Anything popular is good!- How true?

We are all caught up in the world of fast progress, developments and changing trends. With the advance school of thoughts, anything not referred too much or spoken about, looks outdated. A decade ago the so called values, ethics, social norms were the binding agents in human lives and organizations but today there is a world of difference. Many other priorities and demands have taken front stage like adding financial value, status and popularity.

To what extent we know that the cultural assumptions undergirding our celebrity fetish are false and not everything popular is good (and may in fact, be profoundly bad). Yet we continue to elevate and adulate people based on the ability to make name for themselves.

Even to finalize a product from online web portal or to find out the current trends that are viral, we chose based on the number of people who have tried and provided a positive review followed by finding out the top celebrities in any field that are recommending the products and displaying a particular style. Malcom Muggeridge puts this beautifully, “Man is so avid for knowledge that everything he touches turns to facts; his faith becomes theology, his love becomes lechery, his wisdom becomes science. Pursuing meaning, he ignores truth.”.

What grid do we wish to follow that can suggest guidance to dignity and valuing God given life to us? God has set a parameter and moral framework of right and wrong. If you have to consider based on the values God has set, you would no longer settle for what is popular, but for what is right.  Bible says, “the fashion of this world passeth away.” Yesterday's fashion is an outdated style of today. Do you still have anything to hold on to? Going by popular opinion, and trend can lead to disaster if it is not carefully analysed because most of it comes with a cost and we are willing to pay heavily even forfeiting our soul. Think about it!

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My Bad is good because my bad is better than yours!

How do we estimate good and bad? We all like to justify our acts and emphasize that our values are worth talking about. Moreover, in today’s world this particular ideology, “My bad is not as bad as your bad therefore my bad must be good” is widely believed and spoken about.  Take for example the politicians, bureaucrats and government systems, how good one government is or how good one particular party is measured by the level of corruption compared to the ruling of the previous government or political system.

If you notice most of the time even people are biased in their opinions and shut to facts however accurate or appealing it may be. As long as people are part of a majority, it appeals them. How are we going to process it? I want to present to you the yin yang model of the Chinese philosophy, that says, in every good there is a bad present and similarly vice versa. We are not completely exempted from the overpowering evil of the world unless we have the assurance of our sins being forgiven (not by works but by faith) and attained salvation by the almighty God. God in the Bible says, "He who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved".  Only He can transform us and exhibit our goodness. Our best goodness can be selfish with concealed agenda. 

Today we live in an age where people have an audacity to use the name of God to oppress, humiliate, use slogans and violate the rights of others. Why don't people attempt to live in harmony? Could we consciously promote brotherhood, peace and harmony? It definitely will do much good than to fall prey to the motives of politicians and one's who want to divide us based on our creed, caste, race and status. We are children of God and may His peace surpass humanity. 

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How do you valuate?

For each person what impresses them are varied. We are so unique in our taste and preferences. Our basic need for survival does not vary based on the demographics of caste, creed, religion, people group, rich & poor, yet the disparity on how we manage our survival and what satisfies us or impresses us is uniquely different.  For people who manage with bare minimum, even the smallest privileges seem to be so satisfying but for people with high status and are extremely wealthy, the minimum requirements become frivolous, more so, undervalued.

 Femi Obedowala in his book ‘Understanding the What and Why of Life’ draws this lesson beautifully. “The value of an item is falsely determined by its price and rightly established by its essentiality. A diamond bracelet, for example, is highly valuable not because it is essential, so to say, but because of the financial implication it commands. On the other hand, potable water and table salt are life sustaining and essential commodities respectively yet both are relatively cheap compared to many other goods. In essence, the table salt is more valuable than a diamond bracelet. This statement infers that how essential your purpose is, has nothing to do with the financials in the final context, but it has everything to do with the positive impact it leaves after all is said and done.”.

Usually what we value more is what impresses us and most importantly the higher the value the greater we are impressed and looks like it is satisfying to a larger extent. It's the contrary is what we learn from the analogy provided by Femi Obedowala. When did you last stop and thanked God for the breath God has given you and the heartbeats you are still hearing? How are we going to valuate that? In return, how faithful are we to the beautiful life that we are enjoying. We are impressed by what we see not by what we cannot see. 

Millions of processes are happening in our bodies to keep us alive and man is not the result of the design made by some genius. We are God’s creation and are His children. In the Bible one psalmist acknowledges and puts it this way, “I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your work is wondrous and I know this very well.”. Thank God and have the right estimation of things that you enjoying.

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Prejudice!

Do you ever realize we want people to assess us based on our content, I mean the final delivery but when it is our turn, we wish to measure others by their intent? Sometimes we all wish we can be god, to know what others have in their mind, how they are dealing with us and if the relationship is going to be beneficial in anyway or is it going to be a liability on our part?

I do agree with you that we need to be careful but definitely being too skeptical and agnostic isn't going to be helpful for either party in the long run nor will it enrich the relationship, but for sure if not sooner in the longer run will have a detrimental effect on any relationship. Steven Futrick in his book Unqualified remarks "We constantly analyze and summarize each other. We compare people to our standards— spoken or unspoken—to see how they measure up. Then we accept them or reject them; we praise them or criticize them; we revere them or ridicule them. We all secretly administer exams in the university of our own opinions.".

The Bible warns when Jesus remarked, "“Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.". Do you notice, many imperfections that we easily tolerate in ourselves are quite intolerable in others? But we are constantly judging others based on our assumptions and calculations. We manipulate and scheme because we think trickery is the only way to get what we want. 

Stop being prejudiced based on color, caste, creed, faith, status and start investing on trust, belief and truthfulness. And you can do this only with the help of a God who invested in you and willing to accept you and transform you forever.  Jesus did not discriminate anyone who followed him but promised abundant life and eternity  to all irrespective of any classes people have created for their own benefit and status. 

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Tolerance vs intolerance

The essence of life is expansion, movement, community and reciprocity. Life consists in overcoming isolation through community. But unfortunately, the continuous violence that we hear about in our nation ruins the harmony and serenity of brotherhood today. People just wait for a reason, mostly selfish ones to disrupt the peace and hurt each other. Very sadly, fighting on behalf of religion, caste and many other issues, which are worthless. India historically touts itself as a secular state, one where all religions are recognized and can peacefully co-exist. Well, at least in theory, it is. Unfortunately, the reality is much different.

According to Pew Research Center analysis of 198 countries ranked India as fourth worst in the world for religious intolerance. Pew analyzed cases that involved hate crimes, mob violence, communal violence, religion-related terror, the use of force to prevent religious practice, the harassment of women for not conforming to religious dress codes, and violence over conversion or proselytizing.

Most of the crime, plots and conniving are done by people with brilliant minds. Wish they could use it to bring harmony, coherence and unity. This thought looks so meaningful in the way it is projected, “It's an universal law-- intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn. 

What we need is peace in the middle of the crisis and that means you need someone from outside who can transform you to be a better person and share the same peace and harmony to the world. God of the Bible say's "Peace I give unto you, my peace I give unto you not as the world gives". It matters if we want to accept the peace and accept each other irrespective of who they are and what faith they belong to. May we learn to understand and respect each other in order to cater to a congenial environment and a peaceful nation.

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Are you insecure?

I’ve realized that most of my fear is rooted in the unknown. I am afraid of bad news because I don’t like uncertainty. Michigan medical research team once commented, “fearing a terrible event is worse than having it happen.”.  Uncertainty is what is paralyzing. We can’t make plans. We don’t know how to feel. We can’t make peace with the outcome, because we don’t know what it is. We must live in limbo, (an imaginary place for lost) which can be the hardest place to rest.

How do we align our faith in God in troubled times and when we face uncertainties? Especially when all our hopes are dashed with disappointment and the sense of loneliness overshadows us, grief fill our hearts. There are so many instances where we get to know from the News about individuals and families ending their life in the fear to face tomorrow. It is heartbreaking indeed.

When you are experiencing depression, you don’t need a quick encouragement. You need a God who walks through pain with you.

I seriously wonder what were the hurdles for not able to apply their faith on God, their daily worship and their belief system to intercept in such context. If you notice most of the time people go to religious places presenting flowers, prayers, offerings and come out with the same grief and fear of tomorrow. Have you contemplated on this, that we always want to believe that God lives in religious places, with Gurus and religious leader and therefore only approaching them can bring us with some favors? I don’t think it is the right premise.                                                                                                   
 If God is all powerful and all loving then He would understand what you and I go through, and for sure no agency or recommendations to advocate on behalf of us are required in order to intervene and help us at our point of need. God says, “You are the temple of God, and the spirit of God lives in you.”. A holy loving God indwells our heart and sure to deliver us from the fear of uncertainty. “If you have the grace to hold on to God’s mercy and not throw it away in apostasy (rejection of your faith) or suicide there is hope.”. Do not give up, there is a way and a divine help is readily available for you.

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Dual image!

Is it even possible to maintain singular image? We are different when we are at market place, in our work zone, in the community and while surviving in the public domain. To a larger extent we are closer to the original when we are with our families and amongst our loved ones, but most appropriate I would even say exact, while we are alone and when nobody watches us. If we notice it becomes easy to hurt our families and loved ones again and again and yet earn a good name from strangers. After a point it doesn’t matter to us what our families and loved ones think about us as long as we are angels to the outsiders.

When one’s dual life gets extreme they can be diagnosed having split personality, commonly know as Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder which is a mental disorder characterized by at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states. We all operate as individual beings not really accountable to anyone and that forces us to keep changing our images every now and then based on how we want to.

Stephen Covey author of many best-selling books remarks, “We now live in a world that values personal freedom and independence more than responsibility and interdependence. Social life is being fractured. Families and individuals are becoming increasingly isolated. Escape from responsibility and accountability is available everywhere.” If our devotion to God and all our good works are not shaping us to be a responsible human being then by default, we will keep shifting our position and trying to put up a great show by leading a double life.

Most of the time words don’t matter, our spirituality doesn’t matter, our commitments don’t always matter we just spill few words on a particular situation not thinking too deeply. Our images get marred so often but it really doesn’t matter. You and I may give wickedness smooth-sounding names, but we cannot alter its offensive nature and character in the sight of God. It is easy to cheat people and create a good impression about oneself but we forget that we don’t escape God’s notice. The battle of maintaining a singular image can be overwhelming if it is not shaped by God. In the Bible, God promises to heal our wretchedness and transform us to be a person of worth.

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