Religion and other opiums

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 Dear Comrades, 

Coming from extremely conservative and poor backgrounds of India has an advantage of seeing the whole class structure naked in front of you. The relationship of humans and religion has been one of mutual interdependence. It seems really scarce to our liberal friends today how can we be able to survive without religion. It is for this reason I think it is highly needed that we, communists should clarify our stance on religion and similarly related things. Since Marx, Religion and Communism had tensions so great that many people died because of these tensions. Anything like religion, which serves a dual purpose in a class wise stratified society, viz. Service to the bourgeoisie by blinding the proletariat of it's class consciousness and service to the proletariat by giving them reasons for their suffering. But, this has changed since the advent of newer and updated economic systems. I believe, Religion today not only consoles the proletariat but also the bourgeoisie. It numbs down the mental and emotional suffering a rich endures by over-consumption and lack of good purpose. The poor suffers in a systematic way. The capitalist economy is designed in a way that it eats from the surplus flesh of the proletariat and the muscle mass of the bourgeoisie builds up. But, why the bourgeoisie suffers? The bourgeoisie, on the contrary to the proletariat, which suffers materially, suffers at the level of idea. The ideal world no longer remains ideal for the bourgeoisie. The guilt of being well off never leaves the soul of the bourgeoisie. However, it is doubtful if any soul is left in the bourgeoisie at the first place. Consumption of material world in a manner prescribed by capitalism leaves the rich in the most impoverished state possible. The mental problems that we see today mainly happens in the middle class and the rich, since the lack of material problems will give rise to problems at the level of idea. 

Religion here, serves as an opium. Give me some and let me forget myself for sometime in the grand idea of giving answers to every suffering possible and a fake otherworldly suffering resolution mechanism which will cure every disease, wipe every drop of tear, feed every hungry gut. It always served, in this way, the status quo. But, here also, religion went an evolution. Religion has transformed today into the mose commodified product in the market. What is the best commodity possible in the capitalist market? What do you think? It is not any material object. It is an idea of owning a grand material object. Spirituality is the morphed form of religion which capitalism sells today at a vast range of costs, from being free online today, to being as costly as the net worth of a high net-worth individuals. You may think that you are just spiritual, you don't consume anything. You are out of this market being spiritual. You may think all these kinds of delusion. But, anything that is providing you any service, be it mental peace, be it physical pleasure is not free in this economy. It is not in the human consciousness developed in this economy to be free of the transactional way of thinking. The free thing that you consume today is an investment on you of someone which will take from you a butt-load of money tomorrow. May be in the later part of your life, you will wish to join "The art of living" of some saint. Isn't it wierd that you need to learn how to live by someone who has quit living himself and calls himself a person who has left the worldly desires. In this way, Religion and it's morphed capitalist product, spirituality becomes the opium of masses. 

Actually, Humans are animals who wish a master to exist. They want a lease around their neck and someone to plan things for them in advance. In the absence of this master, Human, the intelligent creature, made it's own master by imagination. Exploited, saddened, emotionally drained human, who bereft of all kinds of happiness in this economy wants reforms. He thinks, doing just a little bit of lifestyle changes, little bit of hairstyle improvement, little bit of book reading, or change in the way you look at life can make things better. May be it can, but it will not change the ontological fact of capitalist suffering and all other physical and mental sufferings stemming out of it.

What to do then? My religiously blinded or may be enraged right now friends, who can't call themselves more than liberals today, liberals who think their common sense is their best friend, but it is the most defiant thing to think, will say that that's what we communists are good at. Pointing problems and doing nothing about it. Yes, I admit that. And here also, I, in a Foucauldian manner, will abstain from prescriptions. If anything, I will provide modesty and hopelessness. Modestly admitting that we are stupid creatures and we came up with imagined so called solutions to our real problems rather than solving them on a grand real level. And hopelessness, perhaps, can give us a break of being in the binary of solution finding and problem finding. Let us accept, that we are pathetic. Accept that we ruined our lives here at earth and we wish to have an otherworldly creature to mend things for us. Nobody will come. Nobody ever did. All happened was we told ourselves some stories over tea, called them epics. Nobody came, nobody ever will. I want a desire-less, almost obsessed set of humans who can even die for the cause of "mending this world ourselves". Changing the economic system, change the policy making, change the world yourself rather than dwelling in hallucinations. Till the point, when I make my army of these people, I will wait. I will listen to the taunts of these oppressed helpless, almost psychotic, people for they know not, what to do. And I know. But I am patient. Patient, till I get a chance. History marches on and I wait. I will wait, comrades, till the end of history itself. All I have to give till then is hopelessness, borne out of shear love for humanity. Be hopelessly hopeful comrades, revolution will come. And it will be televised this time. That day, I will smile, we will smile, our people will smile.

Signing off comrades! 


Vibhat

15-05-2023


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