Every horizon is an answer; and it holds good until we reach its peak. Every answer elevates us enough to see new answers.
Saji P Mathew OFM
The one who had a past will own a future. The dead ceases to have a present distinct from the past. Having an ex (‘ex’ as in ex girl/boy friend) means that we have a changed present. Shouldn't there be an ex for our perspectives, thinking, doing, and life. Spirituality calls it the former self. In short, being open to change will save us from perishing in the past.
Let me begin with a life lesson from Albert Einstein. It was the final exam of the course Einstein was teaching in the University. His assistant finished distributing the question papers to the students, only then did he realise that these were the same questions Einstein had asked the same class the year before. As soon as he noticed the mistake he rushed to the professor’s chamber and made it known to him. Einstein looking closer at the already distributed question papers and told the assistant: “You’re right, these are the same questions as last year -but, the answers have changed.” The questions may be the same, but our answers must change; that is a survival tool.
Yuval Noah Harari, the author of Sapiens in his Talk at Google categorically says that nobody knows what the world would look like in 2050; but what we do know is that it would be very different from what it is today. He continues to say that humans will need to reinvent themselves repeatedly to survive. Future is all about change. Harari brings to our attention that if traditionally people built stone houses with very deep foundations now it makes more sense to build tents that you can fold and move elsewhere. We don't know where we have to move, but we have to move. In the case of literal houses it is easily understood; but it is true even of our own ideologies, beliefs, and identities.
Nothing is permanent. Things are in constant change. What we need to build up is psychological capabilities. Therefore what Harari suggests for our future is to equip us with emotional intelligence and mental stability, primarily to face changes.
The unknown is bigger than the known
What we know about our universe and ourselves is only a speck. Modern space exploration, scientific research, and psychological investigations are finding new truths. It is interesting to note that a US House committee is set to hold open congressional hearing about unidentified flying objects (UFOs) for the first time in modern history. The journey seems to have just begun.
Seeing the young Nikita looking out through the window the teacher stopped the class and asked her, “Nikita, what are you looking at?” Nikita was caught unaware. Nikita thinking out a quick answer blurted out, “Teacher, I am looking at the horizon.” The teacher again asked her, “Looking at the horizon? What do you see on the horizon?” “When I look at the horizon” taking a little time to think answered Nikita, “I see the horizon.” Seeing the mischief in her answer, all in the class had a hearty laugh.
The experienced teacher did not give up. She asked Nikita again, “Do you know that one day you can reach that horizon?” Students stopped laughing, the class fell silent. Nikita, and her colleagues in class, never thought of that possibility, she became interested and grew curious. She asked the teacher, “When I reach the horizon what would I see?” “When you reach the horizon”, said the teacher with a pause, “you will see other horizons.” Nikita’s face brightened up in disbelief and curiosity. The class, being seated in that tiny classroom, now knew that the unknown is bigger than the known. In line with the thoughts of Caroline Kettlewell, the author of Skin Game, some would cling pitifully to the shelter of the known because the unknown expands infinitely and unsettlingly outward. But people like MalalaYousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education, who stood valiantly and heroically against the Taliban has educated us that “one child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.” Every horizon is an answer; and it holds good for a while. It pulls us up; it motivates us until we reach its peak. Every answer elevates us enough to see new answers.
Cooperate with the unknown, the unfamiliar
What misleads us the most is the obvious, the certain. Humanity had once believed that the earth is flat, that the earth is the centre of the universe as obvious truths. Today we know that we live in an ever-growing universe, simply expanding at all points; our universe has no centre.
Seventy thousand yeas ago, our ancestors were insignificant and unimportant animals. Their impact on the world was not much greater than that of jellyfish, fireflies or woodpeckers, says Yuval Noah Harari. How did we come from there to here to the position of being the major player in controlling the affairs of the planet, and the other animals did not? Harari places the credit on human capacity to cooperate flexibly and in very large numbers. The bees and others who cooperate in big numbers are not flexible, they can’t handle a new crisis; they can only repeat what they were always doing.
Wolves, chimpanzees, etc. who are flexible to an extent can’t cooperate in big numbers. They cooperation is based on intimate knowledge of the other; if they are not familiar they tear them apart. Harari goes on to add another important human factor for cooperation –human capacity for creating and believing in fictional stories.
We came so far, conquering all sorts of forces, because of our capacity for cooperation; and our future will depend on our willingness to trust, believe and cooperate with people who are unknown and unfamiliar; and in a flexible way.
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