Our
mutual
friend
Masud
Sheikh
is
rather
amused
with
the
string
of
labels
that
I
stuck
to
his
own
preference
for
"agnostic"
but
I
did
not
invent
anything.
All
the
other
words
I
used
are
synonymous
with
agnostic,
and we can
see
they are
interchangeable
if
we
don't
become
dogmatic,
shift
into
denial,
or
split
hairs
about
it.
It
has
always
been
my
attempt
to
steer
clear
of
quoting
authors
and
others,
of
quoting
chapter
and
verse
from
Hafeez
or
Rumi,
from
the
Koran
or
the
Gita,
from
the
Bible
or
The
Road
Less
Traveled.
Masud
Sheikh
tends
to
lean
frequently
on M.
Scott
Peck's
book
of
psychotherapy
for
his
enlightenment,
yet
he
appears
to
have
missed
a
gem
midway
through
the
book.
Quoting from
the theologian
Alan
Jones's
book,
Journey
Into
Christ, Peck
tells
us:
"One
of
our
problems
is
that
very
few
of
us
have
developed
any
distinctive
personal
life.
Everything
about
us
seems
secondhand,
even
our
emotions.
In
many
cases
we
have
to
rely
on
secondhand
information
in
order
to
function.
I
accept
the
word
of a
physician,
a
scientist,
a
farmer,
on
trust.
I
do
not
like
to
do
this.
I
have
to
because
they
possess
vital
knowledge
of
living
of
which
I
am ignorant.
Secondhand
information
concerning
the
state
of
my
kidneys,
the
effects
of
cholesterol,
and
the
raising
of
chickens,
I
can
live
with.
But
when
it
comes
to
questions
of
meaning,
purpose,
and
death,
secondhand
information
will
not
do.
I
cannot
survive
on
a
secondhand
faith
in
a
secondhand
God.
There has
to
be
a
personal
word,
a
unique
confrontation,
if
I
am
to
come
alive."
What
more
can
I
say
that
I
haven't
said
again
and
again--that
we
need
to
look
at
ourselves,
re-examine
our
lives
and
the
phoney
values
we
attach
to
an
Idea,
a
Book,
or
a
Person,
and
keep
well
away
from
the
murderous
butcher called
Organized
Religion,
which
is
part
of
our
conditioning.
The
bad
news
is
that
we
can
neither
de-condition
ourselves
nor
re-condition
ourselves.
All
we
can
do
is
look
dispassionately
at the
fact
of
our
conditioning
(and
this
is
the
recipe
for personal redemption,
really),
yes,
just
to
be aware
of
the
fact,
for
the
first
time,
that
we
are
conditioned.
We
don't need
to
react, to
agree
or
disagree;
just
to
look
at
the
fact
without
judging.
The
good
news
is
that
in
that
act
of
looking,
the
whole
edifice
of
conditioning
comes
crumbling
down
right
before
your
eyes,
as
if by
psychic
fission
and
you
are
left
clarified,
purified
and
whole
again.
Yes,
I
can
say
goodbye
to
your
God
because
I
have
my
own.
Where's
the
compassion
to
see
another's
point
of
view?
Rashid
Mughal
___________________________________________________________
