These are hard times. Everywhere around us there is chaos and fear. Thousands of people are everyday being killed in the name of religion ,caste , class ,ethnicity ,nationalism etc. Millions are being forced to leave their homes for an uncertain and dangerous future. People are being pitted against each other for the vested interest of few. There is a grave inequality between haves and have nots and a selected few control the whole world.These are indeed hard times. But is it something unusual? Certainly not.
Everything mentioned above has always been there in the world.There is a bloody history of people killing each other for the vested interests of few and there has always been this threatening inequality among people. "Humanity" has a long history of slave trade ,caste oppression ,untouchability ,gender biasness,genocide etc. So there is nothing new happening now that has not happened before.And probably there is nothing new happening now that will not happen in future as well
There have been great personalities in the world like Buddha , Jesus, Mohammed, Marx, Gandhi . They have all propagated the same message of love , humanity and mutual brotherhood in their own way. They have all tried to build a just and equal society and inculcate in human beings the highest values.We still revere these great people but somehow we don't tend to follow their lessons. These lessons seem outlandish to us and despite all of their teachings we find ourselves mired in the petty selfish interests . What makes us do so? What is it that makes us revere these great people but forces us to follow the ideas contrary to theirs? Why is it that in a country where women are worshiped as "Devi" , they are also the worst sufferer of exploitation? Is there a contradiction in our words and actions?And this has happened everywhere throughout the history ?So the question that arises "is it something inherent in human nature as Hobbes and Machiavelli suggested?"Or is it the social construction of few in their vested interest, that over the time has got embedded in our psyche?
According to Marx and Hegel history moves through the dialectics .There is always a tussle between good and bad , evil and divine , right and wrong , and humanity moves forward having arrived at a synthesis of these contradictory ideas. But even if this is true , why is it that throughout the history evil seems to have possessed all the power and good people seem to be just reacting to the evil designs of some? Why is it that millions of people had to die in concentration camp just because a German fanatic had a sudden attack of hatred towards a particular community?How come a society gradually built on the ideas of love ,respect and toleration suddenly gets so polarized that the same people start killing each other.
The irony is that we remember and revere Gandhi but in our lives follow Godse? The question that bothers me is: "is it something inherent in our nature that attracts us towards the evil ?". We remain on the right path as long as there is a great personality guiding us through the righteousness and slip into the darkness as soon as they leave us. Is it really super human to be "good" ? Are we treading in darkness in the search of light or is there a permanent darkness inside us only ? I don't have the answer . May be someday someone will .
Everything mentioned above has always been there in the world.There is a bloody history of people killing each other for the vested interests of few and there has always been this threatening inequality among people. "Humanity" has a long history of slave trade ,caste oppression ,untouchability ,gender biasness,genocide etc. So there is nothing new happening now that has not happened before.And probably there is nothing new happening now that will not happen in future as well
There have been great personalities in the world like Buddha , Jesus, Mohammed, Marx, Gandhi . They have all propagated the same message of love , humanity and mutual brotherhood in their own way. They have all tried to build a just and equal society and inculcate in human beings the highest values.We still revere these great people but somehow we don't tend to follow their lessons. These lessons seem outlandish to us and despite all of their teachings we find ourselves mired in the petty selfish interests . What makes us do so? What is it that makes us revere these great people but forces us to follow the ideas contrary to theirs? Why is it that in a country where women are worshiped as "Devi" , they are also the worst sufferer of exploitation? Is there a contradiction in our words and actions?And this has happened everywhere throughout the history ?So the question that arises "is it something inherent in human nature as Hobbes and Machiavelli suggested?"Or is it the social construction of few in their vested interest, that over the time has got embedded in our psyche?
According to Marx and Hegel history moves through the dialectics .There is always a tussle between good and bad , evil and divine , right and wrong , and humanity moves forward having arrived at a synthesis of these contradictory ideas. But even if this is true , why is it that throughout the history evil seems to have possessed all the power and good people seem to be just reacting to the evil designs of some? Why is it that millions of people had to die in concentration camp just because a German fanatic had a sudden attack of hatred towards a particular community?How come a society gradually built on the ideas of love ,respect and toleration suddenly gets so polarized that the same people start killing each other.
The irony is that we remember and revere Gandhi but in our lives follow Godse? The question that bothers me is: "is it something inherent in our nature that attracts us towards the evil ?". We remain on the right path as long as there is a great personality guiding us through the righteousness and slip into the darkness as soon as they leave us. Is it really super human to be "good" ? Are we treading in darkness in the search of light or is there a permanent darkness inside us only ? I don't have the answer . May be someday someone will .
