Monday, March 17, 2008

An Ode to Humanity

I have often felt that generations of humanity run within me. When I decided to make my foray into the blogosphere, I thought I should put up these thougts in my blog, so we can find out if it's another common phenomenon like the all-too-familiar deja vu !
O'er the green mountains I sing this ode,
The song of renewal and life
Sung by generations manifold
The fabric of my song carries strains of lore
Yet it is to me, my inimitable score
Being from Kerala ( seductively christened as God's Own Country ), I often find myself speeding across green hills, lush paddy fields, serene waters and other visual treats that only a tropical land can offer. Each time, I'm inevitably transported to a different time-space. Then I see the years fly by, and the horizons change. Enterprise of man, and his intellect, transform entire ecologies and the skyscape of a modern city appears. In that one moment, entire generations of enterprise and experience seem to have run within me, leaving me empowered - and a quiet confidence takes over, a confidence that we as a human race will rise to the occasion when crisis hits. Will we ? Do let me know what you think !

13 comments:

deostroll said...

Hi. Liked the little poem. Its nice. :)

deostroll said...

Welcome to the world of blogging. I've subscribed for your blog feeds too. So keep blogging...

Unknown said...

"I have often felt that generations of humanity run within me" - its scientifically proven, we really have inherited from the generation that existed and it exists inside us in the form of GENES.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene-centered_view_of_evolution

The transition from lush green life to one in a concrete forest, i would consider that a degradation. We can ofcourse boast about our high profile job, big fat salaries and other luxuries. But when compared to what we sacrifice, all these achievements reduce to nil. Myself is no better, me too a loser now, trying hard to get back that peaceful heavenly life.

Zeba said...

Thanks Arun ! Keep tuned !

Unni - definitely, these creations of man are in no way comparable to what God has placed before us. Yet, in a way, they present innovative solutions that man came up with, for problems he encountered. This enterprising nature makes him special - don't you think ?

deostroll said...

I go with Unni: we are not 'designed' to live in an urbanized world like the one we live in now.

Unknown said...

enterprising nature "making him special" - i would rather say "making him different", and different in a selfish way. As far as i know, no other species on earth has been so selfish in occupying planet earth. Man is behaving as if he is superior to all other creations of God. All other beings co-exists on earth, whereas man places himself at a higher level and makes the other species live at his mercy, in environments set by him.
He has tried to conquer mother Nature, for his own selfish interests. Wherever has tried that, he might have succeeded temporarily, but eventually he loses. Global warming presents an excellent example.

A crow hasn't gone to moon, a cow doesn't have an orkut profile. But these are not the reasons for their sufferings. Its man's selfish policies that make planet earth a difficult place for them to live.

deostroll said...

My idea of humanity is the human race as a whole. I am more fascinated by how we got here rather than what we are doing here right now. For me enterprising is just the way the human race has survived so far - a path we took - as opposed to 'the way we live now' or 'what we do right now'. Today you realize man is selfish; tomorrow he will grow out of it, provided he is fortunate enough to live until that time comes.

Do other species have a chance to equal modern human beings? They actually do have all rights to...its just that the order of nature at the present moment is to allow us to flourish as regally as possible. [:)]

Unknown said...

"How we got here" is definitely fascinating. From wheels and fire to electricity and computers.

But we should have stayed in harmony with Nature. We could have demonstrated our 'enterprising' skills without disturbing the Nature's equilibrium. We should have tried to co-exist with the nature and other forms of life. Whatever steps man take, how much ever 'enterprising' he is, if its against the Nature, we can be sure, that he is driving nails on his own coffin.

"Do other species have a chance to equal modern human beings? They actually do have all rights to..." -- I am afraid, after some time, the question might become, "Do citizens of Iraq have a chance to equal Americans? They actually do have all rights to..."

Zeba said...

I guess man's selfishness, is part of the problem, but then, greed and selfishness are not unique to him. It is way he tries to satisfy his greed(and whether he is able to do so) that makes him different. With his poor physical power, man would have perished if he didn't use his intellect to solve his problems.

But the question is, will we rise above our selfish needs to serve issues that affect the planet, like global warming ? Independence struggles have shown us that such selfless solidarity does occur, but only when crisis has already struck !

deostroll said...

Yes; technological advance show the grandeur of the human kind, but I was referring more subtle things: ethological aspects. Things like why we exhibit behaviour like altruism (patriotism), love (maternal love), hate, jealousy, fear, etc. Because if you think of them they don't have concrete origins. In fact I believe in our evolutionary timeline they 'just appeared'. There is no direct evidence why they happened. We have to think in terms natural selection to find out. (And believe me if you think you've solved one thing; you'd love to solve another mystery too). And the conclusions I make seem to explain why a particular behaviour is prevalent in other mammilian species.

Unni said: Do citizens of Iraq have a chance to equal Americans?

In what sense do you find them unequal? Did the Americans evolve to be super human or something. They look biologically the same to me. (Oh, I must have missed that one, huh) ! :)

deostroll said...

I would not say selfishness is a problem. Selfishness just "is" whatever "it" is.

Zeb said: "...it is the way he tries to satisfy his greed...that makes him different."

I am saying: he "satisfies"...that's what makes him different. Other species simply can't or don't know they are capable of doing such things. Their brains are not wired that way or they are not wired properly. That's the problem according to me. :)

Zeb said: Independence struggles have shown us that such selfless solidarity does occur, but only when crisis has already struck !

How come you nev asked why we happen to display selfness in the first place? Perhaps ur answer lies there... :)

Unknown said...

I guess we have diverted too much from the main thread :)

Americans and Iraqis are ofcourse biologically the same. That was never my point. Americans deprived Iraqis of their normal life and development as a country. They suppressed the Iraqis, for their own selfish vested interests. This I find similar to what man has done to other living beings, and then saying that "they have all rights to try to be equal"

Man is able to satisfy his greed unlike other species - I dont understand how it makes him superior. Just because they are not able to, or not doing all these crazy stuff which man does, it doesnt make them inferior. They also lead a life of their own, and they are happy with it. If only man would leave them alone, dont deprive them of their natural habitats, they would live a life much more happier than the so called 'superior' , 'brainy' Man.

deostroll said...

Americans denying Iraqis...is a political issue.
Please don't say that politics is about human beings...and that human beings are in turn the result of years of evolution.

I haven't actually figured out evolution yet! :)

Yes, we seem to be consuming nature. But the way I see things I would not call that selfish the way you call it selfish. It is just the way of life. All living things occupy space and they also need space to live. If we take into consideration any living organism or life form, it possess the ability to somehow replicate itself. This is a subject of my personal research. I mean I still do not understand why such a program exists? And ironically it is the continuance of this program that has brought us this far...! To me "reproduction" is just what we call it...All this replication simply consumes whatever it has to - space, energy, etc - so that even those replicated can replicate once again...way of life. We are doing the same thing knowingly or unknowingly. If anything is the problem here it has to be that program, first. But at the same time we would not be discussing all of this if it were not for such a program. (This is why I refuse to call humans a selfish race).

But however if I call humans "selfish" I hope you get the central (yet detached) idea behind it. Its just the way of life. And if you look at it this way, almost all life on earth is selfish.