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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Fight your way out- Really?

In the world of corruption, dishonesty, manipulation, struggle we are constantly either battling to align ourselves and find a way to safe existence or pose ourselves as tough and resistant. Does the integrity and individual goodness even matter? The frustration level increases when we are constantly attacked with the opposites while we exemplify values and ethics. 

Stephen Covey author of many best seller books comments, "The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too.". Very soon we want to establish this strong ideology, "you need to fight your way out" and communicate through all of our walks and talks.

Let me present the ideology of each field of science and the core message it wishes to communicate;

Philosophy says, think your way out.

Psychology says, try your way out.

Science says, invent your way out.

Communism says fight your way out.

Fascism says, bluff your way out.

Stoic philosophy says, endure your way out.

Worldliness says, entertain your way out.

Religion says, work your way out.

What we notice is that each branch of science including religion emphasizes its own philosophy, but unless we are empowered by a supernatural power that steers us to value humanity, dignity and integrity, we may just try everything as an option but can still remain unchanged. In the Bible Jesus claims, "I am the way, truth and life", and assures to transform the character and behavior of human life.

Solomon the wisest king comments, "A wicked man puts on a bold face, but as for the upright, he considers, directs, and establishes his way [with the confidence of integrity]". (Proverbs). It is a wonderful gift from God to be a human and when we start valuing, respecting and spreading the essence of love we may surely influence each other to live a life with peace and happiness and restrain pushing our way or fighting it out.

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'Que Sera, Sera'-Whatever will be, will be-How true is it?

We hear people chanting this philosophy, “Whatever will be, will be. You can't control.”. Whenever there are situations and events that includes, loss of life, loss of job, broken marriage, loss in business, accidents, there are other simpler ones which could be happenings that are heart-breaking. In such circumstances what does our mind tell us? Do we blame fate or push it on karma, or blame nature and nurture? 

The famous song ‘Que Sera, Sera' created by songwriters Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 film means “Whatever will be, will be” was so famous and most of us still relate to that good old melody. The question that remains is that do we go with this popular belief system?  

‘Fate’ is the philosophy that man’s future life is pre-recorded and cannot be altered, hence the saying, “whatever will be will be.”.  The dictionary defines fate as, “Prophetic declaration, oracle, what is ordained by the gods, destiny, fate.  The principle or determining cause or will by which things in general are supposed to come to be as they are or are decreed.” 

A question of great magnitude is, who or what determines, decrees or pre-programs human life so that it cannot be altered?  The most common answer is, “a higher power.”. In some of the cultures people comment by saying whatever is written on their forehead will happen and cannot be altered. It may look very convincing but actually not true.

The results of the doctrine of fate are two-fold.  It removes responsibility for personal actions and it removes any incentive for seeking God and His righteousness. Let me refer to the recent suicide attacks in Sri Lanka where more than 250 people lost their lives and about 500 injured. Can we use this philosophy and justify the heinous attack, I am sure nobody will buy in to that ideology? If the ideology is true then no one is to be blamed. 

The Bible teaches that Man was created with the ability to make moral choices and that he is responsible for those choices. The Fall of Man was not a predetermined event in which Adam and Eve were hapless victims of a Puppet-Master, God. They knew what the result of their decision would be, and they were held accountable. We sin because we choose to. We can’t blame “Fate,” kismet, predestination, or God. Only God can transform us if we allow Him to transform us.

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The way we believe!

There are usually these two schools of thought people primarily follow when it comes to general belief system. The first premise depends upon the historical and scientific evidences, in terms of inventions, occurrences, sociological changes or movements and also in the matter of cosmology.  And then the second way of approach to any belief system is just to follow what is already there, because it may have been followed for ages by our grandparents, parents, loved ones, culture and by the majority of people.

In this matter, Aristotle claims that people form their beliefs on the basis of a combination of three factors: what he called logos, pathos and ethos:

Logos is the intellectual dimension. It is the part in us (or in the argument we are listening to) that corresponds to logic and common sense. 

Pathos is the personal or emotional dimension of belief and it is just as real as the rational part.

Ethos is the social dimension of persuasion. What we believe is hugely influenced by our upbringing, our education and the circle of friends, loved ones we find ourselves in.

Now, in arriving to a common rational this is how it should technically look like; any claim or events, belief system must have its presence verified in archaeology and be consistent and compatible historically, scientifically and as well logically. Today Easter, (resurrection of Jesus after He was crucified and rose again after three days) is celebrated throughout the world. The fact is most of us experienced people dying but resurrection is not so quite common. We can understand death as a natural event, but rising from death requires power from outside of nature.

With little exploration we find it has all the credentials in the Christian book called Bible and also finds a place in Jewish history, Roman history, and world History not merely as a mythology but a verified fact, as the way to find purpose in humanity, promising eternity and help us lead a holy & good life and be a good citizens of the country. 

There are no values and goodness beside God. We cannot achieve it by following a set of rules and rituals that is merely self-satisfying, it cannot transform us. We need God to transform each one of us in order to build a better community and a better nation.

      

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Making Right Choices!

A life without choices means someone else makes a decision about how you spend your time each day, like what you do and when you do it.  It is not easy especially standing on a crossroad and have to make a decision that can have a serious impact in overall life. Some of your decisions will be so routine that you make them without giving them much thought. But difficult or challenging decisions demand more considerations. These are the sort of decisions that involves:

Uncertainty – Many of the facts may be unknown

Complexity – There can be many interrelated factors to consider.

High-risk consequences – The impact of the decisions may be significant.

Alternatives - There may be various alternatives, each with its own set off uncertainties and consequences.

Interpersonal issues -You need to predict how different people will react.

The magnitude of each areas may differ in every case; therefore, you cannot use the same strategy you may have used the last time. There are various tools available to make good decisions in terms of business and in an organization. But what about life choices? Choices about choosing right friends, adapting a habit, respecting and valuing one another, treating people with dignity, etc.  

Making right choices every time depends upon one’s personal belief system and the core values he holds on to. The core values and moral ethics plays a major part while making right choices and deciding on things right from personal to family and in the business world. If those are properly defined and structured, then to a larger extent the choices made will make good sense and impact the consequences of the decisions made. And mind, this can only be done through the help of God who modeled rich and divine values and lived a holy life.

Shive Khera in his book ‘You can win’ remarks, “we don’t need more academic education; we need more value education. I would stress that a person who is morally educated will be a lot better equipped to move up in life or succeed than a morally bankrupt person.”. Let’s not forget this, the effects of the choices will definitely influence your family, the larger community and your workplace too. Jesus' statement powerfully emphasizes when He said “Treat others as you would like them to treat you”. Looks so simple but powerful. Good positive values are rich and sublime connected to the characteristics of God. Make Right choices and live better.

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