Random rules

A former colleague, who also happens to be a good friend, has been diagnosed with end stage renal disease and is currently undergoing dialysis. Arul is quiet, thoughtful and kind. A postgraduate in Social Work, he is passionate about the environment, especially issues pertaining to wildlife. He is only 38 years old. He is also very brave. Whatever may be his inner doubts, he does not indulge in self-pity. He faces the situation with a matter-of-fact-attitude which is simply admirable. He has never asked, “Why me?” and, in fact, tries to comfort colleagues who get upset seeing his plight.
Situations like this – I have faced something similar before when a niece passed away at age three after being treated for leukemia for a year – threaten to tip me off the fence right into the atheist camp. And the Chaos Theory leaves the realm of abstract thought and begins to look very real: It truly seems like the random rules the world. The existence of an all-knowing, benevolent God is just not compatible with the suffering and cruelty I see in the world around me.

If there is indeed a power greater than us pitiful humans, it is not “God” but Mother Nature – we will never be able to control her manifestations, wind or wave, earthquake or tsunami. The older forms of religion – nature worship which Western religious dogma (read Christian) labels “heathen” or “pagan”, seem to have had the right idea all along – treat Mother Earth with respect. Modern man has not been doing that and now we pay the price in terms of global warming and high levels of pollution in every form. We are poisoning Earth, our home, and ourselves…

© Sosha Srinivasan