Are Indians more spiritually inclined?

I hate the word “spiritual”. It's a pet peeve of mine. It describes the natural human need to try and explain to themselves who they are. It expresses the need for transcendence over the “human condition”, which is another phrase I hate but still use. People search for philosophies that explain what life is about and explain why they are here. This is clearly not a futile endeavor. But, I hate what it has come to represent. Increasingly, people say they are spiritual instead of just saying they are religious. Otherwise and more commonly people try to occupy the space between religions by not admitting to themselves that they are just agnostic or atheist. But, common to all of these people and most nauseatingly so, people think it makes them special that they are spiritual ,leading to spiritual snobbery. I am spiritual and so a higher being and you are not, seems to be the attitude. To which my first thought is. Please go do something rude to yourself. Of course, since I am a “nice” person I would not say that. Being spiritual is like finding an invisible friend. It gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling that makes you think you found a special something that nobody else has. 

 

      An Indian friend's Russian wife once said that she had met an Indian that was atheist and could not understand how Indians could be atheists. I said nothing then because the ignorance of the statement left me astounded. But, this has nothing to do with the fact that she is Russian. This reflects a common misconception about Indians even among Indians. Indians like to think that theyfound our invisible friend and non-Indians like to think that Indians have too. Huh? Wait. If spiritualism is all about a search for something and Indians are the more spiritual. Doesn't this actually mean that in spite of searching for thousands of years Indians have not found “it” yet. Whatever ”it” is. So, the Russian lady must think Indians are stupid. The whole world must think Indians are stupid. Some Non-Indian Christians clearly think Indians are stupid. I am sure Indians are not stupid. All joking aside, what is this Indian quest or spiritualism then?

 

      India has never learned to express it's material needs well and suppresion of the voice of Indians by Indians and others has left India with no avenue for expressions  and as often happens, when people cannot find expression, rage is born. As Salman Rushdie says “people find their identity in their rage”. This leads some Indians to act just as Rushdie describes. Murderous groups or sedate religious groups or anti-religious groups all find their identity through their dealings with this feeling of rage. Some act out. Some flee violence to take refuge in religious and “spiritual” philosophies that leave them in a child like state that make them feel that if they ignore it will go away. Very few act on their rage in a positive manner and try to make things better. It is said that depression is internalized rage. India fits this description well. Down the ages, mass killers act out on their rage. Indians do that too as we saw with the Gujarat riots and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 to name a couple, but mostly as a group, Indians learn to live with their rage. In an attempt to rationalize this rage with no violent outlet, Indians turn to bankrupt philosophies that help them rationalize things.  Communism is one of these as witnessed by the Maoist Naxalites. Also, only in India do you find Communists who go to temples, churches and mosques. Only in India will you find spiritual Communists. The result of all this nonsense is a state of inaction that people see as spiritualism. Because clearly inaction means that Indians must be above all of this. That is why you hear non-Indians talk about how people seem happy in spite of the poverty, corruption and social problems. This is “spiritualism”. This fatalism and apathy which just worsens the problems and hence the depression that I spoke about earlier. Compounding the problem is the Central government's suppression of freedom of speech. Anybody who expresses themselves freely including cartoonists are jailed. Chinese style internet censorship is not far away. In fact, a Delhi high court judge thinks that China has done the right thing in censoring free speech. The state that India finds itself in is a result of Indian fatalism resulting from this thing called spirituality. Indians must act as Krishna says to Arjuna in Peter Brook's adaptation of the Mahabharata. Act against what you see as wrong. Dispel yourselves of the Maya of spiritualism and act. This is my spiritual advice to you.