Whether
you are an Atheist, Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Native
American, Pagan, Shinto, Sikh, Wicca, and Zoroastrian or from any other
tradition, you may feel a sense of connection with the spirit of Ramadan.
God
is a word for the cause that creates, sustains and recycles this universe, and belongs
to all that exists and is not the exclusive dominion of anyone. No matter how and what name you call upon him --
he (she or it) cannot be a different causer for each one of us.
Regardless of what is being said about origins in terms of evolution, creation
or the big bang, the undeniable fact is our existence, and we have to figure
out how to live with each other.
When the universe came into being, two main products of the process were Matter
and Life.
While the matter is programmed to be in self-balance and functions precisely
for which it is designed, like the Sun, Jupiter, Earth or the Moon playing its
part, the (human) life on the other hand was not programmed; we were given
complete freedom, guidance and intelligence to create our own balance for
survival.
A balanced society is where every one of us functions cohesively in small
parcels of this big World Wide Web. It
is sustained by respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God given
uniqueness of each one of us. If we mess with the web, we mess with ourselves
ultimately. If we mess with the
environmental balance we will pay for it, just as we bear the loss of health if
we mess with what we eat, drink and smoke. There is a consequence for
imbalance.
Birth of Religion
We lose the balance if we don't trust and lie to each other, rob the other, and
not keep the promises we make to fellow beings. This is when religion appears; it is the love
of the creator for his creation, just as a mother loves her children --someone
among us will rise and restore that balance.
Didn't Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and other masters restore
the righteousness and balance in the society?
I hope you can relate with this thought in your own scriptures and
legends.
An identical spiritual wisdom emerges in different parts of the world simultaneously;
the greatest example would be how a mother figures out what to do with her
crying baby in the jungles of Amazon or the high society in London.
Indeed, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and as a corollary I would say,
faith is in the heart of the believer, and every religion is dear to its
believer.
Religion is about love for fellow beings, a majority of us in every religion get that right but for a few, who keep messing up the cohesiveness of the society. Those few are not an identifiable group, but the infraction in each one of us when we become biased towards the others. Religion is never the problem; it is the individuals who don't get their religion right are the problem.
Ramadan and you.
From the moment we are born to the last rites of our life, and every moment in between is laden with rituals, even though some of us may deny it. Whether we go to the gym, eat, sleep, wear clothes, drive or talk on the phone, we follow rituals.
Rituals signify the milestones of our daily life. Every significant moment of the day is a ritual. It is an unwritten way of measuring our progression, a memory pattern to bring discipline to our actions.
Discipline is necessary to do things on time, manage personal relationships, drive to a destination or keep within budget. The result of disciplined behavior is worthwhile for most people. When we are joyous, whether we are a theist or not, we have to express that sentiment, otherwise a sense of incompleteness lingers in our hearts.
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