followup

Had an interesting discussion on the quote from Einstein i posted previously, this certain someone claimed that the sentiments Einstein expressed on the concepts of the mysterious and of those beyond our comprehensive is in fact a religious one, ie the traditional concept of a omnipotent, omniscience, all seeing, all dancing, one with everything and everything is one yada yada yada deity, and that the notion of acceptance that there are things beyond our comprehension is contradictory to science, which is all about seeking for answers to understand everything around use.

i disagree. on the contrary, i think religions (specifically mainstream such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Jain, Baha'i, etc, and to avoid repeating myself when I mention “religions” or “mainstream religions” I’m referring to these) are actually a human attempt to avoid the notion that there exists the mysterious that is beyond our comprehension (I know, quite contradictory do how mainstream religions are commonly viewed). Or more specifically that there are things we haven’t understand that can be explained by the same physical laws of our plane of existence (and hence we should be able to figure it out, but haven’t been able to). The only way humanity's ego and anxiety are able to accept that there are things that we cannot understand is to make them utterly incomprehensible, ie placing it on an elevated plane of existence, and that makes us feel better about our own inabilities to comprehend. Because hey, how could we ever comprehend an omnipotent deity who exists on a divine plane that’s completely beyond us? There’s no shame in not being able to understand a god. So its not that we haven’t been able to figure it out, we just can’t.

It is our misguided obsession with our own greatness (as far as this plane of existence is concerned) that does not allow us accept that there are things in the universe that occur based on the same physical laws that we are governed by, but we just haven’t been able to figure out yet. Just look at how mainstream religions tend to place man on a pedestal as “god’s greatest creation”.

Personally I’m of the opinion that this mindset has the danger of hindering progress. Put it simply, if the answer to all things is “created in the wisdom of god”, what drive is there to learn and discover. And how do you seek to truly learn and discover when you’re already fixated on a particular opinion of all things.

Gonna turn so completely I leave no trace
Through so many out there would laugh in my face
For wearing emotion so close to the skin
Condamn me they might it to love's such a sin

-Lamb

There is no compulsion in religion - 2:256, Sura Al-Baqara

its the holy month of ramadhan again. i often get the question from people, as a muslim why don't I pray? Why am I not fasting? I generally respond by asking "do you know why you pray? or why you fast?". Your religion tells you too, your ustaz (religious teacher) and your parents tell you you'll go to hell if you don't, but do you truly know why? Do you truly understand what it means to submit yourself in prayer to your God and sing praises to God's name (do you even know what those phrases mean?) for most people, the response essentially comes down to because my religion tells me to.

that said i know the verse from Sura Al-baqara above generally applies to conversions of non-muslims, but i think there is a deeper meaning that true religion cannot be forced. religion is about faith and will and in the end your God knows the intent and the purity of your actions. and what is prayer without sincerity of your actions? what is fasting without the proper "niat"? and when you take someone who doesnt fast and get him in trouble or try to force him to, he may fast (or pray, or pay zakat etc) but what good is it if his intention is not pure? i doubt your God is so superficial as to want these actions done without the ummah truly meaning it. In fact i'd think it would be a bigger sin or insult to pretend to do something when they dont mean it (just to not get into trouble). and by trying to force them you're being a conspirator in their deception, do you carry their sin then?

and is prayer or fasting that is done so you dont go to hell, without the true niat of submission to God, any different from prayer or fasting done so you wont get into trouble?

so to answer the question of why i do not pray or fast, it is because i do not believe, and nobody can make me believe, if i ever do believe it will come from within. and forcing me to fast isnt going to change that.

preceptions of mystery

found this quote from Einstein, i think its rather beautiful. some have tried to use it as evidence of his believe in "God" (in the sense of a monotheistic deity as per Christian, Muslim and Jewish beliefs) and taken as is it can seem that way but what he's really referring to are concepts related to the underlying laws and structures that govern our universe (hence "lofty structures"), much of which we do not (and may not ever) understand. and instead of allowing these uncertainties to get the better of us (which in the end is the root of most belief structures, ie an attempt to understand the universe), he embraces them.

"Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntary and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore. In our daily lives we only feel that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own." ... "The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavour in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is." Einstein's speech 'My Credo' to the German League of Human Rights, Berlin, autumn 1932, Einstein: A Life in Science, Michael White and John Gribbin, Page 262