Some time ago I watched the launch of the Space shuttle ‘Discovery’. The event was very captivating and exhilarating. There was a sense of uplift and accomplishment and a feeling of success at human achievement. The feeling of elation was beyond expression. All of mankind had reached a landmark of progress and self improvement. It strengthened my conviction in the human effort and its fruitful result and humanity as a whole. Around the same time I watched another event, and it was the London bombings. The effect of that had been just the reverse.  It was sadness, remorse and dejection—perhaps not so much at the reason for the act, as to its means and method. The event left a very bad taste in the mouth because, it showed the other side of human nature, that of man’s intellectual degradation and self- abasement.  

We humans are capable of so much in this world. We have achieved such lofty heights as traveling into outer space, and such lowly depths as self- destruction. We are capable of both construction and destruction, rise as much as fall. Which of these things we are destined for and aim to achieve? The destiny we choose for ourselves is eventually in our hands. Will we, as an evolved creation of Nature, further the frontiers of human achievement, or limit our own creative abilities and eventually destroy all that has been acquired? This will largely depend on our own thoughts and ideas, and finally the choice of our actions. True, the result of most action cannot be predicted before hand, yet the intention behind the act is in one’s grasp. If the intention is constructive then the route to follow will have to be evolutionary; because most constructive acts are rather time consuming, difficult to come by, and are collective in nature. The launch into space did not come about in the wink of an eye. Devoted, painstaking effort on a collective level, chipped in by honest and humble human effort, brought about the event. The London bombings on the other hand were the outcome of meticulous secretive planning, stealth connivance, distorted belief and unleashing of cool calculated vengeance; Or perhaps, the blind effort of distorted belief. Or, it may yet be an act of twisted devotion and the premeditated taking of one’s own life along with others, for a preconceived and an unknown reward. 

The theory behind a revolutionary or destructive act is usually to eradicate the existing order, and to replace it by a new and radically different scenario. This mode of action somehow tends to forget that the establishment and strength of an ideology does not come from the way it is implemented, but from the inherent qualities of the idea itself. It is the idea that is the driving force and not the mode or means of establishing it. Also perhaps, the novelty of the idea alone is not the assurance of its success. Its timing and need of the environment is an important prerequisite for it to be established and durably entrenched.  To achieve this, the selling of the idea itself is an important element in its promotion and propagation. Forcing a bitter pill down the throat is difficult and so most medicine is sugar coated to make it palatable. If there is hope in the efficacy of the drug it will be accepted even with some side effects, with an understanding that its beneficial action will eventually help cure the malady. All effort is made, and the treatment taken, with a hope and faith only in cure and betterment, not for destruction or death. For, once death comes all effort ends and no one knows for sure what the future may have in store. It is merely speculative and visionary to say that this or that happens after death. There is no proof or guarantee as no one has yet brought back any. Faith and belief are the primary means of humans to put the mental and intellectual misgivings to rest. If we have faith that goodness will eventually overcome evil, we should use the common goodness of humanity to fight the ills of society. Constructive action is one such common goodness that can fight the evil of both within and without. Destruction is the common evil we have to avoid for it leads to the blind ally of the unknown.  

Religious thought as discussed elsewhere, has itself developed and changed with human progress. The fundamentalists who practice religion in its most rigid form tend to stunt the growth of mental curiosity and intellectual probe, because they limit and restrain man at a lower level and God at a higher and altogether different station of abode. The one becomes the Creator and Controller and the other the subjugated and helplessly controlled.  Also, religious orthodoxy inbreeds stagnation and unconscious ritualistic repetition. The natural outcome of unquestioned and blind ritual practice is introversive and becomes an end in itself, rather than being expressive, exploratory and a means to an end i.e. to lead towards self uplift and  personal growth—which must surely have been its primary aim.  Further, religious fundamentalism has negation as its basis. For it promotes religion by saying – ‘don’t do this’, --‘this is not allowed’,  -- ‘That is against the rules’;  etc. etc.  Whereas the main aim of religious education should perhaps be to guide to the basis and the underlying need of various religious thought processes and disciplines. They should be able to advise   how the practice of  the ritual can lead towards its main aim of moral uplift and character building, which is essential for struggle and survival of a humane human race; and the eventual end game of ‘good’ conquering ‘evil’.   They should be able to explain how the prayer is a road to the health and emancipation of the faculties of mind, body and soul—the triad of human existence. That its essence lies not in performing of certain tenets, but in effect the releasing of the constructive juices of each one’s personality and harmonizing the functions of the triad, so that one may gain fresher ideas and thoughts and grasp newer concepts, which would open and liberate the intellect rather than confine it. Religious education should be a means of accepting reality rather than fighting it. It should teach to welcome rather than reject realistic change. It should be educative and helpful in training humans to be able to harness their animal nature and direct it towards humanism and progress, and to eventually overcome the barbarism of within. 

The core message of all religions is the same basic axioms of humanity.  It is common observation that the basic instinct of a living being is to preserve life, its own first and then of the species. We humans, who are definitely more evolved than other creation, are so, because of our mind and intellect. These give us the edge and a capacity to consciously change both our surroundings and also ourselves. If the change we bring about is in agreement with ‘Nature’s Plan’ and its basic laws of ‘ Cause and Effect ’,  we will move towards progress. If however, we try to interfere and disturb the balance of the ‘Natural scheme of things’ we will meet our own downfall and annihilation. This is so because it is in the ‘Nature of Nature’ to Self–preserve and Self-perpetuate.   

A little closer study of humanity through history  shows that  humans continue to have the same basic animal instincts they have always possessed—both good and bad e.g. the instinct of curiosity, competition, instinct of self-preservation, protection, destruction etc. Only those who have been able to understand and channelise these natural behaviours  have stepped ahead and furthered the cause of the entire human race. It may be questioned whether humans have really progressed?  They are still the most brutal and ruthless of creatures. They still have uncontrolled lust, and in reality  have furthered their lustful pursuit, and so on and so forth. While all this is perhaps true, it may be pointed out that the basic instincts of human beings, because of their animal origin, will remain and continue to follow them. It is at the level of intellect that we can develop and advance, and its control over instincts improved. This comes about through the progressive and refining process of genetic inheritance coupled with the reforming aspect of knowledge and education. The advance or progress can thus be made at the level of ‘thought’. If the thought or intellect progresses it will lead to a conscious improvement of  ‘word’ and then eventually ‘deed’. For otherwise unconscious and untamed action is nothing but raw animal behaviour. Now, when intellectual development takes place, higher concepts can be grasped and         understood and eventually put to use, contributing in the forward push of the frontiers   of human achievement.  

Human beings, like most creation, are constantly evolving. Man has come a long way from the cave and his way of doing things has radically changed. Further, the globe is not a patchwork of self -contained units as it was in the past. Technology and development has shrunk its size and brought down many natural and man-made barriers. It is now rapidly transforming into a global village. No part of it can live in isolation and not be influenced by the happenings in other areas. The methods and techniques of the old world have also changed and will continue to. Physical wars, which were rampant among nations in the earlier centuries have definitely decreased in number. It may be said that the world has taken up other kinds of wars, like economic, cultural or wars of ideas. The total elimination of  wars is however an impossibility, because man, who basically possesses animal traits will not be completely free of them. Hate, anger and jealousies will continue to haunt us but their intensity and effect can be channelised and harnessed with knowledge and education coupled with the reasoning power of the mind.  It is also, none the less, a human trait to have an intellect—the very tool which can make him self educate and improve. Like every thing else intellect shows two sides. It can lead to creativity or destruction, depending on the use it is put to. The basis of intellect is thoughts, and they can be both good and bad. Good thoughts originate in positive ideas and bad thoughts in negative ones. Positive ideas promote constructive change and negative ones lead to destruction and annihilation. Positivists are generally believers in themselves and the rest of mankind, whereas negativists are basically full of doubt and deception. They doubt themselves, all mankind, and are not sure of its purpose in the Natural phenomena. 

Common sense prompts that the end of the ‘ World Scene’ is perhaps not a cataclysmic destruction of the earth. It maybe the end of life as we know it, yet the cosmos itself may evolve to something else. To what and how it will transform cannot be said with any certainty; here your guess is as good as mine. But since it has changed over the ages it shall presumably transform into something else in the future. From a positivist’s point of view it should improve, get better and advance. From a negativist angle it should shrivel up and disintegrate. Our own activities on it will definitely play a part in the shaping of things to come. One of the positive effects of the intellect is to learn from experience, and utilize the knowledge gained for furthering the cause of the species and helping to bring about progress. Destruction and demolition are usually not positive traits, readjustment and refinement are. To eliminate and destroy an existing order would be to truncate and cut short any progress that may have been made so far. Real progress and durable change, as said earlier, require evolutionary means. It is accepted by everyone that peace is a better road to take than war. We humans have learnt it the hard way. The wars being presently fought are being increasingly exposed for their futility and insincerity of purpose. They will in the end, leave the aggressor more exhausted, fruitlessly consumed by bloated avarice, and perhaps a loser in the long run. The future cannot be predicted, but the past can be reflected upon and lessons learnt from history. What we need to do in this shrinking world is to pool our strengths of information and knowledge to promote broad based exchange of ideas for a common goal. We must learn from the lessons of history, to develop democracy and avoid unilateral dictatorial decisions, and to learn to consult and cooperate and avoid coercion and force. 

The world bodies like the League of Nations have given way to more International organizations as the United Nations. True, that the existing setup itself does not seem an ideal Organization, but it too is evolving and is bound to change to accept the realities of the  shrinking world. The classical media of the screen and the press have been virtually overhauled due to globalization. The World Wide Web and the Internet have developed into sources of multidimensional communication. This has made each of us more independent and we are able to directly participate in many events as they occur on the globe. Such a possibility was not even dreamed of until quite recently. The full potential of this tool has perhaps yet to be fathomed and much more interaction and exchange at the individual level is yet to come abput. With more independence comes more freedom. Yet to every action there is an equal and balancing reaction, and more freedom will entail more responsibility and self- restraint. In the long run each of us will be held far more responsible for our actions than was ever possible in the past. The only way to sustain further growth would be to voluntarily share and give rather than grab or coerce. To share, each of us will have to make conscious and willing sacrifice from whatever we possess or are capable of acquiring. So far the world has managed to survive on the theory of ‘Survival of the fittest’. It must soon realize that the ‘fittest’ would be one, who not only makes the most, but who is willing to part with most of the surplus, for the benefit of the species as a whole. This change of attitude will first require a change of heart and mind at the level of each individual. We have to learn to understand the difference and the correlation between   Passion and capability, Emotion and sensibility, and Independence and interdependence. In a nut- shell human beings have to learn to maintain a balance between desire and need, which has been fully exploited by the evils of marketing by exploiting our desires and making us succumb to them as if they were really our needs. In short, we have to learn not only to live but to keep each other alive at the same time.  

It is in the above scenario that each of us has to adjust, and knowingly and willingly change our ways, for we will be ready to change them only if we know and realize that we must change them. We to persevere to preserve and not perverse what we have. What goes around comes around. Destruction breeds and perpetuates itself. Democracy is the only way to the future, and it will have to flourish if the world is to survive as a single unit for human existence. The old mode and means of governance and power play are bound to cave in if the human race is to survive in the change and transformation that is taking place at the global scene. True, that democracy itself is in a state of evolution and must readjust in the favour of the ‘have nots’ , as the ‘haves’  till now, have had more than their share. We, each of us can play our part and give our opinion in the matter of readjustment, as this concerns every single one of us. But again, we must remember that we should agree to disagree in ideas alone, for we will have to agree to a joint act to preserve the species as a whole. This, as said earlier, is imperative because from a positivist’s approach the human species is perhaps not created for unfounded annihilation. For, if it were so the whole exercise of creationism would become meaningless. It only makes logical sense if it were founded on the idea of progress and evolution into the next higher stage of existence. Self- inflicted destruction is not the answer, Self- preservation is the key in the fulfillment of this prophecy.  

With good wishes from a fellow human. 

Ziauddin Ahmed

tidylink@yahoo.com

www.tidylink.net