Dangerous topic to touch, but one of my favourites to talk on and spend nights having conversations around. But having said that, considering I am only 30, I have delayed the research on hows, whys and whens of religion for when I am 40+ and made enough money to be a philanthropist. So whatever I write is the hypothesis and just random observation of people around and how they behave under the effect of certain external stimuli. I am really not aware whether my hypothesis is proven scientific fact or is it under research of some XYZ professor in some fancy university of the USA. The thoughts mentioned below are just mine. This is really a vast topic
to write about and research upon and I as of now do not possess that
much liberty and time.
Humans seem moral only in social settings. Looking at countries like Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, etc. men by nature seem to be selfish, brute and nasty. They only curb this natural instinct when applied a strong resistive force in terms of law, religion or government (Newton's Law of inertia). This is very true in our daily lives as well- how many times we see ourselves looking around before they are about to do something wrong or just a flash of thought in our minds how will my friends perceive us if we go ahead with a certain act or our acts will bring shame to our families. In the absence of such fears in the minds of humans, there will be utter chaos. People will be killing their neighbours for food and land, there will be no industries, no development and no efforts to move ahead because the outcome is uncertain, not known. This uncertainty in outcome brings sense of insecurity and fueling further chaos in the system and resulting in a state of pandemonium. People are insecure about their lives, their loved ones, there professions, etc. Thus, an external force in terms of religion/government/laws/rules is applied changes the current state into the desired state and a certain outcome.
Within the confined boundaries of land, religion, law people find fraternity, like minded thought process which breaks the uncertainty in their lives and provides them a sense of security. How much we say we are different at a micro level, but at macroscopic level group of people belonging to a certain fraternity are expected to behave in a certain manner- a group of Americans will be clearly distinguishable from a group of French; however they might be certain differentiating characteristics amongst Americans and French themselves at an individual level but at a macroscopic level Americans will be clearly differentiated from the French. It is this sense of security of being part of fraternity that upholds the adage "unity in diversity." We all like to be alike and in the safe haven of the company of individuals who are like us but it is clearly these defined rules and regulations, may be of the religion or of the land, that isolates us from one group to the another.
If we delve deeper into the history we will realise we needed ancient scriptures like Vedas, Ramayana, Gita, Bible, Quran, etc just as an enforcer, an external force to guide people as to how to live their lives peacefully without uncertainty and commotion.These religions/boundaries/scriptures never speak of fundamentalism nor do they tell that particular fraternity is better than the others because at microscopic level we all are alike; it is at the macroscopic level we tend to behave in a certain manner because of external forces which have evolved over time under the influence of ulterior motives of certain strong minded individuals. As a matter of fact, sometimes I wonder is God also an external force just to ensure equilibrium in the universe?
Fundamentalism or terrorism in the name of religion or region is not the outcome of outsmarting other fraternities. It is driven by the theory that we humans, though live in a large groups and like to be independent, need a dominant leader. A majority of this fundamentalism/terrorism can be attributed to the submission to the ulterior motive of the most dominant leader of the group (may be intellectually/ physical strength/ devising external stimuli or laws for the group).
Humans are selfish by nature. They will only think about themselves unless we have external stimuli to change this thinking. Universe can't handle 10 billion+ of different people having 10billion+ ideologies and only thinking about themselves. It will be total chaos, a state of pandemonium; hence we needed to classify these individuals in a groups- region/religion/law. Thus, we have different types of rules and regulations imposed, some of the land some of the culture and some of the religion. And each group wants to outsmart the other group and hence eventually fuelling growth in social circle. Just as in business, competition is necessary to grow; it is extremely important in social realms also. All religions preach the same thing with a little tweaking; all rules of the land state the similar constitution; but this overall group rivalry provides the ultimate aim/goal to our lives which channels our energy in the right direction and thus avoiding us from the state of commotion.It is this competition that makes us "self sufficient" as a fraternity. It is this idea of being self-dependent and responsible for taking care of ourselves, drives the evolution of society and one fraternity being developed and other being underdeveloped.
Rules, religions, laws, boundaries are just there to give us humans a sense of security of being in safe haven and they are just "anxiety reliving mechanism." It is this fear induced in the minds of us humans because of these lines, which propel us evolve over time, which makes us do the undoable. When Robert Frost says, "Good fences make good neighbours" he was actually right!
Humans seem moral only in social settings. Looking at countries like Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, etc. men by nature seem to be selfish, brute and nasty. They only curb this natural instinct when applied a strong resistive force in terms of law, religion or government (Newton's Law of inertia). This is very true in our daily lives as well- how many times we see ourselves looking around before they are about to do something wrong or just a flash of thought in our minds how will my friends perceive us if we go ahead with a certain act or our acts will bring shame to our families. In the absence of such fears in the minds of humans, there will be utter chaos. People will be killing their neighbours for food and land, there will be no industries, no development and no efforts to move ahead because the outcome is uncertain, not known. This uncertainty in outcome brings sense of insecurity and fueling further chaos in the system and resulting in a state of pandemonium. People are insecure about their lives, their loved ones, there professions, etc. Thus, an external force in terms of religion/government/laws/rules is applied changes the current state into the desired state and a certain outcome.
Within the confined boundaries of land, religion, law people find fraternity, like minded thought process which breaks the uncertainty in their lives and provides them a sense of security. How much we say we are different at a micro level, but at macroscopic level group of people belonging to a certain fraternity are expected to behave in a certain manner- a group of Americans will be clearly distinguishable from a group of French; however they might be certain differentiating characteristics amongst Americans and French themselves at an individual level but at a macroscopic level Americans will be clearly differentiated from the French. It is this sense of security of being part of fraternity that upholds the adage "unity in diversity." We all like to be alike and in the safe haven of the company of individuals who are like us but it is clearly these defined rules and regulations, may be of the religion or of the land, that isolates us from one group to the another.
If we delve deeper into the history we will realise we needed ancient scriptures like Vedas, Ramayana, Gita, Bible, Quran, etc just as an enforcer, an external force to guide people as to how to live their lives peacefully without uncertainty and commotion.These religions/boundaries/scriptures never speak of fundamentalism nor do they tell that particular fraternity is better than the others because at microscopic level we all are alike; it is at the macroscopic level we tend to behave in a certain manner because of external forces which have evolved over time under the influence of ulterior motives of certain strong minded individuals. As a matter of fact, sometimes I wonder is God also an external force just to ensure equilibrium in the universe?
Fundamentalism or terrorism in the name of religion or region is not the outcome of outsmarting other fraternities. It is driven by the theory that we humans, though live in a large groups and like to be independent, need a dominant leader. A majority of this fundamentalism/terrorism can be attributed to the submission to the ulterior motive of the most dominant leader of the group (may be intellectually/ physical strength/ devising external stimuli or laws for the group).
Humans are selfish by nature. They will only think about themselves unless we have external stimuli to change this thinking. Universe can't handle 10 billion+ of different people having 10billion+ ideologies and only thinking about themselves. It will be total chaos, a state of pandemonium; hence we needed to classify these individuals in a groups- region/religion/law. Thus, we have different types of rules and regulations imposed, some of the land some of the culture and some of the religion. And each group wants to outsmart the other group and hence eventually fuelling growth in social circle. Just as in business, competition is necessary to grow; it is extremely important in social realms also. All religions preach the same thing with a little tweaking; all rules of the land state the similar constitution; but this overall group rivalry provides the ultimate aim/goal to our lives which channels our energy in the right direction and thus avoiding us from the state of commotion.It is this competition that makes us "self sufficient" as a fraternity. It is this idea of being self-dependent and responsible for taking care of ourselves, drives the evolution of society and one fraternity being developed and other being underdeveloped.
Rules, religions, laws, boundaries are just there to give us humans a sense of security of being in safe haven and they are just "anxiety reliving mechanism." It is this fear induced in the minds of us humans because of these lines, which propel us evolve over time, which makes us do the undoable. When Robert Frost says, "Good fences make good neighbours" he was actually right!
