IN SEARCH OF OUR WONDERFUL WORDS…Randomness & Interdependence

In the Chapter titled as ‘Thought of the God’ of my recent book “In Search of Our Wonderful Words” I wrote;    

“If we think about the universe as a whole we find two important elements that we cannot overlook. The first is some kind of ‘absolute randomness’. The second important feature about the universe is ‘a total interdependence’ of all its components.”

The modern scientific theories accept randomness, but try to derive a sense of predictability out of it. Philosophies, particularly those of the ancient India, relied on the universal order (no randomness or disorder) caused by the Supreme Creator.

To me it appears that the modern scientists attribute the randomness to the nature; and the ancient Indian philosophers ‘own up’ the human limitations and man’s susceptibility to illusions. The ancient thinkers had ‘faith’ in the orderliness of the universe and modern scientists have ‘confidence’ that they can ‘create a sense of order even from the absolute randomness’ for the benefit of the man.

As regards ‘total interdependence’ of all that exists, ancient philosophers and scientists have no difference of opinion.

There is no reason to have doubts about the intentions of modern scientists, but the benefit of the man does not depend on the knowledge a scientific mind creates about the physical aspects of the world; it depends on the character of the modern man as to how he uses that knowledge.

My earlier book, “Mahatma A Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious”, primarily dealt with the thinking process of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The book used Gandhi’s own words to explore, how he thought. Gandhi had full faith in the orderliness of the universe and believed that the ever existent orderliness can be used to deal with whatever created any disorder. I agree with Mahatma Gandhi in principle; and that is why I wrote the book, “Mahatma A Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious”. It is extremely difficult to find people who can match the intensity and strength of the commitment Gandhi had towards his principles. However, the need for creating an order in the world still exists; in fact, it is constantly rising with an ever increasing pace.

The modern man has duties to perform. He has to have faith in the orderliness of the universe. For developing that faith he has to internalize the thought of the interdependence of all that exists in this world. After having internalized the thought himself, he is also needed to help the fellow human beings internalize the thought of interdependence of all that exist. The thought may be simple, but to conduct accordingly is not easy. The modern man; with his self created compulsions, his fears, his excessive dependence on and pride for his presumed intellect, his desires well settled as his prejudices, his hardened self-centeredness and with his many other such shortcomings; finds it difficult to even think of a right change. Maybe, the modern man has become more complex than what he was in Gandhi’s time. My subsequent book, “In Search of Our Wonderful Words” discusses these aspects.

It is wrong to assume that one’s personal life is not much affected by prevailing social, political or economic conditions. We are as much a slave of ourselves as we are that of the society we are a part of. We have no option but to think about us and also about the others.

It is hardly of any consequence that I wrote the above referred books; but, what I wrote there cannot and should not be brushed aside.

PROMOD KUMAR SHARMA

[This blog is being presented by the author of “Mahatma A Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” and “In Search of Our Wonderful Words”.]