What is the past but the guiding light of our future? That is not to say that what has taken place in the past is a reflection of what will happen in the future. No. Time is rather a filter, a weeding-out process if you will, that can only function as such if we arm ourselves with our reason and the basic human instinct that refrains us from repeating our mistakes.

Time, and space, is a trial and error run for humanity to test out its ideas and logic and the corollaries that follow, perhaps towards the attainment of a certain end: an enlightened state, a utopia – perfection perhaps – or whatever end we may wish to attain. A justification, sometimes implicit and at times, more dangerously, tacit, for inactivity and passiveness that is rampant in today’s world is the belief that perfection is intangible and immaterial and hence unattainable: simply one of those delusional artistic human abstractions. I agree that at this point, bearing in mind our world and its ‘manufactured’ complexity that is only there to induce the notion of futility and helplessness in us, perfection might be nothing but an abstraction: a thought reflecting our over-ambitious desires and aspirations. But I refuse to take part in this induced defeat. Throwing up our hands and selling ourselves short; ourselves along with all those who have come before us and have fought (violently at times, unfortunately) to provide posterity with a ‘better’ world, is hardly a solution. I find it only appropriate to quote from one of the most vibrant and artistic films I have ever seen; a film that has certainly added to my view of the world a radically philosophical and artistic, and hence very human, perspective.

“The world is an exam to see if we could rise into the direct experiences. Our eyesight is here as a test to see if we could see beyond it. Matter is here as a test for our curiosity. Doubt…for our vitality”.  - Waking Life

I would be lying if I said that perfection is something that I feel we will attain, because I am not sure if we ever will. But I do believe that a way out is to conduct ourselves, with the help of our reasoning powers, in a helpful manner and not in a harmful one. I am not the equation, but part of the equation. My existence isn’t an existence onto itself. It is an existence that is complemented by other existences. Rather, I am an addition to the collective existence that makes up humanity. It is my firmest belief that while we exist as individuals, each and every one of us is there for the collective good. The corollary is obvious – that we should conduct ourselves as such.

My mother once told me that religion is “akhlak wa moa’amala” which is the Arabic equivalent of “ethics and treatment”. Put otherwise, religion is nothing but a set of ethics that should not go unscrutinized, and a manner in which we treat others. This message is not derived from only one religious book but is in fact common to all religions. It is explained somewhere or another amidst all the unimportant details (unimportant by virtue of not withstanding critical reason) that religious textbooks are replete with, and that goes to the effect of - “Treat others as you would have them treat you”. Put otherwise it is called the principle of universality which says that we apply to ourselves the same standards we apply to others, if not more stringent ones. In other words, what is good for others is good for us, what is bad for others is bad for us. Simple, concise and succinct. This not only constitutes a form of “just war theory” as Chomsky puts it, but can be agreed upon, however subjective we can get, to be an objective political principle. It is a truism not only in personal affairs but even in international relations.

I feel it is time for us to rethink our religions and criticize institutions that push for them. That is not to say that we should repudiate our beliefs and our traditions and teachings. No. There is much to be learnt from all religions. There is much wisdom in them, and much more drivel. Each and every religion was written the way it was written in order to make it more appealing to its contemporaneous peoples; it was written to fit a certain time, a certain people with all their propensities and perhaps most importantly to fit the geo-political happenings of the time. At this point in time, I feel it is nigh for us to extract from our religions, which are replete with very similar ideas if not identical ones, everything that would help us and guide us in our journey towards understanding and attaining a better world. A world that we can agree upon without much difficulty if we are to accept the principle of universality. It is time that we left behind all that deprives us of practicing and preaching that in our lives. To borrow from Auden, it is time for us to love each other, or simply….perish.