[thoughts of a burning woman – Sha’Tara]

A question I’ve been wrestling with the last few days:  At what point does faith cross the line into fanaticism?

The more I consider this, the more murky the waters become.   Faith is generally considered to be a great thing.  Fanaticism on the other hand leads to horrors and atrocities.  What I’ve tried to do until now is separate one from the other.  This is faith.  That is fanaticism.

What is faith?  Simply put it means to believe in ‘something’ that possesses an intangible kind of superior power – usually that ‘something’ is called God but it can be anything.  Certainly in today’s world more ‘faith’ is put in numbers that represent the power of money – and how much horror and destruction is the result of man’s slavish devotion to that God?   Another time.

I want to stay with “religious” faith.  The “believing in God” type of faith.  It is only through faith that anyone can believe in God since God is not a logical nor provable concept – if it were you would interact with it naturally without the need for faith. 

So what happens once you believe?  You find yourself immersed mind, body and soul in a totally one-sided relationship within which you exercise no control.  Having entered into such a relationship, you have to obey your God’s law; his every dictate, his every whim.  The only option you have is to refuse and be damned for it.  Not a light burden to bear. 

So, what does he want from you in this obedience?  That depends on your God’s character or attributes. 

If he’s the generic deity conceived of as being absolute love then this would be what he’d want:  That his followers live a kind of life that would mimic or emulate who he is.  You would look at these God  believers and you would feel ashamed of yourself for being such a selfish-thinking person compared to them.  You would see the sincerity and depth of love they have for one another and it would be beyond anything you’d ever seen before.  They would live simple lives full of compassion.  You’d encounter them everywhere sharing their resources and helping others.  They’d never complain no matter how difficult their lives are.  You’d look into it deeper and lo and behold, you’d see miracles as a result of their passage.  You’d find the homeless and other rejects and discards of society in their homes.  If you queried them about political issues, or about money problems, they’d smile at you and ask why you spend time worrying about such silly things when the world is so full of sorrow and one life so short. 

You would watch their children emulating their parents.  They’d be out in the community doing chores for others and helping in whatever way they could.   The older ones would be instructing the younger and any other inclined to listen in.  If you asked these youngsters why they are giving their time helping others rather than indulging in recreational pastimes, playing sports or just hanging out they’d tell it to you straight: it’s how believers are supposed to live and really, it makes me feel good to do this.  It’s not because people think I’m a good kid you see, but because of the way it makes me feel inside.  Nothing else could make me feel this good about myself. 

Understand I’m not speaking of exceptions here, but the norm.  If you asked any of them how they feel about those who disagree with them, or who may make their lives harsh because of misunderstanding or envy, they’d tell the truth: it’s hard to accept but it’s how we must live.  So we endeavour to love our enemies.  And we try to explain or we try to help them. 

You may ask them: What if you were really persecuted because of the way you are, what then?  And they’d all say the same thing:  It’s not for us to determine the course of events.  If society turns against us, it should come as no surprise.  We would accept it, not because we are afraid to fight back but because ‘fighting back’ has never amounted to any significant change and our faith forbids it in any case.  It is endurance that makes us strong in the end.  That is how the world changes.

Strangely those who believe in a generic “God of love” do not act that way.  Even more strange, those who believe in their religion-based God; who consider themselves the only true believers, even less so.  Why?  Because to be successful a religion must have the numbers.  Numbers mean money and money means power.  So the ‘true faith God’ has to cater to basic selfishness in order to keep up his numbers and stay in the Powers’ game of control.

It’s not hard to please this God.  Do your religious thing.  Pay your dues.  Attend meetings.  Accept what you are told without question.  If your Church or Mosque or Temple says God wants you to go to war to kill the enemies of your country or religion, or round up your non-believing neighbours and “put them to the sword” (a favourite divine expression from the Old Testament) you don’t question that.  You do what you’re told and as much as possible, find enjoyment or profit (preferably both) in the performance of your divine duty.  History has clearly shown how true faith expresses on this world.  Current events show nothing has changed. 

Coming back to the title, the problem is in the concept of “faith.”  Faith is a one-side relationship within which the believer is totally dependent upon the object of his faith.  God’s will (whatever that may be, it’s as flexible for those who believe as it is intransigent for those who refuse to!) is not open to discussion.  It is not debatable.   Only religious institutions through their appointed leaders can interpret that will.  It is not open to personal interpretation or understanding without violating the articles of faith.

My conclusion?  Faith can only express through degrees of fanaticism.  I know this experientially.  Many believers of my acquaintance are shocked, outraged, upset, over my claim that I have no soul and that I can ‘bargain’ with God as an equal on any given day; that I should think God and I can sit at our round table and discuss serious issues.  Yet should that not be the most common aspect of being a believer?  Why should it be thought of as blasphemous that someone would develop a working relationship with God?  Because believers arrogate to their institution the sole right to communicate with God.  Those not of their faith who claim such a thing are consorting with demons, or at best, are delusional.

How big a step is it now, given the parameters of power necessary for religious institutions to ‘sick’ their followers upon those blasphemers and send them to hell through persecution and genocide?  Not big at all, just a slight shift in the power structure.

So, what prompted this?  An exchange with a very, shall I say, passionate person regarding the faith.  No matter what I do now, since I refuse to tip-toe through the tulips of religion’s thorny garden, I am utterly lost.  Since I reject ‘the faith’ then I have to be speaking for the Devil.  If I dedicate my life to serving others, it’s because subconsciously seduced by the Devil I promote an agenda of destruction towards the ‘true ’ faith. 

But here’s my greatest crime.  I defend a person who after waiting upon God for personal healing and getting nowhere turned to ‘familiar’ spirits and found healing from them.  This person is wrong, case closed.  If God won’t heal you, then you have but one option: to die… as Hemingway might aptly have put it… alone, in the rain.  This person is going to hell, but I even more so for agreeing with his choices, supporting ‘what works’ rather than tradition or faith.

How far, say in the last two thousand years, have Earthians come in understanding of their personal responsibility to life?  In terms of true compassion?  In terms of self-empowerment allowing them to make their own choices based on logic and common sense rather than following the dictates of their institutions and their institutional Gods? 

Of the inauguration of at least two world-class religions; of the great constitutional promises of freedom and equality; of religious reformation; of ‘liberal’ churches; of ‘liberal’ governments; of social revolutions intended to make this world a better place in which to live, what can be said? 

This:  it’s been a catastrophic failure fuelled by faith bathed in bloodshed and unimaginable violence against nature and the helpless.