"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the feelings of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of nonspiritual conditions. It is the opium of the people." – Karl Marx

What is God? I believe it is just an idea, an idea that shields us from all things we do not know. As children we need to be told what to do. Religion and God served that purpose very well until man began to think. Religion has done great things, some of which are good, some bad, but most are not practical in today’s life.

An atheist is someone who does not believe in the existence of God or anything supernatural, because there are too many why’s that God has not been able to answer. An atheist looks at science for proof of what he sees, unlike a believer who blindly follows what he is told. Many people are atheists also because of the way they are brought up, just like any other believer, and some might just find it cool.

Religion has done some good things as well:

• It has brought a sense of togetherness, and social responsibility.
• It brings purpose and meaning to one’s life, relieving the person of the burden of death.
• It has initially helped people follow certain social and moral codes.

But right now, it seems to have done more bad than good. Sadly!

• It controls people, in a way they ought not to be controlled.
• Not many people actually “think”.
• One religion’s rules have become the reason for war to another.
• Evolution might as well come to a stand still. But mother nature is always here to help us with that. :)
• You’ve got to agree with me when I say it’s mostly waste of time and money.
• These are not the only ones!
  

Not being able to think is reason enough to stop being a slave to religion and god. There is no proof that God doesn’t exist. But something doesn’t exist until proven otherwise. And science has given us, atheists, enough evidence of evolution, the order in the universe, sunrises and sunsets, etc., to believe in what we believe.

A believer may argue saying that the beautifully designed universe, the flora and fauna, and humans, are all work of God. But science has recently thought us what Evolution is. We have been able to find the age of the earth, fossils that indicate how life has evolved, and why the heavenly bodies behave the way they do. Gods might have been a very convincing reason for some basic phenomena like the sunrises and sunsets when we did not know that the earth is going around the sun. Scientists have been giving us more consistent and logical explanations for the existence and the nature of the universe, with better supported evidence.

But science too has a long way to go until many questions are answered. Until then atheism is my best bet, because it gives me more room to think, act and decide based logical reasoning, analysis, experience, and interpretation of evidence.

One of the worlds greatest musicians. :)

The ray of happiness
The bloom of trust
This little flower in my life
Unrivaled by other things rife
Has made not one but many marks,
Marks that helped me realize
That life was more than just a lark.
There might have been storms,
There might have been squalls.
But one thing that remains
Is the splendour of that little flower,
The timeless flower, which is
The eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

They follow the loudest in a mindless flock,

The deafening din growing with every tick of the clock.

They don’t see beyond what is obvious to see,

Their cognoscenti hopelessly lost, sitting idly.

Is it in vain that I search for the thirst to learn?

A soul that ponders, is what I yearn.

Words of unfounded seers and baseless books they believe,

Not realizing they are gullible and naive.

Without free thinkers, the world will be doomed,

Poisoning every little life that has just bloomed.

These are just some random things that I'm interested in. I'll just give a brief description of each of them here. I'm picking four terms beginning with the letter "P" for the first of what might be a series of posts.

Pareidolia:These clouds! Am sure you can make out some figure of these clouds, a man flying perhaps!

I was reading something on Wikipedia and came across Pareidolia. Wikipedia describes this as a psychological phenomenon involving a vague or random stimulus being perceived as significant. This immediately reminded me of human psychology of burrowing for deeper meaning where there is none. We all tend to do that don’t we? Pareidolia is an illusion of perceiving something that is vague, as clear and distinct. The most common examples would be seeing figures in clouds, man on the moon, etc, that happen everyday. Some of the more famous examples of Pareidolia would be Man on Mars, the Monkey Tree phenomenon in Singapore, etc.

You can read more on:

http://www.skepdic.com/pareidol.html

http://www/schizoidman.com/top-20-things-that-look-like-other-things.html

You could also Wiki it any day!

Panentheism, Pantheism and Polytheism:

I am an atheist. I do not believe in what generally is perceived to be God. My notion of God, though I would not call it “God”, is different, might sound weird too. I’ll talk about this in another post. But for now, I found these concepts interesting.

Pan·the·ism –noun
1. The doctrine that God is the transcendent reality of which the material universe and human beings are only manifestations: it involves a denial of God's personality and expresses a tendency to identify God and nature.
2. Any religious belief or philosophical doctrine that identifies God with the universe.
- Source: Dictionary.com

Panentheism:
A panentheistic belief system is one which posits that the one God interpenetrates every part of nature, and timelessly extends beyond as well.
- Source: Wikipedia.org

Pol·y·the·ism - noun
The doctrine of or belief in more than one god or in many gods.
- Source: Dictionary.com

Panetheism associates God with the materialistic world, air, water, power, etc. everything that the universe is made of. The world is god! Panentheism suggests that God is much more than just the world itself. God has a personality, and the world is just a small part of this huge persona. Pareidolia is so often used as an aid to establish "God". Ghosts, apparitions, appearance of god in anything-you-want-to-see-it-in (huh!), are all pareidolia!

You will definitely see more of this in another post!

Disclaimer: This has nothing to do with me. I'm not lonely! :P


I was all alone, drowned in solitude, engulfed in my blues,
And I failed to see all those beautiful hues.
I was safe! Huddled with myself in my heavy silence,
I believed it was my prudence.
Darkness glowed everywhere,
There wasn’t but a single flare.
I fell in love with the shadow,
Everything else I forgo.
But my soul began to ache with the gloom,
I was digging up my own tomb.
There was a longing to break out of that dark shell,
And unknown to me it wanted to rebel.
I saw a hand reaching out to me,
Which, all this while I was blinded to see.
It was the ray of hope, and that of joy,
That called on me to open up and enjoy.
Sunshine burst in through that little rift,
And spread out quick and swift.
I wanted to rein that destined throne,
Though in the end, I knew, I will be all alone.


Not much of a painting, but it's mine!

I can't pretend for too long,
that I'm who the world thinks I'm.
I may not be the normal one,
My kinda fun might sound weird and uncommon.
I am what I am!

I may not laugh with you,
I may not enjoy what you do.
But I'm not your everyday cuckoo.
I am what I am!

I hate the sniggering magpies,
I find nothing but sighs!
Hey, you really are boring,
Don't you realize you're just barking!

Why do we all pretend,
Why can't we just be?
What is it that we have at stake?
In the end we'll all just brake!

I love my loneliness,
My reflective silence.
I miss that accepting caress,
and that gloomy sadness!

I miss your buoyant smile,
You could've waited awhile.
I love dreaming about you,
I know one day you'll make it all come true,
For you know, I am what I am.

Tried my best!

I'll never finish this one. A complete disaster, this!

What is it with people and talking? Is talking a basic necessity of life? When I look at some people around me, that is the impression I get. And in most cases, the chat would be about something so insensible, that it's nothing but disgusting. And this happens non-stop, that's why the complaint! But not everybody's non-stop chatter is annoying. It's just these stupid, dumb people. Isn't there a limit to how much a person can take in at a time??

As if this wasn't enough, there are people who move from place to place looking for more such people to talk to. They don't even give a thought to the fact that there are other people around, and they should, at least once in a while, mind their manners. It doesn't occur to them that it's not okay to barge in on someone's privacy. The sad thing is that, they think (like, that's possible!) this silly behaviour of theirs is normal.

It's not just the amount of talking these people do, it's about the level of crap talk they are capable of. They surpass themselves everyday! Most of their tiny little brains don't have control over their crap and their noise levels. They have these black and white brains, with too much of colour concentrated at one point! It's time they learn. But since this seems to be the norm everywhere, they never will.

Looks like schools should have compulsory classes for this - "Know when to shut up"!!! People, please give me a breather!

Once upon a time, not too long ago, there was a strange land called the Deep Blue Sea; the Deep in short. The people of the Deep called themselves Deeplets. One such Deeplet was Maxwell. Maxwell was skilled at music, speaking a tongue called Gibberish, rowing, craftsmanship, and a lot of other not so useful things.

One day as we was walking down the road, a yellow monkey came around and asked him for some green jelly, which Max had left at home, the previous night. The monkey exclaimed, “Max! How could you?” That was the end of the monkey; he had fallen into a jam of things. So Maxwell married the neighbors’ daughter, in a pink and purple wedding, with the sun shining through their eyes, and the Grey Beans slowly creeping in.

The Beans had come from Bean-land, carrying a huge pumpkin, which they would use to ride a bicycle. Beamy darkness engulfed the Deep, pretty flowers stopped blooming in gay, and the Deeplets wouldn’t stop sulking. Their only hope was Maxwell, who had gone to fetch a pile of grass from the nearby village, where he met a little tiger who showed him the way to some fresh cold water. Maxwell took a sip of the cold water and he was magically transported to the skies, where he saw beautiful meadows and cherry blossoms. He didn’t want to go back to the Deep, and instead wanted to dance with the rainbows and sing with the rain. But he learnt of the Beans and made his way back to the Deep on a big bus. There were hopping kittens and laughing hyenas.

Maxwell made it back to the Deep. The colourless blue sky of the Deep was now grey and with the help of his friend, the yellow monkey, Maxwell succeeded in winning the Deep back for his people, who then celebrated with lots of creamy flowers and chocolaty firework. And they lived happily ever after.

Kiddish?? Yeah!!
But the Dino sure is cute :D

This took quite a lot of shades of gray!!!

Lost in serene tranquility,
An unusual calm remained.
An unexpected tempest unveiled.
It was the silence before a storm.
The storm raged on,
It seemed to have lasted for an eternity.
But it was just a speck in the span of time.
Everything was uprooted; every belief shattered.
It was time for new life to spring out,
Out of the barren desert that remained.
Watered by the belief it had,
A tiny sprig of life sprouted.
One by one in the barren land,
Life began to bloom out of death.
A search for lost divinity embarked.
But the pursuers were left thirsty of what they sought.
When all hope was lost, that tiny sprig,
with one last effort
Found the spirit that it sought,
stashed away into the shadows.
The quest was a triumph,
peace and calm restored.
The seekers vowed never to let the storm
show its ugly face again.

Their chattering grew louder and louder
The air choking with incessant laugher.
It seemed music to their ears
How content and happy they appear.
They race ahead, in this mindless play
Not knowing they were headed to dooms day.
Like retards they twaddle,
Move from nest to nest in search of constant babble.
Unknown to them is a band,
A band whom they abject with the flick of a hand.
Wretched they called them,
And found nothing but condemn.
But the band refused to be thwarted.
They fought until the herd of the witless, bled
To realize that they were nothing more than a Racket.

Waiting for you, here in nowhere land
You bring a smile, to my otherwise colourless world
The sparkle in your eyes, the warmth of your hand
Why did I wait, wait to be hurled
From where I pretended to belong
To your world of love
I knew you’d take me along
To see what lay ahead, but nothing above.

Sitting in a hollow head, waiting to be let out
It tries hard but in vain, to see the light, to burn all flout
A storm of thoughts, blew it all away
It took a bow in gloom; it turned to leave in dismay
Darkness reigned; through the shadows it flew, deeper and deeper into the hollow
Until there was a flicker of the sun, to find who else but Apollo himself
The end of the tunnel, lead to a glow that set alight a smoldering desire
The time had come, to wake up, to act, to rise higher
Alas, it was free, to fly out of the murkiness,
Into the land of color, joy and happiness.

You could call this the best sitcom ever. Yup, THE BEST!!! It has fun, confusion, drama, action, fun, fun, fun and a whole lot of fun. And you do get to learn some English too, the basics that everyone seems to have forgotten. If anybody had a chance to read an article on Outlook, dated 24 March, 2008, “Torment of English”, then you’d probably get my point. Getting back to Mind Your Language, it is about a night school teacher, Jeremy Brown (played by Barry Evans), who takes up the job of teaching English to a bunch of foreigners.

Every episode is great in a way, but I’d say the first episode, “The First Lesson”, has to be one of the best.
(Ali enters Miss Courtney’s office)
Ali: I am coming here for to be learning the English and I am hopping to be unrolled.
Miss Courtney: Hopping to be unrolled???
Ali: Like it say in your syllabus!
Miss Courtney: You mean “hoping to be enrolled”.

Ali: Jolly good. (One of Ali’s frequently used phrases)

Mr. Brown bumps into Ali outside Miss Courtney’s office.
Ali: Oh Dreary me, I am not going where I’m looking.
Mr. Brown: No, I wasn’t looking where I was going.
Ali: That makes the two of us.

Mr. Brown (on entering the classroom): I am pleased to meet you all. Ali: We are also pleased to be meeting you.
Mr. Brown: I am Brown.
Ali: Oh no, you are committing a mistake. Mr. Brown: Mistake?
Ali: Yes, please. You are not brown; we are brown (referring to himself and Jamila). You are white.
Mr. Brown: My name is Brown. I am your teacher.
Giovanni: Ah, you professori!!! Silencio!!!

Mr. Brown asks each one of his students their names and occupation.
Mr. Brown: A waiter?
Giovanni: No not a waiter, a cook’the.
Mr. Brown: Cook’the???
Giovanni: See, I cook the ravioli, I cook the spaghetti, I cook the lasagna! I cook the everything.
Mr. Brown: A Chef!
Giovanni: Hokay!!!

Ali: I am Ali Nadim, from Lahore. I am working at the moment, not anywhere at all.
Mr. Brown: You are unemployed?
Ali: Yes, please. Only one day a week I am working.
Mr. Brown: What do you do then?
Ali: I am going to the unemployement exchange for to be collecting my money. Oh blimey! I get more money for not being working than when I am working.
Mr. Brown: So before you discovered this secret of eternal wealth, what did you do?
Ali: Blimey! I worked.

Ranjith (entering the classroom): A thousand apologies for my lateness. The only bus was going backwards.

Max and Giovanni arguing over who would sit next to Danielle.
Giovanni: Before you were sit over there.
Max: And before you were sit over there.
Giovanni: You go back sit where you were before.
Fight

The best part of this episode is the way Giovanni tries to convince Mr. Brown that he has to sit next to Danielle. The colour blind joke and all that. Ha Ha!!! The frequent frays between Ranjith and Ali!

I have enjoyed every little thing about this show. The title track is amazing as well. This series is a must watch for everyone who loves English and wants to have a good laugh.

It is eternal bliss, in all its glory.
You are the ruler, you are the subject.
You fly high, into the rainbows.
All along you know, this is where you belong.

You are, but a trifling insignificance,
The world seems to be devoid of much sense.
But every piece of a puzzle has its part to play,
Every breath you take makes someones day.

I found a really interesting blog, sometime last week, about introverts and introversion: Spectatrix

And I can relate to a lot of things there. In this extrovert-friendly world introverts are often perceived as unfriendly, hostile, arrogant, shy, etc. This is ironical. We are taught to embrace differences between people because, well, people are different. But from an introverts perspective, this is downright unfair. Unlike extroverts who like to be in the middle of things most of the time, introverts like their time alone. Socialising is something they would not do, something they don't need to. The difference lies basically in the way we give and take energy. The more the people, the better for an extrovert. A lot of times I've been asked to speak a little more than i usually do, which is very little if I am not very close to that person. I have very little to tell someone whom I've known for just sometime. It takes a pretty long time to get to know someone well enough, to be sure that they understand me, and wouldn't mind me doing most of the listening. It helps sometimes, explaining to people who are really close to you about your needs. And they do understand.

But there's still a long way to go before people really understand such differences, which seem to be, from what I've read, because of the wiring in people's heads. Until then I'm just gonna think of people who don't understand me as people who are not capable of it. =D