Atheism blames Religion, but the fault lies in Man's Hubris and Bigotry

It is Bigotry and Hubris, not Religion that is the Disease

It is not religion that is adding

A new volatile ingredient into the soup of bigotry,

It is instead racism and hubris that is adding

A new abhorrent ingredient into religion,

Making it all distasteful...

And not just religion,

But Atheism too!

................

Religious right-wing nuts and some Atheist left-leaning elites are selling the same soul-rotting candy but just packaged differently. In their own unique way they are equally narrow-minded, regarding any idea, faith or philosophy coming from the black, brown and yellow people as really second-class stuff.

If people lose their sensibilities and good manners (Adab), it really doesn't matter whether they are religious or Atheists, Caucasians, Latinos, Slavs, Chinese, Indians, Jews, Nordics, Arabs or Malays. For 'knowledge' has possessed them, and they need to be exorcised of their inner demon called the human ego disguised as 'being right all the freakin' time!'.

Intellectual arrogance and religious superiority... oh boy, that doesn't make for an attractive package... does it, sunshine? It rained earlier today, and because it was hot, the water steam up and you can actually smell the grass and the soil in the air. And I bet everyone can enjoy this good Earth, whatever belief or disbelief he may entertain in his heart. Thus it is rather a shame that we often allow our ego to colour our lives... 

It is a slippery slope, I know. If you see me stumble and fall into my own hubris and conceit, help me. For God knows I am weak too.

Easy does it... eaaasy does it....

Have a good Friday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Quantum Mechanics & The Dice - predictability, probability, Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr and other odds and ends......

Einstein, Heisenberg and Bohr

When you think you know enough you look for Predictability.

When you think you don’t know enough you look for Probability.

When you think you know nothing you look for Divinity.

Quantum Mechanics.

According to Heisenberg’s theory of Quantum Mechanics, the nature of things alters by the very act of observation by someone. At the level of sub-atomic particles, Heisenberg suggests that it is impossible to determine a particle’s position and speed, because the mere observation of the particles radically affects their behavior. But I knew this for the longest time…

The Women Sub-particle – The nature of a young woman changes if she is observed by a man. All sorts of questions and thoughts pass through her – She blushes and fidgets, thinking “I must be hot!”, or wondering “Is he going to talk to me or not? What is taking him so long?” The nature of woman changes even more if she is observed by another woman – “Why is she staring at me? Is she looking at my shoes now? “Oh my God! Do I have a tear somewhere?” “Do I know her?” “Is she judging me???”

The Men in prayers Sub-particle – The nature of man changes if he is observed in prayers. It is a subtler change compared to women, less obvious and almost unconscious. The posture straightens, the head lowers more in modesty and the eyelids tremble in ostentatious piety. Hehehe. It happens to the best of us sometimes. We want to be humble of course, but end up appearing to be humble. Not the same thing.

The Dice Quarrel

Okay, enough jokes, back to the serious stuffs. Einstein was terribly unhappy with the messy-probability idea of Heisenberg because for him, accuracy and predictability was the natural and elegant form of the processes of nature. So if we cannot predict the weather or the fall of a dice, it is simply because we do not know enough about the factors that affect such events. As Einstein famously commented on the improbability of the improbability theory of the Universe – “God does not play dice!” One day, Niels Bohr (another proponent of Quantum Mechanics) was heard to have retorted, “Stop telling God what to do with His dice!”

An Interesting Postscript - I talked to Heche and Fifi over lunch about Quantum Mechanics, and they laughed over the Dice Quarrel. Later Fifi dropped us off at the office, and as we were about to alight the steps what did I notice but a dice on an empty parking space. The improbability of it! But it DID happen. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Towards God and towards us. God is not asking all of us to be superhuman geniuses. He has given us the intellect that we might use it, and He has given us a heart and conscience, that we might direct our intellect in the best direction. And what is the best direction? I think that direction points towards Him. And in a contradictory and quantum mechanical way, I think it also points towards us.

Something to ponder over, sunshine.

Wa min Allah at-taufiq

Footnote: I got all these interesting information from a wonderful BBC documentary on Einstein. Click Here if you are interested.

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Vanity, the Mirror of Your Ego and the Nature of Creation

THE QUEEN. The wicked and vain queen peddles her beauty before the Mirror each day, seeking assurance that bar none, it is she who is the fairest of them all. Until one fateful day, the Mirror ups and tells her that no, she ain't the hottest chick in the hood anymore. The spiritual analogy of the Snow White story is that the mirror was merely reflecting the Queen's own sense of vanity and insecurities. For the root of the vanity tree is insecurity.

THE MIRROR. If you would believe Muslim spiritual lore about the nature of this world, I would not blame you if you come to the conclusion that upon creation, God simply assembled a couple of trillion upon trillion upon trillion times infinity of mirrors and stood them up towards each other. Then He waited for the reflections (aka us) to start looking for Him! But He is not actually there! And we don't actually 'exist' being mere reflections of God's Own Devices. A conversational prose was recorded some time back about this. In the first para, "you" were negated. Then "I" myself was negated, and finally "we" both were negated... leaving only God, the Lord of all Reflections.

90. I alone exists in a world of mirrors

In a world of mirrors

Only I alone exists

And no one else.

Not even you.

And

You alone exists

And no one else.

Not even me.

And

No one exists

Not you,

Not me.

And this is a good analogy of the first part of the Muslim declaration of faith - That there is no god but God.

VANITY. The poor Queen was distraught when she felt that her physical beauty has become only a Runner-Up. But vanity is not just about good looks...

Vanity in the Mirror of Your Ego

Beware, for vanity

Comes in many guises

Before the looking glass…

Your Patience and Chivalry

Your Honour and Humility

Your Charity and Piety…

All become vanity

When you see yourself reflected in

The Mirror of your Ego.

Have a day of beautiful reflections, sunshine. Look with your heart as much as you can, and resist looking into the Mirror of your Ego. It will show you no good at all.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

A Comely Eye, a Shapely Hip & Rose Petal Lips, and an extract from the Sinners' Dictionary

1. I am not pretty
My servant said,
“I am not pretty”.
Ouchie. That hurt.
For I made her, you see.

Nothing was left to chance,
Nothing was left wanting.
No skin, no curve,
Nay a hair of her eyelash
Did I create if not with
Love, attention and affection.

So how can she say that?
What does she see in the mirror
Which is deceiving her?

I am seeing her now,
And all that I see is
A beauty both timeless
And heartbreaking.

PHYSICAL BEAUTY. I will not lie, pet. Beauty matters. It is the nature of mankind that physical beauty attracts our roving eyes. We appreciate the finesse and delicate brushwork of God the AlMighty Artist and Illustrator. Why, even as I was doing the montage of glam mags and rags here I was attracted to the pictures of women on the cover. So, no, I would be lying to myself if I say that physical beauty has no effect on me.

Man is made for conflict. That great struggle (Jihad ul Akbar) to manage and control our desires. It is the hardest thing in the world. Why? Simply because of what we are. The Sinners' Dictionary thus defines him so...

176. Testicles
Man,
A creature torn
Between the mystical
And the testicles.

Woman is made for conflict. I will not say much about the prettier half of mankind because I am not one. I don't know how it feels to be a girl, a lassy, a woman. Any attempt by me to suggest I know is a big fat lie. But such is the character of this world that this is what I observe...

24. Ah, the Door-Opener (With King)
Ah, womanly beauty,
That irrepressible opener of doors!

Alas, how long beauty actually
Stays indoors is open for debate.

I have no solution to give, no profound revelation to share. I guess however we look and feel, we are just suppose to do what is sensible. What is appropriate and moderate, and to not fall off the edge of madness in our pursuit of physical beauty - of ourselves or someone else. Because that can happen. Indeed, history is full of madness... drawn by a comely eye, a shapely hip and rose petal lips.

Pax Taufiqa.