A human birth is a blessed birth. It is only through a human birth that one can get liberation – so it is said in the scriptures. All the potentialities are inherent in the human birth. The highest we want to achieve and the lowest we want to go down is all available to us and is all at our free will. We are at the driver’s seat of our life.
Free will is a very important attribute of human life. We can decide to be a Buddha or Hitler or just a common man. We can become a saint or a religious fanatic. We can be Mother Teresa or Jack the ripper. The human birth is the chariot to reach heaven or hell. The free will is mostly utilized to meet our basic needs in life – and for a common man it covers the majority portion of life. Just as a seed has the potential to be a tall tree or die when planted in the ground without sprouting, for free will also a conducive environment to grow is required.
Wisdom is another very important attribute of human life. Wisdom acts as the regulator of free will. It gives direction to the free will – productive, destructive or inert. Loosely we can call wisdom, conscience and intellect also. It also acts as a weigh scale to analyse the decisions we are taking in life. Wisdom decides when we should be compassionate, angry, harsh, loving, sympathetic, large hearted, selfish etc depending on the various situations we face in life.
How we have been using our life is all too well known to all of us. We are using our free will and wisdom in all the wrong ways. Sometimes even free will and wisdom go hand in hand and its outcome is catastrophic. I would like to compare the present human state with river. As the river takes the lowest point along its journey so mankind has also chosen the same route. The killings, genocide, hatred that surround us, are a natural progression of mankind. It is our creation based on our free will and wisdom and will continue to be so. These ups and downs of mankind will continue, it is only that we are born at this time. May be say 1000 years from now things will be opposite, as mankind will understand the futility of the present and change. If we are born then, we will be all praise for human free will and wisdom, for the peace and tranquility in the world. Again may be say 300 years from now the world may be at a worse state. But that too will be because of the free will and wisdom of that generation. From chaos to order, and then back to chaos. That’s the way our life, world, and the universe work.
The progression of mankind is a long haul and our life’s duration is too small. In every generation the individual consciousness of a few rise but they are not enough to negate the collective negative consciousness of the mass. The collective consciousness of the mass will only rise when we have reached the bottom. Then we will realize the futility of our actions, the irrational logic for our free will. Only after that wisdom will take a U turn. But that is still far. Still a lot of blood is to be shed, still a lot of people have to get killed, and still a lot of hatred has to be generated. The U turn may be far but it is inevitable – that’s the silver lining. I may sound pessimistic but I am not without hope. It doesn't mean we keep on watching it without making an effort for change. That will be criminal on our part. Small efforts of each will slowly add up to ultimately tilt the balance. We should not wait for our fingers to burn to understand the power of fire.
The least we can do is not to get swayed by the illogical logic of it, not to be a part of it. Then we can create a secure environment in our neighborhood. In the beginning it will be difficult to get people together for a collective cause of not to be any part of any kind of collective hatred. It will take time but with concerted effort it will bear fruit. In 1947 it failed in the national level when the country was partitioned on the basis of religion, but individual and collective efforts saved life of many also. As I have said before the collective negative consciousness was too great as against the efforts of few. Even the stature of Gandhi failed, but at least he and many others like him tried. In the world order, an individual seems to be very small, irrelevant. We may lack the will power of a Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr but still we can make a difference in small ways.
So many human births are getting wasted because we are not able to regulate our free will and wisdom. We are not able to get out of this cycle of birth and death, chaos and order, evolution and dissolution. So much potential is getting lost. Man has lost sight of the real purpose. We misused the greatest gifts of human life. All of modernity, all of science, all of our intelligence – they are not making us wiser in the inside; they are only making us lethal outside. That’s the conclusion for now and it is pointing towards a direction that doesn't seem rosy either. The only other way – it’s to embrace the wisdom of the ancient scriptures in the inside, embrace the potential of science outside, and create a balance between them. That way we will have peace of mind inside, and enjoy the fruits of modernity outside. And when death comes knocking we can close our eyes satisfied that the world is a better place.
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I am also thankful to @Ashma .
Excellent