After a lifetime of research and pondering over the various dilemmas I came to realize I do not disbelieve the possibility of God, I just find no credibility in established interpretations of the various holy texts. My uneasiness with traditional beliefs is multi-faceted, but at the center of my discontent is religion’s (and people’s) unwillingness to openly and sincerely address the many predicaments. Doubt and questioning should not be condemned, but accepted as essential components of faith.

An omniscient creator and ruler of the Universe could not and would not endorse a dormant mind. Krishna, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Aristotle, Jesus, Mohammad and other prominent figures of the past, were not simply important religious prophets, but also prominent philosophers and scientists of their era. Human consciousness has since moved on and we have been presented with new challenges, new prophets and new truths, brought to us by the likes of Rene Descartes, Sir Isaac Newton, Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and many re-interpreters of spiritual wisdom, such as Vivekananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, and more recently Dalai Lama, Eckhart Tolle and a variety of other messengers.

I’m just dropping names to strengthen the point that we are living in a world of continuous change. Whether this world was willfully created by some divine being or evolved through natural evolution is beside the point. When addressing scientific, religious or philosophical dilemmas we inevitably come face-to-face with the indisputable fact: everything is changing, transforming, upgrading, thus established tenets of faith, as every other doctrine, should embrace this truth and adapt its teachings accordingly.

It’s not a coincidence that world’s leading monotheistic religions feature several interpretations of their individual texts. It’s also not a coincidence their respective scriptures don’t mention mobile phones, drug abuse and a thousand other modern life addictions and obsessions. Literal translation of ancient holy texts is a direct insult to God. The Bible teaches: “let the wise listen and add to their learning”[1], while the most emphasized word in the holy Qur’an, after the word of God, is ilm = knowledge.

It is the duty and responsibility of every earthly individual to embrace our evolving understanding of the world and move our search for truth, spirituality and meaning of life into the 21^st century.

[1] Bible, Proverbs 1:5 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%201:5