Family and Nation

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya, A P J Abdulkalam
Publisher: Harper Publications India

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THE FAMILY AND THE NATION
what they know but what they are capable of knowing.
They are increasingly immersed in data-based forms of knowledge, limited to information transmissible in digital form. The modern culture is sacrificing the subtle, contextual and memory-based knowledge gleaned from living in a Nature-based culture, meaningful interactive learning with other humans, and an ecologically based value system. Acharya: It is evident that one considerable source of beauty and health in all animals is the advantage which they reap from the particular manner of life to which they are destined. Kalam: Acharyaji, what is the source of the pain humanity has suffered throughout evolution? Acharya: Although most of the human race has left the hunter-gatherer stage of evolution, our emotions and our bodies are still equipped for that former lifestyle. The contrast with lifestyles in an industrialized society has brought problems for the human race. Kalam: What are these problems and is there a way out? Acharya: Our bodies have many physical capabilities but few of us make use of them. We no longer run, climb trees, ford rivers or dig in the earth to find food. Our bodies pay a price for our life of leisure. We grow fat, our arteries clog up, and our feet hurt. Kalam: Why is there so much unhappiness and sadness in individuals? Why are there quarrels in families? Why is there conflict in society? Acharya: Our Stone-Age minds are still equipped to carry out the seven deadly sins: greed, avarice, sloth, etc. Society makes laws and rules to prevent us from following our natural inclination of self-preservation and survival of the fittest. Most of us learn to behave