Are we religious?

Are we religious?

We are very lucky to live in the era where we can proclaim to be whatever we wish without having to pass muster. One of the most coveted positions to be held is 'to be religious'. Yes, we all stand unitedly religious!
Once we call ourselves religious there is no need to justify ourselves. But some things are worth struggling for. For instance, what is the source of our religion? Oh, we have so many sources to make our religion stand on the strongest foundation possible! We have fear, faith, dogma, fantasy & of course we also have identity. All of these have such tremendous credentials that we will be called cowards if we fail to discuss these. Let's talk about these sources.
Fear...fear of what? Fear of God? Does God want us to be scared of him? If yes then why? Because he wants us to be scared of ourselves? Does our conduct call it necessary to be scared of someone? Is it a prerequisite to be so miserably disconnected with ourselves to call ourselves religious?
Faith...faith in what? Faith in God? The Almighty? Then why we need to fight to protect him if we have faith in our Almighty? Do we need violence to own the religion? Does violence supersede faith? Or is it faith in 'dogma' to keep our universe in order? Surely life is so easy that way, we need not make an effort to seek the way of living!
Fantasy...fantasy to secure a high place in the world of religion! We all want to be a part of the elite group. We never know when the responsibility of the guardian of our religion confers upon us! God bless us, we are not taking any chance here!
Identity....such an important thing to be accepted in the society of God! Identity of security, identity of stability, identity of convergence. We are not fools to lose such a beautiful thing called identity...the whole purpose of our lives!
We are so logical in our argument that it won't be fair if we undermine the force fighting our religion...the force called integrity! Integrity doesn't believe in our religion. It doesn't uphold the foundation of our religion. It believes in only one thing...the style of a soul....which is reflected in your every thought, every emotion, every action...the constant connection between you & your soul. There is no room for excuses, choice, justification. It doesn't understand our sources of religion as it is to be so blissfully intact in past, present, future that it can only be indifferent to your & my religion. It only understands its purpose, its intelligence, its method. It hates incompetence & it is incapable of living second-hand. Integrity doesn't need any means as it is an end in itself. Nothing & nobody can distort it.
Fortunately it is not glamourous enough to preach anything. Only one thing can define it & that is the undercurrent. Great! We are safe! But hold on...let's not go overboard, there is more than meets the eye. The anticlimax is that the integrity is utterly impervious to our world of religion! It can only think, it can't follow. It can only judge, it can't obey. It can only create, it can't borrow. What an obnoxious thing! It deserves nothing less than our hatred! So let's come together & hate it! Whoopee! We now have one more source for our religion! Thank God we are religious!

DEEPALI S. BASUR
Co-founder & Chief Editor,
www.ethinksharp.com, an e-magazine dedicated to the 'YOUTH'.