I am really surprised to see societies, communities, and organisations where almost everybody feels that there is a lot of scope for improvement, and yet almost everybody feels helpless. Everybody has valid reasons to believe that "action lies at the end of some other person" and 'nothing will change'. People have given up and become lazy. I wonder why it happens? Why do we resign ourselves to our fate? And then we bring all types of explanations from the "Law of Karma" to the "Victimhood" to justify the ecosystem. The explanation of Kaliyuga is so widespread to justify the sufferings.
These justifications become all the more unacceptable when we see so many other societies and organisations thriving so well in similar situations. Where lies the origin? My take is that the origin of this "hell" lies in the lack of awareness of the "heaven". Heaven and hell are both within us. Our actions may be guided by instinct or wisdom. That makes a whole lot of difference. When the guiding force behind our actions comes from instincts, we become desperate to achieve the outcome. Either we feel deprived of some pleasure, just like Dhritrastra felt deprived of being the ruler of Hastinapur. In that case, we become desperate to get what we feel deprived of and do not hesitate to use anybody to get what we want. Dhritrastra used almost all his family members to get the rulership of Hastinapur. On the other hand, sometimes, we feel tempted to get something and that makes us desperate. Duryodhana was tempted to become the ruler of Hastinapur, and he used Karna and his own brothers to get the rulership for himself.
On the other hand, when the guiding force of our lives is wisdom, we are always inclined to grow. We keep examining what we have, our beliefs, material possessions, mental obsessions, and addictions, and keep dropping them to make space to create new possibilities. Krishna lived such a life. He was never ever stuck on anything. He will continue to discard his belief systems and prized possessions. He will not hesitate to leave Mathura. He will challenge almost every accepted norm. If we just look at the whole life of Krishna, there is one constant thing. He is constantly experimenting with his life. He is constantly growing, and it does not matter whether that growth is acceptable to society or not. He will challenge every convention and belief.
It's not easy to constantly challenge one's own belief system and framework of life. That's very unsettling. We all like stability. Growth, to the best of our minds, means acquisition of the positions and properties that are considered to be dream positions and possessions by the existing frame of society. That's not growth. That's just like running a race on the runway. Growth is a phenomenon similar to the take-off. It starts with leaving the comfort of the ground. It requires bidding goodbye to the comfort of the known. That's very unsettling. That makes us unstable. However, that makes life fulfilling as well. Coming back to the original question, I feel that most people become part of the corrupt and mindless systems and organisations because they do not have "love" for exploration. They somehow want to "settle". To settle, they have to find some ground, and that ground is available in those systems and organisations. That "settlement" or "fulfilment of ambitions" is more dear to them than the joy of exploration. Of course, it is not possible to compare the two, because the joy of exploration is always in the domain of the unknown.
Columbus could not have sailed to an unknown territory unless he took so much joy in sailing that he could give away all the known comforts and pleasures for that joy, and even risk his life. Scientists like Stephen Hawking could not have been able to explore the field of science with the physical limitations he has unless he was madly in love with science. So many great artists in this world have challenged the boundaries of the human body. The hikers and trekkers who love hiking and trekking do many seemingly impossible hikes and treks. Astronauts who love to travel in space carry out those voyages despite the immense risk in outer space. What is common among all these people? It is their love for exploration. It is only "love" that has the capacity to counter the fear of giving away the comforts of the known. We are born with "love" for exploration, and that's why we learn to walk so quickly despite falling again and again. However, "love for exploration" is lost as we grow. We get obsessed with the comforts and become full of fears to lose these comforts. We like to play it safe. Having played it safe for years and having lived a life full of fears, we forget "love for exploration", and that's where we need to create a little space and reinvent "love" in our life by doing something we are passionate about.
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