Suicide Of Rajan Khan's Son: 'Believers' Logic'

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 7 October 2023 Recently, the iconoclast Marathi writer Rajan Khan's 28-yr-old son committed suicide in Poona. Since Rajan Khan is an avowed atheist and he never misses an opportunity to condemn god, religion and religious superstitions in his writings and speeches, many believers and god-fearing people in Poona are of the view that god taught him a 'lesson' by taking away his son! What primitive logic! Pune: Son Of Marathi Writer Rajan Khan Takes His Own Life Due To Financial Stress |Photo: Free Press Journal ----- If you go by this logic that who don't believe in god, face such bereavements and losses in life then how'll you explain believers' children and at times, believers themselves committing suicide? Why doesn't god come to the rescue of those believers who choose to commit suicide? Humans are guided by what's known as ' Believers' logic,' a term coined by the American psychologist Carl Rogers. Since most of the people are believers and there're still very few atheists, the latest Caste Survey in Bihar has proven this, our collective behavioural thinking is shaped and moulded by the beliefs and perceptions of theists and believers and not by a handful of atheists and non-believers. If anything good happens to us, we quickly attribute that to an imaginary god's grace and if anything untoward happens, we're scared that we've antagonized that fussy, finicky and fastidious god who flies off the handle at regular intervals. This is ingrained in us and has become our natural and normal behavioural response. In other words, humans are regulated by a general theistic logic which cannot accept and accommodate a non-theistic logic system. So, the ever-existing esoteric fear in human psyche tries to find a (divine) pattern or a logic in such mishaps to assert god's presence. This is fallacious. Whatever happens in life and nature cannot be explained in a theistic or non-theistic manner. Why do only good and honest people suffer in life is an eternal conundrum that has never been understood by any man-made religion and explained by any so-called evolved human, though our 'great' Jaggi and Ravi Shankar 'spiritually' bamboozle their followers with their sophistry and theological mumbo-jumbo. Hindus and Easterners bring in that invisible and perpetually baffling Karma Theory to explain this existential and civilizational riddle but they fail and fall eventually. Believers of Abrahamic faiths will call it god's will (Marzi-e-Khuda). That's also inadequate as it smacks of a sense of abject resignation. Moreover, if one thinks that god avenges if you deny it, then is your god so vengeful? Isn't revenge a basic human attribute we all are saddled with? If your god has all those quotidian traits that you've, then how come that god is different and greater than you? Benedict Spinoza said, " Nihilistic Indifference is God's fundamental attribute." In other words, this concocted god is supposed to be beyond the very idea or a linguistic construct called indifference. If so, whether you praise or pan that Nihilistic god, why should it punish or reward you? Let's come back to the unfortunate suicide of atheist writer Rajan Khan's son. In any case, he (son) would have committed suicide regardless of his father's beliefs or no beliefs. ------ 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. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/suicide-rajan-believers-logic/d/130842 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