People in the sky

It is fifteen minutes to ten and I am here, sitting on a public chair at the cancer hospital in Maharagama. It is becoming a bit boring and thus I decided to pay some respect to Anne frank’s thought: writings have more patience than the humans.

The man is a fascinating creature for one simple reason. He is a social being. Almost all other animals have their destiny written in their genes. An animal knows when it should start to walk, find their partner, reproduce and other important processes as such. But humans are a lot different. They grow with the experience they get from the world. This makes the human the most intelligent animal in the planet because he knows what he is doing.

But the thing I cannot understand is why people depend so much on the people in the sky. It is always good to have faith but the idea of letting someone else control our own lives is simply ridiculous.

As far as I know, Buddhism is not a religion but a philosophy. Religion is where we have faith in god but a philosophy is where we have faith in the truth. I am not trying to say that the theory of the people in  heaven is wrong because I have no knowledge on the subject but I have enough common sense to tell that we are living in the twenty first century, that is about five hundred years after the middle ages and still we believe in the myth of having unseen people do our stuff.

The quotation “history will prove me correct” applies to this case too. It was the humanist revolution which gave the human the right place in the world. We are not made to be slaves of our destiny. We all are human, having same blood running through our veins. And after five hundred years it is sad to mention that we all have forgotten this lesson that history have taught us. We are the world my dear friends, do not let anyone take control of yourself, not even the god because what you are today is due to what you have done yesterday.

Do not let the effort of lord Buddha and several thousand people including Martin Luther and Erasmus died during the renaissance be in vain. Prove that the man is more important than the god. Prove the power of humanism.

Of course the concept of gods is not to be under estimated, but there is no way to pass your examination or interview by pleading the god as no matter how talented you are, it will be self belief which will make you a better human.

Most of the Sri Lankans are Buddhists and I cannot understand why there are more pilgrims at Katharagama than Kirivehera. Lord Buddha has clearly instructed us what to do. In fact he was the founder of humanism. So why should we believe in some god or magician when we have such a noble philosophy?

And please note that in the period of Polonnaruwa, Hinduism and Buddhism mixed. That probably is the reason why there are gods in Buddhist concepts and literature. But still the heart of Buddhism is alive. Lord Buddha will never die till there are pure Buddhists in the world, which is people who believe in truth, not in magicians. And for the people who say that there are stories of god all over our Buddhist literature, what I have got to say is that Buddhism and Buddhist literature are two completely different things. Literature will guide you to Buddhist concepts, not vice Versa.

We all are same, all over the world. It was in Europe where science cherished, and they were clever enough to adapt according to the world. Christians have faith in Jesus which is the right thing to do. They get advice from the church and pope which is very good. But they do not beg the god to let them achieve the milestones in their lives. But we Sri Lankans have taken some invisible gods into our lives and it looks so stupid that we have allowed them to control our lives.

And it will be not good to floccinaucinihiliphilificate the other threat to humanism, which in fact is the biggest threat as I feel. That is discrimination among the humans their selves. This was why Michael Jackson had to bleach his skin. That was why he was kicked on his backside when he was five years old, when he found that he has the greatest voice of America. That was why nelson Mandela had to spend years and years in prison. And probably that is why ICC does not give Sri Lankan test side more than two test matches in a foreign series. World will boast that the colour discrimination is over but it is still happening under our nose.

On this aspect Sri Lankans look more civilized as we have understood we are all Sri Lankans. There is a trace of cast discrimination but that is negligible.

During the recent presidential election in USA I was quite shocked to see nearly all the friends in Facebook who had an interest in USA presidential election were supporters of Barak Hussein Obama. He is a very special person. But I feel he is special due to two main reasons. First is ethnicity and second is religion. More than fifty percent of my friends who supported him simply did so as he is a black American.

There is a third crisis too. That is economic imperialism. For this there is no proper solution. Some might say it is capitalism and some might say it is Socialism. But I feel these two should be combined because being extremist is not acceptable.

Having said that, I should admit I am not a fan of Capitalism at all. I am not a street child but I am neither the son of Queen Elizabeth. I am not someone who has faced the struggle to survive, but I’ve seen people who are at the bottom of the pyramid. The whole system sucks. And one day, when we get older, we will be stronger!!

You do not have to be a lawyer or a politician to speak about politics, because half of the politicians in our country have not achieved what we have achieved. Yes its true that you don’t have to be good at books to serve your country, but then what is the point of education? Parliament is not a place for people with mental sickness or sickel cell anemia or short sightedness.

The problem with many, specially here in Sri Lanka is the fact that they are afraid of the word “revolution”. It means certain death for some. So they are afraid to even think of anything related to Socialism, I’ll tell you something.

After you finish the exam, read the Soviet novels. Its not that I am trying to make you think like a rebel, I am just trying to add some warmth to your souls, just trying to make the world a better place.

All of us know that “Mother” by Maxim Gorkey is a masterpiece of literature. Have you ever dared to read it?

What do you think it is about?

For people who think it is about someone’s mother who lived in a village in a certain state in Siberia and fought hard to live  and did everything to keep her son alive and died without the care of her own son somewhere in the streets of Moscow, well WAKE UP. Its true it is about a mother, but its about a mother who fought against the system, a mother who smiled when all others cried, its about a mother who took part in the big thing, the Bolshevik revolution.

And after all these comments about Russia in 1920s, I know it won’t work here in Sri Lanka. First reason is we do not love our country. Yes it hurts but it is the truth. Just read any Soviet book and you will understand what Patriotism is all about. Its not about  throwing firecrackers at your neighbours house when the Army has won the battle of Thoppigala, its about riding an aeroplane alone without both your legs, its about killing your pet to feed a dying soldier .

The second reason is we all want to be better than the person next to us. That attitude and Socialism don’t go hand in hand.

We should combine both extremes and build a system like China and Malasiya did.

So my friends. this is for you. I am getting a bit tired, typing this long note with the phone. This is my view on our lives. Your’s maybe different. If they are, please let me know.

    • Navee
    • November 12th, 2011

    Great work Dilhan! very impressive!

    • Whacko
    • November 12th, 2011

    deep stuff. I’ve got quite a few comments and things to say on the above. But sadly no time to articulate now. keep writing!

  1. Excellent work macha! Keep up the good work! 😀

  2. Gr8 thoughts machan. Keep posting….. Visit my blog at http://www.nipuvista.blogspot.com May be you’ll like quizzing………..

  3. Wow! Quite a lot of thoughts & ideas on this single post! I have a few things to say. Please see it as constructive criticism 🙂

    1. Keep the writing short; if possible.
    2. Try and stick to one topic/theme if possible. For example, if you’re talking about politics, keep the blog/note/article specifically on that. It’s a lot for the reader to absorb when you address a multitude of topics.
    3. Be very careful when you talk about religion. Especially when you’re talking about gods etc. I might not really take offence, but I am not everybody.
    4. Best keep in mind that both religion & politics are close to people and they are debateable.
    5. I like the flow of ideas.
    6. Coherent use of words. Easy reading. 🙂

    • And keep on wring and share them with me! 🙂 cheers!

    • Thank you. I really appreciate what you have said. I never thought writing long is bad! But it is so tempting to write about politics and religion!

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