Patience is a virtue

I would define myself as a person with ’0′ – Yes ZERO patience. I mean, really I have very little patience but I know I am not the worst that is out there but have seen worse and I certainly fall in the bad category!

I would not call myself an old person but more like a 30′ish person, so you can figure out for yourselves how much of a life experience I have. Hey but whatever I have is better than nothing!

So all my life (till now) I have made quick decisions (thankfully only a few that I regret) and also a very short-tempered person, so all these things add up to create a perfect mixture for disaster.

Personally this has not got me in any serious trouble except a few times where I was able to resolve things amicably. If you are a realistic and rational person you should be able to keep minimal conflicts between your friends and relatives. The most important fact to remember is that you can never please everybody!

A big change in my patience was brought about by the birth of my son. The times I have spent with him till now has helped me develop my current level of patience but honestly, its not been easy.

Professionally, nothing serious but the urge to say ‘Screw you’ has been tremendous several times. Though I have been fortunate to have many seniors who are reasonable, rational and realistic; it’s not always been the case. Even though the work experience has been rather short (comparatively) I have had the privilege to work with the most outstanding to the most idiotic people. The reason I still have a job is because of advice from my family, close friends and colleagues. They have helped me suppress the urge that I have mentioned in the beginning of this para.

If you really want to survive in this world with the single life you have then there are going to be times when you will have to hear it through one and let it out through the other. What I just told you completely contradicts one of my principles, that is if someone speaks stupid/irrational stuff, then you must speak out against it. But Ear-In/Ear-Out is a critical tool to survive. To push the envelope of survival tactics there are going to be times when you will have to say ‘I agree’ or something similar!

I have a colleague who from what I have seen is the most patient person. It do not matter what or how the other person says, his response is always the same i.e., calm, composed and rational. He is honest, diligent and a very sincere worker but there have been instances when management has been indifferent towards him! When I asked him why he never bothers letting them know that what they are saying is ‘not right’ he said his intended is to earn a living and not to teach the management on what is right and what is wrong. He said he never aspires to be in management as he knows the dirty politics that you need to be involved in to stay there and that he does not want any of it! He has managed to survive for so many years based on just the fact that he has patience to see things through.

Since changing my point of view I too have been able to see a lot of otherwise ‘crap’ in a better light. Patience is indeed a virtue and something you are going to need in truck loads if you are going to raise a family, or if you have a desire to work your way up the career ladder.

Have patience and better things await you past the horizon!

Debate Non-Theist Vs Theist – Part II

Friend:
‎******The theory of evolution is not in conflict with the 2nd law of thermodynamics…………………….You are misinterpreting the 2nd law to say that things invariably progress from order to disorder.*******

My question still remains unanswered, i studied Evolution in school….long long years back……fail to understand why Evolution is still a theory??? Dictionary says theory means “guess or conjecture” – Now thats what you call BLIND FAITH. The problem is that Aethist’s can’t bring themselves to reject evolution, because they have already rejected God. Humans have a big mental fault. They are not able to admit they were wrong. Therefore, they are trapped in their previous decision to reject God. By the way, not being able to correct false thinking is another blow against evolution. The theory of natural selection should conclude that humans should be able to easily correct false thinking, because it is the most beneficial approach, but they can’t. This is why the debate between evolution and creation is hopelessly deadlocked.

*******However, you neglect the fact that life is not a closed system. The sun provides more than enough energy to drive things. If order from disorder is supposed to violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics, why is it ubiquitous in nature? ********

There are no known violations of the second law of thermodynamics. Ordinarily the second law is stated for isolated systems, but the second law applies equally well to open systems. Raw energy from the sun, if not for the ability of living things to convert it to useful energy such as sugars, proteins etc. would be a destroyer of life. In many of the scenarios of primitive life the UV radiation is looked as the driver of the mutations need for evolution, but it conversely would destroy the organism as well if not protected. In fact the mutation rate being very slow and the energy being very fast the destruction would be very many times faster than the creation.Raw energy from the sun, cannot create the specified complexity needed for life. It can only cause complexity to be lost in mutations. In the labs scientists use sophisticated equipment to polymerize proteins in the right way. If sunlight were to enter this process it would destroy the proteins.

Compare a living plant with a dead one. Can the simple addition of energy make a completely dead plant live? A dead plant contains the same basic structures as a living plant. It once used the Sun’s energy to temporarily increase its order and grow and produce stems, leaves, roots, and flowers – all beginning from a single seed. If there is actually a powerful Evolutionary force at work in the universe, and if the open system of Earth makes all the difference, why does the Sun’s energy not make a truly dead plant become alive again (assuming a sufficient supply of water, light, and the like)? What actually happens when a dead plant receives energy from the Sun? The internal organization in the plant decreases; it tends to decay and break apart into its simplest components. The heat of the Sun only speeds the disorganization process.

********Simply put, evolution is the result of changes in genetic code. The genes encode the basic characteristics a life form will have, and there is no known mechanism that would prevent small changes (microevolution) from ultimately resulting in macroevolution. …………….What biological or logical barriers prevent the former from becoming the latter?**********

Here again Microevolution is extrapolated to explain Macro Evolution….no real scientific facts till date to prove this.

******In real life, lesser animals exhibit compassion and altruism all the time!Those things are useful survival traits, honed by millions of years of evolution —………………Look at piranhas. They seem to have morality — they never harm each other. But is it religious for them? No, it’s just what lets them survive.*************

Your reply about “Animal Morality” is ill informed – Piranhas are aggressive towards each other. Adult piranha have been known to eat their own babies. Its new’s to me that Animal’s stop to think before they kill. I agree that lesser animals exhibit compassion and altruism all the time, but its driven on insticnt and not on consciousness.

Only Humans have consciousness and feel a sense of right and wrong and good and evil. Even theory of evolution dosen’t support two set’s of primitive people in same time with different morality. Why do human morality is different all the time?? Why same Individual show different levels of Morality in his life??Why do children born in wellto do familes show criminal tendancies??? Why do we have more wars and aggressions these days than ancient times????.

Simply put, Human Morality is not driven by Evolution “Theory”…..it has got more to do with Religions and their teachings.

******If you read your own comments, you can understand why I said out of the box thinking is needed if you want to break away from the so called farce ‘Religion’. You are debating me on the topic of religion but none of the comments you have said proves anything it claims.********

Again, we have not started any thing on religions yet, i stick to my previous statement “lets start from the basic point where all religions converge….creation of life by a super natural power GOD… how do atheist’s believe life started? If evolution is not a scientific fact…..then how did Life start???

Me:
‎*** Why Evolution is still a theory??? Dictionary says theory means “guess or conjecture” – Now thats what you call BLIND FAITH. ***

Atheism/Agnosticism is not a religion, it is the refusal to join or believe in any religion until facts prove the existence of a god, gods, deities or any other number of mythical beings.

We are all born atheists, I am a non-theist. We are taught to be religious. Our parents teach us there is a god and we trust them because they are our keepers, our protectors and our teachers. Our faith develops in religion because of a faith in our parents to teach us right from wrong. However when you base this faith on the unsubstantiated claims of a book that has so many authors and translations that it should look like Swiss cheese, then that is where the faith ends.

Atheists are ridiculed because they choose to ask questions about the obvious, and when those in power get questioned, they retaliate.

Not just one religion falls into this category; all religions have the basis of faith through social order, teachings and acceptance. I however was lucky not to have been taught religion and I made up my own mind when I tried it as a teenager.

It’s all about social conditioning, not religion in general, atheists just choose to think for themselves and accept responsibility for their actions.

So you say, Evolution is a theory, but guess what? When scientists use the word theory, it has a different meaning to normal everyday use. That’s right, it all comes down to the multiple meanings of the word theory. If you said to a scientist that you didn’t believe in evolution because it was “just a theory”, they’d probably be a bit puzzled.

In everyday use, theory means exactly what you mentioned in your comment i.e., a guess or a hunch, something that maybe needs proof. In science, a theory is not a guess, not a hunch. It’s a well-substantiated, well-supported, well-documented explanation for our observations. It ties together all the facts about something, providing an explanation that fits all the observations and can be used to make predictions. In science, theory is the ultimate goal, the explanation. It’s as close to proven as anything in science can be.
Evolution is based on facts. Evolution (genetic change over generations) happens. It has been tested and scrutinised for over 150 years, and is supported by all the relevant observations.
So the lack of belief or giving credit to the THEORY of evolution is not blind faith but a rational point of view.

***Here again Microevolution is extrapolated to explain Macro Evolution….no real scientific facts till date to prove this. ***

First off, I’d just like to say that to evolutionary biologists there is no difference between the two. Evolution is evolution, the amount of it is irrelevant, it’s the fact of it that counts.

Secondly, I’m not about to come up with some magical evolutionary trick that shows that micro changes will lead to macro changes in an animal. I’m not a biologist, I wouldn’t really know where to begin. But what I can do is show how many small changes can easily make a big difference, even though each change is almost irrelevant.

Saying you can’t get macro but you can get micro is the same as stating you can walk to your friend’s house down the road, but walking to another city is impossible. Wrong, it’s only a longer way and you can’t yet see the city, (aka we can’t see it happening) but we know it is possible because we have heard accounts of people walking to the other city (fossil record) and because people have phoned us from there. (genetic “fingerprint”) . We don’t know that macro-evolution has happened only because of the fossil record, but because of a lot of other things.

***The internal organization in the plant decreases; it tends to decay and break apart into its simplest components. The heat of the Sun only speeds the disorganization process.***

2nd Law describes basic principles familiar in everyday life. Known as a universal law of decay; the ultimate cause of why everything ultimately falls apart and disintegrates over time. Material things are not eternal. Everything appears to change eventually, and chaos increases. Nothing stays as fresh as the day one buys it; clothing becomes faded, threadbare, and ultimately returns to dust. Everything ages and wears out. Even death is a manifestation of this law. The effects of the 2nd Law are all around, touching everything in the universe.

This law observes the fact that the useable energy in the universe is becoming less and less. Ultimately there would be no available energy left. Stemming from this fact we find that the most probable state for any natural system is one of disorder. All natural systems degenerate when left to themselves. Outside forces can increase order for a time (through the expenditure of relatively large amounts of energy, and through the input of design). However, such reversal cannot last forever. Once the force is released, processes return to their natural direction – greater disorder. (painting a house regularly)

*** Simply put, Human Morality is not driven by Evolution “Theory”…..it has got more to do with Religions and their teachings. ***

Almost every theistic, religious system of morality is founded upon the premise that a god has created morality and has issued moral commands to humanity. Thus the nature of this moral system is ultimately obedience to this god, regardless of what the commands are. Neither disobedience nor questioning are permitted. Real morality, however, cannot be mere obedience: for a person to be morally responsible, they must be able to reason out their choices and decide for themselves.

Theistic and religious moral systems typically include prominent threats of punishment for disobedience, and even sometimes eternal punishment for the worst disobedience or disbelief. A truly moral choice, however, cannot be dependent upon a desire to avoid punishment. Moreover, eternal punishment for temporal crimes, however awful, is itself immoral because it is so disproportionate. The death penalty for stealing an apple would be less unjust.

Even if there are no promises of eternal reward or punishment, theistic and religious moral systems typically emphasize acting in order to improve your status in an existence after your physical death — even though the reality of such a existence is highly debatable. It’s immoral to sacrifice the needs of yourself and others in hopes of making things better for yourself in an afterlife which may not even exist anyway.

As a matter of fact, it can be argued that many of the problems we face can be traced to an over-reliance on religious moral systems which seriously suffer from the far too many flaws. Obedience to authority and dependence on ancient texts are a poor starting point for dealing with complicated modern issues such as genetic engineering and stem cell research.

I am ready to accept your side if you provide evidence. All you have done is question my point of view and not provided any substantial evidence for the creation of day or how life started. From your comments, I understand that you believe that God created life; is there some evidence or should I just have FAITH and not question it? If you believe that everything needs a creator so our creator should be God; then I have one question for you, Who created God? Funny right our ability to question leads us to dead ends, it is our incapability to answer questions that makes us create imaginary beings as an interim!

Debate Non-Theist Vs Theist

I posted the quote shown below on my facebook wall and there was a lot of commenting going on between me and a friend (Non-Theist Vs Theist). What I am posting right now is as the debate stands on Apr 5, 2011 @ 0530 GMT, I will update this post as it progresses!

“Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned.”

-unknown

Friend: The way i see it, 1400 years ago a Prophet preached to the people that they must let their beliefs go, that they must re-evaluate the meaning of life and their relationship with the Hereafter.

At the time, this was not orthodox thinking but rather the most revolutionary concept that the arab world had ever had to deal with. It not only whittled down the number of dieties to a single one, but also questioned the concepts of tribal loyalties, endorsed personal repsonsibility rather than tribal and did away with the hierarchy that was prevalent at the time.

This was not a faith for “yes-men” but rather a faith for those who could not accept the status quo. And that is what it remains to this day even though salvation peddlers the world over would have you beleive that the current orthodoxy espoused by religious power-brokers is the “only true islam”.

Islamic theology gained its adherent by being different and always quetioning the accepted beliefs of the time. And that is something that remains to this day.

allah promises mankind that the Quran holds all the answers to humanity. Why would God promise something like that if the Quran could not hold up against even the most outrageous and revolutionary thoughts?

That is where my argument about the weak faith of the islamic orthodoxy comes in. Instead of searching for new answers to the new problems and issues faced by humanity every day, these religious power-brokers seek to silence the questions and the doubts. they do this because they have painted themselves into a corner. They simply do not have the capacity to find all the answers on their own and therefore discourage those questions that they cannot answer themselves. On the other hand they cannot allow individuals to find the answers themselves so instead they simply try to eliminate questions.

Islam is and will always remain the most modern religious text in existence with both the oldest and the newest wisdom encapsulated in it. That means that it will be able to give answers to the questions of tomorrow just as easily as the questions of yesterday. However that is the Quran, the Book of Allah.

The clergy, the mullahs , the salvation peddlers, simply will not be able to keep up and that is why they will slowly but surely lose significance as muslims take back the right to interpret the faith personally rather than relying on paid individuals who have a vested interest in the interpretation of islamic Law.

Me: You certainly have not understood the depth of the quote.

Friend: c’mon this is just one of the most famous 101 Atheist Quotes ….too general a way in denouncing religions…

Me: religions are just old stories written by bored old men… its not an atheist thing.. even an agnostic would say this… actually any sane rational thinking person wouldnt believe in religion….

anyway if thats what you feel you can push it off that way!!

Friend: Atheism existed ever since there were religions….so any religious person can write off atheism as old fables written by insane irrational old men….why would u think that Atheism is unquestionable? prove me that my religion is wrong..i will sure join you in your cause….let’s start from the basics of my religion…

Me: You got it all wrong, unlike religion atheism or agnosticism does not follow a book/teachings or something someone else said. It exist simply due to the ability of a human being to question. Contrary to what you feel I or non-believers do not criticize one single religion, they criticize/question all of them!

No one ever said atheism/agnosticism is unquestionable!! (Faith means to believe without questioning.)

If religious people kept their religion to themselves then I or others would not have to say such things in public. But belivers make it a point to preach theirs to others cos they feel theirs is right. Absurd to say the least!!!

Most people have boxed thinking pattern which is wrong. Trash the box you have labelled ‘religion’.

Friend: sorry 4 the late reply…my lap crashed…luckily 4 me my calculator fell down on an electric wire and turned it self in to a brand new sony vaio with windows xp preinstalled..more than that my finger tip access was preloaded in that….WOW….now that is possible by Probability theory let alone universe and earth, even if a single cell came in to existence by itself.

faith doesn’t mean blind faith….and doesn’t require out of the box thinking…just a basic capacity to see a situation from more than one perspective..

since i got a new lap out of my calc…we can continue our debate…lets start from the basic point where all religions converge….creation of life by a super natural power GOD… how do atheist’s believe life started?

Me: No worries about the late reply. Just to make sure that there’s no misunderstanding, I am not here to make you loose your faith. The purpose of the comments and posts on my wall are merely to get people to think.

I do not represent anyone else i.e. what I say here is not for all atheists or agnostics. I do not like generalization as it calls for unwarranted assumptions.

Evolution is proved beyond doubt by science but it does not answer your question of ‘How it all started?’. You have to look at like this, what human beings know RIGHT NOW was not known 10yrs back and what was known 10yrs back was not known 20yrs back. So we are on a path of education, awareness or discovery where we know some more about ourselves or the world/universe or just simply anything and everything around/in us. Science might not be able to give you all the answers right now but as time goes by we will surely know more.

I do not know how life started and it does not bother me that I do not know. Unlike religious people I do not claim to know it (here I generalize as ALL holy texts provide information of the creation day/event). The biggest difference is that I am ready to accept that I DO NOT KNOW.

What part of the creation of the world or universe matters to anybody’s day to day life? Why cant people just live and let live? Why do you need a promise of after life for living a good life right now?

Friend: Interesting disclaimer!!!

I always used to think that how strange it is that humans don’t have any other species or animals that are even close. We are by far more superior than any other insect, animal, or plant on this Earth. Comparing a human to an animal is like comparing an Aeroplane to a bicycle.Humans use their brains in much more complex ways- The cognitive abilities of a human compared to an animal is incredible. Humans can critically think, invent, find solutions to problems, and much more. Animals are much more narrow minded. They are more focused on their specific abilities. A Lion looks for prey all day. They never stop to think of a more efficient way of doing things. The bear never creates a net. They find something that works, and will continue doing it. Humans will always seek out more efficient ways, and even invent complex tools.We can create machines and computers that help us to do work more efficiently. Even the most complex animals do not share this feature. The only tool you will likely ever see an animal use is a stick or a rock. And even then they look confused and clumsy with it.

Microevolution (one species of bird to another closely related species) has been fairly well established. But no natural mechanism has been even been suggested to explain how macroevolution (from reptile to bird, for example) could possibly have happened. Hence Microevolution cannot be extrapolated to explain macroevolution.

For many years, even I accepted Macro evolution since it seemed to make sense and explain the evidence, even though I knew that it was a only a “theory” and not a scientific fact. But Scientists have always doubted the sufficiency of Darwin’s theory, or have accepted it mainly because they couldn’t think of a naturalistic alternative.

Today I am surprised to find that the same examples that were cited 20 years ago when I was in school are still the best evolutionists have to offer: the peppered moth, sickle-cell anemia, etc. I had expected that by now there would be many more clear examples and much more “proof.” but “NO”.
Even the production of a new animal species in nature has yet to be documented.

The theory of natural evolution proposes that over millions of years, the universe and life on earth naturally proceeded from chaos (disorder) to the amazing degree of order we observe today. Remember the cartoon version of evolution…the “march of progress” which suggests life goes from simple to complex (where “complex” = “human”). well this is totaly in conflict with the “second law of thermodynamics” which describes the natural tendency of things to progress from order to disorder.

In other words, the universe is “running down.” so it’s time evolution is written off as story written by bored old men.

‎”"”"”What part of the creation of the world or universe matters to anybody’s day to day life? Why cant people just live and let live? Why do you need a promise of after life for living a good life right now?”"”"”"”"

After watching various channels about animals, one thing is clear, Almost all animals are ready to be on their “own” very shortly after birth. From birth, they immediately begin doing things that have been pre programmed into their minds.Many animals can stand and walk just minutes after birth. Yet it takes humans almost a year or more to learn how to walk. Animals can hunt and kill food almost immediately in many cases. Some breast feed for only a few days, weeks, or months. They can then go out and capture their own foods. Humans, however, must be fed for months, and then years by our parents.

Animals from birth know what foods to eat and how to eat them. They know how to reproduce, where to migrate, and more. Even a baby turtle comes out of it’s shell and immediately knows to swim towards the ocean.

In contrast, most humans would die if they were not provided for until the age of about 12-16. We wouldn’t know how to do anything. How many 10 year old children do you think could survive in a forest or desert island?

Humans, however, spend a lot of time thinking of the future. We think about ourselves and how we relate to life. We think of what happens when we die.

Humans feel a sense of right and wrong and good and evil. We all have a basic conscious. Animals kill and never think twice. They kill for food, and they kill based on instincts. However, animals do not kill out of evil meditation. They do not stop to think about if they have “sinned.” When a human kills, it is out of evil meditation. We know better, but we murder someone anyways. That is a huge difference. Animals kill purely to eat, or to defend themselves.

The point is we are mostly driven on conscious, we are aware of “self,” and contemplate the afterlife.

In short – All livingbeings in earth are designed to do specific things for the Earth and Universe we live in, every person has a specific role to play – in animals it is preprogrammed and Human’s needs to be taught.

So the answer to your above three question’s is only because you need to be taught your specific role since you are a human being”.

Rest of the things can be linked to our college days- that we all study, then we write exams, some pass and some fail, still every one moves ahead – but it changes the course of your life and you reach unknown shores.

Me: Comparing humans to animals is not the case of apples and oranges! While the mental part is what you said, the physicality is similar but not same! As you have said humans are much more superior to any other being on this earth. We are able to rationalize things and make sense of nonsense but this does not prove that we were separately created i.e. as holy texts claims!

We as humans belong to the Animal Kingdom and are mammals. We are of the highest intelligence and dominate this Earth in terms of our intellect, amongst other things.

The theory of evolution is not in conflict with the 2nd law of thermodynamics. This shows more a misconception about thermodynamics than about evolution. The second law of thermodynamics says, “No process is possible in which the sole result is the transfer of energy from a cooler to a hotter body.” [Atkins, 1984, The Second Law, pg. 25]. The confusion arises when the 2nd law is phrased in another equivalent way, “The entropy of a closed system cannot decrease.” Entropy is an indication of unusable energy and often (but not always!) corresponds to intuitive notions of disorder or randomness. You are misinterpreting the 2nd law to say that things invariably progress from order to disorder.

However, you neglect the fact that life is not a closed system. The sun provides more than enough energy to drive things. If order from disorder is supposed to violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics, why is it ubiquitous in nature?

Simply put, evolution is the result of changes in genetic code. The genes encode the basic characteristics a life form will have, and there is no known mechanism that would prevent small changes (microevolution) from ultimately resulting in macroevolution. While genes can vary significantly between different life forms, the basic mechanisms of operation and change in all genes are the same. What biological or logical barriers prevent the former from becoming the latter?

In real life, lesser animals exhibit compassion and altruism all the time!
Those things are useful survival traits, honed by millions of years of evolution — working together to keep people you care about (and likely share a lot of the same genes with) helps the perpetuation of those genes; and encourages them to extend the same altruism to you.

Man has adopted a code of behavior which enhances his chances of surviving in a society, those that did not have such codes are no longer here, nothing magic about it.

Our feelings, emotions and morality have functions. For example, the function of love is mating and caring about the offspring.

All the principles we considered “noble” came about by means of evolution. For example, how do we know killing is wrong? Because we don’t want to be killed ourselves. We can’t let people freely kill each other because then nobody would feel safe.

I’ll give you an example: a long time ago, there were some groups of primitive people that allowed murder among themselves, and others that didn’t. After some time the former obviously died out because of all this killing, so what was left were those groups with rules. This is how “morality” was created according to evolution.

Look at piranhas. They seem to have morality — they never harm each other. But is it religious for them? No, it’s just what lets them survive.

If you read your own comments, you can understand why I said out of the box thinking is needed if you want to break away from the so called farce ‘Religion’. You are debating me on the topic of religion but none of the comments you have said proves anything it claims.

Adoption by Gays, is it morally right?

Are gay’s normal people? Yes, they are!

Is it morally wrong to be gay? No, because it should not matter to anyone how someone lives their private lives.

Is being gay natural? Yes, homosexuality is in the animal kingdom whether you like it or not. (This does not mean they have a special ‘gene’ attributable to their gayness.).

Is it ‘OK’, if they adopt children? Yes.

Where do gay people come from? They are not made in labs; they are born like the rest of us. As one grows up, depending on situations, life style or just self realization one accepts the fact that he/she is gay. The parents of the gays might be religious and they might have imparted their HOLY knowledge of morality to them as children. So, what most people have to accept is that, gays are just like the rest of us. NORMAL.

If gay parents can pass on the message of righteousness, equality, freedom etc; they are doing just fine as parents. For the well being of a child or for a good upbringing, religion or the concept of god is not necessary as the religious people claim it to be! Being gay is not bad or immoral as religious people vilify them. The child brought up by gay parents do not end up being gay just because of their parents, they could be straight.

Morally correct people a.ka religious people who distort children’s mind by adulteration with illogical concept of religion and GOD are committing child abuse.

After all what is morality, is it what is derived from religious text? Then, could some one please explain the idea behind the killing of a person for being gay? When did killing someone become morally right? Who/What gives one person the authority to take someone’s life?

After reading this you might be thinking I am gay; I certainly am not, never have been and most likely will not be! I m just another GUY who thinks everyone on this earth has a right to their existence as they please, as long as they do not harm/intend to harm another!

After Life

I mean is your life so hollow that you need an afterlife?

The basic idea behind after life is like this:

You promise a child some thing as reward for being good and some sort of punishment for bad behavior or mischievousness.

The religions have taken this same ‘SIMPLE’ and effective idea, put it in their books and professed to be the word of an imaginary being!

I mean, come on!! The word that is from a source that has no solid proof or evidence.

Let me not get side tracked with the source, so what evidence is there of an afterlife? I have never ever met (and I do not think anyone else too have) a dead person, who can verify the validity of this claim.

Most people of faith ask me, so what am I saying that happens after some one dies. This is my answer; you just rot away like the rest of all living beings. The only difference between us and the other living beings is that we have a bigger brain. Now, if we use this brain as intended by nature through evolution we should be able to figure this simple logic. The sad truth is that most people loose their ability to think freely due to the man made invention of religion and god. Most people are indoctrinated in to the religion of their parents even before they can figure out what is logical and what is not. All religions core matter is the promise of afterlife, so an average Joe/Jane’s mind is twisted right at the beginning of his/life.

This false promise is a deadly one too, as you can see many suicide bombers blowing themselves up, just to secure their place in heaven.

If you are able to break free from this false promise, you should be able to live your life with much more satisfaction. This is due to the fact that you can live your life knowing that you are not trying to impress some one to grant you a place in an imaginary place (heaven or hell) for eternity.

Murder of Mr. Salman Taseer!

I read and saw on several news media outlets that the murderer of Mr. Salman Taseer is considered to be a hero and that they held rallies in his support!!

It is rather appalling when a whole population considers a murderer to be a hero. It is sad that a whole generation/population has been radicalized to an extent that they don’t feel sympathy for the deceased or his relatives.

Punjab governor Salman Taseer favoured an amendment to the law and was shot dead.

Such events are the main reason a lot of people never come out of the closet to say they are agnostic or atheist. I believe that places where education, reason and science are neglected, (religious) intolerance levels are much higher.

It is not that education is not provided but it is distorted to an extent where it will never contradict the scriptures.

As many as 99.9 per cent of faithful people believe that the earth is less than 10,000 years old which contradicts scientific proof.

Prejudice based on religion is much more existent now than a couple of decades ago, but why? Why is it that one’s religion is always better than others’?

My take on Adhan/Azan/Ezan/أَذَان‎ /Islamic call to prayer

Prologue: This is in response to letters published in the local newspaper (I live on an island in the MIDDLE EAST) regarding the Islamic call of prayer. Some letters complained about it being too loud and early, where as some wrote back saying that it is beautiful if everybody understood the meaning. What you are going to read is my response or take on the issue. (Written sometime around Jul 09)

It is funny how people make more fuss about little things in life which really should not be bothering them. Take for example all the letters regarding prayer with some saying its sweet and all some others saying it is a pain.

First of all my take on this is that if it is a pain move away from where you are staying, NO! I am not trying to tell you to get out of the country if you do not like it. You got be realistic, this is a Muslim country and you know how people are sensitive about their own religions.

I do not follow/practice/endorse or entertain any religion. Religion is part of my conversations if I am trying to convince the other person that it is a very interesting story and that its JUST a story.

My advice to all would be not interfere in religion or politics unless you are invited in to it as most people consider their own religion to be more superior than others. While this can be loud and annoying for those of different faith, here this is the ‘right thing’, the ‘holy thing’. This ‘thing’ is something that no one is allowed to criticize in this country.

The simple logic here and everywhere is that MAJORITY wins or the likes of them has more value than the other!

Very rarely do you see exceptions like the one in US First Amendment which requires the separation of church and state. If only all the governments of the world would step up to something like that. (Ironically 40+% of Americans consider US to be a Christian country and that the earth is less than 10,000yrs old. So even when a visionary puts rules and regulations for the protection of the minority it is not always successful!)

Religion and politics are for a totally different sort of people within the society (I hope you know what’s different about them!). After all what has all these religions done other than create all the hatred (which usually ends up in wars).

It is rare that I can have a decent conversation with a person when it comes to religion as the other person usually gets frustrated over the unanswerable questions and loop holes in every religion.

Try to enjoy your stay on this small Island while you can!

Is religion any good?

I would say Yes and NO!

Yes because it provides guidance to people on how to lead a good life. A lot of people whether they admit it or not lack basic morals. They need a book (read Bible, Quran etc) to provide them with the basic requirements for a decent and morally good life.

It teaches them to forgive and forget when someone has done anything bad to them, to be good to another human and a lot of such good things. Importantly it provides them with hope and strength for a better future based on prayers. There are numerous good things a religion does for humans.

No because it dictates that what ever religion one believes in is better than or truer than the other. Every religion provides people with false promises of afterlife, for which there is no proof. A lot of people do good things to please God or follow good deeds as mentioned in holy books to secure their place in heaven or to please others (community).

Most religions do not preach of non-violence, by this I do not say that they preach violence but they do not say it is a sin if a person is killed in the name of religion that the killer’s soul will end up in hell.

There a lot of people who believe in God but not so much in religion but they do go to places of worship, but for what? Why do you need to ritualize your prayer, if you believe in God and if you pray sincerely God should be able to hear it, right? Why do you have to kneel or have your hands clasped for God to hear your prayer?

What is a mosque, church or temple; these are just buildings just like your home or office built by humans. There’s nothing holy about your home or office, right? So why is another building like temple or mosque or church important? It’s because religious leaders say so or the holy book says so! Who appoints Pope’s, Imam’s or other such religious leaders, all of them are appointed by a group of humans!!

How many people have died in the name of religion? The crusades that lasted from 1095 to 1291 and the jihads of today are took/taking too many lives! The religious clashes that happen across the world have and are currently killing millions; also all the other religious clashes have taken too many lives.

It’s time to stop believing in these fairy tales written by wise men. It provides guidance but creates too much hatred amongst people. It’s not always the fault of the religion itself but those miscreants who lead it.

Ask for facts, demand proof and you will know if religion is indeed good or bad!

Why do you need God?

Really I don’t think you need an imaginary friend!

Every person goes through good times and bad times. Generally during good times people are less faithful to their respective God’s, but it is when they go through bad times that they need a shoulder to cry on and that is God!

People need reassurance during their bad times that there is some light at the end of the tunnel even if there is none, religion and the imaginary friends provide ample assurance of this non-existent light. I am not saying believing in it is bad but if you can believe in yourself and expect something good will come if you do good is a better thing than false promises!

Let’s take one example, if a farmer has a good harvest he thanks God for it but if there are natural calamities and his farm is destroyed by floods, storms; he for some reason does not blame God. If what I have heard is true then God controls or has the ability to control everything so if a faithful religious, practicing, God fearing, earnest, hardworking, and honest farmer has not done anything bad and his farm is destroyed by floods or storms which are the creation of God then why does he not blame God? Not only that he does not blame God but he prays for everything to be fixed in anyway what so ever to the same person/God that destroyed it in the first place.

Example two: They say if you commit a sin and really ask for forgiveness/repent for the sin you have committed God can forgive you. Lets see now, if a person kills another and then repents for it then God should be able to save him right or pardon him but the judicial system in any country would sentence him to prison or even the gallows depending on the severity of the case. So why was not God able to save him, yeah some are going to say his soul will go to heaven or hell based on how God judged him but do you have proof, do you know what it feels like to be hanged or be behind bars for 10, 50, 100 years; no right? So I would assume that the all powerful God as some say is not so powerful or not even existent!

Example three: When a criminal or person with a bad rapport with community gets in some accident and gets hospitalized everyone will say it is an act of God. He gets out of hospital and is paralyzed waist down, which is the result for non-belief and for being a non-God fearing person. He gets all religious and becomes a faithful follower of God and everyone says God will forgive him and that he will go to heaven. All these are unacceptable points of views but for the sake of argument I will accept them. But what sin has a child done, when he/she is born with Down syndrome or is paralyzed waist down? What is God punishing them for?

I will stop with these for now.. but the list for not having an imaginary friend seems endless!

I have been thinking for a while now…..Does God exist?

Most of my family, friends, and acquaintances are all religious; there’s nothing wrong with that!! But me, I am not and even more I do not believe in a supreme being anymore!

I was on one of my official trips to US and during the flight from Bahrain to Amsterdam Mr. Ahmed (Saudi) was sitting on the seat next to me.

Mr. Ahmed is in his early twenties, studying for a degree in English from some university in Texas. He looked like any Arab teenager with weird hairstyle and dressing, he was weird anywhere other than Middle East but just perfect for Saudi. He sat down by the window seat, put the seat belts on and took his iPod and started listening to music.

I try not to be intrusive and usually don’t start conversations with co-passengers (also being an introvert myself). As he was listening to music and the flight attendant walked over and asked him to switch off his iPod for take off. So once that was done he initiated the conversation. As usual the conversation beings with where are you going, what are you doing etc. At some point of the conversation he has asked me my name and I had told him. The topics of our conversation switches from one to the other and at some point because of my name he asks if I am a Muslim and I told him I was born a Muslim (as it was not my choice) but that I do not believe in any religion.

I was cautious prior to telling him this because of the fanatical form of Islam followed by the general population Saudi Arabia and I noticed that he was offended. He was not angry but certainly offended and he counseled me about the Glory of God and whole lot of things and he asked me to talk to my Imam* (obviously he did not know that I only go to places of worship if I have to! {to keep some relatives happy}).

It was kind of scary for me! So I told him that he is getting offended with my point of view and stopped the conversation and slept (or at least pretended) for the rest of the flight. Once we got to Amsterdam we said our goodbyes and left but it left me thinking. I could not understand why he did not understand what I was telling him inspite of me citing several flaws, lack of facts etc etc.

Lots of conversations that I have had with people from varying beliefs i.e., moderate to extreme conclude that there are something’s unknown to man and that only God can answer/explain.

You have to look at this way, what humans know in this day were not known in 1950 and that much were not known in 1900 and so on. The real question; who created earth and all living beings (how did earth come in to existence)? The knowledge we know or we have is a result of evolution i.e., information/facts are evolving. Our inability to answer this or any questions of this sort, is not a reason good enough to believe in an invisible or non-existent being!

The answer to the title of this post is NO!

FYI, this post is not about my reason for not believing in GOD. The title was to catch your attention so that you would read my post . The truth is that it was not what I wanted to write but ended up writing this but I will be writing more on my reasons for non-belief.

I think I will write more, post more, lets see if I stick with this game plan for long!

Imam* – Islamic religious leader

Hope you understand what this means and not take it in the wrong sense!!