Faith

Faith, I believe,  is what each individual develops for self, aside from religious and cultural, conditioning, passive or aggressive.  Our Earth is a blip in an ocean of Creations that are all moving without crashing into each other, occasional comets or falling stars apart.

On our planet, developing panorama of natural systems operate with unique precision.  Most awe-inspiring is the development of human bodies from birth to death and the way a body makes space for an embryo and then a pulsating new life, all the way to childbirth and lactation.

Did all these systems emerge automatically?  From nowhere?  It is impossible to escape the sense of some Power, some Essence that guides all these.

Perhaps that is how Faith was born. Later usurped for power. The unearthing of deeper layers of knowledge brings forth more and more news of the evolution of the planet we live on, split in countries, natural and political systems and religions.

Each one of us grows up in a religion thanks to parents and their tedious beliefs.  Not a question of choice. 

I am was thus born n bred a Hindu, learning "do good and be good" from a Vivekananda impressed father,  a monthly satyanarayan katha mother who told,  I now realize severely edited stories of the Ramayan n Mahabharata, tailored for little ears.    Studied first in a Catholic, then Methodist,  Sindhi and Parsi institutions,  alongside extensive readings exploring different thought processes. 

It is not so difficult to accept the reality of the three religions of the Book, Judaism which is the oldest,  its offshoot Christianity and next offshoot,  Islam.  All three follow laid down prescriptions, especially the fear of eternal hellfire after the day of Judgement.

There is no such fear of hellfire in my native Hinduism, that offers an evolutionary path, a hope of rebirth and injunctions to do good n be good,  without prescriptions of any compulsory dogma,  customs,  strictures,  fasts, etc; not even faith in one particular god from the million names on offer.

The unfortunate part is that:

Still, we quarrel for no rhyme or reason, only to insist that because I follow X god, I am better than you,  a follower of Y god.  What happened to the faith in rebirth?   How many people are even aware that the rebirth phenomena were at times endorsed by two non-Hindus ages ago?

Their followers papered over their declamations of rebirth, perhaps unsuitable to respective political climates and the aims of ambitious followers. One was Isa, aka Jesus after whom the religion is named,  based firmly on the fear of hellfire.

And the other was a thirteenth century Sufi,  Rumi,  the inspiration behind the Whirling Dervishes.