Every human society promotes its superiority, instilling this belief even in children from their families. When authority figures like parents, teachers, and national or religious leaders impart knowledge, it becomes ingrained as correct and indisputable doctrine, whether done to bolster self-esteem, inspire competitiveness and success in future generations, or for other reasons.
Personally, I believe this reveals a flaw in our education system. If we desire different outcomes for our present or future generations, we must consider the long-term effects of our teachings, whether from national school systems or religions. Given that change is constant, how can we settle for any knowledge being one hundred percent correct?
Human beings undergo various stages of growth, including hormonal surges during puberty when they are particularly susceptible to influence. At this developmental stage, individuals often accept elders’ words as ultimate truth, tasked with protecting that knowledge. This fosters the belief that one group is superior to others, laying the foundation for prejudice and the resultant injustices and conflicts.
Historically, people believed the Earth was flat. The issue isn’t whether something is scientifically true but rather that people unquestioningly follow their group’s knowledge while dismissing opposing views without investigation.
Are we truly superior to others? When we’re cut, we all bleed and feel pain the same way. We’re all born the same, with the same abilities, and like everyone else, we live in bodies that age and eventually perish.
What awaits us after death remains as mysterious now as it was thousands of years ago. Despite various religious beliefs about life before birth, after death, and the afterlife, one fact remains consistent: we leave our physical bodies behind. Surprisingly, our understanding of this aspect hasn’t progressed much, especially when compared to advancements in other areas of life.
Have we learned about the individual residing within the body? Are we truly different or superior to one another? Does color, race, gender, nationality, or religion hold significance? If you believe the answer is yes, try stripping away communal, technological, and religious knowledge, then ask yourself again. Remove the politics of belonging, freeing yourself from ego. By shedding learned knowledge, you may reconnect with your pure self, where the true answer lies. Babies, in their innocence, don’t discriminate.
As we age, external influences like education, life circumstances, and internal hormonal changes shape our self-perception in social settings. These influences mold individuals into products desired by society. Our pure selves become tainted as we transition into young adults, driven by a strong need to belong. At this stage, awareness of belonging is strong unless we’re encouraged to embrace independence. Fear of exclusion motivates conformity to societal norms.
Most of us, driven by a strong sense of belonging, sacrifice our pure selves to adopt identities prescribed by our groups. We surrender social liberties and freedom in the name of security, despite mortality’s inevitable insecurity. If our will alone dictated life, death would be nonexistent.
Failing to recognize our pure selves reduces us to mere extensions of our groups, fostering fear of aging, illness, and death. This fear compels a pursuit of control in every aspect of life. While control aids evolution, it hinders understanding of our pure selves.
As CEOs of our lives, it’s our duty to explore our pure selves, addressing insecurities and understanding life beyond the physical body. This perspective diminishes fear of living and dying and fosters self-acceptance regardless of appearance or ability. Change is embraced optimistically as part of life’s journey rather than feared as inevitable chaos.
Religions have always existed because they address these issues. If you don’t believe in anything, you’re not acknowledging your pure self, leading you to create a protective barrier around yourself. This consumes a lot of energy that could otherwise be used for the body’s well-being. Individuals who are physically and emotionally drained can benefit from believing that there’s more to them than just their physical bodies. This belief has the potential to reduce fear-related stresses, internal anxiety, depression, or self-criticism resulting from a lack of understanding.
In this temporary life, it’s a CEO’s responsibility to adopt a lifestyle that’s beneficial rather than destructive, even if it involves believing in something unknown like God. This is where religion becomes beneficial. Religion, in this context, is useful and practical. However, ironically, religions often promote hatred towards each other, manifesting as prejudice against other belief systems. This is because religions often intertwine spirituality with the politics of belonging.
The politics of belonging to a particular group underlies much of our turmoil, indicating the need for an overhaul of the entire education system, whether it’s related to nationalism or religion. Will we outgrow our education system as individuals? Can we learn about ourselves beyond belonging to a specific group and the knowledge it imparts? Are we merely bodies or something more? The answers to these questions lie within our pure selves.
Extremists exist in all societies worldwide, but let’s compare the East and West. Western upbringing encourages children to take charge, exert maximum effort to climb and succeed in life. The prevalent perspective views life as a mountain, where climbing higher signifies greater success. The common belief is that exerting more effort leads to success in everyday life, relegating God to the background. Some people even react with disdain when others express belief in God. Conversely, Eastern philosophy places significant emphasis on God, often to the extreme. Both sides hold strong opinions and have been engaged in prolonged conflicts over who is right.
Personally, I believe that when a person thinks within boundaries, it goes against God’s will. The entire concept of human potential is based on the pursuit of that potential. How can one claim that we’ll excel and reach God’s intended potential by adhering to rules or staying within boundaries? So why do we create boundaries around ourselves? These boundaries are often imposed by those in power or sought by weaker individuals seeking security.
Wisdom dictates that each of us must reach our individual potential at a pace and rhythm that suits us. Trying to force growth can lead to failure. For instance, a healthy amount of stress is conducive to progress and excellence. However, pushing too hard can result in stress-related diseases that are detrimental to health, while moving too slowly hinders the pursuit of potential. In that case, what purpose did God have in creating us with potential and free will?
Striving to be like angels or live as monks goes against God’s will. Our ability to disobey is what makes us human. As humans, we can choose to obey or disobey. Today, it’s time for humanity to disobey and rise up, using the original gift of free will to make choices for humanity, spirituality, justice, and equal human rights, rather than blindly following nationalism or organized religions.
Now is the time to exercise our free will and ask ourselves, “How do we want to do it?” Throughout history, we’ve developed weapons of mass destruction, potentially leading ourselves to great destruction by killing each other. This raises a question: Can humanity avoid such destruction by making different choices, or will we fulfill the predicted outcomes? Are we powerless, predictable creatures unable to change what was prophesied thousands of years ago? Can modern humanity take charge and change the course for the survival of humanity, or dare I say, God? Because if there are no human beings, there is no God either, at least not physically.
“That is where the whole concept of prayer comes in. We have the ability to ask, and God has the ability to fulfill. But how? Nothing can be physically fulfilled unless human beings are physically alive, so life keeps on going.”
For the individual who dies from a bunker-buster bomb, it’s a day of kyaamet, but not for the rest of us. I don’t deny anything from religions; I believe we’re progressing one milestone at a time, and they have been milestones. They’ve helped us evolve to the point where we can understand the difference between spirituality, religions, and group politics. However, the human storybook is still full of unknowns. You can’t just input something into a computer and ask for predictions. In real life, we all have significance, and we have the ability to change the path our ancestors followed for centuries.
Thankfully, most of us have become moderates and understand that there is no difference in race, color, gender, or nationality. Today, we are becoming increasingly aware of equal human rights as well. However, we need to understand that until humanity rids itself of the disease of ‘I am or we are better than others’, we will continue to struggle to reach our potential. There is no paradise for us and hell for non-believers. We are still progressing, perhaps only at mile marker 10 or 20 on a 100-mile highway of potential. We evolve as we realize our mistakes. We are not a finished product until we reach the potential intended for us by God.
If we persist in following the same path, we become predictable, yet we have the power to change by making decisions about our future. Should one contribute to society by blindly following group politics or stand up and use free will? With free will, we can turn things around by refusing to blindly obey the ‘belonging group’. Whether one is in a mosque, temple, church, or synagogue, they still possess the gift of God – yes, the big free will!
Since good and bad are defined by society, they are based on human knowledge and assumptions, which change year after year as we progress toward our potential. Our potential has the power to reveal truths about life, and we have yet to explore this fully. Until then, we need to recognize that if we harm others in pursuit of our desires, we are in the wrong. It is not God who decides what is good or bad for us, because God has blessed us with free will. As humans evolve, we come to understand that we are the ones who have bought and sold ourselves. We continue to grapple with human rights issues, especially in religious societies.
A recent survey conducted in the US asked people about their views on torture. Surprisingly, those who attended church regularly tended to approve of the use of torture, while those who did not attend church regularly were against it. It’s a curious twist that conservatives, who are often closely associated with religious beliefs, are against human rights. This paradox becomes even more glaring when considering that some suicide bombers are in favor of torture. To witness contemporary examples of such atrocities, one needs only to look at the Syrian conflict.
The majority of us who advocate for peace and human rights fall into the category of moderates and reject extremes. It’s puzzling how those who advocate for war seem to forget that compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, love, and tolerance are among the first virtues taught by religions. Somehow, group politics has tarnished the reputation of religions, spirituality, and God.
The root of prejudice lies in the unwise education that fosters a belief in the superiority of one group over another. This mentality is ingrained in religious and national ideologies from an early age, perpetuating a stubborn infection of prejudice. The antidote to this outdated mindset lies in a more enlightened education that promotes moderation and encourages individuals to compartmentalize religion and nationalism.
We cannot rely on outdated teachings to address the complex issues facing modern societies. If we find ourselves unable to engage in educated debates, we must question why. Why haven’t we evolved beyond the primitive instinct of marking territories like animals? Before resorting to violence and bloodshed, we must pause to reflect. Despite our technological advancements, why do we struggle to make similar progress in our social development?
Violence begets more violence, breeding a cycle of revenge and further bloodshed. The desire to inflict pain on those who have hurt us blinds us to the humanity of others, leading to the indiscriminate killing of innocents. While religious extremists may justify such actions based on their warped sense of belonging to a group, spiritually evolved individuals reject the notion of collateral damage.
In today’s court systems across nations, killing someone can result in either a death sentence or life imprisonment, regardless of whether the victim deserved to die. However, there is little outcry against the injustice and loss of innocent lives during conflicts between nations and religions.
Individuals who engage in extremism often believe fervently in the rightness of their actions, much like a drunk person whose perceptions are distorted. These individuals surrender their agency to extremist groups to fulfill their need for belonging, driven by deep-seated insecurities. Our insecurities are deeply rooted in our animalistic instincts. True humanity emerges when we are surrounded by love, but when love is absent, we revert to our primal instincts. In today’s world, this can be perilous, as conflicts no longer involve mere fists or spears but can escalate to the use of weapons of mass destruction.
Considering ourselves merely as bodies or succumbing to our animalistic side leads to failure. Even infants display intelligence, crying when hungry, wet, or lonely. While it may seem loving to immediately attend to every cry, this can hinder the baby’s development as a human being. Learning patience and delayed gratification is crucial for nurturing the human side from an early age. As the saying goes, “If the trunk of the tree is green, you can bend it as you wish, but once it hardens, it will break rather than bend.”
The stronger the animalistic side, the harder it is to uphold ethics and morals. Despite the strict rules of religions and advancements in civilization, sex crimes remain prevalent, if not more so than thousands of years ago. Religions often rely on fear of God or harsh punishments to enforce their rules, which goes against human nature. Humans are best suited to self-regulate, but in the absence of a clear divine presence, individuals with strong animalistic tendencies quickly disregard societal rules. Thus, societies are plagued by various crimes stemming from a lack of ethics and morals, often perpetrated by those dominated by their animalistic instincts.
Our parents and society often seek to enforce rules, often rooted in religious teachings. But why are religions so preoccupied with human sexuality? Why do they portray God as a punishing figure, ready to mete out death for disobedience? If sex were truly abhorrent, why would God have created it, imbued with such intense pleasure that every creature, including humans, is intoxicated by it?
There must be a reason why we were not created as angels, and why we aspire to live like them. Since we are created as humans, we ought to live as human beings. God endowed each of us with a spark of divinity, making us human. The most effective way to guide human behavior is through education and allowing individuals to cultivate their own ethics and morals. Unfortunately, religions often get it wrong. When individuals are controlled by fear, they inevitably rebel once that fear dissipates. Religions have waged a futile war against our animalistic tendencies since their inception. What are we doing wrong? Why have we not been able to triumph over our primal instincts?
The real battle against our animalistic side occurs within each individual. Mere knowledge of right and wrong is insufficient, especially when definitions of good and bad are in constant flux. Attending mosque or church does not guarantee mastery over inner desires. Fear of God has proven ineffective over thousands of years. We continue to behave like animals, perpetuating violence and sexual crimes. Shouldn’t we ask why? Why do we still grapple with these social problems? Why do we persist in following rules that have failed us for millennia? If thousands of years of failure are not enough, what will it take for us to seek answers elsewhere?
God has granted us this life and its pleasures to enjoy, along with free will to maintain balance. Yet humans consistently abuse this power. Have you ever wondered why? Parents and societies have not taught individuals how to contend with their animalistic instincts because they themselves do not understand them. They perpetuate the status quo, clinging to outdated ideas without questioning or proposing new ones.
Our animalistic side is intertwined with our physical existence, influencing our desires, love, and associated pleasures. Since we are neither purely genetic nor solely spiritual beings, but a combination of both, separating them would spell the end of life. While some may argue that the soul persists after death, this has never been proven, so we must believe what makes sense to us.
Different groups hold varying assumptions and adhere staunchly to them as societal norms. Despite our progress as individuals and societies, differences persist. We fervently debate matters that defy clear understanding, but our conflicts often stem from our sense of belonging. Common sense dictates that without the soul, the body perishes—a fact. As for the fate of the soul, it remains within the realm of assumption. Life cannot be lived solely as a physical or spiritual being; it must be embraced as a harmonious combination of both.
The first step an individual can take is to find inner peace, thereby better managing the animalistic side. Religions have long rejected the legitimacy of this side, waging war against it since the dawn of civilization. Unfortunately, they cannot change course, having introduced the Devil as an external force alongside God. Religious societies are no better than secular systems, failing to quell the animalistic urges even through fear-based politics and severe punishments.
Without teachings of humanity and forgiveness, there is no spirituality in religions. Influenced by group politics, religions have lost compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, love, and tolerance. Despite our free will and potential for progress, we are socially stagnant or regressing, even capable of mass killings.
Can we change ourselves? Yes, but first, we must recognize the legitimacy of our animalistic side, make peace with it, and cease the war against it as individuals. Understanding it can grant inner peace and better control over personal desires, fostering true altruism.
Despite religious promises of inner peace, it remains elusive for individuals. Today, group politics have supplanted spirituality in religions, leaving individuals more divided than ever before.
As individuals evolve, so too must communities and their justice systems. Communities should prioritize caring for their people over enforcing rules. Harsh punishments may deter crime, but they can become oppressive, driving people away from such societies.
Communities should enact flexible rules, focusing on ethical and moral duties rather than rigid laws. If basic needs are met, crime diminishes, but those who still transgress must face punishment. Victims and their families should have a say in these punishments, as they are the ones directly affected.
Denying the legitimacy of our animalistic side denies the enjoyment of life’s pleasures. These pleasures are essential to the human experience and should not be sacrificed for an afterlife. The satisfaction of life lies in balance, not extremes. Enjoyments of life, from food to sex, can only be experienced while alive, and even religions and laws recognize the importance of these pleasures in maintaining societal peace.