The God insecurity

I don't know how many of you already know of this picture and the hooha it's brewing all around the world. But for those of you who don't know what it's about, please stop reading for a moment and focus on the picture you see here. Tell me what you see in the moon ? Go ahead, strain your eyes. Then, come back to the rest of this post.

So, what did you see ? Did you see what so many blessed mortals saw ? Did you see the divine presence ? Did you see God ? Because that's what so many people got.



It was mayhem and madness, rolled in one. Suddenly, you had all the believers sending sms, international calls and net posts saying - "Look at the moon ! Look at the moon ! He's on the moon !" Suddenly, the man banned in quite a few international countries and facing a waning popularity was back in the news in a big way. Suddenly, there was the old swagger in the devotees ( Who's your God , now, eh, disbeliever !!! ). Over what ? A cloud covering the moon.

Your eyes see what you want them to see. They ignore what doesn't fit into their point of view and match the rest into the equation. It's as simple as that, really. When your heart is set on a girl, her natural smile as she passes you by will be read as " I love ya too, baby !!! Let's ditch my rich parents and live like love monkeys on the fruits of love at your one room flat !." Alternatively, when someone you despise walks past you without acknowledging you just because he's preoccupied, you alone will see a "I hate you, yyou little weasel. Let's go outside and thumb fight till one of us bleeds to death."

It starts from there, doesn't it..our insecurities ? We see what we want to see to further our beliefs. We build a palace out of these fictional bricks, painting the non existant walls with our minds mirages till they blur out the reality outside.
The difference here from a madman's plight is that since it thrives on insecurity, it is not restricted to the singular. Many people pass by, see the palace and decide it suits them better than reality.

It starts from a benign "she always wears black" to a maligning "she's always around booys only " to a destructive "she'll sleep with anyone."


It starts with a "he hurt my daddy", moves to "he's a dictator" and ends with "he's got weapons of mass destruction". A million lives later, many of the believers have realised they were sucked in by their insecurity for their lives.. an insecurity foor which they were ready to let thousands of women and children die.

It works because we all carry our insecurities. We all need to cushion our hearts againstt the truth. We all need to believe in others flaws, to tell ourselves we do no wrong... to tell ourselves that God is in the moon just because there's a fluffy cloud in tthe sky ( 'Gadzooks !! A cloud in the sky, Holmes ? That's shocking.' 'Indeed, Watson. And not just any cloud.. a fluffy cloud.' )
I can visualise the millions of devotees sharpening their peace loving tridents to carve themselves a meaty slice of Rosho ( 3rd room on the left, 4th floor. I'm the hunk with the John Katzenbach novel ), but look, you have to face facts too. A person who needs to believe will believe whetherr it's God on the moon on the Loch Ness Monster at a Scottish strip club
( Ay laddie, I saw 'er with me own wie eyes and I tell ya', shhe 'ad the biggest honkerrs I'd ever seen. )

But give me the freedom to not see what I can't visualise as well. It doesn't make me a lesser 'chhaddi dost' of the Big G than you. It just means that I don't need to read too much into a cloud. I don't see a human's face ( the friend who brought this incident to my notice used the world cult leader.. hhmmm ) in the moon. I'm just not that insecure on the presence of God on Earth.
And if you're gonna keep persisting on the fluffy cloud.. well, there is a slight resemblance to Boney M now that you mention it.. HAIL BONEY !!
Final word : Sigh.. yawn.. sigh. Do good. Be good.. God's in ya. And remember... don't always trust your eyes.