On 10/30/11 5:55 AM October 30, 2011, Venkat Mangudi wrote:
I posted this a few days ago. www.missinghumanmanual.com. The more I
read stuff there, the more I am convinced we are shooting ourselves in
the foot. Once we fix ourself, the system will fix itself I think.
A worthy lifelong goal, fixing ourselves. Something that cannot be done
atomically, each of us in our individual bubbles, but must be done in
community.
This is exactly the function of religion, to provide community that is
based, one way or another, on fixing ourselves. To have some part of our
lives that is focused, not on the here and now scrabble for survival and
to accumulate stuff, but on longer and broader views.
Many intellectuals scoff at religion, because they cannot believe in
[insert simplistic view of concrete divine being here]. I did myself
until I realized several things:
* The Divine is better seen as an abstraction created by human
beings than as some sort of concrete entity.
* Some of the smartest people who ever lived were religious
figures. To understand what they thought, you have to get beyond the
nose-holding and have some way to relate to the basic religious ideas
upon which their thoughts were based.
* Religion is more about community and practice than it is about
belief anyway.
* Religious practices have deep and important hooks in the human
psyche. They might not make rational sense, but they resonate emotionally.
* A good religious community provides a deep kind of support that
human beings really need.
* A good religious community helps to gently bring you back to the
path you want to be on when you stray too far into the neuroses of
popular culture.
Religion has often been done badly, of course, but it is perfectly
possible to do it well.
Digression... rant.... begins.
We are ourselves to be blamed for this situation. All of us. The
collective homo sapiens sapiens. As humans, we are lazy and greedy.
Except for the holier than thou, self righteous hypocrites and the
truly noble (the true 1% actually). So we're lazy to do our work and
want someone else to do it for us. We're greedy because we want more
for less. Value for money. The most important phrase that defines most
of us. If we want more for less, there are those who will prey on that
weakness and will entrench us in ways to pander to that greed. And
thus begins the vicious cycle.
Wow. An ad hominem attack on the entire human race. Impressive.
I think you forgot a few things in your summary, like fear. Fear
motivates much of the evil that people do. It is perhaps even the
underlying cause of greed. People also feel overwhelmed, helpless, and
confused.
I remember when I was school and had told myself that if I save Rs 5
lakhs, I would stop working and do something that would be
charitable/community oriented. I don't think that those thoughts occur
to me anymore. Why, I ask myself sometimes. And I don't have an
answer. Brutally honest answer to that question scares me and the
hypocrite that I am, I don't want to be told that I am greedy and am
just not being satisfied. I can blame it my current state of a
grahastha, but that would be just a rationale that I truly know is
only to fool myself. Now, if I, a mere middle class chap thinks like
this, imagine how the super rich should think. It's all just a
relative thing. As much as we all think we are like the pandavas we
really are like the yadavas. Those who just wanted more and the excess
wasted them.
Maybe what you need is not a brutally honest answer, but a gently honest
one.
When we are young, we feel invincible. As we get older, we learn more of
our frailties and vulnerabilities. This makes us more afraid, more
cautious. If we give up the good job with health care, what happens if
we get sick? What happens if we can't work? Will we end up on the
streets, unable to care for ourselves, or, worse yet, unable to care for
our families?
That fear is natural, and it is also sensible. You were perhaps naive
when you thought that Rs 5 lakhs would be all you would ever need. You
have perhaps seen people fail since then, people who had not made
provision for themselves. You perhaps have aging parents or other loved
ones who will need care.
And also perhaps you can find some charitable or community oriented work
that you can fit into your life. You would probably feel better for it.
Being of service is very fulfilling, it meets one of those deep human
needs. Connecting with people who are doing good work in the community
is also great in other ways -- they're wonderful to be around, and it's
good to feel part of something that is worthwhile.
Now I am done ranting and saying stupid stuff. I can now do this for a
few more days without killing myself, or rather my conscience killing
me. If y'all thought this was a post that was adding to the
intellectual capital of the smarties like Cheeni, you're wrong. This
was just to clear the air with myself really. Now I can go back to my
materialistic existence and justify my deeds for a few more days.
Or perhaps you can stop for a little bit and meditate on what it is you
want to do with your precious time on Earth. What would give you true
joy and fulfillment? Instead of shoulding yourself in the ought-house,
perhaps you can open up to the possibility that there is real,
meaningful work for you to do here.
Wake up. This is your life. There are no dress rehearsals. If you're not
living the life you want to live, you still have time to change things.
--
Heather Madrone ([email protected])
http://www.sunsplinter.blogspot.com
Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its
best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
- Martin Luther King
