Man today: The imperative need to be truly human
Thoughts & Reflections
We need to multiply the steps to man. So that we may go beyond and eradicate the evil that is destroying the world
By Dr R Neerunjun Gopee
With all the wars and threats to war that the world is witnessing today, along with the daily doses of conflicts, crimes and violence that fill media headlines daily, no rational person will deny that there is an urgent need for man to humanize himself so that peace prevails. For that, we need a change of mindset based on a better understanding of ourselves as being not separate but part of nature. This implies that we should live both guided by her laws, and also uplift ourselves by transcending them where possible.
Scientists have been in the forefront of the search for the secrets and laws of nature. For example, they are sending more and more sophisticated telescopes into space to take a ‘peep’ at what is happening at the outer reaches of the universe. The idea is to try and figure out how the universe has come about, that is, the origin of the stars, planets, asteroids and other meteors that fly about in the big void that is space. Much of that void, according to scientists, is filled with something called ‘dark matter’, a kind of special energy that accounts for some of the unexplainable phenomena observed by astronomers. In fact, it is believed that dark energy possibly makes up for most of the universe.
A related issue is about man. Where did we come from? I am reminded here of a story I read in an old Readers’ Digest. There was this little schoolgirl who was doing her homework one night, writing an essay entitled ‘My family’. She asked her father (who was not watching TV, as there was none in those days when fathers and mothers spent more time with their children), ‘Daddy, where did I come from?’
‘A stork brought you,’ answered the father.
‘And where did you come from?’ asked again the daughter.
‘Oh,’ replied Daddy, ‘a bigger stork brought me’.
‘And what about Grandma, who brought her’?
‘Father Christmas, in his sledge.’
The girl completed her essay, kissed her dad goodnight and went to bed. Before he turned in himself, dad went over to have a look at the exercise book left open on the writing table. This is what he read: ‘As far as I have been able to ascertain, there has been no sex in this family for the past three generations.’
And that was in the days before AIDS had burst on the world stage!Read More… Become a Subscriber
Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 13 December 2024
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