Religion!!!
There is a time for everything under the sun…
I had it right there the idea that would change the world. It was close I could feel it taste it. It was mine, all mine my precious! Oh the power that would come with it, the adoration of the world, the Women, the joys of being the one that could explain the code of the reason of life to the world and it’s all gone. In a nanosecond what could have been had been so real that the Fringe reality of just existing was gone and I mattered in the grand scheme of things.
Alas what I thought of and the reason I did so are only distant memories that it might as well belonged to another person from another time, I could not care less at this point in singularity. I am still me and you are still you. In the twenty seconds it has taken you to get to this point in my message. A sermon, a speech, a call to arms, an intellectual stimulant or the ramblings of a mad man as we can ascribe anything to describe what we don’t understand. It does not change the fact that it is there things we can never know the reason for and there would always be a time that we realize the fact that we are all not as smart as thought we are.
Yet you cannot shake the feeling that something has changed in you from the first time your eyes or fingers brushed this outpouring of my innermost feelings till now. You want to know the crux the path which I lead you on. I put on paper a piece of advice like those who want to kill the minotaur and return to tell the tale bringing back a piece of history to show the world, remember to unwind a thread before you start moving around in the maze I have created. You can go back to start reading from the beginning either ways, you will end up here as in all the theorems of random numbers there is always a distinguishable pattern, in laws of motion a state of rest. As without the anchor, without anything concrete to rest on no life, building, structure can stand.
A beacon of light in darkness so thick you can feel it, like plastic surgery that turns a slight curve into a jaw dropping wonder. There is nothing new under the sun the ingredients have always been here just in a different, shape or form, in the Earth or in us all along. My words are mine and I can use in like Gandalf to bend the rules or become the leader of my race in a foreign land OPTIMUS.
I am just a human being with oxygenated and un-oxygenated blood flowing through my blood vessels and I’m enveloped in this sand casting called a body would contribute to enriching the soil when my last breath. I have treaded the path of enlightenment moved in the light of truth, believed in the one true Prophet, turning into a tree at the end of life in this version of my existence also am contributing to the continuous cycle of energy renewal by fulfilling the laws of Thermodynamics. I have been to the Matias trench of my being and to the top of my depths of feelings in this constantly rotating sphere we call earth. Where dearth and abundance are cousins and having wealth and being happy are seemingly lofty heights or a game the gods devised to give themselves drama TELEMUNDO to watch.
How much of me have I really laid down thus far? I might never know as I would always evolve, change as long as I’m stuck in this vacuum called time, as even much as ‘DEJAVU’ occurs, I can never have the same experience twice, besides I would never now.
I came into this form of consciousness called life blank and filled up with nuances and bits from all items and begin around me. I am now in my apex age, where I can the Kick of a bass beats brings pleasure and not a splitting migraine for days when a burst of adrenaline is sought and not avoided. I am filled with experiences and open to divulge it to all and sundry. My goal is to leave empty and in turn lead others to understand that happiness is a mean to and end; the end being A FUFILLED LIFE.
A wise man named Solomon whose wisdom has transcended generations once said “I spared my eyes and myself nothing anything I desired; he still surmised that Vanity upon vanity all is vanity”. Yet I am accused of being vain, I am only human caused to chase perfection which in itself is impossible as I can never the best, records would always be broken and people would always be forgotten.
All to know that I exist because I am privileged to not because I was placed in a time where technology had advanced that being born before your time is welcomed as routine. Where the things hitherto described as impossible are common place like walk down the street to purchase a pack of Wrigley’s bubble gum.
It is clear that there is a trigger a purpose backed by an underlying tremor that would cause the tiny spark I came into this world with builds up into a supernova that the world would never forget. It has always been in my rear view now I have been double crossed and I can’t escape from it. It’s all I am and all I can ever be.
Have been moved to tears by the Hallelujah chorus being placed in a trance like calm by Hip-hop rap and touched and placed on a think-a-thon. Two questions keeps popping up in my thought streams what does it mean to believe? And what is true religion?
The greatest trick the devil ever played was to make you believe he never existed. Ying-Yang there are two sides to a coin. Why do people follow the most dastardly leaders and Human beings HITLER and carry out their orders. And some other shows us compassion is possible Mandela, MOTHER TERESA.
There are several definitions of religion; it is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence; a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion; the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
The most apt Definition to me is given by Peter Berger “Religion is the human attitude towards a sacred order that includes within it all beings- human or otherwise- i.e., belief in a cosmos, the meanings of which both includes and transcends him”.
I realize now while scribbling that know a lot more people that are Agnostic. Who are generally sceptics of God’s existence? I’ll tell you one thing we can all agree GOD IS not a human being, as the world would not exist the way it is today.
As Carl Sagan puts it “The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.”
Was taught as a kid that a Christian is someone who demonstrates the attitudes of Christ so much so he is tagged a ‘LITTLE CHRIST’ charged: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." -- Matthew 5 v.48 given the ‘Great Commission’ to preach the gospel of Christ to all nations of the world.
I have read the Qur’an albeit the English version in which The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Made the following statements in the Surah’s of the Qur’an.
“Who is the most favored of God? It is He from whom the greatest good comes to His creatures”.
"A perfect Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands mankind is safe."
"The three best things: to be humble amidst the vicissitudes of fortune; to pardon when powerful; and to be generous with no strings attached".
And made charges to all Muslims who follow the straight path and believe in Allah
“No man is a true believer unless he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself”.
“That which is lawful is clear, and that which is unlawful likewise, but there are certain doubtful things between the two from which it is well to abstain.”
The Noble 8-fold Path followed by Buddhists is being moral (through what we say, do and our livelihood), focusing the mind on being fully aware of our thoughts and actions, and developing wisdom by understanding the Four Noble Truths and by developing compassion for others. Emphasizing on the middle path towards attaining enlightenment (NIVARNA)
If the basic tenets of the world’s major religions preach love, peace and judgment of all mankind for actions undertaking during our journey on earth and its members comprise more than a third the world’s population, practice as laid down. Why is there strife, wars and so much sorrow?
I’ll give you the answer the insatiable thirst for power and the Aryan sect. This is manifested in segregation in worship centers among sects in the same religion and a lot of other non religious institutions. The ability to say to a hundred or thousand, go and the move, come and they return is a drug very few if any have escaped its addiction.
Karl Marx opinionated that, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opiate of the people."
A quote attributed to Gandhi paints a picture in itself of the Leader/messenger and follower/believer gap “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ”
Despite the words ‘No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another’ being in the Qur’an (Surah al-Isra 17:15).” Yet Women are children are being attacked in present times”
I have no doubt that Solomon was indeed blessed with exponential amounts of wisdom and a whole of accompanying experiences when he said in Ecclesiastes 1:18 “ For with more wisdom, comes more sorrow, more grief.”
All these things are written down and yet we have not found a solution to the ultimate question of life .What happens when we leave this world?
The curse of choice which we can all exercise was recently again brought to mind by a friend of Earl Talbot to be perfectly faithful, you must give up rationality. Unfortunately, the greatest minds are the most rational.
These thoughts have crystallized and have lead to an epiphany for me to believe and worship my maker in my own way and not mind what the world says.
N.B: All the pillars of faith in every religion were not ‘NORMAL’ not forgetting that at the end of time I stand to be judged for my actions.
As I close this piece l leave you with these words from the only true book of life, “For you yourself know full well, that the day of the lord will come just like a thief in the night”. 1 Thessalonians 5:2.
“Be careful or your heart will be weighed down with carousing darkness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap”. Luke 21:34.
As Gandhi feared, and so do I fear evils that will destroy the world as we know it:
Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.
In this world we live in the evil is evident and its left to us who believe to keep Faith and hold fast to our Faith.
By Ayomide Oshun.
