Quiet

There are a few taboos that you're not supposed to talk about so flippantly; politics, sex, and religion. I typically adhere to this when I'm in a group and I don't know all the parties too well -- I'm mortified by the thought of being rude... well, when it's not intentional...

Stay focused, Shibu. ... My personal ideology is bit like Jello. I can see it. I've gone through phases of craving it and other phases when I didn't think too much of it. It isn't very easy to describe and explain to others. The flavor might work for some, it might not work for others. It's really just a single serving for me and consensus by others isn't a factor on whether it holds merit.

It's also malleable. That's probably the most important factor my ideology serves for me. I want to continuously be open to ideas and concepts that make sense. I'm somewhat arrogant and I'd like to believe that I have it all figured out or that I've found an outlined path that is empirically true -- so I try to curb that as much as possible. My lifetime has been less than a blink compared to the existence of the earth. I've seen about .1% of the world. So I try to steer from beliefs as that would feed into my ego and instead I've built a set of ideas. Things that I believe are important. Things that I should hope define my core. However, as much as I might agree with some of these ideas, I want to be open to the possibility of re-thinking any of these ideas given new information.

A personal relationship with God makes sense to me. I respect organized religion. I believe that it serves as a pillar for countless individuals and, almost always, serves as a tool that engenders a positive impact to a community. However, like all tools, it can be used for questionable motives as well.

Leave it to a few yahoos to ruin the party for everyone. The responsibility and honor of acting as a interpreter/speaker for any religion is immense. The vast majority of occupants in these roles execute their position with the utmost integrity and honesty. However, while I believe that man is generally good, I also believe that man is inherently flawed. Not broken, just a work-in-progress. Therefore a person that acts as a go-between or even a resource to help me better define my relationship with God... I've always been a bit hesitant to accept that with open arms.


There is a lot of debate between those that believe in a higher power and those that do not. Historians have cited scripture. Science has been used as a irrefutable witness... by both sides. The debate used to interest me, but, in my estimation, it's a futile exercise. People may be able to "prove" that something in the Bible or Koran is factually inconsistent, but should that remove all merit from the text? I see books of scripture not as books of fact, but books of faith. As such, there is nothing to prove true or false.

People sometimes ask, "do you believe in God?" I've augmented the question a bit... "given the choice, would you prefer to find out that God exists or God doesn't exist? If you could open a door and you'd see God or nothing, which would you prefer?" That question (yes, technically two questions, but really just restating the first) is pretty easy for me to answer, but it's also irrelevant. Faith isn't about being right. Faith is knowing what's behind the door without having to open it.