About a day back, I was pondering over an incessant thought that kept going through my mind, over and over again and this was to do with the whole idea of how the pandemic has affected us all as human beings. As I kept deliberating over it, a sudden realization struck my mind which really filled me with a lot of surprise and wonder, as I kept thinking about how could mankind, being blessed with such a great mind and intelligence allow the pandemic to unravel to such an extent so as to have almost brought the world to a complete standstill? How was it that the greatest of the greatest scientists and people with a great intellect couldn't have stopped the spread of the outbreak?
As surprising or rather as strange as it sounds, the inherent limitations or weaknesses of being a human was what had in the whole process been revealed to all of us. To elaborate on this, I was just examining two types of subjects we learnt in school- one being the natural sciences focused on natural phenomena around the world as well as in animals and humans from which come the popular subjects of physics, chemistry and biology and the other being social science which focuses more on studying human behavior and the functioning of the society and the world in regards to political science, economics, geography, sociology, psychology etc. In the whole process however, I was struck with the realization, that in both these sub-fields of study, we are either equipping ourselves with the skills and abilities to control, regulate and treat nature as well as the surrounding environment and thereby go to such and extent that we even turnaround the laws of nature for our own convenience, or either go to such an extent that we create divisions and destruction in the society and in the whole process even manipulate other people around us to seek short-term gains or profit that benefits us or our own people, without even bothering about the other people or strata of the society around us which is why it is often said that development is both a blessing and a curse, or even having concern for the environment and natural phenomena that inhabits it.
In either of the cases, I felt that we have used so much of our power and intellect that we have gained as a result of study in either of these fields to manipulate the world and the resources that it possesses, that we have come to such an extreme stage where the whole world has become divisive- be it either in the natural resources, financial/income disparities, political differences/orientation, level of scientific/technological development, cultural or racial disparities and so much more. It is really sad to see how the whole world which is actually a global village has become really vast and expansive as a result of these differences that we have really reached to such an extent that we have lost the true essence of humanness or the true essence of 'being a human' as I would think or reflect upon.
There is however one thing that I believe that we can't control as humans even after acquiring vast knowledge in the respective areas or fields of study in order to advance our career goals or aspirations- and that is the divine or the supernatural power. We can only go to such an extent so as to do things that are essential for our survival such as manufacturing medicines so as to cure ourselves from infections, go to such an extent so as to keep finances going by way of financial markets and the banking sector, come up with the latest technologies or innovations so as to ease our lives as human beings in various facets of our life. But the one thing that till today we haven't figured out as human beings is that our 'life' is not in our hands or rather we aren't immortal human beings. We just have a certain duration or lifespan that is in our midst in regards to our existence on this Earth after which we'll have to eventually surrender to the eternal and Almighty Power. It is indeed a really shocking reality that we could ever think of especially when trying to contrast the infinite capabilities that we as humans possess that we unlock versus the reality that we have to thrust upon ourselves as we near the end of our lives.
It would have nevertheless been such a wonderful world if looked at from the perspective of getting all these capabilities and talents that we all possess together to make the world a better and a beautiful place to live in and inhabit, but it is and is pretty much our natural human instinct to always try and be the best out of the rest and in the whole process use our capabilities for ourselves only without thinking about the rest of the mainstream society in general and that is how we progress or carry on with our lives...
This was a thought which I felt like sharing especially since we have all reached the point where our intelligence and our skills don't matter- it is our lives that really matter the most as we try and fight the negative effects that the pandemic is having currently in our day to day lives.....
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Published in Herald Goa on 18 September 2021 (UPFRONT)
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