Truth

Playlist for this Post

Sometimes, now and then, I look at the posts of religious people I know and hear the words that come out of their mouths and it’s like a mass of worms I didn’t know I had, shifts inside me. Yes, I am that revolted by their perceived idiocy in that moment, that my stomach turns. 

I’ll give you a few examples.

‘God was watching out for me today.’ 

This is usually said in response to a stressful or jeopardising event that they coped with or survived. When I hear this statement, I feel like the earth itself in the corny B movie ‘Tremors.’ Everything shifts and my entire being bubbles up with, ‘what did you just say? Would you care to explain that?’

I don’t say it. But I’m sure thinking it.

Firstly it implies a superiority to all the other unfortunates that bit the dust today or suffered hardship. You were more deserving of being guarded than say the poor people in the Ukraine being bombed and maimed while going about their ordinary lives. You were more deserving of preservation than the poor woman and her child who died during labour in the maternity hospital that Putin bombed? I wonder what they did to have received such indifference from the Almighty? And what about all the homicides and rapes that will take place today? Many of them minors. Are you somehow more worthy of protection than they? That statement infers such.

You must be ultra blessed.

But another aspect deserves consideration…Is God not looking out for you all the time? 

Does he allow bad things to happen to you on some days? Is that not somewhat capricious? Does he toss a celestial coin to decide who lives or dies today? Is he/she/they entertained by the outcomes? Places bets maybe? Is elevated in his own mind to even loftier heights for his deeds of benevolence and acts of dominion?

I have a few more maxims here. They all mean the same.

‘It is the will of the gods.’

‘Inshallah.’

‘It’s all in God’s great plan.’

‘What’s meant for you, won’t pass you by.’

‘The way of a man is not in himself, nor to determine his step.’

I’m talking about predestination. Somewhere out there, you’re saying an entity has a blueprint to my life, your life, every life and everything that ever happens. They direct it all. And you trust and love this individual? Have you seen the state of the world, the horrors that exist? A good many of us dedicate our lives to easing the suffering of others, to making things better. But are we meant to believe a being more powerful than us plans evil outcomes for us along with a smattering of the good and we should be joyful about that? How terrified of living you must be. It is not a comfort blanket I want. Even if it did fulfill the criterion of logical belief. 

My final example is – the afterlife.

‘Oh, he’s with the angels now.’

‘That evil person will surely face the flames of hell.’

Most religions incorporate this concept. No one wants to think when you croak it, that’s it. And realistically, the solution religion has come up with, addresses several needs. The promise of eternal life in heaven or similar offshoots of such ideas, lessens the blow of people dying often untimely, terrible deaths when having led puritanical and pious lives. It ameliorates the displeasure of the ‘righteous’ who have endured the despicable acts of sinners and wrongdoers throughout their lives, since they know the ‘wicked’ will undoubtedly burn in the seven circles of hell as retribution.  It also serves as a handy cattle prod for the masses, to keep them pliable, in check and all too ready to make financial, social and personal sacrifices to whatever altar they prostrate themselves upon.

As much as I hate the lies, mindless servitude, convenience and authoritarianism of organised religion, I also appreciate that it serves a purpose. It has for thousands of years exerted moral influence upon civilisation with its codes and rigidly defined precepts.  Some might say it is responsible for the presence of ‘civility’ entirely, with its emphasis on capitulation and ongoing development of the conscience. That is open to debate on both a theological and anthropological level.

There can be no doubt that some people benefit by being part of organised religion. It gives them comfort in a world that can often present us with darkness and confusion – like a child waking in the night with a beloved toy or blanket. Others find it can help them turn their life around, following a path of criminality, addiction, mental health struggles or such like. 

So really, I cannot be too condemnatory of the reasoning of those who do seek solace or order through religion. It may not be a path for me. But if it helps some of my fellow humans, that is their choice to believe and to hope, and I am happy for them. I do not have to agree. Nor they with me. Not one person in the 7.9 billion of us that live here have all the answers, no matter how smart, how humble or religious. We must all make our own truth. 

And that’s how we must live. 

© 2022, SamanthaJWright.com. All rights reserved.