So, I am teaching Into to World Religions this spring. And all I can say is, Props to the Jains. You know the Jains. They're the Indians who brush the sidewalk in front of them with a broom to avoid stepping on ants or other little creatures. Also they don't tell jokes, because most jokes involve some sort of exaggeration or tall tale telling, which is really a form of lying.
From a Kantian perspective, this is a religion that hits the ethical sweet spot. If you were "to act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should be a universal law," you'd have to be an absolutist about killing and truth-telling. And why shouldn't you be? If nobody killed anybody or lied to anybody, it'd be a virtually perfect world, wouldn't it? "Be the change you want to see in the world," said another famous Indian.
And Jains are graceful folk. They fast most of their lives, and then graduate to the next level of consciousness at a time and place of their own choosing by abstaining from drink as well as food.
True, they believe in an eternal Creation and not in a divine Creator. Some would count this as loss. But we have to admit that a Godless religion enjoys some apologetic advantages--namely immunity to atheistic complaints about theodicy. What a relief, not breaking your head over the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" You can just be a doctor or a pharmacist and move turtles out of the road, and the world will be a better place.
And there's reincarnation, and karma, and body-soul dualism, so there's the usual sops to Eastern and Western metaphysics.
If you weren't what you already are, why wouldn't you be a Jain?
Plus, you get to walk around naked.
Posted by: |