The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

No, this is not a comment on the famous Clint Eastwood western and nor is it an ode to the background score. I am trying to get to the real good, bad and ugly things that we see and feel around us ( although I am not sure about the 'real' part).


Mankind is rife with dissimilarities and diversities on all levels. Diversity by itself is a very good thing , as uniformity means cessation and eventual destruction. The theory of Evolution bears ample testimony to that claim. This importance of diversity is seldom disputed in the scientific world. So we are clear about the fact that diversity is essential to the perpetuation of mankind, and indeed life itself.

However, in the relatively small social human groups, unity or similarity is given more importance and the all-important diversity is looked upon with contempt. Various ideas have been instrumental in creating this concept of unity in the people, like patriotism, religion, politics, language, customs, rituals and beliefs, to name a few. That all these ideas have been very effective in maintaining the true identity of various societies at various times, is an indisputable fact.

From here onwards, the difficulties begin. It is easy to mistake that when something has worked in a small cluster, it will do so in a bigger environment in the same way. Of all the uniting ideas mentioned above, religion has become the most controversial one. That is where the blog title starts taking shape. It is because religion has been the uniting and dividing social force, both at the same time. I know this oxymoron seems strange, but this is what has been happening. A relatively small group of people are inspired by the teachings of an individual. Fully convinced, they set about preaching the ideals which they think are worthy of following. In time, a major section of the society is convinced that their religion or faith is the best. Observing the other faiths from their 'high' spiritual status, they begin thinking that mankind must be cleansed from the evil and downright ugly religious practices, simply due to the fact that they are different from their own religious practices. Such spiritual cleansing has been done with impunity by both Christians and Muslims alike. Also, this 'cleansing' is done by people thinking themselves to be the chosen ones and that believing that they are following the wish of God.

However, plain simple logic and a look in history proves that this goal of universalization of religion is impossible to achieve. Let us assume that a certain religion or faith does actually succeed in making the entire mankind follow just one religion, by whichever mean necessary. This was tried very forcefully by the catholic faith as well as Islam. However, the result of this exercise as quite unexpected. The very principles which united people before, had become serious dividing points. Christianity and Islam got divided from just individual orders to religions having multiple sects, each believing they know the correct version of their Lord's teachings.

Mankind looks upon things relatively, but mistakes this relativity for absoluteness. This significant mistake leads to assumptions of Good, Bad and Ugly. One fails to realize that the reality may be quite different from the relativity that on sees.