- Jan 31, 2011
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Every now and then, I try and clear up the backlog of work by working 15/16 hour days until I manage to get back on an even keel. So the last two days, I have hardly seen my wife, but working is fun, I enjoy it hugely, as I child, I used to imagine being surrounded by screens and computers, and looking round, I have certainly managed to achieve that.
Sunday I had a chat with my dad about 'god'. He put forward the proposition that sikhism was not the only true way, that every religion ended up in the same place. I scoffed at this, saying that there must only be one true way, and the others would have to be lies or misrepresentations,. My father smiled and said that even in sikhism , there were so many different factions who all believed in something or other. I argued, my wife sided with my father, I wanted to reach out to dad, share with him all the things that I had learned, about there being no god, about the true way being to see god as nature, the timeless force, energy that it is, I got a kick on the leg from my wife, I looked at her, we speak very well with our eyes, me and wife, her almond eyes were clearly saying 'who the hell do you think you are, trying to educate your own father, to see what you can see, whilst refusing to see what he can see', I decided to do the next best thing, I attacked the cream cake in front of me and listened.
Listening to Dad, he said, 'lets say you hate homosexuals, and the act of homosexuality, you would not make a very good sikh, lets say you need the concept of sin, a personal god, etc etc, you would not make a very good sikh, we are all different, with different needs, what if all religions could harness the individual personal needs of a person, that enabled that person to see enlightenment, and once enlightenment had been reached, its all the same road from then on. What if religion just takes us as far as a holding bay, where we meet others from different religions, but share in our common goals to get to the next step.'
When we got into the car to go home, I felt quite the bigot, they were right, I was convinced I was onto something with my own personal development, and it was so tempting to force it down as many necks as I could, but my wife and my dad have taught me to respect anothers beliefs, that to force my own path down another is the act of a fool. My path is unique to me, to my fondness for Aloo Prontha, my love of animals, of helping others, it encapsulates my balance with the five thieves, and is as unique as my DNA. I then decided to argue with my stepson over the content of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We argued over the hidden meaning of one of the one liners, and how it could be perceived, we do this, and we are sad creatures, however, do it with a religious scripture and we turn into seekers of the truth, the meaning of the written word is extremely personal in my view
Yesterday, I sold a computer to a young muslim chap. I want to buy a computer, he said, my eyes gleamed, and we discussed Islam for 30 mins, he kept trying to bring the subject back to the computer, I kept talking about the 69 Virgins, I could not figure out why when every religion was trying to put lust and desire in its place, Islam was making heaven out of it!, we debated and discussed a bit more, he put a deposit down on a pc, , whilst telling me 'I was no salesman', of course I am not, He tried to illustrate his point by asking me what I desired most of all, I replied,bigger portions of aloo prontha, anything else? he asked, nope, I replied, He looked at my wall, noticing the Land Rover Press photo of an immaculate 94 LSE, what about one of those, well , it would be nice, i replied, but I do not desire one, I will get one when the time is right, when the circle comes round and it slots in, great.
Anyway apparently the 69 virgins mentioned are not there for sexual gratification, according to my new friend, as well as excellent food, excellent drinks, and possibly a spa, Ok, its beginning to sound a bit like Amsterdam...
Sunday I had a chat with my dad about 'god'. He put forward the proposition that sikhism was not the only true way, that every religion ended up in the same place. I scoffed at this, saying that there must only be one true way, and the others would have to be lies or misrepresentations,. My father smiled and said that even in sikhism , there were so many different factions who all believed in something or other. I argued, my wife sided with my father, I wanted to reach out to dad, share with him all the things that I had learned, about there being no god, about the true way being to see god as nature, the timeless force, energy that it is, I got a kick on the leg from my wife, I looked at her, we speak very well with our eyes, me and wife, her almond eyes were clearly saying 'who the hell do you think you are, trying to educate your own father, to see what you can see, whilst refusing to see what he can see', I decided to do the next best thing, I attacked the cream cake in front of me and listened.
Listening to Dad, he said, 'lets say you hate homosexuals, and the act of homosexuality, you would not make a very good sikh, lets say you need the concept of sin, a personal god, etc etc, you would not make a very good sikh, we are all different, with different needs, what if all religions could harness the individual personal needs of a person, that enabled that person to see enlightenment, and once enlightenment had been reached, its all the same road from then on. What if religion just takes us as far as a holding bay, where we meet others from different religions, but share in our common goals to get to the next step.'
When we got into the car to go home, I felt quite the bigot, they were right, I was convinced I was onto something with my own personal development, and it was so tempting to force it down as many necks as I could, but my wife and my dad have taught me to respect anothers beliefs, that to force my own path down another is the act of a fool. My path is unique to me, to my fondness for Aloo Prontha, my love of animals, of helping others, it encapsulates my balance with the five thieves, and is as unique as my DNA. I then decided to argue with my stepson over the content of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We argued over the hidden meaning of one of the one liners, and how it could be perceived, we do this, and we are sad creatures, however, do it with a religious scripture and we turn into seekers of the truth, the meaning of the written word is extremely personal in my view
Yesterday, I sold a computer to a young muslim chap. I want to buy a computer, he said, my eyes gleamed, and we discussed Islam for 30 mins, he kept trying to bring the subject back to the computer, I kept talking about the 69 Virgins, I could not figure out why when every religion was trying to put lust and desire in its place, Islam was making heaven out of it!, we debated and discussed a bit more, he put a deposit down on a pc, , whilst telling me 'I was no salesman', of course I am not, He tried to illustrate his point by asking me what I desired most of all, I replied,bigger portions of aloo prontha, anything else? he asked, nope, I replied, He looked at my wall, noticing the Land Rover Press photo of an immaculate 94 LSE, what about one of those, well , it would be nice, i replied, but I do not desire one, I will get one when the time is right, when the circle comes round and it slots in, great.
Anyway apparently the 69 virgins mentioned are not there for sexual gratification, according to my new friend, as well as excellent food, excellent drinks, and possibly a spa, Ok, its beginning to sound a bit like Amsterdam...
