Cooperation and competition both play a role in our collective life — sometimes more of this, sometimes more of that. However, a self-styled ‘capitalist’ sees red at the mere mention of cooperation, whereas a self-styled ‘communist’ argues for forcefully imposing cooperation on the whole society.
Suppose we put all such western ideologies to one side and ask: What does our lived, empirical reality say?
It comes as a slight surprise when we first learn that the word ‘technology’ has its root in the Greek word tekhne, which meant ‘art’; after all, today we understand art as being quite distinct from technology. The older Greek word harks back to the era when technology, in Greece and elsewhere, was much simpler; we may assume that practitioners of tekhne in Greece were viewed much as we view ‘artisans’ today.
It is no surprise, however, to learn that the word ‘engineering’ is rooted in the word ‘engine’; presumably, in the early days of engineering, ‘engines’ of one kind or another dominated the scene. But, to dig deeper, we enquire about the origin of the word ‘engine’. It turns out that ‘engine’ is indirectly rooted in the Latin word for ‘intellect’ or ‘inventiveness’. In fact the English word ‘ingenious’ is close in its form and meaning to the Latin near-equivalent ingenium.
IIT Bombay Mech Engg batch of 1968 may remember Jayram Daya as being a sensitive, good-natured classmate from Hostel 2, an artist, and a citizen of South Africa. Since those student days, Jayram has successfully established a business in South Africa, handed the business over to his two sons, and is now happily pursuing higher interests in the next stage of life. He is in Sanyaas Ashram, but also, in his own words: I’m an engineer, an entrepreneur, a storyteller, a poet, an author, a painter, a photographer, a blogger, a philosopher, and a visionary.
The previous post (here) touched upon one’s duties, responsibilities and moral accountability. Can the burden of Karma – of accountability for one’s actions – be transferred to another by the ties of marriage, family, clan, friendship, business, money, politics … or whatever else?
The answer is, ‘NO. Karma is strictly an individual matter’. But, as we know, a desperate person will try anything to avoid the inevitable payback for his wrong actions, including attempts to deflect the payback to others.
Our earlier two posts (here and here) discussed the war economy, and the fact that nations must also face the consequences of their actions. Thus each of these posts was a specific instance of the inexorable laws of karma at work. That should not surprise anyone, given that the blog aims to seek out root causes of the multifarious phenomena we see around us!
At this stage, we thought that a brief discussion about the laws of karma was also needed – and so here it is!
Imagine that, for the first time in your life, you are passing through a thick forest. Foliage is so thick that daylight barely reaches ground level. Turning back is not an option, because you know your life’s goal lies ahead. As you move, you walk into branches and bushes, slip, stumble, hurt yourself, tire, be bitten by bugs, be fearful, be thirsty … and much more. You curse your fate. You curse the forest. But if you are wise, and if you persevere, you will make it through the forest and achieve your life’s goal.
Off and on, we come across ‘expert opinion’ stressing the goals of ‘saving the western civilization’ and ‘deterring Russia and China’. The language used implies clearly that ‘western civilization’ here has undisguised, in-your-face geopolitical motivation.
‘Civilization’ and ‘deterrence’ is in fact a very strange combination of notions, tempting us to dig deeper into the matter.
Over the last few weeks, a truth has dawned on this seeker.
Internet is flooded with opinions … answers … narratives … theories … viewpoints … self-promotions … whatever. Almost every person on our beloved planet is able to share something of that kind with almost every other person on the planet. This is in fact a mind-boggling gift of technology.
Thank you, Internet!
But there is clearly a HUGE down side to all this. What is an individual to make of this unprecedented, incredible information overload?
THE TRUTH LIES WITHIN, AS DOES THE TEST OF TRUTH.
In the absence of these two crucial elements, an individual is literally lost — drowned? — in the flood of information.
Therefore, instead of hawking yet another opinion … answer … narrative … theory … viewpoint … whatever … Why not try something else?
Why not prompt … provoke … nudge … prod … the search for answers in the recesses of the individual mind? That should be fun!
Questions will be posted — or, to be more precise, points to ponder. The hope is that these will generate answers. Not ‘perfect’ answers, of course, because there is no such thing. But honest and authentic attempts, offered to others in the spirit of sharing.
Truth requires no coercion. Any moderately intelligent person can make choices appropriate to him or her, based on what is available and feasible. Any healthy human society runs on the basis of average people making innumerable such ‘common sense’ choices. This, in practical terms, is what the average person understands by the word ‘freedom’.
Depriving a society of such freedom leads to misery. Despots – that is, glorified goons – deprive a society of the vitality that springs from this freedom.
seeker-of-root-causes 