Pensieve

Mar 07, 2008 - 01:49 AM PST

Perhaps I am inclined to the idea of a Dumbledore-like Pensieve. I can relieve my immediate mind from the open ends I have closed.

Last night I had a conversation that allowed me to see an open end. Are they endless? Sometimes. Sometimes I find that I am merely re-reading an “established truth” – a thought about life (it sounds so simple, doesn’t it?) that I have analyzed and resolved. But sometimes - when that happens - I find that I have merely scratched the surface of what that truth can lead to. Or, that even though I have “figured it out”, I now need to implement it in my daily life.

A chilly night, yet I hesitate to use the word “night”. It produces that mysterious, vampire/haunted-house like connotation. Evening: The mood was hearty, positive, high-on-life-ish. Is religion necessary? (The energy to release the actual idea overwhelmed me)

Yes. To establish our values. And to scare us into following them. According to my Afghani taxi driver, if he did not have the fear of God, he would probably have kept the mobile phone that was left behind in his cab the night before. My question was: Why carry a fear of “God”, and not a fear of the degrading of our own integrity? I do not not steal because I am fearful that God will punish me. I do not steal because it is not right, because I feel that it is not right.

Fair enough. We need religion for people who do not have integrity, yes? And then the worms erupted. What about people who believe that stealing is right?

I am reminded of this quote
“When you kill a man, you steal a life,
When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth,
When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.”

I think it is necessary for those who have had that upbringing (and there are many) to primarily be introduced to this concept of fear of a higher, unexplainable (to some) being in order to instill in them those values that are in harmony with nature.

There are many layers to what I am saying. For example, sometimes killing is unavoidable. But of course, the scenario I refer to is killing out of malice. The majority of humans who can easily acquire food condone killing by eating meat – but out of ignorance, and not of malice.

And then we can slowly train them to live in conjunction with nature, for them to understand the perfection of it. I think that loving it is then automatic. See, once they love nature, they are part of it. To steal is to desecrate something that is simply meant to be. Not to mar perfection – because that sounds superficial. The weather is still something Dubai – queen of change and creation – cannot change. My point being, nature is the one element that is not capable of being changed. Therefore, to go against it is wrong (I feel like I am preaching a religion).

But it is not like religion. Religion (or my perception of it) primarily needs fear. Nature primarily needs love.