It's quite interesting to see the people around. I feel that there are broadly 4 types of people coinciding with the nuclear forces. As we all know, there are 4 fundamental forces of nature: gravity, strong nuclear forces, weak nuclear forces, and electromagnetic force. Gravity is the force with which an object with mass attracts others towards itself. For example, black holes have tremendous gravity and can pull even the rays of light towards them. We have many such people in the society who have a very strong ego. Their life is all about them and nobody else holds any significance in their lives.
This "ego" or self-centricity may take different forms. Somebody may be fixated on one's body and its pleasures. For such a person, the meaning of life is restricted to providing comforts and pleasures to his body. For some, the emotional mind may be the center of the "ego". Such people may give primacy to emotional pleasures that may again take different forms such as fun, entertainment, appreciation, validation, powers, dominance, and so on. For some, "self-image" may be the center of ego. They may give primacy to the validation of this "self-image" by society. they may do anything to prove to be intelligent or resourceful or whatever "self-image" they want to invest in. Whatever the form of ego, people driven by the force of gravity make continuous efforts to do different things that inflate their ego. Like black holes, they pull everything around them so as to make their ego grow larger.
Strong Nuclear Force is the force that keeps the protons and neutrons inside the nucleus together. It operates within a short distance. Protons have the same change and therefore naturally repel each other. Yet strong nuclear force keeps them together. Similarly, there are so many people on this Earth staying together. They all have different motives and yet work together in families, communities, organizations, and nations. People, driven by the strong nuclear force, like to stay in communities and invest a lot in relationships. They believe in co-existence and like to help others and be helped. They too have a strong "ego", though their "ego" helps others to survive and in turn likes to be helped.
A weak Nuclear Force is a force that is responsible for radioactive activities. Basically, it results in the conversion of the mass into energy. Our Sun is the best example of weak nuclear force where through the process of nuclear fusion and fission, so much energy gets generated that even from millions of kilometers, the energy coming from the Sun to the Earth keeps the entire Earth illuminated throughout the day. Some people are driven by weak nuclear forces and like to sacrifice their comforts and resources for the benefit of other human beings. Their "ego" is in the process of melting and in that process gives light to the people around them.
An electromagnetic force is a force represented by different waves. There is hardly any matter in the waves. Though scientists are yet to unravel the mysteries of the wave-particle duality, the science of the day says that matter can never travel at the speed of light and electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light. They represent complete freedom. People who are driven by electromagnetic forces represent freedom. They stay free and give the same freedom to everybody. Their "ego" has completely melted and therefore they are not fixated. They like to explore life as it comes.
In fact, probably we can say that Gravity, Strong Nuclear Force, and Weak Nuclear Force operate in the domain of matter, while electromagnetic force operates in the domain of energy. Basically, Gravity is a force whereby a mass of matter tries to become the center of the universe by gulping everything, and ego is so strong that it allows nobody around to have an independent existence. In the case of a strong nuclear force, the ego is still strong but it is trying to develop ways and means of co-existence. In case of weak nuclear force, the ego starts melting and it tries to give energy to the people around. In the world, most people are driven by strong nuclear forces and make their relationships, communities, and organizations the center of their lives. However, there are some whose ego is so huge that they try to snatch freedom away from anybody around and there are some on the other side who take pains to help others. However, in all these three cases, the center of activity remains ego.
We need to examine what ego-centricity does to us. I am often amazed to see the growth of infants and kids up to the age of 5 years. They learn so many seemingly impossible things for their age. they learn to walk, talk, and complex emotions. There is no active effort on the part of the parents for such learning. No parents can say that they took so much effort to make their kids learn to walk, talk, or learn emotions. Then kids go to schools and learning becomes so difficult. Teachers always complain of disinterested kids and we see that there are so many dropouts every year. There are many kids who find it so difficult to study. What is the reason why the same kids who learn to walk and talk so naturally struggle at school?
So far as I understand, there is a continuous evolution that is taking place in nature. Human beings have evolved from single cellular species. The process of evolution is quite dynamic. If we get fixated on the existing form, it will not be possible to evolve into a higher form. Evolution can not take place with ego-centricity because the ego tries to protect itself. It has a strong survival instinct. The process of evolution is driven by the force of expansion like the electromagnetic force. Probably, in the initial years, kids do not have a strong ego and that is the reason that they are more aligned to evolutionary force. Their activities are more driven by electromagnetic force. They just flow with the process. That is the reason why they learn so fast. On the other hand, as we grow older, our ego starts becoming stronger, and more activities are driven by survival instinct. We are more focused on the result and more of our actions are driven by gravity, strong nuclear force, or weak nuclear force.
There is no question to divide the world into good or bad. Rather observation reveals that ego-centricity slows down the pace of evolution. Evolution is a very dynamic process whereby we continuously refine ourselves as per the ecosystem. If there is a fixation on the existing form, evolution can not take place. Learning is the fundamental component of evolution. Learning also becomes difficult with fixations. That is the reason why fixation on the results takes our attention away from the process. If kids are focused on the result of the examination, they will compromise with the learning in the process. Such fixation will also result in the development of restlessness. Whether we are fixated on the comforts and pleasures we have or aim to have, in either case, fixations slow down the pace of learning.
I have been asking a question from myself for a long time, can we set up the systems to make the lives of people comfortable? Aren't all the systems quite egoistic? Are they not driven by the force of gravity, strong nuclear force, or weak nuclear force. Systems like the concept of one country by Hitler are driven by the force of gravity where there is no space for Jews and that requires genocide of all the Jews by setting up concentration camps. Systems like organizations, countries, states, and the like are driven by strong nuclear forces that try to keep people together somehow. The fundamental objective is the mass survival and not the evolution of the human beings. They allow limited freedom to the individuals to evolve. In fact, every human being just adjust to the evolutionary pace of the organizations. Systems like many spiritual organizations try to build around the concept of sacrifice and therefore are driven by weak nuclear forces. However, there seems to be little scope for the individual freedom represented by the electromagnetic force in any of these systems.
The formal education system also seems to allow little scope for individual growth. During our interaction with the kids at different schools, we observed that the majority of kids are overburdened by the dreams and expectations of their parents. They set their aspirations to anyhow get the approval and appreciation of their parents. If parents are themselves driven by gravity, strong nuclear force, and weak nuclear force, where is the scope left for the kids for activities driven by electromagnetic forces. Survival, comforts, and pleasures take over the freedom to evolve. I wish that parents introspect their lives and realize that fixation on these things has a huge cost in terms of evolution. They somehow pass on their insecurities to the kids. Parents and schools have the primary duty to help kids be free. Free to explore this world. Nobody can survive eternally. At best we can live a little longer, and that may also be an illusion. What matters at the end of the day is not survival, but the growth and evolution that comes with freedom.
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