O U R
H E R I T A G E
- Nuclear fusion reactors to meet our energy demand
- Power generation based on solar energy using photo voltaic cells, to meet a substantial percentage of our power requirement,
- Self guiding and atomic or solar powered automobiles and other locomotion devices to meet our transport requirements,
- Solar energy farms to produce food through photosynthesis,
- Marine farms in the shallow seas to augment our food production,
- Weather dams to change or modify the
climate,
- Robot mining vehicles to go deep under
the seas and even deep under the earth's crust,
- Simple desalination techniques to meet our drinking water requirement,
- Genetic engineering techniques to correct congenital defects,
- An effective, morally and socially acceptable and unobtrusive population control technique,
- Bio-medical engineering and bio-chemical techniques to treat all ailments and eradicate epidemics and so on.
The challenge
that the human race faces today is this - are we capable of throwing away all
our prejudices and intolerance and
consider humanity as one, irrespective of differences based on race , religion, political affiliation
and such other forces that divide us and
work towards the aim of establishing an international order based on justice and
equitable distribution of wealth and
political power among and within nations of the
world. This alone will enable us to convert the potentiality, to which Toynbee
referred, into a reality. To enable us to do so, we need to understand the
dynamics of human social order through the last 6000 years. In other words we
have to go through the story of mankind , analyse and find
out what really can make man
adopt a posture of love rather
than hate, of compassion
and moderation as
against cruelty and intolerance, of peace and amity as against war and crime. "As long as war
is regarded as wicked, it will
always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will
cease to be popular." These are the
words of Oscar Wilde. How True? Armies
march on the hope of a victors' recompense - riches, honours, new territory, a better life for himself and
his dear and near in a future peaceful
country. Take away this hope and it may prove to be difficult to make the
armies march. The League of Nations, an
organisation conceived and created in 1919, to bring peace among nations and
peoples, was soon repudiated by the
very persons who
initiated it, lived
a precarious existence and grew up to be a weak
and emaciated creature. Too feeble
to make its existence felt, it had only a very short life
and it became part of
an almost forgotten history. The United Nations, which came into existence
in 1945 after the second world war , has
the objectives of preserving peace and security among nations
and of amicable settlement and fruitful
handling of international economic, social and
cultural problems faced by humanity. The U.N. having a difficult
existence in the midst of nations not
yet reconciled to living in total peace and amity, has a far better record than its predecessor. The U.N., in spite of all the
obstacles and pitfalls in its functioning, may prove to be an institution
worthy of being nurtured as part of man's desire to build a world without
war. The very existence of U.N. is a reminder of the fact that man is
progressing towards a composite culture
of love and compassion. In fact, in the long history of
evolution from the single cell organism to
the complex man, evolution of man, his
brain, his civilization and
culture is taking very rapid strides towards the cherished goal - a peaceful,
comfortable, egalitarian social order.
Yet, we have to be cautious that we keep ahead in the race against natural as well as man-made
catastrophes. Are we capable of winning this race - this is the challenge
before us.
We know that
from a biological point of view humans are basically one. All human populations
can and do interbreed with one another and produce fertile offspring. An
adopted infant, irrespective of the race of his biological parents, will
acquire the language and culture of the foster parents. In fact the
similarities of human biology are vastly more
massive than the
differences between different races. On the other hand, there exist wide
variations in the cultural patterns among and within nations and peoples. While Philosophers have worked
hard to evolve many value systems, our Prophets and religious leaders taught us
ethical values and gave us moral
codes. Perhaps as a result, in spite of great divergence, there are
certain discernable common traits in our
cultural heritage. All cultures have marriage regulations, tools, music, art,
shelter, ornaments, and
the like. No
culture tolerates indiscriminate lying, stealing or violence within the group. A further synthesis of these value
systems and moral codes within well
defined standards acceptable to
all humanity and incorporation of
these into our
political and social organisations on the world level seem
necessary and inevitable. Whereas major
evolutionary advance in the biological sector appears to have reached its
limit, the psycho-social sector in the evolutionary process
is in an extremely early phase
and offers enormous possibilities. Will this psycho-social phase of
evolution lead us to a single unitary pool of knowledge and ideas Will this
phase of evolution lead us to an ideological convergence without having to loose our cultural richness
and diversity? Will this phase of
evolution lead us to a social order wherein we can realise the cherished goal
enshrined in the every day prayer
of the Hindu, " Sarve
sukhino bhavanthu - meaning, let every one be happy". Today, as we step into the twenty first
century, when astronauts and cosmonauts are able to encircle the entire planet
in a
few hours, and when news about
all types of events pour into our drawing rooms almost as it happens from
all over the globe, a closer look into
the circumstances that led us along and
brought us to the present state of our civilization
seems of great interest. A fuller understanding of the
intrinsic value of our heritage will
help us to more efficiently plan our
present as well as our future.
Fortunately for us, even though authentic history of our past recorded by our
forefathers relates only to a comparatively recent past, scientists in various
disciplines - geology; archaeology;
anthropology; palaeontology and
biology - through their co-ordinated
effort have helped to extend
our knowledge to the beginning of
civilization. The first major event on
this Earth, as far as we are concerned, occurred when life originated on Earth out of inorganic matter
about three billion years ago.
However, if we refer to civilization as the point when man started to look beyond the purely animal
level, we can trace the beginning of
civilization in its rudimentary form to almost
600,000 years back. A more serious and wider departure from
the animal began
when the emphasis
of the evolutionary process seems
to have shifted to the brain rather than the physical form. This happened about 35000
years ago, when, in the modern sense, " the thinking human being"
came into existence. However anything that could be termed as a composite
culture, consisting of tools, clothing,
ornaments, social organisations and institutions, language, art,
religious beliefs and practices, concept of rights and wrongs started
only much later, around 7000 years back. A concise, but near graphic
description of the evolutionary process starting from the beginning of life to
the present stage is given in the ‘Our Earth’
by this author. A repetition of the same
is considered unnecessary. Nevertheless, to understand and appreciate the
cultural plane on which we now stand and
to evaluate the heritage that is passed on to us by our forefathers we should
have a holistic concept of the value systems and the intrinsic character of the divergent cultures of men
placed in different places and
situations. This volume is an attempt in this direction.
We are stepping
into the twenty first century, with entirely new experiences and understanding
about the world and the environment in which we are placed. When, Copernicus
told us that the Earth on which we live is a globe, unsupported in space, in
continuous motion, we could not believe
it. Nevertheless, we, on the basis of logic
and experimentation accepted
the fact. Yet, this understanding, though factual was
not immediately perceivable by our sense
elements. However, when the first astronauts stepped out onto the sandy surface
of the Moon, a new understanding and
realisation emerged. The men, who voyaged from Earth, could see the globe
just as Copernicus
predicted; could take photographs of the globe, and could watch it turn around.
The virtual fact immediately became equally a virtual reality which it was not till then. Our understanding
and perspective of the globe as one
underwent a qualitative change. The concept of the global culture which
hitherto was just a hypothesis and a
dream became part of an imminent
reality - globalisation emerged the ultimate goal to work for. Equally, we
have become more conscious of the fact that we by our behaviour is constantly
changing the face of the Earth. Our
quest in search of more comfort and the process of subjugating
nature and making
it work for us
have been recognised as accompanied by
dangerous side effects potential enough to threaten the very existence of
the human race. Will these
processes make the globe uninhabitable; too many people; too much carbon
dioxide; too many chemicals in the soil,
air and water; holes in the protective
ozone layer? Manmade modern weapons, nuclear, biological
and chemical add to the list. The risk of extinction of the human race is no
more a hypothesis- it could become a
reality in the not so distant a future. But then,
can we allow
this drift? Should we not to effectively
intervene and see that the catastrophe is avoided? It is in
this context
that a closer
understanding of the
clash of civilizations, as
characterised by the
American political scientist Samuel Huntington
becomes of importance.
Are we destined to move
along the lines of
globalisation and the impending clashes between
sovereign states; or along cleavages between major religions
of the world;
or along political divisions based on ideologies such as democracy, communism and authoritarianism;
or along economic factors and the fight of a few against others to
safeguard their privileged
existence of prosperity? These questions can be answered only by the
efflux of time. However, we can almost
be sure that the pace of globalisation will soon break down the barriers
erected by nation states. Man's struggle, wherever it is, and in whatever form
it takes place, will have global ramifications. The future course of
civilization will be global in character and the evolution of a global culture
is in the kettle. The global culture ahead of us will neither be based on pure capitalism as visualised by the
American Society nor will it be totally controlled by
authoritarian centres as being visualised by
certain political and
fundamentalist groups. The road to prosperity, comfort and happiness is always
hard. However, the heritage that the twenty first century is blessed with, offers much to build on. The world of
opportunities that the emerging global
society and culture
offer can be capitalised, provided future generations
learn from the past.
