Religion and terror

Remember the time God said to one of His prophets: They are ‘sinners’, go kill them? No? No, neither do I. I have never read anything of the sort in any holy script. I’ve read about prophets being told to leave because a great calamity will hit the place where the ‘sinners’ dwell. One even made an arc and took off with animals as if animals were worth more than people of that era and location.

We are now in 21^st century. No prophet ever carried out mass murder (though many did fight, but those were always ‘fair’ fights; armies clashing, defending yourself and your rights, and their behaviour after victory speaks volumes of their morals – freedom of religion was their true way), yet in this day and age, we have all kinds of individuals claiming God wants us to kill innocent people. The bunch that claim to do it in the name of Islam are perhaps most widely spread, larger in numbers than those who claim to do it for Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity etc. We’ve heard from true followers of each of these religions that that is not the way. In fact, we have stories from all over the place about Prophets forgiving infidels, being patient with them, giving them time, praying for them etc.

The amazing thing is that atheists now have this fantastic argument that humanity is better off without religion, even though, in the past, each and every prophet that ever came left their society much better than they found it. So, my thinking is that religion is important, in fact, it seems to be so important to so many, that it is the greatest tool ever. It is currently being used to spread evil, but we could and should use it to spread good. Imagine if this force was applied to do good! That would be a world I’d be proud to leave to our future generations.

What is the real purpose of the ‘use religion to spread terror’? Power, money and more power. That’s the simple answer. Those who lead people to murder and death are not doing it for God (if God wanted us dead, He has His own ways), they do it for god, and their god is their own ego, arrogance and greed. The God, capital G, is far from it. In fact, He is the very opposite of it. It seems too simple to be true, but it seems we need more religion, more faith in God rather than god to set things right. 

Economics – a world of its own, on its own

I’d like to start by asking capitalists to take a chill-pill and stop pretending like everything’s just fine. Everything’s clearly not fine and this is no time to be a spoiled little brat, turning a blind eye with our heads in the sand. We need to face the facts so that we can start working on solving issues. Economics is not supposed to be a world of its own. I get that it is based on assumptions, but some of the key assumptions have gone into ‘fairy tale’ category. This is causing considerable chaos, especially since many of those assumptions are seen as absolute and complete truth by decision makers.

I do not claim to have answers, I only intend to get people of will, courage, imagination and knowledge to start thinking outside the box. I only graduated Economics, so I am no professional in the field. But, as a professional in the field of citizen activism, I have observed numerous curious indicators.

1. Price is not determined by supply and demand. Products get priced randomly and this is particularly important at the age in which markets are flooded with products. We’ve never had so much choice. This choice has its good and bad side.

2. People are rational, generally speaking, but they draw their conclusions mainly by observing the world around them; i.e. Everything’s relative! Person’s happiness does not depend on how much they have, but how much they have relative to what they could have and what others have. Plus, when a person goes shopping, it’s not just about how much they get that matters, it is also about how many things they have to say ‘no’ to because they don’t have enough money. If they say ‘no’ more times than ‘yes’, this will make them feel sad.

3. ‘Over worked and under paid’ – OWUP – is not a myth, and it is not to be taken lightly or resolved by bringing in extra labour force who will be willing to work for ‘that’ wage without complaining. OWUP has a very negative effect on our family life and labour force. Possible causes: 1. One worker getting irrationally more money than another (reminder: everything’s relative), 2. Wage dose NOT equal to marginal productivity of labour, if it did, a firm would do better to employ managers to clean and cleaners to manage, 3. Market forces are almost evil to determine wages.

4. Dividing time between labour and leisure – most people do not face this, most people face bills and decisions how best to make money to cover the costs. This is one area where we have huge difference between different classes of people, so different that we need different theories for each class.  Bear in mind that we live in the age where parents are buying gifts for their children out of guilt for not being with them.

5. People are selfish COMMUNITY CREATURES. So ‘selfish’ and ‘giving’ have to coexist or we have chaos.

Well, I think that’s enough for now. I’m sure any decent economist will see how mistakes in these fields cause an effect on other parts, until we have the whole thing ‘kinda falling apart’.

There are many other issues. I wrote a part of an introduction in my book Just Another Life– I’m thinking I could get people a little more interested if I use fiction and write it as a dialogue; we’ll see. Plus, I didn’t even mention ‘social cost vs social benefit’ – that’s a BIG topic that we have to look into. 

Reviews...

I will not be posting any more background information about my book (Just Another Life) on this blog. From now on, this is open for reviews, which you can leave in the comments section.

I invite everyone to say exactly what they think about the book, ask whatever questions you want, start any kind of dialogue on any topic. Please feel free to express yourself regardless if English is your first language or not; I know foreign language is often easier to understand than to speak – I have been there J

I do not claim that everything I have written in the book (all the ideas) are perfectly accurate, but it is the best I have so far. Please feel free to disagree and don’t fear to stand up for what you believe and do not think others MUST agree with you – discussion is sometimes the best way forward, but everyone must be free to make up their own minds. Also, give others and yourself time to think – this is not a race, we are here to exchange ideas.

I have received many e-mails with views so far, but, just in case you don’t want that to be made public, I will let you choose to either post your own views here or let me copy-paste what you have already sent me.

Thank you all so much for your support.

I’d love to hear from all my readers, so please feel free to come and say exactly what you think!

Love and best wishes to you all!

Meliha

Songs mentioned in the book...

I was asked about songs that I mention in my book Just Another Life:

First one, with relevant lyrics translated, May hears in café River while Benjamin goes to talk to someone:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FVHkbu3_e4 – it is by a Serb who always stood up against the war and I support these people no matter how few they might be… This song is called: “As long as there is no war” – the video is from a concert he held in Sarajevo in 1998…

Second one May and Harris listen to in the car on the way to the mountains; this one I’ve put together from a number of songs so there’s no link :)

Third one May hears in the taxi as she’s leaving the city, moving to the mountains to live there forever, alone with her daughter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXPsAORdTZo – the song is called: “I miss you”, again, relevant lyrics translated within the text of the book.

Back Cover Final

Fools make premature statements, jumping passionately to false conclusions. Wise ask questions and walk steadily to the correct conclusion.

After a life lived, May learns how extraordinary an ordinary life is in the web of love and hate, sorrow and joy, friends and foes, good and evil, knowledge, understanding and ignorance, truth and illusion.

May was born with an open mind and introvert heart. Rest of her character is chiselled by war, loss of her mother, wonderful friends, life-long desire to know her father and the great disappointment when this desire is fulfilled, and other significant and small, happy and sad events of her life.

When she meets Harris, a former army officer, May finds fate generous – his strength helps her overcome her greatest weakness.

Professionally, May chose a humble path in life, though some believed she should do more. Her unique (right or wrong) perspective of the world, that she shared with Benjamin in café River, combined with her education, made some believe May belongs with leaders. However, is May one of the wise who lack confidence?

Future events lead May out of the civilisation and into the mountains. While the mountains granted a refuge from people (averting those she wished to avoid, welcoming those she loved), they could not protect her from fate; and fate followed to please and torment.

Background poem

Just Another Life

Every life alternates

Between night and day

Though some live through winters

When days are short and cold

Nights long and colder

Freeze tear drops to stone.

While others will enjoy

Summer’s long sunny days

Nights are short and warm

Breeze to brush tears away.

Humans vs Animals

I’m one of those people who believe humans are the most superior beings on the planet and everything else was created for and because of them. However, a human is often categorised as ‘an animal’ and then ‘something else’. My logic (be it right or wrong) dictated that to find that ‘something else’ we could probably compare ourselves to animals and figure out what is it that we have and they don’t; what are the differences? Furthermore, this would give animals another means to assist humans.

So, I wondered about the differences between animals and humans and I think one of the main differences is the fact that no animal is aware of the existence of future. I’m not talking in terms of recognising a threat and responding to it to save your life, or even in terms of ‘I know I’ll sleep the winter, so I better collect me some nuts now’, I mean in terms of predicting, readjusting plans, looking for best option, etc. If this difference between humans and animals is true, this would explain why only humans can wish, dream, hope, worry, etc.

Another difference closely related to this is: we are aware of the future because we know the past. An animal can only learn from their own experience, a human can learn from anything and anyone. When we combine these two differences we end up with wishes, dreams, hopes and worries not only for ourselves, but for others as well.

So, next time someone tells you ‘Have a nice day’ think about it, and don’t let the simplicity of this sentence fool you; it is NOT a simple sentence and it is limited to humans not only in terms of language but in meaning and sentiment.

And I hope you’ll all love what you have and get what you love.