It's A Burden to Be Wise Among Fools
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
4 August
2023
"Archaeologists
have discovered evidence of religious practices as early as 60, 000 BCE.
Writing first appeared in Mesopotamia c. 3500-3000 BCE, making it possible to
preserve records of religious beliefs and practices.11-Apr-2023, From
Google.com"
The editor Mr
Sultan Shahin is spot-on. Religious practices are hoary old; as old as
human civilization. This proves that religion is in the DNA of humans and it's
our chromosomic character.
When
something becomes integral to humans over a period of thousands of years, it
becomes a part of the collective psyche and a subconscious behavioural trait.
In his Doctoral thesis, 'Evolution of Religion and Scientific Temperament'
submitted at Cambridge University in 1965, Dr Ken Jervis observed that god and
religion seeped into human consciousness in myriad ways.
What are
those ways: All sorts of superstitions, magic, customs, rituals and even
certain acts and idiosyncrasies of social behaviour come under the broad rubric
of religion and god. That's the reason, one is seldom completely rational or an
atheist in the strictest sense of the word. Even those who claim to have no
faith in god and religion have faith in superstition/s like astrology,
palmistry, angel therapy, clairvoyance, among others.
All pseudo
sciences are superstitions, albeit 'refined' ones. There's an old Ladino
saying, "Tahik Men'aboor Phim Zik Kebaan" (every individual
believes in at least one superstition). And so long as you believe in one
superstition or a single act of irrationality, you remain religious and cannot
be called truly rational or atheist.
Recently,
even world's most celebrated atheist Richard Dawkins also conceded that
scientific temperament was a relative behavioural pattern or relative evolution
because we're all carrying (religious) behaviour and vestiges from our
ancestors and however hard we may resist or refuse that, it tends to surface at
times, much to our embarrassment. Dawkins himself once exclaimed 'Oh, my god'
on the stage when he had no answer to a Christian theologian's poser.
This is
also indicative that we're still evolving. We all haven't yet been able to shed
gods, religions and a raft of superstitions just because our process of
evolution is still going on. The day humans will be fully evolved, there'll be
NO god, religion, magic, practices, rituals, animism, totems and superstitions.
But that will take thousands of years. Until that happens, devolved humans will
continue to spar over your god, my god, this sect, that sect, angels, gods, my
Ram, your Muhammad, his Jesus, their Abraham and all that jazz. So, enjoy this
universal ignorance because in the words of Thomas Fuller, " It's a burden
to be wise among fools."
----
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.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/burden-wise-fools/d/130373
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