Whose Heaven, Whose Hell?

Ogoh-Ogoh

Well, we're back from Bali with a trunk-load of pork, a bottle of 3-year-old Cuban rum and a handful of Cubano cigars.  Time to catch up on this here blog.

It's Hindu New Year, the thrid of five New Year celebrations in Indonesia, and Bali is shutting down tomorrow for the Day of Silence.  All electricity is shut off, no one leaves the house, there are ogoh-ogoh everywhere and fruit offerings in front of houses to placate the jin.  The airport stops operating this evening and basically the entire island slips back a few centuries for 24 hours.  Roads were being shut down for cleansing/blessing ceremonies as we left the hotel en route to the airport.  Even the TeeVee networks interrupted their schedules to broadcast Hindu prayers at noon.

If I take anything away from this trip to Bali and the Disney-fication of Southeast Asia, it is the stark lines of demarcation of religion in Indonesia.  It is a rather interesting case, perhaps somewhat analogous to the Bible Belt in the US, where joyless Baptists hold sway over social and political life.

The oldest known treaty between a European power and people in the archipelago is signified by a carved stone now residing in a museum in the Old Town of Jakarta.  On it, the king of Sunda granted Portugal free harbor at Tanjung Pluit in exchange for protection against the Muslim hordes attacking from central Java.  Thus, the name Jakarta - or Jaya Karta - which means "Free City".

Of course, now about 80% of the population in Indonesia profess to be Muslim, including the Sunda, but there are pockets on various islands where other religions hold sway.  There is also the Indonesian Constitution, which grants full legal status to five religions - Islam, Hindu, Catholic, Christian, and Buddhism.

Despite the pretense to religious tolerance and moderation, there is even at this moment violent protests about an hour outside of Jakarta in a tow called Bekasi, where Muslims are being tear gassed as they protest the building of a new Catholic church.

In fact, the country is starkly divided by religion.  The northern Sumateran region of Aceh is under strict Muslim law (Shari'a) and people are beaten severely when unmarried men and women get too close to each other.

Bali is the last remaining predominantly Hindu region, which used to cover Java and southern Sumatera, as well.    Muslim animosity towards Hinduism is a very ancient problem, with millions of Hindu being murdered over the centuries for their beliefs, and ultimately leading to the separation of India and Pakistan, and the on-going tensions in the Punjab and Kush regions.

East Timor is predominantly Catholic, which led to its secession from Indonesia and the violent attempt to crush the half-island.  Well over 200,000 people were slaughtered by Muslim forces under Soeharto in the 1970s.

Northern Sulawesi is also predominantly Catholic, as is Papua and nearby neighbor the Philippines.  Papua has famously had secessionist movements flare up over the years, as they fight perceived oppression and impoverishment by a Muslim-dominated central government.

Here in Jakarta, an historic event took place several years ago when an ethnic Chinese Christian commonly called "Ahok" became governor of the DKI Jakarta province.  Not only is it historic because of his ethnicity - ethnic Chinese are generally reviled in Indonesia - but also because he is Christian.  It is a well-known fact that non-Muslims will not rise to political power, nor even leadership positions in the various state-owned companies (persero).  Ahok has been under near-constant attack for the past few months, trying to unseat him in the upcoming election.

Not only has the attack on Ahok been entirely fabricated, the attempt to unseat him is almost entirely based on religious bias and fabricated evidence, and certainly not on the efficacy of his administration, which has overseen a vast reduction in corruption and a general clean-up of the city.

Although quieter, there are long-standing resentments that have simmered across the country.  There are dozens of indigenous religions that predate any of the five recognized and "protected" imports.  These religions have no protection, no status and no support from any faction.  When found, these ancient religions are persecuted with impunity, since they have no legal recognition nor protection.  They occasionally attempt to get status, but at the best and most benign level, are simply ignored.

Finally, there are the various factions of Islam in Indonesia that are constantly bickering and occasionally violent.  Indonesia is predominantly Shafi'i Sunni, Most of the Shia live in and around Jakarta, and there are some small pockets of Ahmadi Muslims in Java and other islands.

The Ahmadi are the most persecuted, with incidences of persecution that go as far as murder, while being displaced is not unusual, either.

The fact of the matter is that most Indonesians are peaceful, tolerant people who could care less what anyone else does, as long as they don't impinge on the languid life in the tropics.  Unfortunately, as in many countries (including the US), it is the noisy intolerant folks that take over the podium.  The most annoying incident of this intolerance is the month of Ramadhan, when everyone is expected to respect Muslim religious observances.

This forced respect is limited only to the Muslims.  Neither the Christians nor Catholics force anyone to defer to their Lenten practices.  The Hindu of Bali require everyone to adhere to the Day of Silence, but it is blissfully limited to a single day of the year and incidents of violence against non-participants are rare.  In fact, a certain latitude is granted to hotels and other places where tourists stay.

The point of all this is that the mix of religion with politics, even in a nominally secular country, is particularly volatile.  At some point or another, all religions have been guilty of violent purges of competing views and ideas.  The very nature of religion is to spread itself in order to justify its intolerance.  After all, if a religion were to be the last one standing, it would perforce claim that its methods were correct by virtue of the outcome.

Religion is infectious.  It has pathological effects on reason and tolerance.  It is the concept of religion itself, more than any particular incarnation of it that causes so much damage.  What's worse is that all religion claims to have the only means to achieve eternal afterlife - a claim which can never be proven or disproven, and therefore can never be guaranteed by or to anyone.

The right of folks to believe anything they want is absolute, provided they extend the same courtesy to everyone else.  Muslims are only the latest in a long line of folks to steal the podium.  It is time for more rational minds to take the lead amongst the faithful.  Everyone should be free to believe (or not believe) whatever they wish.  If a religion wants converts, it should be able to find them by providing an example of its beliefs, not by forcing others to profess membership.

A religion, or any other system of belief, does not win when folks are forced to follow.  People will say almost anything to avoid violence, and thus professing belief out of fear is not belief at all.

The Reed That Bends

At one time, academia was a "safe zone" where thinkers and researchers could speak truth to authority in the sacred pursuit of Truth.  Today, universities are setting up "safe zones" where students are protected from the Truth, and the trend is to turn entire campuses into these "zones of ignorance."

It is not so much the willful stupidity behind this calcification of higher education - anyone who wants a real education can find the books easily enough - but that it implies the imminent collapse of society.

Any structural engineer can tell you that the more rigid a building is, the more likely it is to collapse due to earthquake or strong winds.  Throughout history and within the context of the natural sciences, those groups and species that were the most rigidly locked to their environment were the ones least likely to survive a catastrophe.  Whether it is a single construct, society or an entire phylum, the more rigid it is, the more susceptible it is to extinction.

We have seen corporations, empires and civilizations vanish almost overnight because they could not adapt to new realities.  The phenomenon is related to the old proverb that 'the tighter you squeeze, the more sand slips through your fingers.'

This near-certainty of collapse is why people who study history don't really worry about such things as political or social systems.  Those that become overly rigid and authoritarian are doomed to fail for the simple reason that they can't adapt.  The one thing that is certain in this Universe is that things change - environments, circumstances, events.  There are forces beyond the control of even the most powerful systems.  No system or organization can control every variable, and at key points in history, even the smallest factors can lead to major shifts, a tautology known as the "butterfly effect."

While it is frustrating, even dangerous, to live through the rise and fall of rigid systems, it is a fact that they will fail.  It is the hubris of those running the systems that make them blind to their own doom.

In nature, we see entire species that become so finely adapted to their environment that even the slightest change can wipe them out.  Unable to cope with change fast enough, the new variables overwhelm the species and they vanish.  We can see this plainly in the Younger Dryas epoch.  In the space of 500 years, the climate went from glacial to tropical worldwide.  Almost instantly, in geological terms, half the megafauna of Earth were wiped out, due entirely to their inability to adapt to whatever changes caused such a major change.  This is the rule, not the exception.

These types of examples apply at both the micro and macro levels.  Whether we are talking about mom-and-pop businesses, or Lehman Brothers, it is not the size but the rigidity in the system that causes collapse.

What we are witnessing today is the calcification of many of society's institutions.  The more control that is exerted over the way people think and act, the more likely the system is to collapse.  It may seem tediously slow when one is in the middle of these types of changes, but in historic terms, it will seem amazingly fast, much as the fall of Roman or Mongol empires seems to students of history now.

Some time back, we wrote about the inherent mistake in the thinking of "preppers."  They almost universally tend to lay in vast amounts of supplies and expect to be able to ride out massive changes in the environment in their homes.  Yet, we recently saw the error in this thinking when Hurricane Matthew came along.  If one is running from an oncoming storm, it is impractical, if not impossible, to carry all those supplies.  Thus, most of the effort and expense of prepping was wasted due to rigidity of thinking.

Everything comes to an end, and the less flexible something is, the more likely and swift will be the collapse.  The massive efforts to surveil and control large populations, and to narrow their thinking through social institutions are doomed to fail.  It is the very rigidity with which these systems seek to control humanity that is the seed of their destruction.  The more rigid they become, the easier they are to topple.

Since the earliest records of civilization, we see that the human condition and nature has barely changed, despite massive leaps in philosophy and technology.  We are pretty much the same creatures our distant ancestors were.  Therefore, all these systems that deny the very nature of humanity can never succeed, because nature always overcomes or it dies because of its failure to adapt.  Those who survive are the ones most open to all possibilities and do not artificially limit their thinking to imposed sets of rules.

We are in a time of great change at every level.  All of the institutions that are doomed to fail are reacting by becoming more rigid, since that is the only response of which they can conceive.  In 50 years, we today will hardly recognize what the world has become.  Those who will survive are the ones least locked into dogmatic thinking.

Think of the difference between when your body is stiff and achy, versus when you are limber and flexible.  In which shape would you prefer to be if a wild animal is running straight for you?

It applies to the mind, as well.

NO ONE Expects The Inquisition!

Before I launch into today's tirade, I want to express heart-felt gratitude to George Ure (urbansurvival.com) and Dr. Henry Makow (savethemales.com), who both put up a link to this blog the other day. I got about a month's worth of traffic in one day and made $5! Both of the above sites are linked in the sidebar under 'More Good Reading.' Thank you, gentlemen!

Now, on to the matter at hand.

There seems to be a cycle in religions, where every thousand years or so, there's a purge and reform kick.

The Roman Catholic church (as opposed to the Irish and Othodox flavors) went through such things twice, though the second time was a bit more civil. The original Inquisition, which focused primarily on Spain, was enacted to purify the faith after the invasion of the Moors from Africa. It was a powerful movement and it was not afraid to use violence, torture and coersion to get what it wanted. It also got a little out of hand.

It was also fighting this new thing called 'science,' that dared to defy the church's dictates by, look shocked, observing the real world.

I know that last bit is terrifying. If people started looking at the real world, it would undermine faith, destroy governments and topple the New/Old/Middle World Order. We just can't have that.

Galileo was tortured, excommunicated and kept under house arrest until his death because he would not recant his simple observation: there are things in the Universe that do not revolve around Earth. (gasp!)

Buddhism has undergone schisms and upheavals. There are as many sects of Buddhism as there are Buddhists, it seems. In Thailand alone, there are the forest monks that practice a certain way, and there are the 'other' monks who do their thing. The Zen and Tao schools are offshoot attempts to purify the faith. Nicheren in Japan was a heretic, whose monasteries still survive, though he didn't. (nam myoho renge kyo)

Now, it appears that Islam is facing the same impulse. There are the dominant sects: shi'ite and sunni, but there are also minority sects, such as the Indian version called 'ahmadiyyah.' Indonesia is primarily Sunni, with a significant portion of Shi'ites, and a tiny minority of Ahmadiyah.

Now, if you are not up to date on Islamic sects, allow me to try to boil it down. The Sunni, which is short for an Arabic expression meaning, 'people of the way,' believe they are of the purest observance. They constitute that majority of Muslims worldwide.

Shi'ites, or shia muslims, are 'the followers of Ali.' They believe that members of Muhammad's family have a special standing and holiness that is above others. It is similar in concept to the Levite priests of the Hebrews, in that a genetic link to a certain family brings aditional power and holiness.

The Ahmadiyya are followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), an Indian Muslim who claimed to have been the messiah foretold in the Qur'an.

Add to this mix a group that calls itself the FPI. They are a self-appointed group of fanatical purists here in Indonesia who perceive themselves as the 'cleansing force,' the purifiers whose job it is to straighten out anyone who doesn't believe or doesn't follow the straight and narrow. The FPI are notorious for 'raiding' nightclubs and brothels, and beating the living crap out of anyone caught in the grips of iniquity.

Their power rests largely in fear and intimidation, and because of sympathizers within government who are unwilling/unable to control them. In fact, just yesterday, the FPI met with the National Police and said in no uncertain terms that if the Ahmadiyyah are not banned completely, they will revolt against the government, topple the PTB and cause all kinds of havoc and mayhem.

The National Police thanked them for their input.

A couple of years ago, the Ahmadiyyah were banned from openly practicing their religion, so they took it underground. Obviously, the FPI was able to cram through legislation that violates the country's consitution.

That, apparently, was not enough, since last week a mob of around 1,000 men beat and stabbed four Ahmadis to death in eastern Java. The leader, though videotaped, has not been identified and no one had seen him before the morning of the mob scene, when he was giving out blue arm bands and insiting a riot.

The just stinks of the Palindrome Man's colorful revolutions. The Palindrome Man loves to take existing divisions and stir the pot a bit, but that's an argument for another time.

Two days later, a mob showed up to a Muslim boarding school and proceeded to beat the crap out of a handful of students and a couple of security guards. The school is Sunni, but the clerics who run it are suspected of being sympathetic to Shia.

Another incident involved a Christian man, who was accused of blasphemy (yes, it's against the law), and subsequently found guilty. A group of folks thought the sentence was too light and proceeded to burn down a couple of churches and beat a few people silly.

It appears to the untrained eye that the Sunni and Shia can agree that other sects are heretical, but abscent other groups to unify over, then they take to beating each other up. This is well in evidence in the Middle East, both in years past and in recent events.

People are always afraid of change, and some take it to extremes. There's also the power factor. The dominant group sees its power and influence being leached away by schismatic factions, and they react with hate and intolerance, usually violent, to prevent the downsizing of their bloc.

We saw this with the Catholic church, which ruled Europe with an iron fist for centuries. The kings of other countries couldn't be seated without the blessing of the pope. That's power. But, as we all know, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The Roman church began a series of wars as a means of social control, that we commonly call the Crusades. When that wasn't enough, and people began to react against such things, it created (or at least sanctioned) the Inquisition, which was not afraid to use horrific devices and means of torture to extract 'confessions' of heresy. The 'confessors' were then purified by bar-b-queing them on stakes.

Eventually, christianity broke into a million pieces with groups disagreeing about how many angels could fit on the head of a pin, or whether Jesus owned his clothes.

The whole Middle East situation is predicated on the presumption that a man named Abraham, or Ibrahim, had two wives, and each of them had a son. Isaac went on to head up the Hebrews and Ismael went off to the east and became the ancestor of the Arabs and other semitic peoples, now predominantly Muslim. Each claims rightful decendency from Abraham/Ibrahim, and each is willing to slaughter the other to prove it.

It does set up a rather interesting irony: the Israelis bombing Palestine into the Stone Age is actually a supreme act of anti-semitism, which they are always accusing everyone else of being who criticize the 'jews' or Israwl's despicable treatment of the Palestinians.

So, what it comes down to, is that the Inquisition of the Catholic church, or the Salem witch hunts, or McCarthey-ism, actually caused more damage than it repaired, because ultimately people were reviled by the torture and the abuses in the name of purification.

The FPI and their brethern could tear a page from that experience. Violent opposition usually has the opposite effect, causing people to take up the cause of the underdog, out of sheer sympathy, if nothing else.

The Prophet, Jesus, Buddha: they all preached peace and forgiveness. Jesus was slaughtered by the jews in an act of cleansing, because he dared to preach against the established order. The reaction of the jews created a movement that has lasted 2,000 years.

Is that really what Islamic reformers want? Why not lead by example? You draw more flies with suger than with salt. Perhaps living the word of the Qur'an might attract more, and better attention thatn mob justice, beatings and arson.

Fear and intimidation only go so far, but they usually create an equal and opposite reaction. The FPI could be sewing the seeds of its own destruction with their intolerance and violence. They might want to consider, just for a moment, a Buddhist concept called, 'kharma.' What goes around comes around. People who convert of their own free will are more likely to be true believers and good followers.

Something to consider when you're out there with torches and pitchforks.

Something Jesus said is rather appropriate, as well. 'Before you go to clean the dirt from your brother's eye, first remove the dirt that is blinding your own.'

Nihil Novi Sub Sole

Yup, nothing new under the sun.

Once upon a time, there was a great stand-up philosopher (sorry Mel) by the name of Tom Lehrer. He was known for putting complex ideas into simple, and hilarious, focus. Exemplii gratis:

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Muslims,
And everybody hates the Jews.

But during National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,
It's National Everyone-smile-at-one-another-hood Week.
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you.
It's only for a week, so have no fear.
Be grateful that it doesn't last all year!

I used to live in a predominantly Jewish country (Merica), but now I live in a predominantly Islamic country. So I think that gives me a rather good perspective when it comes to today's topic: Ramadan.

Before I start my rant, I just want to say that I have no horse in this race. What my beliefs are, are strictly my own. From what I see, all major religions have, at their cores, the same ideology and more or less the same roadmap to getting There. They all preach love, peace and brotherhood at the point of a sword, as far as I can see (with the possible exception of Buddhists). They all idolize one or two people who achieved apotheosis using their roadmap. They all sponsor a priefcraft and have secret rituals and handshakes to distinguish themselves from the Others.

For the sake of disclosure, I was raised Roman Catholic (different from those Other Catholics), and they worship a guy who is God On Earth through the sacriment of pedophilia. You can see why I got out of that one.

Anyway, I am happy to let everyone believe as they please as long as they don't force it on me. For that reason, I take some exception with groups who aggressively try to make me see their basic goodness. I have been to churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques. I have listened to the arguments and I have a few good ones myself. As far as I can see, they all exist for two reasons: to take your money, and to convert more pockets.

With all that being said, I find Islam to be one of the noisiest religions around. During most of the year, the local masjid broadcasts the prayers and sermons from loudspeakers six times a day, beginning at the crack of dawn and going until sundown. However, during Ramadan, there is a new level of noise that is positively off the scale.

Don't get me wrong. Christians are pretty darned noisy. At their quietest, the churches ring bells during the day, but somehow that just doesn't rise to the level of off-key, half-asleep croaking voices amped to Kingdom Come and bellowing at 4 a.m. for half an hour every day. And yes, there are the Benny Hinns and Pat Robertsons who worship the god Media, and its Only Begotten Son, Wealth. They are a noisy lot, but they come with an off-switch, or at least you can change the channel, because most folks have long since forgotten there is an off-switch.

Jews are pretty danged noisy, as well. When no one pays attention to the them or thinks their whole 'Holocaust' thing is wearing thin, they start lobbing bombs around. They also innundate Merican media. You can't watch a single show without a token Jew making self-depreciating jokes. But, I have never found anything quite like Islam.

What brings all this up, besides my profound lack of sleep right now, is that Ramadan began yesterday, and in a country composed of about 80% muslims, that means we are all part of the fun. Why, just last night, there was a quiet parade of drummers through the neighborhood at 2:30 a.m., chanting and banging up and down the alleyways. Just as I was dozing again, the loudspeaker came alive, though the voice on it sounded like he could use a little sleep, as well. That was followed by the 5 a.m. round, which will be followed in turn every two hours today, and repeat again tonight for the next 30 days.

I'm all for fasting and purification. Do it myself, but I keep it to myself. The Christians have Lent, which is basically the same thing, but it's up to the individual and they don't spend a lot of effort telling everyone about it. Heck, here the restaurants cover their windows during the day with curtains and people avoid eating and drinking in public. Even bars, where no self-respecting muslim should be anyway, they serve in coffee mugs this month, in case the door should open and a thirsty muslim should happen to catch a glimpse inside. All they would see is a bunch of people sipping tea.

If you want an idea of what it's like, go into a traditional Catholic church on Good Friday and notice all the idols are covered in purple cloth. Now imagine that throughout an entire country, only with food.

Jakarta is pretty cosmo, so there's still pockets of normalcy around, but places like Aceh are off the scale. There, the police go around and check that NO ONE is eating or preparing food before sundown. If they find someone eating, they check your ID. If you are muslim, Allah help you. If you are some other word, they tell you to beat it. Outside the big city, most food places just shut down during the day. There are a precious few where you can get some vittles and the way you tell is by looking at the door. If it is just slightly ajar, you can grab a bite there.

Here's how it works. Muslims begin fasting with the helical New Moon using some ancient formula to calculate the month. By the Gregorian calendar, that month changes each year, but it's generall around the second half of the year. From the minute the sun peeks over the horizon (you know all those minarets around mosques...yeah) until it sets again, the muslim may not eat or drink for 30 days. That extends to swallowing your own saliva.

In practice, that also means that no one else may eat or drink either, since they don't want to see the rest of us enjoying our lives at this time of solemnity. The whole thing culminates with Idul Fitri, which I'll get to in about 28 days.

It makes teaching just a little challenging. I usually keep a bottle of water handy, because when you talk for 8 to 10 hours a day, you need a little lubrication. I have to invent all sorts of novel ways to drink without drinking. Also, you are facing a room full of kids who, well you know the Roadrunner cartoons where Coyote looks at him and he turns to a well-roasted and garnished dish? You get the idea.

And yes, even kids are expected to follow the program. Not to mention, we are all seriously sleep-deprived, so if I manage to say something coherent, the chances are it doesn't stick to anything in the audience.

So, to say I am a little annoyed as I write this should be, at the least, understandable. I like my sleep and I like to eat and drink and be merry (if at all possible). Islam was forced on Indonesia a few hundred years ago by Arab invaders, so it's not like it's a home-grown religion or something. Granted, I could live with the Hindus in Bali or the Christians in Sulawesi or central Sumatra, or I don't have to live here at all. For the that reason, I just keep my mouth shut and do as the Romans. To each their own.

What's interesting to me, though, is that even though everyone is supposedly fasting, the parade of food vendors continues, even now, hawking bread and soup and vegetables. It reminds me of an anecdote from years ago in another lifetime.

I had gone to a cousin's wedding, who happened to be Baptist. I was joined by my rather brash Wife #2. At the reception, she rather loudly queried, "What? No beer?" To which my aunt replied, "Honey, we're Baptists. We don't drink in front of each other."

And that pretty much sums up how I see the whole religion thing.

I do have one last point though. What is it with Jews and Muslims? They both regard Abraham as the father of their peoples (OK, different sons, but c'mon), they both have elaborate genital mutilation rituals (circumcision), they both wear beanies and shawls to pray, and they both shun pork and other critters as food. In fact, about the only substantial difference is the name of God/Allah/Yahweh. So for that reason alone, the rest of the world has to put up with all the saber-rattling and name-calling. Can't we all just get along?

As John Cleese might say at this point, "And now for something completely different."