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48
THE ART OF POSITIVE THINKING
requisite energy to stand and walk. When he walks, his stomach along with the food in it moves with him. And also moves with him the provision merchant from whom he procured the wheat flour; and the farmer who produced the wheat, and the craftsman who moulded implements for the farmer. Numberless shadows move with him. Alone he would not be able to take a step forward, would become immobile. Every movement of ours implies the collaboration of a thousand men. The belief that one can live alone, in total isolation, disregards the fact of interdependence; it is a purely subjective illusion. But the moment we perceive that without mutual cooperation, no man can achieve much, the whole picture of our society presents itself before us, clearly showing the inevitable link between the efforts of different individuals. A man by himself can achieve nothing. All work gets done through mutual cooperation.
This cooperative relationship is so subtle that a gross mind is likely to miss it, but to a subtle mind it is apparent at every step. A man is going to a friend's house. He is moving in a particular direction because of his relationship with his friend. He is attached to him and that is why he is going there. It is the need of being related that takes him there.
Relationship, utility and influence the three together impel mutual cooperation. Without mutual cooperation, no man can live in this world; he cannot even maintain his existence without it. All things are interdependent. The second storey rests on the first, and the first storey on the foundation; the foundation itself rests on the earth. There can be no foundation without the earth. Everything has a base. That which has no material base, belongs to the subtle world. It is not to be found in the material world. In the world of matter, everything rests upon something else. That is why we seek a basis for everything.
A logician was carrying a basin brimful of ghee. A question arose in his mind: Does the basin hold the ghee or is it the ghee that holds the basin? Naturally, nothing can rest without a foundation. It was apparent that the basin held the ghee. And yet could it not be otherwise? May it not be the ghee that holds the basin? He would make an experiment, he thought. He turned the basin upside down. All the ghee was spilt. The basin was empty. Now all his doubts were cleared. It was conclusively proved that it was the basin that held the ghee and not otherwise.
The very basis of society is in question. Society runs on a basis -that of mutual cooperation. Where this is ignored, many difficulties arise. If we analyse today's problems, we shall find that poverty is not so terrific a problem as that posed by lack of mutual cooperation. Man lives in society, yet he is disregarding the principle of interdependence.
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