Watched the movie "Don't Look Up" on Netflix. The storyline of the movie is quite interesting. Two scientists discover that a comet is going to hit the Earth, and the comet is big enough to make life extinct on Earth. When they go to meet the US President, initially she does not take the news seriously, and the two scientists approach the media, and they are trolled by people for being fussy about some possibility. Slowly, the Government realizes the seriousness of the event and, to take political mileage, sends a mission to destroy the asteroid. The mission is called off because one industrialist convinces the government to make huge gains out of the minerals available on the meteor. He develops a mission to send some rockets to the meteor and break it into pieces so that those pieces can reach the Earth, and those minerals may be exploited commercially. This is a story about the reaction of people in extreme circumstances.
It reminds me of our tryst with death. Every day, we are moving one step closer to death, and yet we do not recognise that. We will somehow keep believing that we are never going to die, even till the last breath in the ICU. We are ready to tell thousands of lies to ourselves, just to survive. That's why people brush aside the news about the ecological crisis, the hole in the ozone layer, the possibility of world war, and political crises across the globe. What do we have to do with this? We are happy with our children and family. We are least concerned about the people dying of hunger, patients not getting treatment, farmers committing suicide, millions of children dying of malnutrition, and corporates capturing the lands of the poor people. We are busy with our daily life, celebration of the success, enjoying tasty food, and passing time in malls shopping the things. Then we would pretend to be sad and demand attention. Even if there is a little shortfall in our pleasures and enjoyments, we will make it a big issue to demand attention from everybody.
The eagle is not only waiting to eat the child, but also all of us. The difference is that in the picture it looks quite real, while in our lives, the hunger comes in the disguise of desires, and the eagle comes in the disguise of failure.
I don't know whether life exists on other planets or not. I also don't know whether some comet is going to hit the Earth someday and make all entire humanity extinct. But I know for sure that I am going to die soon. Each one of us is going to die. I also know for sure that all the pleasures in this world are just our own mental stories. We fall into the trap since childhood and place the center of our lives around one or the other story widely prevalent in society. Family, money, power, being good, beliefs, relations, are many such stories. Our mind calculates and selects a story based on the possibility and sustainability thereof. The story is just a story, and like the movie, it comes to an end, and we remain as hollow as we were.
Nobody wants us to look up. Everyone wants us to look down and keep running like a donkey, focusing on their targets. This desire is created by the wealthy by demonstrating their richness, tempting and taming ordinary people. The desire of people makes them slaves, keeping them in the same 9-5 jobs and earning profits at their expense. If society becomes aware of the true meaning of life, people will ask uncomfortable questions of these powerful people. That's why different concepts are planted in society. A shared obsession with objects of pleasure is cultivated. Gradually, people become more and more foolish, and their ability to question is lost. They fall into the trap of propaganda. Scientists are shocked to see people mock news about their extinction because they have lost the capacity to examine. The hardest thing in this world is to make a fool realize he is a fool. Scientists see the approaching danger, but for most, it's just an opportunity for a photo session. In the end, scientists must also face a hard truth: stupidity is quite resilient and has survived the harshest attacks from some of the greatest saints like Ved Vyasa, Buddha, and J. Krishnamurti. Love and compassion don't give that kick that pleasure offers. That's why people buy that "kick" at the cost of inner hollowness.
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