During the month of Ramadan, Muslims all around the world fast by abstaining from food and drink during daytime hours. In addition to participating in these physical aspects of fasting, Muslims also see the month of Ramadan as an opportunity for spiritual growth. How this spiritual growth is achieved varies widely between cultures and individuals. Many Muslims devote an extraordinary amount of time to performing prayers, set aside time and money for charitable activities or study the Quran. My own approach to spiritual growth during Ramadan is to study the Scriptures and writings of other faiths and belief systems. I also like to engage in such interfaith readings outside of the month of Ramadan, but during Ramadan, my desire to learn about other faiths and beliefs intensifies.
The most plausible explanation for this is that my glucose-starved brain and dehydrated body are impatiently nudging me toward other belief systems as a reaction to depriving my body of food and drink for 17 hours. However, a plausibility does not make an explanation appealing. I have developed a personal, idiosyncratic explanation, which is (partly) grounded in the Muslim tradition. According to the Muslim narratives, God places the devils in chains during the month of Ramadan as a mercy to humans so that they can grow spiritually and are less likely to be lead astray by devils. The image that always comes to my mind is that of Mephistopheles from Goethe's Faust, in the classic performance by Gustaf Gründgens. I imagine Mephistopheles in an orange jump-suit, all chained up in a prison cell, cracking witty jokes and making snide comments, but unable to reach his target audience. I envision the devil leading humans astray by dampening our curiosity and our willingness to engage in dialogue; by preventing us from learning about what lies beyond our intellectual, spiritual and creative horizon and by creating a false sense of comfort. I believe that once the devil is placed in shackles during Ramadan, he is forced to release us from our cozy narrow-mindedness. I realize that my personal mythical narrative that I have developed around how the imprisoned devil fosters my interest in other faiths will not hold up to rigorous psychological testing or to traditional Muslim theology, but I still stick with it.
In the course of studying non-Muslim writings and Scriptures during this Ramadan, I came across the excellent essay "What I Believe" by the great atheist philosopher and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell. This essay can be found in a collection of essays, including the famous or perhaps infamous "Why I Am Not a Christian." I remember reading this essay collection a number of years ago, but as with many of Bertrand Russell's writings, it does not hurt to continuously re-read them since one is bound to find new facets of wisdom each time. In "What I Believe," Russell formulates some of the key principles of his humanist and atheist philosophy.
Part of the essay is devoted to critiquing religion, such as when he says: "Religion, since it has its source in terror, has dignified certain kinds of fear and made people think them not disgraceful. In this it has done mankind a great disservice: all fear is bad."
Russell acknowledges that fear is found not only in religion, but in many aspects of our society.
"Fear is the basis of religious dogma, as of so much else in human life. Fear of human beings, individually or collectively, dominates much of our social life, but it is fear of nature that gives rise to religion."
Fear of human beings continues to dominate much of our lives today, nearly one century after Russell wrote these prescient words. When we look at sensationalist descriptions of infectious super-bugs, looming economic catastrophes, fear of wars and attacks -- our media and politics engulf us in a blanket of fear. Russell's comments about the emphasis on fear in religion are primarily directed toward the Christian faith, but I think they are applicable to the Muslim faith, too, since the recent Friday sermons that I attended all seem to harp on the importance of fearing God and hell-fire. Russell then offers us a vision of a "good life" without fear:
"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge."
This sentence encapsulates the beauty of atheism. Contemporary best-selling books and debates on TV often like to portray atheism as a form of anti-theism, as if its sole purpose were to fight religion. This feeds on the sensationalism of the public, thus boosting book-sales and guaranteeing large audiences, but it does not always do justice to the beauty and depth of atheism. At its core, atheism is not so much an anti-theism, but a life-affirming philosophy that celebrates the human spirit and intellect without relying on a supernatural force.
The remainder of the essay highlights the importance of cultivating courage as a means of overcoming fear, and clarifies what is meant with courage:
"But courage in fighting is by no means the only form, nor perhaps even the most important. There is courage in facing poverty, courage in facing derision, courage in facing the hostility of one's own herd. In these, the bravest soldiers are often lamentably deficient. And above all there is the courage to think calmly and rationally in the face of danger, and to control the impulse of panic fear or panic rage."
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""The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge."
This sentence encapsulates the beauty of atheism. Contemporary best-selling books and debates on TV often like to portray atheism as a form of anti-theism, as if its sole purpose were to fight religion. This feeds on the sensationalism of the public, thus boosting book-sales and guaranteeing large audiences, but it does not always do justice to the beauty and depth of atheism. At its core, atheism is not so much an anti-theism, but a life-affirming philosophy that celebrates the human spirit and intellect without relying on a supernatural force."
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Beautifully-stated; as an atheist with Muslim friends, I appreciate, applaud, and understand this sentiment.
Oh dear. Atheism is nothing more than a lack of belief in gods. It is not a philosophy. There are several atheistic philosophies and I guess Russell was some sort of humanist, sceptic and rationalist.
At least you were right about identifying all the current fuss over atheism as being largely anti-theism.
For me, atheism isn't about whether or not I believe in a God. It's about how the belief in a God is not conducive to my outlook on society. If I could be convinced that society would benefit from the incorporation of theism into every facet of of social doctrine, then I would welcome God's direction with open arms.
Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, once said that when dogs feel as though their master is in control of the situation, they will feel calm. He added that dogs undergo a great deal of stress when they feel that their owners are not in control. People are no different. Living without the idea of a grand creator not being in control of our environment can be very stressful for people, and I can understand why they are so adept to succumbing to their fear of an absence of that control.
Example? Check out Freemasonry.
I am always in awe of HuffPost contrbutors who add touches of humanity.
I expect to find out in due time.
I appreciate that as with any human being, there are many things that may have you working at less than 100%, but we do tend to strongly discourage most of those that are optional.
Great essay!
Please post an essay imploring Muslim women not to engage in Ramadan fasting if there is any possibility that they might be pregnant.
http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/working_papers/2007/wp2007_22.pdf
http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp0926.pdf
http://cee.lse.ac.uk/ceedps/ceedp134.pdf
Entry points to the above reports:
http://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedhwp/wp-07-22.html
http://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/cepdps/dp0926.html
http://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/ceedps/0134.html
"Exemptions to fasting are travel, menstruation, illness, older age, pregnancy, and breast-feeding."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan#Fasting
Atheism is not a philosophy, however; it is only a statement of belief. A philosophy of life that takes us to the task of cultivating human community through courage, beyond fear, and to love is one that can be grafted onto any belief system, religious or otherwise. Were we to find ourselves intentionally moving beyond the beliefs that divide, I'm sure such a philosophy of life is exactly what we would find motivating us.
Especially for these lines, which I applaud:
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"A philosophy of life that takes us to the task of cultivating human community through courage, beyond fear, and to love is one that can be grafted onto any belief system, religious or otherwise.
Were we to find ourselves intentionally moving beyond the beliefs that divide, I'm sure such a philosophy of life is exactly what we would find motivating us."
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Yes, indeed - and thank you, for that.
However, as an Atheist, I would clarify:
Atheism is, literally, by definition, a statement of the absence of a particular belief, rather than, as you wrote, a "statement of belief".
Theism is the condition of having a conceptual idea (belief) that a being called God exists.
Atheism is the absence of such an idea.
The conceptual idea (belief) that God does not exist would be more accurately described as Anti-Theism, rather than Atheism, in my opinion.
Both Theism and Anti-Theism are conditions involving statements of belief ("having conceptual ideas about").
Atheism, according to the literal definition of the word (a-theism; "without theism") is a statement of freedom from either of those particular sets of conceptual ideas (beliefs).
So atheists reject religion, they make no mention of 'god'. The majority of atheists are agnostic when it comes to the possbility of some sort of god because depsite lack of evidence, asserting there definatley is no god is as much a leap of faith as belief in one is.
I myself am not agnostic because nobody, reliegous or not, seems to be able to define what a 'god' even is so how can i assert the possibility of one if i don't know what it is?