Jennie M. Xue

Religion is Sweet Poison, Heaven is a State of Mind

[Read on TheJakartaPost.com]

by Jennie S. Bev, Santa Clara

I’m a believer. I have written about this many times. I don’t deny that I still believe that Christ is the ultimate Savior and Saint Mary is the mother of all creatures, big and small. 

Yet, I also acknowledge that religion is a sweet poison. A poison we sometimes need to swallow deliberately to release us from worry and stress, to find solace in something we believe will be able to heal our broken hearts, and to give hope when things go awry in this uncertain and chaotic world. Yet, religion is so sweet a poison that if we take too big a dose, our sanity would collapse and vanish.

A person, after all, must be realistic enough to understand that salvation doesn’t come for free externally, but most importantly it comes through internal enlightenment. If you think that by joining a religion, then salvation comes as a complimentary bonus, well, that’s a part of the persuasive power of a poison. 

We need to save ourselves, first and foremost, by opening our hearts and minds. 

Indonesia: Antara Welfare State dan Free Market

[Di bawah adalah artikel yang belum diedit.]

oleh Jennie S. Bev

Indonesia berada di antara welfare state dan free market. Dengan status Indonesia sebagai anggota G-20 dengan PDB USD 1 trilyun dan tingkat pertumbuhan ekonomi 6.5 persen per tahun bahkan bisa lebih tinggi di masa mendatang, momentum ini memungkinkan Indonesia untuk mengkristalisasikan model welfare state dan sistem ekonomi yang paling sesuai dengan iklim Indonesia. Sampai sekarang tidak jelas ke arah mana model welfare state yang sedang dibentuk, serta sistem ekonomi masih berproses membentuk diri.

Ambisi pemerintah untuk mencapai 7 persen pertumbuhan ekonomi per tahun membutuhkan realisasi kenaikan produktivitas melebihi 60 persen terhitung 2000. Akselerasi penanaman modal asing diharapkan bisa mempercepat pencapaian PDB USD1.8 trilyun di 2030. Pada saat itu, Indonesia akan telah melampaui Jerman dan Inggris Raya. Target ini dibarengi dengan momentum pertumbuhan ekonomi dan pertumbuhan penduduk sekitar 4 sampai 5 juta kelahiran per tahun di mana ledakan ini mempertahankan posisi pasar domestik sebagai kontributor PDB utama.

Untuk kepentingan pasar bebas, angka-angka ini sangat fantastik. Untuk pendanaan welfare state, sesungguhnya juga fantastik.

Why I'm not an atheist like other humanists

by Jennie S. Bev

Whether or not you are an atheist, it is likely that you were born with a certain proclivity toward faith. Just like being born with a certain color of eyes and hair, or sexual orientation, you may have a predisposition to a heightened level of spiritual consciousness. 

According to neuropsychologist Brick Johnstone of Missouri University’s School of Health Professions, those with an injury to the right parietal lobe are likely to feel closer to God. Due to this correlation, Johnstone describes this portion of the brain as the “God spot."

Thus, being an atheist or a believer may very well have something to do with how active one’s “God spot” is, even though Johnstone also points out that spirituality is a complex matter and cannot be simplistically reduced to the level of activity of certain parts of the brain. And I cannot agree more.

As a person who believe in science and scientific endeavors rather than dogmas, the logical consequence for me is to become an atheist. For a humanist, being an atheist should come as a natural complement of beliefs. Many famous atheists are humanists and vice versa, such as Jeremy Bentham, Noam Chomsky, Karl Marx, Hellen Keller, Ayn Rand, Hannah Arendt, Pablo Neruda, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Julian Assange. 

However, for some reason, I have failed as an atheist. Now, I have accepted that I am a believer in God, or an agnostic, if we want to label it with a name. It is possible that my right parietal lobe of the brain is not that active, or there is a list of complex and intertwined reasons on why I still believe in God.

Humanism, an alternative to institutionalized religions

by Jennie S. Bev

Religion is like a coin with two sides. It can make you softer or harder; more compassionate or full of hatred; work efficiently because you believe working is praying or totally don’t work at all but spend your days praying in solitude. Having an institutionalized religion means you believe and adhere to dogmas, whatever they may ask you to do, including those that could cause harm to others.

Humanism as an alternative to having an institutionalized religion is acknowledging and accepting the simple fact that we are humans with humanly qualities and that we are not “special” in anyway because we have the highest intellectual capacity among earthlings. 

We are simply the product of a successful and not-so-successful biological evolution. It is a philosophy, a way of life, and provides guidelines for solving problems. Oftentimes, an individual is already a humanist by default, but doesn’t realize it.

John Stuart Mill : utilitarianisme, kebahagiaan, dan feminisme

Download BASIS No-1. 03-04, Tahun ke-61, 2012

oleh Jennie S. Bev

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) dilahirkan di Pentonville, dekat London dari ayah Skotlandia bernama James Mill dan ibu Harriet Barrow. John Stuart Mill adalah salah satu filsuf berpengaruh abad ke-19. Pandangan-pandangannya dikenal membela empirisisme dan pandangan politik, sosial dan kultural yang berbasis liberatif. Pemikiran-pemikirannya banyak dipengaruh oleh godfather-nya, yaitu Jeremy Bentham, John Locke, David Hume, dan George Berkeley.

Di antara kedua orang tuanya, ayahnyalah yang lebih berpengaruh dalam pendidikannya. Sejak usia 15 tahun, ia membantu ayahnya di East India Company sambil tekun mengedit naskah-naskah teori hukum setelah menolak tawaran beasiswa dari Universitas Oxford dan Cambridge. Pada usia 3 tahun, ia telah menguasai bahasa Yunani, usia 8-13 tahun telah menerbitkan tulisan-tulisan tentang kesehariannya di sketsa-sketsa Bain. Dan pada usia 24 tahun, ia mengenal Harriet Taylor yang kemudian menjadi istrinya. Sejak itulah, Harriet Taylor banyak mempengaruhi pemikiran-pemikirannya tentang perempuan dan feminisme.

Do no harm and kebebasan

oleh Jennie S. Bev

Standar-standar ganda yang diciptakan oleh dogma-dogma kadaluwarsa sudah saatnya direvisi.

CALIFORNIA, Jaringnews.com - Ujian dari suatu konsep, teori atau filosofi adalah waktu dan fungsi. Mudah untuk berkata-kata, namun waktu yang akan membuktikan kesahihan suatu kata-kata. Mudah untuk menyatakan bahwa sesuatu berfungsi, namun ketika lebih banyak unsur mencelakakan, mencederai, mengganggu kelancaran, dan menambah beban negatif, maka fungsi yang diharapkan hanyalah suatu ide yang dituju, bukan fakta.

Demikian pula halnya dengan konsep moralitas yang berdasarkan standar-standar tertentu, termasuk dari dogma-dogma religi dan hukum-hukum normatif. John Stuart Mill, filsuf dari Inggris Raya yang sangat berpengaruh di abad ke-19, dikenal dengan filsafat utilitarianisme-nya, yang bisa diterapkan dalam hampir segala segi kehidupan, termasuk sosial, politik, ekonomi, dan hubungan-hubungan interpersonal dan intrapersonal. Intinya adalah 'do no harm to others'.

Freedom, doing no harm, and a good life

by Jennie S. Bev

John Stuart Mill, the 19th century British philosopher, was known for his utilitarianism concept. An individual has a value as long as they do no harm to others, regardless of whether they inflict any pain on themselves. 

“Doing no harm” is the highest standard of “morality,” if it is an appropriate word to use, as Mill himself didn’t agree with dogma-based “moral standards."

Frequently commuting between the USA and Indonesia as I do, I can clearly observe how “freedom” is a relative term. In many instances, “freedom” is not really so, particularly in Indonesia. Too many restricting dogmas abound, which place you in a “good” or “bad” category. Yet, dogma does not seem to work when it comes to the routine bribery, extortion and other abuses of public office.

The constrained and unconstrained views

by Jennie S. Bev 

Raphael’s painting The School of Athens depicted Plato pointing to the sky and Aristotle pointing to the ground. It encapsulates the two approaches in how we perceive the world: perfection and grounded reality.

These perspectives divide the world into unconstrained and constrained views, using terms used by Harvard professor of behavioral studies Tal Ben-Shahar.

In psychology, they become perfectionism and optimalism; in politics, they become communism and capitalism; in everyday arguments, they become can-do and cannot-do.

Plato’s unconstrained view distinguishes the world into the perfect model and the one we’re experiencing as mortals. He believed that an archetype always precedes the perceived world.

The anatomy of a kiss

by Jennie S. Bev 

A kiss is not just a kiss. It is more and sometimes it is less than itself. A kiss may mean many things, yet we all are so infatuated with kisses. We kiss and are kissed.

We love watching kissing movie scenes and cheer whenever we see lovebirds kiss each other. Kisses make us happy, meaningful, accepted and –occasionally– betrayed. Most kisses are warm and cheerful, but others are dry, cold and dreadful. While kisses make things happen, they also kill.

Verisimilitude, bullshit, and meaning

by Jennie S. Bev

Every single incident captured through the senses has at least one meaning, if not several. Meanings are both attached and given. As a writer, I give both concrete and abstract meanings to many things, since verisimilitude is a principle that I always strive for.

The truth, or at least the sincere semblance of it, gives validity and credibility to one’s thoughts. More importantly, since writing is life presented on a piece of paper, it is being alive in a different format.

And in life, we need to be clear, honest and gracious to earn self-respect.