Disclaimer: This post does not condone to any sort of religion in particular and are based entirely on my views. I express my deepest apologies in advance if this post hurts anyone reading it.
I saw The Exorcist yesterday. It's touted to be one of the scariest movies of all times! And well, since I've always been game for a scary movie, I decided to watch it alone. Unfortunately, I found that the movie did not scare me as much as I'd expected it to. It all comes down to the person watching it, I suppose. As an Advaitin, I follow the principles that there is no absolute Good or Evil and that if something exists, it's because we perceive it. I've has so many friends who've tried to get me to fear the Evil One and have also gone as far as saying I'm an idolater. I have no issues with people having their own version of Good and Evil. But when someone decides to push their views onto me, that's when I really get wild.
Abrahmic religions have such a wealth of wisdom that there are times when I find no wonder in believing that the world's most practiced religion happens to be one derived from the same source. But then, there are times when I wonder why people of a particular religion would have to torment followers of another just for the sake of proving them wrong? I'm talking about centuries of torment, stigma and hatred that people of the Church had for anyone who did not follow them. I really doubt if the Inquisitors of the Dark Ages are really in Heaven at this moment. But then again, according to me, there is no Heaven and Hell... just complete realization of the Truth. Maybe this is why I find it extremely difficult to have Horror movies affect me too much. Sure, I get the inital chills and then I have my spiritual Guru (Swami Vivekanada) kick me in the rear and warn me that there is no absolute evil and all of it is subjective, and then I smile.
The second thing that got to me is the fact that how the Church had taken it upon themselves to demonize almost any deity that stood as an opposition to their progress! Coming to think of it, Ishtal, Baal, Ra, Kali and numerous other gods who were portrayed as deceivers. But to give the early church it's due, the Christians were also pretty much persecuted by the Jews and the Roman Empire, so it could all have been done in the mode of revenge. Though I understand their emotions of wanting others to see how wrong they are, it would've helped them to actually try seeing things from the other's point of view. Oh well, that's water under the bridge now, isn't it?
Anyway, if one were to ask me, I'd say people were a lot close minded in the Dark ages and it's sad that their lack of understanding (or their blatant refusal to try) has painted many philosophies with the dark taint of Evil. If only they could've understood that everything leads to the same destination and that everyone was getting there in their own way...
P.S. I found the demon's name Pazuzu from the Exorcist too funny to be scared... poor dude, if he were in India, he'd be teased like there's no tomorrow. For, you see, pazuzu rhymes with kakkoozu. And Kakkoozu means... well... google it out, why don't you? :) Oh, and Pazuzu was once again an Assyrian deity who was later "demonized".
Abrahmic religions have such a wealth of wisdom that there are times when I find no wonder in believing that the world's most practiced religion happens to be one derived from the same source. But then, there are times when I wonder why people of a particular religion would have to torment followers of another just for the sake of proving them wrong? I'm talking about centuries of torment, stigma and hatred that people of the Church had for anyone who did not follow them. I really doubt if the Inquisitors of the Dark Ages are really in Heaven at this moment. But then again, according to me, there is no Heaven and Hell... just complete realization of the Truth. Maybe this is why I find it extremely difficult to have Horror movies affect me too much. Sure, I get the inital chills and then I have my spiritual Guru (Swami Vivekanada) kick me in the rear and warn me that there is no absolute evil and all of it is subjective, and then I smile.
The second thing that got to me is the fact that how the Church had taken it upon themselves to demonize almost any deity that stood as an opposition to their progress! Coming to think of it, Ishtal, Baal, Ra, Kali and numerous other gods who were portrayed as deceivers. But to give the early church it's due, the Christians were also pretty much persecuted by the Jews and the Roman Empire, so it could all have been done in the mode of revenge. Though I understand their emotions of wanting others to see how wrong they are, it would've helped them to actually try seeing things from the other's point of view. Oh well, that's water under the bridge now, isn't it?
Anyway, if one were to ask me, I'd say people were a lot close minded in the Dark ages and it's sad that their lack of understanding (or their blatant refusal to try) has painted many philosophies with the dark taint of Evil. If only they could've understood that everything leads to the same destination and that everyone was getting there in their own way...
P.S. I found the demon's name Pazuzu from the Exorcist too funny to be scared... poor dude, if he were in India, he'd be teased like there's no tomorrow. For, you see, pazuzu rhymes with kakkoozu. And Kakkoozu means... well... google it out, why don't you? :) Oh, and Pazuzu was once again an Assyrian deity who was later "demonized".
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