Enough with the Hypocrisy

Recently there was this forward that made its way to my blackberry from around 10 different people. Something about forwarding this message to all my friends if I truly loved God. First of all, I'm amused by the fact that more than 1400 years ago, religion was communicated to us through the Prophet Muhammad, and now it's through blackberry. Glad to see heaven is up to speed with technology. Hope they have good internet there.

I responded to everyone who sent it to me with a lol. Some people ignored my lol. Others asked me why i lol'ed. Some people were even insulted and asked me if i didn't love God, or if I didn't even believe in the concept of a God in the first place. And I just had to laugh at how ridiculous the world has become. This is a conversation between me and one of the people that forwarded the message:

Person: *forwards some mess about forwarding the message if i love God*

Me: lol

Person: what?

Me: the thing about God

Person: everyone is sending it

Me: so u just sent it cuz everyone else is doing it?

Person: i have nothing to lose although i don't believe in it. and so i don't feel guilty

And I told the person that I'm choosing to stop this conversation there, because of the fact that I was going to be brutally honest, and this specific person can't handle brutal honesty.

Now there is so much that is substantially wrong with this entire conversation, but let's start with this: If you need a message to remind you of God and the fact that you love him, then something is wrong with your "belief". And if you give me an excuse like "everyone is doing it", then that makes it even worse, because it shows that the primary goal you had in mind was to belong to the fad, not to show your love for God. And then, the finale: "i have nothing to lose although i don't believe in it. and so i don't feel guilty." Are you retarded? So you needed a message to remind you of God, then you forwarded the message because it's the hot thing to do these days, and now you're telling me that you don't even believe in it?

I'm not exactly the most religious person, but at the same time I'm an extremely logical and unbiased thinker. I don't NOT believe in religion or think it's bad, and I certainly don't consider people who are religious and hold on to the meaning of faith as ignorant or mislead. To each his own, it's a free world, and everyone should live his life in the manner that he/she finds convincing. But what I do not tolerate is hypocrisy. And therefore, I cannot stand people who claim to be religious (when they are actually not), and then only remember religion when they receive a message like that.

They're not sending it out of wanting to pass the message along. They are sending it because of the guilt trip that they would go through if they don't. That alone tells me that they don't really care, because someone who is truly religious wouldn't have a reason to feel guilty.

What I also hate is how religion is being taught in some countries. This happens actually mostly with Islam. I feel the way Christianity is taught is generally so much more sensible, and the method that they use tries its best to make sure that you love religion and God, and for the right reasons too. When I think back to the teachers that taught me Islam, I remember three things that I believe were huge douchebag mistakes on their part (and I'm sure MANY people will relate):

1. I was always taught to fear God, I wasn't taught to love him.

2. The consequences for not doing my homework or learning my lesson in Islam class were punishments that, as a 10 year old, seemed scary to me. Therefore, these teachers killed my eagerness to learn my religion, and instead made it this thing that I HAD to do just to avoid the punishment.

3. At the end of the day, holy books are the "words of God". And certain things are left open for interpretation and to the person's own judgement. Therefore, it is completely wrong for me to learn the meaning of the verses of the Qur'an through someone else, because all I am getting is that person's perspective, which is a function of his teacher's perspective, which is a function of his teacher's perspective, and so on and so forth, until we arrive to the first teacher of the Qur'an, Prophet Muhammad. Assuming the average length of a generation is 30 years, that means that the meaning of the Qur'an that I am given by my teachers who got it from their own teachers (etc...) has passed through more than 45 generations. Quite frankly, that's alot of filtering, and I really question how much of the meaning was lost in interpretation. And this concept applies to all religions with scripture and books.

All this makes me wonder how the world would have turned out if people were given enough education for them to be able to at some point pick up their respective holy book and read it for themselves, and understand it from their own perspective rather than someone else's. After all, isn't that the point of religion? To find a connection with God that is your own and no one else's?

Food for thought people...

Muse - The Resistance

If you are a Muse fan, hats off to you. If not, you are missing out on some of the most powerful music of our time.

I came across Muse in 2001, a friend of mine let me listen to a song called "Micro-cuts". As I heard Mathew Bellamy's signature falsetto voice rip apart everything in its path, I was left in awe (and maybe even nearly in tears) by the sheer raw power and feeling of their music. Being a musician-by-hobby myself, I heard more than just a unique voice, I heard highly complex and technical music structures. I heard intricate timelines and progressions. I heard music literally being redefined as just three guys from England managed to find a way to blend progressive rock with space rock with alternative rock with glam rock with hard rock with electronica with indie with classical music. The result of this amalgamation is some of the greatest music to have ever graced our speakers. At least, that's the way it sounds to my ears.

In light of the above, recently I finally found time to listen to Muse's latest album (2009) called "The Resistance". Critics generally regard Muse's previous album "Black Holes and Revelations" (2006) as their greatest work to date, and was even considered a flawless masterpiece by some. IMHO, the new album has blown the previous one out of the universe.


As much as I consider myself someone who is well spoken and is able to express himself quite effectively, what I experienced is incredibly diffcult to put in words. The infusion of different musical elements all at once is sometimes so overwhelmingly brilliant that, if you have what I call "music OCD" like I do, it forces you to rewind and listen to a certain section or part again. And again. And again. Just so your mind can comprehend what you heard.

I won't bother going into an analysis, because no matter what I say, it won't do justice to the brilliance of this album. The songs that stand out are, well, all of them, each for their own reasons. But I will point out that "United States of Erusia" and "Guiding Light" are exceptionally powerful songs. Also, the last 3 songs in the album ("Exogenesis" Parts 1, 2, and 3) represent some of the most tremendously mind blowing music I've ever heard. They are an absolute perfect ending for a sublime album. I already want more.