Perspective matters more
than anything else because it determines how you see the world and how you see
determines what you do with it. All
these people who go about fighting and killing in the name of their gods and
totems have their own perspectives.
Those who create the flyovers and skyscrapers have their perspectives
too. What should really worry us is the
importance enjoyed by the fighter and the killer while the builder remains in
the darkness of the background.
The fighters and killers
have become important because our own perspectives are so limited, so
contaminated and so perverted. If only
we could see a world in a grain of sand, like William Blake, and heaven in a
wild flower, we would be infinitely more spiritual than all these fighters and
killers who claim to be god’s own people.
As Albert Einstein said,
a person who is religiously enlightened is one who has liberated himself from
the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings
and aspirations that foster the welfare of all creatures, of the planet
itself. Religion is a relationship. Religion is a benign relationship. It can never seek the destruction of anyone.
That’s why what is being
promoted in the country nowadays in the name of religion is not religion at
all. It is just a perversion.
The remedy is to widen
our perspectives. Learn more. Understand more. Reach out for the stars and you will see the
wild flower opening up a heaven at your feet.
The perspective makes all the difference.
The last paragraph is deep. I will remember to use it at an appropriate place in the near future.
ReplyDeleteWhat creates a false sense of nationalism? The soldiers, the enemies, the deaths and the martyrs. Can building a bridge, hospitals, research institutes, museums etc have that effect on the spirit of nationalism?
One has not only to see everything but be everything to have a broader perspective.
False nationalism is a product of ignorance or sheer villainy. Villains generally have political agenda. Ignorance has many faces like a student of mine who is now a lawyer and believes that Hinduism is in danger and hence requires militant defenders!
DeleteBeing everything is an eminent idea. Mystics are capable of that.
Better to be a fence-sitter. Makes you open to perspectives from differing ideologies. But that's not so easy, is it?
ReplyDeleteSome intellectuals have adapted to that art too!
Delete