If there was no God, there would be no hope, no quest for peace, no other reality than reality itself.

If there was no God, how would I explain to myself why human beings are vicious, evil, cruel and vindictive? How would I live through every day and still want to get up the next? How would I stop myself from becoming what I truly am deep inside – a beast who would protect itself at all costs?

If there was no philosophy regarding the existence of God, how would I bring myself to abide by the ludicrous, arbitrary and discriminating laws that humans make to subjugate other humans? If I did not have the idea of God, how would I get myself to toe the line of laws laid crafted by legal concepts created by humans solely to discriminate? Because if one were to study any law, and study the history of the practice (and therefore the outcome) of such laws, one would eventually realise that all laws served the purpose of those who created the laws and none others. And therefore: If I could not have a conversation with a God, who would save other humans who threatened my way of life, from me? And who would save me from them?

Within God lies the the secret of the longevity of human survival; and within the concept of Religion lies its mechanism for destruction.

The empty and bare truth is that there is no future for any human. All endeavours shall come to naught, all labours shall stretch into an endless oblivion with no fruit, all days shall be endless summer days and all nights empty, lightless dark nights that shall go on forever, and all that one shall do, shall do nothing to alleviate the plight of the oppressed. And in every age hence – as in every age past since humans became “civilised” – there shall be oppression of the cruelest nature without cause, rhyme or reason and the human that delivers such oppression shall forever triumph.

There is no justice in any part of the world, there is no moral fibre, no will for peace or intent to serve humanity.

There is nothing but desolation lying ahead- exactly as there was in every age past. It may have missed our attention but even the histories that have been written by the wisest and humane of rulers and victors are all testimony of the brutal subjugating nature of humankind: history is the endless record of one people triumphing over another and annihilating or assimilating them and their culture and beliefs and traditions.

And this understanding or realisation has been the start point for the work of most messiahs, religious leaders and reformers in most ages.

The history of human civilisation can, in fact, be categorised and studied as a succession of conflict, resolution, assimilation and conflict between ambitious rulers/governing groups and activists/reformers/messiahs. In each region, such a tussle has led to the rise of a new religion or philosophy over centuries and the eventual overthrow of the ruling group or the uneasy coexistence of the two primary adversary groups with other groups providing the check on the power balance through allegiance and counter-allegiances.

The purpose of the power-balancing equations (Monarchy, Autocracy, Communism, Socialism, Democracy, Theocracy, etc etc etc) is to keep the masses in productive labour perpetually such that the power-centres (rulers, governments, chief, etc etc) can fight amongst themselves to settle who gets to consolidate and distribute the fruits of all the labours. The masses really got into the struggle by way of paying taxes and in times of war with only the people in border regions having a higher involvement.

Then came Democracy.

Democracy is the most sophisticated of all the vicious power balancing equations and therefore the most potent and effective solution thus far to keep the masses out (most days) of the daily power struggles of the ambitious and the disgruntled. All other equations are directly confrontational and therefore ineffective since they only challenge the day-to-day functioning of society and lead to great and immediate hardships for an already burdened populace at large. But democracy is also the most potent of all the power-equations because it has an in-built system of obtaining (with limited bloodshed) the buy-in of all dissenters. At every point of conflict, the messiah/activist/dissenter can be brought into the fold through the appropriate brokering of authority, thus making the dissenter a part of the power, with little or no change to the state of the masses.

And religion? Religion remains the most powerful tool ever created by humans to balance the power of the political arm. And now, in this age, rises a new Religion, with new messiahs, new promises, and the serious potential to be the new opium that tames the masses: Technology. But Technology is also the first power-balancing equation that can put the power, notionally, in the hands of the common person. Whether Technology ends up being the new Opium or the Power of the masses remains to be seen. A lot really depends on the collective and individual motives of the people who control the technologies. But that’s a different conversation…