There was two things that surprised me about Prague, I couldn't believe how flat the land is and secondly the clashing cultures. The bohemian with their life of leisure armed with guitars, the communism with rationing armed with spies and the strict Catholics with mission armed with guilt tripping.....these unfolds on every building, in the paintings and the music.
Prag...ue castle is impressive, it's strange though to see influence of battle of the Titan at the gate. I couldn't understand why use such mythology for something so symbolic as castle?
Standing there you'll get a bird's eye view of the city. The old town stretch till the horizon where you can see the ancient medieval and gothic design. Beyond that you'll see the high rise modern build looking ugly and awkward. It's boring and grey, it made me smile that I'm in this side of town.
The old town will bring you back in time. At times it felt like Disneyland! The coloured buildings, the cobbled streets, the minarets and the gold designs on the building and the bohemian music.
We lunch at a medieval restaurant underground. The setting really takes you many centuries back. I later found out that it wasn't really underground, that was the city original level. The city was raised during Renaissance time to deal with famine, flood problem and to keep the wealthy and healthy from down below. Once you know this suddenly the city build becomes obvious.
I'm utterly impressed by Prague astronomical clock tower. Other than your hour clock, it show movement of sun and moon and its location circling the earth, it tells you how much daylight to expect, the date of the month which includes zodiac and a guide of what farmers do. Every hour it act as a reminder for you to be cautious of life with vanity, entertainment and wealth, as the Skelton rings the bell, death maybe around the corner. This was built in the 1400s, 3rd oldest in the world and still working. Amazing!
All the war this country had endured, they were lucky because they were never bomb, except twice by American and British because of " incorrect coordinates". The folks part of my tour group laughed and remarked "of course", "always" and "as usual"..... I had to laugh myself because my silent thought exactly spoken by others! I wonder how many more centuries to go before these super giant stop with their lame "excuses"!
My only disappointment for the day was to find out that Powder tower isn't design for ladies to freshen up, touch up before leaving the Castle instead it's for storing gun powder.. Hmm.
I read about the hardship and struggle of people of Prague to gain that independence, series and series of war. We were also told the horror and brutal religious war and the crusaders, heads gets chopped off because you're non Catholic, killed because you're Jew and killing of religious people because they won't share the secrets of confession and tortures like burning people alive, some were children in their teens. It makes me shudder. Why are we humans so cruel?
As I'm reflecting upon this, as I write this, I felt annoyed. The stick that I get for my faith in Islam by some people! And I stand today to tell you who loves to judge, you need a mirror, a reading glass and history books. Ignorance never suit!
I'm taken aback by the abused and the power of religion. As a result today, over 90% of people of this city have lost their faith in religion. Being in Prague also helped me understand the lost in faith in Sweden too. Prague Protestant fled to Sweden for safety. I think after witnessing such horror any man can easily lose their faith in religion. The only difference is Czechian mainly are agnostics and Swedish mainly are atheist.
It makes me think, if man understand how powerful religion is for a human soul, they would easily see its the-best manipulation weapon. One that will be used by the power crazy.
Religious war lasts for hundreds of years but ethnic war, colonisation war or sanctions and embargo never last or retained the same power for so long.
Man must be vigilant of manipulations as it feeds you lies, fear and paranoia to create enough hatred for centuries of war. There is a hoax on google "Swedish atheist suicide bombers blowing up 18 agonistic", which is enough to stir forums. Bottom line is human don't handle competition very well, even among non believers there's a competition on who is the better one! A small rumour is enough.
In our modern capitalism era, we don't see as intense "religious" violence as back in the days but we carry many random crimes and violence daily, mainly by troubled soul.
It makes me wonder if "no religion" is the new religion, then is this new "no religion" be responsible for these troubled soul and their crimes?
How can man live on morals alone rejecting holy scriptures when morals we initially taught in religious scripture?
If man of no religion is poor, hungry, freezing cold and in danger, can man still rely on good morals?
By rejecting holy scripture, I believe man will only be left with persuasive arguments and that is another powerful tool to manipulate because "Morals" are negotiable.
Regardless of my different sentiment towards religion, I fell in love with this city, for its history, its determination and resilience, preservation effort and beauty.
-fida.i-
10th Feb 2013
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