The gifts and gists of the world's Great Faiths

My 2011 holiday season message to urbi et orbi and to all my friends and unfriends, known, unknown and yet-to-know:

The Gifts and Gists of the world's Major Faiths* and an emerging new one, as I see them:

Do unto others as I please - Atheism, circa time immemorial.

Do unto others as my god pleases - Polytheism, since the birth of human "god concept"; and Hinduism, circa 1500 BCE.

Do unto others as Moses would have chosen to do unto each other - Judaism, circa 1000 BCE.

Do Nothing – Taoism, 6th century BCE.

Do unto others as Yourself. – Buddhism, 563BCE.

Do not unto others as you would not have others do unto you. – Confucius, 551BCE.

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. – Christianity, 1st century AD.

Do unto others as god’s rejects. – Satanism, circa birth of Christian faith, there is always a Bad One as a counterpoint to the Good One.

Do unto others as Muhammad would have done unto others. – Islam, 570AD.

Do unto others as I know best. – Agnosticism, first coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869.

Do unto no other as I would only do unto Myself. - the Religion of "I", the narcissistic new faith of the new millennium.

Do forgive my King James English, but in my usual, self-effacing way, I want to import unto you the solemnity of these pronouncements!

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On this coming holiday season, I wish you all a Joyous Holiday and a Happy New Year!!

For those who observe Christmas, let’s not forget the main message of the birth and life of Jesus of Nazareth: "Judge not, so you will not be judged! Love thy neighbors as thyself, and love God above all else!" For mere mortals and less saintly people like the most of us, the “Love thy neighbors” part is quite a tall order to fill, unless thy neighbor happens to be a supermodel type or a Greek god hunk, whichever your taste leads you. Even then, that loving feeling won't last forever. Especially if she is a high maintenance type or he is a real bad, bad boy and has a bad case of roving eyes. Failing that, at least make peace with each other Or yourself. Don't we claim we are all children of the same god? Or we can go at each other like a fully dysfunctional family with maximum sibling rivalry on display. A la Abel and Cain?

As to "Love God above all else!” what is not to love? He is The Man who holds all the trump cards, in one hand a vessel full of grace, in another, hellfire and brimstones. But thank God that is only the Judeo-Christian tradition, Nicene Council-edited, King James Era English translated Version. The true nature of God can only be understood through personal revelations, with help by learning from experiences of great sages and thinkers, including those in the Bible. Having said that, the messages of Jesus' ministry are undeniably timeless and universal and contributed greatly to the civilization of humanity. Without him, we might probably still be howling at the moon, pillaging in packs, laying with sheep and breeding inbreds.

P.S. Sssh...Let me let you in on a big little secret, my little big holiday present to you, so to speak. I have an insider-trading informant that gives me reason to believe that our current, most Christian and esteemed U.S. Congress is actually practicing Atheism and Taoism. More often Atheism. How scandalous! So un-American! We should indict all its members before the House Committee on Un-American Activities! Since we believe in "Judge not, so you will not be judged!” we will not sit in judgment on the committee proceedings, so let them ... uh ... let them do unto themselves and see how they like them forbidden apples! If they still don't do right by them, then it's time for us to clean house.

Further more, some elements within certain monotheistic faiths are, in fact, practicing Polytheism! How sacrilegious to their own self-appointed mouthpieces of god and self-anointed high priests of their faiths! How especially unctuous to the shamans, the brahmans or the lamas to the children of lesser gods! These religious functionaries think only they have exclusive rights to the "Do Unto Others" litany of sacred rites, injunctions and oracles. Especially dangerous are those clergies who, by proxies or edicts, assume the holy trinity role of the judge, the jury and the executioner.

*My definition of "major faith" is based on their major effect on the current world population.

The real B.S. . . . uh . . . oops . . .I think I have a Rick Perry moment . . . I meant the real P.S.: My above rambling hopefully will be interpreted by my gentle readers as my humorous and illuminating take on current state of U.S. government gridlocks and religious strife in the name of God.

Most, if not all, religions were born during turbulent times of our human history, when seers and prophets were popping up like mushrooms after a great storm. These religions were created to tame the inner beasts within all of us, to establish moral codes and acceptable conducts within a certain culture. Before long, the zealous converts within the new order religious leadership started to create legends and myths around their religion to safeguard the founder’s legacy and to lay claim that theirs and only theirs alone was the true and only faith sanctioned by God. Along the way, the original intents and teachings of the founder got twisted and corrupted for sectarian, political or xenophobic reasons.

Gradually religion becomes synonymous with culture. When I am talking about cultures, I’m not talking about the ones that grow in your overstuffed holiday refrigerators, mind you. I'm talking about cultural traditions and customs, the ways of life. Today's religious conflicts are conflicts of cultures, with some cultures thinking that their ways of life are losing to influences from outside.

If the Roman Catholic Pope were to proclaim in his "urbi et orbi" annual message an edict to cancel Christmas, the world's mercantile industries would be up in arms and sales receipts in opposition, and would denounce His Holiness for practicing Agnosticism. Forget about the military-industrial complex. Let talk about the religious-mercantile complex! This is where the money that makes the world go ‘round. For example, when you buy an electronic gadget in the good ole U.S. of A. at Christmas, you have a design engineered here in the U.S., mineral resources imported from Africa, components made in China, technical support from India and the profits go to off-shore banks in the Cayman Islands. You don't want to step on them hundreds of dollars a shine Gucci shoes or the humble satin-lined fisherman sandals. This Christmas cancellation business might even provoke fierce revolt from Christians and some non-Christians alike; "the most wonderful time of the year" has been associated with so many fond, alcohol-fueled, eggnog-soaked memories. Now, that is culture to you!

I'm not against organized religions; they give some people a sense of belonging, sharing and fellowship. These religious gatherings foster camaraderie, cooperation, reciprocal supports and mutual aids. These are essential spiritual foods that nourish the human souls. These are the stuffs that a healthy society sustains itself and thrive, without them it will not survive. It is the dogmas, injunctions and exclusivity enjoined by the head honchos of some organized religions that breed ignorance, intolerance and suppression of freedom of expressions that are detrimental to the human spirits.

Most religious adherents, however, are sincere and wise enough to discern the true meanings of their founder's messages from those enunciated from the pulpits. “An ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy”, as a proverb goes. So listen to your mother and eat them vegetables, they give you more moral fibers than any clergyman ever can. Uh. . . now I am digressing. Hopefully these genuine followers of their respective faiths will continue to contribute to the civilization and enrichment of their own cultures and future generations. The alternative will be totally unthinkable, short of reverting to the howling-at-the-moon habits as of olden days, the hapless golden days of savage customs of yore. (I did a little Christmas song parody here, didn’t I?)

As for Atheists, I don’t doubt their sincerity. But in the end, their philosophy is an exercise of intellectual indulgence. The human species has come a long way on the evolution tree and finally achieved the self-proclaimed title of Homo sapiens, the rational man. An adult human brain weighs about 3 pounds and takes up a space of about 85 cubic inches on an average man. From this small confine of a structure sprung a civilization that is a marvel to behold. It is capable of building magnificent architectures, inventing amazing tools and composing masterpieces of arts and literature as testimonials to its own greatness. It can achieve all these things because of its capability for symbolic consciousness, the ability to communicate with mutually agreed symbols, i.e. written languages. When recorded down, the accumulated knowledge of past generations passes on to the next.

But all our human languages have their own limitations when coming to describing what even our limited senses are conscious of. Even a beautiful, colorful and continuously evolving language such as English has to borrow phrases from other languages, such as déjà vu from French, face-saving from Chinese, schadenfreude from German and mathematical symbols from Arabic. But when comes to describing non-symbolic consciousness, we are at a loss. Our human mind is only capable of understanding the concept of the four dimensions: the three-dimensional space and time. Beyond that, an average human brain has problems of comprehending them, except by theoretical physicists in mathematical equations. To say there is nothing out there beyond what our human brain can comprehend is presumptuous. Even one of our greatest rational men, Albert Einstein, when presented with the theory of Quantum Mechanics, incomprehensibly murmured, “God doesn’t play dice.” He implicitly acknowledged there is a God. The greatest test is when a plane, completely filled with leading members of the World’s Atheistic Society (an hypothetical one, I hope), is about to crash, I will bet that more than 99.9% of these atheists will drop down on their agnostic knees and pray away, in whatever face-saving languages they comprehend. What a schadenfreude moment! (I know I shouldn’t have gloated on this hypothetical misfortune of others, but here I was at the grace and mercy of my Muse, and she commanded, “Write!” And so I did, for illustrative effect. Another déjà vu instance.)

As for myself, I am open to the teachings of all faiths. Philosophically, I tread the middle path, the Golden Mean, the way of the Tao (harmony with the universe) and the Buddha (self-realization). Not too hot and not too cold, just as Goldilocks likes it, as they say. Where am I spiritually? I am still looking forwards to the adventures lying ahead, strolling leisurely down the roads taken, through hills and dales, climbing every mountain, fording every stream, always navigating guided by my own higher, purposeful compass, occasionally getting disoriented in the woods, sloshing my way through rains and snows, basking in sunshine and cool breezes, never failing to stop to smell the roses, taking in the grandeurs and wonders that is our world, witnessing the myriad interplays that are dramas of life, trying to remember it is not the destination that counts, it is the journey.

For more information about me, please visit my web site at www.pfjchow.com. Thanks.

So, on this holiday occasion, I wish you Peace! Brothers and Sisters, Peace! ;-)

Happy Birthday Anniversary! Jesus of Nazareth!

A Night of Madness in Paris

All the people of the free world stand with Paris and the French people in solidarity during these dark days of sadness. A dark shroud of madness descended on Paris yesterday, but it failed to smother the bright lights of liberté, égalité, and fraternité in a city known as the City of Light. Hopefully the French people will not lose sight of their national aspirations and come through this tragedy with these lights shining ever brighter in its aftermath. These lights epitomize the common basic human values shared, aspired and reflected by majority of humanity.

It is sad that a few ignorant, misguided youths, severely misled by a few extremists amid their religious leadership, blindly carried out such senseless and heinous acts of atrocity, where innocent lives were taken to make a fruitless point. Their senseless acts will not only cast a bad light on their own religion in general but also unfairly jeopardize the waves of refugees seeking asylum from the strife-weary, war-torn Middle East in particular. A political backlash will come from the extreme right in some host countries to turn away those desperate souls seeking a better life in Europe and elsewhere.

From the political viewpoint, we the Americans, have more in common with the French than with the British. Our Founding Fathers based the United States Declaration of Independence and the country’s Constitution on the same universal principles of human rights similar to French national motto. Although we are still found wanting on the fraternité side; and Katharine Lee Bates tried to address that with “And crown thy good with brotherhood” in her beloved patriotic song, “America the Beautiful.” We still have quite a way to go before we get there.

Even our Star-Spangled Banner is sometimes called the "Red, White and Blue", the same colors as the French Tricolor. While the British brought us mad King George, class system snobbery, Puritan’s religious fanaticism, puritanic prudery, watercress-cucumber tea sandwiches and the Boston Tea Party, the French people gave us Marquis Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, the Statue of Liberty, laissez-faire, joie de vivre, French fries and champagne.

What would party rock to, without that ethanol buzz? English tea? Give me a break! Instead of those snobbish, upper-classy British tea sandwiches, the French gave us another simple, popular Bourgeois fare, the French fries. What would American lunch do, without those gluten-free carbohydrate fix? I shudder to think.

"Champagne and greasy French fries," you asked "what kind of food and wine pairing is this? Is that the best you can think of? Out of so many fine, heathy French cuisines and drinks Julia Child had shown us? Obviously, you are no connoisseur of fine French gourmet, are you?" Well, that maybe so, but mine is a greater version of the great French paradox, like the coupling of a commoner, Kate Middleton, with the British crown-aspirant, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of the House of Windsor, aka Saxe-Coburg und Gotha cum Mountbatten. That's both a big mouthful, if you ask me. The name and the house, that is. Well, there is no confusion there. It is not like the name is your average John Smith. With 20 possible (conservatively) popular names for each of the 4 name placeholders, the probability of another person having the same name would be 1 in 20 to the 4th power, let alone a prince. Ditto with the house name, hyphenates notwithstanding.

Rarer still, if you were named after the country's patron saint by a fervently patriotic and religiously devout parent, you would be called George George George George of the House George-George and George with George, and a title apropos, the Dude of George. Did his parent bite off from the royal trappings more than George George George George can chew? I would say so. That was quite a big bite, believe me you. By George, he almost chokes on them every time he opens his mouth trying to announce his own name and nearly runs out of breath just by briefly mentioning it. Poor George George George George of the House George-George and George with George, the Dude of George! Whew!

Now, between the commoner and the prince, which one is the fine sparkling drink and which one is the plain, common snack in their relationship? Well, your guess is as good as mine. This food pairing is an acquired taste then. It just needs some getting used to, that’s all, especially for the British upper-crust’s stiff upper-lips’ taste buds. The commoner and the prince, that is. For some stiffer upper-lipped crème de la crème nobility, it is more than a French paradox, it is the pollution and dilution of the English blue blood, like serving champagne over ice, a severe affront of proper protocol, tradition and taste. Foods do get into your blood stream, you know, especially quicker when coupled with alcohol, hence the dilution and pollution bits. Well, there is always a first in history. Once a precedent is set, certain history is bound to repeat itself. All I have been saying here is about pairing of French fries and champagne. Yes?

To each his or her own taste then. Champagne and French fries, anyone? It is on the house, if you guess the name right. Or see if you can just say it in one breath. OK then. Let’s par-tee! Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Faire la nouba! C'est la vie! And bon appétit!

P.S.: Fight terror with humor!

#PrayForParis #StandByFrance #FrenchNationalMotto #JeSuisParis #FightTerrorWithHumor

A Political Jingle Satire on the 2016 GOP Campaign for the White House

The Middle Class once drove this great country,
Then came de-regulations, free for all
With Reagan’s Trickle-Down Economy,
And down went Piggy Bank in the Great Fall.

Is this a country now just for the rich,
A country that’ll just ignore its poor?
A country caters only to the wishes
Of powerful moguls’ rule on its shore?

The emperor shows off his apparent clothes,
Donald Trump sports a crouching weasel hairs;
Between the two proud gaggles of them, both
Strut with empty, self-delusional airs.

Carson plays up to anti-Muslim hate,
Carly failed as an one-time C.E.O.,
Christie get squeezed and stuck at the “Tollgate”,
“Still wet behind the ears” marks one Rubio.

Scott Walker wants to undo the unions,
Ted Cruz tries to displace democracy,
All are subterfuge as fat cats’ minions,
Sowing the weed-seeds of plutocracy.

“Jeb!” slyly "disowns" his family name,
Glib Donald serves up ethnic, gender fears.
It’s an old kingmaker-billionaires’ game: -
Charades played out with shed crocodile tears.

They all claim to fight for the downtrodden,
They all want to level the playing field;
In truth, GOPs are all beholden
To Wall Street and the Top Ten Percent Guild!

Can we count on the collective wisdom
Of voters to their vile, sinister ploys,
And refuse them their plutocratic fiefdom,
And refute their floods of false-truth ad deploys?

#2016GOPCandidates #CitizensUnited #SuperPAC #DarkMoney #DonaldTrump #JebBush #Jeb!2016 #TopOnePercent #TopTenPercent #CampaignFundingReform #TansparentDonorContribution #WallStreetReform #CorporateTaxReform #ImmigrationReform #TedCruz #ScottWalker #plutocracy #BenCarson #CarlyFiorina #ChrisChristie #MarcoRubio #2008EconomicCrisis #2008FinancialMeltdown #Sub-PrimeLoans #FinancialInstitutionsCollapse #ReaganTrickleDownEconomics #VoodooEconomics #ReaganTaxCutForTheRich

Take Down the Confederate Flag from Public Grounds

The Confederate Flag, has long been the symbol of defiance of the pro-slavery south. It is a mockery of human decency that it still flies on the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse. This gives the flag legitimacy. To African Americans, it still instills unease, fear or even terror. It is a flag under which many white racist groups rally their battle cries of murderous hate and white supremacy.

Some in the south claim that the flag represents the South’s self-assertion against the North’s over-exertion of federal power over state’s rights. It is part of the South’s heritage. But history has rendered its verdict, this self-assertion was based on a wrong and unjustifiable cause, an immoral cause that tried to justify the subjugation of one human race over the other. The Confederate Flag is the symbol of that cause. The Southern heritage is one all Americans should be proud of, it is part of the American cultural landscape, but the Confederate Flag is not one of them. The flag is terra cariosa, in Latin, rotten earth, a gaping gash of quick sand on part of our cultural landscape we should be wise to stay away from. It is an abyss from which one should avert one’s eyes, lest one would be lulled into its hateful embrace.

The Confederate Flag, as well as the Nazi Germany Flag and the Japanese War Flag, should all be relegated to the dark of recess of the World’s Museum of Regrettable and Forgettable History. But the heinous and criminal acts committed under those flags and the lessons learned from them must not be forgotten, like stubborn weeds, they would sprout their tendrils of hatred and malignancy if we were not vigilant at all times. #TakeDownTheFlag

Armchair Sociologist #1: One Religious Observation, Through A Pair Of Glasses Steamily

Based on my own observations, both from personal experience and by reading history, there are two kinds of believers in any given religion: the fanatic at one end of the spectrum and the true spiritual at the other.

The fanatic are sticklers when it comes to religious practice, from literal interpretation of their holy scriptures, strict adherence to ceremonial rituals, their unassailable faith in the infallibility of their religious tenets and their unmovable conviction on the righteousness of their religious laws.

Any deviation from them will be branded and chastised as heretic, infidel or an act of sacrilege. They are self-appointed vicars of their respective god on earth and often act as judge and executioner in their god's name. Yes, they like to play god actually, though not consciously.

The spiritual, in any given religion, however, come to see their scriptures, their rituals, their tenets and laws as the means to the end of their spiritual journeys. Their religious practices are but guide-posts pointing the ways on a free moving highway rather than a tethering third-rail that railroad them on an inevitable one-way tracks towards their guaranteed salvation or afterlife rewards. They are for the most part non-judgmental, for they have come to see god or come to realize a spark of divinity in every sentient being. Some of these are canonized saints or revered sages in their religions.

Those two are the extremes at the two ends of the religious bell curve; for the most of us under the dome of the curve, and if you are a religion follower, come in between the two, a hybrid, a mixed breed pedigree mutt, I'm afraid. But these are the ones that will inherit the earth, with no jihad, crusade or messiah aspirations. Their only wish, through middle-of-the-road religious practice and respect for other faiths, is to reconcile with their own god and attain peace on this temporal world, however imperfect.

As a beginning student and sampler of religions and an imperfect human with many flaws, I have come to appreciate the Ancient Greek religion the best, where imperfect gods were made in the image of man, not man in the image of a perfect god. Maybe we would be more tolerant of each other's failing short of one's expectations or ideals.

Too bad that this ancient belief has now been relegated from a religion status to the realm of mythology, with certain present religious sects are now heading in the same direction and not too far behind. But then, what do I know, I'm but an occasional armchair sociologist, now with misted over glasses, mulling over this observation and a bowl of steaming hot chowder soup, New England Pilgrims a la mode, on a winter afternoon lunch break, with a sandwich of hummus on unleavened kosher bread, accompanied by, last but not least, a glass of Italian Chianti. Ah . . . what a delightful combination, what culinary harmony, what celebration of cultural taste buds . . . yum . . . peace and giving thanks! If only people could leave their messianic exhortations, crusading missions and jihad zeal out the communion of our different heritages and cultures. Mull over this . . .