I love Maths.Yes, the one which deals with numbers, symbols etc. I know many of you must be already writing me off and giving up from further reading some stupid article, written by a weird person who says she loves maths.
I have never received a nice warm response to the words “I love maths” ever in my life. Most of the people give me a weird look and call me crazy.
At the other extreme is another expression which always brings me exactly the opposite response of what I get for “I love maths”. Off course, you have guessed what the other sentence is – “I love God”. No one has ever called me freak, weird or any such names for saying that particular sentence. Though, that particular sentence could be indicator to my prejudices and underlying hatred towards those people who love God in a different way.
Today,I decided to sit down and strictly give a thought to, ‘what is the difference between Maths and God’. This article was triggered off by a person who saw me working with a maths puzzle and said, “Why are you spending your precious time on working out a stupid puzzle? Instead, sing praises of God, which will take you to heavens”. HAH!
I know that spirituality is important for every person. As for the famous sentence ‘Love of God’, I am not very sure about it. If we read history carefully, anyone can see that the ‘Love of God’ has brought in more violence into our world; dividing people, multiplying superstitions, creating hatred, communal riots, executions, in addition to wars like crusades which claimed thousands of lives.
As for Maths, we cannot contribute any single act of violence committed by mathematicians just because someone loved different branch of maths, or even against those who say they hate maths. We don’t see people who love algebra fighting or ganging up on people who love geometry.
Let me see, how many of differences I can point out between God and Maths?
Maths is the least confusing thought process I have come across in my life. Those who are confused by maths have not studied it well. It is constant, and never changes. Addition, multiplication or any maths function will be same no matter which part of globe you are in.
God is confusing. No one knows for sure whether he is kind, harsh or outright cruel. The description of ‘hell’ makes me wonder whether he surpasses every cruel dictator to inhibit the earth or what? Then there is the description of him being there for us with heart full of mercy too. The mode of worshipping God changes in every nook and corner of a street.
The deeper you study maths the easier and clearer it becomes. With more and more practice you will be assured you are doing the right thing
The deeper you study God, the more you will be confused and he becomes hazier (I am not talking about the spiritual connection some people develop with God). With more and more practice you feel you are less accurate in your prayers than ever before.
No mathematicians have gone fanatic and attacked somebody who does not work out the sums they work on or for solving a problem in a different way.
Most of the religionists go fanatic with their beliefs and faiths. Always argue the way they pray or worship is the only right way, and most of the times it leads to violence when people worship or pray in a different way. Even if the God they worship is the same deity; even a slight different method in worshiping him can divide people.
Maths drives people into silence. I am yet to see a mathematician who goes about his/her work by chanting formulas, beating drums, or blasting firecrackers to commemorate birth of Euler.
I feel it is wise to keep mum on the subject of how God has been responsible for sound pollution, and mind you, I am not talking about lightning and thunders.
At times people argue that religion is important for building moral character and giving guidance to walk on the right path. Huh??? I consider this the biggest bluff man has invented, even surpassing the one which says “Man is the best creation of God”. We have been told about the character building religions so often that we take it for granted and never question it. But, if we do, the answer is quite horrifying. In a country like India, where people from all religions co-exist, there have been tough times which have led to communal riots. Those who did not follow any religion have been spared of being conductors of the cruelties undertaken in the name of religious differences, though, same cannot be said about their being targets. Even those people who adored children and respected elders have resorted to killing them mercilessly. Rape, murder, looting, torture and every other crime under the sun takes place when communally driven people get into rage. All for what? Some kind of religious prejudice? Is it really worth the cruelty? Remove the religious tag, and astonishingly you will find there is no difference in those people. But like the famous ‘Who will bell the cat?’ the questions of ‘Who will remove the tag?’ remains unanswered. Can you at least escape being tagged? There no way out there either.
As I say religion and God have been exact opposite of mathematics. If a mathematician marries and has a child, the child will have a choice to be a writer, an actor or even a politician. Nothing bounds him/her to become mathematician other than his/her own interest.
When it comes to religion though, there is no way out. If a man following religion ‘A’ marries and has a child, automatically the child is tagged to be from religion ‘A’. How unfair is this? Your school, passport and even admissions into hospital will force you to acknowledge this again and again. There is no choice. There is no escape.
The list would continue endlessly …. I need to stop and get back to my puzzle. I love maths. I don’t force you to work on maths puzzles and problems. Take the clue people! Stop pestering me for those prayers, facebook religious page likes, religious fwd mails and whatever you think is right. I think I should come up with No smoking kind of board for ‘HOLY’ nags.
One of my favorite quotes:
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid.
- Marcus Aurelius
Maths is simpler than God
ReplyDeleteMaths is somewhat definable God is not quite..
but then Maths leads us to an answer, God does too.
think I've rambled enough...:)
B
Can't remember any act of violence caused by maths? What about all the suicides?
ReplyDeleteBTW, I don't think that you are crazy, I had a friend who also loved maths :)
i do not hate maths...but i am scared of it...what more can you expect from a geologist...
ReplyDeletethere are few similarities between maths and gods as well...
- both are based on few assumptions
- both are human creation
- both exists only in our minds
great post :-)
Cheers!
SUB
Oooooh. I suspect more than a few people will NOT like this blog post. Obviously as someone who is very spiritual, but HATES organized religions and people who tout them, for the very reasons you mention - I absolutely agree with what you said here. 100%! Bravo, Farida!!!
ReplyDeleteAnyone who disagrees with you needs to truly examine their own souls and decide if they've been brain-washed, indoctrinated, misled by mindlessness. Of course, those exact facts will probably prevent them from being completely honest within themselves. But at the very least, they could do their best to not bully others with their beliefs. Their beliefs which *should* be private ones.
(P.S. I love doing sudoku puzzles, which I guess could be considered math.)
:) :) You really write goooood stuff :)
ReplyDeleteI love it :)
For me, everyone is God, in their own simple way.
I dont lean on any religious book. Why?
Because it IS written by humans....
Dont need to sy any more. My mom is religious, but keep it for her self, and she love maths.. ;)
love the way you simplified life!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think you are crazy, I just think you are different. BTW, I hate Maths. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou know, I love maths too! And I can very well identify with those weird looks that you are referring to! Very interesting article! The quote in the end summed it all up very beautifully :)
ReplyDeleteOk.. so bloggers are a different community of people who respond kindly to my posts. My real life experience has not been that good...
ReplyDeleteI love math, too. And actually, I've always thought that the incredible beauty of applied math-- geometry, physics, even things like sewing & architecture -- convinces me more of the existence of god. The amazing symmetry, the abstract yet intangible tangibility of math. I love math. It's an incredible gift from whomever and whatever we believe created the universe.
ReplyDeleteLove you, too. xxoo
Nice post! I would never have thought of drawing parallels betn Math and God! Perhaps the only similarity I do see is that, both are puzzling to completely understand!
ReplyDeleteMath on any day for me :)
ReplyDeleteI just love MATH, nothing else to me is more interesting and fun. Glad I found someone alike. Same-pinch :P
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ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on GOD and on Math. But I slightly differ on your opinions about mathematicians.
ReplyDeleteI am reading a book on history of Mathematics by E.T Bell which says that on an average Mathematicians have been as eccentric as any normal person. The fight between Lebnitz and Newton on who discovered diff. calculus comes to my mind. So is the movie 'A beautiful mind'.
But you are right. Mathematicians have not committed many acts of violence. Thank GOD for that :-)
@ Sairam - The fight between who discovered diff.calculus is based on ego and confusion rather than mathematics itself. 'A beautiful mind' is also about paranoid schizophrenia related problem a mathematician under goes. It takes your sarcasm to thank God for that... LOL
ReplyDeleteMaths & God ! Two topics that I stay away from.
ReplyDeleteMaths and me get along when we have to, but since I run my own business, I do have to look into financials and this is why I am grateful to the inventors of Excel and Calculators (the scientific ones scare me!)
God. Religion. Those two seem to come about simultaneously. I believe in a supreme being and I believe that all religions teach the same basic principals, the main one being 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you'.
And on that note - I'm out of here before anyone picks on me for either topic ! hahaha
This is a rather silly compare and contrast scenario.
ReplyDeleteWhat next? Someone who likes flowers? I love flowers, and flowers haven't caused wars and violence etc, so therefore God sucks? People can come up with a hundred such reasons like this, and they would all be nonsensical. I think if you're going to be comparing something, you have to compare it to something that it makes sense to compare.
Anyhow, even if your reasoning was to be considered, it would still be rather flawed because all wrongdoings haven't necessarily been done by God, what you describe has been done by people.
Anything can be use for the wrong reasons, it doesn't mean it is bad in itself. Maths can be used for all the wrong reasons. Modern wars are the result of mathematics is it not? Complex weaponry and systems did not come about without maths. What about these nuclear fears? Maths doesn't suddenly become wrong or questionable because of that.
I was working maths when someone told me to pray and that is why I the thoughts came to my mind. If you wish to write about flowers and God.. go ahead and write a blog about it. People like you who like to remain anonymous have no guts to speak their mind and do not want others to do it either.
DeleteI never say God himself did anything wrong at all .. anywhere in my post. I say people with blind faith in God do.
Weapons are result of physics and chemistry and less of maths. Maths is used to calculate that is all..
This is my blog, and what I write here is my own feelings. I haven't insulted anyone personally so why are you being so frustrated? If you feel differently, then blog about it in your own style.