The Brave Pedestrian

Preface:  I could quote scripture at many points in support of what I’m about to say, but I’m not going to. Why? Because deriving authority by quoting “holy books” is an effort to prevent people from arguing with you; I think it’s unfair.  I believe we’re never really comfortable until we have figured out, and put to rest, the riddle of our own mortality, which we experience like this: In our heads, we know that any one of us can die at any moment, ie. we are mortal. But in our heart of hearts, each of us thinks: it can’t happen to me ie. I am immortal. Each of us deals with this riddle or paradox in different ways. A few of us do it by never thinking about it, as though it’s unimportant or irrelevant. Many of us like to take on faith the views of death offered by our own religions, or other religions, or by a guru like Rajneesh. A few may modify these given views in little ways to suit their personal beliefs. I for one have dealt with the paradox...

Again, I think I’m setting myself up as a target for much anger and derision, though that is not the effect I wish to have on people. What I state here is an honest opinion… please believe that much at least! I grew up studying in a convent school, and I have no saffron agenda. I am not a Shiv Sena or BJP supporter. Our current situation — a sort of unbridled quest of modernity, never mind the past and the experiences of the past — is brought about by  a system of education that was largely evolved by Christian missionaries living in the colonies.   While the stated objective was to bring the “ignorant savages” to the light of reason by teaching them “reading writing and arithmetic.”, the underlying objective was to distance them from their own culture, and render their minds ripe for proselytizing.  Even if unproselytised, they deeply embraced the white Christian worldview, which was nine tenths of their faith.  Our children continued to be bred in the care o...

We suffer from a collective grand delusion  that while we feed on, use and exploit other creatures, nothing feeds on us and exploits us.  We fondly believe that we are at the top of the food chain on Planet Earth, and that this planet is a self-contained kingdom, more or less isolated and insulated from the rest of the cosmos. We believe that except for an asteroid striking this planet, or some such cataclysmic event, we are safe from the universe because except for sunlight and starlight, nothing much comes and goes between here and the rest of the cosmos. We believe especially that while there are all sorts of natural phenomena influencing the course of our lives, there is nothing out there with a  will to exploit us,  use us and prey on us. In other words, we believe that humans are their own worst enemies, and that they have no natural enemies that cannot be dealt with a shot of vaccine or antibiotics. We try collectively to maintain this illusion by thinking ...