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BACK | god & religion Summary | god & religion Full | Mentomatics | Editor Comments | My Beliefs on Religion | Godly Zones |
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Chapter-wise Summary of my Book on God |
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Chapter wise Summaries
Chapter 6 The Method of God and Religion- The Deadly Side Effect Chapter 7 Flaw in the Method – the Faith Trap Chapter 8 The Greatest Human Mistake Chapter 9 Other Consequences of the Great Human Mistake Chapter 10 Need for a Fresh Look
Chapter wise Summaries
Chapter 1 Foreword
We all wish to achieve, succeed and be happier in life. We all have our own philosophies of what is the secret behind success. We have our own faiths and beliefs. Some believe in God, some in destiny, some in fortune and luck. There are yet others who believe that it all depends solely on your own self. These theories and beliefs fall in the realm of mental or spiritual space, as opposed to our familiar physical space.
Whereas advances in Science have helped explain the laws of physical forces, the author believes that there is a domain of mental or spiritual forces which is still a complete mystery. It is only that we are in a different time zone in these spaces – whereas we have gone through the stone age ad the dark age in physical space and come to space age, we are still in the dark age of spiritual space.
This chapter tries to prepare the reader for what is to follow. The book merely presents a hypothesis by comparing the history of physical space with the mental space. It proposes that the phenomenon of god, religion, fate and destiny are phenomena in the spiritual space which will be explained just as the physical phenomena of eclipse. Aurora, wind and light got explained in the physical space.
Though the book explains what is God and Religion, the objective of the book is not to explain what is God. The purpose of the book is to delve into what God is not. The book explains how the concepts of God and religion must have originated and how they got distorted and misunderstood. It also prepares the reader for some major shake-up in the age old beliefs that may be strongly ingrained in the readers and may be in for a shake-up.
Chapter 2
This chapter puts forth the basic analogy between the physical and the spiritual space and science. The book suggests that just as there is a xyz physical space with xyz as its coordinates, there is a mental space with feelings as its coordinates. Similar to the potential energy in the physical space, there is mental energy in the mental space. Every human being has a mental energy which depends on the measure of his feelings. In other words, depending on the measure of the feelings, every human being occupies a unique place in the mental space and according to his position, has a mental energy within him. Just as we live in the physical space, we also live in a mental space. Just as there are physical forces and physical energy, we are influenced by mental forces and mental energy in the mental space. The only difference is that whereas we can measure exactly the forces and energy in the physical space, we do not know how to measure our mental forces and mental energies.
This chapter also moots the idea of God – just as an object has high or low potential energy in the physical space, in the mental space, every human can be at different energy levels or zones depending on the measure of his or her feelings. It is possible to move in this space to an extremely high energy which the author calls “Godly Zones”. Attaining God is nothing but reaching these high energy “godly zones” in the mental space. The book proposes that the greats like Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, etc. attained God by reaching these Godly zones.
Chapter 3
This Chapter takes a closer look at the physical and mental space and compares the physical science to yet-to-be-discovered (and what may evolve very soon) spiritual science.
This chapter looks at the history of physical science and by applying it to the spiritual science extrapolates and forecasts what the possibilities of spiritual science are. If we look at where we were during the stone age, and how science explained the physical phenomenon to reach us to where we are today. In the spiritual science, we are in the stone age and we need to run our imagination amuck to think of what may be possible in the future.
One discovery which made all the difference in understanding the laws of physical science was Mathematics. The chapter looks at pre and post mathematics era in physical science. It proposed that similarly, the world is waiting for a new discovery (which the author calls Mentomatics) which will transform the spiritual world. Just as mathematics explained the laws of physical space, Mentomatics will explain the laws of spiritual space. It will give us the mentomatical formulae to move to the Godly Zones – in other words ways to attain God in two minutes. Mentomatics will give us repeatable processes just as maths gave us repeatable verifiable processes in physical space.
Chapter 4: What is God
(needs more work – not so good)
The chapter looks at the past and postulates how the concepts of God could have originated. In the past, study of spiritual science had progressed much faster that that of physical science as all that was required was one’s own body and mind. Whereas physical science needs gadgets to experiment and explore. Hence there were real learned saints who were spiritually evolved. At the same time the common man was completely ignorant as compared to common man of today. Today’s common man is much more aware because of media. Moreover he is aware of abstract things like energy, force, light rays, sound waves, etc. which are reality though they cannot be seen by the eye. There was a wide gap between the learned men and the common man. Whereas the learned may have known of godly zones and the energies latent in all of us. In order to explain to the ignorant common man, who understood nothing but physical world, the saints gave a physical form to god as someone who was all powerful.
If we were to explain the same concept of mental energy, god can be explained as a state of your mind when you are in the Godly zones of the mental space.
The concept of god is thus a psycho therapeutic method devised by the learned men for the benefit of the ignorant common man. In this chapter, the book takes a look at how this method works. It also explains in details how faith plays a major role in this method and how a “Great Fallacy” has a snowballing effect on our faith. In a very simple and illustrative way, the chapter shows how this method with faith in god helps us to slowly, steadily and unknowingly move towards godly zone. It shows how the concept of God is only a method; the real objective is to reach the godly zone.
Chapter 5 What is Religion
While the last chapter looked at the possible origin of the concept of god and how the psycho method of god works, this chapter looks at the origin of religion.
Religion is nothing but a code of conduct for good social behaviour and for hygienic living prescribed for the common man by the learned saints. In order to ensure compliance, they gave it a religious tinge by saying that such behaviour “pleases god”. Thus there was a marriage of convenience between the code of conduct and the concept of god and religion was born.
This chapter also compare religion with three other concepts:
Just as a child is told of life through fairy tales in kindergarten, the common main in the olden days can be compared to an ignorant child as compared to a little matured common man of today. To give the first lessons in spirituality to this “Child” of common man in those days, the learned men created tales of kindergarten of spirituality. These tales of god became religion.
The learned men also used these tales to convey good thoughts and move people closer to the godly zones. Probably the saints knew about the devil zones in the mental space which also may have high energy. The saints used religious tales to move people away from the devil zones and closer to the godly zones.
Religion is also al\analogous to a baby walker. A baby uses a walker to learn to walk in the physical space. Religion was conceived as a baby walker for the “Child” (ignorant common man of yesteryears) to help him to walk in the spiritual space.
When a baby learns to walk, it uses the baby walker for its first few steps. As the baby grows up, it gives up the baby walker and learns to walk and sprint on its own. It obviously cannot walk and sprint in physical space unless it gives up the baby walker. Similarly, in the spiritual space, man has to give up the baby walker of religion to soar to spiritual heights.
The chapter (and the entire book) uses very simple illustrations to convey these ideas more simplistically.
In later chapters, especially in Chapter 7 and section 1 of chapter 8 we see that, due to an inherent flaw in the tool or baby walker devised by the saints, man did not give up religion. As a result, he never learnt to walk and sprint in spiritual space
Chapter 6 The Method of God and Religion- The Deadly Side EffectThis chapter discusses the merits and demerits of the method of God and religion. In the last chapter we saw that the concept of God and religion was a psychotherapeutic method to achieve a higher state of mind.
The merit of this method is that it is the most commonly used and possibly the current best available method today.
Just as several years back in physical sae, in the absence of Mathematics, people used conventional inaccurate means to navigate using the sun, moon and stars which lacked the accuracy of today’s methods developed using mathematics and physics. After the discovery of mathematics, we could accurately pinpoint positions in terms of degrees of Longitudes and Latitudes, and calculate the exact angle to navigate from one place to another.
Just as several years back, without mathematics and physics, man had devised conventional (though inaccurate) ways to navigate in physical space, today, even without mentomatics, man has devised some conventional methods to reach the high energy points in the Mental Space. The method of God and religion is one such method. Though there are other spiritual methods, the method of God and religion is the most widely used method available today.
Just as the old methods used in the physical space lacked the precision of mathematics, the method of God and religion too lacks the precision of Mentomatics. It may be slow, not very easy to follow, nor very accurate, but it is one of the best available method today.
The Method helps individuals though it is very slow and inaccurate. The biggest merit is that it works, though slowly and needing a lot of effort.
The biggest demerit is that it has had a deadly side effect. There are more demerits than merits. The demerits are not so obvious.
Firstly multiple religions evolved and have divided mankind. As faith is a very important component, people got emotionally involved in their methods and almost got blinded by their religion.
Secondly, this division of mankind by religion has led to bloody conflicts. There are more deaths due to religious killings than deaths due to all other causes combined like natural calamities, disease, floods, accidents, etc. That clearly means that while the method of God and religion was good for individuals, it has not worked overall and has had a deadly side effect.
Clearly the method has misfired. Though the method was devised with noble intentions.
Certainly the inventors of this method would never have dreamt of that something that they were devising for the welfare of the masses would lead to such bloodshed.
When the method was devised with very noble intentions for the welfare of the masses, why has it become a curse to mankind? Where and when did we go wrong? We need to ask ourselves why this method, which was devised with all noble intentions, has missed the target. I believe that this is a result of a basic flaw in the method itself.
Chapter 7 Flaw in the Method – the Faith Trap
We saw the merits and demerits of the method of god and religion. This chapter analyses the basic cause of this side effect and the demerits. Why did a method which was devised for the well being of common people turn up into a deadly killer?
When the method was devised with very noble intentions for the welfare of the masses, when and where did we go wrong because of which it has become a curse to mankind? We need to ask ourselves why this method, which was devised by the learned sages with all noble intentions, has misfired and missed the target. I believe that this is a result of a basic flaw in the method. The same ingredient which is a prerequisite for this method to work effectively is also the cause of this harmful side effect.
The basic flaw is that it is based on faith. The book calls it the “Faith Trap”.
Faith in God or a particular religion is a fundamental prerequisite for this method to work. For the method to work, you must have immense faith in the method itself - and there lies the trap. The faith component, which is the most integral part of this method of God and Religion, is actually a double edged sword – it is also the cause of the deadliest side effect of religion. Religious faiths have created religious fanatics.
Faith is a double edged sword. It helps to use the method of god and religion effectively (rather it is a prerequisite for the method to work), but it also kills.
Faith is blinding. You must believe in the method to benefit from it.
You must believe in the concept of God and religion to benefit from it. If you do not have faith in the method, it does not work for you. The more faith you have in the method, the more it will work for you and the less you will question the system. The more it closes your mind and the more it blinds you. You act like a zombie.
So clearly the method has not worked overall. And clearly, there is a need to look for a better method.
What stops us from having a fresh look at religious rules and rituals? And what stops us from looking for a better method? Here lies the catch. Faith has blinded us from even attempting to look for a better method to spirituality and to explain the spiritual laws.
We are all in a trance.
Chapter 8 The Greatest Human Mistake
The last chapter we saw the great flaw in the method. In this chapter we see where man has made a mistake or has blundered
We said in Chapter 5 that the saints had devised a vehicle for the common man for his first steps in the spiritual space. We saw that what was devised was like a baby walker, as the common man was like a toddler in this vast space.
A kid needs a walker to learn to walk. Once he learns to walk, he doesn't need it and he discards the walker. If he continues to hold on to the walker, he will not be able to walk correctly (Fig. 8.1: Human Life cycle – Baby learning to walk in physical space).
We all know how we bring up and educate a child. Because of its ignorance, a baby is not told of reality of life but is made aware of life gradually through fairy tales. The educated adults try to bring up children through the use of imaginary stories. They impart only part of the advanced knowledge that they have, and that too in very simple, sometimes over simplified terms. As the baby grows and is able to comprehend his surroundings, he is slowly brought face to face with the reality and is explained facts of life in more realistic terms.
The learned saints who knew of mental energies and spirituality, tried to impart elementary knowledge to the child (common man) through tales related to gods. These were the kindergarten tales for the “child”. The tales may have been imaginary, but they conveyed the messages of spirituality.
Where we went wrong on the way was that since we were blinded by our faith in the fairy tales, we grew up but did not discard the fairy tales. We never graduated beyond the fairy tales.
While in Physical sciences, he has gone from kindergarten to high school and got degrees and doctorates one after another, in his studies of spiritual science he has not gone beyond kindergarten. The culprit is the tool that he used in his kindergarten studies. The tool is the concept of God and religion. Where as it was good for kindergarten studies, it had a flaw. The tool necessarily required that you had faith in the tool, or else it did not work for you. You were almost hypnotized into having faith into it. The faith grew into blind faith and attachment and hence you could never put away the tool.
Since he could not cast off the tool, he could not go beyond kindergarten. Because of this flaw, man never progressed beyond kindergarten in this school.
Chapter 9 Other Consequences of the Great Human Mistake
The other flaws with this method of God and religion concern the relevance of the religious beliefs and rituals today. These rules were devised centuries ago and their relevance today is questionable. Unquestioned faith in the method has caused several misconceptions and distortions of religion over the ages.
The religion was distorted by the learned men for a noble cause when they gave a religious tinge to all the healthy ways of living. The second not-so-noble causes of distortion were the half learned men or the cheats who have twisted religion for personal gains and easy money. They created some rituals to fill their own coffers. So the rituals and the religious norms that you have today may not have even the social and hygienic virtues they once had. These rituals and beliefs continue today although they have no significance. Hence as we saw in the story, the religious rituals have got highly distorted with the passage of time as they got passed from generation to generation.
The advancement of science, particularly the science of hygiene and medicine, the change in the social organisations like family and changes in the lifestyle have made some of these age-old rituals redundant. Some rituals may not have had any significance even then, particularly those created by the touts. They obviously do not have any relevance today. But with the religious tinge that they have now, nobody dares to change them or revoke them. Most of the religious rituals are based on hygiene. Today, new remedies and means are there due to which even hygiene does not demand But as a religious ritual, it may be still followed
Religion according to me is an outdated, primitive tool which has not evolved over time to suit the new age common man because of its inherent flaw which we saw (that the tool works on faith).
Chapter 10 Need for a Fresh Look
The present beliefs have actually trapped us in a vicious circle, in a closed world so that we can never look outside. Man has imprisoned himself with his beliefs, and with the methods he has devised to understand his mind. For ages he has been following this so he believes in it. The problem has been compounded by the fact that he must believe that it is the best method to benefit from this method. He has to believe that the world he is in is the best in order for him to benefit. So the method itself forces him not to see outside his closed world.
Religions have something to learn from Businesses. Just as businesses have realised the need to re-engineer their obsolete processes, there is a need to ‘re-engineer’ the religion. The science of business management has now woken up and is talking of re-engineering the processes. The BPR process involves re-engineering or redesigning the process to better contribute to the goal, or in some cases even obliterate the process if it does not contribute to the business.
In case of religious processes, the objective or purpose was never known. Whenever the purpose is not known, we tend to drift from our goal and our processes lose significance. The method is wrongly mistaken as the goal and we are unable to differentiate between the means and the objectives.
Since the concept of religion was communicated to man when he was ignorant, the purpose was not told and only the processes were told. Though the processes (religious rituals) had mainly hygienic and social relevance, their real goals were not communicated to people (albeit with good intentions). In fact, in order to ensure compliance, the purpose was deliberately hidden and wrongly communicated as a religious necessity.
The history of evolution of physical science can teach us a lot as the history of spiritual science will follow a similar course.
We should learn from our experience of physical world and our history of evolution from ignorance to expertise in physical science. We should be very clear that we are living in the pre mentomatics era. Just as we had ridiculous explanation of the physical phenomena in the pre mathematical era, today we might be having equally ridiculous explanation of the spiritual phenomena. We should be prepared to accept that some of the beliefs which we vouch for today may be as primitive as the “Rahu and Ketu” stories of lunar eclipse, or the flat earth theory.
We should not make the same mistakes we made during the evolution of physical science. We should know that we are presently at the stone age of spiritual science and if we are not careful we will make the same mistakes. Let there be no Socrates and Galileos tortured and humiliated. If we do not learn from the history of physical world, we will ridicule and banish some bright ideas like those of Socrates and Galileo. We need to have a very open mind and not dismiss ideas which today seem impossible and preposterous.
Chapter 11 Conclusion
While we should acknowledge that the only available method today is through the Kalpana of God and faith in God, we must not lose sight of our final goal - that to attain a particular high energy state of mind. We must acknowledge that it is only a method and while making the best use of the available method, we should avoid its side effects. We should have an objective look at it and not let it emotionally blackmail us. At the same time, we should not be stuck to this method and close our eyes to others. We must strive to find out faster, simpler, more reliable methods to reach the high energy state of mind. To me Mentomatics seems to be the key to our understanding of the spiritual world. The beginning of our study of the physical world was made when we devised a way to measure the different parameters of the physical world like distance, weight or mass and time. When we could represent them in figures, there came the beginning of Mathematics. Physical laws could be explained by mathematics only when we devised ways to measure distances, mass and velocity.
Similarly for the spiritual laws to be explained with Mentomatics, we need to first devise methods to measure and represent quantitatively the various parameters of the Spiritual world, namely the various feelings like love, confidence, hatred, etc. That could open the doors to the realm of mentomatical rules and the formulas governing the spiritual law. That could open the doors to the Spiritual World! A few decades back, the only way to move was to walk. If man had closed his eyes and said that walking is the only way to move from one place to another, he would never have invented cars. If he had said that moving along land is the only way, he would not have invented aeroplanes.
I can foresee a world united again, a world where man will not be divided by religion. Religion will be ‘scientifically’ (mentomatically) explained and we will see that there are not so many Gods as we presume today, that there is only one God who is within each one of us. Gods are nothing but different forms of imagination of a power within us. Man will see his folly.
Today we talk about barbarians who lived on earth years ago who killed one another for food. A time will come when man will look back and say "Once upon a time, there lived barbarians on this earth who believed in several Gods and they killed their fellow beings in the name of religion."
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