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Tuesday, June 4, 2019

How can we get rid of or overcome certain practices, beliefs etc?


How can we get rid of or overcome certain practices, beliefs etc?

And is getting rid of them necessary?

If the answer yes, then how can we do it ?

Yes similar to above list there are many more.

Let us make it clear at the outset that our nation is not alone in following such stupidities does not justify continuing them.

We do many things ( even very meaningful and useful ones) blindly with a mechanical and ritualistic approach without bothering to know their real meaning and significance because earning brownie points for following ( considered as discipline) is valued more than learning the real import or questioning to know ( considered as impertinence).

We get offended when some outdated traditions which are not in sync with modern civilization based sophistication are questioned.

Most importantly, most of us have a very healthy public view and a filthy personal and private agenda.

We seldom acknowledge that for mortal life there are no permanent taboos or trends.

We fail to realize the however great, good and grand our region, religion, language etc that there are similar, if not superior, splendors all over the world.

Pride of ancestry is the hope for the future but succumbing to larger than life ethnocentric pride is counter- productive.

As everything around us and about us change, we fail to realize that we also must be willing to change or to adjust internally.

Universal mantras are contextual relevance and everything that provides  comfort, convenience; begets benefits and profits; ensures utility, happiness, pleasure and so on without hurting others and evaluating everything or anything based on its inherent attributes/merits and intrinsic value/purpose.

All wisdom and value systems must be woven around these universal mantras or at least relevant to these. Otherwise something else will replace all values, wisdom, principles, practices etc.



The most important wisdom is to make the necessary adjustments to emerging changes and contexts.


Unfortunately most aspects of traditional practices, rituals, customs etc are forced on us as social obligations [though initially no harm in it]. But further energizing the inherently vulnerable hypocrisy and putting forth vocal justifications for not only following them blindly but trying to perpetuate them without any valid reason is bad.
Guy Murchie declares, “Evolution itself is an open ended and indeterminate process”… “Given the remarkable progress in our understanding of biochemistry, molecular biology, and evolution as a whole … we have failed to develop concepts, ideas, even a language that could capture the dance of this life” 

I would like to add it is because of our intellectual reluctance and religious impediments.

He adds, “Darwinism is agreed and uncontroversial: humans are an accident of evolution, because everything produced by evolution is strictly incidental to the process”.



But the whole malady started when certain societies, already well connected, intellectually more advanced ones and therefore got so well conditioned by their traditions and religiously prescribed ways of life based on such sound base, obviously ended up, out of lack of humility and refused to or blocked to accept alongside biological evolution, evolutionary psychology and evolutionary sociology as well.



Greater the comfort with abundance of resources and intellectual advancement providing a sense of or false notion of intellectual superiority made them get insulated in their ethnocentric arrogance and moved away from humility.


I think it happened to certain societies, naturally so because of their great advancement when most parts of the world were in dark ages.


Where there is no humility or lesser humility there is less and less attempt to learn.



So they developed certain systems or practices which were superior at that earlier point of time in human history compared to the rest of humanity and hence they felt that such practices had no expiry date at all.



While innards and inherent qualities are inevitable and beyond our choice, at least, our utilization of strengths /reactions to shortcomings can be sane and more sensible, that is what must be the attempt of any subject be it philosophy, spiritual science or pure science.



Evolution goes about its jobs unmindful of whatever we do or do not do, and this evolution decides and determines everything including our birth and death as biochemical organisms- which are bound to decay or to die or to reorganize or to be reborn or to recreate into something else eventually.

What we must be actually be teaching to the present generation is to expose them to the positive aspects of our great heritage which do not contradict any rational approach or curtail any acceptance of change or constrain seeing facts as they are and help them to address any issue based on such premises.

Human psychology is more comfortable and conversant dealing with premises, frames of references and observations rather than through indoctrinations, conditioned prejudices which will collapse at some point of time when the poor people will be left to suffer in a vacuous inanity without a proud socio cultural and psychological identity and will also be very vulnerable to adopt anything and everything irrespective of its long term benefits or inherent value.

So, let us impart more importantly prioritizing humaneness, rational approaches and humanitarian values along with our rich cultural heritage.


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