By- Dr.Aniruddha Babar
Department of Political Science,
Tetso College
Dimapur, Nagaland
Albert Einstein
This world of ours which is a result of Billions of years of evolutionary process is burning with violence. Human beings have gone insane with their meaningless thirst for power and a desire to rule. History of mankind is a history of growth, progress, development, scientific inventions and also the record of war mongers, thirst of blood and mindless wars that witnessed people dying for nothing. Man has been around in ‘present form’ for around at least 20,000 years on Earth. Generations of Man have gone through series of experiments and experiences but they learn nothing out of it. Man has successfully changed material surroundings but the basic nature of mankind remained unchanged. Before the dawn of Human Civilization, Earth was ruled by the great Dinosaurs, due to stroke of fate they disappeared from the face of planet, however, they left us an evaluable ‘inheritance’ and that is this beautiful planet ‘Earth’- full of Mother Nature’s blessings, natural wealth and abundant potential to nourish delicate species like ‘MAN’. What inheritance will be left by us for the ‘new world’ that would arrive when the last man would successfully take his last breath in the last coffin he placed in the last grave he dug out for himself?
What differentiates Mankind from the other species of animals? Man has been bestowed upon ability to ‘reason’ and a blessing of ‘consciousness of higher level’; with such godly gifts Man was given an authority to be a fatherly figure of Earth. Man was given the custody of Earth and every animal on it. The creator must have thought that he created the best species on Earth-an epitome of his experiments. But what now has become of Man who supposed to be the father, king, Caretaker, Guardian of the Earth? Protector now has become Destroyer.
There is no species on Earth that glorifies Wars and Killings; except mankind. There is no species on Earth which indulges in Rape, Murders, Lies, Manipulations, Cheating, Theft; except mankind. Ours is an only species which set itself on an agenda of rampant destruction of planet Earth. We are the ones who derive pleasure in ruling the weak and helpless. We are the ones who spend life in activities which has no constructive contribution to the protection of ecosystem of which we are part of. We are the ones who, in an insane desire to rule the planet contaminated Sky, Land and Water. We are the ones who teach about human evolution in school, and we are the ones who has become great barrier in it. We are the ones who dream ‘progress’ and ‘development’ with ever-readiness to pay the cost of the destruction of our own ‘home’ which we have not constructed but was gifted to us by the almighty.
Human Race has become like a curse for this beautiful ‘insignificant’ Blue Dot located somewhere in the vast expanse of timeless Universe. The activities of human race can be compared with that of a ‘prodigal’ son who is eldest in the family that go on destroying what was created by his parents and elders due to his mindless, reckless behaviour. As an immediate outcome of the globalization; world has become like a village, however, humanity did not become like one family. In the name of international diplomacy, strategic interests, political inevitability, security concerns, terrorism, atomic threats; artificial boundaries were drawn which further ghettoised the Man. In the name of Peace the events of nonsensical actions and mindless show off of Arms are happening. Organizations like UNO remained an ‘imagination’ of mankind. International organizations are failing to bridge the gaps between ‘hearts, minds and souls’. World population is dying of hunger, malnutrition, wars and laboratory invented viruses as well as bacterias. Man is getting busier in discovering new ways to keep the world insecure to secure individual petty interests which are meaningless, useless and absolutely insignificant before the timeless existence of this universe.
Manmade institutions-political, social, cultural, economic so on and so forth proved to be utter failure. Concepts like Caste, Race, Tribe, Clan, State, Nation created unnecessary ‘binaries’ in the world. The moment child is born he is introduced to the ‘group’ he or she is supposed to remain part of till his or her last breath and anything, everything, anyone, everyone outside the group is an ‘outsider’-a first teaching from family. The first lesson that we teach to our child is a LESSON OF DISCRIMINATION which plant an idea of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in his delicate and pure mind. A child who grows up with the notion of ‘us’ and ‘them’ can never be able to love the humanity unconditionally, cannot feel the pain of others, cannot think of others as own hence can never be able to be a part of universal consciousness. Our invention of social, political, cultural tags and labels actually killed the natural relationship that man is supposed to have with the other.
Political barriers should not deprive humanity from becoming one. The notion of Peace should never depend on its ‘political correctness’. People kill and die in the name of nation & religion, missiles and rockets have clouded the sky, sound of the bullet overpowered the music of birds, the fragrance of flowers disappeared in the smell of gun powder. Poverty and helplessness killing the spirit of struggle in people. Spiritual darkness has spread everywhere. Man has been busy in digging the grave for humanity. This is factual reality of this world. In 21st century human civilization has not only lost its civic but human nature as well.
Darkness always carries an inherent possibility of ‘light’. In this world which is full of pain and suffering, there must still be handful of people who are trying to bring this broken jigsaw puzzle of humanity into a correct order. Such people have always made their presence felt throughout the history. People who are devotees of peace and truth are the necessary counterforce to the world of ignorance. Those people have become instrumental in taking humanity ahead on the path of its destination. We need those people. This world need more healers, peacekeepers, thinkers, philosophers, wise engineers, free-minded doctors, wise-compassionate rulers and enlightened mass. How far can we afford to live a life of a lie? How long can we live a life of selfishness? When are we going to understand our individual as well as collective responsibility to the planet and this universe?
Let us first understand what it means to be a human being. People are living and dying for their selfish interests, imaginary ideals, ideas and perspectives, but nobody think of living and dying for others like Jesus Christ who lived and laid down his life for humanity with a heart full of compassion and love. If we want to change this dark face of the world, let us start from home. Let us not teach the notions of ‘us’ and ‘them’ to our children. The lessons on universal love, peace and understanding must be imparted in schools, colleges and universities. Children must be taught about their responsibilities to the humanity and planet at large. We must see that the coming generations are inspired by the colours of flowers than the Barrel of the Gun.
After the grand victory at Kalinga War, Emperor Asoka went into severe depression and shock of his life when he witnessed the mindless killings, rivers of blood and suffering. His experience at War made him realize the futility of violence. Asoka also understood that the real victory lies in winning over our ‘wild, brutal nature’ our ‘inner-self’ our ‘satanic-self’ than winning the empires and states with the might of Sword. After Great War, Asoka embraced Buddhism. Kalinga incident helped Asoka discovered the ‘kingdom of God’ that resides within; which further guided him throughout his life and he never ever use Sword or fight any other battle till his death. However, history teaches us, without Sword, Asoka still managed to expand his empire, but this time it is Love and Compassion that helped him won the people not the Military or Sword.
The time has come to recognize our human nature by diluting all the social, political, cultural, geographic barriers that separate us from each other. Let us embrace this planet in our arms. The words like Friend and Enemy is a result of an encyclopaedia of socio-political binaries that has been dividing mankind since ages. The unjust rulers, war mongers, powerful people one day will realize just like Emperor Asoka, their victories too are as futile and as meaningless as their own ignorant life. Let us remind ourselves that the God is Love. Whoever lives in Love lives in God and God in them. Let us not be judgmental. Let us Love those who are thrown deeper in the pit for whom the bottom looks like up. Let us go beyond the ideas of ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘friend’ and ‘enemy’. Let us respect, love, care and cry for each other as human beings- let this be the story of mankind.
At the end, WE all are captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels us to go on destroying the ‘EACHOTHER’ in order to live. We are captive-and we have made a captive of the world itself however, many of us those who are willing to free themselves of captivity are unable to do so because they cannot see the bars of the cages, as they are blinded by the conflict of their ego-intelligence-values-desires-beliefs-worldviews and imaginations. That’s what’s at stake.
