Age of Reason by Mujahid Zaman




		The Age Of Reason By Mujahid Zaman �Only the civilized people know the art of war� Generalissimo Chiang Kai Sek expressed during Chinese civil war. It looks like tens thousands years of civilizing process is nothing but fighting, killing, maiming, injuring, damaging to dominate, impose, exploit. If it is so, I think the time has come to say goodbye to civilization, it�s time for humanization. Humanity is suffering immensely all around the globe; divided, pitted, fragmented. Bleeding like Jesus Christ as shown in the movie, �The passion of Christ.� All of us subjected to the merciless ancient art of survival, the law of animal kingdom is persistent at every label of societies at every corner on earth. Human dignity is not pursued; the moral standard has been set on course to accommodate severity, cruelty, and barbarism. We are living with thousands of years of old legacies, invented by man who didn�t have the slightest idea about earth and the universe, and the modus operandy of nature. Men were tremendously battling to survive in a world they understood little. With their little knowledge and understanding they did perceived pictures, and set on course guide lines to run whole societies, states, empires; which eventually engulfed continents as the centuries ticked. Unfortunately enough, those immature perceptions still remain as the prime models to regulate billions of lives around the glove. To, state it bluntly, human civilization still crawling like an immature child, with no clear picture about the purpose and the ultimate destiny of our existence. Practically we�re living around elusions. We�re at a merciless war with ourselves, and with everything that surrounds us. It seems there is no freedom from those legacies. No one is capable of thinking other wise, thinking of a global human society, based on the right perceptions derived from the knowledge of scientific discoveries. Along with the right conceptions of our temporary existence on earth, and living it reasonably, logically for the better of all, eliminating all the ego factors, sense of superiority, excessive and unnecessary consummation. We are here to live it, not to use our existence as a platform to fight, shed blood, advocate violence or any other dubious means to establish one man or a group of man over others. This bickering, feuding, unnecessary spoiling of precious resources is a fact of shame, a crime. We must understand and accept the fact that entire humanity shares a common past, a common dilemma of subsistence, and a common future in a grave. We must break free from the legacies of faiths, lies, and imaginations for the common good of all. Faiths of the masses always played central role in forming and deforming of political structures in many parts of the world. In fact religions and politics ran hand in hand in close collaboration still the trend is ongoing. Religious affiliation of a certain population is still the central ingredient of a state. The state of Israel is the latest most influential, and embarrassing debacle of all time. This single event of inception and the subsequent struggle to preserve and enlarge this entity influenced the entire world in a way never seen in history. Jews arrogance, random use of superior military might, and mindless manipulation of US political circus through monopolized influences pitted the civilizations at collision course, Islam as a whole is being victimized as the odd man around. One fifth of humanity has been unfairly portrayed as bloodthirsty villains through unjust manipulation of Jews controlled mass media in the USA. Unfair Jews behavior fueled anger among Muslim communities around the world, and subsequently helped to raise militancy. Islamic militancy helped in promoting other religious militancy�s; among these most notable is the Hindu militancy, the rise of Christian right in the USA. Creation of Israel in fact reversed the progressive march of civilization away from religions, into religious militancy. Liberalizing ideals of seventies and eighties were reversed into demoralizing religious militancy around the glove, including in the USA. Instead of progression of civilization in line with the advances of science and technology toward a more universal culture of tolerance, sympathy, and humanness, religions influencing to instill militancy, separation, violence, blood bath, militarism, and barbarism. After the fall of communism, all most all the major owes of today�s world is directly or indirectly has been created by the religious hypocrisy. An unnecessary element in societies, it�s creating misunderstanding, grievances, intolerance, division, and destruction. If there were no religions, there wouldn�t have been any Israel, any militant violence; a lot of warfare would have been avoided. People would not be dieing in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Philippines, India, and in many other parts of the world. There wouldn�t have been any Sep. eleven, Bali and Madrid train bombings, or might any terrorism at all. These trends should have reversed a long time ago to adjust with the evolving enriched knowledge and understanding about life, nature, and the universe. But some thing went wrong in course of history. It seems explorative human minds have been arrested and kept captive by a tremendous social pressure group under the umbrella of religious organs and collaborative state machineries. Humanity lost at least a thousand plus years since the arrival of the latest life style formula of Islam. Logic seems to have lost out to rhetoric�s, and the trend is still continuing to rack havoc on all living human souls, captivating their inspirations, reason to live and die. The knowledge is there, the explanations are there, the evidences are there, and these are universally accepted, practiced, propagated, studied. But alas, these affairs are contained with in a range of a few fortunate scholars, intellectuals, academicians, scientists, and researchers. The rest are living hopelessly around the same old wall of ignorance, thick and impenetrable. In this laser camp no one seems to bother about the facts and discoveries. Thousands of years of painstaking efforts of many have gone nuts. Why? Why humanity can�t come to terms with the reality? Because of our existing socio, religious, political, economic and educational systems. All these are running hand in hand as complementary to one another. A thick, impenetrable wall has been raised around human psyche over many millenniums of ignorance. It could not be erased overnight by any revolution; it is deep in our psyche. Science is advancing with mind-boggling speed, driven by a few man to generate profit and domination. Besides enjoying the benefits of new products and facilities, essentially most of us remain imprisoned to the old, out dated, destructive ideals and faiths. Recently Bush junior envisioned of sending man to Mars, What a mind-blowing vision! But unfortunately he still every morning starts with crossing his dirty fingers, bowing to the legacies of an era long rendered as useless fantasy. His march to Mars is to extend the technological superiority of a state over other. His ideas are an act of war; his very existence is a disgrace to humanity. The president of the mightiest nation on earth is as much ignorant and ego centric as any other man plying the streets. Poor civilization! Civilization housed it self inside a huge wrestling ring, inhuman, barbaric, filthy, stinking, nauseating. But very few realize this. All are trigger-happy living with these discrepancies. In fact whole societies are designed to run around fighting, blood bath, war, atrocities. All that matter is victory, imposing of one�s will against another, exploit others to enrich some. We�re all playing natures game of survival of the fittest. Nobody is capable of thinking that we can live humanly, rationally with out fighting, blood shedding, killing, maiming, torturing, exploiting. In an ideal world state with out police, armies, trained dogs. Live together, live with each other, and live in peace and harmony. Live for the sake of living, not for the sake of seeking superiority. Not to impose one over another, living an equally benefiting life for all. As a community of humanity, living together in harmony. All we need is to understand the working of nature, break free from the shackles of religious affiliations to think logically-reasonably. Sweden is far ahead in this direction than the rest of the world. There even the prime minister walks around among masses with out any guards. If Sweden can achieve this why rest of the world can�t? It�s not a pipe dream, or a utopia, its achievable. Humanity has to go far beyond present Swedish model. Evolutionary evidences are there over hundred plus years, and the skies have opened up a long time ago to see through the thick glasses of telescopes. Scientists, archeologists, biologists arguing with evidence of modern human beings arrival at about seventy to eighty thousands of years earlier. But the oldest legacy of faiths doesn�t have a life span of more than five thousands of years. So, before that time I suppose, Gods were taking rest in the heavens, waiting for the appropriate time to descend and capture human minds. Silly enough to be Tom kids fantasy. We have to be brave and face squarely the facts of our emergence from the nose of science. This will remove the mask of ignorance. After evolving from apes humanity survived the onslaught of natural odds, and progressed; thrived by the aid of superior brainpower and physical abilities. But still lived in nature, along with all the other animals in nature. Surviving on natural food chain, no shelter overhead to avoid sun, rain, storm, and no security measure against the attacks of other mightier animals that lived along side them in nature. Natural odds and dangers taught them to live together in groups, these groups eventually increased in number. Human communities started to shape up. The start of real progress starting from Stone Age to community-based societies took many thousands of years of evolution. Community based societies are the starting point of modern history, from where feudalism started to emerge in to organized societies with political structures of governance. It took several thousands of years to loose free from feudalism into the age of science and industry, and the eventual emergence of democratic form of governance. Even though communism made a century of experimentation, it lost ground due to immaturity of human civilization, not because it was inaccurate, even though it was certainly incomplete. Unfortunate Karl Marx was born long before Freud, so, he missed the point of understanding human psychology. Any way, democracy and capitalism won the day, which fits perfectly with the make up of present day human psychology. This state of human psychology is really in a state of concern, as it is exclusively preoccupied with the age of feudalism, or the age of darkness. This is hugely disturbing, denigrating, conscious depleting factor. It�s time that human civilization takes a deep look at it self, and try to reinvent to adjust with the persistent time, and the advances made upon since the beginning of civilization. We did accumulated at least five thousands years of knowledge, as history propelled us from Stone Age to space age; from here we have to move up to the age of reason. But unfortunately, the reason is in recession, human mind is irrationally bonded by the ideals of feudal era, the era of darkness. It�s time that humanity breaks free from yesterday and start to live with today�s realities. It�s a small world, recent scientific advances made it even smaller into a virtual village, the global village, at least theoretically. Many in the east and west alike fondly call it to identify the miracles of technology, and the way it is bringing together people from different parts of the world. But it�s only an illusion, sweet mouthful of a word. In fact the world is squarely divided into lines of continents, religions, languages, states, tribal areas, clans. First world, second world, third world and the fourth world; Whites, blacks, browns, yellows, mixed. Wars, famines, malnutrition�s are daily fares in some parts of the world. People are dieing in war, war of nations, in sectarian violence, in war of independence, so called liberation, secession, and autonomy. People are fighting for race, religion, and linguistic identity. People are dieing in famine, in civil war; hundreds of thousands of children die in malnutrition, another millions go to bed with the burning sensation of hunger. Latest sad example is Darfur, Sudan. Man is out rooted from their own houses, denied their rights to cultivate their own land, murdered, maimed simply because of different race and religion. In this earth of plenty, hundreds of millions did never have the chance to attend a school, couldn�t receive any enlightening touch of knowledge. Human children struggle to survive in street corners, fight with animals for rotten foods. Should not we be ashamed of these facts? All this is huge indignity, and monumental shame to all of us. It is time that humanity wake up and realizes all of us share the same roots of origin. We are the product of earth and the universe, natural process of evolutionary law, and we are not indebted to any entity greater than our own existence. We must understand all those thousands of years of history were based on plain imaginary and ignorance. All those legacies we are so proud about were squarely based on cruelty, indignity and imagination, and on our insecurity, and on not being able to understand the workings of nature. Since humanity came out from the wilderness, and started to live apart from the rest of the animals, along with the pace of time we started to loose relation with our roots to nature. Man started to feel superior over other animals due to the fact of superior capabilities. So, man started to look for a different identity. Humanity lost the sense of belonging, the true identity. So, they were confused, and hugely insecure amid natural settings, which they understood little. They were helpless in natural surroundings. The rains, storms, floods, rivers, sun, moon, the stars, and the near by animals, vicious, mightier, at times attacking and killing man. They did not have the slightest idea from where did they emerged. They were capable of thinking and exchanging thoughts in between them selves, but they did not have the required knowledge, or any explanation of these phenomena�s. Their insecurities and helplessness drove them into believing that those natural phenomena�s and the mightier, vicious animals are some how more powerful than themselves. They reasoned when these forces are angry they become destructive. Some imaginative people came out with the idea of soothing and appeasing these forces, so they don�t become angry and destructive. How to appease them? Animals were provided with food, some of the animals were contained and eventually domesticated. This modest success drove the point of appeasing beyond. The legacies of faith took root. The process of appeasing seen, unseen, unexplained, unknown power began to take place. As the human journey of progression from natural set up to so called civilizing process advanced, the fears of unknown natural phenomena�s remained intact and increased by the day. The color and extend of appeasing these forces increasingly began to take abstract forms, early human societies put a lot of emphasize on these matters. So with the aid of rest of the society a powerful and revered special class emerged exclusively to perform the duties of appeasing destructive, imagine boggling natural phenomena�s. Insecurities borne out of fear and lack of understanding set up human destiny to live forever surrounded by walls of myth, religions emerged through these practices of appeasing the power full and destructive elements in nature, which eventually took shape in organized forms. Of course with the active help of ruling classes all along. Aztec-Inca, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the Chinese faiths emerged through these practices of appeasing natural phenomena�s. The ruling classes were also ignorant; fear griped, mortal human beings and they needed those religious guidelines and disciplines to keep their empires on course, and these also gave them a sense of moral duty to administer through war, slaughter, and barbarism. This trend is still driving our civilization. The first group of organized religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and little known Aztec-Inca faiths were based more on nature; these faiths didn�t put up a single figure as all empowering entity. Instead they aimed at soothing the various entities of nature, and emphasized more on self-realization, improvement and nonviolent practice in the arena of life subsistence. So, among these first wave of religions, Buddhism still remains the most progressive of all faiths in substance as it relied more on self-improving practices, rather than prescribing any all mighty power. Buddha didn�t, couldn�t see any single creature, or creatures at all two thousands and five hundreds years ago. The second wave of religions starting from Judaism, and later successive Christianity and Islam, based in the deserts of middle east, where the natural diverseness were minimal, progressed into abstract orientation, and successfully alienated nature all together from faith and man. Man was cut off from nature all together in these religions. Faiths were elevated in to the regions of unreachable heights, abstract ideas as apostles or messengers were brought in to facilitate the propagation of imaginations of individuals. In Islam it went up even more one degree, as it was from the very beginning based on political power to survive. Politics and subsequent violence were legitimized for the first time in a religion. But it doesn�t mean it�s a violent faith. It was born and breed through violence but professed peace. Since than a millennium and a half passed by. Natural phenomena�s were explained, origin of life was discovered. But man remained attached to the past. Charles Darwin for the first time in history explained in elaboration how all this happened over hundreds of millions of years, the true fact of emergence of life was explained. This is now almost two hundreds years. Since than science and scientific knowledge of universe proved it beyond any doubt that religions are pure imagination, invented by the insecurities, fears, and helplessness of man. This is amazing, unbelievably disturbing, mind boggling how humanity is being kept imprisoned by these faiths, and actually controlling the lives of all most every one around the glove. The truth is out there in entirerity, but we are still not capable of accepting, appreciating the true facts about lives on earth. Even though these discoveries are elaborately taught in educational institutes. Students study these hardly to pass the exam. And than go back to temples, Churches, mosques to pray. They learn, but they don�t accept, or can�t accept due to close psychological bond with these faiths. It�s like a man walking on the street wearing a dark glass as not to see the surroundings. Our knowledge has matured, but the problem is, this knowledge is kept exclusively a reserved territory of a few people with exclusive education and understanding. And this minority has no bearing on the rest of the people. Science and knowledge has a different course, and rest of the society running on the other side of the fact. Only accepting the fruits of knowledge in every day life as different products to facilitate a better and easier living, driven by the capitalist practices whose sole motive is profit. Science and knowledge has been enslaved by an economic system to enrich individuals. Science and knowledge has been all along kept captive to accommodate the prevailing religious dogmas, political systems also played all along the lines of these faiths. It seems like all those thousands of years of labor to know the truth about life and nature were sacrificed to accommodate reigning philosophies, but not to enrich the minds to accept the fact that we are the product of an evolutionary process of universal dimension taking place since billions of years. There are absolutely no gods and prophets. And human lives are no different than any other animals on earth, except the higher brainpower and maneuverability. Animals don�t pray, don�t have any gods, don�t have any religion. Basically animals are our ancestors, and we are exclusively related to them by blood and flesh. We are not indebted to any unseen power for our existence, and that we don�t have to pray to any entity, fear any entity. It is us who are our own masters. The acceptance of truth will free us from our insecurities, fears, and help us to understand that all human beings are same in essence. That we all share the same heritage, and no one is superior to another except in physical proportion, capabilities of understanding different things. But our feelings of sadness, happiness, and pains are same. Isn�t it shame full that the people of various races still fighting for religions, and gods, which is no more than pure imagination. It is essential to eradicate the hypocrisies of faiths to instill the sense of commonness, erase the divisions in line of religions. Civility can�t afford to loose any time any more, humans has suffered an enormous lot by now of general ignorance and understanding of working of nature. Civility now should take the most tantalizing, most important next step of jerking it self off from the legacies of ignorance. In the past a few rogue communist states tried from top to impose the scientific version of life, but failed miserably as just after the fall of these political systems old thoughts emerged overnight. This shows the gross immature nature of our civilization. So, it should be a systematic culture of washing out the rubbish inherited through thousands of years, which are firmly instilled in our psyche. Prevailing political, economic, social, religious systems are running hand in hand. (But there is scope with in prevailing political institutions to take necessary bold decisions to separate faiths from state machineries, educational systems. Educational systems should be reorganized to educate pupils from an early age about the true scientific explanation about life and universe. What we initially require is rightly educated people to run our political institutions, state machineries. Religions and religious institutions should be denounced logically by the states as unnecessary element.) Human psyche is implicitly influenced by these religious stigma over thousands of years. This couldn�t be eradicated overnight by any revolution, other than free propagation of scientific knowledge in all available media and educational systems. It�s going to be very slow and tedious task. Civilization has to opt for a new direction based on pure knowledge of science to truly understand the working of nature and universe to seek freedom from all those bankrupt ideas of faiths. Men have to accept the truth about the origin of life, accept the fact of evolution. That man was not created by any single super power, but evolved through hundreds of millions of years of natural process, through inter-action, reaction of natural elements residing on this planet. We�ve to accept the fact that animals now living in nature, in water or on earth are directly related to our past, that we were not invented by any unknown supreme power, and that this planet of ours is a very small part of an unimaginably huge universe. Which man only recently started to explore. Scientific truth is the answer to the enormous owes that mankind suffering from the unjustified association with bankrupt ideologies invented by ancient thinkers in order to discipline, organize, instill justice among people who did not understand, or understood very little about the mysterious functioning of nature. These men were certainly the greatest in contemporary time, and sure they meant to do well out of men. We should appreciate the efforts of these faith builders as revered thinkers, philosophers, whose ideas has become irrelevant long ago by advances made by science, and the relevant knowledge or understanding about the works of nature and universe. But we have no reason to follow them any longer. Humanity is suffering enormously around the glove due to our association with these faiths. Basically these faiths are at the core of most miseries suffering man today. All the wars, national inspirations, sectarian violence, hunger, poverty are directly or indirectly associated with faiths. Just imagine what will happen once all the man on earth understands and accepts the truth of our origin, that we all share the same roots. That all of our ancestors emerged from the marshes of Africa, that we all share the fact of relation to Apes. That we die only to be absorbed by nature, that there are no resurrection, no life after death, no answering to nobody. All we got is our living days on earth; we are perishable like any other elements on earth. That there is no difference between Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists; or any other religions. We all share the same roots of origin, and we all will one day vanish into the same vacuum of nature. Life is a small game of few decades out of billions of year�s evolutionary and recycling process. There is no justification to fight for religious identity, or association. We all share the same roots to great Apes, and that there will be no different heavens or hells to be punished or praised. We have only one identity, and that is we are all human beings, and we are perishable products of a great game of nature. This simple understanding of truth could wipe out a whole lot warfare, unnecessary warfare spending, violence, jealousy, and intolerance. And the trillions of dollars spent on religious institutions, practices, and festivities. There will be no terrorism, no fight between Jews and the Muslims, Muslims and Hindus, Tamils and Singhalese. Two hundreds plus states will loose appeal of existence, and slowly will emerge in to a single administrative affair of international proportion. Peace and harmony will take place as religious, racial, national feelings give way to the fact of single roots, single identity, and single destiny. Understanding and acceptance of the true facts of life will also free man out of many egos, psychological dilemmas as there will be no burden of fear of answering after death, as there will be no prejudice about other people, other races. Simple understanding that we all born once and we all will die once; it�s a single entry and single departure game. This will free us from a whole lot of prejudices; we will all be free for the first time in mankind�s history. Man will start to live with truth, for a common destiny. The age of reason will come into effect. It should be clearly understood by every one concerned about this writing that I�ve no intention to hurt any one�s feelings, even though a few illogical fanatics ultimately will feel disturbed. What I�m trying is to talk aloud a taboo no one dares to confront. And it is also my democratic right to be able to express freely what I feel is right. If any one doesn�t agree with my views are also entitled to the same rights of freedom of expression and disagreement. There is no need to feel hurt and angry, just disagree with this view and freely express it. We do live at a time advanced enough to act with in the boundary of reason and logic, leave behind emotions, egos, anger, violence, animal instincts. We�re human beings, far superior in thinking, rationality, reasoning, and understanding. Tomorrows are for reason. I take full responsibility for this writing.) (Any interested publication anywhere on earth, in any language is free to publish this article. A prior accent from the author will be appreciated. If the concerned publication is a profit generating institution, a proper paycheck is in order.) By Mujahid Zaman Email: catchinghorizone@ yahoo.com


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