A view from everywhere!

It is a well-established fact in the world of science that the Universe came into existence approximately 13.8 billion years ago. The sun at the centre of our solar system is almost 4.6 billion years old; and the earth, according to same calculation, is 4.5 billion old. The earliest life, a precursor of all life forms to come subsequently on the planet earth, emerged around 3.7 billion years ago. The mammalian branch of life which humans are part of emerged around two hundred million years ago. Leaving all other intermediary evolutionary stages leading to humans on the side, humans emerged on the scene around 300,000 years ago in Africa. We humans have spent 96% of our time on earth as hunters, scavengers and gatherers. The agricultural and associated herding revolution began 12,000 years ago and its by-product in the form of civilisation is only 5,500 years' old.

Since the age of industrialisation started in the 17th century, the pace of change in every sphere of social, cultural and economic life related to human activity has accelerated beyond imagination. Our journey from crude old stone technology to present day age of space exploration and AI has been spectacular in every sense of the word. On the social front we have evolved from living in small bands of a few dozen people to living in a well-connected globalised society. Our collective knowledge about the world we live in and our relevant place in it has undergone radical transformation in the last few hundred years. We have come a long way from our humble beginnings of being a helpless prey on the grasslands of African Savanah to the most transformative and sophisticated species in the history of earth. Looking back at human history in its entirety in light of established scientific understanding and facts, one cannot help but feel awe and wonder over what we have endured and achieved during our brief but eventful presence on the planet earth.

The above summary of major cosmic and life evolution events over the last 13.8 billion years gives one a sensual euphoria in terms of looking back at all of this in the eye of one's mind. It provides us with a unique perspective of how we look at ourselves and our place in the world. One learns to look at things in a new way independent of our respective cultural, philosophical and religious orientation and prejudices. There is a majesty in every view one comes across looking at nature in general during the course of our respective lives. The apparent social, cultural and religious differences we humans make use of to prove our sense of pride and uniqueness in comparison with others mean nothing at all in the larger scheme of things.

Our respective narrow historical view of looking at things is at the root of all the troubles facing the human race both in past and present. A cursory look at the news of the day as reported both in local and international media is enough to show us who we really are and what hollow and ridiculous ideas we believe in. The reports of futile wars, hunger, displacement, unnecessary suffering, ignorance, exploitation of humans by humans along social and economic factors, ever increasing gap between the rich and poor and ever growing polarisation are every moment affair in the drama of human life played every moment. Leaving aside our ill treatment of fellow human beings, we have, through our actions, put the very future of all life on the planet earth at stake. Nature seems to have created us as a self-destructive organism.

We have so far made the wrong use of our unique natural gift of reason and used it for all the wrong reasons to advance our respective selfish interests along all our artificially created lines of divide and identity. The dream of an equal and fair world for all seems a distant future. The modern noble ideas expressed in our respective national constitutions and international declaration of human rights seem, at best, a good exercise in rhetoric with little evidence of those actually being followed at all on the ground by all with equal degree.

The paradox of our times is that our material progress has outpaced our intellectual, social and moral progress. The majority of people alive today still look at the world from the point of view of thousands of years old religious, social and cultural norms dominant in their respective societies. The ideas conceived in those times and carried forward to present have no practical relevance with our present times. The scientific view of the world has rendered all those ideas as nothing more than glorious myths. The irony is that those very ideas lie at the very root of all the conflict in major troubling spots in the world at present causing unnecessary suffering for all those directly and indirectly involved on each side of the conflict.

One way of looking at all this can be that we are still at early stages in our long journey ahead of being civilised and informed being. With the passage of time, more of us will learn and act in ways beneficial for all of us. No one can predict the future as how things will turn out be in the end. One can take solace from the fact that we as a species have come a long way in our march towards progress. Our innate sense of wonder and curiosity have carried us a long way this far and with the passage of time we will grow more informed and even wiser to live a more meaningful and purpose driven lives. The first step towards realising this goal starts from redefining our individual and collective relationship with each other in particular and with the natural world in general. This change in mindset may not make us saints overnight, but it can provide us with required insights to become a better informed and caring human being. Let us celebrate together the beautiful experience of being alive and aware in this very moment of our respective limited time on earth.