#1. The Real Thing.

" Finding of the Self by the Self in the Self..O Almighty Man. "

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In the last conversation, we had discussed about what this platform deals with, what would be the approach methodology, an attempt to concretise the central theme of the Blog was also made. It was also distinctly underlined that this is a forum where, through healthy discussions we would look at various spheres which have shaped and are shaping our lives actively. Putting a step in that direction here comes this episode as an extension to the previous post and a link to the upcoming one. At the same time, it should also be noted that these discussions are not, and hence should not become Universal Truths. It is possible that we might be heading in a wrong direction, isn' it? Untill and unless we don't detach ourselves completely from the desire of a solution we can never truly understand the problem and without understanding the problem no solution is possible. With this Preamble, thus commences the probe into this highly thought - provoking topic.

Consciousness has been a highly distorted term often used as per convenience by almost all of us. Therefore before jumping to any conclusions it is important to try to understand  'Consciousness'. I am not going to define it, we will examine it together. Consciousness means that 'you are conscious and aware of' the people, the trees and animals and everything around you.

Now, our body is a combination of few vital elements interacting with each other to maintain a certain level of equilibrium. As it works in the interior realm, so is in the complementary exterior realm also. The energy in the soil with some inputs turns into a crop which in turn is harnessed to be ingested as food. This ingested material in turn provides some amount of energy. It might require an amazing intelligence to put these ingridents together making something truly worthwhile, isn't it? And this intelligence, this mechanism is the same in you and me, is the same in an Australian and a Dutch, was the same in the archaic Hominoids and is the same in the most sophiscated person walking the planet today. It goes the same for the small ant crawling on the floor and is the same in that arboreal sitting on the tree. It is fine to say that we all have a similar Intelligence, a similar Consciousness, but what if we have the same Consciousness?The Consciousness which shapes my activities also shapes your activities. Having similar Consciousness is one thing and sharing the same Consciousness is completely another and the latter holds true in our case. We share the same tool which is helping us in interacting with the environment in multiple ways.

One thing is quite clear - We are the entire Humanity and the whole history of this Humanity, it's evolutionary memory, everything, lies within us. We are the World and the World is us.

We need to understand this, by sharing the same Consciousness it means that we are responsible for each and every event taking place on this planet. That we are also responsible for events which took place prior to our birth and are equally responsible for the Future,  Humanity will unfold itslef into.

Wait,  how can one be 'responsible' for happenings which occured when S/he did not even exist?

Please do not interpret 'Being 9Responsible' as 'Being Guilty of' or 'Being obliged to do something'. Responsibilty comes from 'the ability to respond' and respond points 'to retrospect' . Our range of actions may be limited right now but our responsibilty is limitless. One may not be able to go and resolve the quarrel happening on some street thousands of milies away but definitely S/he has the ability to respond, not react, respond to that incident. On seeing the statistics of fatalties due to an epidemic one may definitely be grieved ( even if for a fraction of a second ). You may not be able to go and do something right now, but you definitely have that indefinite ability to do so. Irrespective of wherever we are in the world, on reaching our homes, we tend to feel relaxed and eased. 

It is so because we all have invested a certain amount of responsibilty in our houses and now that investment repays us in the form of comfort and relief. Elsewhere in the world we walk as strangers and so is the situation we witness everywhere (it is estimated that we have fought more than six thousand wars in these many years of our existence on Earth!).

If we invest the same responsibility in the world, it will definitely repay back to us in a very pleasant manner. And if this realisation that even if my actions might be limited right now, I have immense responsibilities, becomes an existential reality in our lives, all the petty matters which were bothering us so much and were thought of as 'The Problems' will simply vanish in thin air. Since millenia we have howled about 'changing' the society. It is the real mutation in the way human mechanics function which is the real 'change' and not otherwise.

If I see (not that I am told to be a moral or a good human being and all that, but literally see) that the person whom I am going to bully, cheat, rob, exploit, bribe, kill, abuse, harass or rape is none other than my Self, will I ever do this tragic, obviously not. If I see, that the elephant or peacock I am going to hunt right now is me, I can never ever do anything to that Being, isn't it? If I can see that my very existence is due to that tree standing there or that I can't survive, even a moment without that river flowing alongside, harming that entity is very far, I would rather become an epistome of gratitude towards it, won't I?

All that these issues, so - called issues are demanding is Attention, Awareness and Courtesy, that's all. 

And Behold! This is not my philosophy or my romantic concept or a personal belief to be imposed upon you all. This is the fact which was upto now eclipsed by the veil of ignorance and a strong conditioning of our brains to be self - centered and fragmented. It has caused all the conflicts and catastrophes all over. That needs to go now.

The burning down of Amazon's rainforests and Australia's bushes to ashes, disasters caused by oil - spills in Lebanon, flooding of Bengal, volcanic eruptions in The Philippines, quakes in The Caribbean, havoc of locusts in South Asia, excessive algal bloom in Antarctica.....the list is long - this is a small anecdote in the aforementioned regard. *

A report card of our completion of two decades of 21st century, Right? 

It is high time that we shift from the philosophies of conservation and development, and point out something much more effective. An impoverished layperson will obviously prefer cutting down two trees to earn money and feed his child rather than listening to our philosophy. What the circumstances demand is the marraige of Economy and Ecology,  it demands us to keep aside the loads of Information we have gathered so far and try to work on our Intelligence. With a very sharp knife to do tasks effectively and no steady hand to handle it properly, we will end up stabbing ourselves.

However, there is a distance between what we are discussing here and what we wish to accomplish. Are we willing to walk that distance together is the question.....that is...the real thing.

🙏.

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Hereby a small video clip has been attached which can be a supplementary material in our discussion as to how to actually work in this direction. Kindly go through the same here.

( * Remember Nani Palkhivala's article 'The Ailing Planet' published in The Indian Express dated 24th of November, 1994; Interested ones can read the article here.)