Most of the world has come to believe that, with the advancement of science and technology, the human community has been liberated from blind faith and superstition and has been enabled to understand the difference between the truth and the myth. It is an open secret that the countries which are considered as genuinely democratic, both constitutionally and practically, are also suffering badly from fear psychosis and a tearing sense of insecurity and there are a large number of people there who are victims of mental tension, depression, increasing tendency to indulge in violence and to commit suicides, etc. Yet the myth prevails that full democratic processes and latest economic theories create conditions of heaven and ‘so' spirituality can take a back seat and sleep there!
This new kind of economic and political myth makes people conveniently forget that a mentally disturbed person, who is facing inner turmoil, creates disturbance and turmoil in the whole society. The truth, therefore, is that the disorder and disturbance, the tension and turmoil, the war and violence that prevail in the society are a reflection of the war that is there in the minds of men and, therefore, peace in the society cannot be restored by political science or by economics but by practices that bring solace to the tormented spirit. There is no denial in the fact that the right type of political and economic processes are necessary but to think that these can bring real happiness to life without enriching the spiritual aspect of man's personality is like considering a myth as truth.
It is a pity that, in this era of science and technology, man always talks of only social, economic and political realities in an empirical and utilitarian language and, in this high mood, he forgets another kind of realities and values which are spiritual in their nature as distinguished from the gross and the physical. But the time has come when man must wake up, once again, to the truth, that he has a social dimension. Hence, the myth that man is merely a physical being with only economic and political dimension has to be broken. Only when we have this holistic perspective of life, will we be able to have a self-realisation ethic, a right type of social ethic, an ecological ethic and a work ethic and only then will we be able to have development of the full human potential and the whole human person.
The writer is a spiritual educator and popular columnist for publications across India, Nepal and the UK. He can be contacted at nikunjji@gmail.com / www.brahmakumaris.com
