Family and Nation

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

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THE FAMILY AND THE NATION
lead to outbursts of extremism worldwide, including world wars. The feelings of hatred feed on themselves, leading to an inferno. The world has witnessed and is witnessing today the unsavoury acts of certain misguided sections of society. We have to address ourselves to the root causes of such phenomena for finding lasting solutions, and promote peace through unity of minds.
The unity of minds is basically a humanist precept. It resides comfortably at the heart of the humanist perception; anywhere else, inside any old-fashioned belief in a God that favours some groups over others, it is an unfamiliar element. It troubles the true believer with the contradiction between tribal suspicion of outsiders and the thought that the outsider is a human being like him. Like the sand in a pearl-bearing oyster, such a doubt can irritate the ranks of the faithful into gradually, over many generations, perhaps, expanding the ambit of their faith in a pan-humanist direction to include all humanity.
We are sceptical about the old-fashioned faiths that require uncritical acceptance of the doctrines and dogmas of the major established religions. Faith is more a state of mind that leads people to believe something-it doesn't matter what-in the total absence of supporting evidence. Faith is indeed capable of driving people to such dangerous recklessness that it can be a kind of mental illness.
We insist that there needs to be some point of departure, some base point, if we are to establish direction and purpose to our lives. And accepting this has to be a a matter of faith. You cannot go back indefinitely, asking 'why' to every preceding answer like a curious but annoying child. You have to stop somewhere. For us the base point is that all humanity is our home team.
As human beings we must accept the need for some kind of faith. As with some computer games, we arrive on the