03-14-2006, 11:23 PM
Greetings to all who care to read this.
I am an american. I'm not crazy about it - but I am grateful for the benefits the virtue of my birth has allowed me. I am not christian, exactly - to my own heart, truth is inherent in the universe, and exists independant of religion and philosophy. To me, this Truth is the undeniability of existence, of conciousness, and of our interactions.
In my country, it is often difficult to know what is fact (not Truth, neccessarily) and what is not. I suppose this is true of much of the world. The media is a commercial entity, the platform of the economy at times - at least, so it has seemed to me. This kind of distrust exists between all governments and their people, I suppose.
My country tells me that muslims hate me for no other reason than that I was born in america to a christian family. I find this hard to believe. Perhaps it is only because I have never been possessed of religious Zeal. To do good works in this world, it seems to me that religion is moot - there are billions of people on this earth and many of them are suffering. In my heart, I feel that all suffering begins with Man's actions. By virtue of this feeling, I believe that only by respecting one another's paths in life, and by understanding that collectively we have the ability to create a paradise on earth. I am not interested in guidance, and feel no call to islam, or any other religion for that matter. I do not need confirmation of God, he is obvious to me.
None the less, there is pain, there is war. I believe these things are essential to the ultimate evolution and growth of mankind - for if we have no struggle, then how are we to grow? How is iron to be shaped into something beautiful if it is not put to the coals?
So, it seems to me that the friction between Islam and the West - and indeed all other similarly misguided conflicts of this sort (racism, nationalism, any of these baseless conflicts) - exists to be overcome, and in the process hopefully we will as the race of Man, rather than the subdivisions therein, understand the significance of the differences we have.
Pardon my tendancy to be so opinionated - to the enqueries.
I am taught that the followers of Islam, if they are truly dedicated, must somehow take part in the Jihad against non-muslims - I may have misinterpreted exactly the details of what constitutes Jihad, but this is not the relavant detail here. What I have difficulty with is why this would be so? I can understand religious Zeal to a point - all of us seek meaning for our lives, seek some kind of confirmation that we are not really transient things. We fear oblivion, deep within the core of our existence, and so we subscribe to any number of mythologies or ideals which can assure us that we need not fear non-being. I cannot understand, though, how the destruction of others can somehow achieve this in-transience. What is the philosophy of Jihad? Why would Allah be pleased with this? I can on one hand understand the human philosophy of peace through homogenization, it follows some logic - but, there will most certainly always be friction between groups of people. Even two individuals will always find contention - so it seems to me that following this philosophy of homogenization is flawed. In the end, true peace seems to me to be a matter of simply not killing. When the threat of death is no longer an object, no nation need fear another. This is extreme idealism, of course, but is it not just as flawed as it's opposite, and for the same reasons?
I don't believe that we should invade the middle east. I don't think it's our business - this war is politically and economically motivated, according to what I am able to understand from the scheme of it all. At the same time, though, many of the countries in the middle east have spent decades and centuries under opression. I cannot myself deny that the way Islamic countries treat their women is abhorrent - not because I feel that Islam is a bad religion, but because the central tenet of human thought is preservation of the Self - to inflict upon another, regardless of gender or creed, is a crime against oneself as much as another. I do beleive this should be stopped - not to enforce my own beliefs upon the men of Islam, but rather to preserve the dignity, life, and wellbeing of the women. THey are, however, not the only cultures to produce such a social structure, so I see this as a socialogical condition rather than a religious flaw. However, what I do not understand is this: Why are there such exceptions to peace allowed within the Islamic faith? I could ask the same question of any other religion that sanctions such treatment of it's followers, or any human being for this matter, but honestly, no other religious group is cited as wanting to kill me. Christians kill as well, but at least their bible does forbid it. This is a human flaw, not a religious one. The same could be said of such practices in Islam, I suppose, but I have seen many verses (translated to english, understand,) which could very easily be interpreted to sanction violence. I will make no solid assumptions, as I do not practice Islam.
It is said by every religion that their own ways are the only ways - well, not all religions, actually, only those generally known to be violent historically.... - but one cannot deny that social structure developes first, then theological structures develope as a means to explain and justify life, and then sociological changes take place to accomodate interpretation of that explanation. This is the way human cultures develope.
Most monotheistic religions cite their founders as the strict authority on existence. Who's to say who is truly correct in that citation? The span of time is great, certainly dwarfing the span of the life of humanity. In one thousand years, who's to say that all of this will not be ancient history, the long forgotten squabbles of a childlike race of Man? Transience, no matter how hard we struggle against it, is inherent to the nature of the universe. Everything ends, everything changes. Only it's total existence is in-transient, it's configuration is never the same. This isn't religious talk, this is direct observation of the world, contemplation on the nature of those observations and of what is observed, and the corresponding intuitive understanding of the total representative truth of existence.
To me, this conflict makes no sense. To my own thoughts - humanly flawed as they ultimately must be, as all human thought must be, even those thoughts of the prophets of all holy books - it is simply an act of barbarism on everyone's part. To kill for any reason except to sustain one's own life is counter to human thought. We all wish to survive and live life, so why deny others that same right?
I have felt removed from this war, as many in my country must also feel. It is not on our shores, it is across the ocean. I feel almost guilty for this lack of insight, because it is such an important matter. My questions are unclear, I realize - it is the way I think, I suppose. I would deeply appreciate any meaningful insight into the nature, not the facts, of this issue. Facts are transient and unreliable. Nature is up for interpretation, observation, and speculation - Truth, though, is inherent. I hope that through a thorough accounting of the nature of this war, the Truth can be made obvious to all of us.
I have considered the idea that perhaps Islam is simply being twisted towards evil ends. That may be true... but in this case the responsibility for the war is placed squarely on the shoulders of those who subscribe to it. I personally tend to believe that if a holy scripture can be interpreted, by any stretch of philosophy, to say that one man MUST kill another, it is invalid, as is the reasoning behind it. I have a hard time believing that the kind of man - in this case Muhammed - who would believe in saving his people, in guiding his people, towards an ultimate paradise, would wish for the destruction of his fellow man. To say that what is wished for is the Conversion, rather than death - and that ultimately destruction is the result of the unwillingness to convert - reduces one to nothing more than a petty Tyrant amongst ignorant people, a bully who only wishes to control, offering an impossible ultimatum.
Many thanks for all insight.
Reminder: All that is, is the sum of the Truth of the Divine - be that Allah, Jehovah, or any of the many names - therefore, there are no lies, only Truth unwilling to be seen so easily.