Spirituality Without Religion

This post was sparked by this here video, so go on ahead to check it out.

To those that know me on a level greater than an acquaintance, you might perhaps know that I am a staunch Atheist. Not so long ago, maybe 4 or 5 years ago, I'd decided that I was an Atheist. I've known pretty much all my life that idols of the Buddhas in the temples I visit occasionally don't really have any sort of effect on me. I've never set foot in a church and I don't think I ever will, but I've never really felt Jesus or God in my life. I believed in one thing - nothing happens without a reason, everything has an explanation backed by evidence. That's my philosophy on religion, which so far has no evidence for existence of a God, but granted there's no evidence proving there isn't one either, though so far everything religion has said about the creation of the world has proven to be less than true. I mean come on, it's a really far-fetched story that the world was created in 6 days, with God resting on the last. It sounds just like a week, work for 6 days and rest/church on Sunday.

Just a couple years ago I'd straight up tell you that religion is a terrible thing and that anyone who believes in a God is a fool to cast aside the teachings of Science and choose instead to believe in old books and the words of our ancestors who didn't know better. Nowadays, I recognise that that's the way that some people choose to see the world and it's damn near impossible to change it. After all, it's not easy to let go of something you've been taught your entire childhood for something that a stranger or a friend told you when your whole family believes it. Your whole family can't be wrong right? And anyway, I realise that not all religious people are a terrible lot and just because I can't see the good of it doesn't mean they can't. Science speaks to me like Jesus or God speaks to them. And religion does answer some of the hard questions like where we go after we die and how life came to be born on Earth (though this is beginning to be more clear to us everyday).

My take on religion is that it was a way of living that worked for almost 2 millenium. There's no better way to teach an uneducated person how to live than with a omnipotent being that's ever watchful of your every move and would punish you for straying away from the "righteous path" and doing bad deeds or not believing in him. It was also a means of explaining complex events that have no clear and obvious reason. Like why is there a waterspout, a whirlpool or a tsunami? As the ancient Chinese would tell you, that's the dragons of the East Palace wreaking havoc because they were angry over something. Why has plague suddenly struck us out of nowhere? God's wrath for humanity's sins. Mythical beings are a very easy way of avoiding having to dig deeper for the truth, pinning everything to God's(or mythical beings') will. And if you think that's hokey, if your 2 year old child asks you why there's rainbows, is it easier to tell him it was made by God or to explain to him that a rainbow is a result of the refraction of light through water vapour in Earth's atmosphere? 

Now just think, if you didn't know why something happened and someone asked you for an explanation, wouldn't just be easier to say it was the work of God than to try to find an answer for it? After all you've got better things to do like work the fields and make sure the raiders aren't coming to abduct your women again. Much of the Bible contains passages about things that are forbidden and what's allowed, like not wearing clothes woven from 2 materials, not eating molluscs and shellfish or not eating pigs in the Qur'an and Torah. With good reason too, the octopus/sea slug could be poisonous, there's no way of knowing for sure and pigs often have tapeworms that could pass to humans if not cooked well. And there were other passages about things like selling your daughters to other men for wives and what not. Such a thing today would be unthinkable but not in those days. And not to mention there was incest between Lot and his daughters (instigated by them no less) because he has no male heir. Not all of religion is about outdated methods of living though, God does provide a sort of comfort to some people and that's not bad.

But there's a common misconception that a person who doesn't believe in God is on the wrong path and that unless you're on the same road as them (by that I mean the same denomination of religion as them), you're definitely on the road to Hell and our dear friend Stan. Yes, Stan. (Alright, alright, Satan.) Oftentimes I see this from Christians and being said to other Christians and people of the book. Like come on, you guys have the same God, can't you guys be nice to each other? Not too long ago, I saw an article written by a female Australian journalist about why she converted from Christianity to Islam and while most of the commentators were supportive of her change, the ones that stand out are Christians telling her that "She is not born again, I will pray for you and hope you find the way back to God." What the fuck? Fuck your prayers, she found her God. You can keep your God and your shitty mindset to yourself. Why couldn't they be happy for her? Why does it have to be either you're with us or you're on your way to hell. It's so freaking archaic and reminds me of the iron age. And it's always the christians like them that foul the image of all Christians and also the reason why I ended up being an Atheist. Constantly asking you to go to church with them and telling you quotes from the Bible like it's some fucking gem of a quote. Hell naw it ain't. They say nothing but "Believe in me because I'm the best and the most amazing." Literally the whole aim of the Bible is about asking you to believe in God if you just take a step back and look at it.

And these people often think that because we don't have a God, we aren't spiritual and we can't appreciate beautiful things because we don't know that it was made by God for us. Well my answer to them is that we can. We can appreciate the stars because we know what powers them, the forces that create them, how they shine, their births, their lives and their deaths, some go quietly into the night, others in a blaze of glory. When we look at the birds flying in the sky, we appreciate that they can do that because of the glorious evolution of their feathers from quills and breast muscles to power their flight. When I walk outside and look at the trees, the grass, the cat, the lizard, the bird and the fish, I can appreciate that we are all related to each other, that at one point in time we were not so different from one another and that we all share the same origin. That all matter in the universe is but a tiny fraction of that which existed at the very beginning of time and it's because of that tiny amount more matter than anti-matter that the universe came to exist as we know it. That the dirt, the water, the air, every living creature is made from stardust. From the Earth that gives us life we return to it in the great cycle. The root of the word Science is Scientia, Latin for knowledge. And indeed it is to know, to possess knowledge through Science from which my spirituality comes. Through Science, it is discovered that all life is connected to one another, we are all related and that is exceedingly beautiful. To me, it is far more beautiful to know that it was through the smallest of chances that we came to exist and are all connected than that we were created by a perfect being as separate creatures.

But I'm not saying that religious people are bad people, no. Not all of them. Many of the religious ones I know are good people. It is just that they see the world through a different lens to try and understand it in their way. By no means are they bad because they don't see the world through the same lens as us. I guess my message here is that no matter what we believe in, we are all the same as each other and there's no need for hate. There is no room for hate. The world we live in today is unsustainable and the only way we can survive the 21st century is if we are saved by some miraculous technology leading to a rise in complexity, as John Green puts it talking about the Anthropocene. And I believe the only way forward is through Science, as does Bill Nye and Neil DeGrasse Tyson and all other contemporary great minds. And perhaps there was a little shift in the direction of where I wanted to go in the start of this post and where I ended up but both messages are important, Not being religious isn't a bad thing, and we need a solution for our problems now so that we can have a brighter future. I'll end it on that note, peace out.

Anime

There's nothing wrong with watching anime. I used to watch anime too, but that was a long time ago and it's been probably 6+ years since I was interested enough to watch more than 5 episodes. I'm sure there's anime out there that have some form of values it's trying to inculcate though majority of it is usually fan service (I'm looking at you, Monster Musume). As much as I don't watch anime, because application of some simple economics tells me it's much better to watch educational stuff online than anime, I do think there's nothing wrong with watching anime. To each their own after all, some people do derive entertainment from watching anime and that's okay. Even the fan service ones filled with crude humour with little values, that's still fine.

But the real problem is when anime becomes your whole life and the only culture you're interested in. There's a term called otaku for these people, it's a derogatory term in Japan, it's shameful to let people know you're one. But here in Singapore, boy oh boy do you see weeaboo (derogatory term: Someone who is obsessed with Japan/Japanese Culture/Anime, etc. and attempts to act as if they were Japanese, even though they're far from it. They use Japanese words but usually end up pronouncing them wrong and sounding like total assholes. - Urban Dictionary. They also usually denounce their own culture, which is what sets them apart from people who are just interested in Japan.) after weeaboo proudly proclaiming themselves an otaku. And they say it with such pride as if it's a good thing. Really though, it's not. It implies an absolute obsession with anime culture. It's funny how they all think it's Japanese culture, really it's not. Japan's rich culture can't be boiled down to Tokyo, Harajuku, Akihabara (I forgot the name to this and googled Japan Anime District. Really amazing how they knew what I was talking about.), kimonos, Japanese high school life, sushi and ramen/udon. Although I'll grant you that there are people who are genuinely interested in Japanese culture and anime was the gateway drug, that's fine. I'm talking about the people who are only interested in anime culture and proclaim themselves as interested in Japanese culture.

Then comes the problem when anime becomes your worldview, all of their opinions and thoughts have some kind of root in anime or manga. So last year, the Mars One project was announced. A weeaboo I know made this very comment on the matter

"It's a bad idea, didn't they watch Terra Formars (Bunch of dudes landed on Mars, Mars has alien roaches that fucked them up, took them over and now humans send teams to kill em or they're fucked big time - synopsis provided by a friend)?"

Now that really rustled my jimmies. That his sole argument against the Mars One project was a fucking anime. Not that it's too costly, not that people who regretted going can't come back, not that the technology isn't likely to be out yet by that time, not that if something fucks up on Mars, those people are on their own but a fucking anime about aliens taking over the minds of the humans and coming back to wreck us. Which goes to show that he wasn't paying attention because they have no way of coming back, and you can take over the minds, but you're still stuck with their biological needs, reference Yeerks, and are probably unlikely to know the physiological needs for humans to maintain homeostasis and would likely lose too many to be able to have the manpower needed to come to Earth.

So really, there's nothing wrong with watching anime but never let it be your source of ideas and opinions for history and innovation is rich in ideas that anime only tries to imitate.