Dark thoughts

It's not just politicians and oil company executives who are reluctant to limit the carbon dioxide emissions. People all over the world want cheap gasoline. We also want pleasant room temperatures and cheap airline tickets. We don't want to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases

We also want cheap food and cheap clothes. That the production of cheap food requires toxic chemicals and terrible factory farms, and that cheap clothes require extremely low wages for the textile workers, is not something we care too much about. It's only a very small percentage of the world’s population who are trying to reduce their environmental impact and who are trying to avoid exploiting other people. Therefore I don't think there is a future for humanity.

Words

There are so many different kinds of Islam that the word Muslim can mean almost anything. There are also many different kinds of Christianity. There are no Christian ethics and morals. There are many different kinds of “Christian ethics and morals”. American right-wing Christianity and Liberation theology have nothing in common. Saudi Arabian Wahhabism and Sufism are totally different ways of interpreting Islam. It's meaningless to speak of Christianity and Islam. These words don’t mean anything. Being human, however, is to be human. To be a human being means something.

Designations, religious as well as political, can cause terrible wars and conflicts. These designations are not just covers to hide underlying motives. Sunni or Shia, Hutu or Tutsi, Catholic or Protestant, Serb or Croat, nationalist or liberal... A religious or political designation is not just a pretext to pick a fight. The designations are the causes of conflicts. We don't attack those who we believe are on our side, who describe themselves in the same way as we do. For those who live in Iraq the designations Sunni and Shia are extremely important, although all Iraqis really belong to the same group, humanity.

What distinguishes a Sunni Muslim from a Shia Muslim? What distinguishes a Jew from a Palestinian? Some believe in Santa Claus and others believe in the Easter Bunny? How can different beliefs be so enormously important?

Why is it so important with fictitious identities? Why is it so difficult to abandon a fictional character? Are you like an actor who doesn't change clothes when you go home after work? Are you sitting there on the commuter train as Hamlet or Ophelia? Why is it so hard for you to simply be human? Why is it so incredibly important for you to dress up and pretend to be someone else?

Is it possible for a human being, do you think, to not classify himself or herself, as something other than a human being? Is it possible to drop all religious or political identities? Is it possible to opt out? Why is it so difficult? I mean, you don't need to belong to any particular group in order to do the laundry or the dishes. Most of the day you totally forget about how you are labeling yourself. What makes it so difficult to extend this natural mindset to all of your day.

It's difficult to leave a destructive cult. I can understand that. You will lose all your friends. But it is possible. If you happen to be a Muslim it is even more difficult. A Muslim who wants to leave Islam is committing a serious crime and can be sentenced to death. The only option for him or her is to pretend to be a good Muslim, to go through the motions, to play a game, and try the best he or she can, to stay sane.

Islam

Fanatic Muslims create enormous problems in the world today, and it's not a matter of just a few mad terrorists. In Saudi Arabia and Iran they are in power, and in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Mali and Pakistan, they are fighting to gain power.

I have met many Muslims, throughout the years, which I have had the deepest respect for. I have also met many good people who believed in astrology. Beliefs are not that important to me. Religions and superstitions are harmless, I think, as long as no one takes them too seriously. The problems come with convictions. The stronger the conviction is, the more problems it will create. Blind faith and convictions are serious problems. I say no to both religious and political convictions. I say no to Islamic fundamentalism, Christian evangelical fundamentalism, neoconservatism and right wing extremism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV710c1dgpU#t=296

Metaphorical interpretations

When the Quran calls for war, it is often an internal war the text is referring to,
an inner Jihad against temptations and selfishness.

When Krishna urges Arjuna, in the Bhagavad Gita, to do his duty and go to war,
it should be interpreted metaphorically.

Jewish rabbis have always been forced to find metaphorical interpretations
to the extremely violent and dreadful exhortations from their brutal God.

Why was it so hard for the authors of the ancient religious scriptures to call a spade a spade?

And why do the scribes of today spend so much of their precious time to find decent interpretations of the ancient texts? What do they find there that appeals to them? Why don’t they just write new books where they would be able to spell out clearly what they consider is right or wrong?

Hold on

You don't want to let go of your ego,
like a little girl who don't want to let go of her security blanket.