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PROBLEM OF MENTAL TENSION AND ITS SOLUTION
The growth of scientific knowledge and outlook has revelry jolted our superstitions and false dogmas. But unfortunately, it has shaken our faith in spiritual and human values also. Today, we have more knowledge of and faith in the atom and atomic power than the values needed for meaningful and peaceful life. We rely more on atomic weapons as our true rescuer than on our fellow beings. The advancement in science and technology has provided us amenities for a pleasant living. Today the life on earth has become pleasant and luxurious as it was never before. Yet because of the selfish and materialistic outlook, nobody is happy and satisfied. This advancement, in all walks of life and knowledge, could not sublimate our animal and selfish nature. The animal instinct lying within us is still dominating our individual and social behaviour. What, unfortunately has happened is that the intoxication of ambition and success made us more greedy and egoistic. Our ambitions and desires have no limits. They always remain unfulfilled and the create frustration. Frustration and resentments give birth to mental tensions.
These days, the people and nations, more affluent materially having all the amenities of life, are more in the grip of tensions. Medical as well as psychological reports of advanced nations confirm this fact. This shows that the cause of our tensions is not scarcity of the object of necessities, but the endless desires and the lust for worldly enjoyment. Among the most burning problems, the world facing today, that once of mental tension is the prime one. We are living in tension all the time and even a pleasant sound sleep has become a dream. The single and most salient feature by which our age may be characterized is that of tensions. As a matter of fact, all the problems, we are facing today are created by us hence, their consequences are also to be borne by us.
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Jainism and its History