Since this is a continuation of the blog on faith, I will try to stick with the subject. People view this topic from a broad range of perspectives, especially influenced by religious belief systems. Personally, I look at it beyond the boundaries of religion. Sure, we are taught about faith by our religions, but it does not end there exclusively. When I consider faith in oneself, faith in nature or God, faith enters a territory where things can potentially become tricky because it is hard for us to separate ourselves from religious knowledge. That is why whenever one talks about faith, we automatically start to think about religion and God. To me, it is necessary to critically examine personal and individual faith broadly because it can be used as a tool to help in experiencing a mortal life. I believe if a strategy or a system can help create an environment of comfort in a mortal skin, it should be counted as a plus, just like being a CEO can help an individual create a balance between opposing senses like the sense of belonging and the sense of freedom.
Let’s look at it this way: say you are in a room where the temperature is not too hot, not too cold, but just right for you individually. That comfort is a good measuring stick to understand the spiritual part of any religious belief system. If you are burning hot within your skin, your actions will be affected by that discomfort; the same goes for the other extreme, as freezing can be just as bad and uncomfortable as unbearable heat. When a religious tradition, custom, ritual, or rule takes you out of your personal comfort zone, it is you who should make the decision to adjust the temperature instead of adjusting yourself to it. Personally, you can’t and shouldn’t change your tolerance levels to fit the heat or freezing temperatures. Instead, you either need to come up with some kind of amendment or literally break those rules to be comfortable. As human beings, we individually need to be in a happy medium room temperature where we can be comfortable enough to carry on living our daily lives.
For example, if you are following a religious rule to stay married for life, but you are suffering and making each other’s lives miserable indefinitely despite your knowledge of your mortality, remember a religious rule is a rule of the religion, which is not mortal like you as an individual. It is not that you have to put up with it until the day you die; it is an optional religious rule. Everything you do in your mortal life has to fit your life because you are the one with free will and a choice. It is not other people who are suffering from what you are going through, so making a choice should be free of their influences, especially if you are the CEO with the responsibilities to balance your own mortal life. If you know that after your relationship ends, you will have to be alone or face other consequences, and that price is too high for you, then staying in the relationship may be a better bet. Either way, you have to take responsibility for the outcome, so don’t blame others. Remember, you are the one with free will and are in a position to make choices.
Unfortunately, extremists believe in the politics of belonging to the point that they don’t care about what an individual feels or goes through in their limited time. Prioritizing the group over the individual is not justice, so it is not from God. Remember, in the spiritual world, there is no injustice, period. If we follow any rule that is not equal for everyone, it is not justice, and yes, even if it is between an individual and the group, it is still justice. If you connect God with that, you are labeling even God as a political entity. Personally, I believe God is an apolitical entity because God is spiritual; that is why politics and spirituality can’t be mixed. Even our justice system should be blind, but unfortunately, the politics of belonging is so powerful that our justice systems are politically influenced.
Extremists of any religion or ideology believe that a rule is a rule, regardless of its prejudicial and discriminatory nature. They want everyone to follow it strictly. Interestingly, they want those rules to be obeyed as if they are the law. Whether you are freezing or burning hot is not their problem. To them, religious rules are not to be messed with because, in their view, those rules come from God and must be followed by human beings blindly. If not, they have punishments just like the law of the land, but without the court system.
Individual comfort is not considered because the individual is seen as an animal to be trained. To them, the individual is universally irrelevant, unimportant, worthless, and even a born sinner. People are forced to follow rules as if they are genetically programmed and have no option or choice to be comfortable. Unfortunately for them, we have all been blessed with free will and an evolutionary nature. Until recently, human beings deeply believed that they were worthless, unimportant, irrelevant, and born sinners. Our evolution has brought some sobering facts to light, where, with awareness, we are demanding equal human rights and rejecting religious prejudice and discrimination-based philosophies. A religious tradition, custom, ritual, or rule is not looked at as a rule of law anymore because today, prejudice and discrimination can be challenged in the court of law.
Clarifying the differences between the law of a nation and religious points of view is important and crucial. Logically, if you are starving, you can’t think about religious tradition, custom, rituals, or rules, and as a matter of fact, you can’t even think about God. One can say it can’t happen to them because they are a deeply devoted and strictly religious individual. Depending on how far you go with that starvation, it can even take you to the point where you can’t think straight. You may pray and ask for God’s help for a while to feed you until you start hallucinating. That is why I believe if an individual is starving and is compelled to commit a social crime, the community and God are just as guilty as the individual committing that crime.
Interestingly, our belief systems are things of our full stomachs, so logically, at the end of the day, religion or belief systems have to take a back seat to the individual, not the other way around. If your belief system causes more discomfort than creating comfort within your skin, those rules need to be adjusted to comfort you. Remember, you are the one with the mortal nature and a temporary time. Groups, whether they are nations or religions, carry on long after you are gone, but the individual is the one with a limited time to live.
Since the individual has been allotted free will and the status of a CEO, it is always up to the individual how to respond, whether to follow the rules or not. As a CEO who understands how to live a mortal life, you are the one in charge of your life. Being mortal, it is the individual’s personal responsibility to find that comfortable balance of physically tolerable temperature in the metaphoric room. A long while back, I wrote a blog titled “God’s House for Sale for One Dollar.” If you look at it logically, we are all God’s workhorses. It is our duty and responsibility to pay God’s bills because that is our reciprocation in return for a functioning body, oxygen, and spiritual comfort. Again, if one is starving and is not physically comfortable, usually spirituality takes a back seat or at least falls on the back seat of life. Our priorities are to be physically functioning and comfortable to perform Godly work in converting spirituality into physical actions.
If religions are not kept in check by the individual, they can stray from spirituality and become political organizations. If you start to look at it that way, just check out our history and see what our religions have been doing. Personally, I believe every religion should come out of its political pigeonholes and preach spirituality as it is meant to be.
Spirituality should be considered a universal truth that transcends the politics of belonging to specific groups. The essence of God and humanity is spirituality, not a political sense of belonging. To understand this, listen to religious sermons and honestly assess the rhetoric of religious superiority that often leads to prejudice and discrimination. The philosophy of ‘us versus them’ has been ingrained in us for millennia, and it is evident in our long-standing conflicts.
Despite our evolving nature, the politics of belonging have been so effective that we have not progressed in this particular area. We must outgrow our ancestral knowledge and evolve to match our current understanding in all other fields. We have made significant advancements in science and technology, yet religiously, we remain stuck in outdated practices, repeating the same mistakes over and over. Our inability to evolve from these barbaric practices robs us of the love we could share with one another.
A pond with clearly defined boundaries may seem secure to an ordinary individual, but God and humanity are designed to have no such boundaries. When you learn something new, your brain’s neurons grow more and more indefinitely. Placing boundaries around your evolving nature is unnatural, so break those boundaries and keep learning. This is how you can discover your true potential. I believe our autonomy is the God particle within us, but our insecurities and the politics of belonging keep us confined. This is evident everywhere if you take the time to learn and discover more about yourself.
Staying within metaphorical pond boundaries is against our nature, and religions often preach against our nature with their rules to maintain political control. Imagine placing boundaries around science, technology, and medicine—progress would be impossible. Despite resistance from religiously conservative populations, evolution cannot be stopped. Many so-called “godless” people have significantly contributed to humanity by creating comfort and saving lives, proving that God and humanity have no boundaries.
If everyone blindly followed the boundaries set by religious groups, it would mean there is no life beyond those boundaries. However, humanity has proven this wrong by continuously evolving. As individuals, we must figure out and evolve because it is God’s order for us, both spiritually and physically. Although this may seem contrary to religious beliefs, it is not against God. If it were not God’s will for us to evolve, we would still be practicing ancient, barbaric rituals. Our evolution is meant to be by God’s design, allowing us to grow beyond our genetic predispositions.
Why resist progress made by those who break boundaries? Why not believe that it is God’s will for us to break our insecurities and boundaries? Humanity must break the myths of our ancestral chains to attain factual knowledge and reach our God-given potential. Believing that you are merely a sinner, insignificant, or subservient to a group of people rather than to God robs you of self-esteem and can destroy you spiritually. A spiritually broken individual cannot contribute to evolution, making them susceptible to manipulation by those seeking power.
Politically conforming individuals are necessary for groups to use as a force against others. No group can commit spiritual crimes against opposing groups without the physical help of individuals. Every action, good or bad, comes down to personal decisions, so question your actions before acting. Human beings are individually responsible for their actions because of our autonomy and free will.
To find and follow God, you must dig within yourself to understand and learn about your evolving nature. To contribute to God’s work, you must follow the path of evolution, helping others and making God almighty. You cannot remain stuck in a pond with political boundaries created by your groups. Become the individual God meant for you to be, embodying the potential of the oceans and space within you. Your autonomy makes you a physical part of the spiritual entity, and learning about yourself will empower you.
Spirituality and politics cannot be mixed, as religions with political boundaries are like ponds with rituals, traditions, customs, and rules. Groups often seek special rights for themselves, but this is related to the politics of belonging and has nothing to do with individual and God. Seek equal human rights for all, as no reasonably spiritual religion, ideology, nation, or group can deny this.
Individual justice is fundamental, and no one can permanently suppress justice. The recent statement by the Pope supporting civil unions for homosexuals took two thousand years to right a spiritual wrong. Religious rules must be amended to fit the comfort of the present-day individual, as this is as spiritual as it gets.
Spirituality is like an ocean that crosses all politically marked territories, regardless of group resistance. When the ocean rises, no pond can absorb or block it. Individually, we must become our true selves, breaking the boundaries of the ponds. Staying within the pond philosophy limits your potential and does not save you from the ocean.
Recognize and understand the politics that rely on your personal insecurities. Whether it is a gang, community, gender, race, nation, or religion, they are all related to political systems of belonging to groups. However, the individual human being is the heart of the group and the essence of God, spirituality, and humanity, due to our autonomy.
As I mentioned, politics and spirituality are two different entities. If a religion claims you can only reach God by joining a specific group, it is not rooted in spirituality or God. This makes God a political entity, and having faith in a group of people becomes different from having faith in God. No one knows who will go to hell or heaven after death, so do not assume or label God as a politically biased entity. Dividing humanity is political and ungodly. Following the potential of humanity and the evolution of the individual is not only godly but also a spiritual order for us as humanity.
Even as groups, we cannot deny our collective growth and evolution. Despite divisive politics, resistance from nations, and religious indoctrination, we continue to evolve. Historically, political forces have resisted change, yet change has always prevailed. The Pope’s recent shift in belief is due to the influence of equal human rights, not a change of heart. Equal human rights inspire humanity to work as one entity to survive, just as climate change and pandemics have forced us to adapt.
If your nation’s constitution places people at different levels, it is time for amendments. Western nations, other than America, can serve as models where people of all colors and belief systems live with equal human rights.
Political conflicts persist, but we continue to break the boundaries of our ponds and move toward humanity as a whole. Religious leaders must acknowledge the wrongs committed over thousands of years. Any injustice cannot be spiritual and should not be connected to God, as it brings God down to a human level. We are physical parts of God, but we cannot claim to know all about God. A seed or a cell cannot be compared to the whole tree or body. Implicating God in our human behaviors degrades God. Respect God by not bringing God down to the human level; despite our powers, we are dependent on the harmonious functioning of our bodies, over which we have no control.
The fundamental reason is that as we grow in our knowledge, we understand that we face different kinds of problems that cannot be solved by the security walls or political lines of our groups. For instance, global warming-related extreme weather respects no group boundaries. Our physical globe has global problems, and solving them requires a global response. The COVID-19 pandemic required global responses, and global warming-related issues will not be stopped by Trump’s wall or the Great Wall of China, period. Our political lines have been drawn by us, but they are not sufficient to solve our problems. Therefore, our most significant task is to unite as one humanity to address our current challenges.
Internet-related crimes need global coordination of law and order. Issues of prejudice and discrimination must be treated like infectious diseases by all groups if they are to be solved. Equal human rights must be practiced by humanity as a whole to be meaningful for individuals, regardless of where they are born.
Looking to the past to solve present problems is common among conservative groups, but this approach is absolutely wrong. It has created and continues to create more dangerous problems for humanity. Our past is riddled with conflicts stemming from our less evolved ancestry. Unfortunately, we still fight and kill each other over events that happened thousands of years ago. We all need to give each other a break from our ancestors’ lack of knowledge and grow up—or, I should say, evolve—for God’s sake, especially from the politics of belonging to our groups. We should only look to the past to find the causes of present and future problems so we can find reasonable solutions.
An evolving life, like that of a human being, should always be lived in the present moment. Although small, living in the moment gives us some control over our present-day lives. Remember, you can’t go back to the past to change anything, and you can’t bring the future into the present. All you have is the present moment, where you have a say or some level of control. If someone says otherwise, ask them to prove it. While movies discuss hypothetical time travel, certain things cannot be changed in reality. We can’t stop aging, we can’t change mortality, nor can we bring the past or future into the present. So, live in the moment if you want to have some control and peace of mind in your mortal life. If you can’t, you need to work on your faith, which comes with an awareness of spirituality. Even if you don’t believe in God, you can still understand and have spirituality-related faith. Personally, I believe you already possess that; you just need to explore yourself on a deeper level.
Just as our body consists of various kinds and trillions of cells, God consists of human beings as physical cells. Since our mortal life consists of moments, it seems as if we have lots of time, so we plan to live, and sometimes forever—or at least we try. There is nothing wrong with having a plan or a place you can call home, but as a mortal being, your real home is where you came from and where you are going.
What exists before life or after death matters, and we have been curious about it since becoming aware. Interestingly, we all must individually decide how to live in the moment with the literal knowledge of coming and going. Personally, I believe this makes it even more important to stay in the moment because it is precious. Remember, you don’t have a say other than being in that moment. As mortal beings, our quest should be to treasure our precious moments. Planning to live forever and becoming attached to things, people, control, and security robs the real meaning or essence of a mortal life. If life is a thick book with thousands of pages, having a few pages of bad stuff does not describe the book—or, as they say, you can’t judge a book by its cover. We just have to live optimistically in the moment and hope for the best. At the end of the day, we need to focus on the happiness and contentment of mortal living.
Our religions have thrived from the glory days of the Roman Empire to Genghis Khan to all other empires, including the British Empire. Humanity has a history that lasts much longer than an individual mortal life. Sure, we have the power to achieve things as individuals, but the problem is always our individual mortality. Interestingly, this does not end with our individual mortality. History has shown us, with proof from graveyards full of empires, that collective mortality is a reality for human beings as well. Since we are all capable of thinking differently, our education plays a crucial role individually. If no one talks about our mortal nature, the importance of our moments can be lost, so we all should value our moments.
Sometimes our sense of belonging and sometimes our sense of freedom gets the best of us. We even rob each other of life in the name of our political education. Whether it be in the name of religion, nationalism, or personal gains, killing comes easy to us because our animal side is not tamed, so it overpowers our spiritual side. If you feel that your politics of belonging to your group are more valuable than your life, at least ask yourself why.
As I said before, just as the human body consists of trillions of cells, God consists of human beings. Even if we can’t put a face or body on God, God physically functions through us. Sure, we are born and die like our cells, but that does not change our significance. Each and every cell is significant to the body’s survival, so God’s physical functioning depends on the physical actions of living, breathing human beings. Interestingly, we happen to kill each other to undermine opposing groups, which in reality is a net loss for God. So, our killing each other is definitely not coming from God. No matter how insignificant one cell is, it is still a cell loss, and a loss is still a loss. To me, no one in their right mind would want to cut off a body part or commit suicide. This is a thought for us all to ponder.
Don’t forget, I said “in their right mind.” By knowing the power of our politics of belonging, we can’t deny our human story. We actually get so messed up by the politics of our sense of belonging that we lose control of ourselves.
What to do?
Always remember we have an evolving nature, so every human knowledge should have room for amendments and improvements. If you look at our scientific, technological, and medical knowledge, everything has changed tremendously. But when it comes to our religions, we are stuck in prejudice and discrimination-related ponds. Clearly, we have not evolved in that area because we still kill each other over our differences. Our biggest reason is the politics of our sense of belonging to our groups. Even now, while there is still time, we should take that leap of faith with our spirituality-related equal human rights and evolve to tolerate each other’s differences and unite as humanity as a whole BEFORE WE BLOW OURSELVES UP WITH MODERN-DAY WEAPONRY.
If having faith adds quality or helps us live a mortal life with hope, optimism, and comfort, it should be seriously considered individually. Yes, even for individuals who do not believe in God, consider themselves educated, believe in science, and are numbers-oriented. Faith is still a crucial part of human living because of mortality. Since faith is not only a building block for optimism, it provides much-needed hope in our day-to-day life. We have to look at our personal and especially mortal life critically to see the importance of faith, hope, and optimism. One can reject all this as mumbo jumbo of some religion, but I am not talking about religious beliefs. I am talking about faith.
When we think life is all numbers and science, we remove one crucial part of being a human being—our spiritual side, which is necessary for individual happiness. Especially when we are all aware of our mortal nature. Most of the time, our personal spiritual deficiencies are behind our everyday health problems. If you don’t have faith, spiritual deficiencies can rob you of your happiness and contentment. Remember, these two—personal happiness and contentment—are the most important treasures to collect while you are visiting.
As a matter of fact, scientifically, we end up at the same mortality-related cliff as our religious beliefs do. So, if you want to make assumptions, make them for the benefit of your mortal visit. You can live with all the scientific facts and accurate numbers or jump over the cliff with faith. Either way, we need some courage, hope, and optimism to live and die as mortals. On the other hand, our evolving nature is a fact of life, so as we evolve, we need to learn about the rigidity related to our politics of belonging. Interestingly, our scientific and technological knowledge preaches and treats human beings as machines, as if we are made up of numbers and scientifically correct answers. To them, believing in God just does not make any sense.
To me, three crucial forces are at work at our core: our physical body with brain, our atom of autonomy related spiritual side, and the persona that gains a name upon our physical existence. The complete human being who makes decisions and overrides our physically and spiritually conflicting sides. If you view yourself as a machine, you see yourself as a purely physical entity, akin to other physically functioning creatures. Conversely, viewing yourself solely as an atom of autonomy portrays you as a spiritual entity, opposed to being a machine, possibly leading to a belief and existence focused entirely on the afterlife. However, our realities do not confine us to either extreme.
As an individual who overrides both extreme sides, you learn that it is your life and you are in charge—or I should say, the CEO—who makes choices with your free will. You can choose to live for the afterlife or live scientifically correct and ignore the less visible yet factual aspects of your individual existence. For instance, truly enjoying your mortal life, feeling spiritually fulfilled, and reciprocating. Would a scientifically accurate lifestyle teach you about the spiritual side or about who and what you truly are? How would it enlighten you on the need to savor your journey, even knowing it will eventually end? Would you learn about spiritual enrichment through scientific knowledge alone? Personally, I doubt it. If helping others is not beneficial in material terms, why does it feel emotionally rewarding? There are many things we cherish: compassion, sacrifice, bravery, forgiveness, honesty, personal justice, decency, and above all, love. To me, just like God, the cliff of faith, and all the above, these are not readily visible yet factual components of our lives. Even though they may lack scientific grounding, before blindly believing in anything—whether the cliff of faith or scientifically proven facts—you must recognize that your evolution is ongoing. You cannot—and I repeat, cannot—succumb to prejudice, discrimination, and violence over evolving knowledge. Remember, the footprints you follow cease at the cliff of faith; thus, what lies beyond that cliff is inconsequential. What truly matters is your conduct while tracing the footsteps of your ancestors. Do you wish to persist in prejudice, discrimination, and violence, as we have for centuries? Or would you rather align with the evolutionary path intended for us by God?
As a perpetually evolving entity, how can we regard our knowledge as definitive? Whether religious, scientific, technological, or medical, none of our knowledge is static or divinely immutable. Yet there have always been segments of the population who believe—and still believe—that life should freeze in time, as it was in the eras of our prophets. Consider what this mindset has done to humanity: fostering racism, gender bias, prejudice, discrimination of all kinds, and resistance to evolution. Most religions are prime examples; we continue to battle and kill one another over our differing beliefs, even as these beliefs shift. Significantly, the Pope recently acknowledged the legitimacy of gay marriage.
Religions typically teach that life is simple for believers: there is God and the Devil, and if you adhere to divine commands, treating them as the ultimate authority and behaving virtuously, you will be rewarded in heaven or punished in hell. Our definitions of good and bad are set by religious authorities, so essentially, what was deemed virtuous or sinful in the era of our prophets still carries weight in modern society, despite profound changes. However, progress has rendered many traditional beliefs obsolete. With scientific advancements, we can create test-tube babies, diagnose fetal conditions, and consider abortion as a viable option. We can harness stem cells, wield nuclear weapons, inhabit space, rely on cell phones, and access any information through the internet. Change is occurring so rapidly that conservatives struggle to reconcile with a progressing humanity. The majority of human beings desire equal rights because of a fundamental spiritual rule: treat others as you wish to be treated, or as you would want for your loved ones.
This principle places most—if not all—religious doctrines in a quandary of prejudice and discrimination. While these doctrines may espouse spiritual ideals, they are often restricted to followers of specific beliefs. If you possess compassion, justice, tolerance, forgiveness, sacrifice, love, and an understanding of God, these principles have remained consistent across humanity. Yet much of our religious doctrine has historically been—and still is—tainted by prejudice and discrimination towards others, reflecting the politics of group allegiance. Groups often assert the conclusiveness and superiority of their beliefs, which has perpetuated conflicts not only between different groups, but also within them.
Social sciences have consistently challenged and disproved certain beliefs. For example, prejudice and discrimination have always been—and will always be—detrimental to society. However, religious adherents remain steadfast in their belief that not all people are equal in the eyes of God. They adhere to philosophies of good versus evil, heaven versus hell, us versus them, viewing these perspectives as definitive and ultimate knowledge. Yet spiritual knowledge is intended to cultivate personal decency and justice, which contradicts religious standards that seek to subordinate individuals to group politics for political ends.
One might ask: if an individual is prejudiced and discriminatory toward God’s people, how can they possibly enter heaven? To me, regardless of strict religious observance—prayer, fasting, rituals—prejudice and discrimination constitute spiritual offenses. Condemning others to a living hell, whether yourself or others, should not qualify as a ticket to heaven upon death.
Our attachment to belief systems begins in childhood and is often hard to shake, even for the highly educated. Our sense of belonging, shaped by political education, exacerbates this. Yet all of this can be rectified by embracing personal justice to avoid inflicting on others what you would not want for yourself or your loved ones.
Remember, racism, nationalism, and religious wars stem from prejudice and discrimination. Fear of others and love for our groups are deeply rooted in political differences. Ironically, most individual suffering results from within these groups. Simply observe societal injustices—individual rights violated, personal security compromised—all stemming from group affiliations. To combat racial or religious violence, such as mob attacks, individuals must embrace personal responsibility and spiritual principles. Abstaining from mob participation becomes a spiritual choice, driven by the desire to avoid inflicting harm on yourself or your loved ones. Ultimately, religion or belief systems are personal matters, for you are the natural CEO of your life. Endowed with free will, even God allows you the freedom to choose how to live your life—contributing reciprocally to humanity as a whole.
Group strength pertains to politics, requiring falsehoods and deceit to manipulate the truth. Introducing lies and deceit into your belief system compromises your spirituality. This is why I assert that politics and spirituality are incompatible. When religion allows or operates as a political entity, it ceases to be a spiritual belief system.
If a cat can change and heal itself, then why can’t we? The difference is that their faith is pure and blind, yet we as human beings have thousands of thoughts related to doubts and pollution within us. Why would meditation work for human beings? Ask this question to yourself and then look at your faith critically. You will find the reasons for those thousands of doubts. Remember, other than a few, all other creatures don’t have savings plans. Bees and human beings are interesting creatures with interesting natures; they both save and keep more than they consume. As human beings, we have a habit not only to take from other human beings but also from other creatures, not only because we can but also because we lack faith.
Zeyaan the cat can teach you a thing or two about faith because of his personal experience. Zeyaan was getting sick or throwing up a lot, so somehow I ended up with him. I was trying to figure out what his problem was. Every time I would put food into his dish, he would dive into it as if he hadn’t eaten for days. He would finish it all only to throw up. I thought of changing his food, but I wanted him to learn and trust that there would always be food for him. So, I started to keep his dish full all the time, even though I was told to feed him just twice a day. Since I was observing his behavior, I found out that he was not eating just because of hunger; there were different triggers for him to go to his dish. For instance, every time I got up, even in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, he would go to his dish, or when I would walk in after being out for a while, he would want me to brush him. While he was getting brushed, he would go to the dish. Long story short, he would eat not exclusively because of hunger. So, keeping his dish full did the trick; he learned to eat a little bit and leave the rest for later. What happened here is that he built his faith that food would always be there, so he did not have to finish it all or eat too much or too fast.
Interestingly, he ate pretty much the same amount but without getting sick. He learned patience to the point that one day, I stood there with his food in my hand; he took a turn and lay down just to prove that he was not in a rush and was being patient. I tried a few times, but he never jumped into the food like before. His faith was established and developed to the point that he didn’t even bother to run for the food, even when he saw me putting it in his dish. This is not a made-up story. This blog was triggered by Zeyaan.
Now, look around and observe human behavior; you will see a lack of the faith that Zeyaan had. That lack of faith has not only been making us sick but also making us kill each other. Meaning, we are not starving, but we are starving for that spiritual faith. Our food is bought by money, so metaphorically, money is our food, and we all are hungry, even if we are not starving. Sure, starvation is an undeniable reality of humanity with its causes, and to me, our biggest cause is our lack of faith. Both the rich and the poor are suffering from this spiritual disorder. I was able to build trust and faith in Zeyaan, but building trust and true faith in humanity is a task and a half. Remember, even after thousands of years of hard work, our religions could not achieve that trust and faith in humanity. How can I just write a blog to solve this enormous problem of humanity?
Personally, I think we missed out on spiritual education because our politics of a sense of belonging took over our religions. Prejudice and discrimination created an environment where even godly people rob each other of their faith in spirituality. Rituals, traditions, customs, and rules came first; philosophy robbed religions of their spirituality. Common sense and decency took a back seat, and we fought wars in the name of God but politically for our belonging groups. We lost faith in spirituality and God but put all our eggs in the religious beliefs basket, which was actually a political basket. I broke the rule to feed Zeyaan twice a day to build his faith and trust, but unfortunately, it can’t be done with all the bickering and rhetoric of religious rules. Spiritual faith builds not by following or obeying the rules of any one particular belief system but by the good intentions related to spirituality. You can’t demand obedience to religious rules; it has to come from the love of spirituality, especially when we are still evolving entities.
With the limited use of our brainpower, we can’t just intellectualize and passionately believe that our groups can’t be wrong. By looking back in history, one can judge for themselves. If we are an evolving entity, we all need to keep room to be wrong and not to blame others and ourselves. If we give each other a break in the name of evolution, we would be able to take that next step to get to the next level of evolution. It is egotistic to fight over who is right and wrong with constantly evolving knowledge.
During wars, our generals usually give speeches to inspire the soldiers to go kill or get killed. To a lesser degree, our sports team coaches inspire athletes before game time. Interestingly, these inspirational speeches are effective because as human beings, we get deeply touched and physically release hormones. People wear colors, toot horns, and do waves to inspire their belonging teams. It has been going on for thousands of years; whether it is a sports team, nation, or our religions, we naturally get inspired by the politics of our sense of belonging. Yet, it has nothing to do with spirituality or psychology; it is totally physical. If your hormones go up and down with the score of your team, you are deeply under the influence of those inspirational speeches, even if you are not playing as a player. You always have been and still are an entity to be discovered further and further, so evolve, for God’s sake, from the influences of physical hormones and step into your spiritual zone to discover yourself.
Now, does this mean we are collectively more of an animal than a human being? If that is the case, how are we going to evolve any further to create balance within the individual? Are we going to kill each other forever? Or, as individuals, understand not to respond to the whims of our hormones? The foundation of all our laws and rules of societies is based on our individual regulation and restraint; that means we can’t just respond to our hormones like other animals. How are we going to learn about our personal authority to do justice and accept to appreciate someone’s better play, even if it is played by the opposing team player? Appreciate the evolution of humanity and do not give in to the emotions related to hormones.
If you want to seek spiritual comfort in your mortal skin, start cleaning up from within. Our problems stem from the politics of a sense of belonging to our groups. This politics gives birth to our false yet politically accepted truths, and if we are not honest and spiritually clean from within, we can’t find that spiritually comfortable zone. Regardless of following all the traditions, customs, rituals, or rules of our religions, we can still be starving spiritually. Remember, if there is prejudice and discrimination, there is no spirituality because God can’t favor some and not others. It is a human weakness to favor some, not all, and that can’t be attached to God Almighty. Spiritual comfort can’t be achieved in the presence of prejudice and discrimination, period.
When it comes to mortal nature, there is nothing more important than finding a spiritually comfortable zone. Sure, religions brought awareness of spirituality, but they could not keep prejudice and discrimination at bay, so they became victims of the politics of a sense of belonging themselves. Not only collectively did we become corrupt, but individually, we also got robbed of our spiritual jewels. Our personal sense of justice, free will, compassion, ability to forgive, ability to sacrifice, and, above all, ability to love, both individual and humanity as a whole.
If the politics of belonging to a group of people is running in your blood, your soul can’t be spiritually comfortable. Remember, you are individually holding an atom of autonomy within you, so you should not become a victim of the poisonous politics of prejudice and discrimination. The best antidote for this poisonous and political problem is equal and individual human rights.
Since we are an evolving entity, all our knowledge, whether it is related to our religions, science, technology, social or governing systems like democracy, socialism, or communism, they all should be subject to change with changing times, especially our constitutions and religious rules should not be written in stone. In the days of equal human rights, nothing is perfect because you lose individual rights if you follow mass over the individual. If you give total freedom to the individual, they would hoard everything because of insecurities, so they would take away the circulating resources. This can drive some people to social crimes because they have to survive. If a system leads to security issues, it should be looked at critically for the foundational causes.
In the bush and cave times, our security was personal power and strength, but with time, things have changed, and today, security is the responsibility of a governing authority. That is why we have law and order with politics to enforce the rules. Understanding the causes can help to find the real solutions for evolving problems. Social chaos can be avoided if our governing systems can provide individuals with basic rights.
Individually, your free will is there to make you a CEO of your life, so understand your standing in the grand scheme of life. If you are having trouble, just look at our governing systems; our progress in technology, transportation, medicine, and everything in between has been growing by leaps and bounds. If you use any of the modern inventions, acknowledge, respect, appreciate, and credit them because humanity has been and still is going through growing pains and a tough journey of evolution to comfort you.
All the good stuff came from all over the world; grow up to respect the reality. Overcome the politics of sense of belonging to your groups. Remember to acknowledge and respect the one who created footprints in the snow first. Usually, people who use those footprints don’t acknowledge that their peace of mind is because of those who went through the pain of uncertainty. Now, opposite to that is if you follow those footprints and they lead you to a metaphoric cliff and expect you to jump. If you do, with the hope that you will find the path with the rest of the footprints to carry on, even in your death.
Today, I would look at our religions differently if we were not killing each other following our ancestral footprints; I would be fine with it. But to me, if the footprints lead us to kill each other over our belief systems, I would rather be uncomfortable and walk towards uncertainty and create new footprints for my coming generation so they don’t keep killing each other the way we do.
Don’t be a history follower; create history while you are alive and can. Remember, you can’t do that if you are stuck thinking that there is no other way beyond religious education.
Just like you send well wishes to your prophets, you should be sending some love to those who invented life-saving medicines for you as well. If someone is alive because of some medical interventions, they should not forget those who helped practically. As you walk out of the hospital and send love to your prophet, send some to the inventor of the technology which has saved you. Using personal sense of justice is a trademark of a CEO who looks at life and says it as it is. Think spiritually and be honest because your atom of autonomy is sitting right within you. If you are not honest, even with yourself, you are under the influence of the politics of a sense of belonging to a group of people. If someone like your Mullah, Priest, or Rabbi makes you prejudiced, think of being spiritual, not political.
Anybody who kills in the name of religious beliefs, they are following the footprints to the cliff and jumping in the hope to find the path of footprints even in their death. This cliff is the one where faith should be discussed not with eyes closed but with an open mind. This is the place where religions usually demand individuals to follow blindly, yet this is the place an individual should be helped by a clearly defined explanation. Unfortunately, this is where the differences of opinions bring individuals to fall victim to egotistic ideologies and kill each other in the name of religious beliefs. Interestingly, this is the area where no one has come up with any proof or has a foundation to stand on; no one has concrete evidence or video clippings of what happens after we die, so we don’t really have a 100% doubt-free, authentically proven argument against a questioning scientist. You individually can believe 100% and become an extremist and jump over the cliff with your eyes closed, or you may have some doubts and believe 30% or 3% or none at all and become an extremist on the opposing side.
Other than extreme assumptions to kill each other over the lost footprints because we have metaphorically reached the cliff. Religions can come up with a whole lot of education for how to live life with all kinds of traditions, customs, rituals, and rules, but they can’t really argue about faith with scientifically proven facts. Sure, religious faith starts where our individual intellect fails to understand. Still, it leaves room for disagreements, and especially in this particular area, we have lots of passionate disagreements, conflicts, and even wars. It could be either we don’t understand clearly, or we are not able to use our brainpower enough to know everything about what is before birth and after death, so we egotistically assume and make them as part of our belief systems.
I would rather pause and question my behavior and choose to walk with my eyes open. If I walk with my eyes open to question everything, it would be my individual right. No one should be forced to jump; to me, it would be like how we used to throw virgins over the cliff to please God. I believe that if there is no 100% knowledge to argue, no one should be forced to believe in whatever is popular or accepted truth by a group of people. I would gladly walk with discomfort and uncertainty-related feelings because I believe there is more to explore and learn beyond the politics of belonging. When in doubt, always remember that you are the one who converts spirituality into physical actions while you are living. If you have been reciprocating, you have nothing to worry about what happens after you die. There will be enough for you to feel comfortable in your mortal skin because you have done everything for the love of God, not for the greed of heaven or fear of hell. If you are spiritually satisfied, you don’t need to doubt the footprints; you can create your own if needed. You just have to have faith in what and who you are. YOU GIVE PHYSICAL LIFE TO GOD AS YOU RECEIVE SPIRITUAL LIFE FROM GOD. THIS SPIRITUAL CLAP HAS NO SOUND IF IT IS ONLY ONE-SIDED, SO RESPECT YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT IRRELEVANT, UNIMPORTANT, NOR ARE YOU A BORN SINNER.
Any extreme behavior is related to our hormonal response, and that is not something to be proud of because it is a response from our animal side. As human beings, we are supposed to evolve from all that to become spiritual beings. Those hormones come from the inspirational speeches of your Generals, Coaches, Mullahs, Priests, and Rabbis. So snap out of it and become a spiritual entity instead of a creature who responds to the whims of hormones. All our laws of the land are proof that we are not to follow our animal instincts; we are supposed to self-regulate and use restraint because it’s impossible for the government to hire a cop for each and every individual to control them.
Remember, it’s not all about the footprints beyond the cliff; it’s about the footprints you follow while you are alive. If they are unable to make you a good and decent individual or inspire you to go kill in the name of your belonging group, you have the free will to change. No, I am not preaching about changing and joining any particular religion or nation; I am preaching spirituality and nothing but. If you want to be political, use that in your governing systems, but leave your beliefs and justice systems out of your political views. Learn about the reciprocation to God directly to feed your soul so you are not spiritually starving.
Usually, religions don’t accept that their footprints lead you to the cliff, yet in the end of your days, you eventually get there and see there are no more footprints but a cliff. Either you jump as you are suggested or stop to ponder what needs to be done by you. If you don’t jump, you are to be blamed for having no faith because religious footprints have not been and are not to be questioned. As an evolving entity, for us human beings, we simply stop evolving if we don’t question. Evolution is in our spiritual and physical DNA and can’t be denied. If you do, just look around and see what is going on, especially in the era of equal human rights. Like in the past, today no religion can push or force you to believe in what they are preaching, especially about the footprints beyond the cliff.
The time of throwing virgins over the literal cliff has passed; today we know the path of storms way before they hit our communities. Science explains all about deadly diseases like Coronavirus, and we know a whole lot more than our ancestors about health. Sure, we don’t have all the answers, but as an evolving entity, we will always have something to discover. Especially when it comes to our belief systems, they don’t want to answer our questions because we all have to die first to find out the real story of the footprints beyond the cliff.
You can believe in religious stories of prophets and their love of God, but I am talking about the ordinary individual and what they can do. To me, our understanding should be that there is way more to learn for an evolving entity. A religious belief can lead you and tell you how to live a successful mortal life with hope and optimism, but when it comes to the cliff, you are left on your own to blindly believe that those religious footprints would be there when you jump over the cliff.
To me, everything is fine until we start to believe to the point that we kill others who don’t believe in the footprints beyond the cliff. Remember, I said, you have to die first to know the real story of the footprints you are following, whether they would be there after you have jumped over the cliff. So the question is, should we kill each other over that unknown mythological belief systems? It does not matter what footprints you are following; you just can’t rob anyone of their life over something you can’t really understand, prove, or know 100%. You can’t be passionate about the footprints beyond the cliff because we are not evolved enough to know the real truth. One thing is for sure: we all have to be decently evolved individuals to understand spirituality and reciprocation, which will allow us to tolerate our political differences.
Add some comma before your passion and wear your spiritual jewelry with pride instead of taking it off in the name of your belonging group. Be a CEO who is spiritually advanced and evolved instead of being a puppet who follows those footprints blindly and falls over the cliff to kill and die under the influence of politically inspired hormone release. If you want to know and talk about faith, have faith in evolution. If God is taking care of your life and death, why don’t you believe that your evolution is God’s will related as well? Reaching your evolving potential is not going to take you to the edge of the cliff because just like spirituality and God, you yourself have no boundaries other than those you create for yourself. You don’t have any cliffs either because you already carry the depths of the oceans and space within you.
In the dead of night or deep within yourself, whatever goes on is not between you and the people or your prophet but between you and God through your atom of autonomy or God particle within you. Understanding yourself can help you to know your real identity. If you are lost, like lots of people whose identities are compromised by the politics of belonging, you will always put your race, gender, color of your skin, ancestry, nation, religion, or even your education degree before you being a human being.
Logically, your deep and personal thinking should be about you and your well-being during your living years. If even your deep and personal thinking is influenced by other human beings, it is a clear sign that you are not looking at your life as a CEO and you disrespect your atom of autonomy related free will. Remember, you are not like other creatures and are not genetically programmed. You are not a drop in the ocean, nor are you irrelevant, unimportant, or a born sinner. You hold all the oceans and space put together within a drop.
Living your life according to others’ opinions means you are making yourself irrelevant, insignificant, and are robbing your own self-esteem. By believing all that, you can not only reach your God-given potential, you are actually disobeying the real order of God. Yes, if you don’t evolve, you are not following God’s will.
You may hope that when you reach your cliff of faith, you will see the footprints beyond the cliff and carry on in your life after death with whatever your ancestors preached about. You actually would be following the same path as your ancestors did, so your high-rise building would be without the foundation. That can fall with the strong wind of factual argument. Sure, we need faith, but we need to have it on a stronger foundation. Not only for others but for personal reasons like spiritual satisfaction and fulfillment. That is where individual faith really matters and can help the individual to live a mortal life with comfort, happiness, and contentment. Instead of damaging life by not having faith in anything. By not trusting in anything or anybody, you simply can’t have any meaningful relationship. Not with people around, not even with family or God, so the stress of uncertainty would rob you of all kinds of health, including spiritual, mental, emotional, and eventually physical health as well. Having all kinds of health problems while being mortal is just too much to ignore faith.
Just have faith by looking at your journey, your progress, and your potential, then see where you are at and how you got there. From childhood to adulthood to wherever you are in your life, you can clearly see that your faith constantly plays a role. It is all regardless of the turmoil humanity is constantly going through. I would end it with the quote from Alama Iqbal where he says to have faith and fly high:
“Why are you falling for a piece of grain like a sparrow? Keep your flight high so you can become an Eagle.”
End quote.