What is True Independence?
July 4th, 2010, is a very important Independence Day, not only for America but for the entire world.
Humanity is at the cross roads. We can either survive with dignity or annihilate our race. We are at the threshold of that great event. It is a wake-up call to step out of our logic and reasoning, and look at existence from a spiritual point of view and not through our material ’scientific’ model.
On this Independence Day, we need to reflect on the question: What is Independence? It is not simply political or economic liberty. While both help our material well being, has money or political freedom solved our problems? A billionaire dies of cancer just like a beggar. The only difference is that the billionaire can afford better medical care and sedation which the poor can’t afford.
Money has given us the option of dying rich. However, emotional and psychological pain remain as a persistent reality that money can never solve. Money cannot alter cancer cells or the minds of terrorists who want to blow up everything to establish their god’s rule on the earth.
The current world has become a complicated mix of unsolvable problems for peace makers, scientists, educationists, religionists, political ideologists and, in short, everyone. Let us take a look at these problems.
The Problem of Peace Makers
The peace makers have lost their own peace working on the world’s problems. Peace seems to be an impossible goal. Osho once said that ‘peace of mind’ is an oxymoron. Mind and peace don’t go together. Only a non-mind can be peaceful. The irony is that we are trying to create peace by offering material gifts or threats.We say that we will give you money if you keep quiet and maintain peace. Or, we say if you are not agreeable we will attack you. Both options are flawed and will never ensure a permanent solution.
We will keep surviving through piecemeal arrangements. The peace makers are convinced that there is no way we can create a Utopian world. Human beings are essentially war mongers – as long as there are wars, there will not be peace. The peace maker’s job is completely recession-free.
The Problem of the Scientists
Scientists are very proud of their accomplishments, and often condescendingly look down on non-scientific thinkers. Is the cardiologist free from cardiac arrest or a neurosurgeon immune to a stroke? Similarly, can those physicists who invented the atomic bomb escape death? Every scientific discovery is eventually going to be outdated or proven wrong. Has this phenomenon made the scientists humble? No. They continue to be proud of their sugar-based mind which crashes in the absence of sugar. As science advances we are only beginning to understand how ignorant we are. Trillions of bacteria keep our body alive and millions of changes take place in every cell each second. When is science going to have a grasp on the subtleties of nature? In a 1000 years? By that time, we will find more challenges than we have now.
The Problem of the Educationists
The problem of the educationists is similar to that of the scientists. Do we have a comprehensive understanding of intelligence? We can’t even figure out what intelligence or consciousness is. We are satisfied with our accomplishments and think that we have greatly progressed from our ancestors. It is a gross misunderstanding. Go to Egypt and look at the pyramids in Giza and the accomplishments of the ancient Egyptians. They regarded the body-mind as only the last of the seven rungs of life.
Our education focuses only on the body-mind and the material universe. We have dumped religion as superstition and banned it from schools and colleges. Is this educational model holistic? Why do we keep promoting this model? No one wants to ask such radical questions because they are afraid that there no answers. They want to keep the status quo in the name of practicality. Why someone is able to learn well and others couldn’t? What can we do about the problem? The school drop-out problem is ever increasing even in the first world. Drugs in schools are invading the third-world countries.
The Problem of the Politicians
The politicians are confused as much as others. Democracy has been accepted as the lesser evil and promoted everywhere. Has it worked? Is equality a sane principle? Are we equal to one another – politically, economically, health-wise, intelligence-wise, or in any other way? What are we going to do with the dictators who will never accept democracy? What about our political parties – is the two-party system in America better than the million-party system in India? Which is a better democracy?
Whether a system is two-party or multi-party, the problems remain the same. Party identity is a form of tribal behavior.The term “politic” itself means untruth. We want untruth to rule us! We say that we are in the 21st century and the most evolved civilization. It is a lie. Our fellow human beings are dying of thirst and starvation, while we dump our agricultural produce into the ocean to control the market. Is this civilization?
The Problem of the Businessmen and Law Makers
The key issue in business is profit-making. Can we make profit without exploiting the workers or farmers? Who makes the most money at the end of the day – the worker or the business man? What is the ethics behind this? Is it cleverness of the mind triumphing over hard labor? Look at the exploitation of child labor in China, and yet everyone wants to buy their inexpensive goods.
And look at our legal system. If you have more money, you can hire a better lawyer and get better justice. If you can’t afford a lawyer, you may even go to jail. Similarly, the higher courts are for the rich who have the money to get there.
The Solution
Every area has immense problems. What is the solution? There is only one: Evolution. We have to evolve our body-mind and attain a non-physical existence without identity. This is the solution of the Yogis and Siddhas of India. It may appear to be an impossible solution, but certainly we are all heading toward it. Wait for 2011 and 2012 and GOD will do it.
