Almost all the parents and schools teach a very important lesson to the children: "Not to waste resources". "Do not waste water and close the tap when you come out of the bathroom", "Do not waste electricity and switch off the fan when you leave the room", "Do not waste money, save it for the bad times". All of us have heard these instructions and followed them all through our lives. I was listening to the news about around 1 lakh crore rupees, with the cost of war being around 2 billion dollars per day. That will be roughly $ 2000 million or 20,000 crore rupees per day. We have heard so much news about the oil ships being destroyed by missiles. So many people are being killed, including so many innocent people.
I fail to understand how we forget the lessons we taught our kids so passionately. Why do we waste so many precious resources? Why do we destroy the cities that have been built with the hard work of so many people? How are we going to face the questions of the next generation when they ask us why we gave them such an unsafe world? I fail to understand that when we teach children about so many things, right from hygiene to civic sense to skills and competence to the scientific temperament, why don't we tell them how to live life? Probably even the parents do not understand the meaning of life.
Why are we failing as human beings to live with love? We attend the spiritual camps and meditation sessions, and offer prayers to God, and then fight in the name of religion. Some countries want to maintain their dominance over the world. In organisations, a few individuals try to control the organisation and use the rest of the employees to perpetuate their selfish interests. In families, too, a few individuals try to dominate the others. What's the fundamental reason behind all these drives?
To the best of my knowledge, there is only one reason. We do not have a strong awareness of our true nature. Since the awareness of the "true self" is missing, the "false self" or the ego becomes stronger. The ego always grows and strengthens with ignorance. That's why the person who knows the least is always the most confident. If there is a debate between a stupid person and Einstein about the nature of the reality of the cosmos, Einstein will lose 9 out of 10 times or maybe 10 out of 10. It is because Einstein knew that reality is so vast, and, with all his capacity and effort, he can know only a very small part thereof; therefore, he can never be fully confident about his conclusions. On the other hand, the stupid fellow does not know the limitations of his awareness and therefore will be highly confident about whatever little he knows. That's why the most egoistic people make very firm decisions. Hitler may make decisions that may kill millions of people across the globe.
It's not easy to build muscle, and it requires a lot of discipline and hard work. Similarly, developing critical thinking is not easy, which is why we always need to be aware of the limitations of the frame within which a logic operates. Apple does not always fall down. It floats in space. When we continually challenge our own conclusions and enquire, we come to know the nature of the self. When we get to know the nature of the self, we do not operate from the ego. Fear and ambitions exist in the domain of the ego. In the domain of the self, love, freedom, and exploration exist. That's why whoever dares to enquire about the nature of reality does not get trapped in the limited frame of the ego. His life will always be guided by love, compassion, and exploration.
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