The Truth of the Matter (Updated)

believe nothing
no matter where you read it
or who said it
not even if i have said it
unless it agrees with your own reason
and your own common sense - buddha

I spied the thoughts above at a former colleague's old Blog, no name to be mentioned here, because she knows it when she reads it ala HE/she who bytes the cili would feel its hotness. Okay, don't accuse Desi of plagiarism! I am only guilty of not memorising the original by heart, so I give thee the closest that comes to mind. Mine.

I have "engaged", often with trepidation!, some mates in discourse on Religion, Truth and whatever that concerns the origins of Man on earth or his/her purpose in this world, or no blardy business at all. Or at awe.
See Desi's even engaging in wordplay on 'riting about a serious subject, shows the hangover of trepidation I intimated about.

I get a little worried when I occasionally read this line in some Bloggers' sites, especially Young&Articulates' -- I don't believe in God. Yet he/she next goes on to say some prayers, on the occasion of a friend's early departure from The Good Earth.

This Post on rumination about TRUTH should rightly take place tomorrow as Sundays are for such interludes, but I started penning it last night because I finished my deadline writes well before time and I was pleased with myself. The state of affairs is: Motivation was in the air.

I was also motivated by some Y&A who crossed my path recently. Or put it another equally probable way -- I happened to cross their paths recently. And like it or not, their thoughts loudly expressed, which are allowed as preached daily by Blogosphere taiko, JeffOoi, impact on my own thinking. I'm thankful for the accidental, or incidental, crossings because when one's horizons are widened, it helps me see the Truth in a better light. Not necessary the right light because away from Arithmetic/Mathematics, when one can safely state

One plus One equals Two,

symbolically: 1+ 1 = 2;

we can only experience Truth in Life by Epiphanic eye-openers. Other times, we can only touch the approximations to The Truth.

If you think you're not with Desi thus far, don't worry because such ramblings achieve a sense of LOSTness not just in my Readers, but also in Myself.I still hold thee in equal esteem to one unto myself.

NOTE: I pause here and may continue this musing/mushing if .... permits.
Normally, I would use the fashioable "Insya-Allah or God willing..." temporiry farewell, but I must not for this occasion as up to this point in time, I must
respect those Y&A who aver: I don't believe in God.

(Half-rambled Friday evening...)


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UPDATEd @12.25am
Saturday March 10, 2007


Meanwhile, whilst Desi was bersembang-sembang with a mate over late coffeebru and Naan roti, a pre-midnight caller left this half-message. I'm not interpreting the messenger's intent, so meanwhile just Let It Be (hoping tan would continue the converse again after I sign off ...)

1 comment(s):
"believe nothing
no matter where you have read it
or....."

i love this!

please start with this saying in
all your postings.

By tan, at 11:09 PM


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As I was saying, I was worried a litle when a Y&A shared he/she does not believe in God, yet she said some prayer at a moment of "grief" (I guess the emotion was of grief as it was at a friend's early passing from this temporal world).

My "worry" stems from the fact that why would a young person be so confident to announce to all and sundry he/she doesn't believe in God or a Supreme Being, however or whoever he/she deems Him to be. Yet, then he/she says a prayer, which pricks an automatic question in me:

To Whom was he/she praying to? In Whose name?

I believe there are many people in 21st century who belong to this category I would term as Agnostics.

From the freedictionary.com comes this definition~~

ag·nos·tic (g-nstk)
n.
1.
a. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
b. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
2. One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.
adj.
1. Relating to or being an agnostic.
2. Doubtful or noncommittal: "Though I am agnostic on what terms to use, I have no doubt that human infants come with an enormous 'acquisitiveness' for discovering patterns" William H. Calvin.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ag·nosti·cal·ly adv.

Word History: An agnostic does not deny the existence of God and heaven but holds that one cannot know for certain whether or not they exist. The term agnostic was fittingly coined by the 19th-century British scientist Thomas H. Huxley, who believed that only material phenomena were objects of exact knowledge. He made up the word from the prefix a-, meaning "without, not," as in amoral, and the noun Gnostic. Gnostic is related to the Greek word gnsis, "knowledge," which was used by early Christian writers to mean "higher, esoteric knowledge of spiritual things"; hence, Gnostic referred to those with such knowledge. In coining the term agnostic, Huxley was considering as "Gnostics" a group of his fellow intellectuals"ists," as he called themwho had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the world to their satisfaction. Because he was a "man without a rag of a label to cover himself with," Huxley coined the term agnostic for himself, its first published use being in 1870.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

I am stopping here as the subject is open-ended.

The main and only purpose of this Post is to solicit responses from these Young&Articulates why they are so confident in declaring that they do not believe in God. That they can go on confidently shaping their future in Self_belief?

Are they then rejecting the first of the five Rukunegara principles -- Belief in God -- that NegaraKu has adopted to guard the citizenry forward in nation-building?

If a sizeable proportion of the people share this idea of Agnosticism being sufficient in their daily lives, then from the starting principles, Rukunegara does not serve the country adequately.

So Malaysia, Quo Vadis?