Hurting my non-religious sentiments!

/Me is a non-religious person, a proud atheist, and this post might well encapsulate in a frivolous sense the subtle 'trauma' our diaspora is being conditioned to.

Well, here are some of my genuinely exaggerated confessions:P

If you thought non-religious people did not have sentiments, yes you were almost right that we don't have unreasonable ones, like quarreling for a piece of supposedly 'holy' land, or a wall, or adulating each ones idols, or seeking supremacy in relic books. But we do have sentiments, that usually go unnoticed, and I assure you these are more personal, yet sensible stuff!

It hurts my sentiments when I'm asked to write my religion in the religion field  of every application form and that 'atheism' is not a recognized entry! Although my recent hack  “born hindu” seems to convey a gist of what I feel, that does still hurt my non-religious sentiments!

It hurts my sentiments, when I see that we are non-existent to the Government and media, and they don't want to give heed to this our swelling diaspora. This community, with obviously higher IQ is ignored, for we understand and endorse Darwinism and not the 'magic wand bang creationism'!

It hurts my sentiments, when the religious fanatics' 'hurt and trampled' bleating gets all the unnecessary importance, when there's a whole world full of more important things to be done!

It does not hurt, but only amuses me when an atheist is treated as a traitor or an embodiment of evil, instead of looking at the evidence and reason behind our natural vanity.

It hurts my rational sentiments (oxymoron, I get it), when instead of facing my arguments some of you dodge and hide behind a facade of sentimentalism.

It hurts my sentiments, when they perceive me uncultured, when the truth is that I'm more sanely cultured than even the most religious fanatic, for I have undone the rituals and superstitions and celebrate only the humanness!

It hurts my sentiments, when everyone talks of only sentiments and not of the intellect! How can you run a world by pleasing unreasonable sentiments, blocking all of rationality?

It gravely hurts my non-religious sentiments, when you threaten me of not allowing to have the delicacies for each of the religious celebration, and that alone of all I have mentioned has the most serious impact on me, sometimes making me rethink my stand as an athiest!:P

All said and not done, I feel hurt to see many of you still loosely stuck to your religious webs and pose helpless, while I cherish the bliss of cognizance, that builds through every moment, every day.

Disassembling Logic

Well out of the lot many things running in my head competing to get out onto my blog, the following post has made it first and for reasons evident in the following paragraphs.

The question of thoughts, ideas, imagination, rationalization, reality and materialism are eternal queries which keep haunting the small gray web that's built within our heads.

Imagine a discourse, in which someone is trying to put forth these very ideas in the most simplistic manner, and you're wondering "No, this can't be real!", as if transported into The Matrix.

Distinguishing thoughts from reality, although is a natural skill each one is designed with, the exercise of documenting this design as an outsider is super cumbersome. Cumbersome because, as all simple things in life, this notion is easy to experience but sophisticated to express. The essence of expressing obscure concepts is to clarify, but when one sets on a goal to express intuition, or common logic is where the pinnacles of obscurity reside.

The very fact that something is simple, and it comes coded in our genes makes it a part of us, like thoughts for example. Now, if one wants to analyze these thoughts as an outsider, it requires immense expenditure of efforts and a great level of associated detachment from oneself and the community around to treat the self as the subject of study. These are the very processes which seem counter intuitive and end up creating the most scintillating works of research, philosophy and literature.

For instance, Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud, with all the criticism to Psychoanalysis taken into account, is still a marvelous piece of literature which talks about the subject of dreams; here, it is the analysis on the subject and not the subject itself that is expanding into realms of disbelief! Now, one would ask what value is the analysis of, if in the first place there were no subject to analyze! It is precisely on these lines that my current reading is going on :)


In the book Dialectical Logic, one of the best confluence of philosophy, rationality and literature I have ever dealt with, the concepts in it tackle simplest of our notions like thoughts, ideas, rationalization etc.. And the initial flow by itself has taken me aback. I am reading it all along in disbelief. By the time I end up reading this assimilated masterpiece I hope to have fathomed the Dialectics of Logic!

A grand extrapolation to the theory of Coexistence of conflicting opposites.

How far can one go riding on rationality?

Encountering rationales is getting tougher by the day in today's technology driven world. As paradoxical it might seem, irrationality is getting ubiquitous in the 21st Century. In a world run on the principles of scientific inquisition and technological accomplishments, a counter wave of revived illogic and neo-superstitions are spreading quickly amongst the individuals.

Incorporating the paradigm of logic and reasoning in one's life is not an easy task, agreed. It requires lot of courage and strong conviction to defy the orthodoxity and conventionality that is piously preached by the society.
But it certainly is the only way forward!

In an attempt to categorize the minds I've known based on the rationality exhibited by them, here's a four grade demarcation :P

The ones who don't take off: Have known and continue to know many more who belong to this clan. A strong force acting within these people repels all the logic and makes them imperveous to reasoning.
Traits: Relucatance, apart from the natural obstinate ignorance

The ones who break down en route: These are the slender and fragile ones, who make an attempt but certain adverse situations put them back to square one, or to the level mentioned above.
Traits: Timid and voluntarily cornered

The ones who apply with exceptions: A new creed I am discovering amongst my own regular diaspora. These semi rationales apply rationality with exceptions, and many a times at their convenience. I don't know how they do it, but they successfully detach from their plane of thought and contradict themselves, ending up irrational.
Traits: Opportunistic and of course undone.

The ones who perpetuate forever: These are the ones who wouldn't contradict the subjective realities in variation with the objective conditions. Consistent with their logic, and adamant on their perception.
Improvising a cliche here: Rationality isn't a destination, it is a journey!
And to hang on to this journey, it is nothing less than an incessant struggle; Struggle with one's beliefs and prejudices, and an everlasting process of clearing the smog unravelled by the rest of the three clans.
Traits: Strong conviction and pragmatists

It takes continuous effort and consistent show of mental strength to endorse a lifelong paradigm of rationality. Lethargy, reluctance, hesitancy, selectivity and cowardice are the hurdles to cross if you want to embark upon this enlightnening and gratifying journey.

Festivals, to the ones like me ;-)

What could be better than a day's off from work, substituted by relaxing at home, with lots to eat and feast on, while watching some special TV, apart from the warmth of the togetherness, with the added amusement provided by the skeptical participation in prayers and rituals?

A friend had raised a question if rationalists and atheists should be celebrating festivals at all!

And, as I am privileged enough to be a novice of both these elite classes (ignore the jargons;), I strongly feel even rationalism and atheism cannot prevent one from getting together with family and friends, to eat and celebrate the togetherness. That is what any Festival is meant to be, more than emulating any ancient traditions which make little sense in the contemporary world.

As I intend to keep this post positive as a whole, I shall save the critique on the customs and traditions of all religions for elaborations in future posts. 

So, 'Festivals minus Rituals' is a must have for everybody to feel the power of celebration in the spirit of life, to increase joy, happiness and to savor the periodic special days.

With Deepavali/Diwali at the horizon, let this Festival of Lights,
enlighten the minds of people, fill it with sparkling ideas, blasting off prejudices and ignorance. Hope there is lesser pollution this time, as the trend has been off late.

Happy Eco and Future friendly Deepavali

ದೀಪಾವಳಿ ಹಬ್ಬದ ಹಾರ್ದಿಕ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು

दीपावली त्यौहार   के शुभकामनाएं

தீபாவளி பண்டிகையின் மனமார்ந்த வாழுத்துக்கள்