By Paramjit Bakhshi
One evening an elderly gentleman, who I have known for decades, was telling me something about his people. When I enquired who his people were, he somewhat incredulously answered, “My community, who else”. Of course he is not the only one who talks like that; most of the time we all do. Especially if we live amongst “our people”, in “our land” and most of “our” relatives and friends are “our people”. For those of us who consider themselves multicultural, and have even married somebody who was not originally one of “our people”, the identification is and cannot be as precise and clear cut. Having lived amongst, though not identified with, many cultures one then comes to the sad conclusion that though ghettos might not be so outwardly visible, they do exist in most of our minds, and what passes as liberalism is a dress people wear at times, especially to public forums, because it is fashionable. It is also fashionable today to talk about the environment. For most people taking care of the environment means just having a little sensitivity about littering. For them buying goodies packed in non bio degradable packaging, driving SUVs, jetting around the world and living on a heavy meat based diet do not constitute environmental “sins”. One could go on and on about the righteousness which many people not just flaunt but also publicly peddle. However please do allow me a little digression.
Every morning I see a group of young footballers, practising under the watchful eyes of a foreign coach. One sees them run forward, either in a straight line or in a zig zag, turn sharp left or right, run backwards, or around markers. In fact apart from diving there is no movement required of a footballer, that is not practised with some zeal. Yet after a while the tutorial gets over, the coach having done his duty departs, as do all his pupils. I guess everyone has duties to perform, classes to attend, or errands to run. Without disparaging the efforts of either the coach or the players, however one can safely assume that no Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi will emerge out of this group. One comes to this conclusion, because the consuming passion or love for the game appears to be lacking. The drill is all there, but the “dil’ is absconding.
One cannot be perpetually coached on every right or ethical decision to make in life. To be taught everything we correctly ought to do in this lifetime, will take at least two life times of learning. The syllabus handled this way is just too vast. And our reformers and activists who make a living, travelling and expounding ethics cannot be our gurus. Being a Guru or a prophet, like Jesus or Buddha or Krishna is a fulltime job without any salary or perks or privileges to go with it. Hence there are few, if any of them around. So without their living guidance the best we can do, is to be continually aware about the errors in our perceptions.
The commonest misperception is dividing the world into two: ours and theirs; in terms of race or in terms of religion. It should be apparent to even the simplest minds that the instant we use the labels – us or ours, we simultaneously create the tags- them and theirs. This is what creates the fertile ground for all conflict. A Course in Miracles says,” You are making him a stranger by misperceiving him, and so you cannot know him. It is because you made him a stranger that you are afraid of him”. That conflict is a historical reality, cannot be denied. As communities and as nations we have fought each other for survival. We also fought against animals and even with the environment. This had some relevance then, when our very existence was at stake- when we were in a less evolved stage of evolution, but in a mindless manner we are still doing, what our ancestors did, even though the times have changed. Today armed with very ruthless tools of technology, fighting each other is a fight against humanity, wholesale slaughter of animals is a cruel reality and drastic tampering with our environment is making this planet inhospitable to our own existence. We now live in a world where cooperation is not just a necessity but an existential reality rather than an utopian dream.
It is an undeniable reality that from the moment any child is born, the whole of humanity contributes to his or her life. Often he is delivered in a hospital where the equipment and the doctor have come from very far away. Even if the doctor is “ours”, he would have learnt his vocation from people of “other” communities. Most of the clothes worn by the child, or the medicines given to him are more likely those made by “others”. The lessons and textbooks at school are mostly written by “others”, and the religion we impose on the child is often of “others”. Electoral democracy which we practise and proudly flaunt is also not originally “ours” and neither is most of the food we eat grown or manufactured by only “our people”. The eggs, fish and rice may come from Andhra Pradesh, the wheat from Punjab and the recipe for Kentucky fried chicken from America. In reality today the host community itself contributes very marginally to the child’s physical and intellectual development. What it does instead, is still stake a claim on the child by providing the notion and the emotion that he or she belongs to them. And that he or should not belong, to any other community.
This claim was beneficial in the past but not anymore. To succeed in this modern, complex and interconnected world, an individual has to successfully work together with people, of diverse communities. In the agricultural age he may have related with a just score of his “own” people; today in the course of his life time he will have to interact with a multitude of “others”. After being indoctrinated in the exclusiveness of his community, he is forced to attempt the opposite- to get integrated with “others”. But the community based software installed in his psyche cannot be so easily overwritten, and it becomes difficult if not impossible for him, to become truly inclusive. So all he learns is to have transactional relationships. He can be kind as long as he gets more than he has to give, to “others”. But when this equation changes or is perceived to change, his anger which is simmering below the surface comes to the fore. His relationship with other communities is based not on love but on fear and on what he can get. Sadly every relationship of his bears this hallmark. His relationship with the environment is based on creation of wealth by plundering the planet. He mines the earth ruthlessly for minerals and kills animals for food, fur, aphrodisiacs and worst: for the pleasure of the hunting. He also relates only to his often very narrow and medieval concept of God, and he does not mind abusing and denigrating “other” Gods, little realising that if there is only one Creator, he has created us all. He thus leads a life of insecurity without the realisation mentioned in the Course in Miracles that it is “my (own) attack thoughts that are attacking my invulnerability.”
Dividing and defending “our” own people is still very much in vogue. Not just crafty politicians but even simple minded souls exhort us to rally together the moment anybody of “ours” is discriminated against. Some organisations use violence to settle scores with “others”. Even the more enlightened amongst us are prone to irrational emotional outbursts, and rave and rant loudly and publicly. Social media today provides an instant outlet, for us to express our views, without a moment’s introspection. Our views are picked up by our followers and opponents, and often what is supposed to be a discussion becomes a verbal brawl, with abuse, insults and threats traded freely.
Mistakenly it is thought that our ability to use technology will liberate us. Little do we realise that as long as we live in any duality, imprisoned in dark dungeons of fear and insecurity, technology will only bring to our door, not solutions but merely, more battles to fight. There are battles being fought in God’s name, and some in the name of the community. Battle over beef eating is dividing some and uniting some people. People who consider forests sacred wonder how cows can be holy. Elites who keep governesses for their children battle elites who keep some distance from them. Everywhere the home turf is well protected and the turf of “others” is sought to be demolished. We keep the chips on our shoulders and want to knock them off everybody else. Half truths are used to battle half truth and the whole world is a murky grey.
It requires clear perception to spot the innumerable and almost invisible ghettoes in our world for they are created and exist primarily in our minds. Training only the body in soccer or fighting for justice with prejudices seldom bears desired fruit. Our hearts too have to be in the right place. Just as the passion for football makes good footballers it is love for all people that makes real humanitarians.
The writer can be contacted at [email protected].