Category: Critical Thinking

What did you believe about God & religion?

I have been quite confused about  God’s existence. Especially coming from a family that has many superstitions and conservative outlook. After many life experiences, I started questioning god, religions & traditions. I didn’t find meaning and happiness in them and was fortunate enough to follow my own thirst about god without any interference from anyone.  

What doubts did you have, if any?

In weak moments, whom to talk to, to look up to. The only thing that I would mention about any god in a way was chanting the “Gayatri Mantra” to gain strength in situations that involved confrontation or situations that required courage. Apart from this I do think or talk about god.

What are your beliefs today?

Got some clarity to my doubts/confusions. To start of will replace the Gayatri Mantra with some self talk/affirmation or talk with an imaginary friend.

What questions do you still have?

Not as of now. Actually many but head is really messed up now!

Regarding religious beliefs, what do you see people grappling with?

Pressure from family members especially elders who aren’t ready to even listen to a question, conditioning, lack of courage and much more.

I never thought about it so seriously and deeply before as I did in last 2 days. It’s about finding what you believe actually and whether what you believe is right or wrong or you just don’t know. I thought I never believed in god or I may say that I was never ritualistic or idol worshiper or inclined towards visiting temples for every single problem of mine. I haven’t been to temples or performed “poojas” for ages but my belief is that there is someone or something there which is looking after us and some what I believe in Karma. We humans have an innate need to understand the purpose behind things. It’s revolutionary at its heart. When something happens we are hardwired to look for rationale.

We have an intense emotional need to fill in the blanks of the universe that our minds simply cannot answer and our technology seems forever unable to provide.  “What does all this mean?”  “What happens after death?”  “Why do things happen the way they do?”  While in the process of looking for answers, there are still many things which need further analysis in order to agree or disagree with something.

While I am very clear about what I don’t want to do (to follow any religion, worship the god or do daily rituals) as this is my conscious choice. But it may be wrong as a parent to instill my religious beliefs in my kid. One of our basic duties as parents is to expose them to all possibilities and let them decide that what they want to follow and what not.

People I see around are a mix of believers, non-believers, believers with certain motives behind that may be social, political etc. For some people, they blindly follow things without looking at the logic behind or they believe there is no logic it’s just faith and it very easy to fool them. That is why some religious leaders, the so-called babas have made a money making business out of it. That is why it becomes very important to evaluate what you believe in and let not others take advantage of it!

Since my childhood, I have heard a lot of discussions in my family on the topic of ‘Existence of God’. This used to be the most hot topic of discussion. Though I used to be a silent listener then but these discussions had shaped my views on God and Religion. I married into a family of strong believers of God. I started following many rituals though I was not convinced internally but still did many of them to be part of my new family (herd mentality to be blamed for here :-)). The session on ‘My relationship with religion and God’ as part of the Critical Thinking Life Classes helped me to see things more clearly. I always believed that God doesn’t exist. I believe that whatever happens has a scientific reason/logic behind it. Each and every event can be logically explained. Spirituality doesn’t need Religion. One can be with their own divine self, can experience growth, can be a good human being, can care for people and environment without taking support of Religion.

As an educator, I definitely feel more responsible in shaping my student’s views on Religion and God. Few questions that I still ponder upon are: How do we equip children with the right questioning skills to ensure that they look for justifications before believing anything? What role can education system/school play in forming belief system of today’s generation?

Fear of death and problem, herd mentality, lack of critical thinking in general, are some of the reasons which don’t allow people to question about the existence of God and certain rituals of their religion. Different political parties, priests and so called God-men take advantage of this paralyzed situation for their own benefit. Today’s generation must be taught explicitly to question all the beliefs that they have brought up with. The amount of money and resources spent on building temples and doing different rituals make me worry. As a school/ teacher, we surely have  bigger responsibility to play in the society………..”The Intellectual’s folly“.

God, divinity, beliefs and religion these terms seem closely interwoven but not really so. Borrowing a line from the movie OMG, most of us are “God fearing people and not God loving people” and this is reflected in our interactions with the so called Higher Being”.

I have never questioned the existence of God. He is there, where I do not know, whether up there or within me or around me or everywhere. Religion and religious beliefs are something that I have questioned since a long time. I believe that religion is more convenience based rather than belief based. It is more convenient to follow than question. When you question you risk disapproval, disdain and even plain boycott. Being social animals we prefer to remain withing the folds of society rather than plainly rebel. We try to make peace with what is happening rather raise inconvenient often blasphemous queries.

These two days of Critical Thinking classes have reinforced some of my convictions. There can never be one size that fits all as far as religion and beliefs are concerned. There has been social pressure on me from time to time to succumb to a lot of rituals because ‘good believers’ have to follow the path. That is the only way to salvation. These discussions have strengthened my resolve that the path will be difficult but that is the one I choose to tread. There will be backlash too, but hey, what is life if all is too rosy! Religion needs to be questioned and I am ready.

Ayman Shaikhmahmud

Always a question to hold… whether there is a GOD? Just because I cannot prove his existence or his non existence… what does it boil down to?

I always believed there is a Supreme power above us who can do as He wills, and we are not supposed to question Him…. I am doubtful whether I will ever be able to question His plans… maybe after death.

What if there is no afterlife? What if all this is an elaborate hoax??

People need to have some anchor for understanding the good and the bad– morals… religion was meant to guide people towards the right path… it evolved into something more sinister… a leader who is hungry for power.. a money making device… etc.

Maybe its time to rethink our beliefs about God and religion, as all knowing and all encompassing.. everyone cannot be right for everything and hence religious leaders maybe wrong on some points and right on some points.

I was ‘trained’ to be a believer – not necessarily a monotheist, but a believer nevertheless. I married into a family of believers as well. So whenever I found myself questioning these beliefs I lacked the mental space to do so. FS provided that space, and how!

And now, I am scared; terribly scared that there may not be a God. The emptiness that accompanies this fear is all-consuming at times. If there is no God, who is responsible for placing me here and giving me all that I have (or worse, keeping from me all that I don’t, perhaps)?

With regards religious beliefs, I have felt for the longest of time that these are may be ‘well-thought out’ ideologies in the context in which they were made. But the arbitrary manner in which we follow some of them, unquestioningly, is something that we need to re-think.

Right now I feel like I am in pendulum zone – swinging between faith and disbelief; the intersections are confusing and the poles seem to be maniacal obsessions with opposing conspiracy theories; the crisis either way is pressing.

 

What did you believe about God & Religion?
Growing up in place where festivals are a reason to meet relatives, wear new clothes, eat good food and of course get presents from elders, I had a very beautiful image of religion. The arrival of Diwali filled my heart with much glee. It was only later I realized that religion is not limited to and defined by these celebrations. It plays a larger role and shaping who we are and conditioning what we do. Questioning anything only leads unpleasantness and emotional dramatic reactions. These unanswered questions further made me read books, try out prohibited tasks and come to a conclusion that such things do not exist.

If there were any god, it would give me strength and not cripple me. At present I have no doubts about the absence of a revengeful god. With every passing experience, my belief in myself and my actions has grown stronger.

I firmly believe that the peace that we seek in temples and prayers can be achieved through focus towards our work and well being of our family.

My beliefs:

a) One should work with honesty to the best of his/her ability.

b) I firmly believe in being positive and instilling this belief in everyone I meet. Each of us has the power to turn around things. WE DO NOT NEED AND INVISIBLE UNIDENTIFIABLE POWER.

c) Love your family and be true to your friends as much as you can.

What questions do you still have?

I do not really have questions. However, I would like to understand the reasons behind some rituals. I am fascinated by new places, people and traditions and I’d like to keep this fascination alive by trying to read about different religions.

Regarding religious beliefs, what do you see people grappling with?

I see people not willing and being too afraid to question. This has not really worked in our favour. Time and again rulers & political parties (which by the way, are extremely secular and have NO religion whatsoever) have taken advantage and created situations that have further deteriorated us as individuals. It is like that dystopian society that does not allow the growth of its citizens.

Vagisha

My beliefs about religion have changed over the years. I believed in God for sure, visited temples sometimes, bribed him for good marks, fasted etc.  Not that any of it was imposed on me, but mainly acquired and  influenced by people around me. One of the main reasons I was doing all this,  I would say was due to fear or avoiding trouble; looking at God as a savior.  I later started questioning myself  that if there is a God, he has to be kind and can’t punish us for our errors. After observing a number of instances in my life, I realized that what is going to happen, will happen. I should do the best I can in a given situation. I was able to overcome the fear.

All the rituals that I followed earlier, blindly, out of fear or because everyone else did, or asked me to do, I stopped doing all of it. I also understood that I am responsible for my actions and any repercussions that follow and it is me who should learn to deal with it, rather than counting on some external entity to help me out of the situation. I believed in karma, and doing the right thing. But I want to do the right thing, not because I will have to pay for it, or it will come back to me, but that is the way of life for me. I definitely question the existence of so many gods and religions. Stories have always intrigued me, and that’s how I have read and heard  all the Hindu mythology stories since childhood. Now, I want to explore the other religious scriptures also, in detail. I believed then and even now I think, there is some superior power that drives the world, though I am still not sure 🙂 We do not have enough evidences about the big bang theory or evolution, so I still wonder that how did everything come into existence and where are we heading towards? But should there be an answer to all the questions?

Today, there are so many top notch actors, celebrities, sportsmen, politicians’ who visit some temple or dargah (under tight security). Some of them have had humble beginnings and they accredit all their success to the almighty God. Most of them are well educated and so-called role models of the society. The common man sees yet another hope that by worshiping God, he will be able to fulfill his dreams. This is something that we all have been brought up to believe, but if we are able to  empower the next generation to at least question and find out for themselves, not only about God, but anything they are brought up to believe, they will do what they do with their own conviction.

 

 

Whenever I conduct a session on Life Skills – Finance with any grade, I mostly observe boys taking active part in the discussion and learning but not all girls participate. I thought initially may be it is only in one section and then may be only in one grade. But no it was consistent almost all places.

Do we have a gender bias or any paradigm here? Why there are few topics from which we refrain to participate? Why there are so many mental blocks, which stop us from being the part of discussions? Why we think it is okay to ignore or at times to accept?

Few instances from my life where I thought not to respond, but not sure if that was the right thing?!

— I was at a birthday party few days back. One of the females was discussing about how one CA – Mr. A is earning good because of his practice. To which my mom responded my daughter is also CA and the female’s immediate response was “Arre re then why are you a teacher?” not stopping for me to respond she concluded “Ya but for females, having own practice is not the right option, teaching is safe.” I ignored responding her then.

— In order to retaliate after the 18 September attack on the army base in Uri in Indian-administered Kashmir, MNS wanted to ban release of movies like Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Raees because both movies had Pakistani actors in leading roles. In a heated argument at home where almost all believed that this is right, I wanted to say it was not logical to ban the movie. I had reasons too (a) the actors were not to be blamed for this and (b) even if you want to blame them/the entire Pakistan for this attack, still how’ll it create a loss to them. They did the movie, they got money and now if the movies are banned it is a loss to our people (Indian economy). But again I thought it is better not to respond.

Today I came across this very short video which talks about, how from childhood a girl is conditioned into what she can’t do and what she should do. If she is a leader she ll be labelled as bossy. Rather than supporting her to fulfil her ambitions she ll be asked to change them completely. This video made me think that is it possible to completely come out of these biases or will I pass it on further to others in future?

Also after watching the video I went to the site of Ignite, the organisation that made this video. Some interesting things they are doing, worth a look. This organisation aims at building a political ambition in young girls. They are into various activities, which you may like to explore. I liked one of their programs wherein they are making attempts to empower young girls along with their mothers, in politics. The program is for mother-daughter together.

(P.S. – I have used “we” but I know not all females specially in our CT group fall into this category, but then still there are many who I think ll be able to relate to this post)

 

Before starting the class- critical thinking- I always believed that  we all do our best by thinking rightly and making correct decisions- about our choices in life- whether it’s planning for career/ finance to the smallest thing like buying a soap.

So I wonder what will be there in this workshop- Are there types of thinker? Or guidelines about thinking in a correct manner.

In this complex world- I choose to lead a happy and simple life and during any problem or on taking decisions- I mostly prefer to choose things which are simple and quick.

Once the workshop started we were asked about our own definitions of critical thinking- For me- critical thinking is thinking by considering all the aspects like- impact whether positive or negative on my life and people associated with me.

I was happy with my answer as I believed I am doing pretty good job in taking decisions…

After attending the sessions- I was able to reflect that I too have many biases which do reflect in my thinking which eventually affects my decisions.
I realized that I have Bandwagon effect- which states- The tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. I have always been told- You should respect your elders and never question their decisions- So many times I just do the things which they have done- whether choosing a restaurant for giving parties or going to the same doctor or investing in fixed deposits. I even realized that many time I feel it’s safe and why to waste time in searching.
I also have- Duration neglect- I believe I have lots of time in the world. So I tend to delay things- There are many things but majorly I feel I neglected my health thinking I have lots of time for which I do feel guilty after realizing.
After the session, I have started keeping a check on my decisions and doing my best to avoid these biases.

After 4 sessions there has been a small change in my thinking- now I try to evaluate things and take decisions- Like planning a holiday- considering all factors- seeing through a different lens- moving out of my comfort zone- trying to read reviews as well as cross questioning my beliefs.
I try not to be judgmental- instead, I try to find out- try to understand/ experience and then decide.
I started prioritizing things by changing my mindset and understanding value of time.

I understood in life choices can be simple but while making a choice one must be a critical thinker!!

 

Thank you 🙂