by Pamela Rosa

Babylon

The stench of Babylon fills my nostrils. Where can I escape this awful stench?

Secularism, capitalism, materialism; are these not ways of life? And if they are ways of life, then are they not religions too?
Yea, Babylon is a religion in and of itself.

Plato broke from the religious thought of his day but he never abandoned religion per se.
His books are full of quasi-religious ideas. He was a philosopher and a prophet, for he did not see the difference between a man's philosophy, a man's way of life, and a man's religion.
They were one and the same.
This tendency can be especially seen in the philosophers who came before Plato.

Aristotle was a different story. He liked to comparmentalise things into neat little boxes, regardless of whether or not they needed to be comparmentalised or not. So he ended drawing a distinction between religion and philosophy, which is an inherently absurd concept.
Is not philosophy the search for wisdom and truth?
Is not religion the search for wisdom and truth too?

The Romans did not mind the distinction, they pushed it even further.
When the Roman empire converted into a massive fundamentalist Christian state, there were plenty of Romans who were quite willing to convert to Christianity while not relinquishing their rather debauched lifestyles.
Hence, there was the distinction between one's religion and one's way of life.
Furthermore, the Catholics encouraged this attitude in order to win more converts; one's faith was more important than one's deeds.
Under their bizarre logic, one could be the noblest person in the world, but if one did not believe in that Jewish person, one would burn in hell for eternity; likewise, one could be the vilest person, but if one just believed and asked forgiveness from that Jewish person and that Bearded God that was his supposed father, then one would happily spend the rest of eternity sitting on a cloud and playing string instruments.

The purpose of wisdom is to live a way of life that is conducive to happiness. Then, is not philosophy a way of life?
Does not religion aim to recommend a way of life that overcomes suffering and aids happiness?
What, then, can be the possible difference between these three?

In the eastern religions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, and probably a lot more than I even know of, that distinction between religion, philosophy and lifestyle was never drawn. They were one and the same.
Hence as an example, Confucianism, which primarily sets out a moral code, was elevated to religious status.

Babylon has no gods as such.
But it prescribes a way of life, a way of thinking, a philosophy. And as such it is a religion.

Yea, even Babylon has its scriptures. Its holy writ is found in Cosmopolitan and Time magazine and others.
Its preachings are heard in 5 to 7 minute chunks in the middle of television programs and radio shows.
Though it doth not use the cloak of biblical language, yet it doth preach, so that those who doth not believeth in Babylon may believeth.

And on and on like droning catholic priests or buzzing imams the adverts repeat and repeat and repeat, brainwashing themselves into your skull.
And how does one escape from this incessant preaching?
Throwing out your television is one way. It is amazing how aware you become of advertising once you have removed television from your life.

But still, the stench of Babylon fills ones nostrils. Big pretty posters, shiny glossy magazines, chirpy radio songs. Its stink is everywhere.
Ubiqioutous, like christianity and the roman symbol of fertility, the easter bunny.
The two greatest religious forces: Babylon and Christianity. An odd couple; but they suit each other. They feed off each other.

I cannot get away from either the stench of Babylon or the stench of Christianity at the moment.
All I can do is to try keep filling my headspace with something anti-Babylon. The sweet perfume of my headspace, like those posie-masks that doctors wore during the black death, keeps me from being totally overwhelmed by its corrupting rot-smell. Still, I fear that I might yet sneeze one of these days...

Ring o' ring o' rosies
A pocketful of posies
Atishoo! Atishoo!
And then I fall down...

May you be free from evil, danger and suffering
Pamela Rosa