By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |
Like most religions, the Sikh religion has been undergoing something of a schism for at least the past 140 years, though, largely due to the advent of social media, the tensions have intensified considerably over the past few decades. Basically, the divide is between those who emphasise reason and logic as the way to understand the message of the Guru, and those who stake their belief in devotional worship and literal reading of scripture.
Though there are many factions amongst both sides of the argument, broadly speaking, the rationalists reject a metaphysical God i..e a God independent of nature, whereas the literalists emphasise the centrality of metaphysical, ‘otherworldy’, spiritual experience as evidence of the reality of God independent of nature or the physical world. Accordingly the rationalists emphasise debate, logic and critical analysis, whereas the literalists focus on worship and ritual. For the reasons I set out below, though I believe both positions have their merits, they are flawed.
Each religion has its own internal logic. Broadly speaking, all religions are essentially based on stories and myths. The term ‘religion’ derived from the Latin word religiō, comes from Old French and Anglo Norman (1200s AD) and means ‘respect for sense of right, moral obligation, sanctity, what is sacred, reverence for the gods’. All religions draw on a set of sacred scriptures, which are said to reveal ultimate truths about metaphysical and physical existence, God, spirit, existence, afterlife, good, evil and the purpose of life.
Most, if not all, foundational religious literature – Sikh and non-Sikh – is presented in the form of fables, myths, rhetoric and poetry. Indeed, poetic licence is reliant on mobilising metaphysics in the form of personification, metaphors and similes. Hence, to subject sacred scripture to the rules of reason, logic and evidence, as the rationaliats seek tondi, is simply futile. The truth in this literature is not to be found through literal reading but interpretation.
For me, both the rationalists and the literalists undermine sacred scripture. The literalist undermines these scriptures/stories/mythologies by rendering them to be true historical accounts. The rationalists undermine them by either rendering them untruthful and meaningless, or by fitting them into a rationalist narrative, as, for example, we see in claims that Gurbani offers scientific truths!
Both are mistaken! Just like a nut, poetry and stories offer a kernel of truth, wisdom, insight, knowledge, but this needs to be extracted by discarding the shells — through critical reading in order to understand the meaning or ‘bhaav arth’. And it isn’t his truth that is timeless and universal, which perhaps also explains why ancient scriptures, such as Guru Granth Sahib, have so much connectivity. To bound the truths of scripture to literal truths, whether these are derived through reason, it to limit, what is limitless and time bound what is timeless. The rationalist, in his search for truth and certainty ends up throwing the baby out with the bath water. And the literalist, by failing to distinguish meaning from poetic licence, ends up drowning the baby in the bath water! What we need to do is learn to read religious literature, Sikh or other, with our hearts and the minds! Then we can begin to appreciate truths that are meaningful for each and everyone of us.
Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk
* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
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