WHITHER HUMANITY?
The recent riots in London have made me to think once again more seriously about humanity.
I shudder when I see growth in violence all over the world. People seem to get violent even over trivial things. There is a growing tendency towards anarchy,disruption,destruction and there is more and more aggression. And,as I see this happening, my heart cries out,'WHY?' What are the causes of this terrible,destructive,brutal violence right through the world?
I wonder if you have yourself asked this question:WHY? Or, do you accept it as inevitable, as part of life?-Oh,how sad that such apathy is also growing alongwith violence!
But,looking within ourselves,we see that each one of us is also violent in his personal life. We get angry; we do not like people to criticise us; we do not brook any interference with our own particular lives; we are very defensive, and therefore aggressive, with regard to our particular belief or dogma. So,individually, in our private secret lives we are aggressive, violent, and also outwardly, in our relationship with others. When we are ambitious,greedy, acquisitive we are aggressive,violent and destructive.And this has been happening for ages! Our history is nothing but a long logbook of so many wars,so many destructive forces let loose on the world!
So, we must inquire into why human beings throughout the ages have been so violent, brutal, aggressive, cruel, destructive-destroying their own species?
I think one of the reasons is the 'animal instict' we have inherited. As we have evolved from animals we have inherited this aggressiveness, violence and hatred.Like dogs fighting over a particular area ,we fight over some pieces of land where even a blade of grass doesn't grow! We too are basically selfish. Each man is fighting for himself, each man wants a position, power, prestige.
Another main reason of violence is our need for security. Each one of us wants to be secure,sure,certain,most particularly in our relationships and many are the instances where people use force or violence to keep someone attached to them. See how even today the tyrants in China,Libiya,Syria,Yemen etc are forcefully keeping their own people 'bonded' to them! And what to say of those men who won't allow their women to show even their nails to others!
These are some major factors that bring about this enormous, destructive,cruel relationship between man and man.
Oh,but the world needs peace, not violence! Fot that we must be peaceful,for it is only through peace that we can find out what is true, what is beauty, what is love. Through violence you can never find what love is,what real beauty is.
Violence is not merely wars or looting or arson. Violence is much more subtle than that. For example, when you are competing or trying to surpass another, there is a latent violence in you!
Violence is basically division. You and me are bound to be seperated by our beliefs, our dogmas. Any form of seperateness,of division, breeds violence. Superficially we may tolerate each other, we may live as neighbours or go to the same workplace, but inwardly we are seperate- I am Christian and you are the Hindu or the Muslim or the Arab or the Chinese or whatever it may be. So, essentially, this division,brought about through belief, through psychological exclusiveness, breeds violence and also excludes every form of affection and love.
Please just introspect and see how you regard someone who is not of the same culture, the same outlook,who thinks differently from you; the occassions when you consider yourself slightly superior to some one else. Where there is prejudice there is division.
So, what should we do?Knowing that we human beings are violent, are seperative,what are we to do?
It is all easy to give sermons like,'spread love, universal brotherhood, compassion' etc. all this is impractical for a common man in his daily life.
There will be an end only when you yourself become non-violent. We must begin with ourselves as individuals. we can not make the whole world non-violent in a flash. Forget the world,be,as an individual, non-violent. we must give full attention to ourselves. We should keep a watch over our behaviour, our utterences,our deeds. find out when you are angry, when you have prejudice, why do you hate someone or someone's belief,his way of living- and put all that away!Yes,understand their uselessness and harmfulness and put them away.
This self check is very necessary because at the moment of violence- which is the moment of anger- we are obviously not looking at ourselves. We react immediately and thus start a chain of reactions leading to violence.If we take a pause of just a few breaths at that moment we can nip the ensuing violence in the bud! The simple maxims like 'think before you act' or 'look before you tread' are really very useful. when we recognise our own faults, our own shortcomings, we become supple. Then we are able to accomodate the flaws in other people. Being accomodative automatically generates brotherhood and love.
Similarly, let us have an open mind. you will observe that we generally doubt something which is good, we seldom doubt which is bad. If someone says,"I love you",we usually suspect his intentions and wonder what his/her real motive behind this? So, we doubt love, we doubt compassion, we even doubt our own happiness! we doubt the goodness in people, but take all the negative aspects in life for granted! This warps our thinking and causes division.
So, in order to save humanity and by that this world, let us start cleansening ourselves from within.Once all the impurity of divisive thinking goes away we will automatically find ourselves united!
.......PORTIA
