honest religion
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Cadwell NOT Caldwell
Honesty is a religion
[2 minute read ]
Opinion
'Release the hounds!' I called.
They are not real dogs. They are raw thoughts kenneled in my mind. They are savage and cruel but they are tempered and restrained and only the ones with no teeth get through the gate; the tamed ones; the domesticated and the 'chipped'. The rest are culled.
Giving free-rein to thoughts and ideas means letting them breed unfettered in my mind. I, like everyone else, have the capacity to be mean and selfish, to steal intangible emotions, to worry and deny, to coerce and control. Some of us are better at it than others.
The one fundamental truth seemingly shared among all mainstream religions is that we are all imperfect. The overwhelming strategy in line with these religions is to try not to be imperfect. Right there is where I would interject and prise open an obvious crack. Into that gaping hole I would stuff a single maxim; recognise your faults, be honest with yourself. You are far worse than you think you are. You are ruthless in your drive to survive.
I had a conversation with a vicar or minister a few years ago. I mentioned that if aliens came to earth and razed cities we humans would eventually capitulate and if they said 'Worship Us!' there would be billions of people who would. They would be Supreme Beings if they managed to get to Earth and defeat the whole world. The only thing we wouldn't recognise in them is an ability to actually create the world and its flora and fauna, but that may be because they have had no need to demonstrate it. If they had the ability to bring dead animals and plants back to life we would be satisfied that they have god-like powers, or at least spooky powers.
Conquering aliens would need to protect themselves from any potential uprising that could interfere with a status quo that exists hundreds of years from when they might have fabricated a lifestyle for us. They would need to know our truths, and they, no doubt would encourage us to know our own truths too. It is expensive to keep killing people who are untamed. Just like the husbandry of my thoughts, wherein I allow two thoughts to engender another safe one, aliens would only keep honest people on their people-farms for their eugenic husbandry.
Accepting this as being close to a possible future we have no choice but to also accept that we have to be honest with ourselves before we can be honest with others. 'Why do I feel a need to use people as a stepping-ladder?', for example. I don't, it is merely an example question. I don't compete because I get no joy from making people come second or third or last. I don't want to win because someone else always wants it more. I don't want to be in charge of people; I can't even look after animals well.
This kind of thinking is not to everyone's taste and it is difficult to swallow for nigh on everyone who has the capacity to justify their actions and behaviour. Of course, much of what I have outlined is unworkable.
I watch Sally's cat next door wait for her to come back from work and she runs up to her car once she is parked. But, at 6pm is it feeding time?