along life's way

i’m reading a book and thinking outside of the box. we are so divided – as people, genders, cultures, religions, etcetera. why? why are we so divided? do we get hung up on preferences? beliefs? opinions? desires? egos? too often, i’m distracted by things that don’t matter. i want to see the truth in everything. or at least take the time to search for it.

“we are all born like catholics, aren’t we – in limbo, without religion, until some figure introduces us to god? after that meeting the matter ends for most of us. if there is a change, it is usually for the lesser rather than the greater; many people seem to lose god along life’s way. that was not my case. the figure in question for me was an older sister of mother’s, of a more traditional mind, who brought me to a temple when i was a small baby. auntie rohini was delighted to meet her newborn nephew and she thought she would include mother goddess in the delight. ‘it will be his symbolic first outing,’ she said. ‘it’s a samskara!’ symbolic indeed. we were in madurai; i was the fresh veteran of a seven-hour train journey. no matter. off we went on this hindu rite of passage, mother carrying me, auntie propelling her. i have no conscious memory of this first go-around in a temple, but some smell of incense, some play of light and shadow, some flame, some burst of colour, something of the sultriness and mystery of the place must have stayed with me. a germ of religious exaltation, no bigger than a mustard seed, was sown in me and left to germinate. it has never stopped growing since that day.” yann martel