Re-Examine All That You've Been Told.......

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 17 September 2022 Last night, while rummaging through the yellowed pages of my dog-eared and tattered diary which's a compendium of quotes in various languages, I stumbled upon American poet Walt Whitman's famous statement, " Re-examine all that you've been told....dismiss that which insults your soul.” This instantaneously reminded me of a similar but much more radical thought expressed by Omar Khayyam, “So far what you learnt is to be burnt “(Wren Hunter's English translation). Wisdom lies in novelty, not in antiquity. Re-examination and reassessment, therefore, become an absolute necessity. We all have become unquestioningly receptive to what our forefathers and all useless old books taught us. We tend to take that 'wisdom' as unchangeable and unimpeachable. Neurologists Wilfred Simmons and Kevin Dimmock concluded in 1997 that the brain (not mind, it doesn't exist) actually doesn't accept a number of things and it questions many times. This happens to all individuals. Even in the case of a suicide bomber, he too thinks for a fraction of a second as to what's he going to get out of detonating himself and meeting with such a ghastly end? But his inveterate (religious) beliefs eclipse his questioning brain and he ends up blasting himself. Poor guy! Here lies the importance of a questioning brain and its triumph over scores of illogical beliefs, whether religious or ideological. Humans must listen to their thinking brains and listen to their reasoning selves. We must train ourselves to question each and everything. Nothing in this world has ever been so sacrosanct as not to be scrutinized. Even your own existence is to be questioned as to why on earth have you come into this world? Always remember, you didn't come into this world on your own, you were brought by your parents, often thoughtless people. So, don't even baulk at questioning their intention to drag you into this veritable mess. ----- 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/examine-suicide-bomber-religious/d/127970 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