The world is headed towards polarization- but can we find a middle ground?

Humans are accelerating towards evolution much faster than anticipated. Thanks to the feats of technology and socio-economic upheavals. The pandemic itself has exposed our real nature. With increasing numbers of hate-crimes, wars, violence, civil unrests, extreme climate events, diseases and of course the human population it is an indication we might be headed towards polarization. But can we find middle-ground?

Spiritual beings or AI powered Cyborgs

We know that Spiritual awakening is taking over the world. The cases of depression, mental illness and suicides have shot up in the past year. Millions of people are embracing meditation and inner wellness. If we go back to the time of Vedic wisdom, Yoga and Dhyana which originated in India; we can find evidence of scientific books about our Solar system, galaxies, stars and other planetary objects. What’s astonishing is that the sages knew about these objects millions of light years away even without actual travel or telescope! This proves they had mastered their brain and knew the highest level of human consciousness that could perceive things beyond our generic perception of five senses.

In the present world, we are entangled in worldly pleasures and building automated machines. Technology has aided humankind in enormous arenas of disaster management by timely alerts, comfortable transportation, rapid constructions, large scale manufacturing, quality food production, life saving drugs from pharmaceuticals, medical diagnostics, wireless long distance communication, automation to name a few.

One such present day tech giant Neuralink is developing ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers. The company plans to integrate brain neurons with electronic chips to measure, study, control and even cure brain related ailments. The next step would be to enhance brain capacity, expand our memory and maybe one day control external realm with our mind which are beyond our physical reach.

Now the question arises is which path would you choose? Would you want to explore the natural power of human consciousness to harness an infinite source of energy within or do a collab with an AI to improve your existing perception of outer reality. Do you wish to become more of a super-human or less human something like a cyborg. Or is there a way to make the best of both worlds? A world where science meets spirituality. I leave that to you; its your brain after-all!

Jungle naturalists or ultra inter-galactic civilizations?

At the pace at which natural destructions of deforestation and pollution are progressing, we can’t be sure how long we can sustain our life on earth. If population bursts occur human civilization will inevitably need to look for a newer and cleaner home! To escape from the devastating impacts of climate change like forest fires, flash floods, cyclones, draughts that cause refugee influxes we have built gigantic flying rockets to flee and even imagined the distant possibility of inhabiting Mars one day. Ah yes talking about Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets. We know that if we are successful in this endeavor( Anyone watched The Martian?) we will want to visit our distant cousins who look like ET- Extra Terrestrial doppelgangers( who knows they may exist). We will either be accepted amongst our inter galactic neighbors or fight for survival using limited resources in other planets ; facing the same fate as our very own Earth at the moment.

In a parallel world more and more people are leaving their comfortable homes in concrete jungles to live a nomadic life. Well almost. They are practicing sustainable farming, living in eco-friendly houses with renewable resources of energy and leaving behind the nuances of the polluted and over populated city lanes. They are even retiring early to cut the daily race in traffic to the materialistic pedestal in lieu of a very toiling , quiet and environment conscious lifestyle.

So do you want to try the cave man look or wear that stylish space suit to fly off into space? Or is it possible that we take a piece of earth to our new homes; don’t you remember Eva and Wall-E ( ah my heart exploded with love in that scene) or maybe invite our new friends down here and have a round-table on climate crisis( Something like the movie Arrival?) ! They might have some unique ideas? Well only time will tell.

The online generation and human connection

There is an generation growing up behind the screens. They are eating, studying, singing, dancing, dating, gaming, exercising and even working sitting behind a smartphone or computer screen( The Social Dilemma). They are always live streaming or scrolling through their phones. With the existing algorithms in place aren’t they exposing themselves to programmed information? Thanks to the pandemic they are becoming comfortable in this setup; which is scary considering how humans are designed. We are social beings and real life human interaction is important for our evolution. They are unable to accept life as it is, as they feel they have the world under their finger tips. They are missing out on simpler activities of life like being close to nature, meeting new people( in person) and just doing nothing but enjoying being “Human” around other humans. We know that world travel will be low for sometime in the near future and we will all prefer online communication rather than in-person meets to save time and money; but what can really replace the human presence? The being with someone, anyone, any human.

Religion, Racism, Food and Sexuality- a clash of acceptance and identity

“My God is greater than your God” is the beginning of annihilation and terrorism. And it is happening every minute, some innocent lives are being cut short because of vested interests of certain groups who are misusing religion as a weapon. When will we actually understand that God or whatever divine power you believe in or even if you are an atheist ; it is not fear that should drive us but love. And by love it means to serve each other and not kill.

Racism be it the Black lives matter movement or even Asian people being blamed for Corona-virus; has taken a prominent place in humanitarian crisis. Let us ask ourselves a question did we really choose our race? And if we can choose it now why are we not choosing humanity.

Veganism is on the rise. Exotic fruits and posts of culled animals are all over the internet how we should love animals and eat plants. Well the philosophy is novel but it doesn’t mean that we start attacking people inhumanly for their personal life choices or livelihoods . If we believe a person who eats cows is worse than a person who eats chicken; it is only
downhill from there. There are countries where draughts and war aftermaths have resulted in famine and malnourished generations. Food is a basic human right. We have to stop hunger from its roots before we shame someone for eating the only thing they can afford.

People are born a certain way. Historically shock therapy and social boycotts were common to eliminate and suppress sexuality. In this 21st century with the advent of internet people are finally able to express their identity and free to love whoever they want to. Yet there are hate-crimes and online abusers who still do not wish to embrace something so natural. The LGBTQIA people are humans too. Imagine feeling so left out by your own race! That would be a quest to prove you are human. They had to do so , to form their own community to feel accepted. If we reject them we are denying the universal language that makes us human- that of pure love.

In between…

So many extreme ideas are emerging amongst all of us. If you read this article I mentioned “we” throughout this article. I know some of you may not accept the views as your own; but it is the truth. We have a collective responsibility to protect our own selves. Our everyday habits is shaping our shared time in the coming days. We all need to rise up and choose what is right for our future. We need to find that space between right and wrong, black and white, violence and peace, hate and love; a space of transition, a space for commonality, a space for conversation, because in between the two extremes there is this little time to walk between our history and our future and that time is now.