BLIND BELIEF OR INTELLECTUAL SPIRITUALITY

Common sense is not so common [Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique(1764)]

There are people who simply follow their parent’s/relative’s/elder’s way of religion  and there are people who do not care even to pray or perform rituals. The latter type of people are probably lesser in number than the former, as far as our country is concerned. However, both the aforementioned types are gravely wrong as the first one is nothing but ‘blind-following’ while the other is rejecting religion altogether ignorantly without any research or study!


For many people, ‘rituals’ are all that they know about their religion. Rituals are important, but what is the reason that they should be considered as important? Rituals are a means of worshiping God, that’s their basic inseparable function. But the important question that we should ask ourselves is that, do all the rituals fulfill this purpose, even if they are man-made? Generally, people put their focus on rituals, so much so, that they forget its sole purpose which is to worship God (our Creator), and on the contrary they get emotionally attached to the rituals, seeking pleasure doing it. A ritual cannot benefit us if God doesn’t will so! Rituals in and of themselves do not hold any importance, God does. If we understand this, then we won’t have any problem in leaving behind those rituals which do not reach God. And who else other that God Himself can let us know the correct way of worshiping Him? We have religious texts that people hardly study, yet they are good at following rituals. If we care not to reason before following any ritual (Religion), then that is blind-following!

If I understand something to be true, based on my knowledge, but I do not FEEL the love and passion for it, then again the faith remains incomplete and that weakness of faith will be seen in my negligence in following the religious commandments. Right emotions are developed through right knowledge and sincerity in heart. One should make efforts to guide their emotions with correct knowledge. Reminders are needed to refresh understanding as well as faith.

So, how can one come to a conclusion that a religion is right or not? Answer is- through “Signs”. Signs are the information/incidents which act as indicators and help us in intellectual and spiritual development that are necessary for accepting a religion, with open mind and heart. Our universe is full with such signs. From something as microscopic as a single cell to something as large as milky-way galaxy, there are innumerable signs of perfection and greatness of God. Not to forget, there are physiological signs within our own selves, of intelligence, perfectness and beauty of God. Then, is it right to accept a religion which represents God as someone dependent and imperfect, just because our parents/forefathers have accepted it, while we understand that God must be Perfect and Independent? Is it right to decide on the basis of emotions while keeping our intellect on stake? No, it is absolutely wrong.

There are many people who believe in a deity based upon their few experiences or stories. For example, seeing someone in your dream, believing in spread stories about magical activities, getting what you want when you pray to a particular deity (or even to an idol or a grave) and thus having the proof of its validity!! Such are the fundamental proofs on which many people’s faith gets based while they care not to study their religion, religious books, authenticity of those books, life of the writers of those books, language and content of the book, etc. Are we intellectually so blind towards God and religion that we do not understand that the incidents or stories that we base our faith upon are widespread in almost ALL COMMUNITIES? I mean, prayers get fulfilled at this Dargah and also at that Temple! In fact, even if you pray to a tree, you will probably get what you prayed for, but it only means that it was already destined for you to get that! The question is- Who is capable of answering our prayers? A stone, a human, an animal or God Himself? For the sake of argument, even if we choose to accept by the above previous logic that such stories or paranormal activities can alone prove a religion’s correctness, then it only means that all beliefs are equally correct (even though there are radical differences between them regarding God and life on the basis of scriptures)! That logic is something absolutely contradictory!

Believing something blindly (only on the basis of emotions) and rejecting religion all together (without any research or study) are two extremes showing narrow-mindedness and insincerity of people at large, while there are incredible signs of God all around us that we choose to ignore ungratefully! Spiritual (love and sincerity towards God) and Intellectual (knowledge and reasoning), BOTH are important to understand and thus accept and follow a religion. 

One’s brain as well as heart should together come to understand and believe in what is right. Then what would be the case of people who reject to give enough value to the Most-High, rather choose to follow their own desires?!

“…they have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like cattle; nay, they are more astray. Those are the heedless.” 
(Qur’an 7:179)

“Verily! In the creation of the skies and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding.” 
(Qur’an 3:190)

Think, what would YOU choose? Blind Belief or Intellectual Spirituality? Make the right choice for your own sake, all it requires is sincerity towards God (our Creator). Study religion, it’s not that hard!