Being Converted

The last few days were really difficult. Actually the dilemma had been going on for a while, a few months in fact. The turmoil had often come to boil and the leanings had wavered many a time. With each wind that blew from either direction, with its own power.

This one is going to be the slowest post I ever wrote.

Religion, when you free it from the shackles of the rituals and the frenzy, it is just a way of life – a way to achieve a place closer to God. Yet, what remains, if you take away the very attributes that allow religion to it be?

Nothing, the way I see it.

Imagine a religion without a name, without its own peculiar rituals, devoid of its sacred texts, sans the frenzied activity, that allows it be a religion different from another religion. The fanaticism that allows the followers of a religion to regale in its success and community is the mark and the characteristic of how a religion comes to be. While the primary purpose of religion is only a discipline, towards a goal, the paths vary. All the defining and so-called corrupt rituals are just the defining characteristics of the way we get there, eventually. We call them baseless, these acts based on blind faith and superstition so that we are ale to make the path towards the goal easier. And as much as we might look down upon them – these are the very means that allow us to recognise and relate to the religion that we follow. These are the very means that allow us to recognise the religion that others follow. An act, by itself, serves to define someone’s religion – the purpose of it, blurring ever so steadily.

All religions have one goal; we all know that, everyone comes to the same place from different routes. We see the people on different routes. We sometimes ridicule them, wonder why they made things so difficult. Sometimes we envy them, when the path seems simpler. Sometimes we never understand what motivates them to walk on difficult paths. We never choose a religion after a careful study; never an informed decision, more often than not, our religion is decided for us before we are born. We follow it without questioning it, take on the dogma without questioning it. Sometimes we renounce it altogether. Sometimes we just ignore it. We have long forgotten the primary purpose of it.

I converted today.

After having spent nearly all my life with Microsoft-based technology (since I was introduced to the computer), I converted to Mac-based technology with my first MacBook ever. I thought hard about this question of conversion for a long time now. I have questioned others and questioned myself about this change of religion.

I have yet to get used to so many things in this new discipline. All things that I once held as true and familiar suddenly aren’t true anymore. All that I once did with my eyes closed, metaphorically speaking, requires an extra effort and learning. The simplest of the tasks demand that I open my mind to a new way of life.

I am typing slowly and learning it all in this very slowly composed post.

It suddenly doesn’t seem to matter much. I haven’t renounced one religion for the other. I have just embraced another one. While it doesn’t make me any more religious than I already am, I think it makes the journey that much more exciting and colourful and enjoyable.