Religulous on a New Earth

Rarely do I combine two wonderful reviews in one article. However, my views on life and the future of our world were changed for the better this past week because of the movie RELIGULOUS and an insightful book called: A NEW EARTH.

Relgulous is a new documentary in theaters starring comedian BILL MAHER. Educational and also hilarious, this movie opens your eyes to what you might have already known: we DON’T have the answers to everything or anything for that matter. Yeah, no kidding! We don’t know anything. However, this movie also asks, if we don’t know everything about the past, our future or religion for that matter, then why do we pretend to know? I could go on and on about why this movie is profound and informative in so many ways. I chose to comment on the most central message of this movie: WE SHOULDN’T PRETEND TO KNOW WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE PAST, AS THIS ONLY SERVES TO ENCOURAGE IGNORANCE…the results of such ignorance (as illustrated in this movie) are wars, political upsets and overall everyday conflicts as humans try to coexist in a world where our past (or our supposed beliefs of the past) serve to divide us more and more.

A NEW EARTH is a book written a couple years ago by Eckhart Tolle. Eckhart seeks to explain the reason behind most human behavior and why evil can exist in a world full of good intentions. This book has nothing and everything to do with the central message in RELIGULOUS. According to Eckhart, we believe and think what we do to reinforce our ego. It is human nature to feed our hungry ego thereby saying and doing things to make us feel better about …yes…you guessed it….ourselves! Through becoming more aware of our constant need to make ourselves feel good, we become more open minded and able to work with others.

If we DON’T know all the answers and we will never know…then why pretend? Pretending that we are being watched over by a GOD and that we were created and chosen by a higher being helps us sleep at night. It gives us (false) reasons and excuses for our actions. Above all, it reinforces our EGO, our need to feel superior and better. The majority of problems in our world stem from our need to say one religion or view is BETTER than the other…we are better than you…we know more than you. But are we better? Do we know more than others? Or as Eckhart reasons, is this just an act of the EGO? Is it fair to say Religion and similar beliefs were created to reinforce the evil inside of us? Perhaps if we became more AWARE of others viewpoints and our own need to be the best (or have the best ideas about creation) then maybe we would be able to see the good in others or their ideas and actually ACCOMPLISH something.

Oh and by the way…go see RELIGULOUS and read A NEW EARTH …if anything your eyes will be opened to how much you really don’t know or have been pretending to…scary!