BY M. S.
We are all living in the most fearful period in the
history of mankind. Posterity will marvel at how we have lived in this age. But
this is an age of Freedom. That is why it is so costly and painful to live now.
It is also lovely to be alive now. Freedom is full of paradoxes. But we have to
live through the age we are born in. Life is a test; and the test consists in
meeting our experiences, which we face according to the strength of our
desires. Deep down in man there are two strata of basic wants. Food, clothes,
home–these are his physical wants. Love, worship, justice–are his moral wants.
In the comedy and tragedy of human life, all
problems could be solved if traced right back to either of these two wants.
There are many things inconsistent in our domestic and foreign problems, which
are damaging the vital forces of our lives and our countries. It is to solve
these inconsistencies that wars are fought. Could it be the only method? I do
not believe so. We often hear even amidst bomb and shell, amidst hatred and
strife, amidst aggression and greed, situations where little acts of kindness
are rendered by an enemy. What could this be due to? A psychologist would say
that in the worst of us there is the instinct to protect. This is motivated by
love. The nucleus of love is the principle ‘to understand’. It is this
principle ‘to understand’ that is important for us in our study of human
relations. You cannot solve a mathematical problem without first understanding
it; nor could you paraphrase a poem without knowing its meaning. In the same
way you should not wonder why one man should hate another, or one class be
superior to another class, or one race dominate another race without knowing
about human traits and racial complexes.
There are many characters in literature and
history, which bring out of the magnitude of certain traits in a very real way.
Modern psychology has devised tests to draw out an individual’s traits. There
are tests for co-operation, persistence, self-control, honesty, service and
other traits of character which should be taken by every individual.
We need not go to Versailles or the League of
Nations, to study racial complexes. They are so obvious. There are daily common
occurrences of this nature to be seen in hotels, railway compartments and
clubs. A complex is a feeling, which is hidden in the unconscious region of the
mind, and is not allowed expression. The factors which cause complexes are– 1.
Fears, especially unnatural fears. 2. Shocks, especially disappointments; these
harden the feelings and develop hatred. 3. Sins. Complexes are groups of ideas
the central one of which is confidence in oneself, with a feeling of aggression
which is due to fear. Now apply this definition to any racial question and you
will have the answer to it.
It is not uncommon to find in spite of all these
differences strong friendships between different classes and different races.
Once more the psychologist would tell us that ‘unity’ is due to certain
principles of ‘conformity’. Perhaps it may best be explained in this way.
It seems to me that a sense of values governs ‘the
power to understand’ one another. What are these values? I do think that our
living habits are the basis by which classes, communities and races are formed.
I am a Brahmin in India, but certainly not in the world. When I travel in
Europe or America, people are cordial after a while. I am first looked over. I
am judged by my habits and not by my prestige. Life abroad is a practical
objective test. It is like this. The observer ticks you off for these things:
1.
Your habits of cleanliness
and neatness are first of all gauged. The use of bathrooms especially–the
flush, wash-basin and taps.
2.
Your manners, sense
of co-operation, sociability, dignity, honesty, punctuality, etc.
3.
Your aesthetic sense
in dress and art.
People are greatly respected whatever their class or race might be if they are neat and clean in their ways. It is the only way to command respect. It is the only weapon against snobbery. Our physical habits must be attractive.
We have also to cultivate another form of habits. We must equally guard our habits of thought. There is only one way to do this. It is to consider ourselves as human beings. This then gives us the idea that we are not only all physically made the same way, but mentally equipped the same way. We are all given the power to understand and reason. That is why it is easy for us to mix with each other and to be agreeable. Just as we all use the same formula to solve a problem and arrive at the same answer, so should we all use common ideals to solve differences of opinion and arrive at correct solutions.
A superior person is one who has a knowledge of his physical and mental equipment; he is a person who has clean and precise habits of living and habits of thought. Such a person is integrated; such a person can make easy adjustments. Integration and adjustment are the only two factors which could help to develop an inter social, and inter-racial sense, and build a people who would ‘match’ with each other.
This should not be difficult. Just as we all follow the same civic rules, as observing the rule of the road, and forming queues, so should we devise and conform both to certain habits of living and habits of thought. Human nature is the same all the world over. So long as we believe in this, we could devise schemes for our physical and moral welfare. It is by cultivating the idea that we are not classes or communities or races but human beings that we could turn out a common world race. This is the New Fellowship.