Money,
Power and status are excesses beyond the needs of an average human being.
Starting from being a primate to a two-legged social animal, we are
continuously developing ourselves. Simply because we were not content living on
all fours, eating raw food and moreover we have had non ending ambitions.
The basic difference between a
human and an animal exists, by a line of limited ambitions for animals and
everything beyond that line - unlimited ambitions - for humans. Animals don’t care
about the future, they live in the moment with every thirst and craving
satisfied by finding out something substantiate to eat. Humans, by nature only,
always safe keep various things of need in various warehouses.
But
the unlimited ambitions of humans have given rise to disparity in society. At
the same time this disparity retains a kind of equilibrium, without which there
would be chaos. While humanity’s development is due to people running after
success, the equilibrium is maintained by people who are content being
successful within the limitations that they have drawn for themselves.
Since
the time man discovered how to make fire, nature has always teased him, drawing
him out of his self imposed limitations. It presented various challenges in the
form of unsurmountable mountains, uncrossable rivers, too distant planets and
stars, and mysterious death traps in the form of ocean beds. But every single
challenge has scaled, measured and achieved. In this 21st century,
the carrot that dangles in front of the youth is symbolized by wealth, power
and fame. If this dangling carrot, propels, motivates and pushes man to
constantly discover new ground and in the process, discover newer potentials,
it will definitely contribute to human development. One of the examples of this
development can be the billionaire BILL
GATES. He continuously pushed the human race with his vision for the
software industry. He had no respect for status-quo at any level and thus he
gave us a new way of doing business based on moving information; he empowered
individuals with new technology, and made every aspect of business, digital.
But
chasing after these excesses, by itself is not complete. Human beings need
certain intangibles like Love, Integrity, and Generosity to complete them.
Mahatma Gandhi said that seven
things will destroy us.
For
centuries many men lusting after Money, Power and Fame have sought lucrative
jobs, or even to the extent of getting money for nothing - manipulating markets
and assets so that they don't have to work or produce added value, & just have
to manipulate people and things. Even today, there are professions built around
making wealth without working,
making much money without paying taxes, benefiting from free government
programs without carrying a fair share of the financial burdens, and enjoying
all the perks of being citizen of the country and membership of corporation
without assuming any of the risk or responsibility. Right from childhood, we
have not been given character education, which means inculcating in a children,
a sense of right and wrong; fundamental rights and duties and basic ethics which
establishes a common set of values that
everyone agrees on. It is not too difficult to comprehend, that kindness,
fairness, dignity, contribution, and integrity are some of the fundaments worth
keeping, and there cannot be any debate on that.
Speaking
of values on the business front, Adam Smith has said that “Fairness and
benevolence in business are the underpinnings of the free enterprise system
called capitalism”. The spirit of the Golden Rule or of win-win is a spirit of
morality, of mutual benefit, of fairness for all concerned.
Thus
while broadening these horizons of Money, Power and Status we have to
concentrate on few intangible aspects like Love, Integrity and generosity. Instead
of using power to tyrannize people, it can be used to influence them. By doing
this we will be complementing our way of development and improvement. Same way,
money should not be gained at the cost of integrity and honesty. It has been
considered that money is one of the tools of power, but the real power of money
is in giving it away. Similarly, integrity is all about “saying what you do and doing what you say”. It’s an unreduced or
unbroken completeness or totality. Today pleasure without conscience is one of
the key temptations for executives, and that is reflected through various
advertisements, as well as political proceedings. For many, Principles and
ethics are honorable words in books but not in practice. But here again to
understand the importance and upshot of conscience we can symbolize BILL GATES as an example, He is a
person with billions of dollars, and a person of power; yet, at the same time
he is a person of integrity. Donating billions of dollars for AIDS prevention
shows his generosity and love towards mankind.
Apart
from these intangible assets one more fixed asset that the human race has been
gifted with, is Religion. It’s an
individual matter that provides everyone with faith and light. It helps us discover
ourselves, to discover our true potential and true purpose of being here. It
solves various enigmas of life and gives answer to questions like who am I?
& why am I here for?, through various scriptures like Bhagwat Gita, Bible
etc. Also concepts of spirituality have contributed a lot to the completion of
human life. People from various parts of world and various strata of society have
had welcomed concepts and practices of Yoga and Meditation, which facilitate a
person physically as well as mentally. But if religion is seen as just another
hierarchical system, its members won't have a sense of service or inner
workship. That is why may be, Gandhiji emphasized on the term Religion without Sacrifice. He said “Without sacrifice we may become
active in a church but remain inactive in its gospel. In other words, we go for
the social facade of religion and the piety of religious practices. There is no
real walking with people or going the second mile or trying to deal with our
social problems that may eventually undo our economic system. It takes
sacrifice to serve the needs of other people - the sacrifice of our own pride
and prejudice, among other things”.
One
more intangible to keep going is peace. For centuries this social animal has
been fighting wars, and increasing the power to tyrannize the inferior ones. We
have to understand that none of us have born to rule over others, we just have
to broaden our horizons and complete ourselves as human beings. There is a
story of an Emperor who tyrannized the entire India and then somewhere realized
that his power is futile, and then he becomes a monk, may be that’s why we call
him
Ashok-
The Great. Mahatma Gandhi said that “In my opinion, non-violence is not
passivity in any shape or form. Non-violence, as I understand it, is the activist
force in the world. Therefore, whether it is materialism or anything else, if
non-violence does not provide an effective antidote, it is not the active force
of my conception”. Thus it is important that we as individuals broaden our horizons of Money, Power etc.
after keeping in mind that we have to complement these with peace as well.
Therefore the logical conclusion
here is that every one of us has drawn a circle with the circumference of
Money, Power and Status and we are working within that circular wall. With the
evolution of human race, the radius of this circle is ever increasing, which
will represent the development and improvement of human race. This will ensure that
every individual is departing from his status-quo and increasing his limits of
growth, thus contributing in pushing the human race. But, surely there are
things which are beyond these circles and will remain beyond the circle however
big it gets. These are the intangibles like Love, Peace, Generosity, Honesty,
Kindness, Integrity, Spirituality etc.
Today
a monkey can walk on two legs, dolphins can understand our signals, and can
jump accordingly, chimpanzee are also intelligent enough to understand what’s
happening around them. The only thing they have not been able to do is
inventing fire, which is the first biggest breakthrough for mankind. Yes, we
made the fire that differentiates us from animals. Thus, we can say that there
is a difference between humans and animals by stated line of ambition. Our
unlimited ambitions will keep on driving the human race to reach for the
skyline but at the same time these excesses of money, power and status should
be complemented with Love, generosity and integrity which are of course beyond
the circle.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment