Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Some people don’t like pickled herring. What’s wrong with them? Pickled herring is a delicacy.

Some people love Mc Donald’s hamburgers. How on earth is that possible? Mc Donald’s hamburgers are terrible. It’s not food. Are they really meant for eating?

Some people like chili peppers, others don’t. Some like tripe; others rather starve to death than eating shit like that. Some like to have sex with someone of the same sex, others think that homosexuality is revolting.

There are,in the same way, different ways to try to satisfy one’s spiritual needs. To some people Eckhart Tolle tell exactly what they want to hear, to others he is nothing but a wolf in a sheep’s clothing. To some people strenuous yoga and meditation practice is the solution; to others the idea of practicing mental and physical gymnastics in order to later attain a higher consciousness is ridiculous. To some people nobody but the Prophet Mohamed has all the answers.

To some people everything is very simple. If you are hungry and feel like having something, treat yourself with what you like. Have a sandwich with pickled herring and a beer or get yourself a Big Mac at Mc Donald’s. Go to church if you like or to the Mosque. Or stay away from organized religion and take a walk in a park instead. If you don’t like jogging, don’t jog! Don’t try to convince people who don’t like pickled herring that they are wrong. And, of course, don’t kill people just because they like tripe.

I had this realization last night. I have spent so much time trying to convince other people that they are wrong, that organized religion and ideologies is terrible and that Mc Donald’s hamburgers are uneatable. What a waste of time and energy.

But I’m not a relativist. Everybody is not right about everything. Some people simply love alcohol. I know people that have managed to stay drunk for decades. I love to share a bottle of wine with a good friend, but I know that if you drink a bottle of whiskey every day, not only you but also other people around you will suffer. That is a truth. Everybody knows that, except the drunkard.

Alcohol, religions and ideologies can cause immense sufferings. That is a truth. But religions, I understand now, can also be like sharing a bottle of wine with a good friend. Religions is not my cup of tea, but I can accept now that other people enjoy it.

Truth exists. And truth is not relative. There is a spiritual dimension. The problem with our culture is that most people seems to believe that only ego and the materialistic dimension is real. To complicate things many seriously materialistic people pretend that the spiritual dimension is important to them. We live in a greatly unbalanced culture.
But there is a spiritual dimension. That is also a truth ,a very important truth. Though many people don’t know about it.