The human race's prospects of survival were
considerably better when we were defenseless against tigers than they are today
when we have become defenseless against ourselves.
- Arnold J. Toynbee
Our forefathers have survived in the wild when they had
practically no technological means of defending themselves against the wild.
From that point onwards, we have come a long way. We have been able to use our
intellect to technologically advance and therefore survive the many threats
posed by the external world. But have we survived the worse, or are we heading
towards it?
Today, there is one grave black cloud hovering over the
existence of humans. i.e. Emotions. We are knowingly or unknowingly at war with
emotions. The cup of our life is brimming with emotions. We are all too full. Any
random act or event is sufficient to catalyze a massive spill. And that spill
can be grave enough to threaten our existence. Emotions are fuelling most of the
problems around the world.
We are seeing a major surge in hate crimes. Recently a
student of Indian origin shot dead his research guide out of frustration before
killing self. The mass shooting in Orlando was against the LGBT community. There
is apparently a cult operating in India against the rational thinkers, who have
also been accused of hate- motivated murders of three well known rational
thinkers. In the remote areas of India, honour killings are still prevalent. Racially
motivated crimes are on the rise. Terrorism is at its peak. Suicides are increasing
across all economies. People are carrying out violent rallies against those
expressing their opinions.
We do not know as yet how to deal with emotions. Emotions
are a summation of our feelings, thoughts and beliefs. All of these three
ingredients are subjective and vary from person to person. Therefore emotions
are not absolute. And when something is not absolute, you have to ensure that
you do not shell out reactions- both physical and vocal on others based on
emotions without screening them.
With emotion- induced actions on a rise, I wonder if we are
heading towards the end. We are all well equipped with everything we need to
destroy ourselves. From nuclear weapons to the motivation, we have it all. It
remains to see whether we are able to survive ourselves.
