INJURED GRAPES OF SPIRITUALITY.

If you are honest in your struggle to truly know and understand God, you might wonder why religions remain a significant part of our daily lives. Why do major life events still rely on religious traditions, customs, rituals, and rules? From marriage to death and everything in between, religiously influenced lifestyles persist. Why have religions survived all the changes our societies have undergone? Why is God still a central figure in our societies despite the evolution, civilization, and scientific advances we have made as humanity? I believe you must be open and willing to understand this side of the human story. First of all, you must understand that the politics of our sense of belonging can be harmful to an individual’s personal spirituality.

A clear example I can give you is how our real-life governing systems work. For instance, if you don’t have a job in modern societies, you can go to social assistance and ask for help. They will not only help you find work but also help you survive in difficult times. They will connect you with different agencies run by the government. Other agencies, like the police, military, secret services, children and senior services, etc., are all there to help citizens so the nation’s business runs smoothly. Even if you need medical or legal help but can’t afford it, you can find assistance as well. All that help is available from the same one government. You can call it the government; I call it the big brother. It is totally invisible yet as real as can be. None of us can claim to have seen or met the big brother in physical form, even if we work for it. All you can see or encounter are the people who work and make the government function physically.

I am trying to highlight our visible and invisible realities so people can find comfort in their mortal living. Religion or not, scientific proof or not, as mortal individuals, we all have a personal and individual responsibility to live our lives with hope, optimism, happiness, and contentment. If you have never seen the government or big brother, why do you believe in its existence? Our trouble is that we are taught how to believe, and it usually comes from our religions. My problem starts when spirituality gets mixed with the political ambitions of greedy religious leaders.

This is how I think and feel about spirituality. When you run a spiritual grapevine on the thorny tree of politics—I call it a thorny tree because we have to lie our way to attain, gain, and sustain political power, as too much honesty can cause you to lose governing power—spirituality, which is pure and fragile as grapes, gets injured and bleeds. Believing in God is a spiritual act, as is understanding reciprocation. Both can benefit the individual, depending on how they view their belief system. If you wholeheartedly believe in God and reciprocate or do good deeds as a duty, the benefits of inner peace, happiness, and contentment are yours. Belonging groups have their own political agendas, so your personal spirituality is not seen as beneficial for a political religion. A strong spiritual individual would question the political motives of their belonging group. You, being political, benefit the group, so they prefer you to be like a worker bee or a warrior ant. Religions took that political step and claimed they are the contractors of spiritual God Almighty, intentionally running their followers’ spiritual grapes on the thorny political tree. Nothing happens to the group, but the individual’s spiritual grapes get injured.

One could argue that our political religions are at fault and should be blamed. However, it has always been, still is, and will always be the individual’s responsibility. Since the politics of belonging preaches and demands individual weakness, the belonging individual believes they are weak, irrelevant, unimportant, and insignificant. Yet God has nothing to do with our lack of self-esteem or irrelevance because God has already blessed us with our personal atom of autonomy. Now, it is our personal and individual duty to protect our spiritual grapes from the politics of our belonging groups. God potentially made each and every one of us a CEO of our lives, and we choose to believe what we believe. If we are injuring our spiritual grapes, we should be aware of it and do something about it before we pass on.

Our atom of autonomy gives us free will, compassion, and a personal sense of justice for all, including ourselves. Responsibilities still land on our personal and individual shoulders, so if we suffer from our individual decisions, it is our duty to fix them with our personal decisions. A political group will not care how you personally suffer, even if it is a political religion. They all take pride in the old-style politics of belonging, which is based on the strength-in-numbers philosophy.

If no one really knows what is beyond the cliff of faith, why do we, as groups, insist that we are on the right path and that even God is on our side, despite having no physical proof? We don’t have any video evidence other than our movies. Especially if we have to die to find out, yet no one comes back from death to tell us what is going on the other side. So we must believe whatever our belonging groups tell us. If there were no politics involved, I would be game for it all, but unfortunately, our religions have been infiltrated by—or I should say, they have run their grapevines on—the thorny trees of the politics of belonging. Since it only hurts us at the individual level, our belonging groups don’t care how we, as individuals, suffer. Another questionable behavior is our enforced belief system. Why do we have to push and shove our belief systems on others? If you can find even a single reason other than a political one, I would love to hear from you. If you feel it is spiritual to convert others by force, deceit, and lies, I predict your personal grapes are bleeding spirituality. If you don’t do anything about it, your next step will be committing spiritual crimes against others in the name of your belonging group.

Your atom of autonomy is within you to judge your actions. If you constantly go against it or are always at odds with it, you will suffer from internal disputes, which is a significant loss for a mortal individual. Our happiness, contentment, hope, optimism, and inner peace all depend on our inner harmony with our atom of autonomy. Remember, you can feel everything while you are alive, so all the internal conflict-related discomfort is for you personally. As a mortal, you will have to work on that inner harmony; otherwise, a listless life can be a burden. If you are hoping that you will find eternal peace after you have jumped over the cliff of faith, you may be putting all your eggs in a basket of the unknown. It can be a stretch because you can feel while you are alive, but you would not know what it will feel like after you are dead. Remember, no one can come back to tell you what is really going on the other side, other than what your political belonging group has told you. So you should make reality-based decisions while you are alive and not put all your eggs in the basket of that non-physical and unknown reality.

The real meaning of our life is our reciprocation to convert spirituality into physical actions, all done before we jump over the cliff of faith. If you spend your life like a worker bee or a warrior ant and don’t feel spiritually fulfilled, it is your personal choice-related loss, which you can stop to prevent your spiritual bleeding. Don’t wait until you have nothing left and you have to jump the cliff to find out you may have been on the wrong political path. This right and wrong is not dictated by political religions but by spirituality, so understand your standing in the real picture of a mortal being.

I wrote a blog, “Personal, Communal, and Universal Circles of Life Part One,” and “Storm in My Teacup” was part two. This could have been part three because it is on a similar subject, but I chose “Injured Grapes of Spirituality” instead.

When you try to look at God or the world beyond our cliff of faith, it may appear to be unknown, just like our government or big brother, but they are spiritual realities related to human individuals’ actual physicality because all the spiritual stuff happens while you are alive. You can’t see big brother or the government, yet you can see how it works with the help of us all working for it. Every helping hand is related to the government, but it is physically done by its employees, and they all get paid by the government for their help. Meaning, help for help, or I should call it reciprocation. Now, question yourself: do you think the existence of the government is undeniable? Why do you believe in the existence of the government but not God? If you believe in both the government and God, why do you think the human individual is an insignificant part of that picture? Politically, it is preached that the government and God matter but not the individual. Yet spiritually and in literal reality, the human individual is the life and blood of our unseen realities.

Let’s take it a step further. If you are walking by and see a stranger in need of help, you decide to help because you had a thought. Where did that thought come from? Why did you go ahead and make your thought a physical reality by helping a total stranger? That was all done by you with no expectation of anything in return, and it was not a government-paid job, yet you did it anyway. You made that choice with your free will because you had a thought inspired by the need and your ability to understand your duty of reciprocation. That decency and compassion-related thought came from your atom of autonomy related spiritual side. Just like our big brother works in the second circle, God works from our third circle (read “Storm in My Teacup”). All invisible to our naked eyes, yet as real as can be. Interestingly, you don’t have to believe any of that because you have a free-will choice. For some, if you believe in all that, it can always be religious mumbo jumbo. Yet, even if you take the religious beliefs out and take a second look, you would still help the stranger. You would have to wonder why. If you try honestly, you will see how important our invisible realities can be, even for those who do not believe. God or not, science or not, we all are entities who live in human bodies with brains, yet we are totally separated. Just like a computer: you are not a computer nor are you data, but you run the computer. So, who are you?

When you don’t believe in your spiritual side, you try to control everything in your life with an egotistical approach. Yet, you neglect to recognize the importance of free oxygen and a functioning internal and external universe, which you need to survive your next breath. This means you are already alive with the help of the unknown, but you don’t acknowledge it. You egotistically try to control not only what is happening in your own life, but also your second circle related to the government or “big brother,” and you even want to control your third circle of life as well. This approach leads to stress and self-destruction from the storms you bring into your personal life. If you try to control uncontrollable facts like health, aging, and mortality, you will suffer from consequential stress and related issues, especially if you have drained all the spirituality out of your life.

Playing God with limited resources and inevitably limited time is related to your ego 100%. Ego happens to be the first of the three children of the sense of belonging. Remember, if you have an ego, you will strive for pride and honor as well, because you would be influenced by what other people think about you. Not everything is wrong with ego, pride, and honor, but as a mortal CEO, it’s our job to understand and balance them for a comfortable mortal life. Our opposing senses—sense of freedom and sense of belonging—can create complex problems for a mortal being, so it is crucial to balance these two. Why are they important, and why is extreme behavior bad for a mortal being? Naturally, we care a lot more about what other people think about us than we believe we do. Each of us has to deal with our sense of belonging and sense of freedom simultaneously to create balance; otherwise, we individually pay the price. Some of us lean towards a sense of freedom, but most of us usually lean towards a sense of belonging. This is one of the major root causes of our individual and personal problems. We intentionally injure our spiritual grapes and believe that the politics of our sense of belonging is more important, or I should say, being a worker bee or a warrior ant is more important than using our God-given CEO status.

As human beings, not being able to use personal free will is not an asset; clearly, it is a spiritual deficiency. Not using free will can be a personal loss for the individual. Since we are not created or genetically born as worker bees or warrior ants, we must understand the difference between us and other creatures. We are blessed with our personal atom of autonomy, free will, and personal sense of justice. Acting on behalf of our belonging groups without questioning and judging the politics behind them is below human status. Remember, we are responsible for our personal actions regardless of our belonging group’s inspiring speeches. We cannot act under the influence of our hormones like other creatures because we are in a class of our own.

Just like in the triangle of Human, God, and Devil, our sense of belonging and sense of freedom are on the bottom corners as well, so we can create balance and live a successful mortal life. Simply put, you can’t be out of control, nor can you live in total deprivation. If you are encouraged by your belonging group to live like a worker bee or a warrior ant, it is totally political. It is your job to understand all that because you are neither a bee nor an ant, so make decisions like a normal mortal human being.

God’s vehicle would go in circles if we don’t personally understand and act on our duty of reciprocation. Since God has done a godly job to keep us alive by helping us with things beyond our control, we individually need to do our share to convert spiritual things into physical realities. Sometimes the politics of belonging to our groups works against this, so they politically hide it behind God. If you believe God literally wants your prayers, fasting, sacrifice, and total obedience, logically you would not have a free-will choice. Your prayers would mean only following the traditions, customs, rituals, and rules of your belonging groups and nothing more.

Remember, our real job is to convert spirituality into physical actions, and none of that happens if you don’t understand the importance of practical prayers. Even as an individual, I would not give a job to a person who does not do what is meaningful. I would rather have someone who really works and pulls their weight. It’s all about individual responsibility. If someone says, “I read this in a book, and it made sense to me, so I followed it,” in today’s world, reading alone is not enough to make individual sense because we have to think and act before we follow any instructions. As educated human beings, we are expected to be responsible for our actions. The bottom line is that it’s not what you have read but what it made you think and do. Your personal knowledge is crucial. You can’t just hide behind what you have read because, as human beings, we are judged by our actions, not what we know. Our individual knowledge is not physical until we practically make those thoughts physical. For instance, you can pray, but if you have reciprocated physically to help someone in need, you have fulfilled their prayers. So regardless of what you have read, it can only be meaningful if you acted on it physically. Remember, it is all because of our free will, which is vastly used by us and clearly understood by our modern societies. All our courts and justice systems are based on individual responsibility.

Remember, all our major breakthroughs and evolutionary progress have happened and continue to happen through the efforts and practical hard work of human individuals. Hard work has its importance and value. An example that might not perfectly fit this subject but can explain what I am trying to point out: In the beginning, medical doctors claimed that steroids didn’t work, yet bodybuilders kept getting bigger muscles and laughed at the medical community. In reality, researchers had neglected the main component: the importance of hard work. Because the doctors undermined this main component, their research did not pan out.

To me, human hard work and efforts are the practical prayers of our spiritual world. Otherwise, mosques and churches would be full of big, muscular people. If prayers were above the hard work of individuals, the world would be in a different place. Since the majority of people have desires bigger than their efforts in everyday life, fewer people achieve the results they desire. Personally, I believe our belief systems clearly have and should have a place in our life, but not without the understanding of real spirituality and the personal responsibility of full-on efforts.

If scientists have figured out that the chicken came first because the protein that makes the eggshell is produced by the chicken, they concluded and ended this age-old argument. But how are we going to scientifically end the argument of what is more important in the making of God’s fabric? A thread or the fabric? What makes fabric meaningful: its spirituality or its physicality? Can this spiritual clap sound with one-sided efforts? Why do they focus on God being almighty and preach Him as the end-all and be-all, while the human individual is ridiculed as an irrelevant, insignificant, unimportant, and even a born sinner? Why has the human individual been undermined by most religions? Ask yourself individually: Are their reasons intentionally political? If so, why? Then you will have a chance to know what the politics of our sense of belonging to our groups is capable of doing. If spirituality is not easy or straightforward today, it is because things have been twisted for us right from the start.

Not only do our religions look at God externally, but our scientific community is also constantly looking at things externally, failing to acknowledge human individuals’ abilities and their importance in the larger scheme of life. If you look at everything with logic, you will discover that human individuals’ abilities were, are, and will be the foundational cause of all discoveries made physically possible. So it is not what is out there, but what is within, especially if even our potential has an evolving potential.

Scientists claim that there was a marble that exploded and has been constantly expanding ever since. There could be an explanation for it, but personally, I think and question where that marble came from and why it exploded. Why is it constantly expanding? We may learn more with our evolutionary knowledge in the future, but for now, both religion and the scientific community can’t really explain their knowledge purely without assumptions. Now, as individuals, we all have to figure out how to be spiritual in the middle of religious politics and continually evolving scientific knowledge while individually running out of time as mortals. To me, it is important because we are the ones responsible for how to live comfortably in mortal skin.

Politics, sure, is an important and integral part of human societies, but running our grapevine of spirituality on it is simply wrong. For example, involving God’s name and using God for political purposes can potentially harm our individual spirituality because we all put God on different pedestals. There is a potential for individuals to find out the political lies, which can bring the whole religion down and taint or rob spirituality at the individual level. Using God to harm the individual’s ability to believe and personally fix bleeding spiritual grapes can have consequences. Modern-day societies don’t look at religions as humanity did in the past. If you look at our evolution, you can assume and change with time politically. Our spiritual values and justice can and should stay constant so we can work against injustice.

If you look at it realistically, political issues like prejudice and discrimination have been exposed, especially in today’s world, as major causes of disputes among our groups. This is happening because we are individually becoming aware of spiritual and common-sense justice. We are adopting the philosophy of “live and let live,” which has given birth to our newly discovered equal human rights. With equal human rights as the foundation, humanity can address all injustice and wrongdoing. These rights have been discussed in civilized societies, and crimes related to political injustice have been brought to light. In the near future, it may become a liability for religions to openly preach prejudice and discrimination. If religions had kept spirituality and justice-related equal human rights as the foundation of their belief systems, they would have been free from any accusations of injustice, prejudice, and discrimination that they face today.

Now, after thousands of years of injustice and wrongdoing, including giving God a bad name, they are in a pickle. They can’t go back on their words because they have openly claimed, and still claim, that their words are God’s words and cannot be changed. According to them, prejudice and discrimination are Godly, while equal human rights are not. Remember, a political entity—a party, a nation, a group of people, or a political religion—stands on the foundation of prejudice and discrimination because it always favors certain people or a particular group.

It is understandable that our modern governing systems need politics to function. However, when a religious group that is supposed to be purely spiritual demands political control, it is like putting lipstick on a pig. As a spiritual entity, you can’t hide your desire for control over people, especially when money is involved. Spiritual principles should be like our justice systems, clearly written with nothing but truth at heart. Unfortunately, the politics of belonging twists and turns lies to gain, attain, and sustain political control, and our religions are not immune to this.

If you are an extremist of any religion and want your religion to rule the world, what does that make you? You can’t be spiritual because you are willing to do to others what you would not want done to you or your loved ones. You are for some people, but not for humanity as a whole. If you were, you would want all humanity under your group’s umbrella. That has been, and still is, the old style of group politics. Just ask yourself, did it help humanity or the individual? If your group’s ambitions are to rule the world, it is purely political because it seeks power and control for your group, whether it is based on race, color, nation, or religion. Since you are part of that group, you would not believe that all human beings are equal. You would be prejudiced and discriminatory against opposing groups and even against someone who does not follow or understand your group’s philosophy.

Understanding spirituality makes a human individual a CEO who can clearly see the politics behind religions’ undermining of the human individual. Groups usually demand obedience to demote individuals to the level of worker bees and warrior ants so they can be used for political purposes. Each and every one of us has free will and the ability to choose our actions. If we are brainwashed to accept our weaknesses as realities, we are just like worker bees or warrior ants, regardless of our genetically gifted superiority.

If we choose the politics of belonging over the responsibilities of a CEO, we end up demoting ourselves. We are not supposed to choose extremes because we carry an atom of autonomy within us. This autonomy will not let us live in peace if we choose to commit spiritual crimes in the name of our groups. We personally need to balance our triangle of God and Devil and create balance in our triangle of sense of belonging and sense of freedom, both from the top corner.

As a CEO, we are responsible for creating balance in our triangles and understanding the circles around our mortal lives. Creating inner peace during our living years is our responsibility, so being uncomfortable in our mortal skin relates to how we view our lives. Our first, individual, and personal circle can easily be affected by what happens in our neighboring and larger circles. It’s like we are a story within a story within a story.

For instance, you have your first and personal story within your cup of tea circle where you are the main character or CEO of your life. You make decisions and choices to live successfully during your mortal years. This is where the triangle of health, happiness, and success comes into play, yet it is still related to the first and personal circle. After learning about your personal circle, or your cup of tea, you must learn about the neighboring circles to understand your real place in the larger scheme of life. As a CEO, it is your job to understand your evolving potential and your limitations along with your mortality so you can make serious decisions for yourself. This is where you learn to relate to the people around you, such as your family, friends, grown-up kids, political parties, nations, and religions. You can vote for the direction you want your community to go, but that is the only power you have in your second circle as an individual. The outcome of your vote is not guaranteed to be in your control, so you must come to terms with your limits. If your grown-up kids don’t listen to you, you can’t force them to comply with your will. Again, you must come to terms with your love triangle of passionate love, instinctive love, and universal love (read love triangle). That can help you understand and navigate your out-of-control environment and its effects on you.

Understanding that you have no control over many things in your life can help you grow spiritually. Your second circle includes your community, race, gender, family, grown-up children, nation, and religions. They dictate and show their power to let you know that you are not in control of everything. They have the power to shun you, punish you, put you in jail, or even kill you for disobedience, all in the name of control for themselves. You have to use your personal politics to learn to live within the boundaries, rules, and laws of the land you belong to, at least in your physical life. In your imagination, you are free to create balance.

Just like in the first circle, where as individuals we try to control whatever goes on in our personal lives, as communities we also strive for control. However, communities have their limitations, so they attempt to manage the third circle. This can create the same frustration for the community as an individual feels when things are not in control. When a community tries to control whatever is going on in the third circle, it can cause problems. We need to comply, even as communities, to create a balanced environment and evolve further in a certain rhythm.

I see wildfires and the efforts made by communities to control them, yet the wind can lead to out-of-control fires or rain can put them out. Global warming-related weather extremes should be understood properly so we can direct our efforts where they will count. Therefore, our efforts as a community should not be limited to dealing with problems when they arise. We need to look at preventative measures as well because global warming clearly points toward working together as a whole humanity. This rhythmic pursuit can help us adopt a higher level of evolution, one step at a time, instead of getting frustrated.

The third circle I am talking about is where our all-powerful second circle is powerless. This is where nature and God reside. Our uncontrollable age and disease come from this zone, where your second circle can only pray for you but cannot save you from your mortal fate. Amongst all these complexities, as an individual, you have to truly know and accept everything with honesty to spend your temporary visit with some happiness and contentment.

Our understanding of right and wrong changes not only individually but also collectively as an evolving organism. Although slower than individual change, our second circle still evolves. The obvious changes and evolution of our societies are well documented and can be seen physically. Unfortunately, we tend to follow our constitutions and religions with passion, so changing traditions, customs, rituals, and rules of nations and religions is not easy. If we prioritize our groups, we will automatically be prejudiced and discriminatory against those who do not belong to our group.

These days, even religions are trying to shake off their extreme behaviors related to prejudicial and discriminatory policies because they have been taking a hit from an evolving and judging humanity seeking equal human rights. The Pope recently made some remarks about these changes, but we will have to see if they stick. Our world has been going back and forth with changes. If we give power to religious leaders, they would love to take us back to the era of the prophets, so there is no guarantee for political stability related to equal human rights. I would like to see if leaders from other religions come out and preach equal human rights over their old rules.

Since politics is a dirty game of control, I call it a thorny tree. People want to gain power regardless of the price they have to pay. If you have to please a group of people who helped you get into office, sometimes you will have to sell your soul and become spiritually bankrupt to fulfill your belonging group’s desires. That is, if you have your spirituality intact.

Just as our group politics-related conflicts are part of our life, so are our corrupt politicians. It is like racism—never desired but always in the face of humanity. Should you stand with or against racism? Obviously, it is a common-sense “No,” especially if you think spiritually. You can only change it if you individually start to look at things logically and put yourself on the receiving end of your actions.

Here is how I look at racism and prejudice. All the security-related differences arise if you don’t see yourself as a human being belonging to humanity as a whole. If you see yourself as an extension of an ideology, part of a gang, race, nation, or religion, you may politically hide your racism, prejudice, and discrimination, but whenever you are squeezed, they will show up whether you like it or not. It is kind of obvious that there will always be people with differing opinions, but living with each other despite our differences is possible and has been proven over and over in human societies. The only way to overcome passionate divisions is with compassion and a personal sense of justice. Compassion comes easily if it is within you. If you are in it for humanity as a whole and can see God in the next person as you feel within yourself, only then can it or would it spill out.

Dr. Wayne Dyer, a well-known guru, said something along these lines. I am not sure these are the exact words because I heard him talking on TV a long time ago, but the idea is there, and I quote: “If you squeeze an apple, only apple juice will come out. You can’t get orange juice from an apple or apple juice from an orange.” End quote.

When you are squeezed, whatever you have inside of you will come out. If you are a passionate person for your belonging group, you will have prejudice and discrimination bursting out of you. Potentially, you could be a natural racist, ignorant, or even a suicide bomber who can’t think of yourself as an independent CEO. You will be prejudiced against all others, regardless of your color, race, gender, nationality, or religion. If you are full of compassion, carry a compassionate sense of justice, and feel that you are scientifically, genetically, and spiritually a human being and belong to humanity as a whole, you will overcome your sense of belonging-related confusions. You will not put lipstick on a pig and will call a spade a spade when it needs to be called.

Sure, not everyone would agree with me because of their respective religious beliefs. My main purpose is not to put doubt in someone’s spiritual belief system. I want everyone to know that mixing politics into spiritual beliefs is dangerous for everyone, so it is not kosher to kill in the name of religion or God. It literally goes against spirituality because there is no prejudice or discrimination connected to God. Spiritually, you don’t do to anyone what you don’t like done to you or your loved ones—simple as that. Since we are an evolving organism, it is even worse to believe our knowledge is 100% accurate. Simply put, we can’t stay still in our learning, and it shows in our everyday lives. We can’t be locked into or have caps on our knowledge.

Where did prejudice come from? How did we become racist? As babies, we don’t discriminate. This should be a good enough reason to believe that it comes from our installed knowledge. Now let’s look at our installed knowledge without any bias.

These are the top ten fundamental yeses and nos.

Yeses:

If you are cut, you would bleed, and this blood can be a lifesaver to all kinds of human beings in need. Blood transfusions have the potential to save all kinds of people, regardless of their source. Whether you are Black, white, yellow, brown, mixed, gay, straight, religious or non-religious, or an atheist, all can benefit from this example of the oneness of humanity. (Yes) Yet still, it was religiously discredited by certain religions.

You can’t save a human life with another creature’s blood. (Yes)

Do you get hungry and eat similar foods just like everyone else? (Yes)

You defecate and pee, which stinks just like everyone else. (Yes)

You get sick, old, and die just like everyone else. (Yes)

If you are white, Black, brown, yellow, red, mixed color, believe differently in God, or don’t believe in any religion, yet if you mingle as male or female, would the girl get pregnant and have a perfectly functioning human baby? (Yes)

Are you scientifically made of the same stuff like carbon? (Yes)

Do you need oxygen, food, and water to live just like everyone else? (Yes)

Do you use your free will every day just like everyone else? (Yes)

Do you believe we have a space station up there and it is the year 2021? (Yes)

Nos:

Do you think you are immortal? (No)

Do you have control over your oxygen supply to breathe and live? (No)

Do you have control over what goes on in space? (No)

Do you have total control over what goes on in your inner space, meaning your body? (No)

Do you feel that your belonging group, nation, religion, race, gender, or family can help you avoid sickness and death? (No)

If you are learning something new every day and are an evolving organism, do you really think that your knowledge is complete? (No)

Do you think being Muslim, Christian, or Jew is a good enough reason for you to go to heaven? (No)

Do you know everything about God or the stuff beyond the cliff of faith like heaven and hell 100%? Do you have any evidence other than the taught belief system, such as video footage or an internet connection? (No)

Do you really believe that you are superior to others just because of the color of your skin? (No)

Do you think religious people have more compassion, a better sense of justice, and more love than others? (No)

Since you have already looked at yourself as a human being, now let’s look at yourself as a creature who lives on the earth and how.

Just imagine a black bear comes to your door. This is not unheard of in Canada; recently, it was in the news, but it was not the talking bear like mine. Anyway, the bear comes to your door and tells you in your language to get out of its house. You may call 911 and have the bear killed, yet realistically, you have bought a piece of land in the bear’s territory. Who sold it to you? Another human being who bought it from someone else or even from the government of your belonging group. Long story short, the bear was there first or before you. Now, does it give the bear the right to own that piece of land as it claimed? For some, it may be, because that is what we are taught by our governing systems. The problem is that all living things, including us, are mortal. You and the talking bear as well, so logically, we would only live on the land for a certain length of time, which makes us all renters, not owners, of the land.

When and how did things change? I was walking by the cemetery close to my apartment and saw a gravestone that made that particular grave over two hundred years old. This means that the dead person has and still owns that piece of land even in death. No other creature can do that.

When you have a problem, you have to be able to see it as a problem first. We have homelessness all over the world for living people, yet a dead one, even after two hundred years, still owns a piece of land. Personally, it just does not make any sense to me because of the homelessness of the living people. I can understand that I am living in a transitioning time and it may change as we develop problems with our living spaces. Sure, it can be related to our emotional issues, but you can only overcome them by logical thinking. I understand that if I believe in things differently than you, you and I can’t put the fire of emotions out with emotions.

Sure, the ownership system is related to governing authorities to keep peace and protect the weak ones from the bigger, stronger, and more aggressive, but how far do you want to take this? That is the question.

The globe has no natural lines of divided land, yet we have over 200 countries with seven billion human beings and countless other creatures. We are the only ones still fighting over the system of ownership since the beginning of our awareness. An aggressor can conquer a country to own everything and everyone within. The question is, is that right? If your answer is yes, you are still living in the past. If you are keeping up with today’s world, you should remember that slavery is a crime these days, and yes, it is looked down upon in all parts of the world.

Back to the bear. Since you have bought a piece of land in the bear’s territory, which it does not really own, and you think it is yours because you have bought it, you discredit the bear’s claim. In your opinion, bears don’t or can’t own a piece of land, but you can. Now, what makes you think that? Would you think the same way when you are on your deathbed? The bear may not realize what you are or how things function in your world, but the question is, do you really know how things work in your mortal world?

Long story short, you took over a piece of land in the bear’s territory yet got it killed because of your security. What would happen if you start to look at it from the bear’s point of view?

These are the problems humanity has been facing throughout our past history and continues to face. One can say this is my land, but is it really? Human governing systems have never been foolproof. As humanity, in our past and even modern history, we still carry black marks of human rights violations and robbing others of their rights. The reason is that we are still in the process of evolution. We may be better than the bear, but I think we still have a long way to go to become spiritual entities. There will always be differences of opinion, whether it be race, gender, nationalism, or religion. We just can’t come together under one umbrella of humanity regardless of our proven equality. This is the nature of the beast inside all of us. Until we take our next step to spiritually evolve and realize that we are individual spiritual entities from within, we will politically divide the earth into pieces and fight over it to prove that regardless of our present level of education, civilization, religion, and evolution, we are still savage beasts within. We individually are bleeding our spirituality, yet our belonging groups and yes, even our religions, say we should be proud to follow the politics of our belonging groups.

When a core principles of spirituality like compassion and blind justice get compromised by the politics of control. Controlling authorities become politically inclined to choose even injustice done to the individual. For instance if a is child born out of religious wedlock they can suffers all life by being called a bastard a term used by the political religions. Even they are born out of rape and have no say in their birth non what so ever. How that kind of injustice can be not only tolerated by the spirituality preaching and so called pure Godly contractors but openly. If we punish innocents and actually implicate God as an unjust entity our collective grapes are bleeding spirituality, equal human rights can and will eventually fix our wrong doing but people who believe and follow blindly they are under the influences of the politics of belonging instead of being spiritual. Religious societies usually believe even a leaf on the tree can’t move without God’s will so my question is how can a whole child be born without God’s will? So why they are being punished for having no fault of their own especially by the people who should be spiritually aware enough to understand innocence. They did not only sale their soul they soled spirituality itself in the name of having political control on their followers.

A political tree is a thorny tree and if you want the thorn free tree to keep your grapes from bleeding spirituality. Keep your politics of belonging out of your religious beliefs individually because as a group your religions are not going to do it. If things can’t be done collectively, don’t forget as a human individual you have free will. Remember being a human being we all are personally responsible for our spirituality. As an atom of autonomy holding being you just can’t be living in guilt because it will eat you alive from within regardless of what your political religions preach. Simply try envisioning yourself on the receiving end of your or your belonging group’s actions.

In the era of equal human rights even as individuals we can point out all the injustices done in the name of our belonging groups and even in the name of God.

 Our politics of belonging to our groups has done enough damage to the innocents. I believe if you are an honest and spiritual individual who follows and believes in God given real identity, you will not do to anyone what you don’t like done to you or to your loved ones. It is understandably hard for the individual to dig in beyond their religious identity because it involves politics of sense of belonging to the belonging group. If you can’t see the political thorns of your belonging tree, just because you are born into it so your loyalties are must. Remember you are not connected to others like other creatures whom are genetically programed. 

You personally are an independent CEO so you carry your personal and individual grape wine of spirituality.

 If you knowingly and blindly run your grape wine on the thorny tree of political belonging you are running the risk to bleed spirituality out of your spiritual grapes. 

With no spirituality left in your grapes you are going to become an extension of an ideology yet you have been created as an independent entity. 

Being an independent entity you are totally responsible for your actions so anything you do for your political belonging you will be responsible that. Not only that you would have to personally answer to your atom of autonomy, for a mortal being, being at odds with internal force like atom of autonomy is not a good place to be. 

As a CEO of your life you can understand and see the political thorns of your belonging so if you understand your independence you would keep your grapes unharmed. With unharmed grapes and being spiritually solid no one can influence you to commit spiritual crimes. Our atom of autonomy gives us a choice and personal sense of justice. So regardless of your belonging group whether its your race, nation or religion you are born in, you can still be spiritually fulfilled and content without changing your belonging group. Simply by understanding the concept and protecting your spiritual grapes.

If you comply with your atom of autonomy, respect your free will and personal sense of justice you can become a CEO of your life. You can not only create balance between your sense of belonging and your sense of freedom you can save your grapes from spiritual bleeding as well. With in tacked spiritual grapes you would not have any trouble confronting injustice regardless of who is doing it.

QUESTIONING PERSONAL SPIRITUALITY.

As we grow up, we become individuals who acquire a master’s degree from the data installed by our belonging groups. Still, regardless of all the installed data, each and every one of us can think individually to influence our personal life. Writing these independently is similar to earning a PhD. Your research puts things together in your personal, virtual, or spiritual world from within so you can come up with your own decisions to live your mortal life. Unfortunately, not everyone reaches that level of individual thinking because of the political influences of their belonging groups. Our governing authorities or power brokers, such as our religions, dictate how an individual should think and even live within their influential perimeters. Whether they are governing authorities or religious preachers, they promote individual insignificance to keep themselves relevant. They want individuals to feel insecure and seek shelter under the wings of their belonging group, stay attached, and carry on with their group’s political agendas. Individuals are told that other groups are out to get us, are the bad bogeymen, and are ready to harm us, so we should be loyal to our group. Looking at our history, it is hard to deny the experience-related behaviors. In an insecure environment, it is hard for individuals to reach a PhD level, so most people stay stuck at the master’s degree level and speak from and act within the boundaries of their installed knowledge or data. This keeps them from seeing the harms done to them by their belonging group, yet the outside bogeyman still lurks in their minds because of the propaganda.

Our real and personal education starts with us, individually assuming our CEO responsibilities and putting our personal sense of justice to work. Simply by putting ourselves in others’ shoes or by putting ourselves on the receiving end of our group’s actions, we can think spiritually. Interestingly, that would be the hardest thing to do for a master’s degree holder because their knowledge consists exclusively of installed data. Our ability to write these is there for us all; each and every one of us has to explore and dig within for personal abilities to be a spiritual entity. Our atom of autonomy, related to free will, compassion, and personal sense of justice, has been ingrained within us from before our birth, but not everyone can access or reach it. It is all because of being brainwashed by the politics of the sense of belonging. Regardless of age, we individually are capable and can understand that. Greta Thunberg, a child climate change activist, is a good example to talk about. Even as a child, she speaks her mind regardless of very loud and influential climate change deniers. So THINK FOR GOD’S SAKE WHAT YOU PERSONALLY ARE. AS A HUMAN BEING, YOU CARRY AN EVOLVING POTENTIAL WITHIN, YET YOU CHOOSE TO FOLLOW AND LET YOUR GROUPS THINK FOR YOU. Just look at your personal abilities; you simply can’t be a herd or politically programmed being because you yourself have been created as a mini God. You are a lot more than what you are taught to believe and feel; you are a lot more than a physical entity. So explore your spiritual self if you really want to know who you are.

What if God were to start asking direct questions to you personally? I would believe God would most certainly ask what is more important to you: bowing down to God or helping the needy? While you are able and can help others in need, do you prefer or choose to go to prayers because you have been preached about that or you feel insignificant, irrelevant, and helpless yourself? Do you choose to show up and gather together with like-minded people to draw some energy from the belonging group but neglect personal responsibilities of reciprocation and practical help for the needy? These people are literally praying to God but have no ability to meet their needs regardless of trying. What would banging heads to the ground, to the wall, kneeling, or intentionally staying hungry for a day or two in the name of God mean while people around you literally don’t have food to live? Shouldn’t you be questioning this behavior of worshiping? Isn’t it political? Whether it is traditional, customary, politically ritualistic, or questionably spiritual, it is your job to reciprocate for the God-given oxygen and functioning body in which you are living. As an evolved human individual, it is your job to understand all that and your personal standing in the larger scheme of life before acting and defending your belonging group’s political agendas.

God is almighty and a spiritual entity with no physical need for ass-kissing to stroke a godly ego like a physically insecure human individual does. So Godly desires would be for us to help each other to fulfill someone’s prayers who is seeking God for help. It sounds like a bold statement, but I just could not find any other words to soften it. Why do we believe our life is for the afterlife while people die of starvation in our living years? We are supposed to be God’s workhorses to fulfill people’s prayers physically. Buttering up God in front of others but in private committing spiritual crimes is not the way God works. People talk about God watching us all. Ever wonder how that works? It works because you yourself are the physical part of that spiritual entity, so if you are alive, you are the spy from within. Your spiritual jewelry is not only an example but proof of your spiritual side that you have brought along from before your physical birth. Your physicality is needed by God and is the real wisdom and purpose of your life so you can be physically helpful or relevant to those in need. It is our duty to reciprocate, focus on practical prayers, and be helpful to others. That is to be in a position with equal footing, relevance, importance, and significance without feelings of guilt. You can not only get your self-esteem as an individual, but you can spiritually reach that level to be close to God and be fulfilled spiritually. Remember, it’s all about your individual spirituality, and it has nothing to do with the political side of your belonging religion or group.

You can have religious traditions, customs, rituals, and rules, but they all belong to the political side of religions. Yes, even going to the mosque, church, or any place where people gather for prayers is political. Real spirituality is where the needy ask God for help, even in the quiet of their homes. Majestic buildings of religious monuments are built with money that could have been used to feed those in need. People gathering together is a sign of an old-style political system of strength in numbers. This actually signifies group insecurity as they seek more individuals to strengthen the group. They promote group strength, but this is always based on individuals’ inferiority complexes. The promotion of group politics has been and still is perpetuating individuals’ weaknesses.

Spirituality sets you free because it is an apolitical system, just like the justice system, focusing on nothing but the truth. It makes sense to believe in one and only one spiritual God, regardless of our colors, races, genders, nations, or religions. With a direct connection to God, individuals can reach a level of spirituality where they see all humans, including themselves, as God’s workhorses. All fears and insecurity-related inferiority subside or completely disappear if you personally start to see God in others and within yourself. This removes the competition of an “us versus them” political system founded on our sense of belonging to groups. Self-esteem rises, and a sense of serene personal satisfaction becomes a part of daily individual life. Spirituality is highly personal because it is between you and God individually; it is not a group thing. This has the potential to make an individual spiritual regardless of their belief system. Religion or not, spirituality is universal because it can be found in humanity all over the world, regardless of belief system. That means it should not be dictated or considered exclusively a religious thing. We personally and individually should have spiritually based solid rules for ourselves and for our groups as well. Equal human rights, anti-racism, anti-gender bias, and anti-prejudice and discrimination policies should be a general part of humanity altogether.

When you go to a mosque, church, temple, synagogue, or any other place of worship and gather with like-minded people, you are participating in a group activity. Belonging to a group simply is not and cannot be an apolitical activity. Clearly, this getting together follows a strength-in-numbers related politics, so it is more of a political thing than spiritual. Now ask yourself honestly, how much influence does your belonging group have over you?

An individual under the spell of the politics of belonging is compelled to go to places of worship to follow prescribed traditions, customs, rituals, and rules of their respective religions. Interestingly, beyond the spiritual intentions of the individual, this gathering points towards the politics of belonging to a certain group, and that simply is political. A spiritual being or spiritually aware individual would be inclined to go where the real need resides. To me, that would be because of their understanding of reciprocation as a duty and the value of their practical prayers. This means they would find real-life cases of real-life needs instead of building majestic religious monuments among starving populations. Not too long ago, there was news about religions laundering money just like the mafia. If you Google “European.com,” you can find an article, “Top 5 Financial Transgressions Committed by the Vatican.”

I could not find the name of the author, so I will write it as author unknown. I quote: “The Vatican has always shrouded its financial dealings in mystery, but in the last 100 years, its embroilment in financial scandals has allowed Europe to catch a glimpse of some of the skeletons hiding in its closet. These skeletons have earned the Vatican international infamy and have caused conflicts with the EU and several of its member states.” End quote.

Now just look around the world and see the majestic monuments created by religions. It’s all because they did not spend incoming money to solve the poverty and sickness of societies. If money pours into religions, it is not to invest in building majestic buildings, but it is from the good hearts of people who want to help the needy. Yet the funds get used by the religions to own properties and become rich organizations. Can you find spirituality in all that so-called organized business of God, especially if you find poverty and sickness all over the world?

You may appear to be physically healthy, but that can fall like dominoes as you age or are constantly conflicted from within. In that case, the politics of belonging is not what will help you, but being spiritual will. So understand one thing clearly: spirituality and politics do not mix. Finance, well, that is another story of political power and corruption.

If a religion is preaching the politics of the sense of belonging instead of spirituality, it becomes just like another political party seeking power. It is up to you individually where you stand in the grand scheme of life. God created you as a CEO with free will for a reason. If you have lost those reasons, you can clean up your personal and individual belief system. Not only will you never have to jump from religion to religion to seek spirituality, but you will also easily find spirituality within the religion you were born into. Remember, spirituality is universal and is directly between the individual and God.

If you are spiritually aware and are a capable CEO of your life, your belonging group cannot pull you with their political strings like a puppet. You would not only know the differences between politics and spirituality, but you would also hold your spiritual jewelry, like compassion, love, and personal sense of justice, above political belonging. It is very easy to lose a personal sense of justice for an insecure or group-oriented individual to become a prejudiced and discriminatory being. This will take them against the will of the miracle sitting within each of us. Going against our own atom of autonomy can put our belief system in a pickle. These days, with the popularity of equal human rights, religions are looking like prejudicial and discriminatory bad guys because they commit the ultimate crime of killing each other in the name of God. Being in conflict from within has serious consequences, especially for a mortal being like us. If you are not able to connect the dots, you will be left open to not only losing inner peace but also susceptible to stress-related physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual illnesses. Being a CEO who knows their mortal nature, we all should be aware of the reasons why we have been blessed with free will.

If we are responsible for our actions, why do we gladly let our groups use us like puppets? Personally, I think it is because of all the brainwashing we have gone through in our early and tender years. Being irrelevant has been preached to us right from the get-go, which made kings kings and governing people superiors to the ordinary individual. For thousands of years, we have been exposed to bigger power than all of us, yet no one told us that we are the engine of the whole machine and even a machine ourselves. We have been taught we are part of a group, not a part of humanity. We are taught we are useless, irrelevant, and even born sinners. Our self-esteem has been robbed, and we have learned that we are not worthy to be connected to God directly. Yet God does not need a political group but instead a spiritual individual to get Godly work done physically.

Our physical reality is that we are the thread that God is made of, or we are a physical cell that gives life to spirituality. On the other hand, our fulfillment matters, or at least should matter to us all, because of our mortal nature. Without a spiritually fulfilling life, a mortal life can be meaningless, so we all should look at our religions critically. If your religion is not able to fulfill you spiritually, that does not mean there is something wrong with that religion and another would be better. Instead, there is something wrong with your out-of-control sense of belonging, which can make you not only cross spiritual lines for the politics of belonging but also convince you to commit spiritual crimes in the name of your religion or belonging group. That way, regardless of your mortality, you may be good for your belonging group, but you did not or could not stand in your own corner for yourself just because you did not recognize yourself. If you could not help yourself in your living years, you did not value or understand the importance of your atom of autonomy and related free will. You did not understand reciprocation, which means you did not really understand the reasons for your life, yourself, and even God other than what your belonging group had taught you. Here are thirty-three questions you can ask yourself to understand how far you have been politically influenced.

Do you believe we are at the level of genetically programmed ants and bees when it comes to using free will?

Since we don’t have an umbilical cord stuck with us, should we metaphorically stay stuck with our belonging group’s ideology?

Do you think God fits into your personal life? If yes, how and why?

Do you think religions are the exclusive path to spirituality and God?

Do you believe that as human beings with free will, we all are capable CEOs of our lives?

People always talk about the government. Other than the employees, have you ever seen the government physically?

How long do you think you are going to live? If you are aware of your mortality, should you be fearful of undeniable death?

What is more important to you: your living years or the scenarios of the afterlife you have been taught to believe in?

What is worse: burning in metaphoric hell after death or living in agony during your living years?

The footprints you are following—how sure are you that they are the right path to God and spiritually correct?

How strongly do you believe in what is beyond the cliff of mortality, and why?

Do you believe a baby can be born a sinner and responsible for being born out of wedlock, or should be punished for it?

Would you question if your racism, religion, or nationalism leads you to become a racist, prejudiced, and discriminatory individual? If not, why not?

Do you think it is okay to become a prejudiced and discriminatory being when it comes to the politics of belonging to a group?

Do you believe in equal human rights, especially when the politics of a sense of belonging is pulling you towards loyalty to your group?

Do you believe in equal human rights? If yes, why? What is your logical explanation for it?

Do you have a personal sense of justice, or does the politics of belonging override everything you think is right or wrong?

Would you like to be on the receiving end of your actions, especially when it comes to your religion-related prejudiced and discriminatory behaviors?

Do you think God is a discriminatory or prejudiced entity as religions preach that God is on their side exclusively?

Do you believe God created human beings, or did human beings create God for control-related purposes? Which came first, just like the question of whether the chicken came before the egg?

How do you think God and the Devil really work in human societies to be relevant? Can they work without the physical help of human individuals?

What is more important to you: religious traditions, customs, rituals, and rules, or practical prayers like really helping someone in need?

What do you know about reciprocation? Should it be just an optional thing or a duty in return for free oxygen, a functioning body, and all the other blessings of our life?

What do you really think about paying taxes, and what are taxes anyway?

Why do you pray? Do you believe in your hard work, and are your desires bigger and higher than the efforts you put into your life?

If your race, nation, or religion calls for you to sacrifice or commit spiritual crimes in the name of your belonging group, can you judge and say no to it?

Killing an innocent is a spiritual crime and a physical reality. Would you commit a physical crime over your unknown realities like God, and why? What is the driving force behind your actions?

Who would you choose and why if you had to pick between your lover, your child, your parent, or what other people think about you?

Do you believe in living in the era you are born into, or do you believe in following thousands of years-old traditions, customs, rituals, and rules?

What are the chances of humanity being destroyed by a natural disaster as predicted in holy books, or by a man-made disaster like chemical or nuclear weapons?

Do you believe we bring our spiritual jewelry, like a personal sense of justice, compassion, and love, from before birth, or are we taught by our belonging groups? If we are taught, then why can’t chimps learn like us, after all, they are genetically closest to us?

Does your personal sense of justice get overridden by the politics of your sense of belonging to your group, and why?

Do you believe that you are better than others just because you belong to a certain race, gender, nation, religion, or their sects? If yes, why?

More questions will arise as you personally develop yourself spiritually. For instance, how much control does a human being have in their day-to-day life, or how can our hard work make us grow smarter and build muscles regardless of our genetics?

These questions are there for you to think and educate yourself spiritually, not religiously, because spirituality is universal like justice. Religions, if they preach prejudice and discrimination, are political groups using God politically to gain political power over you. I believe if you are born into any religion or even in a non-religious family, you don’t have to become religious, but you do have to put effort into being a decent human being who believes in equal human rights and respects others just like yourself or for who they are. Believe in equal human rights to live and let live, believe and let believe, instead of thinking our belonging groups are always right. No one has to change their belief system they are born into, but we all have to understand the politics of our belonging groups if we really want world peace. If your religion preaches for you to be a good person but only for your belonging group, or it says you are better than others just because you are part of that particular religion, it is preaching you to become a prejudiced and discriminatory individual. It is your personal and individual responsibility to choose spirituality over the politics of the group. Remember, if they are preaching that, they are actually making even God a prejudiced and discriminatory entity as well. If you look at God as an entity for some but not for all, what does it really mean to you? Regardless of how strong a group is, it still is a political entity. Try to come to terms with it even if you fail in the beginning. Just try to understand because that is the life of being a human being. If we were not evolving, it would be a whole different ball game, but fortunately, we are evolving. We solve and figure out one problem, but it opens several different doors for us to learn more, so claiming our knowledge completion would be an egotistical or ignorant claim.

Our trouble is not that we have the potential to evolve; our trouble is that it does not have a cap on it. Yet all our groups try to lock us in a pond with boundaries. Even as individuals, we are like an ocean and space all rolled up in one, never mind the pond. How are we going to be locked in the boundaries of knowledge of a political group? As we learn more, we learn that there is always more to learn until this never-ending quest hits the wall of our individual mortality. We are confused because, regardless of our physical incapabilities, we mentally carry on thinking about our Godly control of our life and even genetically pass it on to our coming generations. Most of the learning an individual accumulates may be from schooling and life experiences, but that thinking individual, the Ph.D., is the one who breaks down the barriers of education or accepted truths by the societies we belong to.

If we all think, it would not be normal because we are not exclusively spiritual entities. We are physical creatures with mortal nature as well, so just like other creatures, we have dominating characteristics of alpha and beta. If you are not able to learn about your nature, you may struggle in understanding the causes of your problems. From relating with others to leading and being led in social settings, to personal relationships, to living in a society where there are justice system-related rules that need to be followed, can become personal problems. This can create a constantly irritating and stressful life, especially not a good place to be for a mortal being. Understanding all that and having an intellectual conversation within yourself while keeping your mortal nature in front can put things in perspective to make you rationally spiritual.

The politics of your sense of belonging has the potential to kill your spirituality-related personal sense of justice and potentially turn you into a prejudiced and discriminatory being. The politics of belonging in every human community is a real dead dog of our perpetual disputes. If you are for world peace like me, understand the cause and eliminate or remove prejudice and discrimination and see what happens. Equal human rights are gathering strength all over the world because deep inside, individually, we all want to live in peace. Logically, we are willing to give if we can receive equal human rights in return. Even our thousands of years-old lingering disputes can fall like dominoes if we individually can understand the politics of our belonging.

Up till now, we did not even ask for equal human individual rights because we were not even aware of that. Our history shows that we have always asked for group rights from each other because no one cared for the individual anyway. It has been, and in most cases, it still is a common fact that nothing changes unless groups demand and fight for their rights. From nations to races to gender, sexuality to religious beliefs, like-minded people had to get together to put pressure to gain rights. But first of all, why do we have to ask and fight for group rights? Second, it keeps us in the same limbo because there could be a group within the group asking for rights, and so on. The prejudice and discrimination-related disputes would still exist, and things would never change for the individual.

If a Jewish person and a Palestinian agree to grant each other equal human rights, or if a Kashmiri Muslim and a Hindu agree to do the same, territorial disputes might become a thing of the past. However, humanity has not changed, does not change, and will not change unless we start from the bottom up. For example, Western societies are a melting pot of people from around the world who have come together and strengthened these societies by being accepted for who they are. The secret to their success is the equal human rights granted to them as citizens. If Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Blacks, Whites, and Chinese, regardless of their sexual orientation, can live together in one part of the world, why can’t they coexist elsewhere? The principles of equal human rights should be adopted by all governing authorities. Yet, we are still in the process of evolution, and our politics of belonging are not fully understood across all human societies. With proper understanding, no one would need to live separately or harm each other based on their identity or birthplace.

Globally, there are no physical lines created by God to divide nations, yet politically, the world is divided and continually subdivided in the name of peace. Our understanding of equal human rights can help us transcend boundaries of color, race, gender, nationality, and religion. If we can learn to live together within the boundaries of Western nations, why can’t this be achieved worldwide? Our issues stem from prejudice and discrimination at the individual level, and the solution lies in equal human rights at the same level. Change at the individual level will inevitably lead to changes within groups.

Humanity’s problems are deeply connected to the politics of loyalty to our groups rather than to humanity. Just because it has always been this way does not mean it should remain so. We are evolving entities and must progress. Our sense of belonging to our groups is a crisis of individual identity that affects both the individual and the community, beginning at home. Our first education involves color, gender, nationality, and religion. We wrap our children in religious traditions, customs, rituals, and rules before teaching them about their nationality. As children grow, they learn about their community, layering their identities with first names, middle names, last names, nationality, and religion. We bury our fundamental identity as human beings beneath the politics of belonging, becoming like puppets. We are taught that we are superior to others, which is often our first exposure to prejudice and discrimination. This indoctrination from our parents and authority figures, including nations and religions, makes it difficult for ordinary individuals to overcome such conditioning, especially before they are spiritually developed. In Western nations, children are exposed to others with equal human rights, which fosters better tolerance compared to other countries. However, some parents still manage to teach their children prejudice and discrimination, so the problem persists, though not on the same scale as in places like Israel and India. Group rights are the root cause of prejudice and discrimination, and disputes will continue until every individual is treated as equal.

Another reason for these issues is our ingrained philosophy of competition, which may seem innocent but connects us with prejudice and discrimination, especially when it moves from individuals to groups.

Our current problems, such as global warming, infectious diseases, and internet-related crimes, highlight the need for us to evolve further, particularly as groups, so humanity can work together to navigate changes. Otherwise, humanity may implode due to imbalanced progress. We possess chemical and nuclear weapons and face emotionally charged nationalism and religious extremism worldwide. We no longer live in an era of swords, spears, and arrows. Just imagine if security walls or forts of the past could protect us from infectious diseases or nuclear radiation. We have advanced far beyond that and must learn to leave the past behind and adapt to the needs of today’s humanity.

Currently, our disputes are not about color, race, nationality, or religion but are rooted in our two major problems: prejudice and discrimination. These issues give rise to racism, gender bias, nationalism, and religious disputes. If our foundational problem is prejudice and discrimination, why don’t we start addressing it at home? Remember the saying: “If the trunk of the tree is green, you can bend it whichever way you want to, but once it’s grown, forget it. It will break but not bend.” Work must begin early in life so that future generations can learn to live and let live.

Our problems start with our so-called identities, which are everything but our basic humanity. Why hide behind political identities? It’s all about the politics of belonging and individual insecurity. If an individual is spiritually aware, their sense of insecurity changes from within. Our personal sense of justice, which helps us adopt equal human rights, is unleashed. If every national constitution and religious rule incorporated equal human rights, we could treat everyone equally without bias. Only then will we overcome prejudice and discrimination. How long will it take? We are a work in progress; things are happening, but racism persists even in America, despite its status as a beacon of democracy. This is because we are ensnared by our politically assigned identities, preventing us from reaching our true identity as evolving human beings. Beneath all these layers, we are still human beings, regardless of our external appearances. Unfortunately, we often undermine our spiritual side, which separates us from other creatures. We function like worker bees or fight like warrior ants in the name of our groups, neglecting our genetic superiority and acting as if we are mere creatures without human expectations. We need to follow our nature, which calls for continuous evolution and balance. However, spiritually, we lag behind. Technologically and politically, we are far advanced but still kill each other and even innocent people in the name of group loyalty.

We continue to make progress towards equal human rights, but the struggle persists. From Brexit to “America First,” these are clear signs of the ongoing battle, even in the most advanced societies. The politics of belonging remains a powerful force, especially for individuals influenced at a hormonal level. Americans and Britons have led efforts to spread equal human rights globally, yet they still grapple with prejudice and discrimination at home. As we evolve, we should not only amend our constitutions but also critically evaluate our religious rules and rituals. For instance, penalizing a child born out of wedlock or discriminating based on sexual orientation is unjust, especially when it relates to genetics. If someone is born with a particular color, race, gender, nationality, or religion, it is not their fault, and blaming or punishing someone for something they had no control over is logically wrong. If a religion punishes innocents, it goes against spirituality. If you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of your actions, you are committing a spiritual crime. Before judging others, consider the “glass house” you live in.

In an era of equal human rights, humanity must work harder because these rights are bringing us closer to spirituality. Injustice committed in the name of nations and religions is politically motivated, and when politics intervenes, both spirituality and justice suffer. Since we are more than just worker bees or warrior ants, we must evolve from this challenging time. We cannot revert to being prejudiced and discriminatory, especially if we recognize these as the root causes of our disputes. Such behavior would signify regression, not progress, regardless of education levels. There will always be issues with equal human rights until we cleanse our constitutions and religions of prejudice and discrimination. Our politically assigned identities must be addressed to resolve individual and collective prejudice and discrimination. If we continue to believe we are superior simply because of our group affiliations, we all need to engage in soul-searching, both individually and collectively.

Changing the core messages of group politics is not an easy task for humanity. It may take generations to achieve, but it is possible, as most of us are willing, especially at the individual level. However, one must be willing to give to receive.

Religions serve as examples of unity and division simultaneously because they are both spiritual and political. Major religions like Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all worship the same God but have been in conflict for thousands of years. If the answer to why this occurs cannot be spirituality, then it must be the politics of belonging to these groups. What does this mean today? With equal human rights, things should change, but unfortunately, the politics of belonging are deeply rooted in our hormonal levels. Will it be difficult? Certainly, but humanity has dealt with such challenges within our justice systems. We cannot act on animal instincts; instead, we must restrain our urges to follow societal laws. Recent events in America exemplify how politicians exploit physical inspirations to influence people, often at the expense of spiritual awareness. Ultimately, we are individually responsible for our actions. Hormonal whims aside, grown individuals are judged by the justice system. If spiritually aware, we would place ourselves on the receiving end of our actions before acting to determine what is right. It is our personal and individual duty to seek that spiritual awareness. Politicians from our groups may work against individual awareness, making us believe we are insignificant or born sinners. Brainwashing and blind obedience lead individuals to think their salvation lies in group affiliation. However, the reality is that the group is composed of individuals. If each individual becomes spiritually aware, the group will collapse, quite literally. Without individual physicality, the stories of religions, nations, or any group fall apart. How many more examples do you need to see that as individuals, we are crucial to our groups, nations, religions, and even God? Politics of belonging have brainwashed us to the point where we cannot think rationally. We believe in God but not in our own individual worth because we have sold our souls to our groups. We may appear free but are, in reality, useful idiots or mere puppets, albeit with pride. Remember, God, Devil, Big Brother, or any group cannot function physically without the involvement of a human individual. A police officer who shoots in the name of Big Brother, as well as our good and bad actions, require physical manifestation through individuals. In essence, without human beings, there is no physical humanity, God, Big Brother, or nation. If as individuals, we understand our value and mortality, we can bring all kinds of groups to their knees, as they rely on the foundation of human physicality.

Now, ask yourself privately: How much political influence do you carry from your group? How much spiritual strength do you have? Can you question your group’s spiritual crimes against innocents? If your loyalties prevent you from questioning, you have work to do because times are changing rapidly. If you don’t care, you may be labeled as racist, bigoted, backward, prejudiced, or discriminatory. In the era of equal human rights, such labels are neither flattering nor cool. The sooner you come to terms with this, the better, because evolution is a tide we cannot control. Even the Pope has had to adapt politically to accept these changes after thousands of years of injustice, prejudice, and discrimination.