THIS week, the only time when we think of things beyond, even as rituals of Christianity dominate our days, perhaps is a good time to critique, as modern man has to, what centuries or even just decades ago, we could not question at all religion.
Evolutionary scientists have pointed out that even without religion, homo sapiens through millions of years of its biological and cultural evolution had to develop—or perish—what clerics mystify as God-given values of charity (cooperation) and love. (See for example, Michael Shermer’s The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom.)
Indeed, there hasn’t been found yet a tribe or society built on the values of selfishness and cruelty. Of course, no such society will ever be found since the members of such a tribe or society would have over the centuries killed each other to extinction. In the long run, as archaeologists have argued quite rigorously, the selfish member of a tribe gets to be exposed as such and either exterminated or banished.
As sociologists using game theory have pointed out, the best game plan is to be sometimes selfish, sometimes selfless—which is after all how most rational people live their lives. Even the most selfish individual in his twilight years gets to be good.
Is it just a coincidence that nearly all religions that flourished in humanity’s history were not just state religions, but religions of empires — Christianity that of the Roman Empire since Emperor (“Saint”) Constantine, and its successor the European states; Islam that of the empires of the caliphates and sultanates up to the modern era’s Ottoman Empire. No wonder Zen Buddhism — whose teachings rulers can’t use to subjugate peoples — never got to be a widespread religion.
Is it coincidental that that kings and their nobles claimed and ruled as God’s representatives on earth which allowed them to live off the blood and sweat of the toiling tenants? Did Spain get to rule over us for three centuries through force of arms and its higher level of culture, or through religion that convinced the people that they were children of God, whom the friars and the Spanish conquistadores represented, and therefore must obey?
Humanity’s real problem has been the penchant of a tribe or a nation, because again of human evolutionary history, to exploit and even exterminate the other tribe or nation. The reasons for this run deep, perhaps ingrained in our DNA from the time millennia ago when resources were so scarce that a tribe’s survival required it to take the other’s hunting and foraging lands and get rid of the other. Or because it is etched in our collective mind that strangers bring disease to a tribe, which has not developed the immunities required.
Religions seem powerless to solve this problem, and may even have worsened it. Religions, which most tribes use as one of their distinguishing feature as against other tribes, have been used as justification for the cruelest wars in history.
How many times have we heard in YouTube videos that spine-tingling cry “Allahu Akbar!” while humans are beheaded, or even torched. But wasn’t it Christians and their Crusades in the Middle Ages who invented the notion of a Holy War, in order to expel the Muslims and recapture where Yeshua their founder walked the earth?
It is only religion, and nothing else, that can prod a young man to kill scores of infidels with the bomb that also blows him to smithereens, since he believes that there will be an afterlife for a mujahideen like him where he will enjoy 72 virgins.
The most basic appeal of religion is that it brainwashes one into believing that he is immortal, that he will be merely moving to a different kind of existence when he dies; for Filipinos perhaps, just like migrating to the US or Canada.
That’s certainly an attractive notion for one of the exploited class who has lived a life of misery and pain. Death will mean his moving to a better world.
That’s also great news if you’re with the exploiting class, that your huge donation to build your local church would get you the visa to enter that territory Christians call Heaven.
It’s a recurring notion in most of the world religions: Muslims call it Jannah, the Hindus Swarga Loka, Romans the Elysian Fields, and the Vikings Valhalla, with its giant beer-drinking hall. But it is no longer a universal belief: ask a Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or a Scandinavian and he’ll reply a bit embarrassingly, “We hardly think of that.”
Still, the notion of a heavenly afterlife is so powerful that modern man is unable to shed it off, even if it goes against his rationality. There has been in fact a resurgence of the fantasy, with the plethora of best-selling books on “heaven” that have made millions of dollars for their clever authors in the US.
This is despite the fact there is nothing in the “heaven” they depict that hasn’t been in Christian depictions of it in art and fiction for centuries. A book written about a mujahideen’s encounter with 72 virgins in the afterlife, I bet, would probably be an instant hit. (The doctor who attended to best-selling “Proof of Heaven” author Dr. Eben Alexander when he claimed that he had died, reported in Esquire that he was in a medically induced coma, and was hallucinating.)
New scientific discoveries understood really only by professional physicists through abstract equations have been hijacked by creative writers to propound a theory that when one dies, he lives “alternate lives” – a la quantum physics’ “multiverses”– as a recent movie, The Discovery, dramatized.
What religion robs us of with its fiction that we are immortal is life itself, the enjoyment of the here and now.
Is it so terrible that in this vast cosmos, this unique creature, because of random events in immense stretches of time we cannot comprehend, has been given the opportunity, even if only for a limited time, to become aware of himself and of the universe, to enjoy life, love, family, friendship and achievements?
Why is that void in the future so fearsome when we really came from a void we don’t even remember?
“Be here now” is the mantra not just of mystics through the centuries, like Ramana Maharishi, Osho, and now Eckhart Tolle, but of a scientist like Sigmund Freud, who wrote:
“A flower that blossoms only for a single night does not seem to us on that account less lovely.”
"Wiki hii, wakati pekee tunapofikiria mambo ya baadaye, hata kama desturi za Ukristo zinaongoza siku zetu, labda ni wakati mzuri wa kukosoa, kama mwanadamu wa kisasa anavyofanya, kile ambacho karne au hata miongo tu iliyopita, hatukuweza kuhoji dini yoyote.""" Wanasayansi wa mageuzi wamebainisha kwamba hata bila dini, homo sapiens kupitia mamilioni ya miaka ya mageuzi yake ya kibiolojia na kitamaduni ililazimika kuendeleza au kuangamia kile ambacho makasisi wanaficha kama maadili ya Mungu ya misaada (ushirikiano) na upendo. (Tazama kwa mfano, kitabu The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom cha Michael Shermer.) Kwa kweli, bado hakujapatikana kabila au jamii iliyojengwa juu ya maadili ya ubinafsi na ukatili. Bila shaka, jamii kama hiyo haitawahi kupatikana kwa kuwa washiriki wa kabila au jamii kama hiyo wangekuwa wamekufa kwa karne nyingi. Kwa muda mrefu, kama vile wataalamu wa vitu vya kale walivyosema kwa uthabiti, mtu mwenye ubinafsi katika kabila fulani hufunuliwa kuwa mtu wa kawaida na kuangamizwa au kufukuzwa. Kama wanasosholojia kutumia nadharia ya mchezo wameonyesha, mpango bora wa mchezo ni kuwa wakati mwingine ubinafsi, wakati mwingine usio na ubinafsi - ambayo ni baada ya yote jinsi watu wengi busara kuishi maisha yao. Hata mtu mwenye ubinafsi zaidi katika miaka yake ya mwisho-mwisho huwa mwema. Ni bahati mbaya kwamba dini zote zilizositawi katika historia ya binadamu hazikuwa dini za serikali tu, bali ni dini za milki: Ukristo wa Milki ya Roma tangu Mfalme Konstantino, na mrithi wake, mataifa ya Ulaya; Uislamu wa milki za khalifa na sultani hadi Milki ya Ottoman ya enzi ya kisasa. Haishangazi kwamba Ubudha wa Zen - ambao mafundisho yake hayawezi kutumiwa na watawala kuwashinda watu - haukuweza kamwe kuwa dini iliyoenea sana. Je, ni bahati mbaya kwamba wafalme na wakuu wao walidai na kutawala kama wawakilishi wa Mungu duniani ambao waliwaruhusu kuishi kwa damu na jasho la wakulima wanaofanya kazi kwa bidii? Je, Uhispania ilitawala juu yetu kwa karne tatu kwa nguvu ya silaha na kiwango chake cha juu cha utamaduni, au kwa njia ya dini ambayo iliwasadikisha watu kuwa walikuwa watoto wa Mungu, ambao watawa na washindi wa Uhispania waliwakilisha, na kwa hivyo lazima watii? Tatizo la kweli la ubinadamu limekuwa ni mwelekeo wa kabila au taifa, kwa sababu tena ya historia ya mageuzi ya binadamu, kutumia na hata kuangamiza kabila au taifa lingine. Sababu za hili ni za kina kirefu, labda zimeingizwa katika DNA yetu kutoka wakati wa milenia zilizopita wakati rasilimali zilikuwa chache sana kwamba kuishi kwa kabila kulihitaji kuchukua ardhi ya uwindaji na uwindaji wa mwingine na kuondoa mwingine. "Au kwa sababu imeandikwa katika akili yetu ya pamoja kwamba wageni huleta ugonjwa kwa kabila ambalo halijaendeleza kinga zinazohitajika. """ Inaonekana kwamba dini hazina uwezo wa kutatua tatizo hilo, na huenda hata zimelifanya liwe mbaya zaidi. Dini, ambayo makabila mengi hutumia kama moja ya sifa zao za kutofautisha dhidi ya makabila mengine, imetumiwa kama haki ya vita vya ukatili zaidi katika historia. Ni mara ngapi tumesikia katika video za YouTube kwamba kilio cha mgongo "Allahu Akbar!" wakati wanadamu wanakatwa vichwa, au hata kuchomwa moto. Lakini je, si Wakristo na Vita vyao vya Msalaba katika Enzi za Kati waliovumbua wazo la Vita Takatifu, ili kuwafukuza Waislamu na kuuteka tena mahali ambapo Yeshua mwanzilishi wao alitembea duniani? """Dini pekee, na hakuna kitu kingine, kinachoweza kumsukuma kijana kuua idadi kubwa ya makafiri kwa bomu ambalo pia linamvunjia vipande vipande, kwani anaamini kwamba kutakuwa na maisha ya baada ya kifo kwa mujahideen kama yeye ambapo atafurahia mabikira 72.""" "Ukumbusho wa msingi wa dini ni kwamba inamfanya mtu asadiki kwamba yeye ni asiyeweza kufa, kwamba yeye atakuwa tu akihamia aina tofauti ya kuwepo anapokufa; kwa Wafilipino labda, kama kuhamia Marekani au Canada.""" Hiyo ni hakika dhana ya kuvutia kwa mmoja wa darasa exploited ambaye ameishi maisha ya taabu na maumivu. Kifo kitamaanisha kwamba atahamia ulimwengu bora zaidi. Hiyo pia ni habari nzuri kama wewe ni pamoja na darasa exploiting, kwamba mchango wako mkubwa wa kujenga kanisa lako la ndani ingekuwa kupata visa ya kuingia eneo hilo Wakristo wito Mbingu. Ni wazo linalorudiwa-rudiwa katika dini nyingi za ulimwengu: Waislamu wanaiita Jannah, Wahindu Swarga Loka, Waroma Elysian Fields, na Waviking Valhalla, na ukumbi wake mkubwa wa kunywa bia. "Lakini si imani ya ulimwengu wote: uliza Mjapani, Mchina, Mkorean, au Mskandinavia na atakujibu kwa aibu kidogo, ""Hatufikiri sana juu ya hilo."" Hata hivyo, wazo la maisha ya mbinguni baada ya kifo ni nguvu sana kwamba mtu wa kisasa hawezi kuondoa, hata kama inapita dhidi ya busara yake." "Hata hivyo, kuna uwezekano wa kuwa na ""mwisho wa maisha"" kwa sababu ya vitabu vingi vya ""mbinguni"" ambavyo vimefanya mamilioni ya dola kwa waandishi wao wa akili nchini Marekani." Hii ni licha ya ukweli kwamba hakuna kitu katika "mbingu" wanaonyesha kwamba haikuwa katika picha za Kikristo ya hiyo katika sanaa na hadithi za uwongo kwa karne nyingi. Kitabu kinachoelezea maisha ya Mujahideen na mabikira 72 katika maisha ya baada ya kifo, kinapaswa kuwa kitabu cha kuvutia sana. "Daktari aliyemhudumia mwandishi wa kitabu ""Ushahidi wa Mbingu"" Eben Alexander alipodai kwamba alikuwa amekufa, aliripoti katika Esquire kwamba alikuwa katika hali ya kukosa fahamu na alikuwa na hallucinations." Ugunduzi mpya wa kisayansi unaeleweka tu na wanasayansi wa kitaalamu kupitia equations abstract wamekuwa hijacked na waandishi wa ubunifu kupendekeza nadharia kwamba wakati mtu anakufa, anaishi <unk> maisha mbadala <unk> a la quantum fizikia <unk> <unk>multiverses<unk> kama filamu ya hivi karibuni, Ugunduzi, dramatized. Dini inatuibia nini na hadithi yake kwamba sisi ni wa milele ni maisha yenyewe, kufurahia hapa na sasa. Je, ni jambo la kutisha kwamba katika ulimwengu huu mkubwa, kiumbe huyu wa kipekee, kwa sababu ya matukio ya bahati katika vipindi vya muda vingi ambavyo hatuwezi kuelewa, amepewa fursa, hata kama ni kwa muda mdogo tu, kujijua mwenyewe na ulimwengu, kufurahia maisha, upendo, familia, urafiki na mafanikio? Kwa nini utupu huo katika siku zijazo ni wa kuogopesha sana wakati sisi kwa kweli tulitoka katika utupu ambao hata hatukumbuki? "Kuwa hapa sasa"" ni mantra sio tu ya mystics kwa karne nyingi, kama Ramana Maharishi, Osho, na sasa Eckhart Tolle, lakini ya mwanasayansi kama Sigmund Freud, ambaye aliandika: ""Maua ambayo maua kwa usiku mmoja tu haionekani kwetu kwa sababu hiyo chini ya kupendeza."""