In search of salvation, I failed to salvage my pride of volition
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
10 November 2022
“I’m
neck-deep in my own lies...."
-Persian
mystic poet Nizami Ganjavi's last cryptic words before his death in 1209 CE
...
Nowadays,
I'm reading Eloy Rodrigo Colombo's " Evil Religions Unmasked: Oppression,
Torture, and Genocide Through the Millennia." While reading, I tripped
over a very thought-stirring statement by the author that man finally starts
believing in his own canards and forgets that he himself concocted them to
deceive others." It's a classic case of hoist with one's own petard and
when these unyieldingly strong misnotions have the scriptural sanction, they
become like a dead albatross. I read a story, rather a parable: The village
priest was distracted at his prayer by the children. To get rid of them he
said, “Hurry to the river and you'll see a monster breathing fire through his
nostrils." Soon the whole village had heard of this monstrous apparition
and was rushing to the river. The priest too joined the crowd. As he panted his
way through four solid miles, he kept saying to himself, “It’s true, I've
invented the story. But you never can tell! "
A good
way to believe in the gods we've created is to convince others of their
existence. We're chasing ever-elusive truths, which don't exist. We try to
justify that for a jam tomorrow. Before his death in 1986, the Anglo-American
novelist and a disenchanted Vedantist, Christopher Isherwood bemoaned, “In
search of salvation, I failed to salvage my pride of volition." Man must
concentrate on what are the existing truths, rather than the bewitchingly
beckoning promises from distant horizons, which remain unfulfilled. To achieve
that, we shall have to believe in the Roman poet Horace's famous dictum in
Latin, Sapere Aude (Dare to know/Have the courage to use your own reason and
discernment). At the same time, man should also remember not to experience
those existing truths vicariously. For, you cannot transmit a kiss through a
messenger, not even through your 'divine messengers' like Muhammad, Jesus, Ram,
and Zarathushtra, to name but a few. You need to put your own lips to plant a
peck.
...
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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