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...a people grown soft with an easy planet... Frank Herbert - Dune
Reading this quote in the Frank Herbert book called Dune raised a number of questions in my mind. The first thing that came to mind was this question: do we need to pass through tough conditions in life to become tough or are some people just born tough and some weak?
The answer to this came to me while talking to people I know.
While discussing a certain point with a friend about how we as individuals should stand up against forces in power on our planet and their manipulation and exploitation of us and our country's/planet's resources, i learnt that my friend's views were very different from mine. At first I couldn't fathom as to why an educated and well informed person like my friend would take such a stand. My friend's views about standing up to such forces was very straightforward and the gist of it was this - what can i as one man do and why should i take the trouble of solving issues that affect thousands or millions. I am not strong enough to fight these forces and if I try, in the end, the loss will be mine. It is better to just look after your gains in life and move on.
I was really disturbed by these replies and tried to reason it out with him but to no avail. I thought to myself that this was an outlook of an immature and childish mind or that of one still on the verge of adulthood.
In the evening i called my mom to catch up with her and during the conversation we seemed to hit the exact same note as i did with my friend. To my surprise my mom expressed the exact same view as my friend but also repeated to me the same lines that my friend had proffered by way of explanation. My friend lives in Australia and my mom in India. The two have never crossed paths. These combined incidents led me back to the quote i read in the book Dune.
..a people grown soft with an easy planet... Frank Herbert - Dune
There is a lot of truth in this quote. All we need to do is substitute the word "planet" with "life."
People who have never really fought for anything -(maybe petty everyday issues) but nothing that meant their life or their freedom or their children or something that they truly loved - have lost their zeal and vigor. They go on living from one day to another with no real goal or aim but to survive and prosper in the material world. Spiritual gains are limited to offerings made to their religions/religious organizations and other rituals. Soothing their conscience translates to donating a small sum for some cause. But to go out and do some real work is something they cannot even begin to consider. Even if rare moments of inspiration generate a spark, they quickly smother by finding reasons to not do it.
This is not a problem limited to one family, one state or one country; this is something that has dug in deep and rooted itself in the psyches of generation after generation of our species, resulting in the belief that as an individual, I need to take care of myself and my family...the world can go and blow itself up, so long as it's in my neighbor's yard.
We all choose are paths. One is to sit back and observe and criticize but not lift a finger to oppose the actions of those who are causing harm. The other way is to fight against the current and choose to do something about such issues. Many people think that by choosing the latter they will lose everything, but by choosing option 1, there are no guarantees that you won't loose anything and everything eventually, if you allow a corrupt system to thrive.
"If you don't take a chance, you don't stand a chance."
Unknown.
what response would be justified? what response would be rational? the world is easy for some (not most), it is controlled by few, and it is dying. what can i do to stop a thousand year dance. as an individual, can i carry anyone else to a place of caring and connection. unless each person realises their connection, and in fact being, as the whole of humanity. this world will continue to burn in a billion seperate fires.
ReplyDeleteanother can never be convinced of anything, because thought is always seperatist. our attempts to rationally unify the peoples of the earth has resulted in the earth being as seperated, dissconnected, and split as it is. with each nation fighting for its independant survival.
thus, there must be something outside of thought which is where peace and calm connection exists. it is a hard thing to accept, that humans are not important. that human life is not more important than any other thing in this universe. that there is no distinction between human, and non-human. all there is is consciuosness, as represented by all flowers, plants, animals, bird, rocks, mountains, rivers ect. the loss of a billion plants is of as much significance to the cosmos as the loss of a billion human lives.
it is the human which has pinned so much self worth to himself. so much self importance. through his culture, traditions and convention he has become a zealot of his own importance. if one can accept that one is not of such dire importance, the concept of the worlds terrible state can be accepted.
from this place of acceptance, true compassion and love can flow. true love not only of other humans, but of all things on this planet and beyond. from this place a calmness of spirit can be found.
so what do we do about darfur? iran? global warming? terrorism? accept it. and then do whatever you feel moved to do. but do it will love, compassion and calm. not out of anger, or guilt, or pride. because those are the very dellusions which propogate the disconnection of persons from people. from individuals from the whole.