Some 50 years back my sweet old Catechism Teacher told me that Archangel Lucifer was annoyed with whatever the system was in Heaven and Lucifer appeared before the throne of God with his legion of angels and declared "We are not going to serve you any longer"
The thought of a rebellion in Heaven thrilled me no end. The least bit of impertinence about wet shoes or chilly rooms brought frowns from the nuns, and here was a war of sorts in Heaven !!!
However, to continue the sermon, the All Mighty God (not willing to take such insolence) ordered Archangel Michael to throw Lucifer out of Heaven, along with all his rebellious followers. Michael with his flaming sword banished Lucifer and his gang to Hell. In Hell Lucifer became the Devil and his loyal gang members all burnt in Hell.
These stories fascinated me. My father being a strict non-believer, Mum had arranged a rigid religious instruction system for me. This resulted in the fact that I at once doubted and questioned Catechism. I loved the stories at age 5. They fascinated me. In the next five years I learnt more about religion and completely ignored the fact that there could be a God. However, that Gods could fight and go into serious battle was always an interesting thought. How could conflicts occur in such paradisaical realms? How could there be quarrels and opposition in an area of oneness? I preferred to like the stories that religion taught me and leave them as stories. Not to put my faith in them.
Later when we were taught Latin I understood that the name Lucifer was derived out of two words. Lux (light) and ferre ('to carry' or 'to do'). Lucifer literally means Carrier or Bringer of Light.Was the Devil to carry the light to the poor heathens?Was he the Bringer of Light? My realisation based on my shcool-level Latin made the whole understanding more complex and bewildering.
In another ten years I thoroughly studied the Old Testament, the Vedas, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Indian mythology, Greek mythology and Tibetan dzyans and came to a dead-certain conclusion that there were frequent battles in Heaven, amongst Gods in all these Holy Books. Interesting battles, delightfully thrilling issues, fire and flame, blood and gore all bristling with contradictions and horror stories. Some could be termed as offensive and demanded proof. I flatly refused to put my faith in any religion, and only because of my Mum at home I did not openly refute God. I was more than willing to go to Church or to attend the Puja, but only because it helped me to think while in Church and the Sanskrit sholkas made interesting translation pieces.
Reasoning comes more easily to me than blind acceptance. The fact that Dad and his strong teaching of Logic and Mathematics did not help the fact that I was a complete sceptic by the time I left school.
Space and Time theories learnt in school and later seemed that God is best left as a myth. The Christian Church, Hinduism and other religion taught us to concede to God. I conceded to Science. I was not irreligious. Never irreverent.It's just that my comfort zone was in what I could reason out in my mind.With my head.
In addition to the Theory of Relativity, Einstein formulated the lesser known theory of gravitation. Both explain macrocosm, our 'great universe' so to speak. Another all time favourite physicist of mine Werner Heisenberg proposed the formulas of quantam mechanics. The behaviour of the microcosm is very well explained by the theory of quantum mechanics.What happened to those hydrogen subatomic particles which set up our world. Fortunately enough both gravitation theory and quantum physics quite adequately explains the origin of the universe. Space and Time came into being simultaneously. Astrophysicists had a ball of a time. Tedious calculations were done by super-genius men. Plato's "Timaeus" was unearthed once again and dusted. The concept of God and Creation was openly being challenged. Theologians argued about the transformation of Godly creatures into Human bodies.Transposition of soul was being battled and debated.
It was a wonderful period to grow up in. What with Dad at home declaring that he had known Heisenberg at the Wilhelm Institute for Physics (later renamed Planck Institute for Physics). In college I was learning the hydrodynamics of turbulent flows and ferromagnetism. Einstein declaring "God does not play dice" as oppose to the omnipresence of the Almighty. There was little room for God.
I spent more than a lifetime adhering to my belief. Teaching a science that demanded a high level of deductive powers and total conceptual clarity of Physics.
Now that I am so much older I have learnt to be less rigid. My analysis of my own theories I can now question and also defend. Certain facts Science and Logic perhaps can not not explain. I have always treated religion with contempt, but age has taught me that there perhaps may be a Superior Being. A Maker. Just a small may be. Religion remains bunkum.
'Spiritualism' and 'Philosophy' are acutely powerful words. It all started with these two words.
The thought of a rebellion in Heaven thrilled me no end. The least bit of impertinence about wet shoes or chilly rooms brought frowns from the nuns, and here was a war of sorts in Heaven !!!
However, to continue the sermon, the All Mighty God (not willing to take such insolence) ordered Archangel Michael to throw Lucifer out of Heaven, along with all his rebellious followers. Michael with his flaming sword banished Lucifer and his gang to Hell. In Hell Lucifer became the Devil and his loyal gang members all burnt in Hell.
These stories fascinated me. My father being a strict non-believer, Mum had arranged a rigid religious instruction system for me. This resulted in the fact that I at once doubted and questioned Catechism. I loved the stories at age 5. They fascinated me. In the next five years I learnt more about religion and completely ignored the fact that there could be a God. However, that Gods could fight and go into serious battle was always an interesting thought. How could conflicts occur in such paradisaical realms? How could there be quarrels and opposition in an area of oneness? I preferred to like the stories that religion taught me and leave them as stories. Not to put my faith in them.
Later when we were taught Latin I understood that the name Lucifer was derived out of two words. Lux (light) and ferre ('to carry' or 'to do'). Lucifer literally means Carrier or Bringer of Light.Was the Devil to carry the light to the poor heathens?Was he the Bringer of Light? My realisation based on my shcool-level Latin made the whole understanding more complex and bewildering.
In another ten years I thoroughly studied the Old Testament, the Vedas, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Indian mythology, Greek mythology and Tibetan dzyans and came to a dead-certain conclusion that there were frequent battles in Heaven, amongst Gods in all these Holy Books. Interesting battles, delightfully thrilling issues, fire and flame, blood and gore all bristling with contradictions and horror stories. Some could be termed as offensive and demanded proof. I flatly refused to put my faith in any religion, and only because of my Mum at home I did not openly refute God. I was more than willing to go to Church or to attend the Puja, but only because it helped me to think while in Church and the Sanskrit sholkas made interesting translation pieces.
Reasoning comes more easily to me than blind acceptance. The fact that Dad and his strong teaching of Logic and Mathematics did not help the fact that I was a complete sceptic by the time I left school.
Space and Time theories learnt in school and later seemed that God is best left as a myth. The Christian Church, Hinduism and other religion taught us to concede to God. I conceded to Science. I was not irreligious. Never irreverent.It's just that my comfort zone was in what I could reason out in my mind.With my head.
In addition to the Theory of Relativity, Einstein formulated the lesser known theory of gravitation. Both explain macrocosm, our 'great universe' so to speak. Another all time favourite physicist of mine Werner Heisenberg proposed the formulas of quantam mechanics. The behaviour of the microcosm is very well explained by the theory of quantum mechanics.What happened to those hydrogen subatomic particles which set up our world. Fortunately enough both gravitation theory and quantum physics quite adequately explains the origin of the universe. Space and Time came into being simultaneously. Astrophysicists had a ball of a time. Tedious calculations were done by super-genius men. Plato's "Timaeus" was unearthed once again and dusted. The concept of God and Creation was openly being challenged. Theologians argued about the transformation of Godly creatures into Human bodies.Transposition of soul was being battled and debated.
It was a wonderful period to grow up in. What with Dad at home declaring that he had known Heisenberg at the Wilhelm Institute for Physics (later renamed Planck Institute for Physics). In college I was learning the hydrodynamics of turbulent flows and ferromagnetism. Einstein declaring "God does not play dice" as oppose to the omnipresence of the Almighty. There was little room for God.
I spent more than a lifetime adhering to my belief. Teaching a science that demanded a high level of deductive powers and total conceptual clarity of Physics.
Now that I am so much older I have learnt to be less rigid. My analysis of my own theories I can now question and also defend. Certain facts Science and Logic perhaps can not not explain. I have always treated religion with contempt, but age has taught me that there perhaps may be a Superior Being. A Maker. Just a small may be. Religion remains bunkum.
'Spiritualism' and 'Philosophy' are acutely powerful words. It all started with these two words.
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