of it - you don't even have to call yourself a so-called humanist - because most of the so-called humanists are not actually advocating actual qualities of being human, rather they are advocating radical rationalism - radical logicality. One recent incident comes to my mind in this context - it is their support for corporations that forbid their muslim employees to wear a hijab at work-place. Full-body burqa with niqab that covers the whole face of a woman, may surely be a sign of uncivilized cultural barbarianism, because it basically exudes a clear implication of segregation against all humans, but not a simple hijab, which is basically a scarf that one wears around the head. So, advocacy of banning basic cultural elements, is not a sign of progress or being human. This kind of radical attitude may not look as immediately dangerous as radical fundamentalism does, but, it is nevertheless, as harmful as that. In fact, radical rationalism is nothing but atheistic fundamentalism or logical fundamentalism. As I have said in "Principia Humanitas":
"Fundamentalism of any kind, be it religious, atheistic, political or educational, is the greatest threat to human excellence – it is a threat to progress – it is a threat to greatness."
The whole business of fundamentalism, which is basically an extreme sense of either romanticism or logicality, is unavoidably destructive and needs a bit of scolding from the real humans - by real humans I don't mean intellectually superior humans, for intellect has very little to do with this real human thing - it has to do with acceptance of weakness and rejection of hatred and extremism. This extremism as we see more and more today, does not always rise from the obvious so-called religious sides. It can rise from any side - and it will keep on rising, as long as sides appear to be more important to humans, than human life itself.
We have this remarkable thing called "life", yet somehow, quite disgracefully, it has become less glorious and significant, in front of the fake glory of labels and ideologies. This is what advancement without conscience does to a species. We have advanced externally, before we actually truly evolved internally. Biological evolution is a fact, and that very biological evolution led to our so-called psychological evolution - I am saying so-called not because it is false. We have evolved psychologically indeed and through this evolution we have gained extraordinary psychological capacities, that basically are not possessed by any other species on earth, yet those capacities are not utilized at their fullest and most productive potential. It's like having money and yet wasting it on unhealthy non-sense like alcohol and expensive cigars, while your neighbor is starving in front of your eyes.
Correct application of the mental faculties cannot be taught to a whole species - it automatically starts when the species gets an actual grip over its true necessities. Earth is necessity, not Mars. Food and water are necessities, not alcohol and cigarettes. To be human is necessity, not being a believer or non-believer. Now comes the real question - what are you?
Recommended Reading
Principia Humanitas
How the understanding of the brain can change our lives
People often ask me – what is my work about? I tell them – I study humans – I study how they think, how they feel, how they behave and why. This answer probably would induce another question in your mind, which is – “how does this apply to my personal life?” So, the real question here is – how does the understanding of the mind, which essentially is the understanding of brain functions in a large scale, can effect and change human life? How can the understanding of the mind be applied by the lay-person – the non-scientist, in his or her life, to live better, with friends, family and co-workers?
These are the questions, which I attempted to address in one of my works, entitled “What is Mind?” I concocted various thought experiments to elucidate answers to such questions among other philosophical ones? So, in this piece, we are going to take a look, at two excerpts from the book, which are most appropriate in this context. First let’s bring up an excerpt to shed some light on how our behavioral capacities and traits can alter radically based on internal and external conditions.
Excerpt 1 from What is Mind?:
Imagine yourself having a fight with your romantic partner. The tension of the situation makes your limbic system run at full throttle and you become flooded with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenalin. The high levels of these chemicals suddenly make you so damn angry, that you burst out in front of your partner saying, “I wish you die, so that I can have some peace in my life”. Given the stress of the situation through highly active limbic system, your PFC loses its freedom to take the right decision and you burst out with foul language in front of your partner, that may ruin your relationship. In simple terms due to your mental instability, you lost your free will to make the right decision.
But when the conversation is over, and you relax for a while, your stress hormone levels come down to normal, and you regain your usual cheerful state of mind. Immediately, your PFC starts analyzing the explosive conversation you had with your partner. Healthy activity of the entire frontal lobes, especially the PFC suddenly overwhelms you with a feeling of guilt. Your brain makes you realize, that you have done something devilish. As a result, now you find yourself making the willful decision of apologizing to your partner and making up to him or her, no matter how much effort it takes, because your PFC comes up the solution that it is the healthiest thing to do for your personal life.
From this you can see, that what you call free will is something that is not consistent. It changes based on your mental health. Mental instability or illness, truly cripples your free will. And the healthier your frontal lobes are, the better you can take good decisions. And the most effective way to keep your frontal lobes healthy is to practice some kind of meditation.
So, you see, what you feel when you are angry or sad, or desperate, may not actually be the baseline emotional state of your individual mind. Taking that into consideration, you can take necessary precautions to prevent your angry outburst from ruining a certain relationship with another person. Now let’s look at one of the most significant thought experiments from What is Mind?, which actually depicts the real life benefit of the understanding of brain functioning. I named this thought experiment The PMDD Conundrum.
Excerpt 2, A Thought Experiment from What is Mind?
The PMDD Conundrum (Thought Experiment, What is Mind?, 2016)
Mental health influences your decision-making ability regardless of your experiences. However, experience is what makes you better at making the right decision in a given situation. Here the term right only refers to your subjective perspective of the choice. To explain how experience alters one’s free will,let’s carry out a little thought experiment in the context of two different scenarios.
CONTEXT 1
Imagine yourself to be layman with no notable awareness of biology. You start dating a woman planning a long-term relationship. Every month right before her period starts, she gets extremely cranky like all menstruating women. However, she tells you that she has a rare medical condition called Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder or PMDD, which is the extreme form of PMS. You have already heard all about women getting agitated during their PMS, so you think that it is just the same. However, in time things get real stressful. Every month during those days, she would turn into a completely different person. And one time, she gets so agitated that she bursts out – you are the worst decision of my life. Naturally, it feels beyond acceptable to you. You are a human after all.
You cannot ignore such behavior any more. You start perceiving every single insulting word from her mouth to be true. It seems that it is what she really feels. You start getting upset beyond tolerance. And after several of such intense insults from her during those days, you realize that you don’t deserve such nonsense. You have no practical idea of what PMDD really is, so you perceive the insulting and violent behavior of your woman to be extremely inappropriate. So, one day you simply go ahead and tell her – you are nothing but a psychopathic maniac who just likes to hurt people. I think it’s time we ended things. Here, due to the lack of deeper understanding of what PMDD really is, your lay brain makes a decision based on your limited perception and needs, that you need to end the relationship.
CONTEXT 2
Now let’s run the same experiment in a different context. Imagine yourself to be a person with a hobby of reading a lot of Science books, especially those connected to the mind. You like to learn new things. Now, you get into the same situation and the same circumstances as mentioned earlier. But, here when your girlfriend tells you about her condition after the first month of outburst in your relationship, you get really curious. Previously due to your curiosity you have already learnt about the basic biology behind PMS and how it affects the female psychology. So, hearing about PMDD, you don’t only feel responsible but also very intrigued to learn about it. You feel the urge to know how can such a cheerful person turn into a completely different human being, almost like a beast?
And as you start reading, everything begins to make sense. The first thing you realize is that, PMDD is nothing like the common PMS that almost every girl faces. It is the extremely violent form of PMS, which is very rare. Due to the intense hormonal storms of PMDD inside a woman’s head, her cognitive reality changes drastically during the pre-menstrual days. You start to realize what your woman has to go through every month, due to her condition. A man can never even imagine in his wildest dreams how such storm feels like.
PMDD leads to the worst of hormonal mood swings. Every month during these days she turns into a completely different person filled with hopelessness and gloom. As soon as the tides change she comes back to her real cheerful self. It is this condition which makes her say the things she would never say in a lucid mental state.
You begin to understand that for most women with PMS the hormonal changes are manageable, and they are able to somehow keep their agitation to themselves. But for your special lady, the story is different and quite unmanageable. Most weeks of the month she is brainy, creative, enthusiastic, cheerful and optimistic, but a mere shift in the hormonal flood on certain days makes her absolutely hopeless about the future, about herself, about your relationship and basically about everything that she can think of. On those days her inner instability forces her to hate herself as well as get irritated at every single action you take. And the most fascinating thing about her mental state during that time is that the hopelessness caused by hormonal imbalances feels so damn real to her that she literally perceives it as the everlasting reality of her life. The utter hormonal turbulence completely transforms her cognitive reality from a cheerful one to a gloomy one. It constructs an altered state of consciousness, in which she becomes a different personality filled with nothing but hatred and rage.
She becomes absolutely blind to all the cheerful moments of her life. And she gets so restless that she explodes with insulting words towards you. Over time, you learn that the best to do in this situation is to do nothing and just be there with her. And every time she gets cranky, you simply learn to remain patient and unaffected by her words. Every month, once the hormonal storm wears off, she comes back to her original sunny state. In time, you grow more attachment for her, and she even becomes fonder of you, because you are always there for her, even when she is mad as hell. Thus, you don’t ever feel to leave her, rather together you stay forever and beyond.
ANALYSIS
In both contexts, you had two available options to choose from – leave or stay. Yet, you made totally opposite decisions in exactly the same circumstances. The only thing that was different is your understanding and experience.
In the first context, you were a layman with a general view of the world. You perceived everything in a generalized manner, with no further need of your own to explore and have deeper understanding of a phenomenon. Hence, when it came to decide whether to leave or to stay in the relationship, your brain made the decision based on your generalized understanding of everything, and you willfully preferred to leave your woman in the pursuit of a better prize, with less crankiness.
In the second context, you had a better grip over natural phenomena. Moreover, you had the curiosity to understand things, in a better way than the general public. And your understanding allowed you to try seeing the world from your woman’s perspective. And the more you tried, the better you became at being next to her when she needed you the most and hated you at the same time. You got experienced at it.
Naturally, the thought of leaving her, never occurred in your mind. And even if it did, you brushed off as the spur of the moment. Because your PFC already had sufficient data on the situation to analyze and come up with a positive outcome. Your experience here served as the very foundation, of your willful support towards your woman.
Each emotional impulse, each thought, each behavioral expression, has a neurological basis. Understanding these bases can redefine how we look at a person, how we look at a certain behavior of that person, how we look at a certain emotional impulse or behavioral expression of ourselves, and then to choose whether or not to accept it as our usual characteristic. And this very looking can change how we see our lives, how we live our lives, and how we see the world which we live in. In this looking lies the true key to contentment. In this looking, lie precious jewels of graceful living.
Recommended Reading
What is Mind?
These are the questions, which I attempted to address in one of my works, entitled “What is Mind?” I concocted various thought experiments to elucidate answers to such questions among other philosophical ones? So, in this piece, we are going to take a look, at two excerpts from the book, which are most appropriate in this context. First let’s bring up an excerpt to shed some light on how our behavioral capacities and traits can alter radically based on internal and external conditions.
Excerpt 1 from What is Mind?:
Imagine yourself having a fight with your romantic partner. The tension of the situation makes your limbic system run at full throttle and you become flooded with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenalin. The high levels of these chemicals suddenly make you so damn angry, that you burst out in front of your partner saying, “I wish you die, so that I can have some peace in my life”. Given the stress of the situation through highly active limbic system, your PFC loses its freedom to take the right decision and you burst out with foul language in front of your partner, that may ruin your relationship. In simple terms due to your mental instability, you lost your free will to make the right decision.
But when the conversation is over, and you relax for a while, your stress hormone levels come down to normal, and you regain your usual cheerful state of mind. Immediately, your PFC starts analyzing the explosive conversation you had with your partner. Healthy activity of the entire frontal lobes, especially the PFC suddenly overwhelms you with a feeling of guilt. Your brain makes you realize, that you have done something devilish. As a result, now you find yourself making the willful decision of apologizing to your partner and making up to him or her, no matter how much effort it takes, because your PFC comes up the solution that it is the healthiest thing to do for your personal life.
From this you can see, that what you call free will is something that is not consistent. It changes based on your mental health. Mental instability or illness, truly cripples your free will. And the healthier your frontal lobes are, the better you can take good decisions. And the most effective way to keep your frontal lobes healthy is to practice some kind of meditation.
So, you see, what you feel when you are angry or sad, or desperate, may not actually be the baseline emotional state of your individual mind. Taking that into consideration, you can take necessary precautions to prevent your angry outburst from ruining a certain relationship with another person. Now let’s look at one of the most significant thought experiments from What is Mind?, which actually depicts the real life benefit of the understanding of brain functioning. I named this thought experiment The PMDD Conundrum.
Excerpt 2, A Thought Experiment from What is Mind?
The PMDD Conundrum (Thought Experiment, What is Mind?, 2016)
Mental health influences your decision-making ability regardless of your experiences. However, experience is what makes you better at making the right decision in a given situation. Here the term right only refers to your subjective perspective of the choice. To explain how experience alters one’s free will,let’s carry out a little thought experiment in the context of two different scenarios.
CONTEXT 1
Imagine yourself to be layman with no notable awareness of biology. You start dating a woman planning a long-term relationship. Every month right before her period starts, she gets extremely cranky like all menstruating women. However, she tells you that she has a rare medical condition called Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder or PMDD, which is the extreme form of PMS. You have already heard all about women getting agitated during their PMS, so you think that it is just the same. However, in time things get real stressful. Every month during those days, she would turn into a completely different person. And one time, she gets so agitated that she bursts out – you are the worst decision of my life. Naturally, it feels beyond acceptable to you. You are a human after all.
You cannot ignore such behavior any more. You start perceiving every single insulting word from her mouth to be true. It seems that it is what she really feels. You start getting upset beyond tolerance. And after several of such intense insults from her during those days, you realize that you don’t deserve such nonsense. You have no practical idea of what PMDD really is, so you perceive the insulting and violent behavior of your woman to be extremely inappropriate. So, one day you simply go ahead and tell her – you are nothing but a psychopathic maniac who just likes to hurt people. I think it’s time we ended things. Here, due to the lack of deeper understanding of what PMDD really is, your lay brain makes a decision based on your limited perception and needs, that you need to end the relationship.
CONTEXT 2
Now let’s run the same experiment in a different context. Imagine yourself to be a person with a hobby of reading a lot of Science books, especially those connected to the mind. You like to learn new things. Now, you get into the same situation and the same circumstances as mentioned earlier. But, here when your girlfriend tells you about her condition after the first month of outburst in your relationship, you get really curious. Previously due to your curiosity you have already learnt about the basic biology behind PMS and how it affects the female psychology. So, hearing about PMDD, you don’t only feel responsible but also very intrigued to learn about it. You feel the urge to know how can such a cheerful person turn into a completely different human being, almost like a beast?
And as you start reading, everything begins to make sense. The first thing you realize is that, PMDD is nothing like the common PMS that almost every girl faces. It is the extremely violent form of PMS, which is very rare. Due to the intense hormonal storms of PMDD inside a woman’s head, her cognitive reality changes drastically during the pre-menstrual days. You start to realize what your woman has to go through every month, due to her condition. A man can never even imagine in his wildest dreams how such storm feels like.
PMDD leads to the worst of hormonal mood swings. Every month during these days she turns into a completely different person filled with hopelessness and gloom. As soon as the tides change she comes back to her real cheerful self. It is this condition which makes her say the things she would never say in a lucid mental state.
You begin to understand that for most women with PMS the hormonal changes are manageable, and they are able to somehow keep their agitation to themselves. But for your special lady, the story is different and quite unmanageable. Most weeks of the month she is brainy, creative, enthusiastic, cheerful and optimistic, but a mere shift in the hormonal flood on certain days makes her absolutely hopeless about the future, about herself, about your relationship and basically about everything that she can think of. On those days her inner instability forces her to hate herself as well as get irritated at every single action you take. And the most fascinating thing about her mental state during that time is that the hopelessness caused by hormonal imbalances feels so damn real to her that she literally perceives it as the everlasting reality of her life. The utter hormonal turbulence completely transforms her cognitive reality from a cheerful one to a gloomy one. It constructs an altered state of consciousness, in which she becomes a different personality filled with nothing but hatred and rage.
She becomes absolutely blind to all the cheerful moments of her life. And she gets so restless that she explodes with insulting words towards you. Over time, you learn that the best to do in this situation is to do nothing and just be there with her. And every time she gets cranky, you simply learn to remain patient and unaffected by her words. Every month, once the hormonal storm wears off, she comes back to her original sunny state. In time, you grow more attachment for her, and she even becomes fonder of you, because you are always there for her, even when she is mad as hell. Thus, you don’t ever feel to leave her, rather together you stay forever and beyond.
ANALYSIS
In both contexts, you had two available options to choose from – leave or stay. Yet, you made totally opposite decisions in exactly the same circumstances. The only thing that was different is your understanding and experience.
In the first context, you were a layman with a general view of the world. You perceived everything in a generalized manner, with no further need of your own to explore and have deeper understanding of a phenomenon. Hence, when it came to decide whether to leave or to stay in the relationship, your brain made the decision based on your generalized understanding of everything, and you willfully preferred to leave your woman in the pursuit of a better prize, with less crankiness.
In the second context, you had a better grip over natural phenomena. Moreover, you had the curiosity to understand things, in a better way than the general public. And your understanding allowed you to try seeing the world from your woman’s perspective. And the more you tried, the better you became at being next to her when she needed you the most and hated you at the same time. You got experienced at it.
Naturally, the thought of leaving her, never occurred in your mind. And even if it did, you brushed off as the spur of the moment. Because your PFC already had sufficient data on the situation to analyze and come up with a positive outcome. Your experience here served as the very foundation, of your willful support towards your woman.
Each emotional impulse, each thought, each behavioral expression, has a neurological basis. Understanding these bases can redefine how we look at a person, how we look at a certain behavior of that person, how we look at a certain emotional impulse or behavioral expression of ourselves, and then to choose whether or not to accept it as our usual characteristic. And this very looking can change how we see our lives, how we live our lives, and how we see the world which we live in. In this looking lies the true key to contentment. In this looking, lie precious jewels of graceful living.
Recommended Reading
What is Mind?
January 19, 2018
Consciousness is indeed rocket science
A tired brain says all kinds of stuff - but none of it, is the actual intention of the individual. If your wife is extremely upset during the hormonal storms striking her psyche before menstruation, she may most vocally proclaim that she does not love you any more, or that she is tired of you - but the hard reality beyond the momentary hormonal impulses is that those words are nowhere near the actual truth. Now let's turn the situation around. If your husband gets extremely angry for some reason, and bursts out saying that, you are the greatest mistake of his life, this does not mean, that it is exactly what he feels in his lucid state of mind. And that my friend, is the complexity of human consciousness.
Human consciousness is not at all as simple as you think. Yes I have said previously on my works that it is the simplest phenomenon on earth, but that statement would only make sense to you if you have actually studied the human brain. Otherwise, you would either take our word for it, or completely refute it, deluded by your culturally passed on barbarian idea of soul and afterlife and all that non-sense of our tribal days.
Human consciousness is the part of the mind which we are actively engaged in. And human mind is not what you think it is, that is, it is not a fixed system. It is a relentlessly changing virtual system, created by electrochemical interactions among the neurons of the brain. Billions of neurons talk to each other through the language of neurochemicals, and voila! We have a sense of being, i.e. a sense of mind. Now here, many new readers of my work have put forward the argument, that we neuroscientists are talking about a magically appearing mind or consciousness out of a bunch of neurons. Recently, somebody referred to it, in the comments sections of one of my articles, as "neurostupidity". While accepting that I am stupid, and I try my best to become less stupid over time, this attack does not bother me the least, but what does bother me is that these people deem traditionally passed opinions as more important than empirical research of modern science. They think, because those beliefs are a part of their tradition, they must be true. What kind of barbarian logic is that! If one says that it is stupidity for us neuroscientists to say that consciousness is a product of neurons and it does not come from the heavens, because one does not understand it, then it is completely fine, and we scientists would do our best to make the matter as easy as possible. But if one says it's stupidity, because it does not abide by the traditional wisdom of their forefathers, then I am afraid, it is that one creature who's stupid and still is living in the barbarian days of ignorance. But the point is, even ignorance can be resolved, but not illusion of knowledge.
“Shallow intellect is worse than ignorance. Ignorance can be treated with knowledge, but shallow intellect, that is illusion of knowledge, is untreatable and quite dangerous to the progress and wellbeing of humanity.”
― Either Civilized or Phobic: A Treatise on Homosexuality
To have a real insight, not just theoretical understanding of how the mind is born through physical activity of neurons, an individual must go through decades of research on the human brain. Without this laborious endeavor, no human can truly realize - truly, genuinely realize, how the neurons create the mind. I am talking literally seeing this fact, as clear as one sees the sun and the moon. And this non-conflicted seeing cannot happen, even if one simply listens to a talk by a Neuroscientist for an hour. Yes, we Neuroscientists can bring up various examples, to illustrate how the brain creates our perception of ourselves and the world, and this may make you a bit able to see this rise of consciousness or to a broader aspect the mind in the brain, but it will still not make you see the way we the scientists of the mind see it. It's a matter of deep revelation, not just about theorizing and conceptualizing. And, I am in no way saying that we are smarter that you or any other layperson. But the only difference is in our engagement in the matter. While we wake up, while we sleep, while we eat, while we walk, we are relentlessly, thinking about various elements of the human mind. I cannot be sure of other scientists, but at least I function this way.
If one wants to have the confident awareness of how the mind is born in the brain, one must go through the pains that a scientist takes in order to study decades of research on the matter and scrutinize them very closely. The alternative is to take our word for it - by our I mean, the majority of Neuroscientists, Psychologists and Psychiatrists. To avoid the intellectual ordeal, you can depend on us, and that may make things clear to you, but it will still not be a complete understanding of the mind. Like it or not, there is no easy way here. Trying to understand the origin and nature of consciousness without actually arduously studying neurobiology, is like trying to understand quantum mechanics without actually studying physics.
Now the point is, people would most willingly accept that quantum physics is something that they don't understand, but when it comes to the mind or soul, or consciousness, they would most neurotically proclaim that they know everything, because various traditions throughout the world have passed on their imaginary perception of this concept as a form of divine wisdom. And it takes huge courage and curiosity to actually see that those so-called perceptions were nothing but imaginations and opinions formed in the absence of real empirical understanding of the phenomenon which we scientists call the mind, and the ancient people called soul. This makes me think of the very nature of scientific understanding.
Science or scientific understanding begins not with the knowledge of something, rather with the actual acceptance of our ignorance of that phenomenon. You only begin to understand something truly, when you accept that you don't know anything real about it - when you accept that your ancestors did not hand over to you actual knowledge, rather they handed over their imaginary stories to you. So, the first step towards actually, genuinely, truly, and least subjectively understand the rise of the mind in the brain, and its true nature and features, is to let go of your so-called traditional or cultural ideas on this issue. If those ideas indeed do have even traces of truth, you would discover them for yourself, once you truly start to understand the phenomenon.
Consciousness is indeed Rocket Science. To understand truly, how it is born from electrochemical activity of neurons, one must take the pains that we scientists take to study it. If you don't have that kind of time and patience, then the easier alternative for you is to rely on the opinions of us scientists, that is the majority of us. But, be aware, no matter how desperately we scientists attempt to clarify this issue for the understanding of the general population, we can only give an overall perspective on the neurological origin of consciousness, but that perspective could never be an actual revelatory insight. So, the choice is yours - either do the study yourself, or rely on our works, or be a deluded idiot and take traditional beliefs as fact.
(Simultaneously published on Apple News and TopBuzz.)
Recommended Reading
What is Mind?
Human consciousness is not at all as simple as you think. Yes I have said previously on my works that it is the simplest phenomenon on earth, but that statement would only make sense to you if you have actually studied the human brain. Otherwise, you would either take our word for it, or completely refute it, deluded by your culturally passed on barbarian idea of soul and afterlife and all that non-sense of our tribal days.
Human consciousness is the part of the mind which we are actively engaged in. And human mind is not what you think it is, that is, it is not a fixed system. It is a relentlessly changing virtual system, created by electrochemical interactions among the neurons of the brain. Billions of neurons talk to each other through the language of neurochemicals, and voila! We have a sense of being, i.e. a sense of mind. Now here, many new readers of my work have put forward the argument, that we neuroscientists are talking about a magically appearing mind or consciousness out of a bunch of neurons. Recently, somebody referred to it, in the comments sections of one of my articles, as "neurostupidity". While accepting that I am stupid, and I try my best to become less stupid over time, this attack does not bother me the least, but what does bother me is that these people deem traditionally passed opinions as more important than empirical research of modern science. They think, because those beliefs are a part of their tradition, they must be true. What kind of barbarian logic is that! If one says that it is stupidity for us neuroscientists to say that consciousness is a product of neurons and it does not come from the heavens, because one does not understand it, then it is completely fine, and we scientists would do our best to make the matter as easy as possible. But if one says it's stupidity, because it does not abide by the traditional wisdom of their forefathers, then I am afraid, it is that one creature who's stupid and still is living in the barbarian days of ignorance. But the point is, even ignorance can be resolved, but not illusion of knowledge.
“Shallow intellect is worse than ignorance. Ignorance can be treated with knowledge, but shallow intellect, that is illusion of knowledge, is untreatable and quite dangerous to the progress and wellbeing of humanity.”
― Either Civilized or Phobic: A Treatise on Homosexuality
To have a real insight, not just theoretical understanding of how the mind is born through physical activity of neurons, an individual must go through decades of research on the human brain. Without this laborious endeavor, no human can truly realize - truly, genuinely realize, how the neurons create the mind. I am talking literally seeing this fact, as clear as one sees the sun and the moon. And this non-conflicted seeing cannot happen, even if one simply listens to a talk by a Neuroscientist for an hour. Yes, we Neuroscientists can bring up various examples, to illustrate how the brain creates our perception of ourselves and the world, and this may make you a bit able to see this rise of consciousness or to a broader aspect the mind in the brain, but it will still not make you see the way we the scientists of the mind see it. It's a matter of deep revelation, not just about theorizing and conceptualizing. And, I am in no way saying that we are smarter that you or any other layperson. But the only difference is in our engagement in the matter. While we wake up, while we sleep, while we eat, while we walk, we are relentlessly, thinking about various elements of the human mind. I cannot be sure of other scientists, but at least I function this way.
If one wants to have the confident awareness of how the mind is born in the brain, one must go through the pains that a scientist takes in order to study decades of research on the matter and scrutinize them very closely. The alternative is to take our word for it - by our I mean, the majority of Neuroscientists, Psychologists and Psychiatrists. To avoid the intellectual ordeal, you can depend on us, and that may make things clear to you, but it will still not be a complete understanding of the mind. Like it or not, there is no easy way here. Trying to understand the origin and nature of consciousness without actually arduously studying neurobiology, is like trying to understand quantum mechanics without actually studying physics.
Now the point is, people would most willingly accept that quantum physics is something that they don't understand, but when it comes to the mind or soul, or consciousness, they would most neurotically proclaim that they know everything, because various traditions throughout the world have passed on their imaginary perception of this concept as a form of divine wisdom. And it takes huge courage and curiosity to actually see that those so-called perceptions were nothing but imaginations and opinions formed in the absence of real empirical understanding of the phenomenon which we scientists call the mind, and the ancient people called soul. This makes me think of the very nature of scientific understanding.
Science or scientific understanding begins not with the knowledge of something, rather with the actual acceptance of our ignorance of that phenomenon. You only begin to understand something truly, when you accept that you don't know anything real about it - when you accept that your ancestors did not hand over to you actual knowledge, rather they handed over their imaginary stories to you. So, the first step towards actually, genuinely, truly, and least subjectively understand the rise of the mind in the brain, and its true nature and features, is to let go of your so-called traditional or cultural ideas on this issue. If those ideas indeed do have even traces of truth, you would discover them for yourself, once you truly start to understand the phenomenon.
Consciousness is indeed Rocket Science. To understand truly, how it is born from electrochemical activity of neurons, one must take the pains that we scientists take to study it. If you don't have that kind of time and patience, then the easier alternative for you is to rely on the opinions of us scientists, that is the majority of us. But, be aware, no matter how desperately we scientists attempt to clarify this issue for the understanding of the general population, we can only give an overall perspective on the neurological origin of consciousness, but that perspective could never be an actual revelatory insight. So, the choice is yours - either do the study yourself, or rely on our works, or be a deluded idiot and take traditional beliefs as fact.
(Simultaneously published on Apple News and TopBuzz.)
Recommended Reading
What is Mind?
January 13, 2018
A Doctor's Mission
The world is filled with various professions. But perhaps the most significant among them in terms of its direct impact upon human life, is the profession of a doctor. There's a special kind of people who call themselves doctors. I wonder, whether they know what that term doctor really means. I wonder whether they actually, genuinely, realize the gravitas of the responsibility that they take upon themselves, by becoming doctor. What is it to be a doctor? Is it about merely knowing deeply, empirically, about biology, sickness and health - or is there much more to this so-called divine profession! So, let's find out together - what is a doctor - and what is the real purpose of such a glorious title? What is the mission of a doctor?
Though I do not officially practice medicine, because I am in the field of mental health, I receive many queries from patients as well as doctors from all over the world on a daily basis, regarding various mental issues. I am not a doctor - I am a scientist - a scientist with deep concern for the well being of the global society. But you'd already know that, if you have read my works. I don't practice medicine, but I do try my best to advise on issues of the mind, as a friend - and I mean, as a friend, which means I don't take any money for whatever little time I can provide to clear the confusions of the some of the individuals who correspond with me.
And the very first thought that appears in my mind, upon closely examining the psyche of patients and doctors, is that to be a real doctor, it is imperative that while acquiring knowledge of medicine and biology, one must also foster the mentality of being a doctor. Because, being a doctor, is not simply about having an understanding of anatomy and sickness, rather it is about having an understanding of true wellness and more importantly, it is about understanding the intensity of the concern of the patient's next of kin. The purpose of medicine is not to postpone death, but to improve the quality of living. Hence, a doctor's mission should not be to prevent death, but more importantly it should be to improve the quality of life. Being a doctor is unlike any other profession on earth. Being a doctor is the closest real thing that we can have on earth to being a God with the power to sustain life. Gods are imaginary, but Doctors are not. They are actual living beings on earth, with the actual expertise of give life to others. The responsibility of a doctor is higher than any other kind of responsibility. Because, the human society does not rely on any other professional, to such a gigantic extent as it does on doctors.
The very first lesson of becoming a doctor is that, if you have very little patience, then you should not even think of becoming a doctor, because you may acquire all the knowledge about medicine and anatomy, but without the fundamental virtue patience, you can never in a million years become a Doctor. Patience is the golden virtue in doctorhood. Without it, no matter how many medical books and papers you memorize, they will not make you a real, effective and genuine doctor. So, what could define a genuine good doctor! After all, good doctors is what the society really needs, not some pompous bookworms with stethoscopes. And if you can't be a good doctor, then there is no use of being a doctor in the first place - be anything else but a doctor. Because doctorhood is not everyone's cup of tea. If you think you are good at studies, and that makes you qualified to be a doctor, then you couldn't be more wrong my friend. You can go into medical research with that attitude, but not in medical practice.
There is a subtle yet quite radiant distinction between medical research and medical practice. Medical Research is about understanding the anatomy in a better way, and discovering new gateways of sustaining and nourishing life. But medical practice on the other hand, is about putting that understanding in practice, which involves real humane encounter with patients. Mind you, o conscientious doctor, patients are not your clients, they are the gods whom you took an oath to serve for so long as you live. The moment you put that apron on in your mind, you dedicated your life not to the benefit of your own, but to the benefit of your society - the benefit of people. It is the divine law of service that you promised to keep, even in the midst of utmost difficulty. And the moment you fail to abide by this divine law of service, you would no longer remain a doctor, but simply a mockery of the medical profession.
This law - the law of service - the law of benefiting your patient beyond any personal gain, is not a pompous philosophy to boast about, but the bed-rock of doctorhood. And if you want benefit of your own, above the benefit of your patient, then you should better go into business, not in medicine. Mind you, here I am not talking about self-denial, for it is an impossibility, rather I am simply talking about not taking your comfort and luxury to be more important than the well being of the patient, not just the physiological well being, but psychological as well. And I am pretty much aware that this is not at all an easy job. That is why I mentioned in the very beginning that patience is the golden virtue in doctorhood.
A doctor should be a clown at heart, a scientist at brain and a mother at conscience. This means that a doctor should be cheerful, insightful and caring. Being cheerful does not mean always being funny, rather it means to be aware of the seriousness of a situation, and still keeping calm. Being insightful does not mean knowing everything about sickness and health, but to have the common mental maturity and capacity to accept when you do not know something, or to accept a mistake if committed. And being caring does not mean flattering or pampering the patient, but to genuinely take the well being of the patient to be of more concern than the well being of your own. And these three principal faculties of doctorhood grow stronger in time as you keep fostering and practising them. However, on the off chance that you fail to truly practise them, despite all wishes and efforts, then you should have the basic courage to leave medical practice and go into research, for the betterment of the society.
No good can come out of denying the self. Therefore, if it is really in your soul to be a doctor so that you can do real good quite literally in people's lives through direct interaction, then by all means, give your heart and soul to the service of humanity by learning and practicing medicine, but if that practice seems too much of an effort for you and you can't keep up with the pressure and constant nagging of the patients or their dear ones, then be brave and leave the practice. Mind you, practice of medicine is a profession for patient souls, not rash intellectuals. A patient doctor is a real doctor, an impatient doctor is no doctor at all.
Further Reading
What is Mind?
Though I do not officially practice medicine, because I am in the field of mental health, I receive many queries from patients as well as doctors from all over the world on a daily basis, regarding various mental issues. I am not a doctor - I am a scientist - a scientist with deep concern for the well being of the global society. But you'd already know that, if you have read my works. I don't practice medicine, but I do try my best to advise on issues of the mind, as a friend - and I mean, as a friend, which means I don't take any money for whatever little time I can provide to clear the confusions of the some of the individuals who correspond with me.
And the very first thought that appears in my mind, upon closely examining the psyche of patients and doctors, is that to be a real doctor, it is imperative that while acquiring knowledge of medicine and biology, one must also foster the mentality of being a doctor. Because, being a doctor, is not simply about having an understanding of anatomy and sickness, rather it is about having an understanding of true wellness and more importantly, it is about understanding the intensity of the concern of the patient's next of kin. The purpose of medicine is not to postpone death, but to improve the quality of living. Hence, a doctor's mission should not be to prevent death, but more importantly it should be to improve the quality of life. Being a doctor is unlike any other profession on earth. Being a doctor is the closest real thing that we can have on earth to being a God with the power to sustain life. Gods are imaginary, but Doctors are not. They are actual living beings on earth, with the actual expertise of give life to others. The responsibility of a doctor is higher than any other kind of responsibility. Because, the human society does not rely on any other professional, to such a gigantic extent as it does on doctors.
The very first lesson of becoming a doctor is that, if you have very little patience, then you should not even think of becoming a doctor, because you may acquire all the knowledge about medicine and anatomy, but without the fundamental virtue patience, you can never in a million years become a Doctor. Patience is the golden virtue in doctorhood. Without it, no matter how many medical books and papers you memorize, they will not make you a real, effective and genuine doctor. So, what could define a genuine good doctor! After all, good doctors is what the society really needs, not some pompous bookworms with stethoscopes. And if you can't be a good doctor, then there is no use of being a doctor in the first place - be anything else but a doctor. Because doctorhood is not everyone's cup of tea. If you think you are good at studies, and that makes you qualified to be a doctor, then you couldn't be more wrong my friend. You can go into medical research with that attitude, but not in medical practice.
There is a subtle yet quite radiant distinction between medical research and medical practice. Medical Research is about understanding the anatomy in a better way, and discovering new gateways of sustaining and nourishing life. But medical practice on the other hand, is about putting that understanding in practice, which involves real humane encounter with patients. Mind you, o conscientious doctor, patients are not your clients, they are the gods whom you took an oath to serve for so long as you live. The moment you put that apron on in your mind, you dedicated your life not to the benefit of your own, but to the benefit of your society - the benefit of people. It is the divine law of service that you promised to keep, even in the midst of utmost difficulty. And the moment you fail to abide by this divine law of service, you would no longer remain a doctor, but simply a mockery of the medical profession.
This law - the law of service - the law of benefiting your patient beyond any personal gain, is not a pompous philosophy to boast about, but the bed-rock of doctorhood. And if you want benefit of your own, above the benefit of your patient, then you should better go into business, not in medicine. Mind you, here I am not talking about self-denial, for it is an impossibility, rather I am simply talking about not taking your comfort and luxury to be more important than the well being of the patient, not just the physiological well being, but psychological as well. And I am pretty much aware that this is not at all an easy job. That is why I mentioned in the very beginning that patience is the golden virtue in doctorhood.
A doctor should be a clown at heart, a scientist at brain and a mother at conscience. This means that a doctor should be cheerful, insightful and caring. Being cheerful does not mean always being funny, rather it means to be aware of the seriousness of a situation, and still keeping calm. Being insightful does not mean knowing everything about sickness and health, but to have the common mental maturity and capacity to accept when you do not know something, or to accept a mistake if committed. And being caring does not mean flattering or pampering the patient, but to genuinely take the well being of the patient to be of more concern than the well being of your own. And these three principal faculties of doctorhood grow stronger in time as you keep fostering and practising them. However, on the off chance that you fail to truly practise them, despite all wishes and efforts, then you should have the basic courage to leave medical practice and go into research, for the betterment of the society.
No good can come out of denying the self. Therefore, if it is really in your soul to be a doctor so that you can do real good quite literally in people's lives through direct interaction, then by all means, give your heart and soul to the service of humanity by learning and practicing medicine, but if that practice seems too much of an effort for you and you can't keep up with the pressure and constant nagging of the patients or their dear ones, then be brave and leave the practice. Mind you, practice of medicine is a profession for patient souls, not rash intellectuals. A patient doctor is a real doctor, an impatient doctor is no doctor at all.
Further Reading
What is Mind?
January 7, 2018
Put God first, but don’t boast it
Belief in God – that is what we will naively discuss in this piece. And the focus is of course on being naive, because it is the first criterion to understand a phenomenon truly with its real fundamentals. One cannot understand something, if one is already filled with predominant conditioned beliefs, opinions and ideas. So, let’s look at the belief in an Almighty Concerned Entity or Force, with literally, not theoretically, naive eyes. If you have read my works, you’d know that one statement is pretty prevalent in most of them. It is “belief is a self-preservation mechanism of the mind.” Here, the belief I mentioned is not necessarily of religious type. The belief in this statement refers to all sorts of belief, not just religious. However, in this piece, we are interested specifically, in the belief in a supernatural entity.
But why? Why am I talking about it exactly now? Because, I was scrolling through my youtube feed, and came across a video of some actor, shouting out “put God first”. The very first casual response that mind spat out was – even the stupidest and barbarian opinions of celebrities can appear to the masses as greatly inspirational and glorious statements – what a shame! As I said, this was the first response that my mind produced upon watching the thumbnail. So, now, let’s get over this casual response and dissect the situation – to be specific, the statement – “put God first”. It basically says, never lose faith in God, and you’ll achieve everything. I won’t say whether it is civilized or not. But I would say this. Belief in a supernatural entity having control of and concern for, your life, is basically, not a sign of glory, rather a sign of weakness.
Weakness is a fact – not bad or good. Like it or not, we all feel weak at times – I accept, that I do. And specifically in these times of excruciating agony, the mind kicks into a defense mode – where it naturally tends to put its faith and control upon a higher illusory entity. It’s not good – it’s not bad – it is what it is. And we cannot change this situation, just yet, because though we have developed extraordinary brain capacities, inside, we still remain cave-people, with a highly sensitive amygdala, that reacts quite effectively to every single fear and stress stimulus. And to quote from my book The Krishna Cancer – “Mother Nature created God as a neurological anti-depressant sentiment.”
Belief in an imaginary entity or force, is a sign of weakness. And, weakness is a part of biological existence. So, glorifying that weakness, does not make a person any more religious, spiritual or wise, than beating one’s wife does for not sleeping with him. Yes, we have developed through the process of natural selection, the capacity for limitless good and glory, but that does not mean, our innate brutal nature has vanished from our psyche for good. We have the capacity for courage and conscience, but you must remember, we also bear the seeds of weakness and brutality within us. These seeds served us well for millions of years. They have been the most crucial elements in our survival in the wild. Let me give you an example.
Imagine a man is sitting with his wife on the couch, while watching TV. Suddenly, a woman on TV starts stripping. What kind of changes do you think, would take place in the man’s pants! Now here is the real question, the man gets erect by watching the stripping lady on TV, say it’s my good friend and popular pornstar Olivia Austin – does this mean, he actually wants to do her? Does this mean, he does not love his wife? These questions are all non-sense. Of course he loves his wife. And consciously, he does not desire to mate with Olivia, but his subconscious mind does – and that’s not a theory, but a fact. Because that’s how the man’s brain has been surviving in the wild. His penis had to be prepare within seconds, the moment he had an opportunity to spread his genes – there was no consent involved. Because the competition was high. And that libidinal programming still remains active within the man’s neurobiology. That’s why erection upon the sight of a hot lady, is quite normal and in fact, healthy, but that does not necessarily mean, it is a sign of intentional desire for intercourse with that lady. A man may be married happily, and still his penis would get erect, the moment his mind visualizes a glimmer of opportunity for spreading his genes. Similar is the process of belief in an imaginary entity, named God.
The mind has various mechanisms to maintain its internal order and well being. And belief in something higher than the petty little human existence, is one of those self-preservation mechanisms. A person may be the most rational being on earth when everything is almost fine in his or her life. But the moment, clouds of excruciating agonies begin to cover the sky of his or her psyche, all rationality will go out of the window, and what will remain, is pure, savage, survival instinct. During these moments of utter disaster, a healthy human mind is more likely to give in to supernaturalism, than to bring out a notebook and do logical analysis. Eventually when those clouds start to disperse, the mind would slowly gain its natural rational capacities. Then he or she would again start talking most boastfully about reasoning and free thinking. This is not hypocrisy – this is human life – or to be more accurate, this is biological life.
Another such mechanism comes to my mind in this context. This mechanism kicks in when somebody faces a life-threatening trauma, and gives rise to the mesmerizing experience of afterlife, in which apparently the trauma-struck individual has an encounter with supernatural entities, prophets, or diseased relatives. And this experience manifests as more real than actual reality. The purpose of it is to put your mind in a preconceived domain of comfort, while your body is under tremendous stress. And before when medical science was not developed, people died with this last conscious experience of entering into a higher dimension. We did not have the means to save a dying person. Now we do. So, even though they go close to the doorstep of death and start experiencing the conscious hallucinatory domain of afterlife, we are capable of bringing the person back to life. And when they finally wake up, they can excite all others around them with their supposed experience of the afterlife, unlike our ancestors who did not have the means to come back from the doorstep of death.
The mind is who you are. You are your mind. And as such, you are not even aware of most of its features – because you are not supposed to, biologically speaking. Underneath the surface of conscious awareness, lies a whole territory of subconscious traits and processes. Some of these processes become active on a daily basis, others, when truly necessary. But they are there, nevertheless. They are there for a reason – the reason of survival – the reason of maintaining well being when every other modern means fails. They don’t follow modern norms of rationality. They only follow Mother Nature’s law of survival. And they are definitely not glorious in nature, rather, they are simply the mind’s way of preserving itself. It is not something to be proud of, or critical of. It just is, what it is – an unavoidable part of human mental existence.
Recommended Reading
Autobiography of God: Biopsy of A Cognitive Reality
But why? Why am I talking about it exactly now? Because, I was scrolling through my youtube feed, and came across a video of some actor, shouting out “put God first”. The very first casual response that mind spat out was – even the stupidest and barbarian opinions of celebrities can appear to the masses as greatly inspirational and glorious statements – what a shame! As I said, this was the first response that my mind produced upon watching the thumbnail. So, now, let’s get over this casual response and dissect the situation – to be specific, the statement – “put God first”. It basically says, never lose faith in God, and you’ll achieve everything. I won’t say whether it is civilized or not. But I would say this. Belief in a supernatural entity having control of and concern for, your life, is basically, not a sign of glory, rather a sign of weakness.
Weakness is a fact – not bad or good. Like it or not, we all feel weak at times – I accept, that I do. And specifically in these times of excruciating agony, the mind kicks into a defense mode – where it naturally tends to put its faith and control upon a higher illusory entity. It’s not good – it’s not bad – it is what it is. And we cannot change this situation, just yet, because though we have developed extraordinary brain capacities, inside, we still remain cave-people, with a highly sensitive amygdala, that reacts quite effectively to every single fear and stress stimulus. And to quote from my book The Krishna Cancer – “Mother Nature created God as a neurological anti-depressant sentiment.”
Belief in an imaginary entity or force, is a sign of weakness. And, weakness is a part of biological existence. So, glorifying that weakness, does not make a person any more religious, spiritual or wise, than beating one’s wife does for not sleeping with him. Yes, we have developed through the process of natural selection, the capacity for limitless good and glory, but that does not mean, our innate brutal nature has vanished from our psyche for good. We have the capacity for courage and conscience, but you must remember, we also bear the seeds of weakness and brutality within us. These seeds served us well for millions of years. They have been the most crucial elements in our survival in the wild. Let me give you an example.
Imagine a man is sitting with his wife on the couch, while watching TV. Suddenly, a woman on TV starts stripping. What kind of changes do you think, would take place in the man’s pants! Now here is the real question, the man gets erect by watching the stripping lady on TV, say it’s my good friend and popular pornstar Olivia Austin – does this mean, he actually wants to do her? Does this mean, he does not love his wife? These questions are all non-sense. Of course he loves his wife. And consciously, he does not desire to mate with Olivia, but his subconscious mind does – and that’s not a theory, but a fact. Because that’s how the man’s brain has been surviving in the wild. His penis had to be prepare within seconds, the moment he had an opportunity to spread his genes – there was no consent involved. Because the competition was high. And that libidinal programming still remains active within the man’s neurobiology. That’s why erection upon the sight of a hot lady, is quite normal and in fact, healthy, but that does not necessarily mean, it is a sign of intentional desire for intercourse with that lady. A man may be married happily, and still his penis would get erect, the moment his mind visualizes a glimmer of opportunity for spreading his genes. Similar is the process of belief in an imaginary entity, named God.
The mind has various mechanisms to maintain its internal order and well being. And belief in something higher than the petty little human existence, is one of those self-preservation mechanisms. A person may be the most rational being on earth when everything is almost fine in his or her life. But the moment, clouds of excruciating agonies begin to cover the sky of his or her psyche, all rationality will go out of the window, and what will remain, is pure, savage, survival instinct. During these moments of utter disaster, a healthy human mind is more likely to give in to supernaturalism, than to bring out a notebook and do logical analysis. Eventually when those clouds start to disperse, the mind would slowly gain its natural rational capacities. Then he or she would again start talking most boastfully about reasoning and free thinking. This is not hypocrisy – this is human life – or to be more accurate, this is biological life.
Another such mechanism comes to my mind in this context. This mechanism kicks in when somebody faces a life-threatening trauma, and gives rise to the mesmerizing experience of afterlife, in which apparently the trauma-struck individual has an encounter with supernatural entities, prophets, or diseased relatives. And this experience manifests as more real than actual reality. The purpose of it is to put your mind in a preconceived domain of comfort, while your body is under tremendous stress. And before when medical science was not developed, people died with this last conscious experience of entering into a higher dimension. We did not have the means to save a dying person. Now we do. So, even though they go close to the doorstep of death and start experiencing the conscious hallucinatory domain of afterlife, we are capable of bringing the person back to life. And when they finally wake up, they can excite all others around them with their supposed experience of the afterlife, unlike our ancestors who did not have the means to come back from the doorstep of death.
The mind is who you are. You are your mind. And as such, you are not even aware of most of its features – because you are not supposed to, biologically speaking. Underneath the surface of conscious awareness, lies a whole territory of subconscious traits and processes. Some of these processes become active on a daily basis, others, when truly necessary. But they are there, nevertheless. They are there for a reason – the reason of survival – the reason of maintaining well being when every other modern means fails. They don’t follow modern norms of rationality. They only follow Mother Nature’s law of survival. And they are definitely not glorious in nature, rather, they are simply the mind’s way of preserving itself. It is not something to be proud of, or critical of. It just is, what it is – an unavoidable part of human mental existence.
Recommended Reading
Autobiography of God: Biopsy of A Cognitive Reality
