Who Flipped My Triangle?

 

Unfortunately, it’s not new, but especially these days, there is turmoil all over the world. Humanity is riddled with wars driven by a sense of belonging to groups or ideologies. Conservatism and liberalism are at odds, yet both are important to set the rhythm of progress.

You can vote against the hijab or burkini or choose human rights, but it takes individual education to make an informed choice. You might make a decision out of a sense of belonging to your group, but is that just? This is a question we all should ask ourselves, yet we don’t. As an individual, your personal sense of justice relates to the principle of “don’t do to anyone what you don’t want done to you.” This was tried in Canada by conservatives in court, but human rights prevailed. Logically, if you put these issues in legal systems, human rights would and should come out on top. The real problem is not the belief system itself but the individual’s extreme passion, which blinds them to justice and tarnishes human education.

The beneficial aspects of belief systems can’t be discussed due to the politics of group belonging. The human journey toward secularism and democracy has been long, with religions pointing in their direction but failing to follow through because of political control.

If we all think secularism or democracy is better than religious systems, we should focus on justice and human rights instead of our group affiliations. Tolerance and human rights are the essence of democracy and secularism. Choosing extremism makes us no better than other extremists.

When an individual engages in discrimination, it is against human rights and thus cannot be right. In all human conflicts, both sides believe they are better, leading to group prejudice.

Prejudice is an infection humanity has suffered from for a very long time. No religion or governing system has cured it, so it is time to start from the bottom up by educating individuals. In conflicts, the real victims are individuals, and it is individuals who stoke the fires and burn in them due to personal loss of love. Thus, it is only the individual who can provide solutions to our conflicts.

Nationalism and religion have been at odds for a long time, but today their conflicts are boiling over. Chemical weapons have been used, and nuclear weapons could be next if we don’t start prioritizing humanity over our groups. This can’t happen unless ordinary men and women take charge, educate themselves, become the CEOs of their lives, balance the politics of belonging with a sense of freedom, value this life over the afterlife, and understand the pain of others’ love losses.

A sense of belonging can tear one apart, especially when the individual is uneducated and unable to call the shots for themselves. If you look around, you will see people doing the opposite of their religions’ teachings in the name of nationalism, committing treason or crimes against their nations in the name of religion.

The problems lie within individuals, so the key to solving these problems is also within individuals. You can drop all the bombs, throw money at the problem, or sweep it under the rug and close your eyes, but it won’t be solved unless individuals are educated. Gather all the money or even create a new poverty and education tax to treat the whole world as one and choose humanity over nations or religions.

This is the time when individual education is most needed because neither religions nor nationalism will back down due to their egotistic sense of belonging. There have been attacks on schools and universities because, God forbid, if individuals get educated, they might not join the wars. That is exactly what is needed: individuals must take the wind out of the sails of warships to stop conflicts. It is the individual who must stand up against the powerful sense of belonging to groups. They must choose humanity over nations or religions.

We all carry a personal sense of justice regardless of race, color, gender, nationality, or religion. God has blessed us all, and each and every one of us possesses free will. It’s high time to use it in the name of peace for humanity.

As an individual, you could be called an infidel and blamed for treason, but if you are an educated CEO of your life, you can balance the sense of belonging with the sense of freedom. Deep inside, you know that the only way to truly belong is to belong spiritually to humanity as a whole.

From our history to modern-day living, these “what ifs” have been part of human evolution. From the reasons behind learning ancient martial arts to the desire to own guns, from successful businesses in all kinds of insurance to the aspiration to migrate to the Western world, from saving and investing for financial security to developing various weapons including chemical and nuclear bombs, and even praying for a spot in heaven—our education systems are designed to instill fear and prepare us for the uncertainties of the future.

Individually and collectively, if human beings continue to exploit one another (as we have done since our earliest awareness), it breeds a lack of trust. Without trust, we should all recognize that we have the potential to destroy humanity over mere “what ifs.”

We are taught about these so-called disasters and uncertainties of individual life. We are led to believe that we can control them ourselves, yet individuals can feel helpless during wars or when natural disasters cripple entire communities. Personal strength is tested by individual circumstances, so a positive belief system becomes crucial. These predicted disasters may or may not occur, so this education isn’t scientifically proven, but it remains prevalent worldwide, irrespective of differing belief systems.

From market crashes to personal financial crises to unexpected health issues, our conflicts and related crises resonate loudly around us. Yet, despite our beliefs or the depths of those beliefs, we often feel insecure individually.

The unknown remains unknowable despite education. People seek advice from financial planners, psychics, horoscopes, and everything in between, only to discover that nothing is foolproof. Most of us are taught to save for rainy days, even if it means living sacrificially. However, despite global education and savings efforts, many people live in poverty—financially or in terms of happiness and contentment. My brother recently sent me a picture of children playing pool on a clay table without a brand, which inspired this quote:

“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they make the best of everything.” — Author unknown

The greatest challenge for individuals is mortality, which prevents us from keeping life’s elements in neat and predictable order. If you cultivate a habit of total control where two plus two always equals four, you might find life a rough journey, robbing happiness by choice.

The effects of our lifestyle choices manifest in later years. If you consistently live in control mode, you’ll eventually face the consequences as an individual, because your life is your personal project. You are its CEO by your own logic, not an extension of nationality, race, gender, or ideology—your umbilical cord was cut at birth.

From mistrust in one’s own beliefs or God to stress-related issues, these are clear signs of modern living’s side effects. Is living this way truly beneficial as an individual?

This question should be asked by each of us because, ultimately, we are mortal with limited time, yet societies and their members live on beyond us.

A mortal should focus on gathering happiness and seeking contentment in daily life. Since happiness and contentment are individual responsibilities, we must discern which education or knowledge aids in their accumulation. If knowledge from upbringing robs personal happiness and contentment, personal strategies must be devised for a successful mortal life.

Living in a state of “what ifs” fosters insecurity and control issues.

Control, as a habit, can prove dangerous for mortals, encouraging them to live as though immortal. It’s a core problem and a self-imposed reason for unhappiness.

As a society, we advocate and enforce our ways of life on all members and even other societies, despite our internal challenges. For instance, all religions suggest that God rewards those who spread the word and recruit from other societies. Today, democratic societies seek to spread democracy universally, despite its struggles within their own systems.

Our living systems encompass traditions, customs, and beliefs, ingraining us with the belief that our way of life is superior, particularly in matters of religion. As individuals, we often disregard personal mortality due to a strong sense of belonging. However, it’s essential for us to prioritize individual health across all facets of life, as healthy individuals are the lifeblood of their societies and responsible for personal happiness.

When things go wrong, not only does the individual suffer, but the entire society bears the burden. From market crashes to wars, flawed thinking exposes us all to collateral damage. No human knowledge should be deemed ultimate; we are evolving, learning from mistakes and experiences—or at least, that should be the case.

While I’m not a financial specialist and won’t suggest financial strategies, I advocate for logical living with an understanding of mortality and individual responsibilities. If one spends a lifetime preparing for “what ifs,” saving and living in self-imposed poverty, succumbing to stress-related health issues or mental health problems, it represents a preventable loss for both individual and society.

Do I suggest disregarding social norms? No. I believe money is earned to live this mortal life, not just to accumulate wealth and live poorly. If fears of “what ifs” dominate your thoughts, check in with yourself—don’t sacrifice happiness for hypothetical scenarios.

 

The sale of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) made headlines, and its profit margin made me reflect on the reasons behind its success. From the popularity of ancient Roman gladiators and the disregard for the deaths of horses during those games to the modern-day UFC fighters battling each other bloody, to dog fights, cockfights, and Calgary’s Stampede chuckwagon horses dying in present-day events, we are reminded not only of the similarities but also of the slow pace of our evolution. Some people protest and speak out against these animalistic behaviors in humans, yet despite our evolution, we remain entangled in wars and still find pleasure in violence in movies and sports. There must be a reason why things have not changed since Roman times.

The difference is only in time and technology, but our attitude towards entertainment remains the same, if not more intense. The popularity of adrenaline-pumping sports connects us deeply with our inner animal. Whether it’s a sports match or a war, our sense of belonging fuels the violent nature of the beast within us. This nature has not regressed, despite the best efforts of our religions and governing systems, and the reason lies in our personal politics of belonging. We have been preached to endlessly about subduing our animal side, yet our crime rates in social settings and our wars reveal the true nature of the beast within us.

After all our civilization, just look around—what do we have to show for it? Here we stand, ready to kill each other, even in the name of God. The proof is in the blame and punishment of individual actions. The education of our societies, whether religious or secular, is designed to preach restraint and control, or even the killing of the animal within, to become better human beings. Now, the question is: why has this educational approach failed?

The reasons behind this approach are rooted in our desire to be the best of the animal kingdom, to avoid comparison with other animals. Thus, the struggle is ongoing. Our actions speak loudly enough to declare that we excel on both sides. The question is, how can we become better human beings individually? Deep inside, we have a personal conflict that needs to be resolved, and only the individual can resolve it by understanding the legitimacy and authenticity of both sides of our nature, becoming the CEO of their life to create inner balance. How can an individual stand against the status quo if the sense of belonging is overwhelming or nonexistent? A CEO can achieve this by viewing everything—including other people, religions, and nationalism—as departments within their life. Understanding the importance of the “jewels” that evolve us as humans is crucial.

We proudly wear the jewels of humanity, such as compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love, but the problem is that we can also swing to the extreme opposite and commit spiritual crimes, like mass murder of our own kind. We have dropped atomic bombs, used other weapons of mass destruction, and are constantly at war with one another. We even put other creatures to shame with our out-of-control animal side. Controlling or killing the animal within has not worked over millions of years of evolution, and it will not work for us unless we, as individuals, achieve personal inner peace by assuming our duties as CEOs.

In human societies, all education points toward the sense of belonging to a group. It starts with the family and the family’s connections to others, but a human individual can potentially go further by thinking of themselves as part of all humanity. This perspective elevates them beyond a sense of belonging to their immediate family, community, race, gender, color, religion, or nation. Evolution teaches us that as individuals, we are the foundation for all change.

Creating inner and outer peace is possible if we, as individuals, step forward to understand that our sense of belonging is not just to a group of people, but to humanity as a whole, physically, and to God spiritually. If you belong to men or prophets, you demote yourself and follow politics instead of spirituality. Crossing the boundaries of our traditional knowledge of belonging is necessary so we can evolve to the next level and belong to humanity.

In the war against our animal side, the only option we have is to accept its legitimacy and make peace with it. By doing so, we can stop the inner turmoil and create inner peace individually first, then collectively—because it takes a single person to start or stop wars, whether internal or external.

Since we have misunderstood and underestimated our animal side, our systems of law and order and the rules of our religions have failed miserably. If you need proof, just look around at the religious wars, spiritual crimes, and the general crime rates in human societies. This failed approach has not worked and will not succeed. If it hasn’t succeeded in thousands of years of evolution, we must learn more about ourselves. Who are we, really? Why is the animal within us still alive and well despite our efforts to kill it?

It has evolved and become more sophisticated because of our weapons, from guns to advanced levels of mass destruction, on one side, and the popularity of the sense of belonging related to sports, regardless of the violence, on the other.

My explanation is the following.

The Beautiful Beast

The inception of the devil doesn’t just start with the mother who loves her child; it’s been there all along. It’s a matter of nurturing and allowing one side to dominate. For instance, when a baby cries, the mother feeds them, changes their diaper, and holds them to soothe them. As babies, we quickly understand our personal desires and learn how to get the mother’s attention. If the mother or caregiver constantly runs to meet the baby’s needs—or I should say, desires—she is nurturing the baby’s animal side.

If she had thought, “I’ve just fed, changed, and cuddled them, so there’s no reason to run,” and let the baby cry for a while, the baby would realize that nothing is happening. Personally, I think this would be the first step toward becoming a healthy human being. Learning about delayed gratification and patience sets us apart from other creatures. I believe this is one of the root causes of most social, personal, and emotional ills, which are connected to this imbalanced upbringing. Learning to understand these two personal sides is crucial for every individual to live a happy, healthy, balanced, and successful life. Otherwise, as my first triangle says: health, happiness, and success. Remember, without health, you can’t be happy, and without these two, any success you achieve is meaningless.

This fundamental education has been misunderstood or ignored due to personal politics and overpowered by our loving emotions. Are these loving emotions good for us or bad? Do they relate to the animal side or the spiritual side, or are we not yet evolved enough to distinguish? Do we even understand the traits of the spiritual side and the animal side as individuals?

The line can be blurred by our social education regarding belonging to groups. If you look closely, all other creatures protect and raise their offspring just like we do.

After crying for a bit, the baby looks around, sees that no one is coming, and starts to self-soothe, entertain themselves, and learn to control their desires. This is the first step a human individual takes toward becoming a human being—learning about delayed gratification and dealing with the inner animal to create balance with the human side.

If the mother runs to every cry, the baby’s animal side will grow bigger than the human side. This imbalance has far-reaching consequences for both the baby and society. From obesity to brushes with the law, many issues can be avoided if we are taught early on about the difference between instant and delayed gratification.

I heard these wise words growing up in Pakistan, and since I don’t know the source, I’ll quote it as “Author Unknown”: “When the trunk of the tree is green, it can be bent, but after that, we should forget about molding and conforming because it won’t bend—it’ll break.”

Since it has been nurtured, the animal side has grown to the point where, even if we try to harness it by willpower, it will rebel. In my job as a personal trainer, I see people fail in their efforts to lose weight because they try to ignore the power of the animal side. Weight loss companies have existed for decades, but our obesity rate continues to climb. The reason behind this is that strong animal side that can’t be easily harnessed. This is also one of the causes of the higher crime rate because instant gratification is a hallmark of the animal. I don’t want to diminish the animal side like everyone else because I believe we must acknowledge its legitimacy to create balance.

Both sides are crucial and hold very important and powerful cards. The animal side has mortality awareness, while the human side understands the politics of life. When faced with inner clashes, we can learn about the power of both sides. We may look normal on the outside but be torn apart on the inside, and spending your whole mortal life in that mode is not a way of life for a CEO.

I refer to us as the third equation, living with God and the devil inside.

We are born like brand-new computers, with all the apps and perks, containing both the spiritual and physical sides simultaneously. One side can dominate over the other depending on the nurturing we receive, the education we acquire, and the data added by the individual, parents, and society we belong to, which dictate which side is dominant. We are wrapped up in our traditions and customs by our belonging groups so we can become a strength to our society. We are discouraged from thinking beyond that, especially when our religions put up walls of discrimination and prejudice by preaching that a worshiping individual is better than a non-worshiping one, regardless of their practical contributions to humanity.

Now, you can see and relate our internal and external problems to our sense of belonging to groups because we have hundreds or thousands of societies and belonging groups. They can clash, and the individual gets hurt by the loss of love. That leads the animal to avenge the pain by inflicting that same pain on others, so the story of God and the devil continues within the human individual.

God is good, so good is good to the individual because of the politics of belonging groups, yet actions can be devilish to competing groups. The question is, is that good really good and godly, or is the line blurred by politics? If that is the case, it all falls on the shoulders of the individual as personal responsibility, and that’s why I believe the individual is a natural-born CEO. A CEO can distinguish between belonging to a group of people and belonging to humanity as a whole.

 The Triangle of Free Will – The Human and the Animal Inside

Everyone uses it, but not all of us take the responsibilities that free will brings along. The politics of our belonging groups give us a license to hide behind nationalism and religion to commit crimes against humanity. If we all took responsibility for using free will, decency would flourish. Compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love are individual jewels, but society dresses the individual according to the politics that serve their particular group. Therefore, the knowledge we acquire is crucial, not only for the individual but also for humanity as a whole. As a global community, we need to develop solidarity—not just as a United Nations, which lacks a fully enforced justice system. The veto system is plain and simple, highly political, and entirely related to the sense of belonging for a few nations, not humanity. It is unethical and non-spiritual. If the organization is called the United Nations but favors only some members with special treatment, it is an unjust political system and should not be called what it is.

Free will is like a pendulum. The pendulum of free will is awarded to humans by God to play the game of life. With life circumstances, it can sway to both sides, but your goal and destiny are to be and stay in the center to live a balanced human life, half spiritual and half physical, so you can experience real life. If someone says otherwise, you have to research their motive.

If you choose to live a completely controlled life, you are an extremist one way or the other. You may become a great individual for society, but you have failed to live this life for yourself. Alternatively, if you just live for yourself, you may become a menace to society or even self-destructive.

If you are told to live for the afterlife, you may need to examine this carefully because you don’t want to gamble everything on a bet. God would not have given you free will and this life just to test your obedience. It is a gift from God to humanity. You can live to create balance, enjoy this life, and reciprocate in appreciation for this life. Doing something for the afterlife involves the good deeds you do during your living years, and no, it is not your prayers; it is the practical worship needed by God in your living years. Yes, your practical worship is serving humanity, fulfilling someone’s prayers by practically helping them. In the spiritual world, things are always good, but in our physical world, things go wrong when the politics of belonging groups dominate individuals, making them subservient.

If you choose extremes because of the influences of your sense of belonging, you can cause personal and social problems. If you use free will all the time, you are responsible for your actions. In today’s world, you can’t just drink and drive; killing another human being, even in the name of God, religion, or nation, is a personal spiritual crime far worse than drinking and driving. We are all CEOs of our lives, and it’s a CEO’s responsibility to take charge of his or her actions. Sure, accidents happen, but drinking before driving is irresponsible. Being drunk is being out of control, even if it is religious extremism. Yes, you are personally responsible for your actions before the actions because you have been blessed with and use free will at will.

As we grow, we learn about the sense of belonging, we understand our free will and how to use it, and then we begin to learn about the knowledge of the society to which we belong. Sense of belonging-related knowledge is both written and implied. For instance, Ego, Pride, and Honor—I call them the three children of the sense of belonging—each have a legitimate place in an individual’s life, but they are like double-edged swords that cut both ways. It is not only the individual who benefits or suffers from them; the society to which the individual belongs also experiences harm or benefit. The proof is around us—just look at societies where these three children of the sense of belonging dominate. They are known for suppressing individuals with potential, which keeps them behind.

An individual brings progress and evolution to society, so they should be nurtured to contribute. If the social system encourages the individual to evolve and reach their potential, society benefits more from all individuals. However, if a society keeps half of its individuals from working or evolving, it creates more dependency, which not only slows progress and evolution but also has the potential to harm the self-esteem of dependents, making them unable to contribute even if they are asked to.

Honor, Pride, and Ego don’t just have the good side that is preached and glorified by some societies. As I said before, they cut both ways. If you understand them, you may benefit from them, but if not, they have the potential to harm the individual and cause mental health issues. A functioning individual is beneficial not only to themselves and their family but also to society. Otherwise, they become a burden on society, which is harmful to both.

It’s like if you eat poorly or have a destructive lifestyle, it will bite you sooner or later. Societies suffer when the individual is not fully functioning, so our governing systems should be aware of the side effects of our traditions and customs and whether they are good for the individual and society in the long run.

Old systems need to evolve as time demands. For instance, if you try to enforce Islamic rules in today’s society, even in Islamic societies, it may reduce the crime rate, but since this drop is fear-based, it does not change or evolve the individual to stop crime through self-restraint driven by responsibility and love for others.

Another example is ongoing right now—the Black population has been and is controlled by an old, outdated system of force. What happens when force meets force? It brings out the ugly side of human nature. This is not only damaging to the individual but also to society. Arming police with bigger and better guns or bringing in the military means the system stays the same but becomes more oppressive.

Logically and potentially, you just can’t have a police officer for every individual. And people’s attitude towards the right to bear arms, which is related to the Constitution, is literally a deadly mix. I personally feel that all human knowledge, including all constitutions and religions, should benefit the individual and society simultaneously. If it harms the individual or society, it should be subject to change. When everyone has a gun, a lot of people get killed. This is not a matter of pride or ego; it is a matter of how torn you are inside, personally and collectively.

All human knowledge should be for well-being, not for harm, but unfortunately, our conservative segments of the population want to keep the status quo, regardless of the harm they cause. From the Taliban to ISIS to the rednecks of the KKK, they all think it’s okay to be prejudiced and that equal human rights should not exist so they can keep fighting not only others but each other as well. This kind of individual belief system is the biggest hurdle in the evolution of belonging to humanity. Only the individual can change that by using personal free will and becoming the CEO of their life. The sense of security we seek in our own kind is false—just look at the crime rates in societies where everyone lives with their own kind.

 The Triangle of Free Will: The Human and the Animal Inside

Change is happening right before our eyes. The demographics and faces of our melting pot societies have been evolving for a long time. If we don’t respect these changes, we risk becoming prejudiced and racist.

Our responsibility is to personally understand the complexities of life’s most challenging issues. This includes grappling with concepts like the Almighty God and the Devil. Who are they? Where are they? Are they out there somewhere, or are they within us?

If you ask an ordinary person whether they have ever seen God or the Devil outside of movies, the overwhelming answer will be no. However, if you ask whether they have witnessed the effects of these forces, the answer will be yes. Behind those actions, whether good or bad, is always a human being—either a godly person or one possessed by devilish intentions.

Each of us is blessed with three fundamental aspects: the animal, the human, and free will. Free will complicates things. It makes us the decision-makers, and with that comes the responsibility to act either for good or for ill.

In today’s legal systems, no one can claim that the Devil made them commit crimes or that God instructed them through dreams. Insanity might be a defense, but neither the Devil nor God’s influence is legally recognized worldwide. Human beings are held responsible for their actions due to the gift of free will.

Since concepts of good and bad evolve with knowledge, and knowledge changes over time, this makes everything subject to questioning. Intentions, therefore, become the most crucial aspect of one’s actions. I don’t see the Devil with horns except during Halloween, but individuals with devilish intentions are always around.

If you choose a selfish path, ignore inner voices of decency, and listen solely to the animal within, you become dominated by it. This makes you akin to the Devil, always taking without reciprocating. However, you also have a good side. With maturity, you can learn to balance giving and taking. This evolution is evident in societal rules, which differ for children and adults. This is what makes us human.

I do not dismiss religious teachings, as I acknowledge that no one knows everything. Even religious scholars and doctors have their limits. We can’t fully understand God until we reach our full potential.

How far have we come? Despite progress, we still struggle with disagreements and misunderstandings about concepts like religion and science. For instance, in my own religion, we can’t even agree on lunar observations to end fasting, yet we have space stations in orbit. Science can offer help, but egotistical religious views often reject it. I’ve experienced places where daylight is continuous, such as the North during summer, making fasting and prayer challenging. This suggests that practical prayers and reciprocation are not bound by traditions or customs but are about humanity.

Human knowledge is complex, and even experts disagree. Some focus on scientific details, while others believe that excessive detail diminishes the scope of life. When scientific methods are inadequate for addressing religious or health problems, a multi-pronged approach, including spirituality, might be necessary. We must admit our need for new knowledge, as many issues stem from resistance to new ideas due to ego and pride.

Though considered undesirable, the animal side of us is difficult to eradicate. Despite legal, constitutional, and religious systems, we have not succeeded in eliminating this aspect of ourselves. We’ve been approaching it incorrectly. To distinguish good from bad, one must experience both.

The Devil is not an external entity; it is ingrained in each of us and is a legitimate part of our being. Understanding and managing this aspect can lead to inner peace and better self-control, enabling us to become ideal human beings.

Current knowledge has diminished the significance of a balanced human being and their free will, thereby impacting individual responsibility. From birth, our initial lessons should focus on balancing our human and devilish sides. As we mature, we should learn about humanity and spirituality, rather than being coerced into nationalism and religious dogma. This indicates that we are taught group politics over humanity and spirituality, which is dangerous in today’s volatile environment.

Society often desires obedient and controllable citizens, making it difficult to understand why nationalism and religion are prioritized in education. These teachings often promote superiority or prejudice, which contradicts the pursuit of pure humanity and spirituality.

When individuals are too free, it can weaken societal cohesion, leading to increased control through rules and regulations. Conversely, when individuals control themselves, they are more capable of self-regulation. Free will is a blessing; if not appreciated, it leads individuals to cede their power to others, whether religious leaders or governing entities. Such individuals often act destructively while hiding behind their roles or beliefs. A CEO, for instance, should be accountable for their actions.

Ideally, increased freedom should enhance individual control, as inner peace radiates outward. However, governmental and religious systems, driven by group politics, often prioritize their power over individual peace. A just system should be equal for all, aligning with spirituality. Unfortunately, throughout history and even today, many brutal acts have been committed in the name of religion.

The image of God and the Devil has been exaggerated, undermining the human equation and manipulating individuals to serve their nations and religions. This group power politics, under the guise of security, causes immense suffering and loss of love, perpetuating the struggle to control the inner Devil, which ultimately thrives in society. We are told to eliminate the Devil to be good in the eyes of God, but the truth is, no one truly knows God’s plans for us.

We are not angels but humans, with both flawed and redeeming aspects. Since these aspects are part of us by design, even God wouldn’t eliminate them, as humanity still has to reach its full potential. We must learn to use the pendulum of free will to understand life’s purpose. It is about living a human life, not an angelic one. The difference is clear, but we often forget that we are a combination of human and animal, or Devil and human. We need to learn to create balance within ourselves to achieve a balanced, healthy, happy, and successful life.

 Religions often offer us hope to prevent disobedience. When frustration arises, we are inundated with lectures to behave, to fear God, and to hope simultaneously. The Devil is portrayed as a villain, discouraging individual freedom.

Propaganda encourages people to align with God, leading to a common tendency to hate and blame the Devil. For example, during Hajj, Muslims perform the ritual of throwing stones at symbolic representations of the Devil, a tradition that contrasts with Hindus worshiping stone deities. Actions perceived as free will are sometimes labeled as devilish. While God may have a plan for each individual, we are given free will for a reason, allowing us to influence our outcomes.

It appears that many underestimate the power and capabilities of individuals. We often place excessive demands on God and attribute too much blame to the Devil. Personal responsibility is frequently denied, and free will is used politically to our advantage. We either credit or blame God or the Devil for our actions. Consider God’s creations; apart from natural elements like oxygen and disasters, everything involves human participation, highlighting the importance of human agency.

If we possess the power to illuminate God’s world, we can also take responsibility for our own actions, whether they are good or bad. As individuals, especially as leaders, it is our duty to cultivate inner peace by acknowledging our animalistic side. True justice across all areas of life means being a complete human being.

Enjoying simple pleasures like ice cream or cake, or seeking comfort through marriage, reflects the balance between our human and animal sides. Extreme choices often lead to extreme outcomes, as seen in scandals involving Roman Catholic priests. No one should hide behind the Devil. Our role as leaders extends to caring for the divine aspects of our lives. Working for humanity is a form of worship, but this can detract from spirituality if one believes they are superior to those who worship differently. In Islam, even within the religion, there are disagreements about practices and rituals, reflecting the influence of politics.

I believe that true worship is demonstrated through the good deeds we perform for humanity. With free will, we can choose not to engage in conflicts over belief systems and can determine our own methods of worship. Traditions, customs, laws, and religious rules are subject to change due to our evolutionary nature.

Previously, I wrote a blog titled “Love Triangle,” exploring the facets of love. As leaders, we should understand love and its complexities. People often commit spiritual errors due to the pain of lost love. I categorized love into three parts for simplicity:

Universal Love: 33.4%

Instinctive Love: 33.3%

Passionate Love: 33.3%

As humans, we are capable of experiencing all three types of love, amounting to 100% of love. God did not create us with limitations; rather, our extreme behaviors can disrupt one area while creating imbalance in another.

Extreme love for a partner, while caring for others, can cause issues. Extreme love for family may jeopardize your relationship with your partner. Balancing love for your life partner and your family is crucial. Extreme devotion to any form of love can be harmful. God created us to balance these aspects ourselves, guiding us to live successful lives. Using free will to create extremes deviates from God’s path.

Recently, a tragic case in Pakistan involved a girl being killed by her brother, a clear example of imbalanced love. The brother exhibited extreme universal love while disregarding instinctive love. Similarly, in family dynamics, a husband favoring his mother over his wife, or vice versa, can lead to conflict. A good leader, or CEO, should compartmentalize relationships to administer justice. The brother should have recognized that instinctive love is as important as universal love, ensuring that both people and God are valued within the scope of universal love, but not as the sole focus.

Choosing one aspect of love over others reduces one’s role from being a leader—granted by God through free will—to merely a department head. Balancing these facets is key to fulfilling our potential as individuals.

We are taught to view ourselves as superior to other animals, and acting like one is often seen as degrading. This judgment fosters ego, leading us to take pride in our perceived superiority, which can cause divisions even among family members and within groups. An educated individual should remain humble about their literacy and avoid letting their ego breed prejudice.

True love is a blend of three components, and understanding these differences allows us to fully experience and appreciate all forms of love. The “love triangle” comprises:

Passionate Love: The intense affection we have for a romantic partner.

Instinctive Love: The deep bonds with family and close friends, such as love for a mother, father, siblings, children, and relatives.

Universal Love: The soul-to-soul spiritual connection that links us not only with each other but also with the divine or God.

If we focus on only one type of love and take it to an extreme, we may find ourselves confused, thinking that this single aspect represents complete love. To experience true and complete love, we need to understand and embrace all aspects of love. We are not whole without acknowledging our animal side; this includes passionate love, instinctive love, and universal love or spirituality. When we compartmentalize love and push any one aspect to an extreme, we risk missing the full spectrum of love’s power. For instance, religious influences emphasize universal love, sometimes suggesting that God and people are more important than family or a partner. Conversely, extreme passionate love may lead to obsession, where other relationships or concerns are disregarded.

Love, when confined to one category, is limited by boundaries. Yet, love’s power is boundless; it can break through all limits. Historically, love has driven people to make immense sacrifices—kings have abandoned their thrones, wars have been waged, and extreme actions like suicide or murder have been committed in its name.

Despite attempts to regulate love through rules, it remains one of the most unruly forces. Understanding love can enhance all aspects of our lives, from religion to spirituality to relationships, yet love is often compartmentalized rather than accepted as a boundless phenomenon.

The Role of the Animal Side in Love

Our enjoyment of life hinges on embracing our animal side. While we are more than just animals, our soul interacts with life through our animal nature. Without the soul, the body—and thus the animal side—would cease to exist. To truly experience and savor life, the soul must integrate with the body, including its animal aspects. Love, too, requires this integration; it involves the blending of the soul with our animal nature. A transition from passionate love to instinctive love to universal love depends on this connection.

Initially, couples experience passionate love, which can evolve into instinctive love as they have children and build families. Instinctive love extends beyond romantic passion to include affection for children and family. As individuals connect with a larger community, universal love develops and becomes part of their experience.

While we may attempt to discard our animal side, we cannot reach spiritual fulfillment without it. For now, we belong to our respective groups, but as we evolve, we must explore our true nature. Are we merely animals seeking security in numbers, or are we spiritual beings connecting us all to humanity? Until we address this, we will continue to experience conflicts, sports rivalries, nationalism, and religious extremes. We will remain biased toward our groups, regardless of our leadership status.

Sports teams often reflect a sense of belonging, which is a natural part of our daily lives. As Dr. Wayne Dyer suggests, evolving beyond the mindset of “mine is better than yours” requires humanity to progress to a level where we ask, “What can I do for you?” This evolution will only occur when each of us sees ourselves as part of humanity, rather than limiting ourselves to exclusive groups.

 

 

 

 

 

From the fear of being reincarnated as an inferior form of life, like a rat or a bug, to burning in hell or being punished in the grave, various schools of thought have used these concepts with the same intentions. Acts such as fasting, giving money, or making sacrifices have been seen as ways to secure a spot in heaven. While these practices work well within the framework of the carrot-and-stick philosophy, they are fundamentally based on fear and greed. This type of worship encourages individuals to live with restraint and contribute positively to society, but its foundation in fear makes it unsuitable for genuine spirituality, where there is no room for politics. If you have something to say, say it directly; if you can’t or won’t because of potential consequences, you are engaging in politics.

As individuals evolve, they start to ask questions and may stray from established norms. Legally and ethically, they should not be forced to obey religious rules because religion is based on faith. There was a time when the law of the land was absolute, but today, with the world so interconnected, information is accessible instantly. Many people adhere to national justice systems, which often conflict with religious rules. Human rights have prevailed in supreme courts worldwide, transcending religious laws.

The rise of questioning and challenging individuals angers extremists of all religions, contributing to the turmoil in the world. Believers often condemn such behavior, claiming that everyone is going to hell for their sins, yet they themselves are willing to commit acts of violence against innocents. In my opinion, this is the ultimate spiritual crime because it involves a loss of love. When someone is deprived of love, the pain goes beyond the surface. Since God lives through us, killing someone is also robbing God of cells. This is why I consider it a spiritual crime.

There has never been, and still is not, any evidence of what happens after we die or before we are born. Everything depends on the belief systems of various groups. Since belief begins where human intellect fails, its importance cannot be denied. However, this uncertainty should not be a foundation for killing or punishing someone who challenges or questions these belief systems.

Human intellect and belief systems are powerful forces that often collide. Passionate people sometimes go to great lengths to remove the “com” from “compassion,” which I believe is the foundation of all religious beliefs and a significant part of spirituality. I respect everyone’s belief system until it becomes a reason to kill or die over it. In such cases, I feel compelled to create reasonable doubt to make my case against extremism. I want to emphasize that concepts like God, the grave, reincarnation, hell, or heaven are not physical realities. When you kill another human being over these beliefs, it causes real pain and suffering to someone whose love you have taken away. This reality is within the individual’s control, so robbing someone of love, whether out of revenge or a strong sense of belonging, is an individual action. Therefore, individuals can choose not to commit spiritual crimes in the name of their religions or nations.

The purpose of a belief system should be to benefit both the individual and society simultaneously. When it becomes harmful to anyone, it is the individual’s duty to address the problems within the belief system by becoming the CEO of their mortal life. The knowledge of mortality can and does have the potential to diminish the quality of one’s life, but it should be the opposite. Every moment of mortal life should be lived as a precious experience for oneself and respected by others.

If you let fears control you, you personally rob yourself of happiness and the quality of your temporary experience. Religions try to soothe and comfort individuals’ fears of mortality by offering hopeful scenarios like heaven, but they also control you by instilling fear of hell. This carrot-and-stick philosophy does not seem spiritual to me; it feels like politics. In the spiritual world, there is no politics, only truth. The concept of heaven and hell can cause fear and stress, making individuals subservient during their lifetimes to maintain control. If God wanted to control us, we wouldn’t have free will, and our oxygen supply would be cut off the moment we strayed. Since this is not the case, and we are given free will, individual knowledge dictates how one should live. If you believe in God, does that belief system make you live a better life or make you a better person? How do you measure being a good person? It always comes down to the people around you. If you serve humanity over your belonging group, then and only then are you truly serving God. Otherwise, you are using knowledge tainted by a sense of belonging, which makes your God different from others. Do you really think God is for some and not for others? If you do, you need to become the CEO of your life to see beyond the political boundaries created by your belonging groups.

The whole concept of heaven and hell should be to live this life better. What is better? It may vary among different groups of humanity due to popular politics, but it is highly individual. You can be happy living selfishly or unselfishly, but both extremes can be harmful to the individual and society. There is a deeper satisfaction and happiness, which I call spiritual happiness, that you can only attain by understanding the importance of reciprocation. This reciprocation is not a chore or a fear-based, politically charged religious duty. Each of us is alive, not solely because of personal efforts, but because we are blessed to physically experience God’s bounties. Thus, we are responsible for reciprocating. Since God is living through us, doing something for humanity out of fear of hell or greed for heaven is wrong because God is with us every step of the way. This can help individuals have good self-esteem and self-respect because they are directly connected to God. Understanding your place in the bigger picture helps you understand the importance of reciprocation.

God is not just to be worshipped; God needs to be nurtured and helped so our prayers can be fulfilled. This can only happen when individuals reciprocate as a duty. It’s like paying a tax; it is not an ethical or moral issue but a real business of give and take.

If you are working to pay bills, raise children, or even just bear children, you are reciprocating. Consider a ghost town: if a town has jobs for individuals, they will live there to keep the town alive. Otherwise, regardless of the buildings, roads, and installations, there is no value for the individual to stay, and it becomes a ghost town. Examples of this phenomenon are all over the world. The reasons may vary, but one common factor is the individual. If individuals decide to leave, even God’s presence can collapse. It all comes down to understanding reciprocation and the importance of the individual in the grand scheme. You can worship, bow down, and pray all you want, but without practical reciprocation, you are not pulling your share of the load. It’s like a cart with two wheels: if one wheel rolls while the other is stuck, the cart goes in circles. Unfortunately, this is what I see: despite our progress, emotionally we are still beasts. Just look around, and you will know what I mean.

If you feel you are not getting spiritual fulfillment from your religion or its sects, you don’t have to change your religion or sect. They would all be the same for you unless you choose to change and understand reciprocation as a duty and purpose of your life, without the fear of hell or greed for heaven. As an individual, you are the CEO who calls the shots. However, after taking the breath of oxygen provided by the unknown, which you can call God, you must balance your cell connection to the body and with each other.

This balance requires the individual to be wise enough to manage both sides. You cannot focus solely on physicality or spirituality alone; you must navigate both. Loving another cell to reproduce helps God continue to experience physical life, and God helps you to be spiritual.

There is a powerful physical pull related to emotions and hormones. If we were not drawn to each other, there would be a flaw in our makeup. This powerful nature behind our attraction must be acknowledged. Ignoring nature or spirituality and relying solely on intellect leads to imbalances in physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

I believe this powerful attraction is beyond human intellect and is part of the natural order that all creatures follow. This is why people seek mates, even those who fear relationships due to their intellect, and why they become ill when they do not. The order within us is to love so that cells reproduce, allowing God to exist. We may think we have a choice, but despite our wars and disputes, human populations, including mixed populations, continue to grow. Love is not just a physical emotion; it is an order by nature, and thus it is spiritual. You can choose not to follow it, but your happiness and health are connected to it. We may need to evolve to understand the power of this “medicine.”

Remember, as a CEO, it is your duty to live a balanced mortal life and attend to all its departments. Ignoring this aspect out of fear may lead to significant loss and regret later in life. Not experiencing the love of children and family is a loss, and depriving someone of that love is a crime in all human courts as well as a spiritual crime.

Since love is the powerful emotion behind our attraction to each other, and loving another cell is not just a chemical reaction but a spiritual order, mainstream political religions often reject this idea due to their own politics of control. Since there is no reproduction in homosexual relationships, many religions oppose homosexuality. However, even the Pope has recently begun to acknowledge human rights, which I believe is political.

We need to evolve beyond traditional and conventional wisdom to see the importance and usefulness of every individual in their living years. A functioning individual is needed to carry out God’s work. We should be more concerned about infectious diseases like Ebola and Zika and political wars, which have the potential to kill millions, than about someone who is reciprocating but not in conventional ways. We can either fear and stress about what is wrong or believe with hope and optimism. The true wisdom of God lies in progress and free will. Extreme beliefs, even good ones, are harmful. Don’t take my words as absolute truth; they may change as we evolve. Use them as long as they are useful and beneficial to you.

We must do our best with our evolving knowledge. Going to extremes, killing, and dying over evolving knowledge is like believing we know everything. If we are continually learning, human knowledge is not complete, even religious knowledge. As long as you do not remove compassion from passion, you are doing well. All religions preach compassion as a foundational social theme. Living in an imperfect world drives us to seek solutions and evolve. Fighting over who is right robs loving couples and families of their joy, never mind the devastation caused by religious and political wars.

You can choose to limit yourself and falsely feel secure in a loving relationship with another cell or surrender to the whole body, but both are extremes. For example, choosing one tree in a forest to make life smaller or choosing the entire forest for personal consumption. Security is always the issue. You must believe in the forest, be part of humanity, or see yourself as a cell of God. If you choose another individual, they are just as vulnerable as you are. This accelerates insecurities and control-related problems. From personal relationship issues to wars, our behaviors stem from trying to secure ourselves with insecure individuals or groups.

Imagine a tree fallen by a storm. You walk on its trunk and eventually reach a crossroad. Life is like that. If you are insecure, you will follow the already carved path, but if you are a path carver, you will create new paths for others. Trends, friends, and family may push you to choose what they think is right, but if you want to fit in, impress others, and be admired by your community, you may ignore your personal “dotted picture.” Ignoring your personal life eventually leads to ignoring your happiness and contentment, causing you to live a mortal life as if it were immortal, which is a grave mistake.

Recently, England has voted to separate from the European Union. Most young voters opted to remain, but the conservative vote leaned towards separation. Personally, I view this as resistance against the new paradigm, where those who resist change uphold the status quo are conservatives. They aim to reintroduce controlling politics for specific groups and actively oppose the idea of belonging to humanity as a whole. Their politics of group dominance and instilling fear of insecurity among ordinary individuals have hindered human progress. I believe all wars are ultimately linked to such politics of control and a lack of belief in humanity as a unified whole.

If you closely examine old philosophies, their purpose was often to create exclusive groups with a strong sense of belonging. Although times have been changing, progress has often been suppressed, as seen in this referendum, by powerful politics that prioritize group allegiance. The demographics of Western countries reflect this reality. These nations are melting pots where diverse people seek refuge due to the promise of equal human rights, which they often lack in their countries of origin. Any society that grants special treatment to some while excluding others can rightly be labeled as racist or prejudiced.

Certain segments of the population will always adhere to conservatism due to its old-style security. Strength in numbers has been the foundation of human politics for thousands of years, regardless of individual security, even within belonging groups. At its core lies the concept of individual self-preservation. While effective, group politics often intervene and divide people, yet individuals still seek security in numbers among like-minded individuals.

Politically, a group can be successful, but internal and external conflicts inevitably lead to further divisions. Human spirituality and a sense of belonging to humanity as a whole are the solutions to our conflicts and divisions. Throughout history, populations and individuals have sought security in numbers, yet this approach has never fully succeeded. Today, all technological and related advancements emphasize the importance of belonging to humanity as a whole. Global warming and threats from infectious diseases underscore the necessity for humanity to unite. The internet and cell phones are gifts that enable humanity to evolve to the next level, promoting a sense of belonging to humanity as a whole with equal human rights—a concept I refer to as the new paradigm.

Conservative populations vehemently oppose these changes, but they are fighting a losing battle because philosophies advocating special treatment fail when it comes to equal human rights. Today, one cannot assert superiority based on religion—be it Christian versus Muslim—or nationality—such as Canadian versus Pakistani. Similarly, one cannot claim superiority based on skin color, gender, or sexuality; those days are over amidst the winds of change. Even supreme courts worldwide are beginning to reject special treatments as they contradict principles of justice.

Whether it’s Malala, Jo Cox, or the victims of the gay club killings, they all suffer due to the extremes of conservatism, which preach and practice racism and prejudice. Politically, these can be labeled as acts of certain terror groups, but extremism exists within all human populations. In times of change, people either fight to maintain the status quo or push for extreme change. As individuals, it’s our duty to understand these shifts, much like a CEO who anticipates future trends, so we can choose to stand for equal human rights for all—a concept I call the new paradigm.

I may not know what you know, and similarly, you may not know what I know. Assuming you know everything I know could be incorrect, especially when you presume your knowledge surpasses mine.

We should all make space for and respect each other’s knowledge so that humanity can advance and progress, rather than demeaning each other or worse, spiritually regressing.

Imagine how far humanity could advance if we all identified first and foremost with humanity as a whole, rather than dividing ourselves by races, genders, packs, gangs, groups, communities, nations, or religions. Ironically, I learned this from a religious preacher named Molaana Ajmal a long time ago. He said (and I quote), “If I give you a newspaper and ask you to put your finger through it without tearing the paper, how would you do it?” Then he explained: “First, use a pin to make several holes, then poke your finger through—it won’t tear the paper.”

Mind you, he was very conservative yet wise at the same time. He may not have used this knowledge in the same context as I am using it, but wisdom is wisdom; you can’t deny its power. When changes come, if we don’t adapt with the times or try to change too quickly, our paper will rip. All our wars and individual killings are linked to our politics of conservatism and liberalism—they have nothing to do with spirituality. The name of God has been liberally invoked in our religious wars, yet they have all been political conflicts.

If changes occur faster than we can cope, they can cause problems instead of being beneficial. Adapting to change requires a rhythm and a suitable pace for each of us. If we individually become CEOs of our own lives, we would understand and adjust to these changes. Otherwise, there will always be passionate people who hijack the commitment to become extremists. They wholeheartedly believe they are following the spiritual teachings of religions, yet without compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love, religion becomes merely a political system.

Humanity is plagued by social, political, and spiritual issues, which I believe hold us back. In today’s interconnected world, we have the opportunity to overcome our security-related problems. I can only imagine how far we could advance without wars and prejudice. Imagine if, millions of years ago, we had identified primarily with humanity instead of forming exclusive groups—where would we be today? Our group mentality is akin to a gang with a narrow worldview. Group security is unattainable in the face of infectious diseases and global warming. If poverty and starvation kill people in certain regions, they have the right to migrate to places where they can survive. In Islam, it is said that if your neighbor sleeps hungry, your food and sleep are not kosher for you. Look at the oil-producing countries in Africa and others suffering from various problems—same religion, even the same sect, yet significant disparities exist. There’s much preaching but little practical action. The same applies to Donald Trump, who advocates building a wall. Humanity is interconnected, and in the new paradigm, this is an undeniable fact—we must all eventually adapt to it. Global warming will bring a new wave of refugees; how will people like him respond to that? I’m not a socialist, but when it comes to reality, it may be bitter, but it cannot be denied.

Politically, conservatives have been labeling anyone who advocates for others as socialists, thereby politicizing and countering spiritual principles. I find this particularly troubling, considering that many religious individuals align themselves with conservative politics, despite the fact that all religions teach and preach principles of social responsibility. They advocate congregating and assisting the less fortunate. However, the politics of security have undermined our actual security and spirituality, both in this life and beyond.

I believe humans are most valuable to God during their lives on Earth. The essence of spirituality lies in this physical world, not in the afterlife. Therefore, killing in the name of God or advocating for walls is not spiritually acceptable; it goes against the essence of spirituality by destroying a living entity, thereby depriving God and loved ones of their rightful place. Just look at the impact of the removal of the Berlin Wall on Germany. If it had been detrimental, they would not have welcomed so many refugees. I commend their spiritual strength.

Those who believe their group is superior to others, whether based on nationalism, religion, skin color, or sexual orientation, can be considered racist and prejudiced in today’s diverse world. In a melting pot society, distinctions like white and black are no longer as clear-cut. Belief in one’s cause can lead to extremism or prejudice, moving individuals away from moderation

If you are taught superiority, it can often lead to an inferiority complex in the real world, especially with shifting demographics. The world population is evolving, and so too should our belief systems. If a white American believes America is inherently a white nation, thereby making everyone else an immigrant, it requires a deeper examination. Even the native populations migrated across Beringia to reach North America. Genetically, if we delve deep enough, we may find we all have roots in Africa, so distinctions based on race, gender, nationality, or religion must take a back seat to the principle of equal human rights. Understand this: equal human rights represent the new paradigm, almost akin to a universal religion.

People need to grasp the dynamics and needs of society. Change should be approached like starting a workout, beginning with one pound and working up to a hundred, or gently poking a pin through paper to avoid tearing it. If some societies do not meet certain standards, reflect on the history of your own society—it has also progressed over time. The challenge lies in some wanting rapid change while others resist any change at all. Humanity must delve deeply, persevere, and continue to progress to fulfill its true potential as intended by God. We must utilize our intellect to advance rather than stagnate or regress.

When humanity collaborates, remarkable achievements occur, such as space stations and the internet. Yet, the full impact of these advancements has yet to be fully realized. As time progresses, we will understand how our scientific knowledge aligns with spirituality—from connecting as cells of humanity or God to optimizing function, to addressing global challenges like Ebola and climate change, benefiting each individual.

Individual connections among people can profoundly influence group dynamics. Everything can change if individuals look beyond their immediate group affiliations. With personal justice, ethics, and morals, we should all be willing to recognize and speak out against injustices committed by our own groups, be they atrocities or spiritual crimes against humanity.

Propaganda is one thing, but these days, with cell phones in everyone’s hands, real-life police departments all over the world are facing problems as all war crimes are broadcasted. People who commit crimes in the name of security often have distorted views of life, and unfortunately, it’s not their fault. It’s the education they have received from the politics of their belonging groups. As long as these groups use an individual’s sense of belonging and vulnerabilities for political gains, achieving peace will always be problematic, regardless of walls, whether they are for financial security or otherwise.

There are always some problems, akin to a crime rate that cannot be eliminated even with ample resources. If you seek a perfectly flawless life, you may fall victim to mental health issues because such a pursuit guarantees perpetual dissatisfaction. Seeking contentment should be a goal, especially for mortal individuals. Living in an imperfect world with a degree of flexibility can make life’s journey livable, but never stop poking and creating holes to reach a point where you can put your finger through. Evolution is one of the meanings of human life because we strive to achieve the potential that God intended for us. Logically, there are no limits for the human individual—from the creation of new brain neurons to self-repair and regeneration abilities, from building muscle in the human body to emotional intelligence growth, and to the virtues like compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love—all point towards this spiritual potential.

This potential has often been demonized and blocked by religious and political teachings that aim to keep individuals inferior and subservient to their belonging groups. Learn to be the CEO of your life, taking personal responsibilities and establishing a personal justice system that allows you to live a mortal life without fear, guiding you to reach the heights of that potential where you can understand and maintain the right-side-up triangle.

Several of our social problems are connected to an out-of-control sense of belonging. Being a proud “redneck” is a problem many rednecks don’t even acknowledge. If someone is proud of being a redneck, they are intoxicated by an excessive sense of belonging. A bully has a strong need to impress others, which is also tied to this sense of belonging, to the point it can become a mental health issue where they disregard the harm they inflict on the people whose approval they seek.

If you can’t balance your sense of belonging with your sense of being a free individual, you are a weak person brainwashed by the knowledge provided by your belonging groups. You were not created by God to be this way. All human knowledge is beneficial until an individual starts to feel superior to others.

There are all kinds of prejudice around. You could be an educated person who thinks those less educated are inferior. You could be brainwashed by your belonging groups—nations, races, or religions—that preach they are superior, and since you are part of them, you believe you are better regardless of your character. You could be gender-biased, thinking you are stronger and thus superior. Spiritually, this is all wrong because we are all connected as an organism and are most valuable when we are practically useful to humanity.

I am an individualist, but I draw my lines with my freedom itself because I know I can’t function alone as a cell. As an intricate component of the body, I know my place, and spiritually, I feel it’s my duty to reciprocate while I am alive.

Whenever you feel you are better than others for any reason, you need to start thinking deeply. Feelings are strongly connected with thinking, and unfortunately, our knowledge and wisdom providers don’t realize how much damage they cause to humanity by turning us against each other. People fight over how to pray to God and kill someone over selling beef, yet practically, nothing is done for the less fortunate. Are they really pleasing God? I personally would not want to believe in a God who is pleased by human suffering. There is nothing spiritual in these kinds of fights and prejudice-related wars. They are all political wars, with God’s name and individuals’ religious convictions used by leaders to gain power and control. I believe in individual education so that one can see through the atrocities of the politics of belonging.

From terror attacks to sitting behind drone control boards, we are all individuals making decisions with our free will to join the causes of our belonging groups. I compare this to drunk driving—you make a choice to drive after drinking, just as you decide to join a cause. The blame lies on the individual.

How vulnerable are you? Do you believe in shouldering your responsibilities or hide behind excuses like “I have to do my job,” just like religious people hide behind God and the Devil to commit spiritual crimes? One must understand why each of us has been blessed with free will by God. After your umbilical cord has been cut, you take pride in being an individual, but learning the responsibilities that come with free will is most important. You can choose a career that does not involve killing other human beings because, even if they belong to other groups, they are still human. If you feel drunk, even if it’s on the alcohol of God, it’s still your responsibility to shoulder it. You can’t choose to kill in the name of God, especially if you have been influenced by politically charged religions.

The spiritual part of every religion starts with compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love. If your religion takes you away from these jewels or fundamentals of spirituality, you are following a political group that leads you further from spirituality. Even if you have been promised heaven, that promise has nothing to do with spirituality. Without spirituality, there is no heaven—not in this life, nor the afterlife. The same goes for individuals who think their nation is the most important; you have been taught prejudice. Even if they say prejudice is bad on the surface, it’s all about practical living. To understand prejudice without the bias of belonging to a group, look at it as a spiritual being. If you have passed the genetic test of being a human, pass the spiritual test as well. Stand against prejudice, be equal to all, and advocate for equal human rights for everyone. This will bring you to the spiritual world in this life. And no, I am not promising anything in the afterlife because your living years matter the most. No one can say for certain what happens after death—there are several theories and religious beliefs—but one thing is for sure: you can only do good things practically while you are alive.

 Who are you going to call when you feel a need to fill the spiritual void within you?

Many of us turn to religious teachings, but religious leaders often make us feel so inferior that we lose our sense of self in the bigger picture. Logically, it is the individual who must search within for the answers. You must first call upon yourself before following ancient doctrines. Your personal void can swallow you whole—psychologically, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. If you don’t come to terms with your mortality, you will always be a victim of fear and stress, regardless of how religious you are.

Imagine you are standing on what you think is solid ground and notice a small hole. Upon closer inspection, you realize it is the largest sinkhole you have ever seen, revealing that the ground you thought was solid is not so solid after all. If you live in a city, you might call the authorities about a pothole, let alone a sinkhole. But the hole I’m talking about is the one created by our mortality.

This thought was inspired by the Ottawa sinkhole. They poured in six hundred cement trucks to fill it, yet the job wasn’t done. Then, the news of terror attacks overshadowed this event. So, I want to discuss individual responsibilities and the metaphorical sinkhole we each face.

Understanding the importance of free will and the responsibilities it brings is crucial. I urge everyone to ask themselves: How big is your spiritual sinkhole? How much do you fear it, and what have you done to combat that fear?

As human beings, no matter how much we put into that hole, it remains unfilled. Despite our advancements, we are not out of the woods. While we have extended life expectancy and improved its quality, mortality remains as inevitable as ever.

Being mortal is like standing on ground that you wish were solid, but you can’t gain full control over it. The structure of life is designed this way, so you must plan your life accordingly. You can’t call upon a group of people, gurus, religious leaders, or even doctors to fill this sinkhole, as they, too, stand on the same ground. A doctor might be called for a near-death individual, but the doctor is also mortal. So, who should we call?

If you are an atheist, you might not understand the placebo effect or the benefits of faith. But if you believe in something, you might find comfort in prayer. This comfort, however, varies from person to person. When the time comes to face mortality, having faith can ease your fears, regardless of the unknown. I personally choose to believe, allowing me to walk on this unstable ground without fear. Instead of worrying about who will fill my spiritual sinkhole, I focus on adding more happy days to my temporary life by taking personal responsibility and not stressing over uncontrollable things.

Do you surrender yourself to your belonging group or religion because of deep-seated insecurities? If so, when will you take ownership of your free will and responsibilities? Understanding your mortality and having a belief system can help you face real fears. Attending a mosque, church, or temple won’t eliminate your fears unless you truly believe you are a part of God. If you choose to live as an egotistical, permanent entity, you will sacrifice your happiness.

We must make the best use of our knowledge. If our knowledge robs us of life’s quality, it’s our duty to fix this by thinking for ourselves. Mortality is a fact—you can fear it and live a diminished life, or embrace real faith to live fearlessly.

Accepting mortality and working as part of God can secure even the most insecure individual, guiding them toward a spiritual path. Insecurities often stem from a sense of belonging to divisive groups that preach the superiority of one group over another, distancing humanity from the divine.

A mortal’s security and dignity are strongly linked to understanding their connection to the divine. Recognizing this can fill the spiritual sinkhole that otherwise drains life, causing stress-related illnesses, both psychological and physical. These illnesses not only lead to minor societal crimes but also major spiritual crimes like wars driven by prejudice and racism.

Political and fear-based divisions hinder humanity’s unity. Conservative political parties and terror organizations resist this unity to maintain their existence. However, advancements like the internet, the space station, and governments enforcing equal human rights signal changes toward global unity.

Terror attacks, like the one on a gay nightclub, highlight the need for educating young adults. Individuals with a strong self-identity and connection to the divine will respect equal human rights. Whether black in a predominantly white country, Muslim in a Christian-majority society, or gay in a straight community, all are protected by the law of equal human rights, prohibiting discrimination.

Prejudiced and discriminatory teachings are freely given to the younger generation, making it hard for them to filter out the political biases of belonging groups. Even adults struggle to take individual responsibility and judge according to modern laws.

A belief system should be free of political biases and purely spiritual, encompassing all humanity. The spiritual world, including life after death, is attained through good deeds in life. Practical help to humanity constitutes real good deeds, beyond mere worship.

Is it God’s will or human free will? It’s time to ask this difficult question. I believe it is human politics that drives actions, not divine will. Religious contradictions abound—religious people enforce harsh punishments, yet believe nothing moves without God’s will.

Historical and current spiritual crimes, such as those against aboriginal children, show how God’s name is used for political purposes. God provides free oxygen for human life, allowing divine expression. Spirituality aligns human and divine will, but politics driven by greed and power disrupt this balance.

Living temporarily fosters spirituality, while a belief in eternal life can skew life choices. Balance is key, and individuals must use free will wisely and justly. Taking responsibility for our actions might require standing against our own groups, prioritizing equal human rights over group belonging. Humanity’s unity is crucial for future advancement, and standing aside means being left behind.

Justice systems worldwide are based on free will. Interestingly, religious societies have harsher laws yet believe in divine determinism. Religious wars, fought with passion, lack humanity. Corporal punishment for conformity contradicts the belief in divine will.

Spiritual crimes against aboriginal children and the misuse of God for political gain illustrate how empires have controlled uneducated masses. Yet, God provides oxygen for human life, emphasizing divine expression through human will. In spirituality, human and divine will align, but human politics of greed and power disrupt this balance.

Living temporarily fosters spirituality, while a belief in eternal life can skew life choices. Balance is key, and individuals must use free will wisely and justly. Taking responsibility for our actions might require standing against our own groups, prioritizing equal human rights over group belonging. Humanity’s unity is crucial for future advancement, and standing aside means being left behind.

Justice systems worldwide are based on free will. Interestingly, religious societies have harsher laws yet believe in divine determinism. Religious wars, fought with passion, lack humanity. Corporal punishment for conformity contradicts the belief in divine will.

As individuals, we must ask why we believe we are right and others are wrong. Education plays a fundamental role; flawed education based on group belonging hinders critical thinking. Those who think outside the box are labeled traitors, but relating to all humanity is essential for spiritual growth.

Using free will responsibly means making choices for the greater good of humanity. If you don’t play your cards freely, you disservice yourself, humanity, and God.

Taking responsibility may require standing against your own groups. Choosing equal human rights over group belonging is crucial for humanity’s progress. The world is changing, with moderate views gaining ground over extremism.

All justice systems are based on free will. In religious societies, laws are harsher despite the belief in divine determinism. Religious wars lack humanity, and corporal punishment contradicts the belief in divine will.

Spiritual crimes, like those against aboriginal children, show how God’s name is used for political gain. Empires have controlled uneducated masses through religion. Yet, God provides oxygen for life, emphasizing divine expression through human will. Spirituality aligns human and divine will, but human politics of greed and power disrupt this balance.

Living temporarily fosters spirituality, while a belief in eternal life can skew life choices. Balance is key, and individuals must use free will wisely and justly. Taking responsibility for our actions might require standing against our own groups, prioritizing equal human rights over group belonging. Humanity’s unity is crucial for future advancement, and standing aside means being left behind.

Justice systems worldwide are based on free will. Interestingly, religious societies have harsher laws yet believe in divine determinism. Religious wars, fought with passion, lack humanity. Corporal punishment for conformity contradicts the belief in divine will.

As individuals, we must ask why we believe we are right and others are wrong. Education plays a fundamental role; flawed education based on group belonging hinders critical thinking. Those who think outside the box are labeled traitors, but relating to all humanity is essential for spiritual growth.

Using free will responsibly means making choices for the greater good of humanity. If you don’t play your cards freely, you disservice yourself, humanity, and God.

Taking responsibility may require standing against your own groups. Choosing equal human rights over group belonging is crucial for humanity’s progress. The world is changing, with moderate views gaining ground over extremism.

All justice systems are based on free will. In religious societies, laws are harsher despite the belief in divine determinism. Religious wars lack humanity, and corporal punishment contradicts the belief in divine will.

God’s will and human will are intertwined in spirituality, but politics driven by greed, insecurity, and power disrupt this balance. Live temporarily to foster spirituality; thinking you will live forever changes your life choices. Balance is key; use free will wisely and justly.

Taking responsibility for our actions may require standing against our own groups, prioritizing equal human rights over group belonging. Humanity’s unity is crucial for future advancement, and standing aside means being left behind. The world is changing, and moderate views are gaining ground over extremism.

Justice systems worldwide are based on free will. Interestingly, religious societies have harsher laws despite believing in divine determinism. Religious wars lack humanity, and corporal punishment contradicts the belief in divine will.

Spiritual crimes, like those against aboriginal children, show how God’s name is used for political gain. Empires have controlled uneducated masses through religion. Yet, God provides oxygen for life, emphasizing divine expression through human will. Spirituality aligns human and divine will, but human politics of greed and power disrupt this balance.

Living temporarily fosters spirituality, while a belief in eternal life can skew life choices. Balance is key, and individuals must use free will wisely and justly. Taking responsibility for our actions might require standing against our own groups, prioritizing equal human rights over group belonging. Humanity’s unity is crucial for future advancement, and standing aside means being left behind.

Justice systems worldwide are based on free will. Interestingly, religious societies have harsher laws despite believing in divine determinism. Religious wars lack humanity, and corporal punishment contradicts the belief in divine will.

We must ask why we believe we are right and others are wrong. Education plays a fundamental role; flawed education based on group belonging hinders critical thinking. Those who think outside the box are labeled traitors, but relating to all humanity is essential for spiritual growth.

Using free will responsibly means making choices for the greater good of humanity. If you don’t play your cards freely, you disservice yourself, humanity, and God.

Taking responsibility may require standing against your own groups. Choosing equal human rights over group belonging is crucial for humanity’s progress. The world is changing, with moderate views gaining ground over extremism.

All justice systems are based on free will. In religious societies, laws are harsher despite the belief in divine determinism. Religious wars lack humanity, and corporal punishment contradicts the belief in divine will.

Muhammad Ali has just passed away, and I want to pay my respects to his remarkable life by starting this post with one of his quotes that aligns perfectly with my message:

“We all have the same God; we just serve Him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways, forms, and times. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family. If you love God, you can’t love only some of His children.”
— Muhammad Ali

One of my core themes is the importance of belonging to the whole of humanity rather than just a specific group of people.

I often use the human body as a metaphor for humanity. The body functions best when all parts work together. Imagine if the brain told other body parts, “Without me, you can’t function,” and the heart replied, “If I don’t supply oxygen and nutrient-rich blood, you wouldn’t function at all.” The lungs might say, “Wait a minute, I provide the oxygen,” while the liver could claim, “If I don’t clean up your mess, none of you would function.” The kidneys would also argue for their role in cleaning, and the colon might loudly declare, “You’re all full of it! Without me providing nutrients, you’d all be dead.” The body functions best, or at all, only when everyone works together. Despite any chaos, the body needs the efforts of every organ. If even one part doesn’t work properly, the body is diseased. Similarly, humanity is diseased by our stubborn, extreme, and misplaced political sense of belonging.

The foundation of my philosophy rests on humans, God, and the Devil. God and the Devil are parts of the human experience, inseparable from us. If you try to separate them, it doesn’t work logically. Human prayers can’t materialize without humans. Considering God and the Devil as the good and bad sides of humanity, when removed, humanity is neutral but still exists. However, if you remove humanity, both the good and bad disappear. Even if God and the Devil exist beyond humanity, their value or harm depends on human existence. Humans feel the pain of harm and the joy of God’s blessings.

God and the Devil came into existence through human experiences. Awareness of good and bad is the foundation of these entities. Whether God or the Devil came before or after humanity, no one can say for sure. Our understanding is limited, likely for a long time. This limitation explains why there are so many belief systems and why humanity struggles to agree. Politically charged senses of belonging insist on belief systems where the ordinary human is insignificant, allowing easy control. Such thinking empowers governing authorities, turning belief systems into political tools rather than spiritual guides. Compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, love, and equal human rights should be the top priorities of all belief systems. Yet, belief systems often lead to the killing of innocents in God’s name with fervor.

This is why some atheists say that God’s existence hangs by a thin thread, breakable by new scientific discoveries. Personally, I believe in God because it makes sense to believe in ourselves and our dual nature. Humans commit evil deeds, but they also perform good deeds. It’s a matter of free will and choice, with each person acting as the CEO of their life.

If you believe you are insignificant, you belittle yourself, either due to the politics of your group or deep personal insecurities. You might be unable to question your group’s rules, especially when they are said to be God’s orders. If your group doesn’t accept others as part of humanity and preaches religious politics devoid of spirituality, it’s not a path toward equal human rights. Without equal human rights, it’s just a divisive political system stripping religions of spirituality. We can’t fathom the death toll and individual suffering caused by religious extremism. Throughout history, innocent people have been killed in God’s name. I can’t understand why God would need any kind of sacrifice, let alone human sacrifice, to be pleased. If you are spiritually aware, you wouldn’t want something or someone killed for you.

If education can’t change this, at least you can see yourself as a spiritual being by believing in equal human rights with a personal sense of justice. Educating yourself makes you aware of your direct relationship with God and your duty of reciprocation. Contributing to humanity is actually a duty of reciprocation, not something owed by everyone, including God. From breathing free air to enjoying life’s bounties and feeling good about yourself in your mortal life, these matter most. Doing good deeds out of greed for heaven or fear of hell isn’t right; it’s about responsibility and reciprocation.

If we all start believing that each human is insignificant in the grand scheme, our philosophy is flawed, at least in my view. It may seem that way because there are so many of us, but we are the DNA of the big picture. If all humans were gone, would God or the Devil matter, and to whom? Logically, God and the Devil don’t make sense without humanity.

The holy picture rests on the foundation of spirituality and physicality simultaneously. Choosing one over the other leaves you with an incomplete half. Without physicality, the spiritual world means nothing to humanity because prayers must be realized physically in the living world. If you pray for someone to go to heaven or be saved from hell, you must be there to witness whether your prayers are fulfilled. In living life, you can see when someone chooses to do good; they fulfill someone’s prayers physically. Helping someone in difficult times, assisting a blind person across the street, or giving someone a job—these are practical helps to humanity. Banging your head or bowing down in obedience, wearing a cross or other religious symbols—these actions mean less to God than real, practical help to those in need.

The purpose of a belief system is to help individuals or creatures live better lives. If a belief system can create better individuals, it can help humanity, and thus God. Though I may focus on the individual, my intention is about humanity, one person at a time. Each of us has the ability to use free will and the responsibility for our actions. Our justice systems are founded on individual responsibility, which is complex given the over two hundred countries, each with its justice systems, constitutions, and religions. This diversity creates vast differences, compounded by traditions, customs, and political senses of belonging. These problems have persisted for thousands of years and may continue unless we evolve individually to become CEOs of our lives, belonging to humanity as a whole instead of just a group.

Growing up in divided societies with strong senses of belonging to specific groups breeds chaos and wars. Does God want human suffering? I don’t think so. No one chooses to suffer. I believe God lives through humanity. Am I saying God doesn’t have a choice? No, but the free will granted by God causes troubles. It’s our responsibility to choose not to cause pain and chaos and to take responsibility for our actions, one person at a time, so we can push our groups to adopt and accept humanity and God as a whole.

When I judge a competition, I’ve never been instructed to favor a competitor from my province or to mark down someone based on gender, sexual preferences, or nationality. The best athlete should win, regardless of who they are—that’s my personal justice system. But as humanity, what have we been doing? Our sense of belonging politics has made us lose our personal sense of justice. We favor our race, nations, religions, even our gender and sports teams, wanting to win regardless of merit. The sense of right judgment is lost in the politics of belonging. Just ask a sports fan—they always want their team to win, regardless of performance.

We are not fair individually, let alone as groups, races, nations, or religions. Politicians exploit this, leading to wars and charging individuals to commit spiritual crimes against others with songs and slogans of belonging. This stems from the education we receive. As I said, if the world around you is banging its head against the wall, it doesn’t make it right. You must judge with your personal justice system, which you are born with. Following ancestral patterns won’t change outcomes. You have more responsibility than you might believe. You are the essence of God and the foundation of humanity. If you don’t change and become a CEO, spirituality will continue to suffer under political religions. We’ll all pay the price—just look at our conflicts and the suffering on both sides.

There’s a verse from a poem whose author I don’t remember, so I’ll say Author Unknown:

“Na khudaa he milaa na visallay sunam
Na ither kay rahay na uther kay rahay.”

It translates to: “I did not get God, nor did I get to see my love. I lost from both sides.”

Free will pushes individuals to seek more knowledge to avoid such predicaments. I don’t mean for individuals to lose faith; my writing aims to raise awareness of individual responsibilities, even in matters of faith. These examples are meant to strengthen faith, not weaken it. I use logic but understand that faith begins where logic fails.

Imagine you’re out and about, and you encounter someone banging their head against a wall, bleeding but persisting in their actions. Naturally, you’d feel sorry for the individual and want to understand what’s wrong so you can help. Now, imagine you go a little further and see a hundred people doing the same thing. You’d start to wonder how it’s possible that so many people are banging their heads despite the bleeding. Take it to the next level, and you see billions of people doing the same thing. At this point, you might begin to question your own mental health because you feel like the odd one out. If you start to think something might be wrong with you, hold on and assess the situation for yourself.

I know my voice may be weak and small, but what makes sense to me carries great weight. If banging your head until it bleeds is wrong, it remains wrong regardless of how many people are doing it. It’s easy to passionately defend ancestral knowledge and traditions, but it’s much harder to stand up against what is wrong, especially when it involves your own group or community.

The sense of belonging is a powerful phenomenon that envelops everyone, leading them to staunchly defend even when they’re in the wrong, driven by a self-centered attachment to their group.

Doctor Wayne Dyer offers an example about squeezing an orange: when you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice; squeezing an apple won’t give you orange juice. Similarly, if you harbor hate within you, squeezing will produce hate. A strong sense of belonging can obscure your sense of impartial justice for all human beings.

Self-discovery can reveal what lies within you: a spiritual being or a fervent follower of a sense of belonging, whether you’re an apple or an orange. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either, but problems arise when they pretend to be something else or judge each other as wrong. While this may not harm anyone else, it certainly leads to personal unhappiness.

Regardless of your identity—whether male, female, young, old, rich, poor, white, black, yellow, brown, gay, straight, or anything else—we should all take pride in and celebrate our lives because each of us is working towards a spiritual essence within.

For example, if you’re an orange, you rise early in the morning and invest effort into your daily activities. You perform best in the early hours and retire early in anticipation of the day ahead. Conversely, if you’re an apple, you prefer staying up late, energized into the night after sleeping in. There’s no fault in being either an apple or an orange. However, problems arise when you judge or act contrary to your natural inclination, leading only to personal suffering.

If you’re an orange and you begin to criticize an apple for not waking early, labeling them as lazy, or if an apple hangs out with oranges and wonders why they’re fading before midnight, it’s you trying to extract apple juice from an orange, or vice versa. Throughout life, we often resign ourselves to saying, “that’s just the way it is.” But it doesn’t have to be that way for me. If you’re an orange, be true to being an orange; if you’re an apple, embrace being an apple. If waking up early isn’t your thing, consider an evening job and enjoy the company of apples at night. Just refrain from judging each other’s differences, because it’s your own well-being that’s affected by living with or without judgment.

If you pray all the time and think that those who do not pray like you are lazy and not worshiping God in the way you do, consider this before judging others: they may be engaged in practical prayers and doing good for humanity, helping others more than you. Perhaps someone is busy developing medicine that could help many people live healthier lives, thus making themselves more useful to God through their actions than through prayers alone. Being helpful to humanity constitutes spiritual prayer, whereas praying for personal security, controlling the uncontrollable, and financial well-being are material prayers.

If you have a big ego, you will always believe your way is the right way because you feel that knowledge has been completed for you. Consequently, you judge others and impose your perspective instead of empathizing with them. Human beings have been both plagued and blessed with ego since the beginning, largely due to their sense of belonging to a group.

When you examine the growth and pitfalls of human societies, you’ll find ego playing a significant role. Individuals, regardless of mortality, strive harder to get ahead, seeking security and importance driven by various factors, including ego. Regardless of happiness and contentment, life continues just to end, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to live in a mode where you rob yourself of happiness and contentment in life.

If you believe that your belonging group is always right in its teachings or actions, you’ll continue following those beliefs even if they don’t contribute to your personal happiness. It’s crucial to understand that accumulating happiness should be your foremost priority, followed by considerations of life after death. If life after death is your primary concern, it likely stems from the group politics of your affiliation, rather than genuine spirituality. God placed you on Earth as a living being to reciprocate by fulfilling others’ prayers while enjoying life’s blessings yourself. If you opt otherwise, you must examine your motivations; often, an uncontrollable sense of belonging drives actions, even leading to spiritual transgressions.

Governments of belonging groups and religions benefit from frugal, conservative lifestyles, as they gain more power and resources. Individuals who work hard and live for the next life become diligent workers, consuming less and leaving resources for others. Collective prosperity seems beneficial, yet historically, humanity has often deprived other groups of resources, as evidenced by Canadian government actions towards indigenous groups.

While it’s commendable to sacrifice for one’s belonging group, greater still is sacrificing individual resources for all humanity. Many agree to contribute more to their groups, such as through taxes, yet this can lead to injustice for individuals. If an individual isn’t happy, it’s their responsibility to balance all aspects of life, doing good for others and oneself alike.

Living a selfless life is noble if rooted in genuine spirituality and devoid of ego. However, if the motivation behind selflessness is to gratify one’s ego, it would displease God. Such actions would not yield the expected spiritual rewards, leading to inner discontentment. God could then remind that free will was given to exercise justice for oneself and others.

Free will carries the responsibility to deepen our understanding of life, whether on an individual or collective level. If prioritizing collective interests over personal well-being strengthens your ego, free will also empowers you to navigate these choices. Understanding whether you resonate more with being an apple or an orange can provide clarity. Remember, perpetual inner conflict and deprivation are personal choices.

As human beings, we are created not as angels but with the imperative to understand ourselves and societal expectations. Always acknowledge that as a living human, you perform God’s physical work, making choices that angels cannot. Therefore, honor your intrinsic worth, comprehend your role in the broader context, and resist any attempts by your group affiliation to belittle you.

Even if everyone in your group engages in harmful behavior, akin to banging their heads until they bleed, you have the autonomy to dissent. Seek logical reasoning and avoid blind conformity. You were created as an independent entity with free will; embrace this freedom to evolve towards a more humane existence beyond mere group affiliations.

The belief system of the insecure individual

Throughout our history, we have been preached to about right and wrong. When preaching is considered as law, we run into more social problems because enforcement of the law requires clear definitions and assurance that no injustice is done to the innocent. Stealing should be against the law because, as we examine our history as creatures, it can lead to life-and-death situations. We don’t need to delve deeply to understand that stealing is a crime; simply observing the responses of other creatures and even human beings to the unjust loss of any possession reveals this. Basic rules can be applied, but when it comes to nature, our rules must align with it. For instance, when hungry, you must eat to survive; even having children is a natural order where placing right or wrong upon it is irrelevant. It will occur regardless; there has been no success with any rules against this natural phenomenon. Chinese could not control their population despitWe cannot train ourselves according to ethics, and our world has been shrinking for a very long time. It’s about time that we learn that our ethics and laws should be separated. We cannot continue clashing over our rights and wrongs.

Our strong desire not to be associated with other animals has taken its toll. We push so hard to go to the other extreme and become fundamentalists. We believe so passionately that we are right, to the point that it leads us to cross the lines of humanity, making us worse than the animals we perceive as inferior to us.

We are created as humans with an animal side, and we cannot be any other way. If we choose any extreme, we go against God’s will. We cannot simply be animals, nor can we be completely other than that. We must follow nature—not necessarily like other creatures, but as humans. We function like other creatures; we need oxygen, we bleed, we eat, and we have a strong natural desire to reproduce. These fundamentals have not changed since the beginning and will not change. Therefore, claiming that our way is the right and only way is plain arrogant and egotistic.e the strictest rules, and no religion has succeeded in regulating it, regardless of moral education.

There are hundreds of different cultures and societies of human beings, each with its own ways of doing things. Saying they are all wrong because they do not follow our ways means we are wrong as human beings. If a couple is married with traditions other than Muslim or Christian, we cannot claim their children are all bastards. It is simply wrong not to accept differences. When it comes to common crimes like killing or robbing, they are illegal in all societies, but having children is an ethical issue for all groups, not a matter of law. Enforcing rules by killing people actually goes against the law of nature.

Every society faces social problems, and the more we attempt to control them, the worse they often become, eventually necessitating adaptation over time. Ethics serve as self-created boundaries and can benefit individuals or groups, but enforcing these ethical norms as laws is problematic because everyone comprehends life differently and comes from diverse backgrounds. To live together harmoniously, we must delineate boundaries; in social settings, we require both legal rules and general ethical guidelines for self-regulation.

When examining the root causes of contemporary social issues, they invariably trace back to individual behavior. Our control mechanisms are frequently tainted by fear-based politics. For instance, consider two groups or gangs, each comprising twenty members. The first group adheres to a traditional hierarchical governance structure where the leader wields absolute power with an iron fist. Workers refrain from voicing dissent due to fear, even for their lives, fostering loyalty out of fear. The leader eliminates any potential challengers to maintain their power and may designate a family member as successor should they become incapacitated. If the chosen family member cannot manage the responsibilities, the group risks dissolution.

On the other hand, the second group fosters leadership qualities in every member. Each member has the potential to lead. Both groups are vulnerable to dissolution for various reasons, but the second group’s loyalty is not rooted in fear. A fearless environment encourages lively discussions and debates that can steer the group in any direction. It has the capacity to fragment into smaller entities or coalesce into a stronger single entity by resolving issues through dialogue. Strong individuals can strengthen the group by resolving their differences. This dynamic defines how our world operates. Are we successful in addressing our challenges? We are in the process, leaving it up to individuals to determine how they wish to live their lives.

Throughout history, strong leaderships have often faltered due to natural aging or the leader’s demise. Weaker, fearful individuals struggle to sustain a group without a strong leader, causing groups of weak individuals to disintegrate. A group’s strength correlates directly with the strength of its individuals; it is only as robust as its weakest link. Ultimately, it all boils down to the individual.

Whether in small groups, gangs, larger scales like nations or religions, our human nature significantly influences systems of security and control. Understanding our nature is as crucial as mastering intellectual strategies. Insecure individuals breed insecure groups. The concealed insecurities of individuals within groups dictate the group’s political policies. Internal conflicts over policies have historically marred humanity, rooted not in devilish forces but in human cunning, which can obscure truths within political realms.

If you create or encourage secure individuals to form a group, their discussions are not tainted by the sense of belonging to group politics because they are all CEOs. They can think beyond the differences of group politics and reach for the good of humanity as a whole. As individuals, if we learn about our insecurities, we can find the reasons for our strong need for a sense of belonging to a group. Understanding the reasons for this need can help us break boundaries and recognize our individual connection to all humankind. Otherwise, people like Donald Trump can become leaders by exploiting security concerns. He talks about building walls, whereas Ronald Reagan used the famous phrase, “tear down the wall of Berlin.” Humanity needs to become united to evolve.

When we feel secure enough to stand alone, independent, and self-reliant, we can understand the need and the price we pay to belong. History shows, and it still clearly exists, that an individual is not recognized as a force by society. In traditional group politics, the individual is insignificant, and so the wars between groups continue. If we, as individuals, start to question our group politics and acknowledge individual suffering, we will begin to seek peace as a basic human right.

Human wars will not stop unless the individual feels secure from within. This is not possible unless we start to unite as a human entity. The internet is a God-sent opportunity and can be used to further the cause of the individual. It is time to move beyond nationalism and promote internationalism. We must denounce politically charged organized religions and spread their original messages of humanity and spirituality, free from politics.

We must work against the belief that we are better than others. Through education, we can raise awareness of the true purpose of our evolutionary soul. The divine aspect of humanity has not yet been fully recognized. It is our responsibility to discover our potential and fulfill God’s will. You cannot grow as an individual if you do not seek growth.

Every society has its own laws, manifestos, and systems to function. We make amendments to improve and change as times demand. Religions should not be part of societal laws; they should remain individual responsibilities.

Tolerance toward each other, and the importance of humanity and spirituality over group belonging, has become essential for today’s societies. Tolerance is a mandate from God. Just look at our progress as humanity—we have been evolving gradually, and this evolution requires flexibility. Extremism is unacceptable for humans because we are all in the process of evolution and are not yet complete. Until we reach our full potential, we cannot take a solid stand in any area of our lives. While we may need to make judgments, they must evolve as our knowledge evolves. Growth is an ongoing process. In this context, we should respect each other’s faith and live together in harmony. World peace lies in the hands of the individual, because an individual with inner peace is always tolerant and capable of spreading that peace. Today, the need for tolerant people is greater than ever. You cannot claim something as truth until you have grown enough to embody that truth within yourself.

Since faith, religion, and God are areas where we need to evolve and learn more, we should all be humble about our lack of knowledge. Claiming that one’s religion and God are superior to others is like a child starting to compete and compare without a full understanding. The more we dig, the crazier we can become because we lack the capacity to understand everything yet. While competing and comparing can drive us forward, the realms of God, spirituality, and humanity transcend these pursuits. Interestingly, the essence of this knowledge points towards altruism, yet religious wars have taken the greatest toll on human life. Practice what you preach—it can’t get simpler than that. All major religions are not living up to their teachings. All the morality, ethics, compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love are lost when religions become political entities.

Comparison is off-limits in spirituality. The best aspect of all religions is that they began with teachings to do good for others, even for other creatures. Spirituality initially emerged through religions until they became tainted with group politics, leading to injustices against others. Spirituality is about doing good for humanity, not just for a certain group of people. It is about serving humanity and God, as I believe God lives through each individual, and thus through humanity.

We are often taught to protect our religion at all costs, yet religions have been fighting each other and are plagued with internal conflicts. If no one knows 100% about God, why do we fight so passionately over God? It is time for individuals to shoulder the responsibility; it is our duty to understand that our knowledge is evolutionary, and at any given time, we cannot claim to know everything.

When we are locked into rigid ideologies of right and wrong, our capacity to explore diminishes, and we deny our evolutionary nature, which is evident in our everyday lives. There is no doubt about the knowledge contained in the Holy Books, but we must understand that as evolving humans, our ability to grasp this knowledge is incomplete. We have interjected our partial knowledge, tainted with a strong sense of belonging and an attitude that our beliefs are superior to others. If an individual can reach an altruistic stage, inner peace fosters tolerance, and this peace flows outward regardless of faith.

Goodness does not belong to any one particular group, race, gender, nation, or religion; it belongs to the individual. We need more people who are immune to the competitive stage of our growth. As individuals, we all need to understand the process of our growth and the importance of free will.

The role of a CEO carries significant responsibility; you can’t just claim to be a CEO. You must be able to do justice to all aspects of life. Can you make decisions without the influences of external forces like religions and internal forces like a sense of belonging and freedom?

A CEO believes they are constantly growing and changing as required. It is against human nature not to grow over time, but this stagnation is quite popular and egotistic in conservative societies. God did not intend for human beings to have free will and be like other creatures. We can take charge of our lives as we please, for better or worse. Given this, we are more responsible than we are led to believe. If we take it to an extreme and think that we are the ultimate authority, that our knowledge is the ultimate knowledge, we start to regress as spiritual beings. History shows both extremes. We have been progressing and regressing back and forth, yet still progressing overall. Our evolution is multi-pronged, which makes us natural and God-created CEOs.

When you start to juggle all the departments of life, you automatically become a politician of personal life. One department can become more important at any given time and can be attended to without losing sight of the other areas of life. Our connection to our inner and outer worlds needs attention, so the focus can shift back and forth among various departments, yet they all remain important. If a person gets sick, the “health department” should become the priority because, without health, everything else fails. Therefore, our priorities change temporarily as needed.

With free will, we become the decision-makers who know how to deal with inner problems while staying connected to the larger picture.

Despite our self-importance, humans are quite insignificant and fragile. Everything in our lives is highly dependent on the harmony of several natural events. Even our next breath is beyond our control. Fortunately, oxygen is provided freely by nature, and the ability to absorb oxygen is another intricate dance dependent on several automatic systems running simultaneously. An abundance of confidence hormones can make us forget how fragile we actually are.

We plan our whole lives as if we are in total control until something happens to make us realize where we stand in the bigger picture. A good CEO should understand this, so they can make decisions accordingly. Politics is always needed to either bow down or stand up in various circumstances. If this is the case, human truth can change at any given moment. Since I suggest that a person should live life in total control and take charge of everything, we first need to learn about ourselves, our limits, and our abilities. A good CEO should be able to see the potential and limitations of the project of their life.

If you are working on a computer and it does not do what you want it to do, you don’t just start to pray to God for it. Either you call someone who knows more about the computer than you, or you do your best to figure out the problem. If God were fixing every little problem you have, you would leave everything to God to run your life, which is against God’s will. God has done His duty by giving us free will and potential; we should not undermine God by not giving our best before asking for help. If we believe God is doing everything good for us, we will blame God for everything bad in our lives as well. Sure, our life story includes both good and bad, but our will helps us to be good CEOs and make the best with whatever we have.

We are far too controlled by group politics. It is time to bring the individual’s importance and responsibilities to the forefront.

The trouble is that good and bad are often dictated by group politics. Being considered good within your group does not guarantee that you are truly good. For example, if your group says you will become a hero by killing innocent people, you might go ahead and do it, thinking you are a good person. If someone asks why, you might say you were just doing your job, meaning you did not take personal responsibility for your actions. However, in today’s legal system, if you are an adult, you are responsible for your actions even if your group or boss ordered you to kill someone.

We are blessed with free will, which makes us all responsible for our actions. We often don’t even follow the orders of God because of our free will, so why can’t we say no to following wrongful group politics?

We need to work hard to understand free will, the sense of freedom, the sense of belonging, group politics, and above all, humanity. We can’t blame our sins on the devil or other people. God has done His job by giving us the power to choose. As individuals, we have the responsibility to act as CEOs of our own lives and reciprocate to God and humanity during our temporary lifetime.

We all start as a drop of rain on a mountain, which has come together through the actions of the ocean and the clouds. Whether God existed as an ocean or became an ocean with a mass of believers, the majestic powers belong to God either way. Disasters or other incomprehensible events should not be blamed on the devil or credited to God; instead, we need to work on our understanding.

Just as the ocean can cause rain, so too does the drop of rain belong to the ocean. Similarly, we start and finish in the ocean of existence. Our journey of life is like a drop of rain that can turn into a raging river, yet it is interconnected with the people around us. Pride, honor, and ego are side effects of a strong sense of belonging. There is nothing wrong with pride and ego until they start to hurt the individual or others.

As we reach higher and closer to our potential, we understand more and more over time. Whether inside the box or outside, if you are a curious individual, you have the responsibility to make your own choices. These choices should be made without the influence of a sense of belonging, ego, pride, sense of freedom, desire for revenge for lost loved ones, land disputes, or simply differences of opinion. We are all different and are influenced by the knowledge and group politics that surround us.

I wanted to end here, but the news from Quebec compelled me to mention that even today, in a modern country like Canada, we still deal with intolerance and language issues. These are prime examples of the politics of group belonging. Yet, we should be secure enough to belong to all of humanity as one entity.