Who Flipped My Triangle?

While it may seem like I’m criticizing religions, I actually have nothing against their spiritual aspects. My concern arises when ethics and morals morph into strict rules and the politics of belonging overshadow spirituality. This not only distorts the essence of religion but also leads ordinary individuals to commit spiritual transgressions in the name of God. I believe belief systems like religions should serve to help individuals find inner peace amidst personal turmoil. The need for such belief systems has, does, and will always exist because they provide hope and positivity, rooted in their spiritual aspects.

However, the political dimension of religions bears responsibility for countless atrocities, deaths, and destruction inflicted upon innocent individuals throughout history and even in present times. While the wisdom imparted by religions can aid spiritual growth, when politically tainted, it can diminish human worth and value. Consequently, I am compelled to question the politics of not just one, but all religions. Nevertheless, knowledge is knowledge, and I’ve gleaned valuable insights from religion while growing up. One lesson I’ve learned is to heed good advice, even if it’s written on a quiet wall, as it may prove useful someday.

I attended Friday prayers at a mosque outside of my neighborhood, making a special effort to listen to one of the Mullahs, Molaana Ajmal, a religious figure with substance. I appreciated his logical explanations and teaching style, although I may have developed some disagreements with him over time. One day, he spoke about the adaptation of knowledge and its speed. I’ve since used his analogy to explain muscle building to my clients. Though I may not recall his exact words, the message remains clear, as I continue to reference it.

He said, and I quote, “Take a newspaper and try to put your finger through it without ripping the paper. If you attempt it, the paper will tear. But if you use a pin to make pinholes, then you can insert your finger without ripping the paper.” End quote.

The logic is clear: when knowledge is introduced gradually, not only do you understand it better, but you also retain it more effectively. We send children to school to learn, and schools employ grading systems to educate them. However, each individual absorbs and comprehends knowledge at their own pace.

In my current understanding, religion should focus solely on spirituality, free from the influence of politics and the sense of belonging. I believe that everything we do within religion should be optional, while actions related to spirituality should be considered our duty.

Today, humanity and spirituality have taken a back seat and have become optional aspects of life. Meanwhile, traditional prayers, once gatherings of people, have transformed into obligations. Personally, I believe that whenever people gather, politics inevitably become involved. Therefore, the importance of prayers should never outweigh practical assistance to those in need in real life.

Conforming to a subservient individual requires one thing for sure: brainwashing. If the individual feels insecure from within and is far from being a CEO of their own life, then incorporating religious teachings into their life can be challenging. Religions have been given the power to override self-love and even the love for one’s offspring, as they are strongly tied to the sense of belonging to a group beyond the immediate family. In reality, an intense and uncontrolled sense of belonging can exacerbate personal insecurities. These insecurities can further distance the individual from God and spirituality, leading them to commit spiritual crimes for the sake of belonging to certain groups. However, belief in God and spirituality should ideally help overcome these individual shortcomings.

Today, the core messages of religions, such as humanity and spirituality, have been pushed to the bottom of the priority list. Only by stepping outside the sense of belonging can one truly see the damage inflicted upon individuals by human politics.

The ordinary man is drifting away from God and spirituality because even the real messages of God have been obscured by the politics of belonging to a group. Mixing the politics of belonging groups with religions or even with God has led us astray.

I feel it’s my responsibility to explain that it’s time for all of us to become CEOs of our lives. We need to learn to separate the sense of belonging and its politics from our religions because religions should not be tainted by the politics of belonging groups if they are to lead us to true spirituality and God. God and spirituality are meant for the entire humanity, not just for select groups.

Decency is only taught through spiritual teachings, and humanity can help us, individually and collectively, to coexist with each other despite differences in race, group, nationality, or religion. Personal spirituality is what enables us to transcend our personal prejudices. If each of us takes spirituality to the point where we make our decisions spiritually, then it becomes clear why God had to write more than one book. Our journey toward our full potential requires us to delve deeper and reach for the heights in the ways that God has intended for us as human beings.

Now is the time to decide to step out of our comfort zones and critically examine our individual actions. If they are influenced by the out-of-control politics of belonging, then individuals should start taking personal responsibility to become CEOs of their own lives.

The sense of belonging and group politics have tainted all religions to the point where an ordinary individual can’t discern the politics behind the rules and actions of religions and is unable to separate religion from politics or spirituality. Although God may have taken responsibility for providing oxygen, the politics of insecure humans still manage to interfere with even the basics of life.

There is a certain wisdom of common sense inherent in every human, and sometimes, this wisdom can be utilized by the wise. I watched a movie a long time ago, so I don’t remember the title; hence, I would credit it to “author unknown.”

In the movie, Buddha was meditating on the bank of a river for a long time, to the point of starvation, yet determined to continue his quest. Since spiritual quests are harder to attain and manifest in physical life without the physical body, he was enduring physical suffering, making it difficult to carry on.

One day, two men passed by in a boat. One was playing music, and the other was rowing. The musician paused the music and said to the rower, “If you tighten it too much, it will snap on you, but if you don’t tighten enough, it won’t play the music.” He was referring to the cords, but the message was clear, and Buddha understood the wisdom. This wisdom can be applied not only to serious issues like Buddha’s quest but also to all aspects of our lives as ordinary human beings.

Looking at history, we find that extraordinary knowledge has also come from ordinary human beings. This knowledge isn’t exclusive to prophets, and it extends beyond religious boundaries. Scientific, mathematical, and medical discoveries made by ordinary men and women have helped humanity to the extent that we can’t quantify how many lives have been saved by them. Only extraordinary knowledge can transform an ordinary human being into an extraordinary one. This process is ongoing and will continue until we reach our potential. There will always be differences of opinions and the passion that leads us to claim that we are right.

Today, every religion and their denominations have a book, just as every nation has a constitution. This results in a multitude of texts and a diverse array of human societies. All religions, denominations, socialism, communism, and even democracies are promoted as solutions to everything. There are numerous systems created by humans, and more than one text from God is available for us to compare and follow. Having a passionate opinion about any one system, whether in favor or against it, and the inability to amend all religious books implies that humans are not evolving organisms and should adhere to rules written thousands of years ago.

History demonstrates it, science confirms it, and even an ordinary human being can see and understand it—the age-old nature of evolution. Personally, I disagree with rules carved in stone because human beings are evolving organisms, as is our knowledge. Therefore, our past rules need amendments in all texts, whether they be constitutions or religions.

I believe that all human knowledge should serve the convenience of humanity, as it is essential for peace as we progress and evolve. Unfortunately, human input is often driven by emotional and passionate politics of belonging. If it’s all about control and politics, it should stay out of individuals’ spirituality and not have the power to alter anyone’s personal and direct connection to God.

No one should be coerced into believing anything that isn’t concrete or scientifically proven, especially when it comes to knowledge about life before and after death, given that as evolving beings, nothing is concrete for us. These days, Canadian Natives have been asking the Pope to apologize for the wrongs done to them in the name of God or religion. Whatever was done to them resulted from the politics of spreading religion by recruiting them to Christianity. Anything forced, even if it’s religion, constitutes a spiritual crime. An apology may not suffice because I believe every individual should know what’s wrong by following a simple rule of thumb: treat others as you’d like to be treated.

When striving to ascend higher on the ladder of society and encountering hurdles, one often feels the need for God. Human beings are inherently inclined towards reaching their potential, leading to a perpetual dissatisfaction with life’s successes and blessings. This perception likens life to a mountain that must be collectively climbed, as individuals inevitably run out of time.

As of today, we have progressed less than a quarter of the way to the peak of this metaphorical mountain. It’s due to our innate drive to climb and pursue our potential that practices like the sacrifice of virgins for God have ceased. However, many religions still urge us to work against our genetic predispositions. Two possibilities arise: either religions aim to slow down our climb to ensure steady progress without tearing apart our adaptability, or they are authoritarian, fear-based political systems driven by a hunger for power, even employing God as a political tool through fear tactics.

When you aspire to ascend higher on the ladder of society and encounter obstacles, you may feel the need for God. Since humanity’s journey to its potential is intrinsic and unavoidable, we can never fully satisfy ourselves with life’s accomplishments and blessings. This perspective leads us to view life as a mountain that must be collectively climbed, as individuals inevitably face limited time.

Currently, our progress stands at less than a quarter of the way to the peak of this metaphorical mountain. This is because of our inherent drive to climb and pursue our potential, which led to the cessation of practices like the sacrifice of virgins for God. However, many religions still urge us to go against our genetic predispositions. Two possibilities emerge: either religions aim to slow down our climb to ensure gradual progress without compromising adaptability, or they are authoritarian, fear-based political systems driven by a thirst for power, even using God as a political tool through the fear of divine retribution.

My personal logic suggests that God created mankind with evolutionary potential, thus we should follow that trajectory. Therefore, fearing God would contradict God’s will. You can opt to embrace progress and challenge strict religious doctrines, or you can remain stagnant, denying yourself and future generations the benefits of evolving human intellect. You cannot selectively benefit from the advancements made by liberals while adhering strictly to conservative principles.

When group politics infiltrates a religion, it’s driven by human insecurities, not divine will. True belief in God precludes fear of the future, as the belief system is intended to inspire optimism and fearlessness. God endowed humans with evolutionary potential, implying that individuals possess personal spirituality and a direct connection with God. While this concept may not resonate with weaker individuals, a CEO would grasp its significance.

Religions, as groups, prioritize their own interests over their fundamental messages of humanity and spirituality. They have consistently failed to distinguish between the spirituality of religions and the politics associated with them. Tolerance and acceptance have been absent from the outset. Organized religions have always been tainted by the politics of group allegiance, depriving other groups of love in the name of God.

The sense of belonging can be perilous if misunderstood. True belonging encompasses all of humanity, one individual at a time, rather than favoring a specific group. No one can assert special connection to God deserving of preferential treatment, such as guaranteed entry to heaven.

Killing one’s daughter for not adhering to religious rules has nothing to do with faith, God, spirituality, or even the religion itself. It stems from surrendering to the powerful sense of belonging and rejecting the CEO status bestowed by God. Behind such actions lies the overwhelming influence of group allegiance. Egotistical behavior is linked to community acceptance, often prioritized over love and parental responsibilities. It’s crucial to introspect and recognize these feelings as byproducts of an unchecked sense of belonging.

Remember, people have a place in your life but not a say, as you possess free will granted by God. No religion or ideology can take that away from you, though they may attempt to. It is your right to exercise this free will to ensure justice for all, including your daughter and yourself.

When I left Pakistan, I aimed to understand the actions of extremists and my encounters with them. As I cultivated a habit of analyzing and identifying the root causes of issues, I realized that the influence of group politics on individual actions is widespread across all cultures, nations, and religions.

It is not my intention to question anyone’s faith or beliefs. Rather, my purpose in writing all this is to advocate for individuals to embrace the potential that God truly intended for us. We should have the courage to reject violence and the extremes of group politics that have overshadowed our belief systems. Now, more than ever in human history, we must strive for the fundamental principles of religions: compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, love, and altruism for all humanity in the name of God and spirituality.

Obeying God isn’t solely about adhering to what’s written in the Holy books. Discovering and pursuing our inherent potential is the true obedience to God because the purpose of creation is to witness it functioning at its highest level, not confined like seeds in a jar.

Reaching the level that God intended for us demands relentless pursuit—sometimes obeying, sometimes disobeying, and sometimes outright rejecting God’s existence altogether. As evolving organisms, we will experience many rights and wrongs before finding our way.

At our peak potential, we become mighty creatures, making God even more almighty. Contrary to popular belief, becoming powerful doesn’t render God unnecessary. Any human who denies or diminishes God is influenced by ego, which stems from the sense of belonging. Trying to fit in, seeking acceptance, or wanting admiration all stem from this strong sense of belonging. Even those who openly deny God’s existence often harbor doubts deep inside, aware of their incomplete knowledge and personal vulnerabilities.

Being a breath away from death should keep us humble, yet we often forget our vulnerability, taking pride in our actions and achievements as solely our own. However, everything we do is preceded by the intake of oxygen, over which we have no control. Just as we lack control over what happens in outer space, we also lack control over our inner space. Life isn’t sustained by the individual alone; it’s far more complex than what’s inside or out there, and it’s not merely a matter of chance. It’s about our ability to comprehend what distinguishes God from humanity.

Understanding self-worth and potential is key.

If you perceive yourself as a tiny seed, capable of fitting millions in a jar or a small room, you might develop an inferiority complex. However, if you envision yourself potentially as a towering tree, even as a seed, the room appears smaller, confidence grows, and even God assists in creating more space for you as an individual.

Similar to a small seed that, under the right conditions, can grow into a majestic tree producing billions or trillions of seeds itself, humans have the potential to reach the heights intended by God. The higher ordinary humans climb, the closer we come to our Godly potential. Even one Godly individual can aid the community’s evolution. Ideally, as more people evolve towards wisdom, the community should function better as a result.

Human traits like bravery, honesty, and selflessness are admired when expressed by individuals, even in non-religious societies. However, organized religions often become tainted with group politics, leading to destructive tendencies. While these traits are discussed in religious societies, politics often overpowers the Godly messages. Individuals are often viewed as small seeds and discouraged or denied the potential within them. In many religious societies, female liberation is inhibited. Forced social control with strict rules and harsh punishments is accepted by the general population. Recently, Indonesia even denounced Valentine’s Day for its population.

Regardless of the discouragements by the authorities, it is the individual who comes up with the ideas of human advancements. These individuals do not think of themselves as just seeds. Whether they are a Prophet, an inventor, or a conqueror, the individual human has always been the backbone of all the advancements of the human community.

Today’s politically related religious wars and education systems of different schools of thought have led human beings to the highest level of insecurity. The sense of belonging to certain groups has come to the forefront, while individual and human rights are taking a back seat.

Only when we are not victims of personal insecurities can we stand up and talk about the sense of freedom, knowing that we can be punished for this act. These days, even advanced human societies are choosing extremes to fulfill the political needs of belonging groups. People who have been exposed to freedom find it hard to sacrifice their freedom for a sense of belonging. The sense of belonging has several faces but one cause. As an individual, digging deeper and asking yourself questions will eventually lead you to personal insecurities and a weaker spiritual belief system.

God has blessed us all equally with the ability to benefit from believing in God. As CEOs, it is our responsibility to choose the things that can help us live a happy and content life. However, we often fear death so much that we hate being mortal. This fear leads us to take the enjoyment out of our present day, worrying about future outcomes. It’s important to recognize that life is never going to be completely secure and controlled for us, so striving for such security and control is flawed.

We hold loyalties to various entities such as family, friends, community, country, religion, or causes we value. When insecurities related to these loyalties call for sacrifice, we often act without hesitation or questioning because we anticipate praise and appreciation.

But why do we place so much value on being accepted, admired, or appreciated by our belonging community? This is a question each of us should ask ourselves. We need to explore and understand this natural phenomenon and why we seem to fall for it as if we are hypnotized. Do we have the ability to break free from these influences and think beyond the sense of belonging?

Certainly, God created humans to function independently, yet politically tainted social influences often rob individuals of their independence. The CEO ability given to us by God is undervalued by humans themselves due to systematized education. While reading knowledge from a book is valuable, recognizing that you have the ability to write the book yourself aligns with your potential. If we start to think about our incomplete knowledge, we realize the need for new knowledge should be humanity’s destiny. Denying ourselves the search for new knowledge goes against God’s will.

God created us all with the right combination of ingredients, and we all have the potential to be valuable majestic trees in the human jungle. We benefit from being in the jungle, yet we are also beneficial to the jungle.

I believe that humans benefit from the oxygen provided by God, and God benefits from the human’s physical input. Spirituality alone is useless without the physicality of life. Group politics may change as we evolve, but at this time, we are being harmed by it. Should we continue to follow our flawed education system? Or should we critically examine it, taking on the role of a CEO who can recognize the sense of belonging hidden behind individuals’ insecurities and related ego?

It’s up to each and every one of us to contribute to humanity and make a difference with the findings of our lives and personal experiences. We all have the potential to be God’s messengers, even as ordinary human beings. All prophets have been blessed with knowledge to teach spirituality to humanity and help people live better lives. We have an innate ability to learn, make advancements, and understand that continuous growth is essential to living better lives.

Advancements in all areas of life require a continuous desire to improve. Extraordinary knowledge has always been available, but so has our stubborn sense of belonging and egotistic attitude. Therefore, choosing the right path has never been an easy task.

We are able to make our lives easier through inventions and technology, reducing the need for hard physical work. So why can’t we apply the same effort to understand the concepts of belonging, religious boundaries, and nationalism? Our journey toward self-improvement is ongoing and must be pursued in all aspects of life simultaneously. This is why humans were created as evolving organisms, so we can achieve the potential intended for us by God. Our innate drive to evolve is a sacred wisdom, and we are still a work in progress. Until we reach our potential, it is our responsibility to strive for it, with or without religion.

Like prophets, everyone contributes to making humanity better than before. However, the intention behind our actions matters. A doctor who practices solely for money and fame is just a doctor, but one who aims to make a difference regardless of personal gain is a healer and holds a higher spiritual status.

It’s important to respect anyone doing God’s work, whether they are ordinary individuals or God’s prophets. They are all part of our journey toward improvement. If we are still plagued by violence and conflict, we must strive to be better than this. Merely following a particular religion will not lead us there; we must transcend the sense of belonging and take on the role of a CEO as individuals.

Our understanding of right and wrong evolves with our knowledge, indicating that there is no absolute right or wrong as we progress. We used to engage in practices like throwing virgins off cliffs, burning widows alive with their deceased husbands, enslaving others, burning witches, and persecuting homosexuals. However, human societies have evolved significantly. Progress is driven by individual thinkers who challenge conventional wisdom in all areas of life, fostering discussion and growth.

God is not akin to a human, no matter how similar or closely related we may be, just as a seed and a tree are not identical but bear similarities. We cannot attribute human thoughts, actions, or feelings to God. While we engage in politics in various aspects of our lives, God represents the ultimate truth, devoid of any human influence or politics. Our understanding may evolve as we explore, but the truth of God remains untouched by human affairs. The real challenge lies in human evolution; we have yet to fully comprehend God because we are unable to access our full brain power.

The journey to understanding God is and should be an ongoing quest. Simultaneously, we must tend to our everyday responsibilities and ensure our basic survival. As CEOs of our lives, we must balance our innate nature with the demands of daily living.

It’s convenient to attribute everything to God or the Devil and shirk our responsibilities, influenced by the smart politics taught by our governing systems. By elevating God and the Devil as central figures, controlling religions have diminished the significance of the individual, leading to low self-esteem and easier manipulation. Today, as individuals, we find ourselves grappling with our personal growth. As we mature, we realize that we cannot be dictated to by governing systems. To maintain inner peace and justice in all aspects of our lives, including ourselves, we must become CEOs of our own existence.

It has always been human beings who reach for power and control, often invoking the names of God and the Devil for political purposes. The general population tends to align with whatever makes sense at a given time, but as we ascend the ladder of potential, our perspectives shift. Today, the movement for equal human rights is sweeping the globe, challenging conservative religious societies and causing inner turmoil.

The carrot and stick approach has long been a teaching tool in human civilization, extensively utilized by religions. However, as we evolve, we come to realize that it’s merely a strategy for control. While it may have its utility, the truth remains unchanged. Bringing God’s or the Devil’s name into politics is still politics. When used in a spiritual context, God’s name represents truth, but our perception of truth evolves as we grow intellectually. What we perceive as truth in our current state may not align with divine truth, making violence over religious beliefs unjustifiable.

Relying on fear-based or greed-based politics is not in accordance with God’s will. Even if we attribute human-like traits to God, it doesn’t justify involving God in human politics. For the sake of human evolution, God remains silent even as we tarnish His name. Individually, we need God’s presence to alleviate sorrows and instill hope, but an excessive focus on God can impede our evolutionary journey.

Controlling society through laws is one thing, but invoking God’s words for control is another. God has no need for security or control. While pride and bravery are valued in all societies, a CEO embodies much more. Unlike warrior ants or worker bees, humans possess a capacity for continuously evolving knowledge. We are more than just instinct-driven beings; we are self-adjusting decision-makers capable of overpowering our animal instincts. However, we still rely on these instincts in our daily lives. It’s not a matter of choosing one over the other but seeking balance between our sense of belonging and freedom. This balance teaches us how to navigate ego, pride, revenge, self-sacrifice, and bravery.

God is immortal and spiritual; there is nothing quite like a human, yet humans often attempt to humanize God. If you examine human cells, they do not resemble humans. While we are complete working organisms, we are also the cells of God, each carrying a fragment of God within us, much like how our cells carry the DNA of the organism they belong to.

Religion serves as an educational system for us, but we must prioritize accordingly. Knowledge is a system of life implanted in people’s brains, and no knowledge surpasses the value of the individual themselves. The life of an innocent holds far greater worth than all religions combined, as all religions advocate for justice. The significance of religion lies in the individual’s need for spirituality and connection to humanity. Humanity is primarily embodied in the individual, as each individual is a cell of humanity.

Every day, cells within the body perish. While this may appear insignificant, the importance of each cell is paramount. The body’s survival hinges on the health of its cells, just as the cells rely on the body’s flawless functioning. Disregarding human life and perpetuating violence is not collateral damage; it has the potential to erode trust and belief systems.

I disagree with those who delve into the past to glorify their own religion or clan, or to vilify others’ religions. In our journey of evolution, we have been proven right and wrong about many aspects of life. Yet, we still cling to past narratives, fostering hatred and even committing violence over them. While some may deem it crucial to preserve these stories, I argue that it is even more vital to rectify today’s narrative, ensuring a future where children cease to harm one another.

Humans have long been entangled in the politics of belonging groups. It’s time for humans to take the next step and focus on the present, to rise to the responsibilities of a CEO. We may harbor differences as individuals, within gangs, countries, religions, or even factions within religions. However, as individuals, it is imperative to stand up as CEOs, placing everything into perspective. Understanding the demands of today’s humanity, even if it means rejecting the demands of one’s own group, is paramount.

Humanity stands as the most critical aspect of spirituality, which transcends religious boundaries. While religions have enlightened us about spirituality and humanity, they are now tainted by group politics and cannot lead us out of our current dilemmas. Thus, it is time for us to prioritize humanity and spirituality over group politics, the sense of belonging, and personal vendettas. Though difficult, it is achievable by elevating ourselves to the status that God initially bestowed upon us. Yes, we are eternal CEOs; let us not demote ourselves.

God has blessed humans with free will, making each individual the CEO of their personal empire, a power worth five spiritual dollars (read: five bucks). This divine authority is significant for individuals, provided they steer clear of group politics. Through politics, we’re conditioned to believe that our individual worth is negligible without the group, rendering us personally feeble and reliant on the collective like sheep, regardless of moral integrity. However, each of us possesses the potential to be a CEO who can discern right from wrong and act accordingly. A deeper belief and personal connection to God can liberate individuals from the inferiority complex imposed by group affiliations and religions.

Humans are not merely slaves to genetics; we are complex organisms imbued with divine power, influenced by various forms of knowledge, from spirituality to conflicting impulses such as the sense of belonging and the sense of freedom, to the authoritative CEO capable of overriding these influences.

Many religions draw upon past narratives, continuously referencing historical precedents. Yet, relying solely on antiquated rules to address contemporary issues is bound to fail. From issues like slavery to human sacrifice to homosexuality, religions have failed to address injustices adequately. It’s untenable to turn a blind eye to present-day human rights violations, hoping they will resolve themselves.

No individual should wield the power to justify killing based on factors like race, sexual orientation, nationality, or religion, especially when their understanding of genetics or personal choice is limited. Religions have taught us about tolerance and extremism simultaneously, promoting conflicting senses of belonging and freedom while discouraging individual empowerment.

These contradictions can befuddle even the most educated individuals. Today, highly evolved humans with nuclear capabilities find themselves torn apart, struggling to disentangle spirituality from group politics. When individuals assume the role of a CEO, they recognize that humanity thrives on spirituality alone, untouched by politics, belonging, freedom, land disputes, national pride, personal ego, or vendettas.

Solving our problems through spirituality entails transcending the limitations of religions, isms, and democracy. We’ve yet to succeed because we’re preoccupied with self-interest rather than collective well-being. When we shift our focus to serving others, akin to the joint efforts that contained Ebola or built the space station, transformative change will occur.

Religion is a societal chip planted by parents and communities to foster diversity. However, nurturing this diversity encourages competition, which drives individuals to excel and evolve. Reaching our potential is a shared quest and responsibility. Yet, fostering excessive competition can be destructive. How can we expect peaceful, evolved beings to emerge from seeds of prejudice sown in every individual, group, nation, culture, and religion?

We must infuse spirituality back into our religions and relegate politics to our governing systems. Individuals should determine where religion fits in their lives, whether as a duty or an option, a political system, or a spiritual path to inner peace. Should one live as a sheep or a CEO? This question merits personal reflection. If one seeks to secure a place in heaven, remember, God cannot be bribed, and committing spiritual crimes in the name of God is not only political but downright criminal.

Every human society promotes its superiority, instilling this belief even in children from their families. When authority figures like parents, teachers, and national or religious leaders impart knowledge, it becomes ingrained as correct and indisputable doctrine, whether done to bolster self-esteem, inspire competitiveness and success in future generations, or for other reasons.

Personally, I believe this reveals a flaw in our education system. If we desire different outcomes for our present or future generations, we must consider the long-term effects of our teachings, whether from national school systems or religions. Given that change is constant, how can we settle for any knowledge being one hundred percent correct?

Human beings undergo various stages of growth, including hormonal surges during puberty when they are particularly susceptible to influence. At this developmental stage, individuals often accept elders’ words as ultimate truth, tasked with protecting that knowledge. This fosters the belief that one group is superior to others, laying the foundation for prejudice and the resultant injustices and conflicts.

Historically, people believed the Earth was flat. The issue isn’t whether something is scientifically true but rather that people unquestioningly follow their group’s knowledge while dismissing opposing views without investigation.

Are we truly superior to others? When we’re cut, we all bleed and feel pain the same way. We’re all born the same, with the same abilities, and like everyone else, we live in bodies that age and eventually perish.

What awaits us after death remains as mysterious now as it was thousands of years ago. Despite various religious beliefs about life before birth, after death, and the afterlife, one fact remains consistent: we leave our physical bodies behind. Surprisingly, our understanding of this aspect hasn’t progressed much, especially when compared to advancements in other areas of life.

Have we learned about the individual residing within the body? Are we truly different or superior to one another? Does color, race, gender, nationality, or religion hold significance? If you believe the answer is yes, try stripping away communal, technological, and religious knowledge, then ask yourself again. Remove the politics of belonging, freeing yourself from ego. By shedding learned knowledge, you may reconnect with your pure self, where the true answer lies. Babies, in their innocence, don’t discriminate.

As we age, external influences like education, life circumstances, and internal hormonal changes shape our self-perception in social settings. These influences mold individuals into products desired by society. Our pure selves become tainted as we transition into young adults, driven by a strong need to belong. At this stage, awareness of belonging is strong unless we’re encouraged to embrace independence. Fear of exclusion motivates conformity to societal norms.

Most of us, driven by a strong sense of belonging, sacrifice our pure selves to adopt identities prescribed by our groups. We surrender social liberties and freedom in the name of security, despite mortality’s inevitable insecurity. If our will alone dictated life, death would be nonexistent.

Failing to recognize our pure selves reduces us to mere extensions of our groups, fostering fear of aging, illness, and death. This fear compels a pursuit of control in every aspect of life. While control aids evolution, it hinders understanding of our pure selves.

As CEOs of our lives, it’s our duty to explore our pure selves, addressing insecurities and understanding life beyond the physical body. This perspective diminishes fear of living and dying and fosters self-acceptance regardless of appearance or ability. Change is embraced optimistically as part of life’s journey rather than feared as inevitable chaos.

Religions have always existed because they address these issues. If you don’t believe in anything, you’re not acknowledging your pure self, leading you to create a protective barrier around yourself. This consumes a lot of energy that could otherwise be used for the body’s well-being. Individuals who are physically and emotionally drained can benefit from believing that there’s more to them than just their physical bodies. This belief has the potential to reduce fear-related stresses, internal anxiety, depression, or self-criticism resulting from a lack of understanding.

In this temporary life, it’s a CEO’s responsibility to adopt a lifestyle that’s beneficial rather than destructive, even if it involves believing in something unknown like God. This is where religion becomes beneficial. Religion, in this context, is useful and practical. However, ironically, religions often promote hatred towards each other, manifesting as prejudice against other belief systems. This is because religions often intertwine spirituality with the politics of belonging.

The politics of belonging to a particular group underlies much of our turmoil, indicating the need for an overhaul of the entire education system, whether it’s related to nationalism or religion. Will we outgrow our education system as individuals? Can we learn about ourselves beyond belonging to a specific group and the knowledge it imparts? Are we merely bodies or something more? The answers to these questions lie within our pure selves.

Extremists exist in all societies worldwide, but let’s compare the East and West. Western upbringing encourages children to take charge, exert maximum effort to climb and succeed in life. The prevalent perspective views life as a mountain, where climbing higher signifies greater success. The common belief is that exerting more effort leads to success in everyday life, relegating God to the background. Some people even react with disdain when others express belief in God. Conversely, Eastern philosophy places significant emphasis on God, often to the extreme. Both sides hold strong opinions and have been engaged in prolonged conflicts over who is right.

Personally, I believe that when a person thinks within boundaries, it goes against God’s will. The entire concept of human potential is based on the pursuit of that potential. How can one claim that we’ll excel and reach God’s intended potential by adhering to rules or staying within boundaries? So why do we create boundaries around ourselves? These boundaries are often imposed by those in power or sought by weaker individuals seeking security.

Wisdom dictates that each of us must reach our individual potential at a pace and rhythm that suits us. Trying to force growth can lead to failure. For instance, a healthy amount of stress is conducive to progress and excellence. However, pushing too hard can result in stress-related diseases that are detrimental to health, while moving too slowly hinders the pursuit of potential. In that case, what purpose did God have in creating us with potential and free will?

Striving to be like angels or live as monks goes against God’s will. Our ability to disobey is what makes us human. As humans, we can choose to obey or disobey. Today, it’s time for humanity to disobey and rise up, using the original gift of free will to make choices for humanity, spirituality, justice, and equal human rights, rather than blindly following nationalism or organized religions.

Now is the time to exercise our free will and ask ourselves, “How do we want to do it?” Throughout history, we’ve developed weapons of mass destruction, potentially leading ourselves to great destruction by killing each other. This raises a question: Can humanity avoid such destruction by making different choices, or will we fulfill the predicted outcomes? Are we powerless, predictable creatures unable to change what was prophesied thousands of years ago? Can modern humanity take charge and change the course for the survival of humanity, or dare I say, God? Because if there are no human beings, there is no God either, at least not physically.

“That is where the whole concept of prayer comes in. We have the ability to ask, and God has the ability to fulfill. But how? Nothing can be physically fulfilled unless human beings are physically alive, so life keeps on going.”

For the individual who dies from a bunker-buster bomb, it’s a day of kyaamet, but not for the rest of us. I don’t deny anything from religions; I believe we’re progressing one milestone at a time, and they have been milestones. They’ve helped us evolve to the point where we can understand the difference between spirituality, religions, and group politics. However, the human storybook is still full of unknowns. You can’t just input something into a computer and ask for predictions. In real life, we all have significance, and we have the ability to change the path our ancestors followed for centuries.

Thankfully, most of us have become moderates and understand that there is no difference in race, color, gender, or nationality. Today, we are becoming increasingly aware of equal human rights as well. However, we need to understand that until humanity rids itself of the disease of ‘I am or we are better than others’, we will continue to struggle to reach our potential. There is no paradise for us and hell for non-believers. We are still progressing, perhaps only at mile marker 10 or 20 on a 100-mile highway of potential. We evolve as we realize our mistakes. We are not a finished product until we reach the potential intended for us by God.

If we persist in following the same path, we become predictable, yet we have the power to change by making decisions about our future. Should one contribute to society by blindly following group politics or stand up and use free will? With free will, we can turn things around by refusing to blindly obey the ‘belonging group’. Whether one is in a mosque, temple, church, or synagogue, they still possess the gift of God – yes, the big free will!

Since good and bad are defined by society, they are based on human knowledge and assumptions, which change year after year as we progress toward our potential. Our potential has the power to reveal truths about life, and we have yet to explore this fully. Until then, we need to recognize that if we harm others in pursuit of our desires, we are in the wrong. It is not God who decides what is good or bad for us, because God has blessed us with free will. As humans evolve, we come to understand that we are the ones who have bought and sold ourselves. We continue to grapple with human rights issues, especially in religious societies.

A recent survey conducted in the US asked people about their views on torture. Surprisingly, those who attended church regularly tended to approve of the use of torture, while those who did not attend church regularly were against it. It’s a curious twist that conservatives, who are often closely associated with religious beliefs, are against human rights. This paradox becomes even more glaring when considering that some suicide bombers are in favor of torture. To witness contemporary examples of such atrocities, one needs only to look at the Syrian conflict.

The majority of us who advocate for peace and human rights fall into the category of moderates and reject extremes. It’s puzzling how those who advocate for war seem to forget that compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, love, and tolerance are among the first virtues taught by religions. Somehow, group politics has tarnished the reputation of religions, spirituality, and God.

The root of prejudice lies in the unwise education that fosters a belief in the superiority of one group over another. This mentality is ingrained in religious and national ideologies from an early age, perpetuating a stubborn infection of prejudice. The antidote to this outdated mindset lies in a more enlightened education that promotes moderation and encourages individuals to compartmentalize religion and nationalism.

We cannot rely on outdated teachings to address the complex issues facing modern societies. If we find ourselves unable to engage in educated debates, we must question why. Why haven’t we evolved beyond the primitive instinct of marking territories like animals? Before resorting to violence and bloodshed, we must pause to reflect. Despite our technological advancements, why do we struggle to make similar progress in our social development?

Violence begets more violence, breeding a cycle of revenge and further bloodshed. The desire to inflict pain on those who have hurt us blinds us to the humanity of others, leading to the indiscriminate killing of innocents. While religious extremists may justify such actions based on their warped sense of belonging to a group, spiritually evolved individuals reject the notion of collateral damage.

In today’s court systems across nations, killing someone can result in either a death sentence or life imprisonment, regardless of whether the victim deserved to die. However, there is little outcry against the injustice and loss of innocent lives during conflicts between nations and religions.

Individuals who engage in extremism often believe fervently in the rightness of their actions, much like a drunk person whose perceptions are distorted. These individuals surrender their agency to extremist groups to fulfill their need for belonging, driven by deep-seated insecurities. Our insecurities are deeply rooted in our animalistic instincts. True humanity emerges when we are surrounded by love, but when love is absent, we revert to our primal instincts. In today’s world, this can be perilous, as conflicts no longer involve mere fists or spears but can escalate to the use of weapons of mass destruction.

Considering ourselves merely as bodies or succumbing to our animalistic side leads to failure. Even infants display intelligence, crying when hungry, wet, or lonely. While it may seem loving to immediately attend to every cry, this can hinder the baby’s development as a human being. Learning patience and delayed gratification is crucial for nurturing the human side from an early age. As the saying goes, “If the trunk of the tree is green, you can bend it as you wish, but once it hardens, it will break rather than bend.”

The stronger the animalistic side, the harder it is to uphold ethics and morals. Despite the strict rules of religions and advancements in civilization, sex crimes remain prevalent, if not more so than thousands of years ago. Religions often rely on fear of God or harsh punishments to enforce their rules, which goes against human nature. Humans are best suited to self-regulate, but in the absence of a clear divine presence, individuals with strong animalistic tendencies quickly disregard societal rules. Thus, societies are plagued by various crimes stemming from a lack of ethics and morals, often perpetrated by those dominated by their animalistic instincts.

Our parents and society often seek to enforce rules, often rooted in religious teachings. But why are religions so preoccupied with human sexuality? Why do they portray God as a punishing figure, ready to mete out death for disobedience? If sex were truly abhorrent, why would God have created it, imbued with such intense pleasure that every creature, including humans, is intoxicated by it?

There must be a reason why we were not created as angels, and why we aspire to live like them. Since we are created as humans, we ought to live as human beings. God endowed each of us with a spark of divinity, making us human. The most effective way to guide human behavior is through education and allowing individuals to cultivate their own ethics and morals. Unfortunately, religions often get it wrong. When individuals are controlled by fear, they inevitably rebel once that fear dissipates. Religions have waged a futile war against our animalistic tendencies since their inception. What are we doing wrong? Why have we not been able to triumph over our primal instincts?

The real battle against our animalistic side occurs within each individual. Mere knowledge of right and wrong is insufficient, especially when definitions of good and bad are in constant flux. Attending mosque or church does not guarantee mastery over inner desires. Fear of God has proven ineffective over thousands of years. We continue to behave like animals, perpetuating violence and sexual crimes. Shouldn’t we ask why? Why do we still grapple with these social problems? Why do we persist in following rules that have failed us for millennia? If thousands of years of failure are not enough, what will it take for us to seek answers elsewhere?

God has granted us this life and its pleasures to enjoy, along with free will to maintain balance. Yet humans consistently abuse this power. Have you ever wondered why? Parents and societies have not taught individuals how to contend with their animalistic instincts because they themselves do not understand them. They perpetuate the status quo, clinging to outdated ideas without questioning or proposing new ones.

Our animalistic side is intertwined with our physical existence, influencing our desires, love, and associated pleasures. Since we are neither purely genetic nor solely spiritual beings, but a combination of both, separating them would spell the end of life. While some may argue that the soul persists after death, this has never been proven, so we must believe what makes sense to us.

Different groups hold varying assumptions and adhere staunchly to them as societal norms. Despite our progress as individuals and societies, differences persist. We fervently debate matters that defy clear understanding, but our conflicts often stem from our sense of belonging. Common sense dictates that without the soul, the body perishes—a fact. As for the fate of the soul, it remains within the realm of assumption. Life cannot be lived solely as a physical or spiritual being; it must be embraced as a harmonious combination of both.

The first step an individual can take is to find inner peace, thereby better managing the animalistic side. Religions have long rejected the legitimacy of this side, waging war against it since the dawn of civilization. Unfortunately, they cannot change course, having introduced the Devil as an external force alongside God. Religious societies are no better than secular systems, failing to quell the animalistic urges even through fear-based politics and severe punishments.

Without teachings of humanity and forgiveness, there is no spirituality in religions. Influenced by group politics, religions have lost compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, love, and tolerance. Despite our free will and potential for progress, we are socially stagnant or regressing, even capable of mass killings.

Can we change ourselves? Yes, but first, we must recognize the legitimacy of our animalistic side, make peace with it, and cease the war against it as individuals. Understanding it can grant inner peace and better control over personal desires, fostering true altruism.

Despite religious promises of inner peace, it remains elusive for individuals. Today, group politics have supplanted spirituality in religions, leaving individuals more divided than ever before.

As individuals evolve, so too must communities and their justice systems. Communities should prioritize caring for their people over enforcing rules. Harsh punishments may deter crime, but they can become oppressive, driving people away from such societies.

Communities should enact flexible rules, focusing on ethical and moral duties rather than rigid laws. If basic needs are met, crime diminishes, but those who still transgress must face punishment. Victims and their families should have a say in these punishments, as they are the ones directly affected.

Denying the legitimacy of our animalistic side denies the enjoyment of life’s pleasures. These pleasures are essential to the human experience and should not be sacrificed for an afterlife. The satisfaction of life lies in balance, not extremes. Enjoyments of life, from food to sex, can only be experienced while alive, and even religions and laws recognize the importance of these pleasures in maintaining societal peace.

If the intoxication was in the alcohol, then the bottle should dance. It’s my prerogative that I drink to get drunk.”

This verse from a poem I read in Pakistan, whose author remains unknown to me, has inspired me to write this blog.

The alcohol of God is meaningless in the glass bottle; its potency is only activated when consumed by human beings. It drives them to madness, to the point where they may even kill their own children for transgressions. Those willing to resort to such extreme corporal punishment would hesitate little in harming others, regardless of guilt. Religions that preach strict rules and punishments cannot embody the four jewels of spirituality: compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love.

If God were directly responsible for everything, He would be physically omnipresent and humans would be rendered meaningless, as some organized religions depict. An elusive God necessitates that humans delve deeper to realize their inherent potential. Human progress should make God proud of His creation. Now, it’s up to us to learn to imbibe without becoming intoxicated, as too much of a good thing is no longer good. Throughout history, we’ve perpetuated violence in the name of God, but today, with weapons of mass destruction, any conflict can become hell on earth.

If I drink in God socially or as a moderately religious person, it not only benefits me spiritually but also allows me to serve humanity. However, becoming intoxicated with the alcohol of God, religions, or nationalism undermines the individual’s role as a CEO of their own life.

By granting free will to human beings, God has made each and every one of us a CEO, enabling us to make choices and live our lives accordingly. If you believe that by creating humans, God becomes meaningless, you are only seeing half of the picture. In reality, it illustrates how God and humans are intertwined in shaping events, much like two wires powering a light bulb. The knowledge of human beings depends on God, and God, in turn, depends on mankind.

Prophets were extraordinary individuals; without them, would we have the knowledge of organized religions or even organized nations?

God is like a silent space, and you are like a note. Together, you can create a harmonious melody in your mortal life. However, if you make yourself too significant and reject God altogether, the absence of the silent space renders the sound discordant, harmful to you as an individual. Similarly, if you remain silent when you should speak, your personal music loses its meaning, and you cease to matter, even to yourself.

Humans write the notes, but the ability to write them comes from God. They cannot be separated, for without the empty spaces, music is mere noise, and without the music, there is only silence. Either extreme renders life meaningless for mortals.

When you achieve harmony between noise and silence, it results in a successful melody of your life. While absolute silence may be desired, it is not a melody for ordinary human beings. Seeking extreme awareness is reserved for the chosen few; if everyone were to live like monks, it could have adverse effects on the social fabric. As individuals, we all have responsibilities, even if we are promised heaven by adhering to a certain lifestyle.

For moderate individuals, life isn’t extreme; they often find themselves juggling various aspects, sometimes relegating religion and heaven to secondary roles in light of present duties. Many religions advocate living for the afterlife, implying that God wouldn’t subject people to difficult circumstances in this life if everything were predetermined by an external entity.

Free will serves a purpose: to make each human the CEO of their life, allowing them to choose how they wish to live. The CEO is responsible for finding balance in earthly life and earning merit for the afterlife. Human life is viewed as a practical prayer; the physical aspects of spirituality are carried out during one’s lifetime, with prayers answered and fulfilled through human actions.

God didn’t create humans solely for worship; rather, human life itself is a form of prayer through work and assistance to others, benefiting humanity and God. God isn’t found solely in silence or religious structures; individuals have a duty to strike a personal balance, creating the right “music” in their lives. A responsible CEO not only looks after themselves but also corrects the notes for others who may be making noise without considering the empty spaces.

While meditation can be beneficial for stress relief, it isn’t a universal solution to all human problems. Ultimately, the business of life is conducted through physical actions, and simply meditating isn’t sufficient for addressing all human issues.

With advancements in medical science, we can now extend both the length and quality of our lives. Considering this progress, the impact of living a constructive versus a destructive lifestyle becomes even more significant. Every day brings new discoveries, propelling us into uncharted territory. Without taking charge as a CEO of our own lives, we risk adhering to outdated ideas and religious beliefs passed down by our ancestors thousands of years ago. They lacked the knowledge, technology, and understanding of the problems we face today. Only a CEO can transcend the boundaries imposed by the sense of belonging and its associated politics.

A CEO can still maintain belief in God while evolving beyond the limitations of organized religion. We are all endowed with a higher identity than what religions prescribe. A CEO can rise above the constraints of group identity and address contemporary issues, prioritizing matters according to their relevance in today’s world. Our true identity lies in the intelligent life within us, which transcends race, color, nationality, or religion. This spiritual essence connects us to one another beyond the confines of any particular group. We are part of a broader spiritual entity, not bound by the limitations of any single faction or creed.

I believe that knowledge determines an individual’s strength. When we subscribe to the notion that we are worthless without belonging to a group, we diminish the creation of God and God himself.

As CEOs of our lives, we must exercise our free will to live as intended. It is imperative that we strive to fulfill our potential. Our continuous evolution necessitates moderation, as we are works in progress. Decisions driven to extremes should be tempered by an understanding of our ongoing development. My aim is to address individuals directly, urging us all to embrace moderation by seeking the right knowledge. Extremes offer no solution for individual success or societal prosperity.

Just as you cannot judge an entire book by its cover, an incomplete building, or an unfinished artwork, humanity is still evolving. We will make mistakes and achieve greatness, but our aim should always be improvement, not regression. Strong egos often lead to extreme decisions. Embracing our imperfections allows us to continue growing, whereas believing our knowledge is superior breeds egotistical extremism.

There is nothing inherently wrong with being religious, but prioritizing religion above all else can be problematic. For instance, it is nonsensical to harm a loved one simply because they do not adhere to your way of life.

The necessity of eating to sustain life, showing love, and caring for family members is as real as it gets. God resides in a different realm of existence. When one goes without food for days, hallucinations can occur, regardless of belief in God. Whether or not one believes in God, it does not cause harm, but losing a loved one is profoundly painful. Going without food can have physical repercussions, a stark reality. Belief systems, however, are mental constructs that can be altered with new knowledge and are therefore unstable. The existence of multiple religions and the conflicts they engender serve as evidence of this instability. Why do we fight over differing beliefs?

God cannot be blamed, as individuals have been endowed with free will. It is our responsibility to utilize this gift to navigate mortal life. Perhaps the reason for the existence of different religious texts is that we are not equipped to handle all knowledge simultaneously. Stubbornness, emotions, and strong group affiliations may lead us to cling to the politics of our respective groups, denying the validity of others. Alternatively, perhaps God has a plan for humanity to play a role in ushering in the Day of Judgment or to continue evolving alongside the human race until we reach our full potential.

The concept of God’s existence coexists with the human race. If we were to all kill each other, it wouldn’t just hurt the human race; logically, it would also harm God’s existence. The question arises: would God allow that? As an optimistic individual, I believe human beings will come to their senses and transcend the political boundaries of their respective religions to embrace spirituality.

The writing of different religious texts implies that God created a competitive environment so that we can come to understand what I am discussing and take charge. After millennia of killing each other over incomplete knowledge, it should teach us that there is more to comprehend about life. It’s time to change course and ascend higher on the ladder of potential.

Following and succumbing to group politics has led us to a crossroads of spirituality. We must choose whether to remain in our pigeonholes, continuing to kill each other as we have done, or to emerge from our insecurities and alter the course of our journey and its outcome.

God would surely rejoice to see the creation finally grasp it. Human power, individually and collectively, is beyond our imagination and understanding until we reach our potential. Consider a street bum who becomes a billionaire; we are in the process of gaining power and understanding, so we cannot claim that our knowledge is complete.

God is co-authoring this new book with the help of human beings. How it ends remains a mystery, so we cannot anticipate doom and gloom. We must remain optimistic and hopeful. If we understand that there is more to learn, we should be humble about our existing knowledge. Humility leads to tolerance, acceptance, and harmony. At that stage, we can transcend the boundaries of religions and delve deep into the realm of spirituality, where God is not a monster who punishes, burns, and kills. There are no rewards or punishments in spirituality, no politics of right or wrong, only the raw and simple truth that humans are the third factor capable of making decisions with the free will given by God, even to change destiny. Could this mean we can alter the day of destruction or judgment? Perhaps, if we get our act together and cease digging a grave for humanity by producing and using weapons of mass destruction.

The knowledge of human emotions is not fully understood; we still need to put things in perspective. We love our loved ones, we love people around us, and we love God through our respective religions. There is nothing wrong with this until we become entangled in picking and choosing. If you prioritize God, people, or loved ones over others, you have a problem. God has addressed this issue by granting you the free will to balance it all. You cannot simply choose God over your loved ones or let people become so powerful that you sacrifice or harm your loved ones to maintain societal standing. Everyone and everything has its place in our lives. Ultimately, it is the individual who decides how to live a personal life.

The need for God has always existed, but egotistical human beings have consistently denied it, and continue to do so. Not everyone possesses the innate talent of Mozart, who could play brilliant music as a child without any formal education; therefore, we should not attempt to wield Godly power with our limited understanding. Recognizing the importance of the silence between musical notes is crucial for orchestrating the melody of our lives. It’s imperative for us to acknowledge God’s presence to transform our lives from egotistical noise into rhythmic harmony.

Why do you dance with such fervor and passion when you’re uncertain about the other side? By undervaluing yourself, you diminish the status bestowed upon you by God.

Imagine this: God sits in a jungle He has created, surrounded by trillions of dollars worth of power. However, this power means nothing to God if there’s no one to benefit from it. While you can create anything you desire, the true value only emerges when there’s someone to appreciate it, and that someone cannot be yourself. The value of a stone is determined by human desire. Sensing something missing, God created humans differently from other creations, endowing them with Godly power akin to a mere five dollars, yet with the potential to reach higher. This five-dollar power is sufficient for survival, but humans crave more of it because it’s intoxicating. As the demand for more grew, God granted higher power to select individuals like prophets, who taught their people how to utilize it.

Imagine you have five dollars, enough to craft a raft and navigate yourself across a river. However, if you and your group pool your resources, you can build a bridge for the benefit of everyone. Comfort, love, care, and security are all desirable but come with a price, and that price is politics.

As humans learned to collaborate, group politics began to evolve. Today, rampant competition has led some human groups to deny the existence of God. Just because God does not intervene does not justify denying His existence. Humans and God are like negative and positive wires, illuminating the bulb of knowledge together. God’s work is carried out through humans, and every good deed is backed by God. It’s not just about the action; it’s the thought preceding it. And where do those thoughts originate? You cannot stop at thoughts or actions; the ability to deny oneself and help others is a Godly gift bestowed upon humans.

If you ask the deniers, they only see the enormity of the earth and space but forget to understand the importance of the eyes and the abilities of the human brain, which enable them to see.

God created humans with the capacity to evolve; every cell of our bodies is a witness to God. You push a muscle, it grows; you get an infection, your immune system becomes sophisticated; you push to learn, your brain grows neurons; toxicity makes the liver larger; running makes the heart more efficient, and so on. Is that a coincidence? And why are there no limits? To me, it is as clear as it can get: we are here to evolve, and no religious boundaries can stop it.

Why isn’t God there to hand out everything you want, whenever you want? Ask a dad whose kids are grown up and don’t want to leave the house, don’t want to work, and always depend on him. Look at the birds: they have to go every morning to find food. They are supplied with the food, but it is not put into their mouths, nor are they given a nest.

If we are given five bucks’ worth of free will, we are all capable of surviving. But these days, survival is not enough, because our societies or our belonging groups make us feel that we are weak and incapable of surviving with our individual five bucks. The social fabric is not strong if everybody has a dominating sense of freedom, so logically, belonging groups or societies feel threatened.

Since the group is weaker in smaller numbers, insecurities encourage recruitment and multiplying, yet discourage individual strength. The sense of belonging is heavily promoted, and the sense of freedom is discouraged, even if individuals have been punished or shunned.

Both the sense of belonging and the sense of freedom are ingrained in us by God, and free will is given to us to create the balance to live a happy life. If you don’t understand the value of your “five bucks” or your free will, you are colorless and very easy to take on the color that your belonging group enforces you to have, which means you value yourself less than what God meant for you.

As individuals, we all should ask ourselves this question: What are we created as, sheep or humans? Should we let the politics of our belonging group demote us to sheep, or should we stand up to question the fear-based politics?

Does this make the individual out of religion? Definitely yes, if he/she belongs to an organized religion, but he/she certainly connects with spirituality. I don’t disregard any wisdom but extremes, and humans have a tendency to carry personal beliefs to extremes whether they are based on personal spirituality or organized religion.

Holy books consist of life’s wisdom, but they undermine humans’ free will and related abilities. My intention is to teach what humans have not learned from the holy books, because it is time to take the next step towards our potential. So we need to pull ourselves beyond the group politics and seek the real essence of God’s creation; the real reason why in a human being, God put the ability to disobey God at times. Today is the time for humans to use that ability to say no to group politics, even if it is connected to the holy books.

Human beings are created with free will for a reason. No matter how insignificant one is, the choice-making power is a power which makes a human superior to warrior ants and worker bees. Those creatures are compelled by their genetics alone. There is a verse from a poem by the Poet of the East, Dr. Allama Iqbal, in Urdu, that says, and I quote:

“Elevate yourself so high that before any fate, God comes to the human to ask what is your wish?”

With the blessing of free will, we can even override our genetics. Sure, we can’t take all the credit because of the dependency on oxygen, but what happens after we take that breath is the will of a CEO.

If we look at our boundaries, none of them are created by God. Believe me, if they were from God, none of us would be able to break them. Just like there is a boundary for birds to fly in space, or for other creatures to fly. But for us, there is no boundary. We fly in space even though we don’t have wings.

Most boundaries are made by human beings out of fear, control, or a special wisdom. Control and fear-based boundaries have been used by religions, but this special wisdom sets the rhythm of triangular balance to adapt to the speed at which we can absorb and understand knowledge without going to extremes. For instance, look at our school system. We teach kids in grades. Ever wonder why? Each one of us has a certain way of understanding things. And a good teacher knows how to tap into one’s potential. Knowing what rhythm works for a particular kid is wisdom in itself.

I may use the same bunch of exercises for my clients, but it is never the same for all. If you believe that if it works for Tom, it works for Harry, then sooner or later you will run into problems. Using the same methods you have learned may not work all the time. Making or breaking boundaries has been a part of our evolving nature and history, but they were never from God. God actually encourages us to follow our potential by staying elusive.

A group of people, a community, a country, even a religion becomes an entity just like God when it starts to look after its sick and hungry individuals. In return, the individual grows a strong sense of belonging, which sometimes can call for sacrifice, even for one’s life. This loyal nature is in the foundation of the strong sense of belonging which compels the individual to deny him/herself for the betterment of the belonging group, but this belonging group should be the whole humanity.

Just like kids expect to be fed by their parents even after they have become adults, if you believe that God is doing everything, you will stay behind with the expectation to be fed and looked after by God. If you start to take responsibility and help the helping hand, you serve the duty that God has created you for. God needs human strength to deal with God’s affairs. You can stay as hands down or become a helping hand by choice. This choice is beyond any religion or group’s political system. It is purely between God and the individual, thus a spiritually aware being is a CEO.

The prayers and sacrifice of any kind relate to pleasing God, thus prayers and sacrifice should always be related to the real thing. Helping other human beings or even other creatures without any strings attached to convert or conform to our beliefs, because the reality is spirituality, not religion. All religions started with the foundation of spirituality but fell victim to the politics of belonging to one particular group.

As human beings, we are here to reciprocate. There is no doubt that we are alive because of the oxygen which is provided to us and it’s out of our control, thus God is needed internally and externally to keep our machine running without any glitch. The biggest thing we need to understand is the importance of the human being, that he/she is running God’s affairs too. Our helping work for God is to help each other, digging in deeper for our potential to become what God had intended. God may have created us to manifest God himself so our work for God, like fulfilling someone’s prayers, is equal to prayers and sacrifice. If we help others, it is spiritual and closer to God more than any prayers. If your prayers to God are more important than actually helping someone in need, you have to set your priorities straight and look at what God values more. Insisting parents and society to get people to pray is mostly political conforming efforts make the individual belong to the belonging group. If you ask why? the answer would be, “just do it”.

The truest form of spirituality lies in helping others. Nothing is closer to God’s heart than the spiritual growth of ordinary people. God doesn’t punish those who miss a prayer. Those who claim otherwise are simply trying to control people through fear.

Discovering your own abilities and hidden potential is not disobeying God. In fact, it might make some controlling religious leaders uncomfortable. Following your potential and digging deep to discover your talents is actually fulfilling God’s will. It might seem unconventional, but God created us with the capacity for independent growth.

Throughout history, even under strict religious codes, humanity has progressed. Modern humans need to move beyond authoritarian, conservative, and powerful influences. Instead, we should embrace the logic of God, science, evolution, and human politics. This means taking charge of our lives and fulfilling the responsibilities God has placed upon us.

If you are someone who simply follows orders, consider this: you are an individual with a direct connection to God and spirituality, not just a religion, a sense of belonging, or the politics that surround it. Embrace true spirituality, and it will clear away the fog created by clinging to a sense of belonging. This will help you avoid committing what many religions might call “spiritual crimes.”

Here are some additional edits I made:

I replaced “dearer” with “closer to heart” for a more natural flow.

I replaced “man” with “people” to be more inclusive.

I changed “may send chills down the spines” to “might make some controlling religious leaders uncomfortable” for a more respectful tone.

I rephrased “following and digging in for your potential” for clarity.

I replaced “drink of God and spirituality” with “embrace true spirituality” for a more metaphorical approach.

When I was in Pakistan, I saw some people with small heads, usually found where people gave food and money to the poor as charity. At that time, there was no knowledge of the Zika virus, so it’s not something new. Today, we’re trying to connect it with the virus, but back then, it was accepted as fate. I have no scientific knowledge, and I’m not going to assume, but I understand that people would blame God and accept it rapidly as fate, considering themselves insignificant and helpless.

Looking back in history, from plague to Ebola to Zika, all kinds of human diseases have been controlled or eradicated by human beings with scientific knowledge, not by the prayers of religious leaders. Religion, or spirituality, can be one of the best medicines for suffering human beings because it delves deep into the cause of ailments. Several disorders are connected to stress, and stress is usually related to individual thoughts.

Where I’m going with this is, if you have knowledge of the Zika virus coupled with ultrasound, you can see what’s going on inside the human body. If there’s something wrong with the baby, should you follow the advice of the religious leader or the scientist?

I personally believe God is living through us, so logically, I am against abortion. But if millions of babies are born with Zika, it can be a real threat not only to humanity but to God’s existence as well. That’s why I don’t take a firm stance against abortion in special circumstances because God functions with functioning human beings, thus it’s a right move by the United Nations to make it an international emergency.

The internet, space station, and our diseases all point toward an urgent need for religions, scientists, communities, and the ordinary individual to work together instead of bickering. I feel there’s a tug of war between religions and the scientific community to win over the individual. The scientific community has been working hard to convince individuals that religions are not the true way of life. This is an egotistic assumption. Our knowledge is not complete, so we can’t assume that science is the only way to go. In some cultures, it has its followers, but then again, we have billions of people following their religions religiously. The problem is that both extremes should think about the usability of brainpower. There’s a lot of scientifically unproven knowledge yet proven to help, like the placebo effect, spirituality, God, love, and a whole lot of emotional issues we don’t really understand but strongly feel.

Lately, it’s become more pronounced that nature is asking us to work together spiritually instead of religiously or nationally for humanity. My question to people like Donald Trump is, how do you create walls for these kinds of problems? We’re a lot more connected to each other than we think. You can make the walls, but you can’t protect yourself in a glass bowl or an iron dome because we die from the inside out as well as from the outside. Divisions only make us vulnerable; working together is a necessity, not a choice.

In Pakistan, we use a term called “goomraah.” If anybody starts to think outside of the box, questions the status quo, or challenges the necessity of certain boundaries, passionate extremists will call them “goomraah.” I find it very interesting that those people who question and challenge are the ones who find new pathways to new worlds, new directions, and inventions that are helpful to humanity, helping humanity move forward and evolve. Yet they are called “goomraah.” The question is, why does one have to lose their way to find the way? A good CEO knows that you don’t have to be imprisoned by an ideology to be free. You can’t judge if you’re blindfolded by the influences of politics related to belonging groups; you have to be an individual who is free and a CEO. Real freedom resides in justice for all departments of life, self, and others around, including God because we are more than the body, even more than the soul, because the soul has to experience this life by living with the body. We interact with a whole lot of other people in the same situation but with different belief systems. Everyone is a package of body, soul, life story, future plans, past history, and present circumstances. If we all identify ourselves with just the body or soul, it’s not enough because of our mortality. The body eventually gets old and dies, and the soul has to leave; thus, beauty, power, and job title should not be the basis of real happiness. If one finds happiness in these things, that happiness is ego-related.

I can be the biggest proponent of individualism, and my whole theme is to strengthen the individual, but my purpose behind all that is to strengthen humanity as a whole because I believe if the thread is strong, the fabric can be real strong.

Originally, human beings are compelled to gather together because of their social nature and security, but in the process, they gave up important elements of their individuality. In return for their contribution to society, it was their right to be protected and provided for by their society. Human beings grouped together and gravitated towards the areas of the world which provided the most comfort and richest resources. This need for survival, resources, and security has been going on for as long as societies have existed.

Today, if you look at societies, people are molded and brainwashed to follow customs and traditions regardless of the evolution of time. Every society judges others as inferior to them because of the education passed on through the generations. Religious people think that since they pray and sacrifice for God, they will go to heaven, and all others who don’t follow their way of living will go to hell.

The other extremists think that it’s backward to even think about the existence of God. Either way, they try to mold their young ones to the way they have been living. Right or wrong is not easily judged by the individual because of common and accepted views of the societies they belong to. That is the fundamental cause of prejudice in an individual’s life and human societies simultaneously. This flawed education system has been haunting humans since the dawn of civilization, yet it all starts at home.

If the individual has to live in a society, the rules have to be followed. The personal view of a mortal being is not valued even by the individual. For instance, western liberated women would not even think twice to be like eastern women because of their ways of living, and eastern women would think that being wild and liberated is against their values. Both sides look down at each other because of their upbringing, which is influenced by their respected societies. Social influences dictate even personal values; there is very little focus on personal happiness and contentment, which is very dangerous for a mortal being individually.

A while back, I picked up a Christian magazine called Awake April 22, 1993, just wanted to read about the religion’s role in Man’s wars. The start of the article says (quote) “There has never been a people that did not have some form of religion,” says “The World Book of Encyclopedia (1970 edition).” Yet historians Will and Ariel Durant wrote: war is one of the constants of history. Are those two constants, war and religion, somehow connected? Indeed throughout history, war and religion have been inseparable.”

On the next page, it says Anne Fremantle wrote in the book

“Age of Faith”: Quote, “Of all the wars men have waged, none have been more zealously undertaken than those on behalf of a faith. And of these ‘holy wars,’ none have been bloodier and more protracted than the Christian Crusades of the Middle Ages.” End quote.

Since I’m on the subject, I have to mention another author who wrote in Time magazine on April 25th, 2011. Jon Meacham writes an article titled “Is Hell Dead?” He writes about Rob Bell, who is a Pastor of the Mars Hill Bible Church, and I quote: “When we get to what happens when we die, we don’t have any video footage,” says Bell. “So let’s at least be honest that we are speculating, because we are.” End quote.

These kinds of discussions are needed for the ordinary individual, so we all can stand up, judge, and ask questions about our own group politics, instead of following it like sheep.

The individual has been domesticated by all societies according to their social agreement. This has created repercussions for the individual. They have been made to feel inadequate and dependent. They are taught that God, religion, politics, and society itself are more important than the individual. When you become part of a group or a gang, you become inferior. Yet society is created by and made up of individuals. It is the individual’s responsibility to do justice to the belonging group and to him/herself at the same time.

We need to create balance inside the individual so that the individual will not be corrupted by or affected by group politics. That individual is my ideal CEO. If we let ourselves be treated like cattle, we cannot even dream of the potential God has in store for us. Religions have been the stepping stones to create a proper speed to evolve and adopt changes gradually; they are not the end, spirituality is.

I believe that we each come into the world with the right to live in peace and raise our children without any dangers to ourselves and our generations. Our human rights should surpass any religious opinion, regardless of our country, race, gender, or sexual orientation. We have to grow as the world turns. There is no inferior or superior human race. It is all one spiritual entity, the life force which is carried by the individual or who carries the individual. At that level, everybody is the same; you could vary in size, gender, sexual orientation, color, race, nation, or religion, but the fact remains the same: we all bleed and die the same way, or if you want to look at it scientifically, it is proven genetically connected by the carbon.

I am an idealist. I see the world with my idealist eyes that do not recognize the lines and boundaries of a political group or, in general, today’s world. There are no political lines in the natural and physical world. These boundary lines are created either from our territory-marking animal side or by the weaker individual who gave up his individual liberty and potential powers to the group politics in order to attain security.

If we look at our evolution in other areas of life, we should have evolved in our security department too. This is not only for security but for comfort and development as well. Human beings are social creatures. We cannot live alone or without the earth. Humans are not endangered as much from external elements as from each other with our weapons and wars and the potential annihilation. By creating the socio-political boundaries called society, country, and religion, are we really doing any good for our security, or are we going against it?

In society, every law and order and every religion has at least started on the basis of justice, yet it gets complicated and compromised by group politics. Most of today’s problems are related to issues of injustice. Whether it is somebody’s land being taken or somebody was killed and revenge is sought for the love loss. It all comes down to people seeking justice for a wrong done to them. In order to attain peace, whether external or internal, you have to seek not to do the things that you do not want done to you. You have to live a just life. If you start living with yourself that way, you will let others live that way also. A good CEO is judged by the actions, so it is important to establish the identity as an individual, so when it comes to decision-making, you don’t just follow the order.

If you are told to kill an innocent individual on the name of God, you have to think logically that certain realities should stay in the forefront. God is a reality no one understands one hundred percent, so no one should kill an innocent individual because that is a physical reality. You can’t kill someone over a reality you don’t understand, so listening to a politically charged leader is a self-demotion from your CEO status.

Since God is an alcohol for humans just like catnip for a cat, it is important to have the understanding for our free will because we enjoy it and even by choice, we get drunk on it. It’s a known fact that drinking to get drunk is destructive for the individual and the surrounding people. With free will, we are supposed to be a CEO of our lives and evolve as the time and the world evolves around us. It’s one’s duty to understand how to be a CEO of his/her life.

The basic facts of life include that we are mortal individually yet we always break world records, discover new things and technologies, and inventions for our comfort all the time. Looking at the human brain and the body, it all points towards limitless potential. We are like the ocean; you can’t see the seashore when you go in the middle of it. And that is the reason I believe that God lives through the human and evolves as we evolve. Sure, as a single cell, we are just a part of the bigger picture, but the strength of the fabric depends on the thread.

The knowledge of the past is researched by us today. Regardless of proven wrong over and over, we still kill each other and claim being right. Egyptians took their belongings with them, believing that they would need them in the afterlife. Today, we excavate their tombs and research their lives and belief systems. Yet we still believe in the afterlife without a doubt. Does this mean we should not believe in the afterlife? I still believe, but not in the same way. I leave the unknown as unknown. We will learn more as we evolve to our potential. In the meantime, we should know one thing for a fact: we should not fight over and kill each other passionately over what is unknown.

Religious stories and political disagreements can start secondary groups within larger ones. For example, the Shia faith was created as a sect of Islam after a political war. These religious stories are like wounds nobody wants to heal. A person who carries past wounds robs his/her own happiness, sometimes for life. It is hard for me to understand why a whole society can’t see that if past wounds can rob an individual of happiness, what kind of devastating effects it can have on a group of people, unless there are people who benefit from the politics of division.

Collectively, we should have the knowledge to heal the individual and society. The individual should know by now that political entities reap benefits from these continuous conflicts. If you keep scratching the wound, it does not heal, even after thousands of years. We are still passionate about the atrocities done to our group by the other group. Regardless of every religious teaching of forgiveness and forgetting to carry on to the future, human societies should evolve from the politics of divisions, bring peace to the present, and forge into the future as an evolving entity for the better. Just look at the Syrian conflict and its toll; it’s a prime example of the sense of belonging to a group. The remedy is not more bombing; it is the individual awakening with the knowledge of belonging to humanity as a whole.

Genghis Khan, Hitler, Hiroshima, Darfur, and countless other past histories show that humans have the capacity to forgive and carry on, to excel and evolve. An individual having troubles in life with past experiences, anxiety, depression, or mental health issues is one thing; you deal with the medicine and counseling. But when nations or races have problems, we need to come up with evolved thinking as international counseling for evolved solutions.

How is it better or different if one religion worships stones and another throws stones at the stones? The idea is the same: if you believe in one, you must believe in the other. If you say, “I am throwing stones at the Devil,” it may be a tradition, but you must critically examine traditions and customs because things are changing rapidly—just look at the cell phone in your pocket. I don’t want to break the stones of faith with my pen, but I do want to break the ideologies that make individuals feel so inferior, small, insignificant, and brainwashed that they are willing to kill innocents over the customs and traditions of their faith.

If you violate the rules of spirituality and human rights just because your ancestors did, you don’t have to continue that injustice. If you are unable or unwilling to change, you are not evolving with the times, even if you have changed in other areas of your life. From your cars to cell phones to the medicine you take for diabetes or mental health issues, you are clearly evolving, but you can’t change or amend anything related to your religious beliefs. I believe one fundamental change is necessary in all faith systems in the name of spirituality: the politics of prejudice, which undermines equality and human rights.

The belief that one’s religion is the best and only way to God, that you can’t go to heaven unless you choose that religion, is a fundamental cause of wars and spiritual crimes. All religions need to change, even if it’s hard to amend these constitutions. Religious leaders must speak for human rights and spirituality instead of politics. The statement “Our religion is better than all others” is a political one that needs amendments to meet the needs of the time.

Today’s news says that conservatives are dropping their policy against gay marriage. Sure, it’s politics—after all, it is a political party. You can’t stay archaic in governance and expect to get elected unless you lie. If people don’t change, they are left behind—simple and straightforward. You can’t have human rights in the constitution and violate them with political policies. You will be challenged in court, and as we’ve seen, conservatives have failed several times when standing against the justice system.

I will make the case for the need for individuals to evolve in all areas of life simultaneously because if we stray from the truth as individuals, we will face a spiritual dilemma sooner or later. Human rights are directly tied to truth and spirituality. When a religion steps away from spirituality, it ends up in the political zone where human rights are violated.

Islam says that if you kill one innocent human being, it is as if you have killed all of humanity. Now, look around the world and see how many innocent people have been killed by terrorist attacks and bombings. Where do governments and terrorist leaders find the politics to justify that? There is capital punishment for innocents just because they belong to a group we are at war with—no trial needed. Guilt by association means even children are collateral damage. How did we fall this low? Here we are, evolved and working against capital punishment for murderers to avoid executing an innocent person, yet indiscriminate bombing from both sides is justified.

Now, look back at the history of religions and see how many people have been killed in the name of God. There’s no way to tally that. Our politics has taken all religions hostage and wreaked havoc on innocent human individuals. Religious people say God will punish you by putting you in hell. I wholeheartedly disagree. If God were punishing, God would start with religious people first for their egoistic extremism.

It is up to us as individuals to learn from our evolution and step into the next level. This next level is crucial for our coming generations because we may not exist otherwise. By becoming the CEO of our lives, we may have to cross the lines of our sense of belonging. As populations change, there will be discomfort and unrest, which has been happening worldwide. This is the price individuals pay for growth because it does not come easy.

Have you ever seen a cat trying to catch a laser beam? Playing with my daughter’s cat triggered my thought process for this article. Humans are entertained by it, but a cat lacks comprehension and tries to chase it without success. Hypothetically, imagine two or more cats getting into a real fight over the laser beam. You, on the other hand, are amused by the cats’ lack of understanding. Now imagine someone shaking their head over us killing each other, regardless of our comprehension or understanding of God.

Picture yourself like the cats running around chasing something you don’t really understand and getting into fights, even killing each other over the laser beam. For cats, the laser beam is a reality to chase. For us, God is that laser beam. There is nothing wrong with believing in something beyond our understanding, but when we start to kill each other over God or belief systems, it makes us less evolved than the cat. God is in the vicinity of the laser; thus, fighting over it is fighting over assumptions. As we evolve, we will understand more. Just like we know more about lasers than cats, we may know more about God as we evolve. But until then, we should keep our sense of belonging in check.

Logically speaking, God, law and order, ethics, and morals are all closely related to a full stomach. Blaming an individual’s devilish acts and judging and punishing them is an easy way out or the politics of black and white. This blame has long tentacles, reaching deep into our past and current governing systems.

If we have a system set up with ethics, morals, religious beliefs, and even our justice system of law and order, which allows the world’s resources to end up in the hands of one percent of the population, something is wrong at the core of the system. There is no individual to blame, but there is a lot to point to in the system that works against human nature. Naturally, we all are aware of our mortality. Spiritually speaking, we should live this life as temporary beings, which logically should make us humble and nice to each other. Yet, it has gone the opposite way. The more insecure we feel, the more we hoard and compile our savings. Charities dry up with individuals’ personal insecurities.

Personally, I would suggest a poverty and health tax on all sales worldwide. I know I am thinking as an idealist, but spiritually speaking, if we are honest and want the planet and its residents to be healthy with full stomachs and the same purpose in life, we can have fewer crimes and diseases of all kinds. The problem is our sense of belonging to our groups, nations, and religions. If we shift it and belong to humanity as a whole, we can change the whole picture, even the predictions of our holy books.

There was a time when religious people threw innocent virgins as offerings to God, and the sati tradition in India, where a widow had to be burnt alive with her husband’s dead body. We have come a long way, but we still throw stones at stones and even worship stones. We must fix our personal problems by taking individual responsibility. Hiding behind religious traditions and customs to blame the Devil is pure politics. You do the deed and blame the Devil or even God. When we start to take our responsibilities as a CEO, we know deep inside whom to blame.

It is all about education, education, and education of spirituality, not about the business or political side of religion. It is all about the individual who takes charge of their actions, putting everything into the departments of life. Yes, even sense of belonging, God, Devil, religions, society, and family—they all are departments of a CEO’s life. One must juggle through all the departments of life to run the show. You are not the least important; you are the most important figure in your life.

If you feel you are not up to the task, you undermine the CEO inside you. Your potential has been tainted by the education you have received, and your feelings of inferiority stem from the sense of belonging to a group. When you join spirituality instead of one particular religion, you start to look at yourself as directly connected to the entity above and beyond all human groups. Your present comprehension has been, is, and will be kept down unless you start to seek your own melody. It will not only be good for you individually but also for humanity around you.

If you seek something missing in your life and end up in one particular religion, you are actually seeking spirituality but may buy into the politics of belonging. Every religion promises heaven to suck you into their political business. There is a clear and present danger of losing your identity. If you are seeking, it already means you need guidance, but what guidance?

Your goal should be spirituality. If you are trying to secure yourself physically, you may end up losing your spirituality. I don’t claim that religions can’t provide spirituality, but depending on your vulnerabilities and personal emotional insecurities, you could be used politically. It’s your responsibility to be a CEO who understands the politics of belonging.

If you remove the politics of belonging, you will automatically find what you have been looking for. For instance, if you are born into a Muslim family, you are Muslim by birth. The same goes for all other religions. If you think your religion is better than all others without understanding or research, you made that judgment because of your sense of belonging. If you can remove that judgment, you are already in the spiritual zone. First, you are assessing right and wrong. Second, you can respect others as human beings.

I believe if you are born into any religion, you don’t have to change, and no one should force you to change your religion because it is not about belonging to a group—it is about spirituality, God, and humanity. Spirituality is like the internet, and religions are like computers plugged into the internet. The internet and spirituality have no boundaries and carry infinite potential.

If you feel insignificant, it’s not the vastness of the boundless internet or spirituality—it’s what you feel inside. If you feel weak and vulnerable inside, it is because you have bought into the education you have received. It is like knowing only one computer without a connection to the internet or a pond with boundaries. You may feel bigger and more important in small settings like religions and nations, but in reality, you carry space and even God within you. Look at yourself a little deeper, see how you function, and understand who you really are.

Consider how you have progressed to figure out the paths of storms, how you can fly into space without wings, swim in the depths of the oceans without gills, and dig deeper into the earth further than any creature without claws. If you still don’t get it, look at your ability to see the space outside you and the baby inside you without ripping yourself open. You understand infections, live twice as long as in the past, and communicate with each other like magic.

If you understand yourself to the point that you know the reasons behind your free will and the triangle of God, Devil, and you, you will find yourself in a different world. You will respect yourself as part of God who can’t be bribed, promised, or manipulated by the fear of hell.

Join and stick to the spiritual part of your religion. Understand the politics of belonging, then and only then will you find inner and outer peace. If you buy into the politics, you will end up in the philosophy of the carrot and stick, which works for physical beings only. We are spiritual as well, so that philosophy is wrong for evolved individuals. You pray to God not out of fear of hell but to reciprocate, which is practical prayer—useful to God, you, and humanity simultaneously. If you pray or fast for the greed of heaven, you are taking away from reciprocation, which is your duty. You are also spiritually unaware of the whole picture and the purpose of your life.

There is a difference between worshiping, praying, and reciprocating equally. It is up to you to know where you stand. Are you insignificant and born a sinner, or are you the third equation? Choose your education. Feel what is right for you and know who you really are—a physical body or part of God’s body. The answer is within you, so seek within. Your education may not be leading you in the right direction, so choose and use your free will and the status of a CEO, which you have been granted but may have sold in the name of personal security and control, of which you have none due to your mortality.

If you see a blackhead or a whitehead on your face, you might try to pick or squeeze it to get rid of the pus, feeling cleaner and better, sometimes for others and sometimes for your own comfort. Ever wonder if you have the same kind of problem on your spiritual face? Would you pick at it to get rid of the infection or nurture it? Squeezing the pus out of it frees and relieves you from what can lead to spiritual crimes. Therefore, squeezing the pus out of your spiritual pimples would be helpful to your mortal life.

Prejudice is like a spiritual ailment taught by most religions, nations, and races. From race to religion, from nations to sports, and personal relationships, it exists everywhere because of our flawed ancestral education systems. Our ancestors were brought up with it, and we learned to follow, but it did not get us anywhere. Thus, we need to dig out the dead dog of our problems so our coming generations don’t have to keep living with it.

If we don’t assume and make intellectual guesses, we would not evolve and grow our knowledge. Whether it be racism, nationalism, or religious extremism, we would never come out of it and evolve to the next level of our potential, especially if we ignore equal human rights. When it comes to spirituality, we have to find creative and new ways to help humanity, even if it means crossing boundaries created by our ancestors, whether they be race, color, nation, or religion.

Giving something to the poor is a good deed that makes you feel good deep inside, but it is not good enough. We should try to work against the causes of poverty and disease. Why is the person on the street? You can easily judge and be prejudiced against them, but first, you should be appreciative of not being in their shoes because it doesn’t take much to fall out of good mental health. I am not saying that everyone on the street has mental health issues, but I would not be surprised if there is a high number.

Many people claim that it is not their responsibility to look after the poor and sick. Some are even against others helping the poor. There is a belief that it is a choice to be poor. To them, I would say, always remember there is a physical side of life and a spiritual side, and then it is you who has to create the balance for your well-being in all areas of life. Whether it be physical, mental, emotional, psychological, or spiritual, it takes all of them to complete a human being. If you happen to be functioning well, you are blessed. Whenever you feel judgmental, picture yourself in their shoes. It will put things into perspective for you because no one has control over their birth. You could be born in the slums of poor countries or even war-torn areas. If you are in a position to judge, you should consider yourself lucky by birth because you had the opportunity to work to get ahead. No matter which way you cut it, you are strong, working, and able to judge others because you have had help.

If you come to life as a vulnerable person who needs help to the point that you can’t even hold your head up, and your parents help you to get stronger, they got help from the community and the society they belonged to, where they could work and be secure enough to help you. President Obama got in trouble when he commented about the help rich people got from society through means of roads, bridges, and cities already built for them.

Life is not as simple or black and white as it is simplified by religious people. God is good and gives you good things; the Devil is bad and corrupts you. You can say God is doing everything, thus all your actions are done because of God. Remember “God willing,” it will happen, or “I would do it if God allows me to do it.” When someone does something, he/she is judged and punished by religious people harshly. Just remember these people believe even a leaf on the tree can’t move without the will of God, but they punish people harshly for petty crimes. Most religious societies believe in capital punishment. If it were up to them, they would still stone people to death for committing adultery. If you join a new religion, your previous sins would be forgiven, and you will start a new life. Sounds like a good deal, or Prophet Jesus died for our sins, so we are good to go. If you are given a way out, you would feel good and follow the religion, yet just look around at the spiritual crime rate and social insecurities. Are we falling apart, or have religious systems failed us miserably?

When it comes to the Devil, it becomes tricky. You can become a little politician and claim that the Devil made you do it, so you take no responsibility for your bad deeds. The trouble is that if you believe in God, you have to believe in the Devil as well because you have to be able to judge the good and the bad. If one is not there, you can’t compare, thus you can’t really understand the importance of good or bad. If you believe them as they are believed by religions, you lose yourself as an individual and take yourself out of the equation. A big disconnect in this area is that if the man is not there, the physicality of both God and the Devil disappears because the judge and the doer in deeds is the man, thus good and bad sides lose their meanings. If you don’t understand, look at the triangle I made on the main page; it will help you understand the importance of the human individual. You are the third equation; if you are not there, the triangle falls apart because the good and the bad disappear with the judge and doer. You may say that God and the Devil would still exist, but would they mean anything to anyone? Their importance exists with the physical side of it, and without man, I can’t see that happening.

If you have no say and mean nothing in the bigger picture, there is a disconnect in your part. So assume your responsibilities and become the CEO of your life. It has always been, is, and will always be up to the individual to understand his/her importance; otherwise, you are meaningless.

Whenever I talk about the sense of belonging, politics, and religion, I am always talking about the political side of it. Spirituality is present in all religions and groups, so I believe whenever there are gatherings of some sort, there will be politics. So it is the individual’s responsibility to sort things out. He/she can do it, but first, you have to become a CEO so you can do justice to all, including yourself. You can judge yourself, especially if you feel you are being biased or prejudiced. If you have anything against another group, you have to be able to judge your group as well. Remember, justice is for all. In spirituality, there is no us and them; there is only one entity. You can call it God or humanity; either way, it is one body, and we are all its cells. Color, gender, race, nation, or religion don’t matter. The purpose is one, and that is the well-being and survival of the entity.

The divide comes from the sense of belonging, and we all feel connections to our families, communities, nations, and religions. So the CEO has a tough job ahead to do justice, especially when he/she has to stand against his/her own belonging group. The potential of the human individual is so immense that we all underestimate ourselves. Just look at yourself functioning. Ever wonder how you function? Look at even the human cell; it will surprise you with the accuracies of science and, in my opinion, science and spirituality simultaneously. Where did our compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love come from? If you think we have just acquired these things with our civilization, think again and look at the past. How far do you want to go? People still tried to save the lives of others just like today. You can see every now and then on the news that a perfect stranger jumps in to save a life. As human beings, we were spiritually ripened way before our civilization. There are certain things you just can’t install; you come with them like a computer.

The two spaces human lives in: the one up above where our planet seems to be a little rock and then the space inside of every one of us. If you look inside the human cell, you find a space-like place with all the organization. Now imagine we have ten trillion of them and then a hundred trillion bacteria with millions of genes all working for one human individual. So do you still claim that you know everything there is to know? Do you really think you can live just because your doctor put you on a cholesterol-lowering drug or an aspirin? I am not saying that everyone has to believe in God and bow down for mercy to keep alive and give you everything you desire whenever you want. But I am saying the complexity of our being alive is so immense that our understanding is just scratching the surface. We have no idea where we came from, what happens before our birth, and after death. If you do with about twenty percent of your brain power, you are simply following an egotistic way of living.

We come to live this life to enjoy and reciprocate by helping humanity because we all have been helped. It is all about the individual balance. There is nothing wrong with looking for self-interest and enjoying life along the way, but living life in a take, take, and take or using others without reciprocation is a plain wrong philosophy for your inside spiritual being. Living life on the surface will limit the individual to surface living. You can’t feel inner peace and deep happiness, nor can you enjoy the love of being part of humanity. It has been, is, and always will be a choice for the human individual to live life, so the choices you make should be for you.

If you squeeze out the pus of all kinds of prejudice, you will become an evolved being who understands mortal life. Real happiness comes from understanding the inner self. We all should make our temporary journey full of fun for ourselves and reciprocate at the same time. When it’s time to leave and you become vulnerable again and need help, you would get help because you invested in the people around you and in humanity during your strong years. Not only will you feel inner peace, but you will also have a sense of fulfillment.

Times are changing, and obedience to religious rules and authoritarian ways of governing has been changing. But if you look closely, spirituality is still consistent. Canada is bringing in twenty-five thousand Syrians, even though they did not cause the Middle East crisis. Yet Donald Trump wants to ban all Muslims from entering the United States and has a big number of followers.

Liberals came to power because Canadians opted for compassion. Governing a country or a nation is not, and I say it again, it is not like running a business. The vast majority of businesses fail within the first three years. It is not a good comparison or at least not a good example. It is not all about the numbers, nor is it about the ego. It is about running a business of humanity, which requires compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love—all the jewels of spirituality. These are the fundamentals missing in number-oriented business organizations. The dog-eat-dog or cut-throat competitive world of Wall Street gives you a clear picture of a society that lacks or runs without spirituality. Human beings are mortal social creatures. Not only do we need to be replaced by our coming generations to run our societies, but we also need social nurturing. Without it, societies fall apart. Sure, it is very important to have the finances in order, but I believe the human individual is an insecure entity because of the knowledge of mortality. So everyone saves and hoards, thus taking wealth out of circulation, and the majority becomes poor. The understanding of mortality should have us living temporarily, yet it has gone the other way around. It is not only because of the individual; our governments and religions want people to live frugally so they leave more resources behind than they consume during their lifetime. I would love to see people leave their hoarded wealth before passing. The Egyptians took it along as if they would need it in the afterlife, but we have people robbing their tombs for their assets.

When people try to intellectualize God, they often end up making assumptions. My motivation to write this comes from the injustice suffered by innocent individuals caught in the conflicts of their belonging groups. These individuals pay the ultimate price for being part of a group by birth, not by choice. This leaves them with no say in being labeled as part of these groups, even if they disagree with what their group stands for.

Every society has people with vast differences of opinion, but when conflicts arise, bombs fall on everyone regardless of guilt. This means that the politics of groups override individual rights, which I fundamentally disagree with. Where are the human rights we preach so passionately about? The loss of innocent lives and the suffering that follows drive me to complain and blame the world superpowers and even the United Nations. You should not be killed or suffer just because you belong to a certain group or have a certain skin color. I hear talks of carpet bombing or intensifying the killing of “bad” people, but do you really think everyone living in areas where bad groups reside is bad? This labeling mentality harks back to past civilizations when people fought with swords. I stand against the loss of innocent lives, whether from terrorist attacks or bombings. If I can’t stop world events, I can speak against what I believe is unjust.

Back to religious extremism and politics. When a religious person tries to enforce their religion on others, religion immediately turns into politics. The popularity of religions has been due to their spiritual component, and spirituality does not need to be enforced. If it is, then it becomes politics. Religions have been trying to intellectualize spirituality, but in the process, people have lost out to the politics of belonging. If a religion loses its spiritual content, it becomes nothing more than a political system. Spirituality is spirituality. The best way to intellectualize it is to let it help you, let go of judgments, and reap its benefits.

A belief system should help the individual, not harm them. When we try to intellectualize the unknown with our incomplete knowledge, we are bound to fall into assumptions. There’s nothing wrong with that until we start believing in these assumptions passionately, to the point of killing or dying over them. Then there are those who disregard religion and spirituality altogether, another version of passionately extreme intellectualization.

The real intellect is to live this temporary life with wisdom that reduces stress, not only for the individual but for their community as well. This way, we can add quality to our living years. If a belief system can help an individual live with hope, love, and contentment, why not? Who are we to dictate what is right for others when we don’t even know what is right for ourselves? The problem is not belief or disbelief; it is the ego, pride, and honor born out of the sense of belonging.

If you feel you are 100% right, think again and look into history. We have been killing each other over right and wrong since we became aware, and before that, it was just for domination. Could it be that we have illusions of being intellectual beings? If that’s not the case, then why can’t we rid ourselves of social ills? Our animalistic nature still rules; it is a shame because we still kill and dominate each other, especially when religions promote killings and wars passionately. We have been trying to kill our animalistic urges for thousands of years, but domination still goes on. The nature of the beast has not changed despite our intellect. It hasn’t worked because we have denied understanding our nature. We go from one extreme to another, just to go in circles.

Understanding starts with accepting our nature. If we learn more about our animal side, we can actually find inner peace as individuals. If the individual is at peace from within, they can spread that peace all around.

Whether God exists or not, who is right, who is wrong, are we going to hell or heaven? These are fundamental questions, and an evolving organism does not yet have the capacity to understand the whole picture. Thus, no one should choose extremes, especially if our definitions of right and wrong have been changing. We should not assume we are right or wrong. Sure, we need to live with some kind of law and order, but our law and order should be subject to change as we evolve with higher understanding. Our daily living requires intellectual approaches, and God and spirituality should be part of it, even if we can’t understand everything to intellectualize them. As individuals, we can still benefit from being spiritual.

Whether you are an atheist or religious, regardless, you need spirituality because you are part of humanity. When it comes to conflicts, who is right or wrong? You both are wrong because you both assume you are right. All you need is a little spirituality to put things in perspective. If you learn new things every day, your knowledge is still incomplete. If you are arguing, fighting, or killing each other, your assumptions and ego are ruling your life. You need to accept a little spirituality in your heart so you can understand yourself better.

If you are religious and an extremist, always remember your fundamental religious teachings. Universally, the spiritual side of every religion teaches compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love. If you are an atheist, remember that humanity needs your input. You can help others just as well as the religious individual. It’s all about spirituality, and spirituality is not bound by any one ideology. It’s a universal connection, just like the internet; you get what you put into it. It’s not about hell, heaven, or the afterlife; it’s about this life on earth while you are alive and reciprocating. This is not a written exam; it’s practical. How you live your life is going to be judged, not by any external entity, but by you because you are connected with God and humanity as a whole. So it does matter how you live this life. Abiding by the law of the land is not enough; there is an internal order we don’t really understand yet. Making a counter-assumption against an assumption may be driven by a sense of belonging or retaliation, which breeds ego and pride with passion.

You have to learn to be a CEO to create balance, not only in everyday life but in important matters like spirituality and science. Balancing science and spirituality becomes easier if religious extremism and politics are removed. If God consists of us, then anything that helps humanity becomes spirituality. Whether it be spiritual help for the individual or saving a life through science, it’s all spiritual. But a well-established religious leader can label science as the work of the Devil because it comes from a scientist who proudly claims to be an atheist. It has been very easy and convenient to take oneself out of the equation and blame God or the Devil. So be honest with yourself and take responsibility because you have been using your free will for everything else. Why not in this area? Be nice and blame whoever is responsible; don’t hide behind God or the Devil.

A religious individual can judge the scientist as a Devil’s follower, but might be alive themselves because of insulin. The actions of judging and condemning are unspiritual. If there is no complete knowledge about both sides, both sides are under the influence of a strong sense of belonging or the sub-levels of it like ego, pride, and honor.

The pride religious people feel in being followers of any one particular organized religion comes from the education of that belonging religion. Just like some people can have a social drink, but some can become alcoholics, some people can listen to music and say, “Oh, that is a good melody,” but some get up and start to dance depending upon their level of liking. The question is, why do people have different ways of expressing themselves? You can enjoy a smoke or a drink, or you can become addicted to substances. Either way, you have to know your tolerance to avoid harm to yourself and others around you. If you can see or feel that your religion has the same effects on you, you need to become a CEO to protect yourself and others from your out-of-control behaviors.

How, when, and where did the rules of prayers and sacrifices come from? Whenever there is a call for gathering, I gather it is coming from the political side of the group. Whether it’s Sunday or Friday prayers, these are the orders of organized religions. They have nothing to do with spirituality and everything to do with politics, especially if there is a call for donations and contributions to help manage the large enterprises. Just look around at the majestic buildings of all religions; they will tell you where the money went.

If the money is collected for the hungry, weak, and vulnerable, but used for majestic architectural monuments, that is downright against ethics and spirituality. The start of religions was supposed to bring spiritual medicine to the needy. Instead, they turn to recruiting to gain more manpower, thus becoming political entities and sometimes war machines, which has not stopped yet.

Imperialists did it, religions did it, and now modern-day governments are doing it. They all make decisions to play the same game. People like me migrate for personal and individual reasons: some to run for their lives, some to escape poverty, and some to find a peaceful place to raise families. Missionary workers travel to help the poor in far lands, but the politics of recruiting still goes on.

Man needs, gives, and practices spirituality as an individual regardless of any denomination or religion, but the politics of religions go on, and spirituality takes a back seat. Yet it should be the other way around.

We have lots of holidays or, I should say, holy days to celebrate. Yet the need for holy days should be to eradicate poverty, hunger, and disease from the world. The real spirituality is to do something clean and pure, free of the politics of any government, ideology, or religion. These days, with the help of the internet and becoming a CEO, you can help humanity and God, so God can be healthy and strong. A strong man makes God stronger, but the insecurities related to the politics of man and his belonging group keep God weak and sick with autoimmune disorders like arthritis. We, being the cells of God, kill each other, causing pain to God.

Just like human cells innately work for the body, we are all programmed to work for humanity. That is Spirituality 101, which we bring along as we come to experience life on earth. This is where I end up assuming that there is something before life and after death.

Deep inside, we all innately know we are connected to God. This is why we try to help others in need and find real happiness. For instance, you might put yourself in a dangerous situation to save someone’s life, give money to charity, feed the poor, or volunteer to help out. We see our survival and the continuum of humanity just like our cells are aware of the survival connection between the body and its cells.

Live this life as if you are in heaven because living in constant sacrifice mode creates the desire and expectation of a perfect life, even if it is promised in the afterlife. Most religions want the individual to be subservient so they can be controlled. The promised perfect life after death has never been, is not, and will never be clear in the individual’s living life. So the politics of control behind the promise of a perfect life should be recognized by the individual. Just think from another angle: if you are forever young, and can eat and drink whatever you want, it would be perfect if that is what you consider perfection. As an individual, our satisfaction is never the same. If you are looking for perfection all your life, you have lived your life in the future or on the horizon. That means your life will always lack contentment. If you seek a perfect life and think God will provide a perfectly satisfying life after you are dead, aren’t you worried that God will ask you about the value and reason for the free will and the real gift of this life you were blessed with? If you choose to live as perfectly as you can, finding satisfaction in all kinds of circumstances, you create heaven in both lives.

Living this life as in heaven requires some basic understanding:

Accept Your Mortality: Form a habit of living in the moment.

Reduce the Importance of the Future and the Past: You can’t change the past, and the future is not a reality yet and may not be for you.

Compare Yourself with Both Sides: Look at those better than yourself to work harder to improve, and those worse off than you to appreciate your life as it is.

Have a Belief System That Provides Spirituality and Hope: This helps you think positively regardless of hardships or circumstances.

Avoid Self-Pity: Feeling sorry for yourself indicates a spiritual flaw because you aren’t able to compare with someone worse off than you.

Being alive should be appreciated. Ask anyone who has survived a near-death experience; they can tell you that they appreciate and look at life differently. We forget our fragility and mortality because of our attachments and occupations in this life. For instance, you want to have control so you can live your life according to your plan.

Life can be fulfilling if it’s lived as a gift. If you are provided with the opportunity to live at a higher level and choose not to, it is because of your education, which creates insecurities. So you save and hoard, sacrificing your present for unknown fears of the future, and these fears are created by religious people for a reason. There is a business aspect hiding behind their spirituality. You have to put things in perspective. Know that if you help others, you actually feel good about yourself. But giving money to build monumental architectural wonders for God is not necessary. If you seek the real God, God does not live there. God literally lives in people’s hearts as a soul, yet we seek all over.

I’ll start this discussion with the importance of life within the shell. Whether it’s the shell of a chicken, any other bird, or a human being, we all start with a shell. Even though the shell is discarded in all cases, it still holds meaning. It’s about the entirety of the package, not just one part or the other. The central theme of my blog revolves around the balance an individual creates for personal and mortal life.

A chicken’s life begins with the cracking of the eggshell, while for humans, we start to crack as our physical life matures or nears its end. When our bodies start to fail, it metaphorically signifies that our shell is cracking. While it may mark the end of our physical life, I believe there’s a continuum of life for the individual, according to the rules, traditions, customs, and belief systems of their respective societies. We come into this life as individuals and leave as individuals, but before we go, we multiply to contribute to society, humanity, and even the continuation of existence itself.

I don’t want to arrogantly assume anything that I can’t comprehend or for which I can’t provide answers with logical reasoning. I’ve never received clear answers about pre-birth, after death, or matters concerning God that satisfy my thirst. Not from anybody, not from any religion, nor from the practical schooling of real life. I don’t believe anybody has the comprehension yet, not with our current cognitive abilities to explain it without resorting to assumptions.

It would be an assumption for a seed to imagine it looks like the tree it will become. Similarly, no human cell or sperm resembles the entire human body, so we as humans can’t assume what God looks like, thinks, or feels like human beings. This journey of evolution will one day reveal that our hormones relate to our emotions, which are all part of being physical. Remember, God represents our spiritual side and can’t get angry, seek revenge, or commit spiritual crimes like humans do. It’s a human phenomenon to involve God in our emotional conflicts.

Instead of fighting over assumptions, we should wait until we evolve to our potential. This potential holds the answers to our problems. If we continue to fight and kill each other, we’ll never understand our emotional connections to our biology. Regardless of our intertwining – physically, psychologically, and spiritually – the responsibility for all individual actions rests on the human individual because we’ve been blessed with free will. Since we’re a bundle of emotions with powerful free will, we must take responsibility for our actions. We have to overcome our sense of belonging to our groups and belief systems.

We need to recognize the politics wrapped around spirituality, so no religion should preach spirituality with a political agenda. Any effort to increase the number of followers of any religion is purely political and has nothing to do with God or spirituality. No one can or should guarantee heaven to a flawed individual, so no one should claim that joining their religion will lead to salvation. This is basic politics. A spade is a spade, and 2+2 equals 4, not 3.99 or 4.1. Looking for new recruits or followers is politics, plain and simple, because it aims to strengthen the group. Similarly, most, if not all, religions are against family planning and actively seek conversion, even by force, promising heavenly rewards for converting others. My opposition to abortion is spiritual because I believe every human individual is a cell of God, and thus, we need to replenish God’s body. In most religions, individuals born out of wedlock are not accepted because they aren’t born under the rules of the religion, and religious people look down on them. These rules and public shaming tactics are created to control people. If we dig deep, we’d find that all races, nations, or religions are connected through the genes of our ancestors. Thus, no one should condemn anyone as illegitimate because everyone comes from “illegitimate” ancestors. Legitimate or not, every human is a spiritual entity that enters physical life to serve and reciprocate with God and humanity, entitled to all human rights.

The invention of weapons of mass destruction is dangerous if we don’t evolve to understand our emotional biology. We might use them to eradicate ourselves, failing to reach our potential. Optimistically, I don’t think that would be acceptable to God, but that’s just my assumption.

As I understand it, when the shell cracks, physical life ends for the human individual, just as the chicken enters physical life and a person departs but enters a life beyond our understanding. Either way, the shell needs to be discarded. However, I strongly disagree with cremation because we need to be useful to humanity, dead or alive, to reciprocate. From organ donation to becoming part of fertilizing the earth for rejuvenation, we should aim to benefit future generations. Recycling is essential, especially when it comes to replenishing the earth. We’re becoming aware of modern-day needs, from organ donation to awareness about global warming and everything in between, all connected to our pursuit of evolutionary potential. Recycling isn’t just about material things that can’t disintegrate; the health of the planet depends on not only avoiding plastic in our environment but also replenishing it. Other residents of the earth, besides humans, don’t cremate; they contribute even after passing.

The most straightforward common sense, complicated by most religions, is that physicality is necessary for spirituality, and vice versa, to live a happy and content mortal life. How can this be complicated? If you can’t perform physical tasks, no deeds are done. This life is where you can actually help or hurt someone. A life without spirituality is impotent because the purpose of life has always been, is, and will always be to reciprocate and help humanity and God, as you’ve been helped by them.

The shell of the egg may be crucial for protecting the material inside, but it doesn’t create life. When life cracks the shell from the inside out, the shell is discarded. Just like a chicken egg, our bodies hold the life force inside. Metaphorically, as life matures inside, the eggshell starts to crack and eventually gets discarded. We may mature and die, but it’s simply a transition we don’t fully understand, so we resort to assumptions, regardless of our affiliations. Whatever makes sense to the majority is adopted as knowledge, even if it’s akin to poetry, adopted like religious customs and traditions.

Our religions, scientific community, and even atheists have come up with their own explanations. Hindus believe in multiple gods, and a large segment of the population believes in reincarnation, while others believe in werewolves, Dracula, and witchcraft. From major religions to beliefs in reincarnation and everything in between, people have been killing each other over assumptions for thousands of years. It’s time we step forward in our evolutionary journey.

Personally, I believe that as life matures and cracks the shell from the inside out, there’s no avoiding mortality, so there will be countless belief systems and sects convincing people with their visions of life after death. While the shell has its importance and may protect life, it can’t produce life, so we need to respect the material inside a little more than we do.

From seeds to eggs, it’s all about the material inside. Thus, our knowledge points towards the fact that shell life is not real life.

It’s all about the individual and depends entirely on how they respond to the sense of belonging. If you look at the heart of the faithful, you’ll find more politics of belonging than real spirituality, regardless of an individual’s understanding of God. Understanding God can be challenging for individuals who don’t question their sense of belonging. This sense of belonging is evident in everyone’s actions, representing the social needs of a social creature. Vulnerabilities inhibit individuals from surpassing these powerful needs, but it’s achievable for spiritually aware individuals.

The sense of belonging promotes shell life, yet the real substance you’re born with is inside you. The body is a physical expression of your spiritual truth, so don’t let the sense of belonging lead you to believe that your inner material isn’t important and isn’t worth sacrificing for the shell. Everything from suicide to unhappiness, depression, and anxiety, to plastic surgeries, implants, and efforts to impress or fit in, is related to a distorted and uncontrollable sense of belonging. If you want to live a healthy mortal life, it needs to be physically, psychologically, and spiritually healthy, so create a balance between the sense of belonging, freedom, and mortality because you’ve been granted only a temporary visit.

As humans, we initially value and like the shell, but then we resent it due to aging. That’s reason enough to focus on the entity inside, so one can live a life of happiness and contentment regardless of mortality.

If you can’t see your life beyond your relationship to any one particular department, you’re underestimating and undermining your potential. Potentially, you can become destructive to yourself because you’re viewing your life as a small department. By looking beyond that particular department, you become a CEO. Initially, life may feel out of control, fearful, and lacking in hope, but you have the potential to turn things around with your belief system. Without hope, we’re spiritually bankrupt, and any lifestyle promoting total control works against hope and spirituality. Without personal hope and spirituality, man is naked and susceptible to self-destructive behavior.

Personally, I believe any individual who possesses extraordinary knowledge from an unexplainable source ranks higher in humanity. Einstein, Mozart, and Leonardo da Vinci were all blessed with extraordinary knowledge from such sources. Their exceptional knowledge originated from an unexplainable source, so if you call that source God, then God plays a more significant role in humanity than we’re led to believe.

I don’t compare science, music, or religion, but I hold in high regard the knowledge that transforms humanity. The exploration process isn’t completely understood or known. Extraordinary knowledge in science, music, or religion is reserved for a select few; not everyone can tap into the next level of understanding. An “Aha!” moment or the opening of gates to inspirational knowledge has been key to our evolution, yet we still can’t fully explain it with our rational knowledge.

I’m naturally curious and have had a thirst for knowledge all my life. If any knowledge can help humanity, I’m all for it. I respect the spiritual aspect of all religions, but when it comes to politically charged arguments, I want every individual to learn to separate spirituality from politics.

It’s important to note that the countless human deaths and sufferings brought on by mankind have always been related to the political side of religions. All the death and destruction, even innocent lives lost due to disputes, have one major cause: every religion claims that its knowledge is complete and is the path to God.

This statement is entirely political and has nothing to do with spirituality because it fosters a sense of belonging to the group, not to humanity as a whole, thus dividing us.

If you ask any religious person, they’ll express a desire for the entire human population to join their religion. What does that mean? It implies that everyone else is wrong, and only they are right. If every religion is right, that means we’d never be able to get out of our pigeonholes and will always remain in a competitive mode, trying to conquer the world. This archaic politics needs to change because we don’t go to war with swords and spears anymore.

Competition isn’t the only way to excel, even though it’s the only method we’ve learned from our ancestors. The idea that putting in more effort leads to success isn’t universally true. Someone can play music in bars their entire career while someone else becomes a star effortlessly. What happens if we don’t succeed despite our efforts? It can have destructive implications for the individual, from losing self-esteem to leading a discontented life filled with unhappiness and resentment toward God, these are all spiritual deficiencies. To rectify these deficiencies, individuals must become CEOs so they can read between the lines and understand all the knowledge thrown at them.

(How much control does a man have?) (It’s up to you how happy and content you want to live a mortal life.)

As a CEO, an individual should consider themselves a note, and God as an empty space on a sheet of written music. They should write a melody they can enjoy for their mortal life. The CEO has a responsibility to speak or sing when it’s their turn and to be silent when silence is needed, to create perfect harmony.

Remember, the harmony may differ for each individual, but the responsibilities remain the same. As a CEO, it’s your responsibility to create a melody that suits you in this temporary life. If you think you function best with more silence in your life, that means you want God to drive the car of your life. If it ends up in a ditch, it’s meant for you, but that’s not what God intended because God created man as a CEO with free will.

On the other hand, if you’re constantly running, you may shorten your life and rob yourself of the quality you could have had with a good melody, by allowing silent spaces to play a role in making your temporary visit happy and healthy. You can enjoy your mortal life by using God’s spiritual wisdom to strike a balance of your choosing, deciding when and how to sing a potentially good song.

If you examine the reasons behind the popularity of religions, you’ll find the knowledge of civilization, which has brought us up from being savage beasts. However, despite civilization, look around and ask yourself if you feel like you’ve become a civilized human being, or if you still see baboons in the clothes of civilization.

We’ve learned nothing beyond division, and surprisingly, we’re still entrenched, ready to kill and die for our belief systems, whether they be religion, science, or nation. As CEOs, we need to scrutinize our actions. If they cross the lines of humanity, we’ve strayed too far from spirituality. Why does it take an earthquake or a tsunami to bring us together? Why can’t we shake off the shackles of the politics of belonging? Why has politics overridden the spirituality of all religions?

If religions can’t come together, accept their differences, and serve humanity with spirituality as they were supposed to, then we all should become CEOs to compel them to follow spirituality and nothing else. If we fight over who is right and who is wrong, it’s time to seek knowledge free from the politics of belonging.

The biggest hurdle in the way of real civilization and spirituality is the sense of belonging to our particular group. Individuals have the most challenging time standing up against their own groups because they can be labeled and condemned as traitors. No political entity wants to lose power, so the individual must become a CEO. Only then can they judge the politics of belonging to a group and vote for humanity and spirituality over clan, race, gender, nation, and religion simultaneously.

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When we raise a child, we see them as an individual in the process of growth, with the potential to become a good citizen and a successful individual. This development helps them become self-sufficient and contribute to society. The child learns at home and then goes to school, eventually becoming a professional who helps humanity, whether as a construction worker, doctor, lawyer, engineer, rock star, or athlete.

This process mirrors our collective journey. We pass on our knowledge to the next generations so that humanity, as a whole, can move toward its potential and continue evolving. Our collective potential is what I refer to as God. Our evolution directly aids God’s evolution, enabling the fulfillment of our individual prayers. This is why religions, despite their resistance, have not been able to halt our progress. God intends for each ordinary individual to evolve and follow their inherent potential. As humanity, or as God, we cannot reach our fullest potential without individual efforts to strive for more, dig deeper, and use willpower to seek higher levels of achievement, often through personal sacrifices.

If any religion opposes an individual’s efforts to push beyond its boundaries, that religion acts more as a political system than a spiritual one. When religion crosses into politics, it strays from its spiritual roots. If individuals do not evolve into godly beings, the evolution of God also ceases. Today’s political landscape has the power to drive religion away from spirituality and God altogether.

When we see our children not reaching their potential, we may feel disappointed, but there is little we can do because, as young adults, they have minds of their own. Given the gift of free will, it is up to each of us to pursue our potential or not. When children do not adhere to strict rules or cross the boundaries set by our religions, it puts God in a similar position as a parent who wishes to see their child fulfill their potential.

I believe we should address this situation by viewing it from an external perspective. It is not merely about obediently worshiping God; it is about following our potential. Ultimately, the responsibility rests on the shoulders of the individual.

For example, in matters of religion or belief systems, if you cannot step outside the boundaries created by your religion, your opinions will be biased. This bias limits your perspective, similar to how a department head cannot operate as a CEO. As an individual with free will, it is common sense that you cannot make decisions as a CEO if you cannot oversee and understand the broader picture, especially the passionate aspects.

If you believe your ancestors could not have been wrong, remember you are not alone in this belief. This collective conviction poses a significant problem because our groups often claim to be right, regardless of their level of evolution. Our sense of belonging influences our decisions, making it difficult to judge impartially.

As an independent individual with free will, you should critically evaluate all influences before making personal decisions. This is particularly important regarding religion, as not everyone can view it from an outside perspective. Blind faith and unquestioning obedience are often demanded, and questioning can lead to ostracism.

Making decisions within the confines of religious boundaries prevents you from acting as a true CEO of your life, even though God created you to be one. So, who is right? God or religion? God demands your constant attention and effort to reach your potential, while religions often demand blind obedience and adherence to boundaries.

This dichotomy presents a significant challenge. To fulfill our potential as individuals and as a collective, we must navigate this complex relationship between divine intention and religious doctrine. It is only through this critical evaluation and pursuit of our potential that we can truly honor the essence of our creation.

Are religions promoting God or working against God? The reality appears murky when viewed through the lens of strong group affiliations. Adopting a CEO’s perspective allows one to filter out the political aspects inherent in religious doctrines. It becomes evident that each human is an independent entity, spiritually interconnected with humanity. Many significant achievements in bridge-building, innovation, life-saving, and humanitarian efforts are often spearheaded by individuals who do not strictly adhere to religious directives. Their endeavors link them to humanity as a whole, offering spiritual contributions rather than strictly religious ones.

I am striving to emphasize that we must recognize the continuous process of learning something new every day, which means our knowledge is never complete. We need to step out of our comfort zones and take responsibility instead of hiding behind our holy books. My aim isn’t to argue right or wrong, nor to debate the existence of God. I’m not suggesting that any single religion offers superior spiritual guidance. I acknowledge the validity of religions and all forms of governance, but my battle is against ignorance, racism, and prejudice. These issues often manifest among religious fundamentalists.

My efforts are dedicated to spirituality, humanity, and human rights, aiming to transcend the political confines imposed by religions. I focus on our ongoing evolution, a concept widely accepted across various facets of life. I oppose any attempt to limit human knowledge and potential. Pursuing potential aligns with what I consider God’s true path. Living without growth contradicts both human nature and God’s intentions.

Human knowledge that promotes boundaries, fostering a sense of exclusivity based on group, race, color, gender, nationality, or religion, and promising rewards in the afterlife, reflects the politics of human insecurities and control. Belief in God and spirituality aims to heal these spiritual ailments. Embracing one’s mortality can alleviate fears and controls. Freed from such constraints, individuals can channel extra energy and joy into daily life, potentially mitigating various illnesses and fostering equality among all people.

I have three significant concerns about our ancestral education that I intend to address, even though questioning these may challenge the boundaries of my religion, it brings me closer to spirituality and God. I believe these three fundamental flaws have greatly diminished humanity, and it’s time we break free from these influences.

Firstly, the belief that our knowledge has been complete is erroneous. Human understanding evolves continuously, and claiming completeness stagnates our growth.

Secondly, the notion that our knowledge is superior to all others undermines the diversity of human wisdom. Every culture and tradition offers unique perspectives that enrich our understanding of the world.

Thirdly, the belief that only adherents of one religion are destined for heaven while all others are condemned to hell, regardless of their character and deeds, fosters division and intolerance among people.

Personally, I view humans as beings with the gift of choice and reasoning. We all bear the responsibility to think independently and critically evaluate our beliefs. Denying this autonomy undermines our capacity for moral and intellectual growth.

One of my objectives in writing is to facilitate individual evolution to a higher level, akin to that of a CEO who scrutinizes the root causes of problems for effective correction, including within religious education.

If I were to suggest that your religious education contributes to the unnecessary loss of human lives, wouldn’t you want to understand why, for the sake of humanity and our relationship with God?

If I say that you hate each other because your religious education teaches you that you are better than others simply by virtue of joining, regardless of your personal character, wouldn’t you want to know why?

If you are a bigot and prejudice runs in your blood, don’t you think it’s time to introspect and understand why you consider yourself superior to others? Often, insecurities drive people to harbor and act upon prejudiced beliefs.

If you can delve deep within yourself and find the right answers, you can mend your spiritual flaws caused by those who are supposed to guide you spiritually. When you are able to rectify these flaws, you will evolve into a CEO who is not only happy and peaceful, but who also views others as part of God, just as you see yourself. This perspective fosters respect and contributes to creating peace.

Moving beyond the politics of belonging is not an easy task, nor is it a simple matter to transcend the limitations of inherited knowledge. However, if you perceive yourself as a CEO, you must delve into the root causes of problems and eliminate them, even if that means challenging your previous beliefs.

When children are taught that they are superior to others, they genuinely believe it because this knowledge comes from authority figures. As they mature and confront life’s realities, they discover that achieving their goals requires hard work, just like everyone else. This realization can be disillusioning; they no longer feel special and may feel they are disappointing their parents, community, or society. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, despite the intentions of their upbringing.

If children are educated to be patriotic or zealous about their religion, that same education can lead them to be militant toward their own people. Similarly, promoting competition for progress can have unintended consequences. Our education systems should be scrutinized like medications with potential side effects, because today we are witnessing the negative repercussions of education systems devised thousands of years ago. While they may have been effective when physical combat involved swords and spears, in today’s world of nuclear weapons, one emotionally charged individual can cause irreparable harm to humanity.

Especially these days, we can’t afford to fight over what remains unknown. What happens to us after we die is as mysterious today as it was thousands of years ago. This life holds profound significance, not only for individuals but also collectively; we all think, feel, act, and experience joy or pain together. Therefore, the importance of all these aspects lies in the present—here and now—in our living years.

Living life fairly, both to oneself and to those around, regardless of their religious beliefs, defines success in this life and potentially beyond. Many religions promise a heaven filled with comfort and youth, attainable through obedience to their rules.

Remember, there is no free ticket to heaven simply by joining any particular religion; it’s all about the politics of control. If you are happy and comfortable in your own skin in this life, you are experiencing heaven, and this state can continue even after death.

The path to God is akin to water finding its way to the ocean; our ultimate destination is the Spiritual Ocean or God. Creating a pond for security reasons is not spiritually sustainable. True security lies in connection with God and spirituality, which cannot be confined or locked into a pond. While a pond may appear secure, it is not. Such false securities have been detrimental to humanity for millennia, and in significant numbers. Therefore, the philosophy of the pond is not the answer; true spirituality, which is boundless and directly connected to God like the internet, is the way forward.

Religions initially promised spirituality but became entrenched in the philosophy of the pond. Now is the time for us to seek the ocean by connecting with each other through the network and flooding all the religious ponds.

If you are constantly in transition, your knowledge is also in flux. When your knowledge isn’t firmly grounded, you can’t passionately stand by it, and your decisions can deeply impact you spiritually. In moments of uncertainty about the morality of your actions, you must learn to rely on your intentions.

As a young boy, I heard a story (author unknown):

A man visits a mosque, church, or temple and notices that people come with horses but there’s nowhere to tie them. So the next day, he drives a nail into the ground near the entrance. The following day, another man approaches the place of worship, sees the nail near the entrance, and worries that someone might trip and get hurt, so he removes the nail. This story illustrates that what is right and wrong often lies in a gray area. Until we are absolutely certain, we must use our intentions as our guideposts. Until then, we can only hope and trust that we are doing the right thing.

If preventing rapes and sexual crimes involves helping individuals to masturbate and function normally in society, then pornography isn’t wrong. However, if you believe it contributes to and causes sexual crimes, then it is harmful. Instead of taking sides, engage in the debate and explore the issue further. Whether you’re a nail installer or remover isn’t the question; it’s about your judgment.

When you judge, start by evaluating yourself. If you’re assessing your character, ensure you’re not viewing yourself solely through the lens of your societal norms. Understand that these norms are created by humans, not by God or spirituality, and human knowledge evolves over time.

If you consider watching pornography a character flaw, consider loosening up and not sweating the small stuff. Step outside of yourself to examine your rigidity; you may realize that your judgment stems from knowledge you’ve been taught and accepted as absolute truth.

If a mullah, priest, rabbi, police officer, mom, and dad all agree that something is bad, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is.

Our knowledge has always been in transition. We threw virgins off cliffs as human sacrifices, bought and sold humans as property, and still grapple with discrimination in our societies. Throughout history, these practices have been justified by accepted knowledge, but one thing remains constant amidst this change: change itself.

The list of changes grows longer with our evolution. If you still accept knowledge as absolute truth, your sense of belonging may be too strong. Your values and ethics are often dictated by your group rather than independently chosen. It’s crucial to introspect deeply and find inner strength, as reliance on group norms can lead to self-esteem issues and feelings of inferiority. Embracing a CEO mindset can shield you from self-inflicted unhappiness and alleviate psychological, physical, and spiritual burdens.

You can’t blindly accept or reject everything you encounter; as a CEO of your life, you must critically analyze information and maintain perspective. It’s vital to understand that your personal intentions and choices wield immense power—they can shape or derail your life’s path.

I am here for spirituality and God, but I oppose the politics within all religions. However, I do not oppose the politics within social systems. My aim is to uncover the influence of the politics of belonging so that everyone can examine the roots of their insecurities.

If we continue to fight as groups, we will never individually overcome our insecurities. An insecure individual will always have a stronger sense of belonging.

As humanity as a whole, we must learn to care for all people without discrimination. We need to educate new generations to believe in humanity rather than identifying solely with street gangs, residents of Winnipeg, Torontonians, Canadians, Pakistanis, Blacks, Whites, men, women, gay or straight individuals, Muslims, Christians, Jews, or members of any other religion.

If we desire to change our predicted apocalyptic fate, we must reform and improve our education systems.

I want all religions and nations to cease promoting the idea of “we are better than others.”

Individually, you could be a doctor who heals many people or a cleaner at a hospital ensuring safety from infections. You still need to eat, sleep, and function in society like everyone else. We are all mortal; we bleed, get sick, age, and die in the same manner.

Certainly, society places more value on a doctor than a cleaner, or on a pilot than a taxi driver, but these differences lie in the value of the job, not in the worth of the individual. Continuing to think this way automatically lays the foundation for prejudice. In reality, everything other than spirituality is merely human knowledge.

Spiritually, you view life from a different dimension. If you believe you are a spiritual being first, and then physical, you’ll realize that your insecurities stem from identifying solely with the physical. You don’t question how or who generates thoughts in your brain before acting on them. If you see yourself only as a physical entity, you might seek happiness in selfish pursuits. However, a social truth remains: people often find profound fulfillment in aiding others in need, irrespective of race, nationality, or religion.

Recognize yourself as an entity designed to be a CEO—that potential resides within you. You possess everything necessary for a successful life, but true success must be liberated from the constraints of belonging.

We exist both spiritually and physically as entities or organisms. If you isolate yourself or veer to either extreme, it detracts from your humanity.

Take care of yourself and others; it’s all about reciprocity, whether in your relationship with God or with individuals. If you exploit each other, it ultimately fails.

Our conflicts and violence toward each other are like arthritis to God.

Live your life recognizing it as temporary, ensuring justice for yourself, others, and all creatures.

Every individual comes into life with a purpose. You may judge, but with our limited brain capacity, you cannot comprehend everything, so avoid extremism.

No one can terminate a life if it is meant to be. You do not possess all knowledge, so avoid extreme judgments. Do not oppose God, as our reproduction is evidence of God’s existence. Every person comes into life, whether through wedlock or not, so do not disrespect someone due to adherence to any religious rules.

Your prayers are not as significant as your assistance to those in need or those who require God’s help. Therefore, be God’s workhorse, as that is your assignment.

The problem lies in your politics of belonging, not in God, spirituality, religions, or nationalism.

You have established ownership for social peace and order, but don’t become too attached, for you are all renters due to mortality.

You are not merely an intellectual entity, so do not neglect your other gifts, such as enjoying the physicality of life. Be spiritually aware because your compassion and ability to self-sacrifice are deeply intertwined with others. It would be wise to recognize yourself as a physically balanced entity.

God is understood by the person who can shed their intellectual ego related to personal insecurities and the sense of belonging.

Hygiene is not limited to the physical level; the real hygiene that religions should emphasize is spiritual. Yet, people believe in and seek physical hygiene while neglecting the spiritual cleanliness that truly matters.

Abortion

Most, if not all, species, including humans, are under the spell or hypnotized by the power of nature when it comes to reproduction. Strict rules of religions or modern laws in all countries could not, cannot, and never will control human sexuality. I believe this is because our desire to reproduce is directly connected to God. Just as in our bodies, older cells die off but before they do, they produce new ones so the body can continue living.

We will reproduce regardless of religious or social rules because deep inside, spiritually, we all understand that God’s existence depends on the existence of human beings.

Looking at the basics, homosexuality might appear to work against reproduction, thus against our contribution to God. If I were to think in this way, it would position 

Certainly! Here’s the revised version of your blog post:

If humans were responsible for everything, we could simplify life into black and white. However, there exists a vast spectrum of gray and its shades in our political systems like democracy, our justice systems, and even religions, because they cannot resolve every challenge humans face as we evolve. We can attempt to address them, but there will always be unique circumstances and cases such as abortion, homosexuality, and physician-assisted suicide.

If you do not believe in God, you can lean either way, but you should still uphold human rights. This approach will make you more compassionate and spiritually inclined rather than adopting extremes. If you oppose human rights, remember it is not because you believe in God, but because you adhere to what the holy books dictate. This raises the question: What do you truly perceive God to be? Do you genuinely believe that if God intended for a baby to live, it would not happen simply because a human decided otherwise? This is where I perceive the distinction. I can contemplate and passionately advocate for my beliefs, or I can acknowledge that I still have another 80% of my brain’s capacity to unlock before claiming absolute knowledge and fervently standing by it.me against abortion and homosexuality and make me conservative.

If I were to ask someone this question spiritually: If you truly believe, I mean truly believe in God, then why do you think everything is done by humans? Homosexuality has been around since the dawn of our civilization and has not gone away. What if it is meant to be by God? Then who are we to make them inferior or sinners if they are serving humanity? Anyone who works serves humanity, thus serves God.

I feel the contradictions here because most religions preach that God is almighty and man is an insignificant creature.

Personally, I believe there is always some wisdom behind the unknown; we just have to work harder to uncover it.

Consider the process of reproduction: a male releases four hundred million sperm in one shot, and most are fully capable of fertilizing an egg to create new life. If the odds are so high for sperm to succeed, we should also value the reproduction process more deeply and question why it’s so abundant. Just as trees produce countless seeds each season, if every seed sprouted into a tree, it would lead to chaos.

When a mother cannot care for a baby or when there are medical complications and society cannot provide the necessary support, making a decision becomes challenging even for a spiritually evolved individual. It’s not simply a matter of taking a black-and-white stance and sticking to it. One might argue, “People should abstain from sex,” but that’s easier said than done. We are genetically programmed and spiritually aware of the significance of reproduction. Religions have attempted to suppress this primal urge and have often failed, as evidenced by the scandals of sexual abuse involving priests.

Today, we have scientific knowledge that allows us to assess the health of a baby without harming the mother or the child. Unfortunately, many religious individuals still oppose science. They prefer to enforce ancient rules forcefully, even if it means violating human rights, simply because these rules were written millennia ago, before our current wealth of knowledge.

There’s no need to stubbornly resist, especially on issues concerning human rights. We need to find compromises. Let’s use science where it fits and religion where it’s necessary. As I often say, issues like these aren’t black or white, especially as our knowledge continues to expand. If we don’t evolve with our awareness, that awareness becomes meaningless.

Human rights have become our new spiritual compass, transcending all human divisions. This knowledge is our social treasure, and we should proudly embrace it. Imagine living in an oppressed society, or reflect on the journey humanity has taken to achieve our current freedoms; this will help us appreciate our liberties even more.

Today, I came across news about the starving children and adults in Syria, which brought back memories of the haunting image of a toddler lying lifeless on a Turkish beach. The grim reality of war grows ever more repulsive as the fifth year draws to a close. I won’t delve into the numbers of deaths, but I feel compelled to convey the gravity of the situation to ordinary individuals who bear the brunt of war’s devastation.

A few years ago, someone forwarded me an email with a story credited to an unknown author. It recounted a professor’s demonstration to teach his students about life, using a jar as a metaphor.

He began by filling the jar with rocks until no more could fit, then asked his students if the jar was full. They agreed, seeing no space for more rocks. But the professor continued, adding gravel, which filled the gaps between the rocks. Again, he asked if the jar was full, and again the students assented. Undeterred, the professor poured in sand, which seeped into the spaces between the rocks and gravel. Finally, he poured water into the jar, filling even the smallest gaps.

He concluded by likening the jar to life itself. The rocks represented the most important things in life—ourselves, our families, our health, our passions. If we fill our lives with trivialities (the gravel, sand, and water) before attending to the truly important matters, there won’t be room for them later.

Today’s news made me reflect on the importance of prioritizing our essential needs in life, much like the rocks in the jar. Here’s a proposed sequence, as envisioned by a CEO:

1. Self: You are the foundation. Your well-being and happiness are paramount. Without you, nothing else matters. Remember your mortality.
2. Family: Your immediate family and close friends are your support network. They’ve been with you through thick and thin and will stand by you when you need them most.
3. Work: Financial stability is crucial. Your job provides the means to meet your basic needs and pursue your goals.
4. Community: Social connections enrich our lives. Participating in community activities and networks provides a sense of belonging and support.
5. Country: A functioning society requires justice, security, and infrastructure. However, humanity as a whole should take precedence over national interests.
6. God and Religion: Personal ethics, spirituality, and faith play vital roles in many people’s lives. They provide guidance, comfort, and a sense of purpose. However, they should complement, not overshadow, the other aspects of life.

Placing God at the forefront of your life can be spiritually unhealthy, as it may indicate a lack of belief in your own worth and agency. Striking a balance between faith and personal responsibility is key.

If you prioritize God over your basic needs or family, you’re defying the natural order and abdicating your own responsibilities. Even religious figures like Buddha learned this lesson through hardship. Only by tending to our physical and emotional well-being can we transcend immediate concerns and pursue higher ideals.

The choices we make are often influenced by our sense of belonging—to family, community, nation, or religion. However, blindly following group norms can lead to unhappiness and inner conflict. It’s crucial to become the CEO of your own life, making informed decisions based on your values and aspirations.

Injustice pervades our world, perpetuated by those who exploit the politics of belonging. It’s time to empower organizations like the United Nations to uphold human rights and hold perpetrators of crimes against humanity accountable. No individual or group should be above the law.

Religious leaders should serve as guides, offering holistic support to those in need. Relying solely on ancient texts for guidance is akin to prescribing a one-size-fits-all solution to complex spiritual and psychological problems. Both medicine and religion should evolve with our understanding of human nature and well-being.

We must strive to overcome our animalistic instincts and embrace our potential for growth and enlightenment. Young people, in particular, should be encouraged to question authority and think critically about the world around them. Our collective strength lies in our commitment to individual rights and freedoms.

As CEOs of our lives, let’s prioritize self-awareness, empathy, and justice. By challenging the status quo and championing human dignity, we can build a more equitable and compassionate world for all.