A fine balance

As a law, exotic flowers do not bloom frequently. The two extremes of exquisite beauty and morbid ugliness exist in nature but do not manifest as often as the unremarkable but pleasing jasmine or lily. The ubiquitous jasmine makes up by its consistency and quality what it lacks in colorfulness. Though every flower has its place, it is the unimaginative jasmine that we seek for daily usage. Thus in nature, the mundane edges out the unfamiliar with its usefulness, relevance, reliability, and comforting flavor.

Religion like any facet of nature ranges from the sublime to the subversive. Some ideas uplift man, some hold man hostage by its heartless inflexibility. These opposing ideologies add to the diversity of human thought but again as in nature only the middle path can carry the majority. It is the straight path of faith, righteousness, kindness, love, honesty, responsibility, and duty. It lies at the heart of every human idea worth its salt. This is the essence of every religion that has ever existed.

The passionate construction of a clueless child will be washed away by the relentless sea. Without structure or order, a stable house cannot be built. On the other hand a dreary windowless edifice built with precision cannot house breathing, loving, vibrant people whose spirit will be killed by its macabre rigidity. A feeling of largesse, abundant light, fresh air-these timeless factors-contribute to the making of a good house.

If this is the case with building a home, how much more important are subtle eternal qualities of freedom and love when fashioning a human being? Rituals, rules, duties, and responsibilities are essential cornerstones but without love, kindness, friendship, and honesty to enrich them, man will suffocate and languish in a prison of his own making. The converse is also perfectly true. Good intention executed without proper guidelines or a definite purpose is akin to an elegant catamaran decked with flowers adrift at sea.

How can we attain this fine balance? Where will we draw the line? What criteria will define right and wrong? For a believer, religion provides these answers effectively. Within each religion, apart from the universal message of belief and righteousness that is common to every religion, there are laws that are specific to a time, place, and people. In the course of human evolution, revelations have addressed unique needs as well as eternal ones. (When exclusive solutions are stretched into sweeping generalizations, they wear thin. This is the cause for all religious conflicts.)

Now what about the atheist? Is individual human thought capable of making an adequate delineation? Will human laws be sufficient to tackle the intricacies of the human mind? Will it rein in his baser instincts, inspire noble thoughts? After all, the finest of thoughts have all emanated from religious personalities. Can the atheist shun them all? Or will he accept them but not the origin?

I recently read that the dinosaurs were wiped out at the exact moment of their evolutionary surge. If we accept the idea of chance to explain the existence of the universe, how come the right choice always is made at the right instance with such exacting accuracy every single time in nature? What explains the complexities and the intrigues? Why did so many wise men insist on the same wisdom over the span of centuries and millennia spread all over the globe? Just a human tendency to believe in something bigger than him? An elaborate hoax? Or an eternal truth which sagacious men at varying times have by divine munificence discovered again and again and tried compassionately to simplify in order to convey it to the masses? What seems more probable? You tell me.