Re-Examine All That You've Been Told.......
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
17
September 2022
Last night,
while rummaging through the yellowed pages of my dog-eared and tattered diary
which's a compendium of quotes in various languages, I stumbled upon American
poet Walt Whitman's famous statement, " Re-examine all that you've been
told....dismiss that which insults your soul.”
This
instantaneously reminded me of a similar but much more radical thought
expressed by Omar Khayyam, “So far what you learnt is to be burnt “(Wren
Hunter's English translation).
Wisdom lies
in novelty, not in antiquity. Re-examination and reassessment, therefore,
become an absolute necessity. We all have become unquestioningly receptive to
what our forefathers and all useless old books taught us. We tend to take that
'wisdom' as unchangeable and unimpeachable.
Neurologists
Wilfred Simmons and Kevin Dimmock concluded in 1997 that the brain (not mind,
it doesn't exist) actually doesn't accept a number of things and it questions
many times. This happens to all individuals.
Even in the
case of a suicide bomber, he too thinks for a fraction of a second as to what's
he going to get out of detonating himself and meeting with such a ghastly end?
But his inveterate (religious) beliefs eclipse his questioning brain and he
ends up blasting himself. Poor guy!
Here lies
the importance of a questioning brain and its triumph over scores of illogical
beliefs, whether religious or ideological. Humans must listen to their thinking
brains and listen to their reasoning selves.
We must
train ourselves to question each and everything. Nothing in this world has ever
been so sacrosanct as not to be scrutinized. Even your own existence is to be
questioned as to why on earth have you come into this world? Always remember,
you didn't come into this world on your own, you were brought by your parents,
often thoughtless people. So, don't even baulk at questioning their intention
to drag you into this veritable mess.
-----
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 world's premier publications in several languages
including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/examine-suicide-bomber-religious/d/127970
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