Religion as a reason for conflict |
Curiousity makes us open to fresh ideas and is the pathway to personal and societal growth. In nature's 'chaos' it is known as the open loop. Growth and change happens when you have an open loop which receives and gives feedback from/to the wider world. So you have a great asset in curiousity. Children have it in abundance and then we get hit by life's battles and become cynical creatures. Being in the money business , I see the very practical side of life. I try to balance this with a bit of curiousity and idealism. There is a difference with the idealism of youth.This is not the jump into the unknown. This idealism is based on the bedrock and knowledge of cold reality and experience. Also, knowledge that unless society has idealism ( dreams) , we are in danger of becoming very rigid and stop evolving as individuals and society. In my day to day working world , I see a lot of problems , things don't seem to work as we want it to. Power battles go on. People loose jobs. Good people get sidetracked. There is sexual harrassment.Some seemingly harrassed take advantage for personal gains. Rewards go to the less deserving . The most creative suffer the most.The list goes on and on. But if we confine ourselves to this day to day reality and do not free our thoughts, then we atrophy. You will ultimately be what you ' think '. In the midst of all this , there are a large silent majority of good human beings who try in their own little ways to make life a better place within their own capacities. Learning about different cultures and ways of living gives us a good perspective on how we ourselves live.The diversity is immense and beautiful( yes we need to know the differences but focus on similarities).Our distrust of others comes from them being 'different'. There is a lot to learn from other cultures and countries. I have learnt 'humility'. One learns also to identify and control arrogance. But one of the similarities is that of anger. What is the result of anger when it turns to violence and mass death? What are the causes of this anger? Very complex issues these. Most of these issues are judged through a position of rigidity and set views and we have seen the danger. My compliments on your curiousity , open mindeness and thinking. Bhaskar |