INSIDE OUTSIDE: An Atheist by observing the Society

This is refreshing, out of the box thinking, thought provoking and enables us to visualise life differently. It helps you widen your horizon, introspect and look at the world from a new perspective.... A must read for all. Good Job Chandrama.

It’s time for a new dialogue concerning science and religious belief. The traditional antagonism between these two primary modes of human thought is not only boring, mean-spirited and unproductive, but also not reflective of the good will that people have for one another across this intellectual and moral divide – it’s not reflective of who we are as a species. We are cooperative, understanding and compassionate in our interactions with others. We take great strides to limit future suffering and maximize human flourishing. But, religion, which used to be a means for unity, fellowship and survival is now, due to its hijacking by politics and misdirected church leaders, a, if not the primary force for division among the people of planet Earth. In this inspiring, thoughtful and well researched and reasoned work Ms Majumder provides us a new perspective concerning the way that people on both sides of the science/religion divide can try to understand each other better. To do this she intertwines discussions of religion and psychology showing us how both disciplines speak to the same issues and often have much to agree upon. Nevertheless she asserts a strong sense of the harm religious dogmatists can do to our peace and stability and what religious thinking can do to our cognitive and emotional health. In doing so she delivers a lesson to the non-religious on how you can assert your disapproval and disagreements with religious doctrines and people without being disagreeable, rude, aggressive and dismissive. And in that way be more persuasive and a vehicle for progress rather than simply inciting division. This text also is a much needed defense of the science of psychology as it fights for legitimacy among the sciences. She promotes a more philosophical view of the world – an intellectual empathy one could say that can act as a means to calm and deescalate the unnecessary anger and hate in this world. This is a passionate attack on ‘herd mentality’ and ‘group think,’ a plea for people to zoom out on their intellectual and moral lives and look at the bigger picture. Not necessarily to love thy enemies, but to understand them better -- see thy enemies in a different way, more open to gentle persuasion than insult filled attacks. She addresses many critical fields of study in psychology throughout this delightful and informative text – cognition, evolution, development, moral and emotional intelligence, personality, psychopathology. And she does so with a very concise and precise style. Many people and theories are mentioned that will make the reader want to go out and dive deeper into their works. In that way this book is just a beginning. And I simply can’t wait for the next part. Please do yourself a favor and read this life changing and affirming book by the wonderfully insightful, clever and inspiring Chandrama Majumdar. How has your inside been shaping your outside? Time for you to take a look and see for yourself with the help of an experienced and knowledgeable guide.

Great read! Simple yet it delivers a very powerful message! Looking forward for the next part!