Can you see my brain?

Look into my eyes ... can you see my brain?

Nobody can agree on anything. Nobody can have the same views on anything. We're unique. Hence, our views are too. And it doesn't matter whether we're talking about something theoretical, or real. Even if it's something we can see and touch, we're still going to have differing views.

For example, take a glass with water in it, exactly mid-way (No, not the optimistic/pessimistic shit). One guy'll come in and say, "Hey man, at least fill the glass to the top." And another'll come in and say, "Hey, who drank half of this water?" Since they weren't there when the glass was being filled, they don't know what happened. Similarly, you can't say what happened at the beginning of the universe. Maybe, a single atom exploded, causing the big bang, causing all the matter to spread over the universe. Maybe, God said, "Let there be light.."

Popular opinion doesn't work today. The world is learning to view past ideas in a different light. Similarly, they are viewing themselves in a different light as well. They are changing themselves.

People are too obsessed with knowing it all. They are trying to be omniscient. They need to know what is happening in different parts of the world, at once. They are trying to be omnipresent. Then, they also need to have control, in small amounts or even over nations. They are trying to be omnipotent.

See a pattern here?

Omniscient. Omnipresent. Omnipotent.

Last time I checked, those were three main features of God.

But then, after you read this, you'll ask me, what's the big deal. Isn't it better if we're all those things?

Well, yes. But then look at the cost.

Omniscient- When we try to learn more. To know more. We're advancing our technology. We're always upgrading our lives. We're striving for the best, which is good, but we're giving up the human factor. If a computer is supposed to handle all transactions at the bank, give loans and stuff, how can it understand the plight of a dying man trying to feed his family. Maybe possibly consider personally loaning cash, on a man's word.

Omnipresent- They want to be everywhere, know all that is happening around the world. "Communication" channels pop up. They can tell you exactly what is happening in the West Bank, at this very moment. Fine. They tell you how Bill Clinton screwed around. Fine. At the cost of a great president. They tell you what your employees do in their spare time. Fine. At the cost of their privacy. They tell the government what you did to evade your taxes, to NOT recycle, to surf for porn, to smoke, to drink, to make sure your kids got what they wanted for Christmas. Fine. At the cost of your life.

Omnipotent- People fight for power. The lull of pure, unobstructed control over a nation is too strong for a mortal to resist. They give in. And they start wars. And they continue wars. And they go one step further. And then they go one step too far. Boom. The world blows in your face.

So where am I headed?

Well, I'm not saying religion is the answer. It is for me, but it may not be for you. The point is, it gives me that human factor that nothing in this world can give me. It gives me mistakes I can learn from. More ways to love than just lust. More to give than just tangible objects.

That's my take....for now.

Update: March 28, 2003.

This next bit, is from a novelette that I'm hoping to write. It's just the introduction. Any feedback would be appreciated. You know where to mail me.

Not so long ago, in one of my rather opinionated posts on the HTGTH message board, I had mentioned something, that just a few months later, came to pass. I had said, "The moment an innocent is as a potential target, and not just as an inadvertent casualty, the world will begin to end."

A few months later, as if fate/God/the Universe felt like defying my once undying faith in man's humanity, the Gujarat riots occurred. And though the death, suffering and pain was a tragedy, its occurrence just a little less than ten years ago brought no surprise to me... However, there was one story that struck me hard and struck me deep, and shook my beliefs and the foundation within which my morality and humanity was deeply rooted.

The story was one of a little boy. A ten year old Muslim boy. Apparently, while a mob was attacking his village, he was lost from his parents. And the mob came across him... alone, and very scared. Their hatred consumed them. It made them burn, and long to see him suffer. His innocence meant nothing to them. His cries did not warm their cold hearts. His pleading did not appeal to their humanity. They grabbed him. Poured a bitter liquid down his throat. Moving closer, a startling realization would dawn upon you... kerosene. And then, while God closed his eyes, they brought the fire of hell upon this earth, as they lit a match...

I have spoken of this many times, with a number of people. Every time it finds that little hole in my heart, and deepens it. No matter how many arguments people put forth, the most popular being that of mob mentality, I find it impossible to believe that this was done by human hand. You see, I've believed for a long time, that regardless of the hate a man could feel for another, his basic humanity would keep him from harming the lives of innocent children.

That is mainly why this act of pure hatred has shaken, so violently, my belief in humanity. It's unbelievable, that out of a mob of men, not one had the decency, nay, humanity to stop this from happening. One thing however, that I do not doubt is the presence of God in the hearts of these men. In fact, perhaps that is all that is there.

This little voice inside me puts forth an argument of a propaganda war that my sources of information might have been waging. I reply with images I have seen with my own eyes, of man's undying INHUMANITY, towards his fellow man, woman, child, and beast. I won't disagree, it's easy to overlook the fact that trees live, that the earth too has a life that we are slowly ending. But, how can one close their eyes as massacres take place all over the world. Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya... It's been going on for way too long.

I have no doubt in my mind that the world will end at our hands one day. I believe that one day, the omnipotent dictators that rule with their insanity, disguised as patriotism, will have their way. They will bring an end to all life, alas while their own is spared. Our naivety will only lead them out of harm's way, when all we will be able to do, is hold close our loved ones as death comes to us with wings of steel and a nuclear heart.

But before that atomic attack, many will have died of conventional weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical weapons that rarely bring a swift death to its victims. And many more will have died at the hands of man, the very hands that might have been shook, or might have hugged them, had the circumstances been different. And many will have died watching the injustice in this world, realising that they just can't feel anymore and as they begin to lift their makeshift weapons, their hatred will begin to grow, and like machines, they will carry out their barbaric attacks with brittle precision.

But until that day comes, those of us with hearts, which beat irregularly as our humanity causes it to, will wait and hope it doesn't.

No one can change the oncoming Armageddon. Except maybe us. But it would require one to wage a war with the most dangerous opponent one can face, oneself.

Religious persecution is something that exists because of God. Inadvertently, but still there is an obvious link between the two. The rigidity with which some people believe in God only leads them to destroy that which God has created. Religion, and God itself, should be viewed as perhaps a guide to live one's life. But when dealing with the lives of others, the only basis with which we live should be humanity. An understanding that causing pain to others is unacceptable.

That's the introduction... I'll probably post an update soon.