BY

Dr. Lim Keng Huat ( [email protected] )

 
 

With our eyes, we see the world with different eyes. We may look at the same object, but do not assume that we see eye to eye .We may hear each other well, but may not listen at all. We taste sweet and sour alike, but may have diverse preferences and perverse subtleties. We smell with our mind more than with our nose. We yearn to be touched by people we like and is repelled contrariwise. 

Human beings all over the world share these preceding common characteristics. We are similar and yet not the same. We possess the herd instinct yet fear being suffocated by it. We fight so hard to be seen, heard, or known; we vow never to melt below the iceberg, unseen or unheard of. We thus identify ourselves by common interest, race, languages, dialects, religion, culture and even varied kinds of suffering - victims of violence, alcoholism, mental and terminal illnesses. Strangely we feel connected in apparently unconnected ways. Ironically, these features of race, language, culture, faith and beliefs etc which unites us also divides us. Even if our faith and beliefs are similar, we dichotomize and subdivide further into sects, colonies, politics, sex, age, status, locality and even petty hobbies, likes and dislikes. We are at war with one another when our personal interests and ego clash. We are at peace when our purposes are served. We then search for excuses, reasons and lofty principles to justify either war or peace war. We hide behind our masks and adorn each action and reaction with superlatives, whether honour or dishonour. The virtuous become the vile; the evil transform into the virtuous. We play this game endlessly. There are revolutions, petty and global, to end injustices. But with time, the revolutionaries deteriorate to become renegades, and another new revolution begins to topple the old. The followers, compelled by herd instinct are really sacrificial lambs for either camp. We made the world so preoccupied with issues and perpetual problems. We create our own problems, and in the process of solving them, create further hazards. The monotony and boredom of daily activities then spring alive and in that sedate state, we called living. D. H Lawrence, in his poem, A Living, wrote, "A man should never earn his living, if he earns his life, he'll be lovely." 

In the face of such confusion and violence, what can we human beings really do? This is our real perennial question. 

The Buddha, Lao Chi, Jesus, the Prophets, Krishnamurthi and philosophers of all ages and nations have appeared and offered their marvelous teaching and admonitions. They have all gone, but not our old habits of thinking and behaviour. Instead we dichotomize and dissect each of their teachings into various sects and sub sects and each leader and group proclaims to receive the only true epiphany - holier than the sages themselves do. 

Are these "twisted" natures inherent in us? Are we doomed? We seem to pollute every pure essence we come in contact with. Would genetic engineering be able to rectify it? Would selective mutation help? Evolutional psychology development is too slow, and the directions are unclear. We need a quantum leap, not gradual change. How I do not know their answers. A glimmer of hopes and light seem to pervade and permeates through such states of negativity. 

What does "human beings" mean? The word, manusia, Sanskrit, means pertaining to the mind, earthly, conceivable and mortal; being (San, vasati), meaning dwelling. So to be a human being imply the ability to accommodate and dwell in both opposing polarities within the mind; it is conceivable to think of both polarities at the same time. In other words, we have the inherent capacity to be both creative and destructive, and within all shades and grades of positivity and negativity. There is thus the mortal fear of our own extinction. It also offers healing and hope. It is with such hope that I pray, knowing that it may be an illusion or delusion - tricks and magic of the mind!