Greatness

The quality of greatness needs to be pondered. Is it eternal or ephemeral? Is it a constant unchanging quality, or does it vary? Does it display discriminating quality with varied outcomes for knowledgeable and ignorant users? Does it require reverential treatment? What is the outcome if one exhibited irreverence, does greatness shrink in quality? Can greatness seek vengeance upon impious users? Life continues unabated with or without discovering greatness, is there a necessity upon humanity to ponder on greatness when human race is poised to conquer planets? 

Perhaps this is not even a worthy debate because greatness of human race is undisputed given scientists, scholars, leaders, governing authorities are all taking measure to protect Earth from climate change, warming oceans, melting polar icecaps, erecting reflectors in the sky to deflect Sun’s rays, and racing against time to extend reign of humanity from extinction as predicted by eminent scholars such as Stephen Hawking, and expertly guided by visionaries such as Bill Gates who bravely ventured to predict the impact of pandemic on human race. Nature and other species are unattractively minute in the presence of human ingenuity to take preventive steps to prevent disaster befalling nature, and countless inconsequential species. Alas nature, without Man, helpless and impotent. Dinosaurs would not be extinct, if they evolved simultaneously with Man, is a conclusion that is not far-fetched when you consider the extent of Man’s chutzpah with combating forces of nature. Unqualified greatness.

As great as Man has become since the dawn of Renaissance, humans have always been, bravely, trying to navigate out of problems. Early discoverers vs religious authority, workers vs nobility, unions vs corporations, equality of gender, gay and lesbian rights, right of abortion, freedom of expression, occupy wall street, Black Lives Matter, and many other issues glaringly expose the limitations of human achievement and greatness. What we have witnessed is individual excellence, which does not transform to excellence for all of humanity. We landed on the Moon, we cheered launch of shuttle service to space, we landed on Mars, we have probes traveling in the outer realm of our Solar system, we landed on comets, the list of human accomplishments in less than half a millennium is vast, but humanity still feels empty, and the problems facing humanity are ever present in manifold forms despite purported greatness of achievement as evidenced by the rhetoric of our elected leaders every four years when we face existential crisis. A great conundrum of modern times. Sea of humanity cheered when man landed on the moon, but it is mostly a faded memory in most of us, even among those who witnessed the event on television. Humanity was not transformed by these events. It did not bring us closer to Utopia. Individual accomplishments that may well feel not so great even for the ilk of Neal Armstrong, and many others before and after by the testaments available in recorded history. Giants during their lifetime are now a fading memory for humanity that followed them. Shrunken and fading, with the passage of time, cannot be a quality of greatness that can transform humanity. 

Greatness, thus, must possess a much more profound and timeless quality to transform humanity. Why should greatness be of concern to humanity? Many may perfectly be content with living ordinary life without seeking greatness in life. For many of us struggling day to day, merely getting through our life might very well be a significant achievement. Living with dignity is a significant accomplishment considering the many twists and turns of life. Common sense, and folklore bestowed us with many sayings to see the insignificance of our problems by looking at people suffering an even worse fate. We feel elated to be alive with serious health complications. Just being alive amounts to greatness. Humanity is ready to receive organ transplants to continue to live. We don’t mind living with the humiliation of needing external equipment to cleanse our body of toxins for the sake of life. Mere life turned great. Human journey cannot be merely to exist with infirmities. The journey of human life is to embrace greatness at every step of the way. We should aim to soar into the skies, for humanity is uniquely positioned with cognizance of our mind, unlike other forms of life abundant in nature. Superiority of humanity is maligned by ignorance, and the myriad artificial problems rooted in incognizance.

Humanity does not recognize greatness that surrounds us. Every atom reverberates and seeks greatness in nature, except humanity. Understanding greatness and nudging humanity on to greatness solves many societal ailments, for a superior race pursuing pedestrian pursuit is unworthy for humanity. The quality of greatness remains unperturbed and unchanged, forgiving and reassuring, calming and nurturing, undiscriminating and unshrinking, benevolent and unseeking, unspoken and unprovoking, unarrogant and unfrightening, majestic and simple, laboring and untired, whole, and eternal. Such are the qualities of greatness. It can hold divergent attributes without a loss of identity because grandeur is not an imposed quality. It is natural. When greatness exists everything subordinate can exist and thrive. Minus greatness, barrenness reigns supreme like a parched land. 

Humanity is the only race on Earth who is not only unappreciative of greatness we are surrounded with, but ungrateful and reckless in behavior. Observe in nature how greatness is honored by insentient beings, which humanity recklessly abuses. The rivers rush into the ocean to merge with greatness; dawning of a new day is welcomed by nature with the chirping birds, trees awakening to convert energy from the Sun into oxygen, flowers bloom, and the burst of energy awakens our vast planet. Yesterday merges with the past, gives birth to the present, and many more tomorrows are waiting to repeat the process unchanged. This endless and never aging cycle is billions of years old, and many billions are yet to manifest. 

Human species is the only one, uniquely positioned, to understand, appreciate, and display reverence from the perch of knowledge. A molecule of sugar does not know the great quality of sweetness, and its usefulness. Humans and few other species like ants know the value of sugar. Just as sugar does not know the quality and value it possesses, other species, which are reverential to the greatness of nature around them, is their instinctual survival ability. They need not know because their life journey is limited to survival. Human species sit atop all species because we are the only species receiving reward or punishment for our deeds. Even in our mundane world we receive reward, or punishment for our actions. Imagine the fate of our actions rooted in ignorance and arrogance. Each species on Earth is reverential to a species superior, and collectively they are working tirelessly to maintain the ecological balance. However, humans being superior to all that is around us is completely unaware that there might be a superior species above us. Logically, we can’t be the ultimate species in this universe. If we are the ultimate species, then human struggles and problems contradict the fundamental tenets of life we witness. Other species come into existence, live, and pass on without troubles. Why are problems unique to human species? When we are categorized as unique and possessor of intellect, why is humanity struggling with hunger, disease, and above all lacks joy? Modern society needs an answer to this fundamental question. Is intelligence an exclusive domain of a few wealthy individuals? Why were they chosen over billions of other human beings? Who chose them? And many more questions abound humanity. Yet, we have no source to find firm and unambiguous answers. Our educational institutions are not even confronting these essential questions because they are busily turning out worker bees for our industrial and corporate lords. Vast humanity has lost the hunger and appetite for intellectual pursuits. We are committed to trivial lives, and abandoned pursuit of greatness. Whether we accept, or don’t accept, the basic tenets of life commands that humanity seek to understand the greatness of life, because life is sustained on the principles of recirculation of essential matter. Our planet is not engaged in the creation of new life, it is recycling life endlessly. A water molecule evaporates, transforms to a particle in a cloud, clouds return as rain. We witness this cycle. We do not need to know the intricacies of this process to understand that life returns. What is true for a water molecule is true for all species, including humans. We are a part of this great symbiotic tango in nature. We cannot decouple ourselves from nature as we have done in modernity with exuberance for pseudo greatness. 

Since the Renaissance, humanity, slowly, is slumbering to a reduced existence due in large part because humans in lieu of pursuing greatness have embraced parochial and pedestrian pursuits. It would not be far fetched to say that humanity exists in a comatose state. What else can prompt Deutsche Bank CEO, John Cryan, to say in 2017, “in our banks we have people behaving like robots doing mechanical things – tomorrow we’re going to have robots behaving like people,” he said. “We have to find new ways of employing people and maybe people need to find new ways of spending their time. The truthful answer is we won’t need as many people.” A devastating assessment of human life reduced to an insentient state. That is a business person’s assessment of humanity because their one and only goal for existence is monetary returns, and humans are reduced to mere consumers with businesses, increasingly, relying on machines. However, humanity must assess, evaluate, and think about the journey of human species since the Renaissance. Modern times are not substantively different from Medieval times. People were bamboozled by religious leaders, now we are hoodwinked by scholars and leaders. Humans were not empowered then; the same condition continues unabated even in the Age of Information. Humans were uncivilized, and remain uncivilized even today if one removes the tinted glasses to see. Knowledge to the extent understood in medieval times was concentrated with a few, it still remains the domain of privileged few. People were irreverent to greatness then, modern humans have sped past the medieval brute with unmatched recklessness. It should give pause in one’s mind if the conditions around us are much different than they were in medieval times. Cosmetics change in times. Human species haven’t traveled far from times earlier, a return of those times is not far away too.

The unforeseen consequence of not understanding, appreciating, and having piety for all that is superior around us is a journey back, into dark ages, is guaranteed. The sacrilege humans are committing in utter ignorance in the present time will continue to reduce humanity in strength and capability. When human potential is reduced and underutilized, it will result in intellectual and health deficiencies in the existing population, as well as future generations. Humans marveling at the intelligence of animals, the love for pets, and organizations like PETA, bending down to pick up excretion of pets, sleeping with pets, being welcomed by pets, are all clairvoyant signals for an attentive and cognizant human. 

The predicament humanity faces in the coming decades and centuries is rooted in ignorance and arrogance. We are acting as we are the lords of the Universe. Lords we are not. Superior to all that around us, yes, when we possess intellect. Else, we are worse than animal species. Witness in nature, many of whom might have seen visual proof, animals seek help from humans when they are in helpless situations because their innate sense recognizes the superiority of human species. Who can help humanity when they are in helpless situations? A race with inherent intellectual capacity entrapped in helpless situations speaks vividly that our intelligence needs an awakening. If humanity has journeyed far from dark ages, why are there still so many intellectual pot holes that entrap humanity? Is knowledge unequal in the modern world? Many questions abound that are plainly obvious, but our shrunken lives don’t cast light in that direction. The shrunken condition reduces the uniqueness of humanity, and greatness of our universe rather than protecting will unleash imperceptible harm. For a reduced species does harm to self, and the grander external world.

Human existence is trivialized in modern times. It is considered uncultured and uncivilized when ancient practices, which hold in pious all the greatness around, are mocked because it is unscientific and unproven. It needs to dawn on human species that the modern understanding of our world is that of a just born child. Just as an adult will not pay heed to a child’s utterances, human species should discard scientists’ proclamations without hesitation. Even when scientists can explain the physical mechanics of certain visible phenomena with precision, when the consequences are not weighed upon, and or understood, such knowledge does harm to society. One need not be a scientist, or possess deep scholarly background to assess the utter futility of modern advancements due to future costs associated with endeavors pursued for gains of today. Human beings gained superiority on the strength of their ability to look deep into the past, understand the present moment, and evaluate the future conditions for the near and far future. Human species will become the worst sect of living beings on Earth when we merely evaluate the present moment, because animals capably handle daily needs, and they do it without causing harm to our habitat. Furthermore, merely limiting the expanse of our minds to meet immediate needs, changes our biological makeup imperceptibly and we beget imperceptible issues that neither science, nor society have a solution. We are witnessing that with myriad challenges to our intellectual decomposition in learning, execution, and in life broadly. As great as human life may be, there are forces bigger than us all around us. Modernity neither has a physical understanding of great things, nor can they empirically calculate the impact of irreverence to greatness because the impact will manifest over generations. The outcome is not immediate. Greatness is an unpretentious phenomenon. Our Sun is the only source for nourishment we enjoy, but how many of us understand this subtle aspect of our star? How many of us are reverential toward the Sun? We see the Sun as a source of problems with ozone layer depletion, and hotter climate in many parts of the world. Did the Sun pollute Earth’s atmosphere, or did human species pollute? Modernity perversion with seeing problems away from human activity, eventually, will lead to a calamitous end to humanity living with ignorance. Humanity will not end. It will continue unabated where the quality of humanity remains unperturbed despite the changing world all around them. Great phenomenon all around is sustaining humanity, and other species. Mere physical understanding is not sufficient to protect human species, we must also become cognizant of the imperceptible influence they wield. Theories of life developed about life, galactical formations, and manifold phenomenon as accidental makes humans trample on greatness like a mad elephant. A mad elephant can be tamed and returned to the forest. Who will tame humanity? Is there a force that can tame the human race? A brief visit to history offers ample evidence for the inquisitive mind. Modern times is nothing more than a mad elephant on a rampage.