Mankind is one of the most complex entities mankind is aware of. Too many emotions, complex human thoughts and various styles of expression, right from the time we wake up our mind is hurled upon with varying thoughts, feelings and emotions. Successive waves of rage, joy, love, hatred, pain, confusion, and hopelessness invade our tranquility disturbing our emotional equilibrium sometimes to an irreversible extent. Spontaneous surge of neural hormones temporarily blind our imagination and rationality leaving us handicapped and vulnerable to damaging mood swings and worse. Mental and physical exertions at workplace, sullen weather, traffic gridlocks, unpleasing sights, sounds and sensations are the external factors which only add to this misery.
But think again, there is an order in this chaos. It is in this maze of sentiments and feelings, lies the utmost stability of our race, and it is these, which make humans humane. Not alone, the power of reasoning makes a human; it is also his ability to feel, to be metacognitive, to be empathetic, and to respond to love, pain and sorrow. Our rational mind only believes what it is capable of reasoning, it cannot feel. This only puts a limitation to perceive things which are beyond his ability to reason and understand.
When was the last time you looked up at the night sky and admired the incessant fireworks of nature? Can you reason why you feel rejuvenated not in front of your office air conditioner but in the morning when a chilly breeze gushes on your sleepy face? Can you tell me why the aroma of sand when it is raining, more charismatic than all the perfumes in the world? Why the sound of the raindrops on the glass windows, more peaceful than an orchestra. The chirping of the birds, the clap of thunder and symphony of the gale moving through the boughs, is like a melodious sonnet sung by nature, why? And why is it that a puppy licking your fingers melts away your weariness when you come back home from a long day of work, and most tranquilizers of modern medicine cannot?
There much more to the heart than the mind is aware of. Reason is simply too young to understand our emotions. And if we learn to manage them well, our intelligent emotions will propel us to a much more successful and peaceful life.
Mankind’s quest to acquire more knowledge, to invent more for the convenience of daily life, and attempts to feed the greed of logical curiosity, now has a much darker revelation to consider. It is human Insensitivity and loss of empathy.
Life cannot be rushed upon, or lived on a controlled pace and as our lives get busier and the constant struggle for a bigger piece of bread gets tight, we have no time to feel, to appreciate simple things around us, to be ourselves, to be humane. Leading a mechanical life, we have been ignoring our feelings and emotions for so long that now they don’t even dare to surface, and the irony is that when we attain this zenith of insensitivity we foolishly call ourselves more practical and mature.
Our education system teaches us a variety of things. It teaches us technology to invent, medicine to cure, management to manage resources, then why forgets the bare essentials. Why not learn how to manage emotions, how to channelize them for better stability and inner peace, how to refine our thoughts with a deeper sense of self-realization. An emotionally adept and intelligent society will be more successful than the mechanical and insensitive one. Wont it?
