Thursday, January 27, 2011

Is Constitution the new document of the contemporary religions, 'Nationalism' ? and ‘Humanism’ the way ahead?

Most probably and as few studies show religion started ever since humans started living in groups/clans. Religion was 'the way to live life'- 'Sanatan Dharma' as in vedic scriptures. Not just the Sanatan Dharma(Note: 'Hinduism' was coined by British for all the followers of Sanatan Dharma who lived in the area of 5 main rivers in which 'Sindhu' or Indus was the prime) but all major religions of the world such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism are based on Humankind. All the religions want human integrity and solidarity to exist in society. Religion lays down the universal laws or principles, governed by the basic psychological consciousness or the collective consciousness of the human society in relation to the mother earth. Hence the concept of "Vasudev Kutumbakam" where the whole world is perceived as one large family without any boundaries was the bedrock of all major religions.

The only interpretation of any religion of the world should be of 'being more human' by harmoniously existing with every entity of the Universe. This will only promulgate social harmony and solidarity. The other interpretations of religion have and will only spread fundamentalism and disintegration of the society. Hence, leading humans to an era of everlasting unhappiness. We all know this, we all are aware but a meagre population of the crowded earth follows it. Mostly, it is because of the vested interest groups and wrong interpretations of the religion.

The contemporary world is divided into several nations by manmade imaginative lines. These Nations have there own code of conduct for citizens in the form of constitution. Constitution too seems to provide laws and principles based on the psychology of the society of the Nation. The aim of the constitution is again as that of the religion i.e. Social integrity. No Nation wants to be classified as the failed state as it signifies that the social disintegration has happened. Thus the functioning of the constitution seems to attain the effect of the religion. Hence constitution provides for growth of NATIONALISM. Nationalism fills in a sense of brotherhood, homogeneity in beliefs and aims and guides citizens to follow a path to attain happiness. It maintains Nation as the epitome of pride for which every citizen works.

We feel proud when we are known by our Nationality such as Indians, Dutch, Chinese, British etc as it reflects our laws, our constitution, our people and our social solidarity. Let’s ponder upon few more questions which I am going to ask the readers of this article.

1) Why cannot we think we are 'humans' first and always?

2) If we are humans, what do we all want to attain? ----->Happiness is it?

3) Is our 'need' overriding our 'want'?

4) Why cannot we follow the religion of all religions "HUMANISM" ?

5) Why "Vasudev Kutumbakam" is overridden by "globalisation"(mostly economic effects as of now)?

6) Why cannot we have a Constitution for the whole world in order to promote world solidarity?----->See EU developments

7) Why we cannot be earth citizens? ----->Will solve most of the problems.

8) Are we already moving ahead for 'Humanism'? or Are at the tipping point of the collapse of the human civilization?

12 comments:

  1. Yes we are and this issue needs serious attention.

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  2. For point 7) Earth citizens = one economy = no competition = no innovation. Hence unless a new planet of humans is discovered, earth citizens won't exist.

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  3. What is more important "Economy" or "Greatest good of the greatest number"? Moreover are we still not done over utilizing earth resources...it has limited sustainable capacity.

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  4. Thank you Nupur for sharing it with me! Very good and cogent thought process. Very thought provoking and really humanistic! I appreciate your effort!

    We have similar ideas! Please keep me posted.

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  5. well thought, well written. similar though process was triggered off.. after watching AVTAR movie.. guess you agree.

    If the world objective is peace.. it would start within..

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  6. The same thought process of peace and brotherhood + Humanism is in existence eversince the cradle of civilization came into existence. I just thought to write it down in its current form and the solutions pertaining to it.

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  7. We need more solutions......so people can put in there opinion as comment

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  8. Personally I might be biased against religion, but the article apart from being insightful also suffers from making sweeping statements. Eg "We feel proud of our nationality.." whereas one can easily find people disguising their nationality or the baggage it carries. As from my limited knowledge about world religions, to say that they aim at humanity-first approach would be over-simplification. Jews had harsh religion to survive those times and so did Prophet Muhhamed. Constantine used Christianity as instrument and Hinduism saw constant changes and manipulations. Even the concept of God is to a large extent a deliberate delusion to keep our hopes alive when logic says otherwise. I would rather say that aim of religion is to integrate but not humanity as a whole but mainly the sub-sect which subscribes to it. It is interesting that in modern times all religions feel need to tolerate other religions and hence people come up with different interpretations of same old pslam, doha, couplet whatever. Constitution however is built with the aim of incorporating all (of course with concessions to majority, like Lankan constitutions) and the history of "secular" movements (sadly Indians are in general so wrongly taught about secularism, thanks to INC) in early part of last century proves this dichotomy between Constitution and Religion (Church in that case).

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  9. Good Post, the issue of depleting Earth Resources needs more attention. But what is the conclusion ?

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  10. Hey Nupur, sorry for the long post but I really dont have any work in office so.. :)

    1) Why cannot we think we are 'humans' first and always?

    because we are just animals, with some special features like bigger cortex, hands and thumbs etc.

    2) If we are humans, what do we all want to attain? ----->Happiness is it?

    No every living being want to attain a genetic advantage over other members of his own species to survive.

    3) Is our 'need' overriding our 'want'?

    no, our wants are derivatives of our needs.

    4) Why cannot we follow the religion of all religions "HUMANISM" ?

    no we can't violence is a part of psyche of all living, that is how we have evolved, and it is not gonna go away.

    5) Why "Vasudev Kutumbakam" is overridden by "globalisation"(mostly economic effects as of now)?

    vasudev kutumbakam is a fallacy and globalization is a truth so one group can gain advantage over other group.

    6) Why cannot we have a Constitution for the whole world in order to promote world solidarity?----->See EU developments

    we cant have it because it is really impossible to procure consensus over any single thing from 6.5 billion people on the earth. even countries are put together only with use of force and violence, without force every country on planet will disintegrate.

    7) Why we cannot be earth citizens? ----->Will solve most of the problems.

    because if the whole earth becomes one nation, then everybody on the planet will like to move to most comfortable locations like hawaai or something, that will create even more chaos. so it is good that people are trapped in their own home lands. helps the equal distribution of this infestation.

    8) Are we already moving ahead for 'Humanism'? or Are at the tipping point of the collapse of the human civilization?

    Human civilization was started with violence, thrived on violence and Humanism is just a poetic term to feel better about ourselves.

    Call me cynical if you want, but realities can not be changed.

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  11. @ Jitesh : What is real today becomes history with new realities of tomorrow. This article deal with a vision for tomorrow.Revolution may be one way and even peaceful solutions can exist.It is all about the decisions by the leaders without the vested interest.
    What if the world unites if we are attacked by other superior forces.Why cannot we be united from within without any external pressure.

    @Abhi: As of now no conclusion. The discussion phase is still on. The depleting earth issue too can be sorted out if we all come to a consensus as vested interest would be curbed.

    @gatesofhorn: The religions of the world have undergone a lot of changes because of the vested interest groups who wanted to dominate the less powerful. Religions like buddhism do not pay emphasis on existence of GOD unlike hinduism which has lakhs of Gods. The realization of the human and society as the ultimate God may be helpful.

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  12. Very Nice Article Nupur. I would like to add few points here.

    The beauty of universe is not in unifying everything into one, but in co-existance of diverse things. every Nation, every Religion is different from other and has its own values and cultures. we should not have one Nation or one religion for entire earth. definitely humanity is the core of every religion, but we do need to preserve each of them in their original form.

    The solution to the world's problem is not in rejecting all religions and creating one universal religion, but in opening your heart to all religions. be ready to accept the differences and learn to spread love inspite of differences.

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