Illogical Supremacist

It is sometime surprising to see the illogical supremacy feeling in even some intelligent monotheist.

I am calling this illogical because that monotheist is like a kid who has recently learned addition and trying to show off in-front of kids who already know multiplication.

This is an hypothesis on where this supremacist feeling might come from. To understand this we will have to understand different types of polytheism.

Indian Polytheism

Let me first explain Indian Polytheism, that is Hinduism with my own personal experience.

Forty years back, when I was just 10, I was told by my uneducated village uncle that all Gods in Hinduism are actually one. I still remember it because it was very new to me.

Fifteen years back when I was first hearing about non-dualism(Advaita) I still remember the colleague as it was very new to me. Non-dualism talks about not only all God, but everything is actually one. Like in science the nature’s law is applicable for everything.

So in Indian polytheism, even if there are various Gods, they are manifestation of one God.

Also in Indian polytheism there are various paths to God. It could be via duty or devotion or wisdom. One can choose the path one wants.

Further more, Indian polytheism also talks about cycle where the world evolves over time, destroys and gets re-born. In a way it evolution of the world.

Ancient Ancient Polytheism

This is the polytheism, where there are various Gods and no unifying force between various Gods.

PS: Not sure if there is any culture in the world today with this world view. As per the book “Sapiens” by Prof. Yuval Noah Harari, there is a unifying God in almost all polytheism that exists today.

Monotheism

This was in response and criticism of Ancient Ancient Polytheism, where various God exists without any unifying force between them. They were perhaps trying to unite people by saying there is only one way.

They did not realize that there are various ways to reach the same goal and to unite people you need to respect the different ways. In a way monotheism was trying to cure the symptom and not teaching people appreciating different ways.

True Secularism

Some monotheist culture can at best talk about “tolerance”. By “tolerance” they meant, I disapprove your way but will tolerate it. Just like we tolerate some human being, even if we don’t like them.

Indian polytheism talks about “acceptance”. It is like saying there are multiple paths to reach the mountain peak and we respect all paths. Pick a path you like.

So it is very easy for a Hindu to follow Mahatma Gandhi’s version of “Raghupati Raghav Rajaram”. Hindus can easily say “Ram, Isvar & Allah are same”. It will be very difficult for some monotheist to say that. They may find it impossible to say Lord Hanuman and their God is same because they cannot see God in any monkey.

It is like saying there is no “mechanical energy”, no “chemical energy”, no “heat energy” only “one energy” and feel superior about it.

 

 

 

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