To Abandon Society

 Alone we come into and alone we shall leave this world.

What we do in the intervening period is what we call, 'life'.

Individual life is our insignificant participation in this collective and glorious dance of the universe.

However, we who consider ourselves as an intellectually and philosophically evolved species, are unable to accept the reality, that in the larger scheme of things we are inconsequential. 

Biologically speaking, the instinct of every species is to survive, find mates, procreate and ensure the healthy survival of our offspring and hence our genes. This fundamental instinct drives all our behaviour, which leads us to seek to dominate others.

To satiate our ego we manufacture all sorts of ideas and undertake numerous quests, to appear to ourselves and to others, that we do matter. That we have taken birth for a special reason and therefore acquired the right to dominate others.

We enter into society at birth but progress through it by our actions. We are constantly seeking to rise in the hierarchy of our societies. The objectives being to survive, attract the best and most suitable of mates and ensure survival of our offspring.

The individual needs society and society thrives upon the individuals who populate it. Both of whom are also intertwined in a symbiotic relationship with nature and our environment. 

Cursed by modernity, we may have forgotten that we must not disrespect our symbiotic relationship with both society and nature. To respect meaning to take only what we need for our survival and needs, eventually returning back to society and nature all we have taken from them.

Eventually our spirit will abandon even our body and merge back into the ocean from which we have emerged. Before that we will consciously or unconsciously abandon all that defines us in society, our possessions, our status, our strengths, our relationships, etc. 

After a brief life, each individual will one day willingly or unwillingly abandon society, meaning we will abandon society or society will abandon us. 

The difference is in the former we choose, and in the latter society chooses.  No matter what the story of each individual is, this end chapter is common to every life.

If we abandon society consciously we will be content and peaceful. If we cling to society, life will one day agonisingly wrench it away from us. This is the nature of existence.

Often associates, friends and relatives complain about my lack of attachment to things and relationships. But it is not deliberate or even conscious, it just is the dropping out of society. I suppose this is good because it is the gradual embracing of the inevitable, my gradual abandonment of society as I have known it.

By sharing and not bothering about receiving, I feel that the more I abandon society and material things, the greater grows my spiritual wealth. It's a strange but peaceful phase of life, where I explore and examine my learning,  experiences and wonders that I have collected in my brief life.

We create our own 'realities'.

 During the war in 1948, American ambassador to the U.N. Warren Austin called upon the Arabs and Jews to settle their differences 'like good Christians'.

The ambassador was sincere but trapped within his own 'reality' that the only faith in the world was Christianity. As a result he was promptly ignored.

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To survive we all create for ourselves a paradigm. Our paradigm of life being a set of references of how, where, when, why we should do and not do, what we like or dislike, who are our friends, enemies, what is healthy, toxic, safe, dangerous etc. This paradigm is our reality.

Unfortunately most people do not construct their own reality, it is handed over to us by others in society and most people simply accept and follow.

Reality, however is multi-dimensional, and includes aspects such as family, religion, country, community, race, gender, profession, social status, relationship, love, marriage, friendship, etc.

Typically to keep the flock together, leaders political, religious  etc. instil in followers the reality, that those who belong to another community, country,  religion or organisation are enemies. They are strictly forbidden from interacting with others, lest they influence their followers and give birth to other thoughts and ideas. So fearful and fragile is our reality that we blindly cling and defend it to the death or readily seek to destroy others.

That is why it is said by wise men through the ages that 'travelling makes smart people wise and fools worse'.

Those who are smart and travel with open minds and hearts discover other realities, they transcend their initial fears thus becoming wiser and stronger.

Foolish are those who are close minded and stone hearted and they are always insecure. Being fearful and feeling threatened they learn little or nothing because all they can do is seek reinforcement of their existing reality. They become fanatical with little or no tolerance for things that do not conform to their reality.  Fanaticism of any kind is unhealthy, threatening both, individuals and society.

Typically leaders fear change and change agents which can give rise to revolutions and threaten the grasp of leaders on their followers. They want one reality for everyone and will go to great extremes to impose their 'realities'. Awakened individuals discover other realities and can stir up  trouble and upset the status quo. Thus weak regimes and religions are fearful. They oppose education, experimentation (physical, emotional or intellectual) and always restrict access to information.

Leaders are expected to guide people and lead society towards achieving prosperity, well being, happiness, etc. However when leadership becomes corrupt etc. they build, mirrors their nature. Unless the society itself is rooted in strong, healthy values and traditions the leadership can easily conjure up harmful realities.

Sure, if there is no order than there will be chaos, there must be rules in society. Rules however should be born out of respect and understanding for the system and others rather than out of ignorance and fear.

When societies have made sudden and dramatic changes in their reality due to physical, intellectual and financial occupation of their societies, we observe great turmoil within society and individuals. The further and faster a society drifts from its roots and traditions, the more unsettling it is for both individuals and society. 

Individuals can adopt new realities much quicker than society. So we see this great conflict between modernity and tradition. This is the great responsibility of families and all pillars of society to find that balance.

The pillars of society are Gurus and Masters, teachers, healers, doctors, media, members of the legal, political, religious, business, financial, etc. communities. Then there is also the law and order machinery, government administration, the armed forces, etc. These pillars who are all charged with the care and welfare of society are now increasingly failing to discharge their responsibilities or manipulating them at great cost to society.

If these pillars of society responsible for the well being and prosperity of society maintain their integrity and subordinate their personal needs to the needs of society, these societies will flourish and the individuals will have a better chance of being happy and successful.

Without being anchored in values, opened eyed but with closed minds modern man today it seems is besieged from all sides, by corruption, and exploitation.

Complicated laws, rules and procedures, rituals are the order of the day. If the robber does not get you then the legal system will, if the trader does not then the professional will skin you. If the devil lets you escape the priest will capture you.

We humans can survive only if we can construct a better world. Alas it seems we have lost all will and ability to change ourselves or our world. This possibly explains why we are obsessed with the promise of a better existence in the next or after life.

Each individual has his or her own paradigm and therefore our realities are bound to be different.

It is futile to blame or force others, if we want change then it begins with changing ourselves and respecting the realities of others.