Church that makes sense

'We believe that facing this real and known world with integrity is preferable to yearning for an imaginary and unknown one later on'
'We welcome you . whoever you are, whatever your tradition , gender, race, sexual orientation or age'
' We uphold the free serach for truth. We will not be bound by a statement of belief. We do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed. We say ours is a non - creedal religion. Ours is a free faith'
' We seek to act as a moral force in the world, believing that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion'
' We know that relationships with one another, with diverse peoples, races and nations should be governed by justice, equity and compassion'
' We do not have to think alike to love alike'
' We often say our religion is a religion of deeds more than creeds'
' My life- my argument'

It was such a refreshing feeling to be at the Unitarian Universal Church at Schenectady , New York today. This was my first visit. I had read about this Church but never took the effort to visit.
I did not know what to dress and chose business casual. It was good to see many in jeans and shirts. The sight of children running around and laughing made it more human than ' godly'.
It took a while to get here , for me.

While I admire the courage and intellectual fervor of ' new atheists' like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Chris Hitches , I could not help but feel that , in their anger against organized religion and its forms of dysfunctional manifestations, they were missing all the beauty , serenity, peace , joy, music , comfort and meaning they provide. To be clinical and listen to Gregorian Chants or beautiful Sufi Music and Bhajans by Bhimesen Joshi and ignore the source of such beauty seems crazy.

At the sametime , the prescriptive , overly ritualistic and exclusive nature of most religious traditions and their insistence and heavy reliance on stories composed thousands of years ago to draw meaningful guidance for today's realities seems intellectual surrender to the lowest common denominator.

To have a Church of ' deeds' and not ' creeds' is beautiful .

To demand intellectual meaning in spiritual quest is a rightful demand. To demand true - not perfunctory- openness to the human experience in all its manifestations is a rightful demand. To demand that one should not be asked to give up one's own traditions and all the emotional and spiritual sustenance that provides in order to ' belong' is a rightful demand. The desire to belong a community of fellow- human beings who beleive in all this is a privilege.

This may sound like the passion of a new convert. I have no intention of ever converting to anything that I don't beleive in or can move past when I want to. The great thing about my own Hindu tradition is that there is nothing like ' converting ' to it. You are born one or just make up your mind one day and become one and be free to get out of the wholething whenever you feel like it!!

Let's see how this goes. I went in with some scepticism and came out with a greater level of comfort. Doesn't happen often!!

Long Life - a blessing??

It is easy to overlook the fact that , for the first time in human history, most people consider it normal that one could live easily up to 75-80...not just in the richer nations but also in most other parts of the world except those ravaged by epidemics like AIDS/ genocidal wars.



Living in the US for the past 4 years, I am no longer sure I look forward to that prospect.



The harsh realities of living long- failing health , burden on care-givers and relatives, growing sense of irrelevance, perpetual fear of economic peril - seem to be more and more poignant than the idyllic view of being the ' wise old man/ woman ' sought after for counsel and surrounded by doting grandchildren and children.



Those idyllic views made sense when 'old age' meant 55-65 , when most of one's faculties were functioning and reasonable saving habits would make one self- reliant post- retirement.



Even in India, where it is still politically / socially incorrect to talk about this openly, the ignomity endured in silence by older men and women is tragic.



There are of course few examples of older people making the most of life- often on the covers of AARP magazines and newsletters or on brochures for speciality cruises.



It's equally painful to have the prospect of longevity and its economic implications burdening the enjoyment of daily living as soon as retirement starts ! Even if one is reasonably wealthy and healthy, the reality of declining physical and economic well-being in the face of living till late 80's will make it difficult to enjoy living.



So, what?



My hypothesis is , within the next 10 years- say by 2020, the notion of voluntary cessation of living will assume growing social, cultural , political and legal legitimacy , at least in most of the developed nations. Thought it may sound far fetched today, it will be framed as an issue of' human rights'.



It will perhaps be the most divisive and bitterly contested issue - making Gay rights battle look like innocent indulgence. The religious and cultural unacceptability of this issue will be pittted against the sober economic realism of uncontrolled healthcare and eldercare costs and an equally powerful and compelling compaign by the elderly to choose quality and dignity of life over longevity .



It is not such a novel idea. Some religions prescribe, sanction and revere the choice one may make to end life voluntarily by fasting. Jainism is a very good example.



In all cultures, the notion of giving up life for protecting the dignity of one's tribe/ culture / country is considered noble. War , as a concept, cannot exist without such a notion.



How much of a stretch it is to argue that dignity of one's own living is as important as dignity of one's tribe - particularly when the choice is about one's own life- not others ?



There will be bitter battles on ' how ' even if the ' should ' question gets settled.



I do not see how this cannot become one of the central issues our society has to deal with in the next two decades.



I guess mine will be the first generation to feel the full impact of this issue- whatever be the outcome.