CAN I DISCOVER MYSELF?

 This is a question which has always remained a question only. All answers are speculative including the explanations offered by science. Let me add a little to this jungle of thoughts and side with something, otherwise it will be a blatant negation of my existence. 

I will certainly not go with the theological explanations offered by my religion or the religions across the world have taught. These explanations take me through a blind alley, and the question becomes more and more complex, because I have lived more than half a century in the so called modern scientific world. 

The next contenders, to my knowledge, are the philosophers. Descartes under the influence of Newton's mechanistic theory propounded that human beings are like machines and the parts are integrated to explain the whole in their functionality. With remarkable departure from Descartes' thought, Emanuel Kant theorized that in a machine the parts exist for each other but in living organisms parts are also instrumental in producing each other and are self organizing. He stressed upon understanding life, and acceptance of Nature as purposeful. He definitely made a laudable theory to explain "who am I" and " what am I". His thoughts laid the foundation but could not hit the target in entirety. 

In our current thought domain, two ideas are predominant--- the "Evolutionary Biology" with a much wider acceptance and the " Intelligent Design"-- yet to receive any favor from the main stream scientists. But, I believe in a synthesis of both to explain-- "Who am I" and "What am I". The biggest discovery in biological science is DNA-- the instruction manual of all lives on Earth. On the basis of that I define myself as a minuscule point in an incredibly long chain and order; in me past, present and future are encapsulated. In a sense I am immortal, I come back in different forms and different variations from time to time. I resurrect and reincarnate time and again. I also go with the proponents of "Intelligent Design" who profess that without the intervention of an intelligent Creator how the cells and molecules (made from inanimate matters) have become conscious in living organisms, and achieve the goal of organizing a form--- like specialized engineers and skilled workers building a structure. They summarily reject the evolutionary ideas of random selection and mutation. 

Who is this intelligent designer? Though at the outset I have shown my reluctance to accept the theological interpretation of "Who am I"; but in the process I have returned to those theological allegories. 

Now, "What am I"? I am a combination of the genetic and extra-genetic elements. I am a part of the deep ecology--- I vibrate with every minutest sub-atomic particles and the infinite universe. In this miraculous fabric of the universe I am so inextricably interwoven that I am within you, you are within me. You cannot separate me from you nor can I distinguish you from me. I am lost in that vast ocean where the drops of water form the oceanic identity. 

Does it sound mystic? No, It is consciousness that not merely defines "Who and What I am" but "Who and What we are".I agree that the question remains unresolved and will be asked time and again.

                                                                                                               

A FISH NEED NOT CLIMB TREE.

Many of us live below our potentialities and fail to express our talents effectively; the factors responsible for these are many and by themselves they can make a large volume. To corroborate my point of view, I would like to bring in Einstein's famous saying that you cannot judge the genius of a fish from its ability to climb tree. That is to say a fish should be judged as a fish from its ability to swim and survive in water; but most pertinently Einstein also means that fish has the genius in it or by expanding his idea one can say, that all of us have the genius or talent within us to flourish and reach our desired destinations. But our life chances always do not appropriately unfold to support our hidden talent and things go wrong in life; most of us grope in darkness without self discovery.

I remember having read an anecdote about a very successful medical doctor who was awarded a very covetous award for his contribution to medical science. While receiving the award the doctor broke into tears. Everyone in the gathering believed that the doctor was overwhelmed with joy and the tears rolled down as a climatic expression of his joy. But the doctor clarified later that the award winning ceremony flashed back his childhood obsession to be a poet, and his persistent effort to succeed in the field of medicine has successively killed the poetic soul within him.

This aforesaid anecdote has two fold meanings-- it recognizes that even if you flow against the current of the stream still you can succeed and achieve excellence with adequate efforts and dedication; but the calling from within you will always remain unfulfilled. We humans confront two issues in our lives, in this context-- a) despite our social and financial success we experience an overpowering emptiness all our life owing to the wastage of the unique talents each one of us has like the uniqueness of our finger prints. b) If we make self discovery and follow our callings, we naturally align ourselves with our talent and achieve far greater success and fulfillment in life. One may face many social criticisms by pursuing one's heart but that should not deter a strong believer of his/her talent to fumble on the way.

Therefore, history says that many great geniuses of the world are never very educated people, nor have they come from very affluent families. They have achieved great feats in life being guided by the diktat of their heart or soul. When someone is guided by his/her naturally endowed talent and the inner voice he/she would tend to ooze an aura of confidence, being magnetized by unflinching belief.

Such people prioritize their needs in life to reach their destinations and fulfill their purpose in life. But, these people should not be judged by the material yardstick of the society; their successes always surpass our ordinary material references to success. Let us not always expect a fish to climb trees.       

THE CREATIVE VOID

Emptiness or void is not exactly an experience of absence but is a much deeper level of presence, a pausing quest into the vast expanse of creative wisdom stored within all of us, which rarely translates itself into creative manifestation owing to our over indulgence with the workaday realities. The energy of the void, both philosophically and scientifically, is much more potent than the energy of the motion that drifts us all our life in mindless haste. Unfortunately, the process of socialization, particularly in more sophisticated advanced societies, leads to brutal regimentation of mind, leaving very little room for the creative void to exhibit its myriad forms. Since we are not equipped in our socialization process to recognize the power of the void, when for some reason the void encompasses us, we develop a run-away-syndrome, not knowing how to handle this-- to use a term from astrophysics, "the dark energy". In very commonplace description we embrace it as boredom, which is a devastating state of mind leading to intoxication, low self-esteem and at its extreme to suicidal tendencies. Somewhere down the line, in our process of growing up we have learnt the inverted language of the void-- particularly through the religious precepts of nihilism. Colin Wilson describes this very aptly in his book: "Beyond the Occult" as "the Ecclesiastes effect" referring to the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes. As a matter of fact, most of us feel helpless on the face of the void as we have very little positive knowledge to recognize its immense depth and potential. In many cases, therefore, it turns out to be symptomatic of "fatigued intellect", a state of drained out mind.

Not much research has been made to understand this deep abyss of the mind and how to harness its energy for creative and motivational purposes. The Greek philosopher Plato postulates that we are trapped in the world of "becoming", which is the world of brute matters. What he said more than two thousand years ago was a very incisive understanding of our mind dynamics. Inside this trap of brute matters we relate all our life situations to the material world around us, thereby any void in our inner world of "being" reflects as a crisis on the material level of understanding. Even some highly creative people have ended their life not being able to handle this void-- the "creative block". Creative geniuses like- Nietzsche, Van Gogh, Dostoevsky, Blake etc groped in utter frustration and could never see the glimpse of light in the encircling darkness of this void.

ON CREATION OF WEALTH AND HAPPINESS

 Human brain is a mystery yet understood completely; rather I should say we have not even understood 10% of the brain power. In an average we use only 5% of the power packed inside our incredible brain. The sages, mystics, saints of the past had prescribed several methods to harness brain power to optimum level. But most of this knowledge is either lost to mankind and whatever still available is not paid any due attention in our modern days’ thinking.

Brain is an instrument, whereas thought or mind is an abstract entity. It is difficult to say how the thoughts originate from a mechanical device like brain. A very intriguing question is-- are thoughts specific to our individual personality, in reference to our solipsistic experience at a micro level or is much wider and broader in connotation? It cannot be denied that thoughts are the most powerful things in the universe and their vibrations differ depending upon their intensity and quality. If the quality of the thoughts is powerful it has magical potential. In ancient time people were very conscious of the negative impact of curses and the boons that blessings bring into life. This belief was based on the awareness about the potency of thoughts in shaping our life. Many writers rightly say that “thoughts are things”. There is absolutely no doubt about it. All concrete things have their origin from the abstract mind. Firstly, let us look at all the material things we humans have made. Whether it is a pin or a spacecraft, first it originates in the mind of the inventor, and then it comes to the drawing board in abstract mathematical or geometrical presentation and finally takes a shape that is material or concrete. Thus behind every concrete or material wealth of mankind an abstract creative mind is involved. Extending this microcosmic example to the macrocosm of creation, the process is not very different, though we do not have the wherewithal to prove it in laboratories. The entire manifested material universe originates from the abstract universal mind propelled by a desire in that grand mind to be manifested in visible form. What the scientists talk about as the non-dimensional “point of singularity”, the point of genesis of the universe-- is an abstraction and a mind like entity. From this abstract mind like point the whole material universe exploded into existence.

Thus, the abstract mind or thoughts are the most active energy at every level of creation and destruction. Every creative mind carries equal potential of destruction in it. Therefore for any achievement in life thought training is very essential. One should guard his/her thoughts to form the habit of creating positive thought energy in the mind. This energy works significantly at the physical level to activate, inspire and motivate the thinker and at an abstract level it magnetizes the mind to connect itself to the source of the desired objective.

What thoughts this positive magnetized mind should pursue to attract wealth in abundance? As I have stated before the primary objective of this mind is to be creative, innovative. Creativity will lead to creation of things and environment to attract wealth in abundance. This state of mind should also be used to problem solving and spreading happiness. The world we live in has myriad problems and innumerable unhappy people. When this positive, magnetized, creative, problem solving mind is used to spread happiness the highest degree of accomplishment in creating wealth, happiness, prosperity is achieved. This is precisely the law of wealth creation. This law works with everybody, everywhere, every time like magic.

SPIRITUAL WISDOM IN LEADERSHIP

Let me clarify at the outset that to my understanding spirituality is not religiosity-- often both poles apart concepts are considered to be synonymous. Many learned people have expressed their profound ideas on this subject and, I am afraid, my this short view will be diminutive in comparison to their knowledge.

To my understanding, spirituality is a very evolved and integrative state of mind which is far beyond the commonplace understanding of life and realities. This statement needs a little more elaboration. It is an evolved and integrative state of mind—any spiritual journey is an internal quest where “eye has not seen and ear has not heard” (Les Brown)—meaning-- unbiased, unprejudiced evaluation of all experiences come to us from without not being a part of it but objectively out of it. This state of mind is capable of integrating itself to the infinite repository of cosmic mind where all our minds—past, present and future meets. unconsciously. There is no scientific proof to this mystical understanding; though a number of books, philosophical discourses, motivational writers and speakers unequivocally stress upon this idea of “Universal Mind”, “Cosmic Consciousness” etc. To put it precisely, this is an “altered state of consciousness”. However, a significant development in this context in the scientific world, in recent times, is the acknowledgement of the Universe as an information system.             

Any leader with spiritual wisdom integrates his thinking to the “Cosmic Mind” visa vi the mind of his followers. He is endowed with the insight to evaluate the events and situations of the present with their historical perspectives, present repercussions and future effects. It is purely a state of mental enlightenment and visionary ability.

FUTILITY OF PRIDE

Recently, I was reading an article in a site devoted to Space, which speaks about a photo of our planet taken from the deep space for the first time. It looks like a bluish dot. The question posed by the author is very significant to this context. He mentions about the insignificance of our planet against the vast galactic backdrop  He goes on imploring that the warriors and the conquerors in their merciless attacks on innocent people have practically failed to understand that when our Earth is no bigger than a dot-- how much these people have achieved by conquering a nation or some territories.

This question has serious validity. Someone had said that if you are proud of yourself then lie down on your back and look at the open sky-- certainly with an intention that when you understand the futility of your so called worldly achievements, a calming sense of humility will dawn in you.

Therefore, to me, people who attach lot of importance to their lives and achievements are seriously blundered in life, in capable of comprehending the realities and live inside a cocoon shell of complacency, and ironically in a state of self deception.

We become inwardly self conscious because of our unceasing endeavor to project ourselves as important in life. As I have stated before; it is a mode of self deception only. There is a perceptive maxim which says-- when you talk about yourself, very few people, in fact, would be interested in you, but when you learn to address to the problems and difficulties, and also learn to appreciate the achievements and triumphs of others, they show interest in you and you emit a magnetic aura.       

THE INFINITY DILEMMA

The universe is a persistent illusion and physics is not far from acknowledging it. The observations on subatomic and virtual particles and particularly the quantum reality mystify our universe to a point of non-existence. Therefore, the objective realities are only apparent manifestations of the subjective dimensions, which are the energy of the void. At this realm of reality time and space are inconsequential. At this dimension the sub-atomic and virtual particles are as large as the infinite universe and the infinite universe is as potently undetectable as the sub-atomic and virtual particles. I believe that no objective study can make one understand the mysteries of the universe. It can only be experienced at a subjective dimension of appropriate frequency. Infinity always exists as a subjective dimension with highest frequency. The infinitely small is the point of consciousness of the infinitely big, similarly infinitely big tends to escape into infinitely small. In the distance between 1 and 2 or between one numbers to the succeeding number the infinity is trapped. Infinity, therefore, is an everyday subjective reality and also the highest level of other dimensional consciousness.

Mind is older than body and matter. Before the beginning mind existed at that “Point of Singularity”– beyond space and time, and after the end mind will exist beyond the limitations of space and time for a new Creation to usher in. What exploded some 14 billion years ago was the consciousness of an intelligent mind, which scientists call “The Big Bang”. It was certainly not a bang but a “Creative Harmony”. The Creator appearing in and disappearing from the illusion of three dimensional universes is as non-existent as existent. This is a persistent and elusive paradox

THE JOY OF GIVING

Our universe is governed by a mysterious law called the law of giving. Without adherence to this law the universe cannot survive, life cannot sustain. Imagine how many things are given in abundance to us by this mysterious law. The sun gives us the warmth and light, the air gives us the oxygen to breath, the trees give us the fruits to eat; the flowers give us their aroma to please us, some animals and birds give their life to feed us; if we keep on counting the list will stretch to infinity. In the midst of such abundance emanating from the law of giving, we humans have greatly dissociated ourselves from giving. We fail to emulate this vital principle so glaringly present everywhere around us. All other living and non living things in our world unfailingly adhere to this law of giving except for us humans. 

The joy of giving is far greater than the joy of receiving. Therefore, all other creatures on earth are much happier and more balanced than human beings. Having the highest degree of intelligence and consciousness among all living beings, humans have unwittingly made their life miserable due to their inability to appreciate this mysterious law. The reluctance for giving is human insecurity-- the fear of the unknown future, the fear of not having enough, the trait of insatiability. But a careful observation of this mysterious law will reveal that what one gives comes back to him/her manifold. For example give a seed to the mother earth, she will return you million seeds; when the air thins at a particular place in the atmosphere, wind from all direction blow in abundance to feel the vacuum. Based on this law of giving great abundance is created; this is an obvious law visible everywhere though in our ignorance we pay scant heed to it. 

Our ancestors believed that if you give love then your life will glitter with abundance of love and on the other hand if you spread hatred your life will be miserable with hatred from all sides like the wind gushing from all sides to fill emptiness in the atmosphere. 

Giving is a joy much greater than the joy of receiving. Giving is magnetic to attract abundance in life. It is a positive trait to make life meaningful and harmonious. It is an established mysterious law any one can experiment with right earnest and shall receive the results without fail.

SOCIAL STASIS AND DYNAMICS

Evolution has two distinct aspects-- genetic and extra-genetic. When we talk about genetic evolution the obvious reference is to the biological evolution on our planet, whereas extra-genetic evolution is the environmental factors impacting the biological evolutionary process. These two factors are important for all living organism on our planet. However, human evolution has a third important aspect that is the societal evolution. Though, this aspect is included in the extra-genetic bracket: knowing its profound impact it needs separate emphasis, particularly to understand the concept of "social construct"

Society is like a biological organism and is in a constant process of evolution. It is based on two opposite trends-- stasis and dynamics. Both these antithetical trends balance the "social construct"-- an imbalance can lead either to stagnation or revolution. Either of these two trends is likely to cause social decadence or chaos.

"Social construct" involves the whole gamut of social transactions and institutions. It is like circles within circles. For example, the largest circle for the human beings embraces the entire human society. As human beings broadly we share certain beliefs, institutions, moral codes; and also we sometimes tend to create new institutions effective for our social transactions on global perspectives. We also influence one another culturally, economically and politically. This large circle evolves on a continuous basis with the changing time, with participation and adaption by all individuals of human society. A few centuries ago this large circle of human society had a different construct than what it is today. With every new scientific and technological progress the intermingling in this larger circle has become more frequent thereby greatly influencing the smaller circles. The rapid growth in telecommunication, internet and aviation technology has transformed this largest circle in a very significant way.

As regards the inner circles of "social construct", the inner circles, though get influenced by the larger outer circles, display their distinct identities through their unique cultural traits, institutions, belief system, behavioral pattern, languages, ethics and moralities etc. These inner circles further tend to form smaller circles with peculiar local traits. Smaller the circle the individual identification and ties are stronger to the social group. Because of this we find sects, sub-sects, dialects within same linguistic groups, division within religious group. This is a strange human psychological trait that necessitates division of the large to smaller unit for better interaction and assertion of individual identity. But this part of "social construct" evolves unceasingly within the dynamics of the larger framework of "social construct"in the outer circle.

Now coming back to the stasis and dynamics of "social construct"-- these to forces almost act with equal potency in 'social construct" process. The stasis represents conservation and the dynamic represents innovation. This is also sometimes described as generation gap. The conservatives always endeavor to keep their institutions, belief systems, social code of conducts unchanged; whereas the innovation inside the society spares no effort to usher in changes leading to social tension. If these two conflicting forces do not act in antithesis the conservatives will stagnant the "social construct" process to the point of complete regression and if the innovation becomes excessively preponderant, the tendency towards destabilization of the all established institutions will lead to social revolution, loss of equilibrium and construct moving towards chaos and anarchy.

In a "social construct" process over dominance of conservation is fatal-- indicating application of force by the conservatives to stop the power of innovation. Such societies are authoritarian-- ruled either by dictatorial regimes or by totalitarian religious fundamentalists. A society that shows unusual dynamism is, for sure, leading towards a revolution. But to choose between the two, the latter is more preferred to the former from "social construct" point of view.       

HAPPINESS: A JOURNEY

To relate to this issue, two characters of Hermann Hesse's celebrated novel, "Siddharth" come to my mind-- Govind and Siddharth. Govind accepts Lord Buddha and turns his disciple unquestioningly, whereas Siddharth is an inquisitive mind; he is not ready to accept Buddha blindly.The biggest question that bothers him is-- if Buddha is the enlightened one, does it not mean that there is no knowledge beyond him? He is not prepared to accept that knowledge is finite. Therefore, he chooses his own path, moves on his own quest. Govind is conformist, dedicates himself to Lord Buddha and prefers to think in Buddha's mind in stead in his mind. He lives in relative peace and happiness. But the path of Siddharth's quest is not strewed with flowers; he goes through all miseries, sufferings as well as moments of happiness in life. 

But which path is superior? In my view the path of Siddharth is a quest, a journey, an endeavor to learn through experience, an assertion of human dynamism-- hence it is much superior to Govind's acceptance and surrender to Lord Buddha. 

The quest for happiness is a limiting factor; it requires willing suspension of mind. Happiness can be the journey of life with its accompanying trials and tribulations along with its beauty and enchantment. Pursuing happiness through denial of the varieties that life offers is sheer stupidity.

CAN DEMOCRACY THRIVE UNDER ISLAMIC LAWS? AN APPEAL FOR SECULAR HUMANISM

Democracy as a form of government was invented by the Greeks about two thousand five hundred years ago. The democracy they formulated was very restricted in its meaning and operation. It was a government of the people confined to the city state like Athens, having a population of about ten thousand people. This was a form of direct democracy. It was a significant departure from all other forms of governance known to mankind those days and even up to today. Therefore, some one had aptly said -- "democracy may be the worst form of government but there is no better substitute to it". It's true-- at least democracy recognizes individual. The tyranny of the state can be effectively controlled only if the sovereignty lies with the people and the rulers rule till they hold the mandate of the people. This was no doubt a great improvisation upon all other forms of government-- monarchy, aristocracy, plutocracy, dictatorship, and the rule by the priestly class etc. 

Logically, a good democratic system has little space for religion in the governance. Segregation of religion from governance will ensure the accompanying virtues of democracy-- equality, freedom (of thought expression and belief), right against exploitation etc. So, in my opinion despite whatever merits Shariya or Islamic personal laws, as claimed by many proponents of Shariya, might possess they cannot co-exist with democracy, for that purpose also should not coexist with any form of government. In a broader sense no religious laws or doctrine should form a part of governance. Laws should necessarily be humanitarian and secular free from all kinds of bias and doctrines. Adoption of religious laws and doctrines in governance only promotes fanaticism and intolerance. 

 Democracy is practiced in different forms in different countries, and no more they are like the direct democracy of the Greek city states, they have become indirect and representative in character. But whatever may be the form and character, democracy still values the dignity, equality and freedom of the citizens as the core virtues. Implementation of religious laws for governance of the citizens will utterly conflict with democratic principles. Therefore, the countries following Shariya as the governing law cannot ensure liberal governance and democratic rights to their citizens.  

Since we have not invented any better form of government, democracy looks the last word in the present context for proactive relationship between the ruler and the ruled. It has to be absolutely free from religious doctrines and commandments- are that Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or whatever form of religion. 

 
The world first saw the advent of Christianity as a structured religion and then almost after six centuries Islam was born. In those primitive days religion had very powerful hold over societies, and as such the propagation of religion was followed with blind frenzy by the religious leaders as well as the warriors inspired by the divine doctrines of their new faiths. Islam is still perpetuating that trend maybe because it is the most recent of the major religions of the world. If we look at history, with same traits of violence, force and exploitation, Christianity was propagated in the world by its ardent Crusaders. The Protestant movement was no better. Therefore, religion has never been a democratic option for the people; it has always been an imposition-- either by virtue of one's birth or by application of force in many forms. In the present day religious conversions allurement has become an effective instrument.

Let me cite the example of Hinduism. By virtue of my birth, I am a high caste Hindu; though I a strong  believer in "Secular Humanism". Hinduism is a very old religion and its practices include a whole range of beliefs different from one another-- from monotheism to polytheistic worship. In some variation Hinduism is also atheism as it does not believe in any form of the Creator. If we look at the history of development of this religion; Hinduism was preceded by “Sanatan Dharm”, the religious practice of the ancient most people in Indian subcontinent later known as Hindus. Under “Sanatan Dharm” the believers were worshipers of "Shiva Shakti" cult-- one can say the cult of fertility-- Shakti representing the feminine and Shiva, the masculine. Surprisingly, despite geographical isolation, almost all known ancient civilizations of the world were believers of “fertility cult”—every ancient civilization had elaborate rituals for celebration of “fertility cult”. With incursion of the Aryan tribes the face of Hinduism changed by forcible inclusion of many Aryan gods and goddesses into the pantheon of Hindu deities, further, to cope with the powerful sway of Buddhism Hinduism adopted Lord Buddha as the ninth Incarnation of God (Vishnu).

Similarly, the powerful wave of Christianity demolished all ancient Gods and Goddess of Romans, Greeks and Egyptians; the vanquished civilizations invariably adopted the new faith by coercion. The Spanish invasion had its telling impact on the faith of many countries of South American Continent.Thus, in the history of mankind the faiths of the people have undergone changes by the might of the sword; the world has always succumbed to the religion of the strong and the powerful. Before the advent of Christianity or Islam the whole world was practicing almost the same religion with striking similarities, subsequently debunked as paganism. Hinduism is the last vestige of the old world religion.

In the light of the above, perhaps Islam being the recent most structured religion of the world, the juggernaut of Islam is still rolling powerfully with the same fervor and zeal for the expansion of the doctrines of Islam. It is not very surprising. Even Christianity and Hinduism still have secret ambitions and missions to spread their doctrines, though their operative methods are conspicuously different from Islamic Jihad. Because of the medieval type of religious expansion modus operandi, Islam is looked with suspicion in the Western World based on current unfolding of events in the world, mostly owing to the names of the Muslims associated with terrorism and fanaticism. 

However, I am certainly not inclined to believe that Islam can be equated with anti-democracy, anti-human right, anti-freedom; or can be equated with terrorism, though many Islamic terrorist outfits are dastardly threats to the peace of the world. As such the tenets of Islam are not different from other religions in its humanitarian outlook and values, but the Islamic fundamentalists, who in my view unrepresentative of Islam are determined to Islamize the whole world or to exterminate the people of other faiths and religions from the face of the earth. This is absolute sinister design. People should refrain from religious fanaticism for the greater good of the humanity. The religions were formulated for social control at various epochs of human history and no religion worth its salt can profess anti-humanitarian doctrines. At the core, all religions are same and they aspire for grater good of mankind at large. The Islamic terror outfits and the nations promoting religions with the stamp of the sovereign are potentially ominous to the world peace and sustainability.    

The fanatics in all religions have their own agendas; and it would be preposterous to put all the believers of a faith in the same bracket owing to the act of some fanatics. Therefore, I would like to clarify here that all religious groups at some point in time have aggressively tried to propagate their religion. The Christian Missions in underdeveloped countries, Jihadis of Islam or the "Vishwa Hindu Parishad" of Hindus, cherishes the same fundamental objective to indoctrinate people in their respective religious philosophy. But Islamic Jihadis adopt violent strategies in the name of Islam with least regards for life, property and culture of innocent people; unambiguously, I denounce their machination against humanity at large. It is unfortunate but true. 

In many countries of the world that have not declared any state religion, people of different faiths live together without any distinction or discrimination. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the countries professing state religions are modern world’s “Racists”. They have the destruct potentials for regression of the humanity. For building a world of peace and amity the conscious and progressive world citizens must embrace "Secular Humanism" as the new religion and God in this context is to be redefined in reference to our scientific theory of the origin of the universe and He has to preside at a level where science fumbles for an answer. It is high time that the religious Creationist theories need to be discarded as obscurantic superstitions in the light of the scientific knowledge acquired by mankind.

If we reflect for a while objectively taking the scientific discoveries about the origin of the universe into consideration, any receptive mind will understand the frivolity of the religions and the lunacy behind all discords, strife, war, violence etc. in the name of the religion. Why cannot we say we are human beings-- tourists on this planet for a short while, and we can live like one family in perfect harmony and love; and we will, as conscious citizens of the world, discourage the politics of hatred as our avowed purpose. 

Coming back to the reference to the creation of the universe, and the place of God in “Secular Humanism”-- going by the scientific discoveries if the universe started with the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago, then the energy that exploded practically from a non dimensional point is the all permeating energy-- the Creator. He is the intelligence of the universe, the mind of the universe and is present everywhere with all of us. This sublime energy is connecting all of us together; then how can we be different from one another? How can we say that such and such religion is good or bad- as we all are the creations of that colorless, odorless, formless energy manifested in many forms-- one becoming many. 

For me the religion based on scientific theory of creation which has the potential to unite all of us, the children of the Mother Earth, by the same thread is "Secular Humanism". And the time has come for this religion to sustain mankind on this planet. Otherwise we cannot avert our self destruction owing to immense fragmentation we have made among ourselves. More and more people need to be conscious about it and propagate it with love and scientific temperament.

The best religion for mankind in the present day context is "Secular Humanism". Let us start the propagation of this new religion by professing "we are humans and have live like humans". Yes, the world is greatly fragmented over isms and religions. To my greatest surprise, even highly educated people are unable to come out of their bias and prejudices. 

“Secular Humanism” could look like rhetoric or impractical idealism. Social psychologists believe that people feel mere empowered and better identified in smaller groups; ‘Secular Humanism” will fail to ensure such identification and empowerment. Further, any group, or for that purpose any religion to bind its members together must have a commonality of goal or cause in the absence of which the group is likely to disintegrate. But the biggest commonality of purpose in the current scenario of the mankind is to uproot terrorism from its root, to ensure peaceful coexistence, to discard the religious dogmas, to relinquish the idea of God already being rendered untenable in the light of scientific discoveries.  
 
The conscious world citizens should try to invent more and more commonalities among the people of different nationality, culture, ethnic groups and religion to bind them together in uniform purpose and goal. The greatest commonality of purpose in the present context could be eradication of violence and hatred that pose grave danger to the survival of life on this planet.

THE GOD EVOLUTION

Human beings, of all creatures on earth, are most unsecured because of their higher level of consciousness than other animals. Well, animals do not pray God because they live naturally, die naturally and do not have many of human vices. A tiger does not compare itself with a horse either to feel superior or inferior. They do not go to schools to get grades, they do not go to office or place of occupation to earn their livelihood. The reason for saying all these is to emphasize on the point that our social transactions and complex psychological needs are the main reasons for our God reliance.

Further, our mental abilities have not evolved to the extent to unlock the mysteries of the universe and at some point we have to surrender for our ignorance and limitation-- from that point God takes over. Therefore, the concept and idea of God have changed and evolved with the changing times. The tribal people, living in forests all over the world, indulged in totem worship. These tribes when moved out of their habitats to distant regions for settlement worshiped the forces of nature, the mystery of which always baffled them. Thus sun, moon, ocean, wind, thunder trees etc were worshiped as God. The best example is the Aryan Gods which were imported into India and are still worshiped by the Hindus. Before the advent of Christianity and Islam the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Mayas had their own Gods and Goddesses. These Gods and Goddesses became obsolete with the new waves of religions. If God is Absolute how can He be subject to such successive changes in forms and contents from time to time?

As per the discoveries of astrophysics, the universe was created out of a "Big Bang" some 13.7 billion years age from a non-dimensional, almost non-existent point. And no one knows what energy was packed in that non-dimensional point to explode into the infinite universe. This point of singularity is the energy of the universe. This energy is what permeates the entire universe and all material non-material, living, non-living things in the universe are the manifestation of this energy only in different forms-- one becoming many This energy is colorless, odorless, formless but vibrant, creative, omnipotent and omnipresent. This energy has also defined the laws that govern the universe. To me this energy is the Creator, Contrary to the popular belief God does not have any form, he does not need to be worshiped.

When people say that they had the experience of God, or spirituality, they only refer to the experience of the higher state of energy latent in all of us, including the living and the non living creatures. As an example, a dried seed which is practically lifeless is packed with the potential of life and creativity in latent state. The whole history of the tree it represents and the indeterminable future of its species is encoded in it. When this seed under congenial conditions sprouts into manifested life from the unmanifested, it is the spiritual experience for the seed. Similarly, the energy that is packed inside us in latent form when gets awakened, either through conscious techniques or spontaneously, we call it spiritual experience or God experience. Therefore, I believe that no God exists in consonance with our conventional perception.

 I suspect that the staunch believers of conventional God will ask me-- who created that point of singularity from which all energy, all governing laws of the universe, all morphology have emerged? My question to them is-- if God created every thing, who created Him and the question will be extended to infinity.

For me God is that non-dimensional point of energy which exploded from unfathomable depth of the void and the entire creation unfolded. It is colorless, odorless, formless and beyond time and space, though is capable of creating time and space. I hope, I am not far from God nor shall be labeled as an atheist.    

LEADERSHIP DYNAMICS

The dynamics of leadership is a complex pattern and differs widely in reference to cultural and objective modules. All theories on leadership are pedantic approximation rather than objectively accurate. Leaders deal with innumerable individuals and each individual is a unique psychological profile by himself/herself. This subjective factor makes reductionist approach exceedingly difficult. Further, every leader is also motivated by his/her subjective perceptions, acculturation, education, belief system, training and motives. Hence, an organization under different leaders is led differently; and it is observed that despite poles apart difference in their leadership style the organization achieves its objective and growth with equal impetus.

Let me come back to the origin of leadership. In the primitive societies it was like a social contract between the group and the leaders, whereby the individuals of the group surrendered some of their personal liberties to be led and protected by the designated leaders; even sometimes the groups were formed by application of force by some strong and powerful people who designated themselves as the leaders of the group. Social anthropologists talk about the natural evolution of leadership with expansion of the members of the family. We may subscribe to any theory but the origin of leadership was based on force or power to control. This primitive characteristic of the leadership is still a very pronounced mechanism in the minds of the leaders. Therefore, in a democratic set up sometimes the leaders show propensity to overstep towards authoritarianism. Every democracy always runs the risk of caving in into autocracy with changing social circumstances.

Emotion is again a very complex psychological process and deeply subjective in character. Response to emotions vary widely from person to person-- whether a leader or a led. The basic instinctive emotions are biological, responding to the biological needs of the organism, whereas most of our other emotions, including love, are learnt emotions emulated through our socialization. Hence, the leader or the led will respond to each others emotions very differently and a group will respond to such emotions in as many ways as the number of members of the group.

In view of the above, I feel that the leadership role has to be time and objective specific in the matrix of which the leader has to decide what qualities from various available theories are to be adopted. All organizations have to have their own style of leadership to achieve the desired goal. Adherence to democratic model having subtle authoritarian traits with unflinching personal integrity and honesty would be, to my mind, the right attributes for effective leadership.    

SENSES SUBLIME

Our higher consciousness, often described as super conscious is like a pyramid structure spiralling upward from the base to the summit. Our body consciousness, awakening of the so called “serpent energy” (Kundalini) and final arrival at the summit of consciousness can be best described by this pyramid metaphor, as we move from the energy of the body to the energy of the pure consciousness—differently described by many gurus and motivational speakers as cosmic mind, cosmic intelligence, soul power etc.

 Some philosopher had said-“Man is a cow treed on earth”, a very significant statement for my topic here. 

The cow stands for our horizontal existence and the tree signifies the vertical. The horizontal existence is the base and the vertical is the progression to a higher level not losing the integration with the base. Like the structure of the pyramid, broad at the base and gradually narrows upward to a point at the peak. But the peak cannot be achieved without the base at the bottom.

The body consciousness is the strong edifice at the base; disintegration with this edifice, seldom leads to the consciousness at the peak. Many religious beliefs across the world have failed to recognise this foundation, resulting in serious incoherence in their professed religious path. As such, adherence to such disintegrating religious ideologies for thousands of years has resulted in serious psychological maladies in human beings: taboos, dogmas, inhibitions, perversion, violence, jealousy, discrimination, behavioural disorders and serious impairment of creative imagination. All major religions in the world have ignorantly sacrificed individuals for the sake of creating order in human society, by preaching distorted moralities, and building prison like social institutions, instead of harmony. They have failed to recognise that balancing the human body and mind with the purpose and rhythm of the Nature would spontaneously create order and moralities in the individual, as well as in the society without any intensive teaching of moral values. The world would have been a much orderly and harmonious place to live in had the mankind practised a natural religion since the dawn of its civilization, in place of embracing artificial religious dogmas and taboos imposed upon mankind at regular intervals.

We all have five senses—visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and gustatory. These senses along with our central nervous system register our existence in the universe. We can understand our world more intently by sharpening these sense organs—sharper the senses more meaningful and harmonious the universe around us, offering myriad possibilities in life. The idea of “mindfulness” or “awakening” is precisely the razor sharp state of the consciousness—that flows from the base at the bottom to the peak at the top unlocking all latent energy centres vertically arranged in the body—“treed on earth”. The awakening of latent consciousness locked inside our corporeal body was a matter of great interest in the Oriental mysticism associated with “Tantra” cult, as well as for the “Kabbalists” of Judaism. They believed, in opposition to the popular beliefs in the religions, that higher consciousness is a state of the mind which is achievable through asceticism and renunciation of the physical.    

In our various instinctive as well as day to day conscious activities, these sense organs play pivotal roles in experiencing our world-- sharper the sensory involvement, stronger the experience, and better the remembrance of such experiences. Experiences devoid of strong sensory perceptions fade away very fast and often distort and falsify the experience with negative impact. In real life situations, unfortunately, due to very complex psychological reasons, majority of us fail to experience the true nature of our person and often resort to self-deception by transacting with the world with near-dormant sensory perceptions. As a result of which, from cradle to grave we spend a life in slumber. The events, circumstances capsize us and we fail to hold the rein of our life and true potential; life, in fact, appears like a burden—unfulfilled and directionless.

Let me explain some psychological reasons that stand on our way to relate to the world with fully awakened senses: the belief system of every person is greatly borrowed from the socio cultural milieu, which includes family upbringing, character of the parents and guardians, religious precepts, economic background, education, peer factor, dogma, taboo etc. These unending numbers of factors incapacitate our naturally endowed awareness emanating from a pure and powerful sensory transaction with the world. 

For a better understanding of this idea let us take the example of a growing up infant. As soon as a child is born, it receives impression about the world with very alert sensory activities. It is interesting to note that what a child achieves in first three years of its life are no less than miracles. Imagine a child learning the language within first two years of its life—it picks up vocabularies, grammar, syntax, pronunciation etc. only through sensory impressions. The risk taking abilities of a child is another remarkable activity worth close observation.  A child endeavours to stand up and walk before it is one year old. This is the most dangerous risk a child takes at a very tender age because it involves the risk of fatal fall and injuries. It is very exciting to observe the first day a child successfully walks a few steps—the happiness, the innocent ecstatic expression on its face speak an indelible volume. What does it signify? If as innocent children we were prepared to take fatal risk to stand up on our two legs what drives us to languish in our comfort zone as adults?

The child works purely by its widely alert sensory receptors, and understanding of the body consciousness and knowledge in its pure form—a noble state of pure consciousness, devoid of any belief system. But as the child grows its purity and sharp sensory abilities decline by the influence of several extraneous factors as stated above and a strong belief system takes root in the process. It is believed by the psychologists that a major part of the personality formation in a child takes place between the ages of three to five.

When all senses in our body are wide awake with full sensory potential a few new sensory abilities arise, which are variedly described as sixth sense, psychic experience, precognition, intuition, clairvoyance etc. But as a matter of fact, they are only awakening of our body energy locked up within the realm of the physical. There are two different methods taught by the adept Master for awakening these latent potential—one very traditional school teaches the denial of the body and control of the senses, and the other school emphasises on understanding the power of the body and the natural utility of the senses being very positively engrossed with the body. The denial of the body is an aberration, negation of existence and wilful suppression of the self.    

For example, denial of body which is practised by many by long fasting, celibacy, conscious suppression of senses, lead to a delusory distortion of the consciousness which the practitioners often define as supernatural experience. It goes without saying that if a person consecutively fasts for a few days he will start hallucinating as a result of utterly diminishing sensory abilities. When the senses do not function properly, the physical body slowly collapses to the lowest level of perceptibility and the diminished brain functioning creates phantoms of hallucination in a desperate bid to revive the organism from termination. This state is also achieved by some people by consuming psychotropic drugs. Consumption of psychotropic substances obstructs proper functioning of the senses and a chaotic perception arises from such distortion, which is often misconstrued as invocation of paranormal or supernatural.

Our sensory faculties are used in different degrees for our different activities. For example, while seeing a beautiful flower in the garden our visual sense is predominantly active and to some extent the olfactory sense faculty reacts to the fragrance of the flower; if we touch the flower then the tactile faculty comes into operation. In most of our transaction with the outer world we do not use the resources of all five senses. The faculties that are sparingly used show the sign of debility over a period of time owing to their negligence. In order to arouse the latent potential of the super conscious, intense exercise of all the senses on a regular basis is needed. Super conscious, quite often than not, is described as a faculty beyond our physical embodiment. In reality super conscious is an intense realisation of the body energy through awakening of the full potential of the sensory power, not by their suppression or denial. Some philosophers in the past, particularly Lao Tzu had realised that alertness of the senses lead to the empowerment of body as well as mind—the loftiest empowerment of body- and- mind combination is known as super consciousness. The idea of “now and here”—the concept which is also used by many motivational writers and speakers, emphasizes on being intensely awake at every moment of life, participation with complete engrossment with all event, situation and activity of life; a conscious participation in the orchestra of life.

RESTITUTION OF THE FEMININE AND EXTINCTION OF MEN

In Nature’s scheme of things, male and female are complimentary to each other. This fact is observable in animal world where there is no conflict between male and female and they serve Nature’s purpose of propagation and preservation of species. In the context of propagation, the role of the female is much more important than the male. The male is only instrumental in procreation in a superficial way, participating in conjugation for seeding; whereas the role of the female is much more significant and complex. She participates in the entire creative process of the Nature in formation and development of the species; added to that her role in nurturing the new born is equally pivotal for the preservation of the species. Therefore, the biological construction of male and female is seminally very different to suit their role models. It is Nature’s implied doctrine that the best shall proliferate for evolution of species to higher and higher levels in evolutionary ladder. As a matter of fact, there is undefined mental magnetism which both male and female share in equal degree in their attraction towards the opposite sex--- invariably, every male is attracted towards the beauty, youthfulness and attractive disposition of the female, and similarly the female’s attraction is towards the masculine attributes of the male. Uncannily and unconsciously, this magnetism works conflicting with the disorder created by any superimposition. Let me clarify here that in human male and female equation the entropy is the society and the social norms superimposed upon the members in contradiction to the purposive instinct endowed by the Nature.

Now the question arises that within this harmonious procreative law of Nature, how does the dysfunctional discord in male and female equation set in? What are the causes leading to the degeneration of women’s right to dignity and equality all over the world?

To my understanding, there is a significant historical perspective to this subjugation of women in the society. Gender inequality has perverted historical reasons. Women, in different degrees, have been victims of this all over the world. This ceaseless violence has not stopped till today, though we are boastful of our material and technological advancement. The strong hold of patriarchal mind set is yet to loosen its hold on human society.

In the ancient agrarian societies men and women lived in harmony with distinct division of labour. The recent archaeological discoveries in Europe stretch back the antiquity of such societies to 7000 BC as against our earlier understanding at 4000 BC. It is an intriguing fact that suddenly world witnessed the emergence of many new models of civilizations emerging almost contemporaneously at various parts of the world with marginal differences in their antiquity. Some such old civilizations are: Egyptian, Sumerians, Babylonians, and Indus Valley civilization, to name a few. Interestingly, all these civilizations worshiped feminine power and the fertility cult associated with it. The Nature was personified as feminine and worshiped as Mother Earth--Gaia.

Then came the invaders; those who became instrumental in demolishing these peaceful civilizations and ushering in violence in the society as the means of survival. The typical example is the advent of the Aryans-- a pastoral and nomadic people. These people were warriors and their engagement in war and territorial expansion established the patriarchal model of societies, consequently women lost their position to male warriors. At this early stage of civilization, the woman’s body was also treated like man’s territorial right for exploitation, drawing mental imagery of violence and subjugation of the weak in war and territorial expansion. Men carry these collective memories of superiority for thousands of years, from their god like glories in war and strife; which subconsciously deter them from accepting women as their equals, though, in many respect women are undeniably superior to men.

These war mongering ancient tribes—Aryans and others, established a social order with underlying violence—in other words physical might is right—as the mainstay of survival. Ironically, this idea penetrated so deep into the social order that despite some pioneering efforts by social reformers, religious preachers, spiritual leaders, this mind set could not be obliterated.  And in post-mediaeval period this expression reached its culmination in Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” and Karl Marx’s “dialectical materialism” and “class struggle”—modelled after the implicit dynamics of violence as the cornerstone of the societal existence. Women, obviously, lost out in this race of violence. A few centuries before Darwin and Marx, even the great thinkers and writers like Francis Bacon and Shakespeare were vocal about the inferiority of women.

It may appear a little presumptuous; but undeniably men are biologically more unsecured than the females for a very complex psychological reason—as paternity is a sheer introduction as against the certainty attached to maternity. This makes men more unsecured, suspicious and jealous in their sexual behaviour; though apparently it appears otherwise in a male dominated society awarding more sexual freedom to men over women.

It is interesting to observe that since ancient time chastity of woman has been overemphasised almost in all societies, which stems unambiguously from man’s perceived sexual insecurity or more significantly (individual) irrelevance, which I have described towards the end of this article. The Romans, Greeks, Arabian tribes, Indians in the ancient world had laid down the cannons of chastity for women, failing which they were subjected to inhuman torture and even honour killings. Unfortunately, though reduced in number, honour killing is still prevalent in many regressive societies of the world. In India the “Sati” and child marriage were widely practised in Hindu tradition and even in recent times some groups glorify these traditions and resort to honour killings for deviant behaviour, despite stringent laws prohibiting these practices. In the tradition of “Sati” women were not even supposed to see the shadow of another man other than their husbands. On the death of her husband, the woman was thrown into the funeral pyre of her husband alive as a very pious ritual. The Hindus in India are neurotic about woman’s chastity till today, though many women have proven their calibre in all walks of the society, yet the idea of “Sati” lingers on. There are certain rituals welded to religious ceremonies to impress upon the feminine folk about the value of chastity and for acceptance of the husbands as the Lord of their lives for seven incarnations. From this perception of a patrilineal system many concomitant evils have originated, the list of which can be very long indeed. Bride burning, sacrificing female child; and in some section of educated modern society aborting female foetus on determination of sex is not very uncommon.

The most shocking discrimination against females in Hindu society was the tradition of “Devdasi”—literally meaning the servant of the God. The poor parents, mostly from low caste Hindus, in honour of the God, offered their daughters to the temples as a sacrosanct religious offering. These girls, on reaching their biological maturity for sexual intercourse were incessantly abused sexually by men. Strangely, in the name of God prostitution was encouraged in the temples. Many ancient Indian temples had podiums for dance where these “Devdasis” were required to perform erotic dances for amorous amusement of the male gentry. Even in present day India this practice is perpetuated in some parts—though illegally.     

The story of the women in Islamic world is no better. Let me make an exception here that contrary to the popular belief about the discriminating Islamic law against women, the Quran is more protective and progressive in its tenet about the rights of the women. Unfortunately, the misinterpretation of the Islamic tenets, and regression of the Islamic culture to the pre-Islamic Arabic tribal culture have resulted in fettering of women in all respect. Prophet Muhammad was very progressive in his outlook for the women’s right some fifteen centuries ago. Before the advent of Islam the conditions of women were deplorably pathetic in Arab society; they were treated like domesticated animals or at best as properties of their husbands. The role of the woman was to satisfy the oppressive lust of the man and to produce children—particularly male children to suit the warrior archetype. No doubt Prophet Muhammad made some positive changes in the condition of the women by instituting rights to property, inheritance, protection, education etc. But this did not give equal status to women to any considerable degree. The men still remained the protectors and the women were required to be devoutly obedient to their husbands, thereby making them slaves to their male overlords. For proliferation of the clan and to build protective male forces for the tribe, men married many women at the same time to the agonising discrimination of women. After Prophet Muhammad the practices again relapsed to the pre-Islamic era. Even today the women under Islamic culture have very little semblance of equality with men. Compared to the women in the Western world the atrocity against women in Islamic nations is disproportionately high. Even the right to life of woman is definable on the basis of her conduct and obedience to many archaic traditions.                          

In the Western world, the pre-Christian time was no better for the women in any respect than in the other parts of the globe. As I have already mentioned, the Romans and the Greeks were extremely discriminatory about women like their Indian or Arabic counterparts. In ancient Rome and Greece, chastity of woman was equally emphasised for similar reason linked to assertion of biological paternity. The pre-Christian world also was decidedly patriarchal. Though, these two ancient civilizations are renowned for learning and intellectual activities, yet war and strife were not uncommon to their cultures, resultantly the proverbial warriors were dominant in the social milieu.  The preponderance of male warriors had its emphasis on brawn and force. The men emerged as the protectors of the society.

It is generally believed that like Prophet Muhammad, Jesus was equally sympathetic to the cause of the women. The scholars who subscribe to this view make reference to an issue of adultery resolved by Jesus in favour of a woman (Gospel of John) whose life was in danger. Even it is argued that there were many women in the inner circle of Jesus. Reverence for Virgin Mary in Catholic tradition is seen as reverence for women in general. However, in Palestine of those days the status of women was deplorably low and Jesus’ kindness for women was never received with any sympathy.

Christianity emerged from the strongly entrenched tradition of Judaism, which again was a staunch patriarchal society putting man in the position of authority; as a result, the advent of Christianity could not make any dent on the discriminatory practices against women. The male chauvinists interpreted Biblical tenets with emphasis on divine wish associated with male superiority. God first created Adam, and Eve was created out of the ribs of Adam; hence man is a creation of God and woman is a creation of man. Not being a direct creation of God woman is imperfect in the divine scheme of things. Further, in the Garden of Eden it was Eve who coaxed Adam to eat the forbidden fruit of knowledge and was responsible for perpetrating the Original Sin and the fall of mankind from the Garden of Eden. So the advancement of Christianity did not make any perceptible change to the position of women in society. There are many other verses in Bible which support the idea that women should be submissive to men, cover their head—a tradition strikingly similar to the Islamic tradition of ‘hijab’ and Hindu tradition of “pallu”—the effort to veil women from the sight of other men—a distinct male insecurity in the game of sexuality. Like other religions, Christianity also assigned the role of bearing children to their women for ridding themselves from the burden of the Original Sin.

No doubt that in the history of every religious and cultural groups some women had rose to the position of remarkable eminence in various walks of life. These stray instances are quoted by the orthodox analysts to deny discriminatory treatment meted out to women all over the recorded history.        

The world witnessed the upsurge of feminist movements in the middle of the nineteenth century and gaining momentum in the early and later part of the twentieth century. However, its intensity and agendas varied from nation to nation, from cultural group to cultural group. The Governments of many countries passed legislations to provide political, social and legal equalities to women. Under the sway of this movement the US and Britain granted women’s suffrage rights in 1920s. The feminists struggled to address to issues such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, inequality in employment and remuneration etc. including changes in male centric vocabularies. The impact of this movement is appreciably visible in the Western world, with gradually women outnumbering men in many fields. But the movements in Asia, Africa and Middle East have still remained woefully sluggish; women’s social position has not come up to any considerable level of equality with men. The atrocity on women is distressingly pronounced in these societies in various degrees.

The inhuman act of mutilation of female genital, honour killing, gender bias at workplace, domestic violence, male authority in family circle etc are very much in presence across theses countries and cultures. In stark contrast to the feminist ideology in the West and other parts of the world, the feminist movements in the Islamic nations demand rights of women by appropriate interpretation of Quran and Islamic teachings, which in the opinion of the feminist leaders have been lopsided and male centric over the centuries; so the equality of women in the Islamic world has not evolved beyond Islamic personal law. Mysteriously, the voice of this movement is more subdued than radical in the Islamic world; may be because of certain rights enjoyed by women in Muslim societies since long—such as consent in marriage, divorce and remarriage, accumulate and administer personal property etc. From a different angle, the cause for this passive feminist movement can be ascribed to the rigidity of the social fabric where the voice of dissent is viewed mercilessly. To my mind, the latter is more plausible.

To conclude, I am tempted to describe a futuristic idea that comes to my mind, particularly based on the success of the feminist movement in the Western world; and I am convinced that the countries, cultural and religious groups who are falling behind now will certainly match up to the success story of the Western world maybe a little later in time, and the dominance of women instead of equality will be a universal scenario.

A world order dominated by women and with the progress in science and technology men will be rendered useless by losing their position as protectors, bread earners and warriors—a complete marginalisation of masculine strength and brawn. Under the circumstances the women may not need men for their sexual satisfaction, which will be taken care of by artificial machines, maybe more effectively. As regards man’s role in procreation, the artificial insemination can be a viable alternative, which will further emancipate women in their reproductive role—no abortion, no compulsion, no unwanted pregnancy, no domestic violence, no overpopulation on earth. Through genetic modification the women can even have designer children of their choice, preferably female children—a complete feminine takeover.

Where will the men go? Will they be extinct owing to their redundancy? 

   

THE NEW WAVE

We have been hearing about the "New Age" thinking, and the worldview of the human race across the globe is shifting. The old mechanistic view of the Universe, which ruled the thought process of mankind for over two centuries, is fast crumbling down. The physicists from eighteenth century onward expressed their unflinching confidence to explain the universe through the laws of physics and the thought process of the world was dominated by the scientific rationalism pushing out the old world wisdom of philosophy, metaphysics, religious mysticism to the back ground.

Any period in history is dominated by its thought leaders and the trend of thoughts manifests itself in various aspects of life of that epoch. The mechanistic rationalism of science resulted in rising materialism in society and its concomitant evil of greed, decadence of moral and ethical values of the society. The corruption we talk about so vociferously is a by product of the dominant thought trend of this period. But these thought trends of the past are changing decisively and new thoughts waves are progressively percolating into social consciousness. To quote a few examples to elaborate this-- the dominant thought movers, up to, and of the twentieth century-- Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, Descartes, even Newton have lost their relevance against the emerging "New Age" thinking.

The change is very palpable but at the same time very chaotic. On the positive direction, mankind has become very conscious about the protection of the ecology and the environment-- a clear departure from the mindless exploitation of Nature for industrial advancement. The patriarchal concept of gender inequality, putting women subservient to men has been replaced by the acceptance of feminine as the symbol of Nature-- eco-feminism. The concept of the Universe as a mechanical system has been substituted by Universe as an information system and Earth as a living entity. The certainty principles of science have been overshadowed by the probabilistic tenet of quantum mechanics. The intriguing DNA mystery is a definite blow to the long-cherished anthropomorphic view of mankind. The new Creationist theory putting the handiwork of an intelligent designer at the centre stage has already posed formidable challenge to the established evolutionary theory. The decline of the yesteryear superpowers is a body blow to the political and economic equation of the world. Added to these, the empowerment of the terrorist groups, the nuclear ambitions of some fundamentalists, failed and rogue nations are disturbing trends for the peace and security of the world. Even the futurists fear that the hyper-intelligent Robots will subjugate human beings in a few decades.

We are living in a world in transition; it is not easy for the world order to stabilize smoothly embracing the new thoughts, ideas, and changes and to overcome the menace of terrorism, nuclear warfare without paying the price for these widespread changes. At no period in human history the transition was such multidimensional.

All forms of governance and economic isms look deficient in application for the emerging “New Age”. No leader can lead effectively without imbibing the new wave of thoughts and the leadership crisis will sweep the world under its feet. The current level of leadership will lead the world to agonising chaos and anarchy. Maybe a new race of leadership with strong spiritual wisdom will emerge to lead mankind in the right direction.