Offend the Offended

“Religion’s greatest trick wasn’t convincing some people that there is a God and that He was all-powerful, it was convincing everyone else that you couldn’t ridicule the idea.”- Ricky Gervais 

At the very heart of religious dogmatism and fundamentalism is the archaic notion that religious people hold regarding their beliefs being above scrutiny and scepticism. Belief and faith, for a rational mind like mine, are in fact under the lens more often than other matters. As Richard Dawkins describes in his book the God delusion, Faith, by definition, believes in things without evidence, which is a dangerous

proposition for the world in the 21st century. Once you allow people to hold beliefs and notions that are above criticism and scepticism, it more often than not results in a sort of rigidity in their psyche that any logic or reason-based explanation to the fallacy of those beliefs are brushed under the carpet as being offensive. It is not the religious believers who are at fault but the non-believers, (or apostates) who invariably tend to mild down on their censure of religion. The conscious endeavour of rational people not to offend believers for their anti-scientific beliefs, prejudices and notions has resulted in breeding fanaticism. “That’s offensive”, these two words put together have muzzled liberals and seculars to express scientific facts running contrary to the entrenched beliefs of the believers. 

Being Offended is the principal defence behind which ludicrous beliefs of the people survive. If I were to claim today that my grandfather could lift a cow when he was alive and that he could jump across

rivers at the drop of a hat, I would be called a lunatic and a man of questionable integrity, but replace my grandfather with a mythological God and everyone enthusiastically accepts it to be literally true. They wouldn’t accept any scientific explanation to the implausibility of such an event ever having occurred. What I find to be the most fascinating thing about science is the ability of the observer or experimenter to shield outcomes from processes and experiments irrespective of his prejudices, faith and beliefs. 

The prime reason why people have such beliefs is childhood indoctrination. Impressionable minds would believe in flying monsters if taught from early childhood. It is my dream and wishes that children should never be exposed to religious dogma and superstition until they have lived long enough to develop rational thinking. All children are born cynics and sceptics with an aptitude for critical thinking and interminable questioning. I believe if someone could be indoctrinated on superstitions, dogmas and prejudices, they certainly can be “indoctrinated” on universal human values of integrity, compassion, love, ethics, morals and kindness. The trick is to catch them young. 

The spirit of enquiry is curtailed in a child from infancy and the civil society has allowed religious dogmatism and indoctrination to continue relentlessly throughout the modern world. It is time that we rise to challenge ridiculous dogmas and outrageous claims of the believers. 

You know what brings the death of a society, when being called an intellectual becomes an expletive. 

-Sunny Gusain 

Classic Democracy- Still Relevant?

You walk into an aircraft. The flight takes off smoothly. Everything is going as nonchalantly as it can. It's a long flight so you doze off, relaxed and satisfied. Suddenly you are woken up with a jerk, and even as you are frantically searching for the seat belt hooks, you hear the dreaded announcement. "The plane is going down as both pilots are unconscious, anyone with the necessary skills to fly the aircraft please come to the cockpit immediately." Fortunately, one trained pilot raises his hand among the crowd of passengers. Another one makes a passionate speech of why he should be flying the craft instead of the trained pilot although, he confesses, no experience of flying a craft. People decide to vote for it. They vote for the passionate one instead of the trained pilot. The jetliner, not surprisingly, dives to its death, killing everyone on board.

An amusing story with a tragic end. Sadly, the story is an allegorical account of the current state of democracy around the world today. When the ancient Athenians came up with the idea of Democracy around the 6th century BC, they would have never thought that it will spread like a wildfire around the globe. Even far-flung areas not inhabited at the time of the Athenians would accept democracy as a way of life would have been too farfetched for them to comprehend. So what happened to the sacred idea of democracy? Is democracy still thriving around the world or the romance over?

to be continued....

-Sunny Gusain

Mystery of Sushant's Death and The Way Forward

As Sadguru puts it, “In our eagerness to develop our economy and exploit the world, we have forgotten to fix ourselves.”

This is in continuance to the earlier article. Sushant’s suicide was no fluke. It is part of a larger pattern 

Sushant Singh Rajput

of suicides in the country. According to a Lancet study titled Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2016, Suicide is the most common cause of death in the age group of 15-39 years in India. There is plenty of data available on suicide which is enough to scare anybody yet there seems to be a quiet acceptance of suicides in the country. I believe there is no bigger disgrace to society than seeing its young commit suicide. It pains my heart deeply. Students face huge stresses today than in the past. They carry the burden of expectations of their parents, relatives and society.

Coming back to Sushant, he wasn’t a failure by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, as per the reports, he was diagnosed with depression 6 months before his death and was taking medications for the same. Everybody faces stress and anxiety at some point in their lives. We talk about developing skills among the youth so that they can better utilise technology and tools to transform their lives but we forget to give them the crucial skill sets to deal with anxiety and stress. Sushant’s suicide wasn’t his failure but ours as a society. We have failed to understand that just like we need skills to get employed, we need skills to deal with anxiety and stress. A strong institutional and educational framework dealing with stress management could have prevented his death.

Frittering Away Unseen

There is too much stress in India and a too little talk about it. Be it in schools, colleges or workplaces, everyone faces trauma and distress regularly. In an attempt to become successful at all costs, many young people succumb to death by suicide. The new Zeitgeist of succeeding at all costs seems to be one of the major reasons for suicide among the millennials. Just search for motivational videos on Youtube, and you are bombarded with results with recurrent themes of success at all costs. All costs? Even death? This result in a perennial dissatisfaction among the masses. We need not glorify success to the extent that it becomes a matter of life and death. Our mainstream media and society at large are responsible for glorifying successes and comparing one individual to the other. We need to teach and showcase to our youth that there is nothing abominable in failure. It’s a part of life and should be accepted gracefully.

Now let’s come to the solutions to this crisis. India, the land of yoga and meditation, has the tools to tackle this crisis. Acceptance of stress and anxiety as existing within one’s own physical boundaries and emotions is important.

1. Recognition of stress as a problem is paramount before we learn to deal with it. School and college curriculums should compulsorily carry stress management as practical approaches towards a fulfilling life.
2. Yoga and meditation should be made mandatory in schools and colleges. We have blindly 

   

   Ray of Hope?

   followed the western model of education sans physical and mental development. Yoga and meditation have the power to become the best tools for dealing with stress and anxiety. Having experienced it first hand, I can personally stand up for its efficacy. A mind without stress has the power to not only benefit the individual but also the country at large.
3. How does one define progress and growth? Progress should be measured by parameters of Wellness and Happiness than by abstract financial numbers indicated by GDP. Just imagine a country where the government is trying to keep its citizens happy.
4. On an individual level, families and parents should understand how life works before putting undue pressure on their wards. Unlike what Viru Sahastrabuddhi said in the movie 3 idiots, Life is not a race, if you don’t run fast, you will not be a broken anda. Lose your focus on being ultra-competitive. And we should remember what Keyness had once said, "In the long run we are all dead.” Would you rather see your child dead than not being successful at getting admission into an IIT or a Medical College or a Job?

The simple yet powerful steps above could help tackle not only the health crisis of suicide but also stress-related conditions such as diabetes, depression, migraine, Alzheimer’s, Obesity and Asthma. Lastly, for God’s sake, stop blaming nepotism, him, her, this, that for Sushant Singh Rajput's death. His death epitomizes the poor stress management skills we have as a society. Hopefully, it will work as a wakeup call for many of us to bring about changes in our lifestyle.

Rest in Peace, Sushant.

-Sunny Gusain

*Views are personal.