Are you on the right path?

I don't know who you are, but I know something about you. I know that you're human, and because of that, you have certain "guidelines" that you have subscribed to.

Your decision of course, might have been influenced by your parents; the guideline they subscribed to. Or your intelligent friends that made you see light in another way. Maybe your decision was influenced by the kinds of books you read, or by your role model's posts on social media. It could have been because of anything, or a combination of many things. However the kind of human that you are -- intelligent or stupid -- you have decided to subscribe to that guideline because (so far), you are convinced that "it's the way". But the reason for this writeup -- the question I want us both to think about -- is, "are you on the right path"?

Take a moment to think about this question; "if there truly was an absolute truth, then wouldn't it be that just very few persons are on the right path?" The reason for the "very few" is because not up to 100 million out of 7 billion people have the "exact" beliefs and ideologies holistically.

Life is a charade and us as humans, are only trying to solve the riddles. We are separated by beliefs. While some of us are theists and some atheists, others prefer to be in the middle; agnostics. Also, while there are different kinds of agnostics, people are also atheistic because of different reasons, and sometimes, these reasons are usually not similar/consistent with that of other atheists. For the theists, while some believe that the universe and everything in it was created by only one God (monotheists), others argue that it is too big and complicated to have been created or be controlled by one God (polytheists), rather, many gods who in their own ways are powerful and have their influences. So the "true" gods of the universe depends on which polytheist is declaring them. Even monotheistic people that believe in the existence of a supreme God do not think that their "only" God is the same with the other monotheists' "only" God. And God is divine, He has no business in directly interfering in humans' debate, else, we all would have exactly known without doubt, the absolute truth. So leaving everyone's certainty as only a matter of faith, rather than fact.

Religion has been a major divide, yet in religions are further divides; there are sects, and in sects, there are groups, all with "slightly" modified ideologies; maybe because we're humans and we interpret in different ways, or we enjoy the separation because it makes us belong somewhere.

But... if there were to be an absolute truth, it has to be very pure and total, right? And because of the many differences, that means the true subscribers to the truth would be few. But, how come so many claim to know the truth?

The main aim of this article isn't to interrogate the different paths and which one leads home, or to engage the various ideologies of life and which is the best to subscribe to, but to preach more tolerance and understanding.

I have established already that it is literally impossible for everyone to have the same ideologies, due to a lot of factors. So, if you're like me and you believe in the "absolute truth", even if your bias tells you that your path is the right path, you need to start being more understanding of those that aren't on the same path as/with you. Perhaps if you had the same family, shared the same environment, and you were exposed to the same knowledge as them, you wouldn't be any different from what they are.

This though, does not mean you shouldn't keep on pursuing your conviction and strive to be a better version of your current self, neither does it mean that in the bid to understand others, you should abandon your truth. This only means that learning to be understanding and actually understanding other persons would not take anything from us. It means that as Atheists, even though we will automatically appreciate another atheist for being relatively "smarter" than the rest of the society, we don't have to always make fun of the ones that think that a supreme being somewhere created them, yet, cannot physically prove the existence of that being. It means that as Pentecostal Christians, we do not have to turn our Catholic neighbours into another Jesus, and crucify them for subscribing to mass rather than attending services. It means that as Muslims, since everyone has not been blessed with the light to see that Allah is the only God, it's important to follow Prophet Muhammad's teachings and spread love, unity and tolerance.

Maybe some of us are on the right path already, maybe some are late-comers and will not find it until later, maybe some will never find the path, maybe some would inevitably be unfortunate by missing the path after they might have found it; there's only one common thing about us all -- the one thing that unites us -- our humanity. And it is our utmost responsibility that as we hold on to our truth and walk our path, we understand, and do not lose that thing that makes us all humans.