Inspire the youth through life-affirming acts

IOFTEN feel that the negativity around us has begun to severely affect our positive and creative life-energy. At times, a sense of cynicism or pessimism tends to envelop our consciousness. We become restless; we become angry; and we tend to lose the faculty of reasoned debate and dialogue. Indeed, the toxic culture that characterises the heavily polarised socio-political milieu with its broken/distorted communication and associated physical/symbolic violence seems to have become overwhelmingly powerful.

The constant dissemination of these negative vibrations through the ceaseless flow of hyper-nationalist anger and celebration, religious fanaticism, political rhetoric and social media-induced abuse tends to take us towards a dark world — a world without empathy, love, understanding and the art of listening. Everybody around us — from television news anchors to our neighbours; or, from those who are never tired of commenting on everything on earth through the instantaneity of social media to school principals/university vice-chancellors — seems to be angry, adamant and intoxicated with a rigid notion of the ‘enemies’ to be fought, defeated and eradicated.

Our friends are becoming strangers, and even authentic communication is becoming increasingly difficult in our families. Love seems to have become a bad word; hatred or anger is the new normal; and humility is seen to be a manifestation of weakness amid the glorification of hyper-masculine and narcissistic aggression.

The question is whether it is possible to save ourselves from this psychic malady, cultural decadence and chronic anger/restlessness. There are moments when I feel that it is better to remain silent and not react to the prevalent state of affairs.

However, escapism is not the answer. But then, the question that confronts me and many others is whether it is possible to live in this violent and cynical age and yet retain the spirit of positive vibrations filled with hope, sanity and life-affirming actions. Even though, as many would argue, it is exceedingly difficult to remain positive, we need to strive for it for our collective sanity.

And this is possible only if we realise fundamental truths related to the dynamics of the relationship between the ‘self’ and the ‘world’.

Our creative agency matters even if there are huge structural constraints. The ‘system’ cannot be altered without our efforts, our well-intended projects and meaningful actions. Hence, even if in this politically engineered and polarised world we are led to think in terms of binaries (Hindus vs Muslims; deshbhakts vs deshdrohis; ‘believers’ vs ‘secular atheists’), it is possible for us see the world beyond these binaries through intellectual clarity, historical insight and nuanced understanding.

In this context, let us refer to Gandhi and Tagore. Gandhi’s religious and spiritual experiments as a ‘Hindu’ did not prevent him from continually striving for a politico-spiritual merger with other religious communities. It was this creative agency that led him to see beyond the psychology of division and hatred and sow the seeds of alternative politics through the practice of ahimsa or non-violence. And through his politics and life-practice, Gandhi transcended the duality of the ‘secular’ vs the ‘spiritual’. His spiritual quest for harmony inspired him to strive for a truly multi-religious and multicultural India, even when the trauma of Partition was normalising the psychology of communal hatred and violence.

Likewise, Tagore celebrated the idea of India as an oceanic civilisation and was always uncomfortable with the violence implicit in the discourse of hyper-nationalism. His literary or cultural act was born out of this longing for love and universalism.

Is it possible to rediscover Gandhi and Tagore in these toxic times, learn from their creative agency, overcome the meanness implicit in the divisive politics and heal our wounded selves?

Small things matter; and hence, we should not devalue the significance of our small efforts for creating a better world. Yes, to borrow from EF Schumacher’s philosophic articulation, ‘small is beautiful’. Revolution is not something big and spectacular. There is no magician who makes it possible. It happens only through simple and meaningful acts that we encourage in our everyday realm of work.

A teacher trying to create a culture of debate, dialogue and mutual learning in a multicultural classroom; a doctor visiting a riot-affected area and healing the wounded victims, irrespective of their religious identities; or a cultural activist doing a workshop with schoolchildren and reminding them of our composite culture — all these small, yet meaningful, efforts eventually lead to a radical social transformation.

The praxis of hope, or what Antonio Gramsci would have characterised as the ‘optimism of the will’, is not daydreaming; instead, it is therapeutic and it helps us to engage in life-affirming actions for creating a sane culture.

India’s future depends on the new generation growing up in this toxic socio-cultural milieu. Hence, as a teacher, I feel that it is important to spread the idea and praxis of the pedagogy of hope.

Do we want our children to grow up as a gang of violent, non-reflexive and sadistic warriors shouting abusive slogans and searching for their ‘enemies’? Do we want them to be intoxicated with all sorts of hate speech delivered by the irresponsible political class?

Or do we want them to evolve as intellectually awakened and ethically enriched citizens filled with the spirit of love and solidarity?

History will not forgive us if we remain silent and allow them to get carried away by the gestures of demagogues and their propaganda machinery. We can inspire them only through our positive and life-affirming acts.