MIND IS NOT EVERYTHING

You know , it is so nice just to be very quiet, to sit up straight with dignity , with poise – and  that is as important as it is to look at those leafless trees. Have you noticed how lovely those trees are against the pale blue of the morning sky ? The naked branches of a tree reveal its beauty; and trees also have an extraordinary beauty about them in the spring, in the summer and in the autumn. Their beauty changes  with the seasons . and to notice this is as important as it is to consider the ways of our own life.

Whether we live in Russia or  America or India , we are all human beings ; as human beings we have common problems , and it is absurd to think of ourselves as Hindus, Americans,Russians,Chinese and so on . There are political, geographic , racial and economic divisions, but to emphasize the divisions only breeds antagonism and hatred. Americans may be for the moment far more prosperous, which means that they have more gadgets, more radios, more television sets, more of everything including  a surplus of food, while in this country there is so much starvation, squalor, overpopulation , and unemployment , But  wherever we live we are all human beings, and as human beings we create our own human problems ; and it is very important to understand that in thinking of ourselves as Hindus, Americans or Englishmen or as white, brown , black, or yellow we are creating needless barriers between ourselves.

One of our main difficulties is that modern education all over the world is chiefly concerned with making us mere technicians. We learn how to design jet planes, how to constructpaved roads, how to build cars , or run the latest nuclear submarines, and in the midst of all this technology we forget that we are human beings – which means that we are filling our hearts with the things of the mind. In America automation is releasing more and more people from long hours of labour , as it will presently be doing in this country , and then we shall have the immense problem  of  how to utilize our time. Huge factories now employing many thousands will probably be run by a few technicians, and what is to become of all the other human beings who used to work there and who will have so much time on their hands ? Until education begins to take this and other human problems into account, our lives will be very empty.

Continues on next week.....