Modernity and morality

While reading a book titled Developing Management Skills, I got hold of an interesting and thought-provoking write-up on the paradoxical nature of modern world written by Dr Bob Moorehead. I reproduce it for readers to reflect on it for the sake of resolving the tacit conflict that goes on between human nature and material progress. One should, however, not conclude from the reading that modernity can or should be stopped or the tension can ever be easily resolved. The purpose here is to have a deeper understanding of what we do and why we do it. Jumping to the bandwagon, following some fashions and fads, and doing something efficiently without considering the long-term consequences might cause irreparable damage to the very meaning of who we are!

Dr Bob writes, “The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways but narrower viewpoints. We spend more but have less; we buy more but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences but less time. We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more experts but more problems; more medicine but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much and pray too seldom.

“We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We have learned how to make a living but not a life; we have added years to life but not life to years. We have been all the way to moon and back but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour. We have conquered outer space but not inner space. We have done larger things but not better things. We have cleaned up the air but polluted the soul. We have split the atom but not our prejudice. We write more but learn less.

“We plan more but accomplish less. We have learned to rush but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever but have less communication. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men and short character; steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace and domestic warfare; more leisure but less fun; more kinds of food but less nutrition. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, of fancier houses but broken homes. These are the days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill. It is time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom.”

The above lines show that something important is missing from the equation of human life and that to me is maintaining a ‘balance’ between material progress and relationships, between modernity and morality, between continuity and change. The suffering of humanity today is due to ‘alienation’ from self and from others! Building sustainable relationships require reviving values such as freedom, dignity, trust, love and honesty through cultural transformation. Technological progress without ethical moorings is bound to bring catastrophe to humanity as it did when atomic energy was discovered.

Evil in the form of greed for power and property, which manifests itself in the form of hubris and arrogance, creates bigger and contagious problems in the world. If not cured with antibiotics of reason and spirituality, the evil within the human heart leads to wars and violence. Human suffering then becomes a natural phenomenon, with everyone focusing on his/her individual wellbeing. Instead of thinking of all of humanity as one extended family, and planet earth as a shared treasure, everyone tends to seek refuge in the restricted borders of nation states and turn to dogma for salvation during times of crises. We are, unfortunately, living in an era where, according to Martin Luther King Jr, we have guided missiles but unguided human beings.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th , 2023.

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