Former Machachari actor Ian Nene alias Almasi has revealed why he ditched Christianity while he was still studying in the UK.
Ian who was raised a Catholic says the shift was influenced by his battle with mental health.
He disclosed that he first suffered depression after learning about his mother's ailments. At the time, she had been diagnosed with breast cancer which had advanced to stage four.
“My mom sat me down and she was like, Ian I have something to tell you. I went to the hospital and the doctors had a scan and they checked me out and they told me I’ve got cancer…I was like oh my god and I got so depressed,” he narrated in an interview with Shivani Pau.
Ian says the unfortunate news took a toll on him and he started questioning God a lot. He sought solace in drugs.
“We all go through adversities in life right so as soon as something like that comes, immediately you think the worst…she’s gonna die then so I decided I will try to numb myself by getting higher and higher and higher,” he disclosed.
However, drugs did not fill the void and he thought of exploring religion to seek answers. It was at that point that his friend shared a statement; “You are not this body, you are the spirit soul.”
The statement was a game changer for him and after a while, the friend took him to a temple.
“She (the friend) invited me to the temple. I went and I started learning about it. This was in Nairobi because we have a temple there. They were answering all my questions deeply, you know, and like nothing was washy about faith but like scientifically about how God is maneuvering this world and how he's within this world and he’s without it. It was a lot of technical science,” he stated.
“I knew there was knowledge beyond our understanding and was always inquisitive above the universe,” he added.
Following his constant visits to the temple, he says he also learned about vegetarianism and adopted a vegetarian lifestyle.
His parents were however against it but he persisted and has since practiced Hinduism.
