WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT?

My first reaction would be, NOTHING! My second reaction would be, if at all we have learnt anything, it is absolute GARBAGE! The come back to that is, ‘but we have done so much, what do you mean ‘garbage!’. So much of knowledge has been created in the area of science and technology and everything else that comes with it. None of them are knowledge created. They are knowledge discovered. These truths have always been there. We are just sufficiently arrogant to think we are inventing and innovating all of this. We simply discovered how chemistry works, how physics work and so on and so forth. We are just not humble enough to recognize that we are merely discovering these things. The moment we hit a wall which then creates a need, we will discover the solution. That’s just how it works. We don’t create solutions, we discover them. Discover implies that which is already there and something needs to happen (removal or uncovering) in order for us to see it.

What we have created is a whole lot of belief systems, stereotypes, concepts and theories. Once created, we reinforce them, over and over again, till it becomes our ‘truth’. We, then live by these ‘truths’and continue to pass them on from generation to generation.

We have learnt how to compete in a competitive world and in the process cause much division, disunity and imbalance.  We have learnt how to be in our best behaviour in order to achieve something or get something. Hence the ‘good behaviour’ is nothing more than a means to get something. We have learnt how to smile at the right time and to the right people. It gets you somewhere in this world and we certainly want to go somewhere. We have been taught how to use good values like sincerity, honesty and empathy like a tool to shape something in our lives.

We have been taught how to ignore how we feel about something; to ignore how we feel about ourselves. There is absolutely no place for feelings in a real world. Thought alone seem to be sufficient. Thought alone is able to plan and strategize every project and make them successful. Everything can be manipulated in our favour.

We send to each other inspirational quotes by wise men, motivational phrases by great orators and feel satisfied that we have done something good for the day and take refuge that now that I have read that quote, I am becoming better.  It is even better when I share these with others and so I am making a positive difference in this world.

We have learnt how to believe others and we have allowed these beliefs to start governing us. We have been taught about the existence of God, about Heaven and Hell. We have been taught all kinds of concepts and theories around these ideas. We point them to references written by authorities and experts in the area.

We have learnt about protocols and rituals and the need to obey them or else face the consequences. So we comply and obey and comply and obey. We fought for a while but then it got tiring and we had too much to lose, so we stopped fighting and now we go along with it.

What a predicament we are in! On the one hand we need to survive in this world and on the other hand we want to be free. A perfect recipe for insanity, I think!

What is a person?

          A person (plural people or persons) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility.  

I got the above definition from Wikipedia and it says a lot. What struck me the most is the word self-consciousness because at the end of the day, that is who we are, a self-conscious being. That is to say that we have the capacity to self-govern. However, the definition goes on to say that this person is a part of a culturally established form of social relations.

Let’s explore the words ‘culturally established’. Can you see that’s where the entire damage is?  It has been established. Hence we are born into this establishment. We are talking about generations of establishment. The establishment has been created out of greed, fear and systemic division. There seems to be no escape from it. But escape we must. It’s incumbent upon us to get out of the wheel of chaos and destruction. Any which way you see it, that fact will remain and it will nag you till you find your way out. It may be the most difficult detour you will ever make in your life but it will also be the most rewarding. Just wait and see!