The uncomfortable truth is this: when we lose access to the real treasure within, we cling desperately to substitutes. A poor man with nothing but a cracked vessel in his hut will fight ferociously if you try to take it away. Not because the vessel is valuable, but because in his eyes, it is all he owns. Humanity, having forgotten its inner riches, clings in the same way to rituals, buildings, and labels. What should have been a gateway to freedom becomes the excuse for bondage.
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Originally published in The Sunday Guardian on 5 oct '25.
A question often arises: if spirituality is about inner transformation, why do societies still quarrel so fiercely over temples, mosques, churches, and shrines? Why is the defence of religious symbols carried even to the point of bloodshed?
The uncomfortable truth is this: when we lose access to the real treasure within, we cling desperately to substitutes. A poor man with nothing but a cracked vessel in his hut will fight ferociously if you try to take it away. Not because the vessel is valuable, but because in his eyes, it is all he owns. Humanity, having forgotten its inner riches, clings in the same way to rituals, buildings, and labels. What should have been a gateway to freedom becomes the excuse for bondage.
