Rationalism - a way of life

I am back to blogging after a gap of about three months. In this period, there were times when I wanted to write, mostly to blurt out my frustrations at various things in life. But, again, I thought, what is the point, things are not going to change here. So, I had or I have gone into a cynical mood about various things such a traffic, lawlessness, chaos in public places, lack of civic sense, caste, religion and irrationality. I am back to writing however, without having to force myself, thanks to something that happened over the weekend.

I attended the First Meeting Of The Karnataka Rationalist Association in Bangalore on the 14th of March, 2010, held at Makkala Koota. I usually don't associate myself with any social groups or activists for various reasons, my introvert nature being one. So much so that many of my close family members call me an anti-social! But, being a rationalist, I could not resist myself going to this meeting. I consider myself a rational atheist. And, it is not too often that we get a chance to be amongst rationalists in a overly religious society like ours.

I was there, along with my friend Sumanth (who happens to be my daughter's college mate) about 11:00 am. The meeting had already started. There were delegates from other states and also from various districts of karnataka. Quickly we understood that the purpose of the meet was to discuss about founding a state wide umbrella organization to include all the rationalist movements. And, one of the agenda was to collect views and opinions from the delegates as to what should be the activities (apart from exposing miracles) that the organization should involve in to promote rationality and scientific temper.

Firstly I was pleasantly surprised to see so many rationalists and that too from districts and small towns. I say surprised because, it is not very easy to be a rationalist. We are surrounded by faiths in various forms. Worshiping of ant hills to automobiles and anything in between is considered a scared ritual. Self proclaimed religious gurus are dime a dozen and what is amazing is they all do brisk business with millions of clients. Any kind of questioning is vehemently discouraged by giving such illogical reasons as "our elders have done this for a reason" or "how can you question the very belief system". I would guess situation is probably even tougher for a rationalist living in small towns.

Secondly, I was a little disappointed to see so few youngsters and women in the meet. Does it mean the youngsters are too busy worrying about their careers and women about their house hold work!? When I was young, I had an urge to rebel and question things. And I expect it to be natural for youngsters to be rebels or am I worng?

Coming to think of it, I have broken all traditions. I was born and grew up in small towns of Karnataka. I must have been either 14 or 15 when I started questioning everything. I must say, my high school teacher M N Shadakshari was greatly responsible for setting me on the path of questioning every premise and presumption. Reading some great authors such as Kuvempu,UR Anathamurthy and later on Bertrand Russell made me realize that morality and religion have nothing do with each other. Slowly and surely, I realized that I was incapable of praying and worship. And by the time I graduated and moved out of my parents home, I had totally given up on religion and god. Since then, I have lived a rationalist life without ever feeling a need for either religion or god in my life.

One thing that made me think a lot about was what one of the delegates ( I think it was Ramesh) said. He said something like (not exactly the same words) - "we tend to compromise some times on our rationalism, with the fear of hurting sentiments of others. We should not. No change can be brought about in the society with out hurting sentiments." And I am sure I have hurt many a people in my quest for rationalism. To all those, including my parents, I say - I am sorry, but I had no choice and it is my life anyway.

And finally, I really enjoyed listening to so many delegates speak passionately about rationality. And to listen to them putting their views across in Kannada was really great. I felt as if my spirit of independence was rekindled.