Source: Goan Voice UK: Daily Newsletter, 30 Dec 2012 at www.goanvoice.org.uk
You've lived your life like the meek of the earth. Earned your living for as long as you could or needed to, raised a family to love and respect the world around them and in between you have done what you could for those less fortunate than you. You had skeletons in the cupboard and they brought you many regrets but then you never thought of yourself as a saint nor did you paint yourself into the corner of a sinner even with the guilt of being told you were born as one. Wasn't it understood that by definition of being human, in adulthood we are all natural transgressors. So at the end, what awaits you? If you were raised in the Goan Catholic tradition as in many other Catholic cultures of the last century, there is this fear of the unknown or worse still, of a burning hell. After all we were converted from ancient Hinduism neither out of a prospect of a better life in Goa, nor out of a theologically sound reason nor by good example, but out of fear of the sword and of eternal damnation. It had to be like that since the mystic faith our ancestors practiced seemed better suited for that place and time. Hell was an essential component of the fear that was made to choke us in order to convert. A searing, burning hell that not satisfied with making ashes or char out of a soul that was supposed to separate from its body, kept burning it forever. Forever, at the best of times, is a concept that is difficult to grasp when viewed from the mortal human condition, but when applied to burning, it becomes somehow both real and frightening. Take a moment and look at it like the Economist tempts you to do in an article this week "Religion thrives on fear as well as hope: without fear bad behavior has no sanction and clerical authority scant respect". Heaven and hell explained tersely. The fable held out in ancient times by philosophers that the eternal soul departed from a mortal body fit in nicely with the church's concept of hell. The body could be buried or cremated after death, suffering no further pain, but an immortal soul could offer itself to unbearable suffering forever. That is until Descartes in the seventeenth century blew away this idea with his philosophy that the soul not being material like the body, could suffer no pain. What if it is true that after one dies, there is nothing more left, as believed by most men of science and philosophy. What if immortality is a fiction emanating from a mind that cannot come to terms with the limited time ahead of it and that besides memories, we leave little and for a very short while. Does it change anything for us in the here and now besides requiring a major adjustment in the way we think? No more masses required for dead souls, or sadly, no chance of meeting loved ones in happier settings. Try to make the world a better place and then be gone to nothingness. If you observe atheists and other non-believers of an afterlife, they are serene and contented. They face death with much more equanimity and in life they are better people. Which is more than one can say of the rest of us. What has religion done other than give us all those fears, guilt and misgivings, not to talk of those grievous wrongs that it has helped perpetrate over the ages on the poor and vulnerable. Granted it has been responsible for modern mass education and therefore progress and in other ways it has played an unintended role in the human story. But also ever so often, it chooses to belittle itself with modern day denial of gender rights, birth control and other markers of evolvement and development. If we choose to believe in a creator and sustainer and a heaven and hell, it is our prerogative. Both sides can be right and neither side has enough proof of its case. Science provides proof but with great gaps and sometimes uncertainty while faith is no more than a large leap. The best we can do is exercise a conscience and understanding that we have come by either as a gift of an intelligent creator or as a result of the right chemicals and electrical impulses in a brain that has had millions of years behind it on the path to better ability. Should I be thankful to all those Goan ancestors who have been responsible for me inheriting a particular faith among all others as an accident of history, or should I rue them for the rituals, tenets and practices some of which seem absurd and all of which are dependent on the support of a highly organized clergy. If I am able to put aside my fears and replace it with clarity, I can make a choice on how to lead my life, by virtue of being in a time and place where there are no consequences other than those I assign to myself. We are indeed fortunate that no longer is there a Damocles sword, temporal or spiritual, hanging over us as there was once. Like those ancient tribes of Israel we are walking towards a hopeful future, this time choosing our path without the pain of hunger or the hope of manna that was a part of their journey. Season's greetings and a happy and healthy new year to you and your loved ones, with wishes that you find lots of happiness in the choices that life thrusts upon you. roland.fran...@gmail.com