In the beginning there was the world. A world put together by accident or design? No one is sure. Into this world came the elements of earth, fire, water and air. And around these elements developed life as we know it. Life as we recognise it.
People happened all over a world that became inhabitable. And life itself of every variety happened. The birds, the bees, and the flora and fauna of every kind came by. Everything obviously had a meaning. All existence of every kind had a meaning etched into its very DNA of existence. There was a method to the ostensible madness.
Let’s talk about people. The human being. The one species credited with a thinking mind (not necessarily evolved) and equally the one discredited to date with ill-intent to the earth that baffles many. But then, even this must have a meaning. Who is to tell? And who is to know?
The ill-intent of man stretches deep into history. A grab-and-take nature, illustrated to death by the one visual of the early caveman grabbing a woman and slinging her on his shoulders to satisfy his carnal needs is but one. And that’s ancient history. Man evolved in his needs. He learnt to hide his real needs and started to run behind his hungry wants, his greedy desires and his irrational aspirations. Thus began the story of modern, and ostensibly evolved, man.
Today we live in a society that is driven by a sheer hunger to achieve and perform. The early animal drive has found its way into something that seeks progress and development. Progress is hitched to development as an adjunct, and the two remain inseparable Siamese twins, joined at the hip. And everybody runs behind these elusive twins.
The visual imagery of progress and development has somehow achieved the dominant status of one common goal that thrives in every mind. The ability to own wealth, live a good lifestyle (whatever that means eventually), thrive in terms of starting and creating a family, spend and save for tomorrow and generations to come, seem to be common societal goals today. Not many question this. Even governments embody this into their goals. Metrics of measurement of success seem to inevitably land up at these commonly accepted (but certainly not acceptable) notions. The vision, mission and purpose of modern man are somehow inextricably linked to these twins that dominate our imagination.
The purpose of education, governance, infrastructure development and even healthcare management seem to gravitate around these twins. The only off-shoot that does not recognise these as the basic purpose of everything is religion (of every hue and colour) and the pursuit of spirituality. But these are really not mainstream activities of man. Man has somehow developed a clever way of keeping everything in its place, prioritising the twins over all else. And therefore the influence of religion at best remains peripheral as man runs behind progress and development.
What’s wrong with progress? Nothing really. What’s wrong with development? Nothing again! There is just nothing wrong with the two, just as long as the real priorities of man do not get subjugated at the altar of the two. But it does, as we have lived and seen.
The world has had modern civilisations live in it now from as early as 3000 BC. In all these years, destruction and a complete lack of respect for nature as is given to us seems to be a common thread. We have built wonderful things around us for our comfort, at times possibly not giving a hoot about any other life form. As insensitivity to other life forms got accolades from all and no brickbats from anyone, we looked at ourselves as groups. We started competing. We very erroneously started dividing society into the groups of those who must have and those who must not. Money and the enterprise of man ensured this happened by default. And then society got divided into the various class structures we now struggle to thrive within. The quest is the same. All of us run behind progress and development, but each socio-economic group finds it differently difficult to achieve these goals. The rich therefore remain rich and become richer. The middle class struggles on. The poor either become richer or poorer, depending on the environmental factors that govern their lives and livelihoods.
Modern society is very competitive today. As we continue this race towards progress and development, the pandemic in our midst (sudden and as big as it is) is telling us something. The pandemic is telling us something simple. Something real and intuitive. Something we know all the time, but forget.
Society means all of us. It does not mean the rich are separated from the poor by the tall gates and high walls of their exclusive community. The pandemic has put it bluntly into our faces: No one is safe till everyone is safe! There is beauty in the current pandemic. This is a comma moment, thankfully, not a full-stop one. The pandemic is telling us all something. But are we listening?
The run behind the twins has blinded us. It is time to really think in the language of all as opposed to the language of the competitively ahead in modern society. If all of us are wealthy, our wealth is real and sustainable. If everyone is healthy, only then are you and I healthy. A completely vaccinated world today is a safe world. An incompletely vaccinated world is an incomplete world! A telling truth.
Harish Bijoor
Brand Guru & Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults
(harishbijoor@hotmail.com)