Faith and Reason

I begin with a strong disclaimer that the following theory is respectfully my own; it could prove to be volatile as time passes and with appropriate experiences.
Meanwhile, no offense is meant, and no offense is expected.

religion
Spelled Pronunciation [ri-lij-uhn]
–noun

a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

spiritual
Spelled Pronunciation [spir-i-choo-uhl]
–adjective

of or pertaining to the spirit or soul, as distinguished from the physical nature: a spiritual approach to life.
of or relating to the mind or intellect.

Dictionary meaning of heavy words. There was more explanation, more bullets to clarify if you're interested. But be warned, the more you think about it, the more you try to apply meaning to literal text, the more confused you will become. I found myself circuitously looking up philosophy, mind, faith, conscience, superstition etc etc with still no sense of what I was thinking, what I was trying to find out, and what I wanted Dictionary.com to tell me.

I humbly put across my ideas.

Religion is the human method of exhibiting love, respect, gratitude for their individual Supreme King(s). All explanations lead to the Supreme Being: Evolution and science, yes, yes of course, but why? Because God willed it so.
Coconut breaking, facing East, facing West, lighting fire--individually these motions mean nothing. Religion attaches meaning and purpose to these actions, specifically Organized Religion.
So, method of acknowledgment and communication with a Higher Power or Universe or Energy is your religion.

Spiritual people believe in a soul. They nourish it, are aware of their conscience, try not to cheat, steal or kill people. They believe that their grandma who passed away, is still with them, in spirit.

It may not be something that's explicitly written or taught to you or, you may be compulsively unritualistic, but surely, at least once, you must have bowed your head to make a wish, or petitioned silently to have your team win at football, or avoided the path of a black cat on the day of your exam 'just in case'?

For instance, I try to keep my prayer spot whiff of lavender or sandalwood. Now, either I don't do that or, I form a club of people that do the exact same thing and we decide to meet once a week to clean the ashes together. It don't matter either way, but when I am in my moment, refilling the oils, or lighting the candle, feeling grateful I haven't been laid off from my job yet, guilty for speaking rudely to Mom, anxious for my experiment to work today, please let me know, what part is religion and what part spirituality.

I draw a compound relationship between religion and spirituality. They are connected--like a clock is, to time.
It is normal to want to label objects & emotions, it is normal to want to sort & separate our affinities. The minutes will pass, even if we don't number them.

So then, here is my theory on the subject, and I hope that you will be able to perceive its dimension:

In my opinion, the only few that could attain spirituality sans religion include Allah, Jesus, Krishna...The Universe.

I Think, Therefore I am

Generally, empathy sans experience is rare and difficult. I did not understand why it took so long for her to get over that 'jerk', why she still pines for him and how she could ever forgive his nonsense--until it happened to me. My anger turned to sympathy and sadness even if I couldn't feel the intensity of emotion that she did. My anger toward him and her suddenly directed itself toward him and her fate.
Only because I have now affirmed that some solutions do not exist.

If they did exist and if I'd found one, potential kindness is annulled. Yea, I took the course, and yea it was tough. But, I worked hard and excelled. I got an A- and there's no reason you can't.

Either we hold ourselves up to a very high standard: 'Do what I did, just the way I did it.'
or
a very low one: 'If I can do it, anyone can.'
I don't know which it is, but they're both equally nutritious for the ego.

If you will notice carefully, as I do sometimes in my drunken stupors of introspection, we judge people based on what we would have done rather than based purely on what they have done. Our back story is more applicable then theirs. We are our own norm of sanity and moral. And for someone with such lowly self-esteem as me, it is relieving & refreshing to know that I do believe I have lived life to the best of my ability (and so should you.)

The Ultimate Ultimatum

Lonely is a worrisome emotion. Oh the lengths we will go to, to rid ourselves of Lonely! Lonely is not just about being lonely. It is so much more than that, in fact, it's probably everything but that. I feel like a loser when I'm lonely. The aunties work double-shift to find me a nice boy to get me out of Lonely. Couples allow me to tag along with them so that they can demonstrate how nice it is to be unlonely. After graduation it is a subtle contest to see who remains Lonely the longest, eek.

Lonely attacks Ego, Lonely creates ento- and exo- judgement: We spend a lot of time and energy ridding ourselves of Lonely; simultaneously publicizing that we are lonely by choice.

What makes two human beings better than one? Why must you be overly rich or overly successful or overly frivolous to justify Lonely? Why can't I live without you?

We grow up like this, you know. There's always the most popular girl in class that everyone wants to be friends with, that all the boys want to date, that all the girls want to be like. We added as many people as possible on Orkut and measured our worth by scraps per day ratio. We keep a mental tab of how many people remember our birthday.
'Lonely' is a ghastly old man in a dark rotten-wood house, limping toward the door to shoo off the neighborhood kids with his stick and stick-like fingers.

We are attracted by default to the unlonely, we want recognition as unlonely.

Mismatched matches, rebound relationships, four women with their pink martinis and high heels discuss animatedly why their romances didn't work, millions of people sigh happily as Ross & Rachel finally conquer Lonely.

Therefore, in undisputed summary: Lonely sucks, being unlonely is way cooler.
My only contention is, Lonely drives my relationships. I go to your party because I want you to attend mine. How would you feel if you were at the hospital and noone sent you flowers? I cannot possibly go to my school reunion without a date!

Really worrisome.

Not All Men Are Created Equal.

Imagine driving down a Mumbai highway late night at a 'high' speed (relative to the am traffic hours). It's 2am and I'm so tired, been up since 5:30 am. If I drive at the same rate I should be home and stretched out in bed by 2:40...

A man, a homeless bum wobbles down the road. Maybe inebriated, maybe mental. Noone to call his own, noone that cares if his blood pressure is a long ways over 120. He falls down strangely in the middle of the road and my brakes screech urgently. His head is bleeding, maybe hit his skull on the divider. There's noone around.

2:40 in bed vs...a longer night. Maybe cops, maybe the cold antiseptic tube-lights and green curtains of a hospital. Maybe under my plush quilt with the fan blowing my hair gently, the air conditioner set to the perfect temperature. There's noone around--but me and him.

What do I do? I'll never know, until it happens.

I do know this: If this man had the paunch of prosperity, a starched shirt, a pouch with a convenient wrist strap--he would be in the ER in under 30 mins, witnesses or no witnesses.

I know right from wrong. I also know convenience from inconvenience. And I know degrees of justification. Right and wrong is a variable measure depending on the strength of x and y. Black is one shade of gray and white is another shade of gray.

It creeps me out to think that I would actually consider walking away from a human in desperate need, rationaling 'maybe its for the best for society'. I judged that he doesn't contribute, doesn't work, has no family/friends and thus...

Please understand that I don't know yet, what I would do. Maybe I am a nice person and would help him. But I'll never know until.

Very very unfortunately, and maybe rightly so or wrongly so: every life has a price tag, subject to change without prior notice. We decide.

If I kill a cockroach I don't get nightmares about it, and wake up guilty. Certain countries practice public stoning as capital punishment. Staunch believers of Jainism won't even consider sauteing onions and garlic for flavoring their food. A trainful of dead Hindus delivered to India from Pakistan, and colonies of mortified Muslims hiding from rioting avengers in tilaks.

This is why dead homeless man won't make the news, not even a fifth page tiny paragraph; on the other hand, afternoon dailys will rush to the 1st floor, 2 bedroom flat of the widow seeking justice and life insurance.