Friday, July 13, 2012

Living Life

I have been reading through various material. Books, random blogs, articles, different websites.  Me reading is nothing new. However, as I read through a certain passage, it occurred to me that I don't write as in-depth as I might have. I tend to simplify my thoughts and I've also tried to keep my vocabulary somewhat understandable. In a nutshell, I tailor my posts for the audience I know will be reading.

I have stopped myself from indulging in detailed and technical discourses which I know will put all of you to sleep. The question might crop up then, why do I limit myself? I ought to be myself, despite whatever feedback I may or may not receive. That is the point of my blog, after all.

Not really. The point of my blog is for me to simply express those thoughts that are created from the many experiences I may have, in a moment, a day, a week, or simply out of life. They may be pretty mundane. Or even something we all already know.

At times, my thoughts clash with those of my readers. I have always been a non-conformist, but only to a certain extent. I like to think outside of the box, and in so doing, I sometimes come up with such random ideas that the capacity to understand them undermines their logic. So they become ridiculous. Often, when certain events pan out, or time elapses, I am able to say, "Hey, this is what I said way back when, and no one believed me." Yeah, I am a "I told you so" person, but usually it's just in my head.

I read random things here and there. Recently, I've been reading little bits of Gandhi's rendition of the Gita. I have over the years read various versions of the Gita. Now don't get me wrong, I don't hold myself to be a very religious person. Comparative to others, yes I may be. But I am not really a big fan of "religion" per se. If I believe in anything it is simply in goodness. As such, I find it interesting to read the scriptures of faith and understand the creed behind various religious faiths. Likewise, I have read the Bible, Quran, and have read various other texts pertaining to religion and religions.

For me, it isn't about what makes them different. It is what makes them alike: the underlying goodness that transcends all borders, cultures and nationalities. The basic goodness that should be the foundation and root of "Godliness" or, simply humanity, is what makes me question why people incorporate so much negativity in the act of upholding their religion.

I often believe that faith itself becomes a second-hand product when people find the need to resort to religion bashing and mockery. When you yourself are engaged in acts that are negative and founded on ill-thought toward another, how can you then say that this is (for) the goodness of my faith?

I am an idealist. It may be a weakness, or it may be a strength. Weakness, because an idealist harbours hopes that  often do not manifest in the realities of the world. Strength, perhaps because a strong foundation of belief may be the saving grace for the idealist, and hopefully enough so that it might take root and spread. Who knows?

I do not want to sound as if I am writing so as to force anyone to believe in what I do. I am not trying to convert anyone to any form of thinking. You want to fight about religions, well, I am not saying go ahead and do it, but in the end what does it gain? Shoot each others' heads off, and then what? In the same way, as I wrote about eating animals, so the population of meat eaters eventually all die off from cardiovascular diseases and suchlike, then what?

I know, we are all going to die anyway one day. So live it to the fullest, right? Even I wonder at times, what is the good in believing in good. I should just throw it all out the window and stop believing. No one wants to listen, anyway. Or if they listen, then only do so to laugh.  Or, to feel uneasy or even angry. Then I wonder, what would the world be like without us idealists? No one to say, stop animal slaughter, stop racism, stop genocide, stop child or women abuse. After all, life is short already, stop worrying about all of the stuff we can't change. Live life to the fullest.