Saturday, September 8, 2012

It is Okay to be Naive - bowing before the Greatest Good and the Greatest Truth

Whoever said that a throne of melted-down swords would be comfortable?
My hernia is killing me!

18. Kingly glory, kingly despair
If everyone are kings,
There are, in truth, no kings,
But slaves.

Kings craving queens greedy
And kingdom castles fair,

Ignorant that,
In kingly glory
Is crowned
Kingly despair.
...................

Game of Thrones. Poor Ned Stark. If you are a loyal fan of the TV fantasy mini-series 'The Game of Thrones' you would see plentiful reasons why being a King or a Lord or a Baron would suck big time. Oh yes, you will get to lord over your peasants and minions, but it is only until another King, Lord or Baron peers across the garden fence and wonders, "Saaay... them land and riches look mighty good to me."

The Young Turks. There are not many Kings, Lords or Barons nowadays in the world. Now there is Democracy which purports to be the best solution for a human society. And there is no more iconic symbol of Democracy than the U.S. of A. But any system is only as good as the people who works it. I learn a lot about America and its politics from the Young Turks channel on YouTube. It is the biggest internet news site with millions of hits.


Atheism and Hubris. It is also an atheist-centric show, and oh how they poke fun of many religions, mainly Christianity with Islam coming a close second. But they are not rabid religion-haters, although I guess it is hard for them sometimes to maintain a balanced view towards religion. To be fair, they do try to filter between the 'good' Christian teachings and the 'bad' Christian teachings. Same thing goes to Islam, Hinduism and other religions of the world. At other times, the condescending tone of 'we know better' comes out into the open, and I just sigh a little.

Democracy in the U.S. of A. I am talking about the Young Turks again (See some earlier postings like 'The West and the Irrationality of Rationalism" and "The Young Turks and the Miracles") because in a recent video upload, Cenk (the big boss of the TYT) was despairing on camera about the state of American democracy because of the U.S. track records on torture. And how many people under the previous Bush administration who authorised water-boarding, torture and 'rendition flights' are happily walking freely on the streets of America - simply because President A-Change-You-Can-Believe-In Obama wants to look forward and not backwards. But lastly, Cenk admitted that he still believes in the idea of America, a liberal, progressive and strong democracy, even if people would call him naive. See video link below.

. How are we any different? Well, that is the same view all believers in all religion have. There will always be bad apples in the barrel, but we still believe in the Barrel of God. And we still believe in the holy scriptures brought down by His Prophets, though there may be some who misunderstand or places different priorities in the faith to the point that their actions, meant to 'defend the faith' ultimately destroys their own faith. Why is religion perceived in any different way? Exchange the word 'idea' with 'religion' and it turns out that we are all the same, whether you believe in God or you don't. .
We all have our share of bad apples. How are you any different from us?
. I don't want to be a democrat, and I don't want to be a King. I just wanna be me, a naive and error-prone man stumbling his way towards some meaningful understanding and experience of servanthood, to God and to Mankind. This is what Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) is teaching us.
So it is okay to be naive for we are all weak servants to the Splendid Truth of God - Love, Beauty, Compassion and Mercy.
Have a lovely day, sunshine. However naive!
wa min Allah at-taufiq
Hate has no place in Islam
Love will show the Way

1 comment:

Denise Emanuel Clemen said...

I believe in the barrel of love. I believe in democracy, too. But I'm a little disheartened by politics right now.