Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Enlightened Religion is My Idol

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Enlightened Religion is My Idol

Normally, everyone has an idol for which he is ready to sacrifice anything .However one person’s idol is different from another. One may idolize property, status, position, children, espouse, friends, etc. but religious individuals idolize their faith. The bitter fact is that religious understandings and interpretations have been the most controversial issues, throughout history. They have led to big diversities and serious hostilities. As a result, we are still in the grip of this predicament. The religious stereotypes of the extremists inflict great casualties on innocent people. I believe that our limited understanding of religion is the same as the parable of the six blind men and the elephant.

Maybe you’ve heard the parable of the six blind men and the elephant. In this parable, six blind men feel a different part of an elephant and come to different conclusions regarding what the elephant is actually like.

One blind man grabs the tusk and says, “An elephant is like a spear!” Another feels the trunk and concludes, “An elephant is like a snake!” The blind man hugging the leg thinks, “An elephant is like a tree!” The one holding the tail claims, “An elephant is like a rope!” Another feeling the ear believes, “An elephant is like a fan!” The last blind man leaning on the elephant’s side exclaims, “An elephant is like a wall!”

This parable is often used to illustrate a view known as religious pluralism. Like the blind men, no religion has the full truth. Rather, all religions are true in that they accurately describe their personal experience and the spiritual reality they personally encounter, given various historical and cultural backgrounds.

The celestial doctrines were as pure drops of rain, however upon descending to our earth, they were defiled with our interpretations. The human frames of mine, culture and tastes were further imposed on religion with the passage of time. Hence, we are dealing with a religion which is handed down centuries back and nurtured with different mentalities and cultures.

Since the original divine religion is perfect, many believe that our understanding of religion is perfect as well. The fact is that the human understandings of religion have never been perfect and will go on as such, perhaps moving towards perfection. Of course, today we live in the same world as our forefathers did, yet the image of the world and our understandings of it have changed to a large extent. For instance, big inventions such as planes, computer, radio, mobile phones, etc, have been added in our lives. Today we define our world differently from the past. In addition, our theory also change and has modified the image of the world for us.

The fact is that the laity and the educated live in two different worlds. Not only the religion of the educated but his entire world is educational. One will not be able to digest epistemological meanings and understandings unless s/he gets rid of living in imaginations and ambiguities.

The world is like a written text and it is the mind of a linguist or reader who catches the meaning and translates this silent text. The texts are hungry of meaning and interpretation. So, the meaning of universal matters is not written in them and will not be caught easily or with a glance. Rather one must know the language of the world to read and understand them. Science and philosophy will teach the language of the universe, which are neither static nor perfect. Unlike the minds of linguists, the simple minds will be convinced and will reach conclusions with a perfunctory reading.

Language is the part of one’s world and we do not know it unless we know the world. The fact is that a text belonging to several worlds will give several meanings and a better understanding depends on knowing the writer’s world better. When we use the same words, view the same sky, sun, river, etc, we may believe that we all know them in the same way. The fact is that the words are nurtured by the meanings and the meanings come out of the heart of one’s world. Therefore, we do not know one’s world perfectly through its language rather it is one’s world which gives meaning to its language. Although the talker will be reflected in its words, yet one who knows the talker better will understand the thoughts well. Thus, religion is silent and one will not understand it unless we know the world of the Owner.

Considering the aforementioned arguments, one way to know the text and ideas is to understand one’s world and worldview. This fact is also applicable to religion and to know religious doctrines better, one needs to know the God and his messenger.

Secondly, the more sources we refer to, the more we will get information about a fact. For instance, to know the elephant, we need to go to all the six blind men, as mentioned in parable, and their understandings will form an elephant otherwise our understanding of an elephant will be partial. So, we are supposed to be pluralist in religious issues also.

The ancient man cherished the theory of his age and the modern man cherishes his. In other words, knowing the language of an age depends upon knowing its scientific and philosophic theory. Hence, the change of theories in any age, will inject new life and meanings in the mold of the words that is why I say that the texts are hungry of the meaning rather than pregnant with it. So, to know a nation’s language, one needs to know their theory and worldview – this fact is applicable to religion too. Religious people should not idolize religion blindly rather they have to study it and then sanctify it knowledgeably.

Hujjatullah Zia is an emerging writer of Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at zia_hujjat@yahoo.com .

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