Oct 16, 2015

RELIGION and SPIRITUALITY on SOCIAL MEDIA (Twitter)



Today, religious nuts outnumber monkey nuts in the world.

The story on Twitter isn’t any whiter than this, maybe darker than black. It is thus because “dark matter”, unintelligent and un-evolved muttering here goes for a spiritual something. It is not worth as much as a twit-some look. More second-rate than firsthand metaphysical information is passed on as “authoritative source” on social media, especially via Twitter. Were one not careful, more propaganda with an agenda would fill one’s ears than our eyes have un-shed tears. 

And hell hath no fury than a twit restrained.

Most of the twits on Twitter are quick to poke, quicker to take offense, quickest to get worked up over a ‘religious’ joke. More ready to dish out crap than take a bit of good natured this and that. Alas! lesser mortals no immortals make. Carrying wearisome baggage of dark ages’ isms of their forefathers, twits here, as elsewhere in the world, are “serving” non-knowledge. And blindly wearing and weaving around outlandish racial and “cultural” beliefs, of a stone-age hand-me-downs. Ever-ready to bicker than bow. Haughtily tumble than be humble.

Checked in their tracks, the average evangelic Christians sulk. Most of the Jewish lot go into a tigerish silence. And almost all the Muslims turn pugnacious, ever quick to trade punches in bulk. Not to be outdone, the ultra-right Hindus of the foreign kind, residing outside India, are not any less bullish. The rest amongst the self-righteous religious lot keep posting inane tweets sans rest. As only they and their mind-made god can, knowing best. Berating others with their bookish, imbibed smatterings. Of their religions and messiahs, self-professed.

Sometimes by design, other times by dexterous urges of all that is Divine, I just “happen” to post irksome quotes from this-that fancied and favourite religious books of the “erudite” lot. Just to bugger the bums. 

Lo! Then, the “thick” lot come at me claws and fangs, akin canines and swines scorned. Some uppity, tight-butts immediately un-follow — after I oh-not-so-innocently “plant” in my timeline a questionable but “venerable” metaphysical thorn. Oft, I find, ones who have themselves with a fancied knowledge adorned — an “open-minded” truth-seeking clone, an author of “higher” studies, a “guru” of a particular cult, known or unknown — these “humble” and “refined” nice folks are the first to either un-friend yours truly on Twitter. The same “civilized” behaviour is exhibited by the “worked up” twits of all religions, some even from my homeland divine. 

None show their true colours as men eager, gripped by religious fever.

They go hammer and tongs at me — after a particular nasty piece of work from their very “cultured” individual faith is laid bare on the Twitter timeline by yours truly. For the whole world to see, and share. Most do not even bother to check up the twitter-bio of their “opponent”, never ascertaining the background of their supposed “enemy”, and whether they match-up to their target’s metaphysical knowledge. The neo religious nuts have a field day, as a blind defender of their dark faith. A few, and unfortunately their number is larger than a few, cross the civilized line, turning abusive. 

Then, having given them every opportunity to recant, to being more decent, and failing — I find myself with no other soft option but to “let go” such an uncultured one of this or that faith. So that I don’t have to die of boredom. By their screech than their speech. Laden with heavy doses of similar “brotherly” proclivity as the late, “godly” dimwit, a certain dead Mr. Laden. 

In my defense, this seemingly extreme action — of getting rid of them forever from my timeline — is motivated by my morbid fear of getting dulled into a dreadful drowsiness. By a “generous” outpouring of their book-fed, ism-led, outdated, outlandish and obsolete beliefs.

A seemingly nice fellow, from Nigeria — both of us were following each other on Twitter — favourited a tweet of mine whereby his religion’s messiah’s penchant for preaching and permitting child-sex was highlighted. This self-proclaimed messiah has often been called out as a pedophile by many, throughout history. Much to the annoyance of this messianic fellow’s bull-headed followers, in earlier times as today. I had put on my timeline the quote of a religious leader of a particular country, who, had endorsed marrying an underage girl-child as a ‘tenet of faith” — following in the footsteps of the founder of their religion. I had obviously brought out the unsavory aspect of this religion, for a modern person to consider. But after the Nigerian “friend” on Twitter had “favourited” this particular tweet, I asked him whether he approved of men marrying a girl-child as young as six , even younger, in the present times. He did! And smugly so. It was a bit too crude to digest. I promptly let him go — which in Twitter terms, means I blocked him. Seeking no more talk with this child predator.

A fine-looking Christian lady, suddenly turned inimical when I joked about the gender of god, asking her as to how she could be certain that god was a he and not a she. She promptly un-followed me. After calling me a wonderful “name” or two. And then some, for free.

An all-knowing atheist blocked me for quoting him, and questioning him. A Buddhist fellow un-friended me immediately after I tweeted a cynical, jocular quote on religion by Napoleon. An ultra touchy Hindu rightist was quick to call it quits with me, seeing that I had put on record the unsavory aspect of Indian god-men taking advantage of their women followers with a this or that trick of the trade. Another fine young Indian chap, born and buttered in the US of A, intent upon acquiescing to the enlightenment of an Indian “sex-guru”, stopped communicating much with me once I pointed out that this joke of a god-man had himself died of AIDS, and had done the unthinkable — had commandeered sex with his female disciples, that too with the false pretext of “energizing” them spiritually.

Coming from a region — India — where the tradition of free inquiry into metaphysical issues, into all aspects of what is or is not, has been very much encouraged since the ancient times; it is amazing to find so much spiritual intolerance prevalent around the world. It abounds in Abrahmic faiths. It is irritatingly no less in abundance in a particular strata from my motherland too, unfortunately.

And then there are those, the “firangi” (foreigners) turned “Indian”. Having had some contact with a simplistic “guru” in India, or after getting a bit of a read on the mythological texts thereof, he or she is found to be suddenly “acknowledging” oneself as an expert on Indology on social-media, namely, Twitter. Many amongst them, with good intentions one would presume, have donned the robes of a monk, following Hinduism or Buddhism. Most of them yet carry their past fancied and false ideologies, as a chip on their shoulder. Not many ate able to understand the gist and gnosis of What Is, as found and freely given by enlightened sages of afore. A la a Buddha.

Not too long age, I had an enlightening, but a saddening chat with such a one. This lady, wearing a Buddhist monk’s clothes, got riled up when I tweeted a Dalai Lama quote against homosexuality. She immediately got into “name calling”, telling me about my “ignorance”. I barely had time to “correct” her, when she stopped being lady like. I mentioned that along with “oral sex” and homosexuality being a strict “no! no!” in Buddhism, as per Dalai Lama — even meat eating was prohibited in it, as postulated by Buddha, citing ‘Lankavatara Sutra’. Within a tweet or two, this very uppity lady had said a bit too much. Needless to say, both of us “blocked” each other.

Sadder aspect of this unsavory exchange was that immediately after it, another self-professed “spiritual” lady, and a few other odd ones, un-followed me. The damsel stressed had herself in a bikini ‘undress’ in her Twitter account. Hence, seemed to be a bit too conscious of bodily and earthy want and wont. And like most Westerners, and the non-spiritual beings elsewhere and everywhere, a bit too involved with the body than the soul. Another couple or more, otherwise fine people, too have conspicuously being keeping away from me after the afore-mentioned chat about sexuality and meat-eating being unacceptable in “evolved’ spiritual people.

Thus, the seemingly religious folks and a bunch of self-acknowledged spiritual “free-thinkers” on social media, especially on Twitter, are a bit too uptight lot. Chained to their inherited mythological crap, they are unable to rise above a near-sighted racial, regional and a narrow religious grasp. Mostly, their ‘knowing’ is parochial, and predominantly bookish. An ancestral, archaic erudition sans “awakened” education. Consequentially, a large number of people herein are an alpha male, and an alpha female. Knowing little, teaching more. Ever ready to misunderstand than on Gnosis stand.

But thank God, I love religious nuts! They make my day.

I’ve found little that is ‘good’ about human beings on the whole… most of them are trash.” ~ Sigmund FREUD