Drinking Wine In Paradise; Not A Crime, Says The Man 'Wise' !

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 6 September 2022 Drinking wine in paradise; Not a crime, says the man 'wise' Then, let me drink in this world Later will I think over god's word -Omar Khayyam, translated from Persian by the author " All scriptural 'truths' are relative and time-specific. They're not inscriptions on the granite. Expunge them when they lose their relevance. The problem with all humans is that they take 'divine words' as something lapidary on the stone-slab of human civilization. Wipe them out........." Nietzsche, ' Thus Spoke Zarathustra, ' translated from German by Shaun Daniels " Set yourself free Care not for divine decree " Salman Rushdie, quoting American poet Ezra Pound " When scriptures become standard rule books, marching of the cavalcade of humanity stops. All so-called 'divine' books are stalkers on your way to freedom and self-realization." -Anon In a desert country, trees were scarce and fruit was hard to come by. It was said that god wanted to make sure there was enough for everyone, so he appeared to a prophet and said, " This is my commandment to the whole people for now and for future generations: no one shall eat more than one fruit a day. Record this in the Holy Book. Anyone who transgresses this law will be considered to have sinned against god and against humanity." The law was faithfully observed for centuries until scientists discovered a means for turning the desert into green land. The country became rich in grain and livestock. And the trees bent down with the weight of unplucked fruit. But the fruit law continued to be enforced by the civil and religious authorities of the land. Anyone who pointed to the sin against humanity involved in allowing fruit to rot on the ground was dubbed a blasphemer and an enemy of morality. These people, who questioned the wisdom of god's holy word, were being guided by the proud spirit of reason, it was said, and lacked the spirit of faith and submission whereby alone the Truth can be received. Nothing could be done to change the law because the prophet who had 'claimed' to have received it from god was long since dead. He might have had the courage and the sense to change the law as circumstances changed for he had taken god's word, not as something to be revered, but as something to be used for the welfare of the people. As a result, some people openly scoffed at the law and at god and religion. Others broke it secretly and always with a sense of wrongdoing. The vast majority adhered rigorously to it and came to think of themselves as holy merely because they held on to a senseless and outdated custom they were too frightened to jettison. "Men can break the laws of society, but not the so-called divine laws," wrote Rene Descartes. We're perpetually in the penumbra of imaginary divine wrath and dare not question the ways of god. Whoever questions, gets a stock reply from the elders and especially from the so-called 'holy men and women' that god's ways are inexplicable to the mortals like us. This is discouraging to the hilt and leads to a defeatist mentality at the collective level. Why can't a mere mortal question the relevance of an antediluvian custom or law, sanctioned by a religion? What's the use of still sticking to a 'divine law' just because it's hoary-old? Puranmityev Na Sadhu Sarvam (Old's not always the assurance of being genuine and irreproachable). How long will we allow the fallacy of majority and fallacy of duration to dictate terms to rationality? Man stops growing spiritually and gets stuck at the level of religion when he blindly starts following what his primitive ancestors followed in a bygone era. A soul that doesn't have the rebellious spirit fails to comprehend the mind of god, if at all it does exist. Someone said very succinctly, " God's fed up with the prostrating, genuflecting and unquestioning followers. He too wants rebels, who can challenge his divinity and defeat him in his own game." Remember, every law has a flaw, even if it happens to be a divine law. No truth is so great that it can transcend all ages and become relevant for the ages to come. That's why, among the truly religious, the (divine) law is observed. But it's never feared, nor revered. It's neither absolutized, nor magnified out of all proportion, nor exploited for one's selfish ends. Questioning a 'divine truth' is not a sacrilegious act. An iconoclastic defiance can open up a plethora of spiritual avenues. But the problem with mankind is that we're always apprehensive of unwittingly breaking a set pattern. Though the German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote "Critique of pure reason," he too admitted that the grovelling acceptance of any belief wasn't expected of a rational being and it was an insult to his volition as well as faculty of reason. " Fear blunts the tip of a spear." This adage is universally applicable to humankind. Our fear of god or the atavistic fear of all organized religions puts brakes on our questioning self so much so that we eventually lose it and act like a sheep in the herd. And at the same time, we're also too keen to kow-tow to anything that's recondite to us. We're always awestruck by supernatural phenomena and more than willing to succumb to their mysteries. This attitude never allows free will to thrive and we remain in the dungeon of our own prisons, languishing there till eternity. To quote an Urdu couplet, " Itne Maanoos Sayyaad Se Ho Gaye Hain/ Mili Rihaii Bhi Toh Mar Jayenge " (So much have we got inured to the imprisonment of the huntsman/Even if he sets us free, we long for the captivity). Most of the humans are suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome; reluctant to leave the slammer of gods, scriptures and religions. ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/wine-paradise-crime-wise/d/127884 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism