Generally, nothing sells well without a celebrity name. Therefore, I had to search for my words in celebrities’ words. [Many quotations are omitted to save space]: Bertrand Russell – “Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death.... Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid.” Marilyn vos Savant - “To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.” Alec Bourne - “It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.” Michael Crichton, The Lost World - “The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, … human beings fight for their “beliefs.” … But at a time when our behavior may well lead us to extinction, I see no reason to assume we have any awareness at all.” Euripides - “Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.” Frank Dane - “Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything.” George Bernard Shaw - “The world is populated in the main by people who should not exist.” Albert Einstein - “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” “Very few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” Octave Mirbeau,- “You’re obliged to pretend respect for people and institutions you think absurd.” George Moore - “Humanity is a pigsty where liars, hypocrites, and the obscene in spirit congregate.” Matthew Arnold, English Poet – “Children of God; - it is an immense pretension! – and how are we to justify it? By the works that we do, and the words which we speak.” There is a book, “The Dilbert Future- Thriving on Stupidity in the 21st century,” by Scott Adams.
We think that we are aware of our existence, we use our brain to think and analyze, we are not stupid, etc. We should think thrice what these great thinkers are talking about. They call us sleep-walkers. Many of us think only for our professions, name, fame, money, importance, gross pleasures, etc. Without far sight or “the understanding what will ultimately lead to peace and happiness”, all material and technological developments will not give us better lives. The noblest thing most people can think of is charity. However, this alone will never solve human problems, without working at the roots and giving people far sight. In addition to what parents and teachers can, the community as a whole has to inspire, guide, and help children and others. This will enable them to see a path of happy living, instead of ruining own and others lives. Delinquent nature can be detected and treated. Mr. Clinton's urging parents and teachers to get involved, after the Columbine High School tragedy, did/will not do any good. First, some of us have to take the initiative to start the process and then ask them to join. Our lack of serious contemplation on the effects of societies on individual lives is the root cause of existing human suffering. If even1 in a million can see these, i.e., beyond the surface, we can make societies better. With even an average of 1 hour per week (approx. ½% time) from these persons, I can form a structure, so that in 3 years we would be able to begin the work. Then, people can at least feel partially what those great thinkers were talking about. About 40% human suffering and insecurity can be reduced in one decade after the structure is formed (80% or more after one generation). Partial exceptions are natural disasters and diseases, old age, etc.
Einstein - “The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it.” Gandhi - “God never occurs to you in person but always in action.” All evil on earth is our own creation. We leave the vulnerable people on their own to acquire and work in devils’ workshops. Most of us realize that murderers, rapists, and other criminals ruining their lives are fools. Do they? No. Or, even if they do, they cannot control themselves. Don’t blame others or something else for sufferings on earth. We the white-collar people and those in the very top of society are responsible for these. If we paid a little attention to society, we could jointly stop these. Many of us also cannot control our pursuits of ready-made pleasures and suffer the consequences (not necessarily punishment by state). It needs a lot of contemplation to be convinced that it is irrational. Then, with determination or resolve and repeated practice (never giving up because of seeing that I cannot help) we can finally gain control against helplessly being drawn to (over) indulging in easy-pleasures.
Albert Einstein - “In two weeks the sheeplike masses of any country can be worked up by the newspapers into such a state of excited fury that men are prepared to put on uniforms and kill and be killed, for the sake of the sordid ends of a few interested parties.” All the fights among nations or individuals constitute infinite stupidity. Gandhi (or Kahlil Gibran) – “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Buddha - “Hatred cannot remove hatred” (eternal truth). Dwight D. Eisenhower – “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” National pride or imperialistic attitude should not get importance over human suffering. Einstein - “Nationalism is an infantile disease.” J. Stile -“I look around and all I see are miserable people. Everyone is in the rat race to try and outdo everyone else. Money, power, greed, corruption, sex. … We procreate and have miserable children who go about doing the same stupid things that have been done since the beginning of time. Hate, racism, fascism, murder, rape... Over and over forever. I consider myself to be a fairly open minded person, and I just find it hard to understand why our world is so fucked up. We have the technology and infrastructure to set up a system where everyone could be …”
When we all could escape (live good lives) by employing both heart and brain, we are killing each other. Children dream that, after they grow up (in age) and earn money, they will fill their rooms with toys. They do not do that after they grow up and earn money. However, most of us do not grow beyond the twenties. Non-humans also have egos or urge for importance. Cows eat grasses (earning) and then chew the curd (enjoying). I should not utilize the brain only for earning money, name, fame, power, etc. and enjoying. Because, then, what is the difference between my life and the life of a beast or insect! Anacharsis, Scythian philosopher - “Written laws are like spider’s webs, and will like them only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful easily break through them.” Fisher Ames, American statesman - “What is called the government of the people is in fact too often the arbitrary power of such men (explanation to avoid lengthy quotation: demagogues dictating their resolutions to people).” Until most people come to realize the following (within quotes), any form of government will turn into a conspiracy by wealthy people, political power holders, and interest groups, to exploit common people. Those who take decisions for war do not lose dear ones or money; rather, they make money. The soldiers lose their lives and people pay the bills. “The fates of all people are inseparable. Tax-eaters are our servants, we are the supreme authority. Life and society are too important matters to leave to the tax-eaters only. We have to be directly involved by spending ½ % time. Paying tax and putting a stamp on a paper (vote) occasionally should not be the end.”
In my village there was a broken part in an important road. One had to take off one's shoes to walk through the mud and water of the broken part and then go to a pond (water reservoir) to wash the mud off the feet before wearing the shoes again. This was going on for several years. This nuisance could be gotten rid of in a few hours, if somebody took the initiative to invite others to jointly repair the road. Now, sometimes, we have to open our shoes before boarding a plane. This nuisance and other actual threats and suffering are due to broken links in our societies (instead of that village-road). We are on various alerts all the time. Is this really what civilization and happy life supposed to be! Over the centuries, none of us took an initiative to invite others to jointly repair those missing links.
Henri Frederick Amiel, Swiss Philosopher - “In order to see Christianity, one must forget almost all Christians”. Swami Vivekananda said that Hinduism has turned into a “Don’t Touchism” and similarly all institutional religions have turned into mockeries. There is a book, “The Great Thoughts” by George Seldes. The common characteristic of all thinkers is the ability to see beyond the apparent. Although language is not a substitute for the vision, we should not need some magic to understand the simple ideas in the website http://www.unitedhuman.org : (1) establishing a communication channel (among all corners on earth) by websites and successive e-mails, and by utilizing that channel, (2) creating the greatest inspiration and influence or power by the togetherness of the good forces based on a few minimum ground rules, and (3) inspiring and engaging communities.
During my ages of 18 to 27, I could inspire the people of a locality by involving them through fun. This led to improvement of social lives. Initially, there were infinite negativism, skepticism, and ridicule. I want all to know that (we are not fully conscious about it) within humans there is a sleeping spirit and an urge to feel good by doing something good. The near-beast humans can be inspired and engaged in angelic activities by involving them through fun. This should be done everywhere in the world at the same time in a unified way. This will create some hype, hypnosis, dramatization, or hoopla. By giving some visibility or importance to the workers and keeping constant touch with people, the involvement can be made long-term. Evil heroes can be turned into noble heroes. If we do not utilize such an advantageous "reality," then there are others who will take the opportunity of our inaction. They brainwash some human beings for excitingly destructive activities. People become responsible when they are given the “authority and responsibility.” If they are honored, say, through meetings and newsletters, they preserve their acquired images. They preserve what they themselves create (peace, cooperation, or whatsoever). Only ½% time was needed. The excitement and the sense that society was awake produced the results.
Einstein - "A world government with powers adequate to guarantee security is … an immediate necessity, if our civilization is to continue. It is the condition of the survival of ourselves and of all we value. The establishment of such an organization must not depend upon the initiative of the various governments. Only the unbending will of the peoples of the world is capable of setting in motion the forces required to make such a radical break with old and obsolete political traditions.” We do not care about these. We run after things which can provide immediate visibility, importance, fun, and other usual gains. Oh! What craziness (madness) some persons show for a little visibility in even a small community! Frenzies with games, movies, other entertainments, their stars, non-beneficial (media or otherwise) hypes, destructive emotions created through “isms,” etc. form our culture. For most people, the well-being is: (1) the building of sweet dreams, really, on the foundation of explosives [There is a high chance of these dreams being eroded someday.], and/or (2) spoiling time meaninglessly even without realizing. The assumed smartness lies in the satisfaction of measuring the amount of food we could put down the throat and such other things.
G. M. Trevelyan - “Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.” Human culture is far away from what the thousands of great thinkers suggested after their life-long contemplation. By what I read, I cannot imagine that the conditions of society have to be such. Even by a quick reading of the books, “The Road Less Traveled” and “The Road Less Traveled and Beyond,” by Dr. Scott Peck, I learnt that all those shows of love are not real love. Love needs sacrifices. Gandhi also stated that prayer without sacrifice (not animal sacrifice) is a sin. Hearts left the human bodies and turned into flying balloons. Billions and Billions of dollars are spent in these “shows” but the real road is not traveled. I am not against ceremonies or a small amount of “show,” provided I can see sacrifices. Our parents only scolded and did beat us. Still, they are our god and goddess even after their deaths because of their sacrifices. We show “love for life” by killing some doctors and having some fun (slogan, etc.) in front of the clinics. We do not want to travel the road, to work at the roots so that these clinics will no longer be needed. We let millions and millions of healthy born children die or live beastly lives because of poverty and lack of education, care, etc. Then, we shout “love for life.” Einstein on education - “… the aim must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals, who, however, see in the service of the community their highest life problem.” Virginia Gildersleeve – “The ability to think straight, some knowledge of the past, some vision of the future, some skill to do useful service, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community -- these are the most vital things education must try to produce.”
Love, which is sacrifice, is divinity. By inspiring and engaging people for 9 years (in spite of the initial infinite skepticism), I saw that divinity even in ordinary people. As I heard on June 8, 1999 on a TV channel, a caterpillar driver in Detroit worked overtime as much as was allowed, to earn money and donated a million (or a part of it, if I misheard) toward education by way of scholarship. With the initiative of a handicapped person, many handicapped persons together built a huge building for their living. They put their labor wherever was possible. The remaining expertise as well as all material came from donations. We hear all the time about taxi drivers, waitresses, and many others returning huge amounts of money. It exists in many families (I saw also among friend circles). Volunteers give free time and labor in love. Unfortunately, these donations could produce a thousand times more effect through a world-wide movement, instead of scattered initiatives. Scattering of good forces dilutes inspiration and power. [I had some interactions with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a non-profit organization. I realized that the word “sacrifice” is not in his dictionary; whatever he does is for earning money.]
Even a person like me, who asks “why” in almost every matter, behaved like a sheep. We do not have a culture or system to open our eyes. Somehow, in the 1960’s, coke in my country was extremely distasteful to me. Still, to feel cool with other companions, I used to drink it. At an early age, I did not understand a word in English movies. Still, I used to go to the cinema hall because other friends were going. I spent the money and got bored. Similarly, I spent a big amount (for me) of money in having a cup of tea and a piece of pastry in the best hotel in the country. Suppose someone in a third-world country receives a letter stating, "Congratulations! After a lot of deliberations, your name has finally been selected to be published along with a one-thousand greatest leaders,it is a rare honor.” It is natural for him or her to think, "I have finally won the world. I am going to be a celebrity from now on." So many other dreams go with this. I am aware of all these techniques of making money by the so-called legitimate and respectable ways. Still, because of the sentiments involved, I had to pay nearly $300 for the lowest priced version. Later, they realize how some respectable organizations cheat people.
There are some maniacs, mentally deranged, irrational, or evil persons who would never listen to or cooperate with what will make this earth a much better place to live in. We all do not have to follow their footsteps and give up doing “good” to ourselves. Stability and security through elimination of crime (murder, conspiracy, cheating), injustice, inefficiency, hassle, non-responsiveness, helplessness, etc. in society are the last to receive the least attention. However, without these, the existence of a million billionaires on earth will not make human lives any better. Einstein - “I am absolutely convinced that no wealth in the world can help humanity forward …” Among the seven great sins stated by Gandhi are included: “knowledge without character” and “science without humanity”. The best-seller author Dr. Scott Peck lamented that we do not have a culture of thinking. Our inner doors are closed and outer doors are wide-open. We are influenced by others. We are after things which pleases us immediately but harm all in the long run (similar idea in Geeta, Chapter 18, Verse 38). We shed tears by seeing some scenes of oppression, injustice, suffering, etc. in dramas or movies. There ends the matter and we never think about it anymore. We do not see those occurring around us all the time. We do not take initiatives to stop these things in our societies. We do not see that mother earth is tainted every second somewhere with tears, bloods, inhumanity, suffering, etc. We forget even all the problems we faced ourselves. We accept them as inevitable. Or, we do not want to spoil any time in going back to the foolish immediate pleasures and stereotyped cycles of life. When somebody is knocked down by causes which could be stopped if we jointly established a proper culture, we jump to express meaningless sympathies. We fill a room with cards, flowers, food, and eulogies.
Charles Chaplin – “… we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. … Fight for liberty! … You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. … Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! … they enslave the people. Now let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to the happiness of us all. … We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their greed, their hate and their brutality. … Into the light of hope!”
Current systems deal with problems when evil (including helplessness and poverty) has matured and manifested (on the surface). They do not destroy the roots. As a result, the tree of evil never dies and spreads evil eternally. Also, when evil has stricken, the victims as well as those infected by evil are already doomed. If we do not kill a devil when it is an infant, it will grow into a giant. It will share our inventions and discoveries to kill us. All, except fools or those infected by evil, together can form an organization with such a huge atom bomb like power that evil forces will gradually die down automatically. Some persons think that selfishness is the problem. It is actually the opposite: Almost none of us fully realize what we should do to be the maximum gainers over the whole life and just run after shortsighted priorities. Our current selfishness is infinite stupidity (like insects jumping to fire by attraction).
UNO is a political organization of governments. People can form a United Humankind Organization (UHO) as a sister organization of UNO. Once the formation of this unprecedented or historic (to be all-hands) involvement is publicized, there will be an excitement all over the world. We can systematically inspire and involve people. Please see the website mentioned before or at the end for the details on the formation of the network of organizations. It will branch out from the international level to each nation, state/province, county/district, etc. down to each neighborhood on earth. Activities and mode of actions; why the millions of existing organizations (atoms) cannot accomplish what UHO (atom bomb) can; how to communicate back and forth among all people even within 24 hours for emergency matters; etc., are in that website. Whatever things are possible to be done by this network of organizations, will cost negligible amounts compared to that spent by UNO or governments. There may be scores of sub-networks under this umbrella network, each one to deal with one aspect of society. One of the joint activities of UNO and UHO may be that of giving proper education (and mind set) to all children on earth. This initiative may ultimately make education compulsory all over the world and provide one or two meals at school to the poorest students.
Everybody is like you and me. If I exclude myself, everybody will do the same. Saying, “Things will take care of themselves” or “Even if I join, others won’t” is just an excuse. Then, why do I take any initiatives or do anything at all? The 2nd expression is uttered by almost all. If it is really true, how is it possible that even if some join others won’t? Big animals even in a big herd run in a panic to save each one's own life; thereby, giving the opportunity to the cheetah to kill. Instead, those big animals could stand together and hit the small cheetah with their horns. With such a great brain, we are doing the same thing of running 100% for own short-sighted priorities. We got used to a far inferior life than we could enjoy. Because of getting used to, we do not even realize this.
We cause sufferings to God’s children by our greed or let His children on this earth suffer because of lack of care and guidance from us. He is such a fool that we can make Him happy only by various shows of emotions and religiosity like prayer, reading of scriptures without truly following them, pilgrimage, donating money to priests or for temples, etc. In working for "me" only, we think ourselves as the doers ("I" or ego). However, when it is the issue of jointly improving human lives for enjoyment with more security, then we talk of eternity and that we cannot change God's creation. This is to conveniently avoid farsighted joint action for the benefit of all, instead of shortsighted selfishness, ultimately, leading to suffering for all. God is such a devil that He enjoys seeing the games of religions, each group claiming to be the sole agent for heaven, and torturing or even killing His children in His name. We are mad to convert others to our own religion, when we ourselves needed to be converted to our own real or true religion the most. We do mockery or engage in heinous activities in the name of religion. Tolstoy, Swami Vivekananda wrote on similar themes. William G. Sumner – “… doctrines get inside a man’s reason and betray him against himself. Civilized men have done their fiercest fighting for doctrines.” Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver’s Travels) – “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
The ability to put one’s feet in another’s shoes is missing. Majority opinion should not be at the expense of the suffering of the minority. This is a universal sin: If it is my shoe pinching, I shall go to any length and try to stop it using whatever means are available. Suppose that instead of a hammer, only straw is available. I shall make a ball out of straw. Then, by putting it by the side of the nail, I shall hammer with my leg in proper angles. If it is not my shoe pinching, even a hammer may not seem to be a solution to me. I shall think, “Where is that iron to put under the shoe? Without that, the shoe will be spoilt?” There will be scores of such impossibilities in my mind. An example is in the SAARC countries. The top leaders of neighboring countries fought three wars with destruction of so many lives and resources. They are ever-ready to destroy each others’ country. Then they expect low class or poor neighbors of different “isms” in constant confrontation with daily life self-interests to be in peaceful coexistence without oppression day after day, week after week, …, generation after generation. “What is right is often forgotten by what is convenient.” - Bodie Thoene.
Helen Keller - “Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings.” HL Mencken - “Men are the only animals that devote themselves, day in and day out, to making one another unhappy.” Persons who are 100% pure in thoughts and in all other ways and have real love can be counted by fingers. How amazing it would have been if we could see the thoughts and "all actions behind the eyes of others" of a person and then see what a guise of a respectable person he/she takes in public. I can say this because if there were really so many people who really cared about others or society as they try to show, society would not be like this. They would have gotten together to do something about so much suffering on earth. Bertrand Russell -“We have, in fact two kinds of morality side by side; one which we preach but do not practice, and another which we practice but seldom preach.” Please see “Suffering and Causes” in the website www.unitedhuman.org Good things happen because farsighted persons like you support them, inspiring the involvement of others.
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