May 23, 2008
After losing my handphone, I suddenly realised just how valuable a simple phone means to me. Although I've never liked it so much as I thought it was lacking in several 'cool' functions that I desire, it is still a phone which can be quite handy at times. Taking things for granted, I realise just how much I miss it now. But life still goes on - the show has to go on anyway. I've learned from some of my stupid mistakes along the way and I never regret losing anything in my life. A phone is worth only a few hundred. But a person I love is priceless. All these do not matter as much to me anymore because whether there is any value or not, it is still my own life that I have to keep an eye on. Naked I come, and naked will I depart. This is life.
I dress up because I was forced to. I educate myself because I was forced to. I grow taller because I was forced to. I am 'mature' because I was forced to. I want to look good because I was forced to. I am not acting myself because I was forced to. I am cultured because I was forced to. I work because I was forced to. But I still do these things... because, I was forced to. What is it that has a hold on me? SOCIETY.
Let's face this sad fact.. that society has a hold on everyone. Every individual has gotten themselves into deep shit. They have bounded themselves within the expectation of society. Ironically, society is a socially constructed phenomena that doesn't quite exist at all... only conditioned within the minds of everyone. Humans are so conditioned into doing things unknowingly for the sake of society, not for themselves. I do it too... because I was forced to. This is not rebellion. This is a life of prison and a life of bondage. In fact, I am speaking up against this so this makes me a rebel. Besides, I don't think this is any 'obedience' reaction at all. I am simply knowing it too much but knowing not how to defeat society. Because society is larger than any multinational corporation in the world, the only discretion is through this pen in my hand. And thus, I learned that with patience, the pen would be mightier than the sword.
Q: Why am I against religion?
A: Religion is a socially constructed phenomena that aims to give man a sense of consolation, relief, comfort, direction, hope, joy, peace, and imagination. We, as humans, have the power of imagination, creativity, memory, and foresight. With this powerful mind that we possess, we are able to tap into various ability that help us attain our desires. In disappointment, we look for consolation. In hurt, we look for relief. In sadness, we look for comfort. In crisis, we look for direction. In distress, we look for hope. In isolation, we look for joy. In conflicts, we look for peace. In reality, we dream. In fact, there is nothing that we cannot do to make our lives better, because of the evolved muscles between our ears. Yet, our mind can be our enemy sometimes, because our mind can also limit us in many ways.
By subscribing to a particular culture, religion, political ideas, philosophy, scientific school of thought, or any other organisational groups, one has already limit him or herself to a very large extent. However, the biggest obstacle that hinders the progress of society is religion. Religion is the focus of a single dogma claiming its absolute truthfulness without the support of ample evidence. The only evidence found was that people are actually imagining a god within their brain. Perhaps, "imagine" is not a proper word, but rather, "justifying" is. People are always justifying who "God" is. I don't know about who God is, but I know that if a person can jolly well tell me that God is a good God, or God is a compassionate God, or God is a punishing God, or God is a savior God, or God is a loving God, or God is a just God.. etc., then this person is only justifying to me what God is like, not who God is. Because if one can tell me who God REALLY is, then he must be God himself.
We all imagine things. We all picture things in our minds. Imagination is part of human's ability because it is also a survival instinct. Without imagination, we would not be able to build infrastructure, business, set goals, or even plan our day. How we live our lives, is part and parcel of our imagination. Imagination is a good thing. But everything is also a double-edged weapon. It works for you and I, but it also work against you and I. I think human imagination has gone a little bit too far because the result of fundamentalism in this world is so evident right now. Everywhere, people are taking their scriptures out of contexts: Picking and choosing the verses in their "holy" books to justify their deeds or beliefs.
There are simply too many nonsense that has happened, and to list them here would make me feel like I'm writing a history textbook myself. No, it is no way to contaminate all its negative effects it has upon people here on my blog. The only thing I would list here is that the 9-11 attack has changed the world. Has it changed yours? Has it changed your thinking? Well, here's how it changed mine. Let's all stop being damn respectful.
Q: What has religion got to do with culture?
A: Culture plays a big part in our lives, even throughout the history of man. Religion melts into the web of culture whenever they meet. Religion and culture is like sex and violence.
Religion is filled with sins and virtues, while culture is filled with dos and don'ts.
Religion discourages people from doing something inappropriate because it is forbidden by the "perceived" God. Culture keeps people from doing things inappropriately at the wrong time and at the wrong place.
Religion says we should not have pre-marital sex. Culture says we should not pick our nose in public.
In religion, Muslims feel more superior than the rest, and Christians feel that Muslims are pigs. In culture, the Whites think they are superior, while the Chinese think that some of their own are dogs and outcasts.
Religion is dogma. Culture is tradition.
Religion is in every culture. Culture is in every religion.
Therefore, religion and culture are inseparable twins.
Q: If I am against religion and culture, doesn't it make me a non-cultured person?
A: Yes, I would like to be non-cultured if ever I have the opportunity, because I am but an individual after all. I cannot win society on the whole but that does not stop me from being a rebel against the idea of culture and religion.
Picture this: Suppose we take culture out of the human race, including religion. What have we? We would be living in caves, hunting animals for food, and fight against other humans or animals for survival. The fitter being survives while the lesser ones die. Life without culture IS indeed cruel. But does life with culture or religion improve the situation? Picture this: Imagine the rich that gets richer, and the poor gets poorer. What you have here is that the rich has managed to hunt better food and thus enjoy themselves with their rewards. The poor has not managed in its fight for survival and thus will sooner or later die out. Religion says we should give to the poor. What have we? The world's poverty is still rising and people are starving.
Here are the evidence:
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asphttp://www.netaid.org/global_poverty/global-poverty/Let us look at our Malaysian neighbour as an example:
http://aliran.com/oldsite/monthly/2004a/2j.htmlMy dear Singaporeans, as of the statistics of 2004, most of our Malaysian neighbours are living on 500 to 1000 Ringgit a month. That is equivalent to S$250 to S$500 a month, which is also equivalent to about S$8.30 to S$16 a day! Perhaps, that is not as bad as
Vietnam. Singapore is but the only prospering country in the South-east Asian region. However, there are conflicts within the nation too.
Let's look at the
monthly household income statistics (http://www.singstat.gov.sg/)
Notice that the majority of the population are somewhere between Below S$1000 to about S$3000. The latter amount is obtained by ordinary citizens or permanent residents who underwent education through the local universities. I postulate that amounts ranging higher than S$3000 are earned by individuals who are either entrepreneurs or businessmen. And what is the high amount above S$15,000 earned by a large group of individuals? Are they the ministers? Perhaps... and what are THEY doing with the money? Hmm...
If these people could give half of their salary to those at the range of S3000 and below, I suppose there would be quite a lot of happy people around. Life would be slightly easier. I'm a dreamer but if you are offended by my dream, then perhaps, you can buzz off.
So, what culture have we? Money culture? What difference will it make? What difference can it make? With or without culture, human race is still the same. With or without religion, people are still selfish and cruel. It is in our genes, in our blood, and in our veins to be cruel, nasty, and condemned. It takes courage to love another person, because people deserve hate.
Grace, is something that doesn't come cheap. But in its unconditioned nature, grace is what we lack. If one thinks that grace comes from God, I have no problem with that. But if one thinks that a particular culture, religion, or philosophy is great and the only truth, then I would have a problem. There is no culture in us. It is only an illusion or delusion that has brought us so far.
Therefore, we don't need culture to survive, because with it, we are still no better off than dogs, who at least possess the least bit of loyalty.
