During a 'blesssing' to a house by a Catholic priest, the familiarity of ritual
became all too familiar, to those done in Hinduism and Buddhism. It is interesting
how the religions all share similar traits, as if they have been built from a
similar mould and then customized. It could also be a plagiarised book of
knowledge, only the original might lie somewhere in the deserts of Egypt.
Imagine a classroom where the students are having a test, one guy is the original,
who is writing down all the answers, while those around are busy copying from him,
then the next one copies the same from the nearby one..hmm, pretty naughty.
The 'blessing' essentially consists of sprinkling 'holy' water to the house, inside out,
and everyone who live there, the goal is to scare away the evil spirit who (might) be present there,
and him, only him, the super Lord can get rid of him, no one else can. The practice
is a copycat of the shaman's in a Brazilian forest, or tribals from the deep jungles,including
the concrete one. It is a common thread that all religions share.
Well the Father was a holy man, talking good, by the book, the holy book.
However we had a quick chat in the family lounge and conversation turned to
my work. I was surprised by his knowledge about the computer systems,
languages and general IT literacy. Just adding on to the conversation, he asked
about the history of all this IT innovation happening around us lately. To my
surprise, I was tracing the source of where it all led to, the wars, the great wars.
It is not a overstretch to think that the German and American war machines
were responsible for the most remarkable innovations we are witnessing, and
enjoying today. The competition to develop the tools that killed, in most efficient
and lethal ways, and the means to support them, are behind all goodies gadgets
we see today, including the 'super' cars. The Internet, all sports cars, Wifi, super
computers and so forth..all owe their inventions to the war machines..kinda weird.
The Father was shaking his head as well, and I was surprised with myself.
But then again, has it always been the same? Do war and innovation hand in hand?
Do they feed each other? What do the human history and progress say about this?
