A Form of Theological Lunacy
By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
25 November 2023
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical
procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological
lunacy."
David Brooks
Salman Rushdie
quoted the aforementioned observation of David Brooks In one of the speeches
after his recovery following a near-fatal assault on him by a fanatic Muslim,
Hadi Matar that happened last year. Bertrand Russell also said that there are
two types of complete religious madness. First, killing your fellow humans in
the name of a god whose existence is highly unlikely and second, living one's
life according to the rotten and absolutely useless diktats and decrees of all
man-written scriptures.
Coming back to David Brooks' famous observation that
explaining the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy, one must
say that we've stopped exercising (or have we ever exercised that at any point
of human civilization?) our power of reasoning. That's why we resort to all
nebulous and worth-discarding religious teachings and theories to explain the
known. Instead of scientifically explaining the origin of the universe, we
explain it in terms of Creationism (it's the name given to the belief that the
creation story in Genesis is the literal truth about how the world came into
existence). All 'educated' but devout Muslim, Christian and Jews 'scholars'
will try to convince you that the world came into being because the idle god
was getting bored, so he 'created' a world full of zombies ready to genuflect
before him at the drop of a hat! The Eastern faiths thought that the Universe
came out of Maya (Illusion). In short, all moronic speculations have been
advanced to explain the origin of the universe. Needless to say, all these
outlandish surmises have no basis at all. The reason is simple: We don't
observe and understand as our brains have been concussed by the religious,
spiritual and mystical crap.
By the way, November 24 is commemorated in Europe as the
Day of Reasoning because the Dutch philosopher Benedict Spinoza was born on
this day in 1632. His emphasis was always on observing and understanding.
Please read my article on him in today's TOI (November 24)-
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/today-ill-try-not-to-ridicule-your-actions/
In Passion and Action, Spinoza says that one must
observe and then try to understand. This will lead to discernment, which in
turn will pave the way to knowledge and ultimate wisdom. In short, we observe,
understand, discern, and deduce. Spinoza’s humanistic observation enables and
exhorts us to be soundly ethical, and humanely understanding.
It's, therefore, imperative to exercise reasoning,
observation and understanding instead of resorting to religious and esoteric
mumbo-jumbo. But in a country, where 97 percent of people are in the grip of
extreme religiosity (according to TOI), where rationality has no takers and
wisdom is a rarity, talking about reasoning and understanding sounds so
incongruous. Alack, the sage and sane words of Brooks, Rushdie and Spinoza have
no impact on the living zombies.
…
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a
researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has
contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages
including Persian.
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