Garth A. Rattray | Our polytheistic society

Everyone knows that Jeshua ben Joseph, “... Jesus, the personification of the Christ energy on earth” as one writer so aptly and eloquently put it, was not born during this time of the year. But the Christmas season always causes me to reflect on religious and spiritual matters. This year, in particular, I have been wondering who or what it is that people are worshipping. On whom or what are some people focussing their entire being, their inner energy?

With our record number of churches per square kilometre, you would expect that many Jamaicans are religious…focussing on God, the creator of all there is. But from all indications, this is not so. I submit that many Jamaicans do not worship our Heavenly Father, they worship various mundane entities. Many people show great devotion to hate, aggression, violence, greed, lust, selfishness, corruption, and politics. By their actions, they have effectively made those things the gods that they serve, the gods that they live by on a day-to-day basis. Simply put, that is polytheism.

HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE

Your religion is not all about going to worship somewhere. Your religion is not all about congregating to praise. Your religion is not all about how often you pray every day. Your religion is not all about how deeply you pray. Your religion is not all about how involved you become in your place of worship. Your religion is not all about announcing that you are a Christian (or whatever) every chance you get. Your religion is not about being holier than thou. Your religion is all about how you live your life and about what occupies your deepest thoughts.

For example, politics is a very pervasive entity. Many profoundly important, far-reaching and life-changing decisions are made with politics at the helm. Although we benefit from the hard work and dedication put in by our politicians, before acting, they always carefully consider the possible political ramifications. If a decision is good for the nation but will precipitate a horrible political fallout, which will damage the political party concerned severely, it is shelved. Priority is always given to laws, programmes and projects that net political mileage.

Some people in politics are self-sacrificial and only live to serve their country, but because there is so much potential for upward mobility when one is aligned to one political party or the other, some people sell their souls for the sake of political power and for the benefits contained therein. When food, housing, amenities, security, employment, and finances depend on political affiliation, people give their all. They sacrifice their individuality and compromise their morality. We have repeatedly seen where some die-hard politicians have put politics before their religious/spiritual beliefs.

An indeterminate number of people have built their entire lives, and the lives of their family and friends, on corruption. This is the tool that they employ to get jobs and/or to acquire many of the things that they own. Corruption is pervasive throughout our society. Because, by its very nature, corruption benefits the people who use it and impedes those who do not, more and more people succumb to its temptation. Because corruption determines almost every aspect of the lives of the many who live by it, it is displacing ‘religion’ as the moral compass by which many decisions are made. In effect, corruption has supplanted religion because it is afforded more respect and mental focus.

CRIME AND VIOLENCE

Crime and violence are also paramount in the lives of some of our citizens. In a very recent interview, an up-and-coming reggae DJ expressly and publicly reiterated that, if someone that he knows we’re out to get him, he would get that individual killed. In his world, the police are not his protectors; in fact, he alluded to the constabulary as being corrupt and useable for nefarious acts. He worships a warlike and murderous god because that is the way that he was socialised. To him, religion is a useless luxury and its principles could get him killed. So, he worships at the feet of crime and violence in order to survive within his world.

Some people are so entirely focused on not just their physical survival, but on the acquisition of ‘things’, that they end up worshipping greed. Since money is a finite entity, in order to become very rich, some must be very poor. The World Bank classifies Jamaica as an upper-middle-income country. Suffice it to say that, as a result of greed, the wealth is far from properly distributed. More people than we know have accumulated, and continue to accumulate, generational wealth, while most citizens must be content with generational poverty. This disparity breeds alternate means of survival…also known as corruption, crime and violence.

And last, lust. There are people who will kill someone rather than simply walk away from a very emotionally painful situation. They always claim that they loved the individual. However, that emotion is lust; real love is never abusive, cruel, violent or murderous.

You and I are the children of the one Supreme Being, but most people have forgotten who they are. Be cognisant of which God or gods you serve, because a day of reckoning awaits all of us.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.