The Unevolved Minds Will Perpetually Be In Need Of Religions And Its Totems

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 4 October 2022 “So, too, the creeds of man: the one prevails Until the other comes; and this one fails When that one triumphs; ay, the lonesome world Will always want the latest fairy tales” Abu al - Alaa al- Ma'arri, the 11th-century Arab poet who discarded Quran, Muhammad and all man-made faiths Imagine, what Abu al-Ma'ari stated a millennium ago is unfortunately still relevant. Humans cannot survive sans religions and its associated totems. Imagine, what Abu al-Ma'ari stated a millennium ago is unfortunately still relevant. Humans cannot survive sans religions and its associated totems. In fact, our dependency on religion and god is increasing all the more in recent times. Islam and Muslims could be favourite punching bags for many. But fanaticism among the followers of all religions is fast getting intensified. A few days ago, I met a young Sikh woman after a couple of years. She was wearing a turban and carrying a dagger like her male counterparts. She became an Amritdhari Sikh and stopped trimming and vaxing her eyebrows and body hair. " I'm on the path of self-enlightenment and Truth and I'm a born-again Sikh, " she solemnly declared. I got scared. I'm always frightened of religious people and she was carrying a weapon to boot! That scared me all the more. A gorgeous looking, well-endowed Sikh young woman is now a crusader of her religion. This pained me no end. A scholar of Sikhism told me that this latest trend is pretty common among Sikh young girls and women of Punjab. The fashionable religious trend of Sikh women wearing a turban and carrying a weapon has increased, following missionaries in rural Punjab converting poor Sikhs to Christianity. Wahe Guru....Wahe Guru.... Hindus have always been terribly superstitious. Now using religion as a fashion accessory is integral to most of the Hindus. Even 'educated' ones flaunting religious symbols and deities as their DPs during the ongoing festive season is very common. You'll call it nitpicking but my point is, why on earth should your deity or religious occasion be your DP? Why do you require to wear your religion on your sleeves and emblazon it across on your 36 or 56 " chest? This is disgusting, to say the least. In Poona, even Hindu men are roaming around barefoot during Navratri! Men and women are eating everything, yet calling it fast! There's a term in anthropology, Religious Recrudescence. According to social scientists and scholar of religious studies, after the period of roughly 400 years, the world witnesses a kind of religious recrudescence and explosion. Dr Edward W Said, said the same thing in one of his last articles that appeared in The Spectator, London and The Dawn, Pakistan also carried the same. Humans cannot survive without these silly religious practices because most of us are conditioned to believe in them. There have been more than1000 religions, cults, sub-cults and groups from the advent of human civilization. So many 'advanced' religions came and went and their gods and scriptures vanished into thin air. New faiths appeared in their place and they too will disappear, whether it's Sanatan Dharm, Hindu Dharm, Islam, Christianity or Sikhism. Remember, every religion has an expiry date. Humans haven't yet been able to live without these crutches which have become mankind's inescapable necessities. When one religion goes, a new one comes along and the same putrid bilge goes on. Humanity will have to ask itself as to why can't it survive on its own steam and why on earth does it need the psychologically comforting and self-deceiving support of god and religion? Until you get the answers (and you'll never get), continue to wallow in religious muck and stay deluded. Happy Dussehra! ----- 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/unevolved-minds-religions-totems/d/128098 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism