Day 104: Hermeneutics

This is something I’ve been wanting to talk about for a very long time now. Hermeneutics. It is an entire branch dedicated toward interpreting old texts - religious texts to be more specific.

We’ve all come to hear, in recent times - I’m assuming you’ve heard too - of the numerous “research grants” or basically funds and resources like time and manpower being allocated toward research into religious texts, legends or myths, basically anything religious. For instance, something close to home would be the kind of excavation conducted to find Ram Setu. Despite many attempts at trying to make it clear that the “bridge”, or island to be more clear, is in fact a natural formation. I guess, if you think about it people would love to think of that as God’s work - ‘cause it’s natural looking to us humans.

Anyway, my point here though is how we Hermeneutics is a tiny symbol of our obsession with these religious texts from the past. It’s a clear indicator of how we desperately crave for a better understanding of the world, and how much we really want it to be God’s way. God’s words. Understand and be closer to “God”.

At the same time, while these religious texts and certain ruins from the past, along with many people who are well-versed in this subject try to make it clear that these texts, and any of the writings etched on these ancient monumental-ruins well for that matter, are open to interpretation. Of each individual believer or non-believer for that matter.

But these persistent efforts of not only making religion an institutionally organized and governed event but also trying to get a group of individuals to all interpret in a way aligned with that institution - is malignant toward the human life force.

This heavy reliance on the historicity of religion, the unsatisfied thirst to keep staring at the same thing - it is an attempt in trying to accept the very same old concepts of religions in new ways. So they are acceptable to us, the so-called “modern man”.

Apart from that, we’ve also got the very basic problem of trying to live in the past through these texts - hoping that the answer lies therein. Interpretation of the same text for thousands of years by various individuals - one thing for sure is clear though.

This the way of the human nature. And may I separately add, this is indubitably and undeniably not constructive.