Anyone who has a sense of spirituality wants a place and people with he or she can share their beliefs.  In order to attain that spirituality, we have religions that enable people to practice rituals and customs of their chosen dieties as their ancestors had done.  Many religions have rules and customs that require their followers to live a certain way, eat certain things, wear certain clothes, and practice certain rituals.  In our modern times due to economic circumstances, people of different religions have to work together, study together, as well as live together in cities and countries.  Sometimes this works out very well and other times there is friction due to the differences.
     The question then comes up is when does one religion or belief have more rights than the other in their own domain or territory so they feel their own sense of spirituality and identification.  In privately owned buildings such as religious buildings, homes, or businesses, people are allowed to create their own rules within reason so they practice their own principles.  In publc, semi-public, or semi-private places, the administration or owners of the spaces must accomodate a wide variety of people as the state, national, or other laws allow.
    In some countries or cities it is more simple when one religion dominates but in more cosmopolitan countries, people and administrators must be more compliant and flexible so as not to offend one group or another.  Is there a limit and should we have some organizations who can clarify these issues more?  In many countries we have a separation between religion and state but some times this can hurt as well as help people since their religious beliefs are not being allowed.  Sometimes one group is not allowed to practice their ritual since it might intefere with another group. 
    People living together in modern times therefore is much more complex in many respects than in ancient times since people of different religions have to interact with each more than not.  Most of the times these interactions are good but many times, one group feels it does not have to respect the other group’s rights and belief.  Instead of leaving this to chance, cities and countries should create some multifaceted organizations who can deal with these differences before problems start. This should be done in such a way that even the common person on the street is aware of the issues and not just the upper eschelons of society.  

In our Ancient world, give or take a few thousand years ago, there were many more religions in the world with proportionally larger number of members than today.  In modern times, only 4 or 5 religions with large amount of members exist and a few them are truly transglobal as their followers live in all parts of the world in large numbers.  This can be attributed to new technologies over the centuries, exploration, as well as the age of imperialism.  The newer religions such as Christianity and Islam have expanded dramatically in the past thousand years and have truly crossed national and tribal lands since their members belong to many cultures and follow many customs. 

      So according to our more recent scientific theories, these religions have been more successful in creating a global marketplace where their economic success is due to their ability in utilizing resources in many lands and from many different people.  Religion is therefore no longer contrained to one particular area where people practice it due to traditions and customs in their land and of their people but has crossed many ethnicities and lands. 

    It seems however that the original or ancient laws and customs from the originators of many religions have been transformed and reinvented to  accomodate the newer religions.  To accomodate many of our modern business practices, people of smaller percentage religions often have to compromise their land and customs in order to survive in our current business environment.  The newer global religions often bring in outside people and technologies in order to  facilitate their own growth and are not concerned about the original people or customs.

     This transglobalization of religion has also created new lands and people that did not exist before. Due to migration, exploration, expansionsion, and military events, the people of the world have changed and are changing due to these economic and religious interventions.  The more ancient religions therefore stand a chance of extinction since they are less economically viable as scientific laws can explain.   Certain groups, languages, and lands have also become more prominent due to their technological and organizational abilities and therefore have a better chance of success in modern times.  They might even think they can overtake their fellow ideologies through advertising, mass media, music, literature, and other means besides just through our familiar notions of warfare. 

    The world is therefore in a state of flux and it seems our various religions are at at one instance in odds with each other in various respects but at the other instance, working harmoniously with the others.  The more prevalent religions however have a better chance in controlling and directing the world and their counterparts have to play a smaller role in ther global scheme of things.  Maybe at some other time in our human history, things were reversed and people looked and thought differently as they do today but those times are gone and all we can do is stay strong with our beliefs.

   It has become common practice for employers at least here in India to keep original college degrees of employees as insurance of their continued employment.  As a global and human rights issue, this seems very unfair to the employee.  Many multinational companies and even hospitals request this form of blackmailing the employee and even demand from them money if they depart.

    Since many companies and institutions are doing business globally, they should be bound by some international rules of business and law that protect the employees.  There might be many reasons why an employee might want to leave such a hostile work environment or unforseeable long hours as well all sorts of other on the job problems.  To take the employee’s cerificates and prevent them from further employment seems to be a cruel and unjust way to keep an employee that may actually lead to decreased motivation to do the work.

    If the employee likes the work, the work environment, the pay, and other things associated with the job, there is no reason he or she would want to leave.  Do the employers know they will make the work environment difficult beforehand and force the employee to leave?  What do they do with the certificates? May be they might even sell them to their friends and make money. 

     After enduring many years of education, it seems unfair that an individual should surrender their precious certificates to people who don’t really care about them.  Copies should be enough but it seems employers want some sort of addition blackmailing power to control the helpless employee.  I wonder if this happens in other countries?

      As the result of imperialism, the spread of various poliitcal ideologies such as communism, and religion, the West and East have become more entangled in warfare more in the past few centuries than in their former ancient histories.   Is this a calculated methodology for the West to open up more markets in the East or is this happening by chance?

    With the Korean, Vietnam, and recently Gulf Wars,  we have seen increased agressions between the East and West which was unknown before the spread of imperialism by European nations.  All this has changed the cultural landscapes and internal ideologies of many countries since no longer are they only worried about their their neighbors, but also about countries thousands of miles away.  You will also find in many of these more Eastern countries a kind of split personality disorder since people have to side with  this group or that group.  Many countries have even been divided even though some countries like Germany have been reunited.  Even in World War II, Japan’s involvement was unprecedented in such a large scale war between East and West.

      But it seems that the West is gaining advantages and reaping more benefits due to their technological miltarististic superiority which has increased western influence in eastern countries but not vice-versa.  Due to this wide gap in technology, most eastern countries find themselves scurrying to catch up to and imitate the West rather than build their own identities.  This increase in warfare has also increased and introduced various new peoples of different ethnicities and changed the cultural landscape of many of these countries.  Xenophobia is accepted and is more prevalent in western countries as a backlash to easterners traveling west.  More permanent military bases in these countries means more permanent or semi-permanent settlements that seems to help the West more than the East.  This also gives the west a more open-door to the east but not vice-versa.  You find more people going on vacation to eastern countries than the other way since for one reason they can afford it and their path has already been cleared.  Also due to the current economic landscape, western money is worth a lot more than eastern money so it is easier for westerners to travel to the east based on this arbritrary conversion scale.  What would it be like if all monies were equal?

      Inducements or roads that lead to the East-West wars for such reasons of oil, religion, politics, and culture should be discussed or identified before international military actions commence by the United Nations or other international bodies.  Ultimately, the East will suffer more since with less technological poweress, it will take them much longer to recover as well giving them less ability to defend themselves. 

     Is color a good way to classify people in very enormous groups?  We often see on forms to categorize our selves as either white, black or other so what does this actually imply?  Is it fair to divide the world into only these few groups?  In many countries, people would find this classificaton difficult since  family members might resemble one or more of the classifications.

    Due to our cultural and traditional heritages, the world does have many different types of ethnically diverse people who share similar customs and history.  Due to the globalization in the past few centuries, many of these groups have now ended up in various parts of the planet and are often required to reclassify themselves or fall into certain of these larger categories.  Many of the ethnically distinct cultures are now being turned into heterogenous cultures due to religion and international business practices.  It seems to simplify this complexity, people are ready accept only a few groups to identify people.

     Is not identity one of the most important part of someone’s self image?  Where do I fit and what group do I belong to?  Since these tradional forms of self identity according to somenone’s traditional heritage are changing in our modern society to a more streamlined version of a few groups, people are being forced to accept tastes that are not normally accostumed to.  Being part of a larger group such as white or black gives people more so called political power but it seems it would be wiser to forget about these classifications since they are too reductive. 

     The beauty of people is their diversity in their cultures and it is important to continue our cultural diversities.  Many people have already forgotten about or have been forced to give up their traditions due to imperialistic practices so should we try not to save what we have?  These larger groups offcourse have much more economic and cultural influences and can control the flow peoples into their groups but many of our cultural roots and ties are being lost in the process.

    When did black become so fashionable?  It seems everywhere I go, people say I should buy a black shirt or sneakers.  Black actually looks very depressing and reminds me of funerals.  Everyone wants that gothic look these days it seems.  There seems to be so many colors to choose from but everyone says I should buy a black this or that.  20 years ago I don’t think they even had black sneakers.  Who is making up all these rules?  

      Imagine painting your room black! I’ve seen it done and and believe me does it look depressing!  Maybe it is politically correct to like black but I don’t see the point in it.  The worst thing is a salesperson telling me I should like black.  People should mind their own business.  Maybe they get extra commision for selling more black things.  I have black clothes and wear them but not all the time and living in a black room is a litte too much. 

   Why does everything sound like rap nowadays and all those songs in the new cafes sound like the same rythym and blues tune that seems to be played everywhere?  Everydance looks like a break dance or a moonwalk and all the love songs don’t make you feel like loving anyone at all.  There must be one international song company that is distributing the same song to every store, cafe, and fast food restaurant on the planet.  It all sounds very dull and uninteresting and makes my coffee taste worse.   I wish they would just shut up and let me drink my capucinno in peace.  I bet a lot people feel that way but in our politically correct world as we have evolved to, people are too shy to say anything they feel. 

    It seems like we’ve gotten to our politically correct world very quickly.  It seems just like yesterday when it was not so correct but the music was a whole lot better!

Why have we become slaves to traffic?  It is unfortunate that the human condition has gotten to a point where so many hours of our existence is spent in this worthless activity.  The worse part is we make it worse every year.  A perfect example is a city like Bangalore, India where mindless motorcyclists and autorickshaw drivers play bumber cars on the road.  Most westerners probably laugh at such a scene as ovecrowded buses jostle with bicycle riders.  A new airport was supposed to lessen the traffic and pollution but that does not seem to be the case.  Why is everyone building a new airport nowadays or fighting over one as in the UK?   Traffic and pollution seem to go hand in hand and have become major issues as burgeoning metropolisis try to figure out how to cope with these problems.

     It all seems to be a waste of time and some nobel recipient should have already figured something out by now.  Traffic also seems to make people very hostile.  A typical Bangalore traffic jam looks like a chariot fight in an epic movie.  Even my own autorickshaw driver got into a quarrel and became very rude and refused to go further.  Is this really evolution?  

    What are we evolving to anyway? Are we really from apes and should we act like them in traffic jams?  Does the expression we are all animals and come from apes mean we should behave like them?  In our “international village” , should an alligator marry a chimpanzee?  People are coming up with some strange ways of thinking and behaviour and it’s better we stick to the basics.  Order in the court I say!  

     Globalization of business through the proliferation of the technology has truly broken down barriers and has changed the world’s playing field.  The emergence of fast food culture, malls, and supermarkets is especially seen in Asia in countries like India where the architectural, social, and religious landscapes are changing faster than the blink of an eye.  The growing trend of imported architecture and culture in many indian cities has created an almost bizarre urban landscape of trademark retail stores and multinational office buildings alongside traditional temples, restaurants, and local customs.  In some highly westernized areas, one almost feels as if indians are not allowed there since it is for the international elite.  Are countries like India being sold again to an invisible international force that is creating its own image and stamp on everywhere it goes?  How are older and more traditional inhabitants coping in this new landscape?

      The real question is what is the meaning of country, nationality, and ethnicity in this new multinational, technological landscape?  Is the world trying to merge into one, unidentifiable, meaningless mass of data and culture based on one ideological norm?  What is wrong with diversity and freedom of choice?  Today more than ever, the pressure is being directed towards this borderless virtual plane that defies traditional notions of family, language, and identity.  Everything is up for sale and including our souls as corruption enables anything to be bought in developing countries.  

  As it is often misstated, imperialism was never destroyed by wars and independence is another word for codependence.  We are all just addicts to the money relying hearts whose minds are infected and even triple bypass surgery can’t save.   

     Reverse psychology is often used by one group to negatively influence and stereotype another group.  It can be used by a person or group in a more powerful or superior position to change the opinion or motivations of the lesser person or group.  In previous historical times for example, figures in paintings were more heavy  and voluptuous whereas the recent trend is to promote negative attitudes about weight, thereby accepting a more lean and slender figure in models.  How many times have we seen weight loss programs or been asked to buy weight loss reducing products.  The negativity and reversal of a more full bodied look is used to promote and accept a more anorexic look which has not always been the norm in art and culture.