Over
the past 13,000 years during the time humans learnt to take-over the reins of
this planet, the two concepts that he has relied upon to stabilize himself are
materialism and religion. Both these concepts are similar philosophically. The
foundations of both are based on the understanding that nothing is more
important than matter, and its movement, modification, exchange, for the
betterment of living. Though there are other concepts like socialism,
spirituality, etc., however they have been tried, tested and finally relegated to
the sidelines because such concepts were considered failures in giving a
meaning to and objective for living. Materialism on the other hand
comprehensively objectifies living in a manner in which the human mind can
easily comprehend. The importance that it gives to material possession, its acquisition
and exchange, simplifies the process of living into achievable goals, into
journeys towards those marked goals, and then share the experience which
motivates others to move forward similarly. Whatever remaining beyond material
possessions that humans cannot comprehend, he has bundled together into another
material set of ideas called religion, where a God (or Gods) is created who is represented
as the owner of everything which is not understood. Over the millenniums the
field of influence of God has been diminishing because of the onslaught of
science, however still a fairly large area remains under Gods control and suzerainty.
This God is also made out to be a
material concept and along with being a benign personality God is supposed
to be master of everything in this universe, omnipresent, onmiscient, omnipotent, and keeps
track of events since the beginning of time, knows the reasons and can justify
everything that is happening around today. God is thus an entity worthy of fear
and worship. Rituals are worked out with the intention of keeping God
happy and satisfied, so as to make human living easy in a transactional manner.
To make the concept more palatable, God is also personalized to suit the thought processes of certain communities
and also regions.
Today
when we view the mess that we have created in and around our lives, we find
that the cause has been materialism and religion. Materialism has failed us
because we never visualized that in the course of our consumption spree we
would be scrapping at the bottom of the barrel and also that every unit of our
consumption would carry an environmental consequence. Materialism never trained
us for such situations. Materialism doesn’t believe in the spiritual world, it
simply rests on the groundwork that physical comfort at whatever costs is more important
than spiritual values. It is time that we reassessed the reality around us and
reengineered the living experience. To this end I have already argued for
sustainable economic policies which can curb the unchecked consumerism and
bring a balance between the availability of resources and the impact of its
consumption. There are a couple of other topics that I wish to deliberate upon.
Let us bring the focus
on spirituality:
Physics lays bare the fact that all objects that
seem to look tangible are infact not. All elements contain atoms which in tern consist of of neutrons
and protons, which when drilled down further are known to be mere waves without
mass. These are held together by some energy which infact has a mass. At a nanoscience
level these are intangible concepts and which have not yet been completely
explored and explained. As and when more light is thrown on this subject all
our religious concepts would have to be debunked one by one and God would have
to be shifted to a smaller table along with his limited remaining contractors
and followers. However the more we decipher the universe around us, the cause
and scale of facts about the varied phenomenon in the universe would continue remain
a mystery.
Spirituality concerns itself with
universal life and all universal phenomenon as we observe it, trying to make
sense of the universe at the level of the spirit, considering life and time in
its entirety, embracing all forms of life, while at the same time acknowledging
the unknown facts. All spiritual thought leaders lay tremendous emphasis on being
aware and urge everyone for insignificant prominence to individual ego. Ego is
an intangible sense of self that seeks and worships materialism. Spiritualism
is more aligned with science and with increased knowledge through research is
going to be of much prominence in the future. We humans have to move towards a better
understanding of our lives and of the universe around us which religion does
not cater to. Religion is dogmatic while spirituality is uplifting. Religion is
narrow while spirituality is broad. Religion is based on fear while
spirituality is based on freedom. It will reduce the single-minded devotion towards
materialistic approach. It will bring about an embrace of all life forms in our
thoughts and actions. It will guide in crafting sustainable development models
for the planet.
Physicists
also claim that energy in this universe merely gets converted from one form to
another and cannot be destroyed. The equivalent theory in spiritual terms is that
whatever goes around comes around. Whatever we give around, would come around
back to us. If we pass around destruction, we will get back destruction. If we
pass peace around, we will get back peace. Thus our life on this planet is
grossly dependent on our deeds. At a macro level we can witness that our
environment changes and hits back at us because of our deeds. At a micro level
our personal situation our abilities, our health condition, our mental
strength, the people around us are all a direct result and consequence of our
deeds. We should call this as karmanomics theory.
Let us focus on a Happiness
Index:
Happiness is a fleeting notion
and a subjective concept. It is most complex, unstable and unpredictable. Because
of the illusive real nature of happiness, it has always been defined in
relation to other concepts for example a definition which I have liked amongst
the several that I have come across is by Jennifer Moss, “Happiness includes
contentment, well-being, and the emotional flexibility to experience a full
range of emotions”. When happiness is linked to contentment, it is either ignored
or rejected by the materialists because then it goes against their fundamental
thought process.
Since
it has defied a logical standalone definition as a phenomenon, happiness has
stayed in the hands of philosophers, spiritual leaders, and religious
contractors, all outside the purview of science. However
of late happiness has become important to several groups. Borrowing from the
words of Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University, “Psychologists want to
understand what people feel, economists want to know what people value and
neuroscientists want to know how people’s brain responds to rewards. Having
three separate disciplines all interested in a single topic has put that topic
on the scientific map. Governments all over the world are rushing to figure out
how to measure and increase the happiness of their citizens”.
Life on this planet is made up of
temporary elements, temporary circumstances and a temporary environment; therefore
there is a constant struggle to survive merely for the sake of existence. Happiness
is a moment of balance in between the temporariness surrounding us and the desire
of a continued and meaningful presence. The basic idea of happiness is deeply complicated
but then all spiritual leaders say that the basic purpose of life itself is
just to be happy. Due to its inherent complexities, we have been ignoring it
for far too long and permitting decay in our lives in the pursuit of false and disastrous
objectives.
It is most necessary to measure happiness, and
we should think in terms of letting governments make rules to promote happiness
in society. Let us continue with individual growth, let every individual try to
be better, let every individual compete but at being happy. Let us give more
importance to peace within our own mind, peace with personal situation, peace
with the environment, peace with every life form and peace with other
individuals. Let individuals with similar levels of happiness stay together. We
need to recalibrate our lifestyles so that money can continue merely as a form
of exchange, not as a form of social status. Let us engage in having a
meaningful vision about our future on this planet, let us engage in creating a
sense of purpose within our lives to move towards that vision, and let us engage
in generating strong relationships within us humans and all other life forms on
this planet to be fully happy.
Unfortunately like every other
idea, happiness too has its opposition. People misinterpret that happiness is
an end and not a means forgetting that what’s really important is the journey. Happiness
is imagined to being cheerful, joyous and content all the time and always
having a smile on your face but happiness is not the absence of suffering, but the
ability to handle it and bounce back from it.
Concluding lines: We
have to learn to love life in all its facets and forms, it is the only solution.
We have to focus on the true meaning of love. We should love all life forms,
love the planet, love and respect existence. Love flowers when there is
respect. It is time for a spiritual awakening.
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