Venu Gopal
Once upon a time, in a laboratory belonging to Mother Nature, there existed a circular table. The name of the table was E (short for ‘Earth’).
There were many jars on this table. All the jars were filled with creatures – creatures of a very interesting kind. They went by the name of ‘humans’. These jars were sometimes referred to as ‘religion’s.
However, three of these jars were much larger than the others. They were named C, I and H. In 2020, C held approx. 31% of all these special creatures, I about 24% and H about 15%.
While the jars had no lids, and the creatures inside could climb out, that was a tremendously difficult task for most of them. As a result, the creatures in each jar were born within, and grew up with, others in the same jar for the most part.
To most of them, the world inside their jar was ‘The’ world.
The creatures in C, by and large, followed a rulebook called the Bi. They found a way to create divisions among themselves. They formed groups called ‘Ca’s and ‘Pro’s. These groups discriminated against each other; even fought wars with each other. To them, the other jars were – let’s say – some other worlds that could simply be ignored.
The creatures in I also found ways to create divisions among themselves. They divided into ‘Su’s and ‘Shi’s. They followed a rulebook named Qu. The Sus and Shis also hated each other, discriminated against each other and fought wars against each other.
The creatures in H were not satisfied with only two divisions. They divided into multiple sub-groups (named ‘castes’). They were not satisfied with one rulebook either, and had many – Gi, Ma, Ra etc. They strongly discriminated against each other by forming this ‘caste’ class system.
In the early days of these creatures, the creatures within each jar were primarily self-occupied. Their world was mostly – within their jar. Occasionally some creatures would climb out of their jars and fight wars against the ‘aliens’ of other jars. (So there did come about a few areas on table E where there was a mix of populations from multiple jars, but not many.)
As of the last few decades of the 20th century, the major battles within C appear to have died out – the Cas and the Pros generally seem to have forgotten their differences by and large. Good thing. No, actually a great thing.
As of the early decades of the 21st century, the battles within I are still going on. While there appears to be some realization of the commonality within the jar, there is still ways to go between the Sus and Shis.
Within the H jar, as of the last few decades of the 20th century, there was some recognition of the inter-group discrimination that was taking place and there were attempts to correct the situation. Much of the credit for that probably goes to a man named MG. While tremendous progress has been made, there is still ways to go.
So what is the situation NOW ‘between the jars’ (i.e. the situation on table E as a whole) as of this writing?
Creatures on table E have evolved much in the last hundred years, especially in the last few decades. They are able to move much faster and go much farther. They do not have much trouble climbing out of the jars – should they choose to do so. More and more are (slowly) choosing to do so. Heck, a tiny number have even gone outside of table E!
But more importantly than physical distance, the level of communication and interaction between the jars have increased by orders of magnitude.
The older creatures in these jars find it very difficult to come to terms with a world that extends far beyond their ‘jar’, burying themselves in their own rulebook(s) and pretending the rest of the jars or their rulebooks really do not exist (or do not matter).
The younger ones, however, are not finding it that difficult. While the ‘societal programming’ one gets starting from childhood used to be only from one corner of one jar once upon a time, now it comes from a wider area comprising of multiple jars*. As a result, they tend to have a wider, more open perspective.
In conclusion, let us all hope that this trend continues and that the walls of these jars will eventually dissolve and disappear.
To that, I am willing to pray.
If only I knew to which God.
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