The present society, especially in the west where people have high percentage of literacy, high per-capita income, high standard of living, etc., is considered as civilised. But, looking at the increasing percentage of cases of murder, child-abuse, wife-bashing, dacoities, violence, etc., can we really call it civilised?
A country where governments manufacture weapons of mass-killing, where people alter their level of consciousness by using alcohol or intoxicating drugs, broken homes, divorced spouses and everyone is after money and sensuous entertainments, can we call such a society a civil society?
Doesn't the existence of more police and more courts show that there is a lot of crime and litigation and all this is there because people either have no integrity and honesty. Else, why do we need more and more police, law-courts, lawyers, legislation and jails? Similarly, doesn't the existence of a very large number of doctors, dispensing chemists and hospitals indicate that a lot many people are suffering from various diseases?
Further, why are they suffering from so many psychosomatic diseases, which are caused by, or are linked to, mental stress, tension, worry, fear, fatigue etc.? Doesn't that mean that there are no happy relations, there is no sense of belonging or feeling of love and everyone is selfish?
So, we need to understand that the real problem, underlying all problems, whether these be labelled as economic, social, political, communal or by whatever other name, is WE ourselves.
YES! There is no problem outside of and apart from humans; not those who observe values but those who violate human values, who care only for themselves and who are after fulfillment of their own ambitions, irrespective of what happens to others. In view of this, we must lay proper emphasis on observance of Values, else we will be inviting our own doom in the form of environmental pollution, nuclear weapons, high growth rate of population, global warming, etc. The worst thing is that we have lost our conscience, our moral voice, and the whispers of silence from within. If even at this stage, values are not restored to their place, then there will be the greatest ever disaster - a moral disaster that will lead us to a series of economic, political, social and civilisational crises and, ultimately, all our wonderful progress will mix into the dust! Let us, therefore, understand what a “civilised society' really is and how much the value of values is and let each one of us individually try to inculcate the values in us if we wish for a better world to live in.
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
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