EXPECTING A CRISIS-FREE ERA AS WE ENTER 2022

By Promod Puri

If the circa 2020 and 2021 get merged, we clock an era of a worldwide pandemic, the planetary threat to global climate change, and the sharp and clear emergence of political far-Right.

The impromptu eruption of extreme conservatism, as seen during the last US presidential election followed by the Capitol Hill insurrection, reveals a phenomenon that stubbornly goes unvaccinated to the crisis posed by the pandemic and climate change.

The alt-Right wave runs continental, north to south America, Europe, Asia and spots in Africa. The familiar Left-Right political spectrum got jolted much in '20-21.'

The spur in Far-Right extremist ideas and militancy strikes a grave threat to the pluralist liberal democracies. The danger comes when these ideas get mainstreamed and permeate into political functioning.

Democracy allows this influence in its tradition of having dissent and debate. But the far-Right spread primarily benefits political carpetbaggers.

Prime Minister Modi of India has dexterously introduced and inspired the far-Right culture into the mainstream to advance its ideology as a Hindu nation despite the constitutional affirmation of its diverse and secular character.

The trend is explicit worldwide that opts for monolithic societies in terms of the same religion, same language and same culture.

While extreme conservatism spreads with the excessive doses of nationalism, jingoism and the promise to restore the over-hyped 'past glory,' many nations across the globe stand embroiled in the ongoing internal or external conflicts and combats.

The world remains engulfed in an environment dotted with turmoils and strifes triggered by political, racial, religious, caste, class discords and disturbances fueled with an unlimited supply of arms and ammunition.

From Kashmir to Myanmar, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Ethiopia, the never-ending Israel-Palestinian on and off skirmishes, and many more, the trouble spots are the stable marks on the global vicious and violent scene.

Enormous tragedies are happening worldwide that sound like a normal state of affairs. We are "becoming so desensitized to crises and suffering that they are now happening while hardly being noticed," according to Pope Francis in his X-mas message.

The world population faces desperation and miseries from the never-ending combats and conflicts, contributing to escalating refugee populations year after year. The destitute migrants in their dingy boats die, and those who survive to knock on every available door for shelter to escape from the regimes determined to crush humanity and fundamental human rights.

There seems to be no end to conflicts and crises, battles and bloodshed where radical Right emerges as an influential player in the current state of affairs worldwide.

The issue is how amid all these turmoils and tensions, we can collectively, as one world community, fight the menace of Coronavirus and climate change.

As we head towards 2022, confidently, we do not swing into a revolving door that brings us back to the era of 2020-2021.

 

-30-

 MY REMEMBRANCE DAY:

 It all happened on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, of 1918 when the First World War hostilities formally ended, and the occasion got the flag of Remembrance Day.

World War1 began in 1914 until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan, the United States, and Canada (the Allied Powers).

In the four years of the war, 16 million soldiers and civilians alike were dead.

Remembrance Day is the armistice day to mark the war's end and remember and honour those who die in the line of duty.

For that reason, Remembrance Day is a sad day that human lives got sacrificed by the decisions and orders of the ruling elite of the combating nations.

On the battlefields, humanity gets divided as enemies. Human beings appear marked targets. Those who got killed become martyrs, and the killers emerge as heroes.

When 16 million people died during WW1 as soldiers and civilians, imagine how many families faced devastation, how many children were orphaned, how many women became widowed.

But that is least remembered. What is more significant is the essentiality of war.

It is staged with utmost fervour of nationalism and patriotism so that "by the sacrifices made by the courageous and brave, we live in the free world."

True, their sacrifices matter. But why war in the first place. Is it the failure of the leaders or their intentions that ignite a war?

The ruling leaders are not hurt or die on the battleground. The soldiers die.

The First World War, the Second World War, and the ongoing wars on every continent of the globe cost trillions of dollars annually in military spending with catastrophic consequences impacting every aspect of the planet earth.

When there are no more wars, nations dissolve their armies, factories that manufacture deadly bombs, missiles, tanks, etc., and even the AK-47s get raised to the ground; that would be the signal for my Remembrance Day.

-Promod Puri

 RELIGIONS NEED TO BE FREE FROM FANATICS:

Fanatic Hindu, fanatic Muslim, fanatic Sikh, fanatic Christian, Jew, or Buddhist!

These are the labels we often hear or assign to persons of different faiths based on our involvements and experiences or by the society with its blanket overlook.

The prefix fanatic undoubtedly contaminates the purity of religion to which it is attached and obscure its spiritual pathways?

Moreover, the pejorative affix over a while creates the visible face of a religious order. In this frame, expressions like Islamic extremism and Islamophobia influence the perception of Islam in its religious presentation.

Religious fanaticism develops when ritualistic commitments get more emphasis and involvement than apprehending and pursuing the theological education offered by faith.

Zealous engagement focusing on the security, protection and preservation of the rituals, customs and traditions of religion reflects the mind of a fanatic believing that service or commitment to the faith lies in these acts.

No religion in the world faces danger; instead, the fanatics make the followers believe so.

In this behaviour, fanatics get obsessed with ceremonial practices, only believing that is their religion.

Ritualistic flavours of different faiths give a strong and bonded sense of belonging and identity to a fanatic who leeches on to a religion sucking its divine vitality.

 

While rituals give religion character, identity, and dynamics, the excessive and exuberant practices create fanaticism that offers nil attachment to a faith.

A fanatic is a fanatic to the core with a raging and rough temperament who does not need separate identities like fanatic Hindu, fanatic Muslim, fanatic Sikh, fanatic Christian, Jew, or Buddhist.

-Promod Puri

 

 THE HYPE OF PROTEIN AND THE TASTE OF GHEE:

Growing up in India, the most nutritious food item loaded with protein besides vitamin A and other healthy stuff was the mighty ghee. Nobody cared about its fatty contents as calories.

I don't know on the health chart what ghee's status shows up now in India. But in most of the economically developed nations, protein is the king.

Recommended by health professionals and followed by extensive advertising, protein has buildup as an essential component of daily intake of healthy food.

Protein supplement production represents a billion-dollar industry globally. Its formulation is mostly a combination of whey and casein, both found in milk or peas, soy, and brown rice.

Protein is a complex molecular arrangement that meets our need for the structure, function, and regulation of the body's tissues and organs.

Protein bars, protein shakes and smoothies, besides the regular protein content in animal food, fulfill our daily protein requirement. However, the hype for protein has escalated its consumption much more than what we need.

The USA National Academy of Medicine recommends a daily protein intake: 56 grams for men and 46 grams for women. A dedicated athlete need not take more than120 grams of protein per day.

The academy warns that a high protein diet can strain kidney and liver function and increase heart disease and cancer risk.

Moreover, when we replace meals with a protein bar, shake, etc., we also risk missing out on the rich sources of antioxidants, vitamins, and many other benefits of real food.

Protein intake presents its consumption limits per day, so does the time-honoured ghee.

But the latter also has its culinary value. Besides its taste and flavour, ghee occupies a good spot in our cultural, traditional, and religious affairs.

The Punjabi delicacy of 'Sarson da Saag' and 'Makki di Roti' offers a dry look unless it gets garnished with a topping of a spoonful of ghee. What could be savorier than the sweet and heavenly combination of ghee, 'shakkar,' and 'Makki di roti' for the dessert?

Love your protein within the recommended limit. And enjoy the ghee but in moderation according to taste while keeping an eye on the waist.

-Promod Puri

 

EGO: AN OVERVIEW: 

(Warning: 992 words to step on this reading. 5 mts. read.).)

What is ego?

It is the nature of a person's attitude and expression of opinion where I, me or mine dominates.

"What I want, "what satisfies me," or "it is mine," all these simple assertions exhibit ego or self-interest.

Ego means 'I.' In fact, the Latin word for 'I' is ego.

'I,' 'me,' and 'mine' induce our thinking, motives, arguments, etc., with an egoistic penchant.

Our reactions to the outside world or others' thinking, viewpoints, attitude, or actions get influenced and biased by 'I,' or the ego. It inscribes its mark on our thoughts, behaviours, reactions, and experiences.

Essentially, ego is the personal view that people form about themselves.

The personal perception can be realistic without exaggeration of own achievements and abilities while recognizing the accomplishments of others.

However, 'I’-dominated personal views may reflect self-recognition and self-appreciation. An example is "I'm an intelligent and most knowledgeable person. Ego stops us from saying, "I'm not intelligent" or "I'm stupid."

Ego is not our true self. It is a self-image or self-concept that we create for ourselves with a conscious mind.

When loaded with 'I,' ego gets visibly identified as an impulse to promote self-admiration or praise. An opinion about one's features and importance gets distinguished by the person's amplified vision of self and self-importance. Misconception about the self evolves, and that blocks critical reaction.

In this situation, ego dominates the mental space; one becomes a narcissist. And the individual seeks the external endorsement of acknowledgement, appreciation, or applause.

The creation of self-image gives identity to a person. But when the self-portrait drifts beyond its true character, it generates self-esteem. The expression we often hear is 'big ego.'

Conceit is synonymous with a big ego, meaning an excessively favourable opinion of one's ability, importance, intelligence, etc.

The term egomaniac refers to exaggerated self-portrait.

Another term is egotist, where people excessively talk about their intellectual, academic, astute, or wealth superiority and want everybody to accept it.

Establishing a reasonable identity of self is the basic expectation of ego. But when one goes beyond that, the person becomes a victim of egotist personality traits.

In this psychological behaviour, the ego earns its nasty ranking. It generates a delusion of greatness that includes overestimating intellect, fame, affluence, etc.

EGO DEVELOPS EARLY IN LIFE

The ego is a crucial part of personality development that begins in early childhood. In a baby's little world, a sense of importance lies with the omnipotent feeling.

Societal norms adjust egocentric behaviour with gradual reconciliation to more realistic views of the self during growing up. Moving towards the ideal self is a natural experience for most people.

For some, the head gets more swollen with self-esteem because of an inferiority complex from the standards set by society. Or the individual becomes the self-spokesperson as nobody does the job to publicize a sense of achievement that the community otherwise refuses to recognize. Moreover, it is the inability to assume or understand any other viewpoint accurately besides one's own.

Egotism, egotist, egotistical or egocentric carries the same explanation of egomaniac people. They display excessive, bragging, boastful, self-worshipping, narcissist and self-centred signs with no regard or interest in the successes or achievements of others.

Who are the victims of this behavioural oddity?

The egoistic mannerism lies in all classes, including intellectuals, intelligent and informed academics, writers and poets, celebrities and luminaries, priests, preachers, and politicians, limiting the poor from the middle to the upper class.

A self-centred person gets easily identified when the individual indulges in self-publicity.

Dominating their space on social media, egoistic folks display their handsome looks, attractive physical features, or stylish outfits through an intensive presentation of self photos in diverse poses. The exhibit gets supplemented with bragging and boasting of every trivial achievement.

AN EXPOSITION OF EGO CORRUPTS THE HUMAN MIND

When an exposition of ego develops, it creates the right prescription to corrupt human behaviour and narrows its field of vision. Moreover, our values are compromised.

In Sikhism, egoistic mentality gets censured.

It is one of the five denounced evils. 'Ahankar' is the word in Punjabi meaning ego. The other evils are 'kam' (lust), 'krodh' (anger), 'lobh' (greed), and 'moh' (attachment).

"When there is ego, there is no God; when there is God, there is no ego!": Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Sikhism applies 'nimrata,' meaning humility, to ward off the ego.

Nimrata develops through 'Sewa (service) by volunteers in the Sikh tradition of langar, communal eating in a Gurudwara.

Nimrata befalls those who partake the food while sitting on the langar hall floor and sharing the meal with others irrespective of caste, social or economic status.

IMPACT OF EGO

Does the ego of one person impact the entire community of people?

Not really. Society is not much touched or troubled though it might feel a bit turned off from an egoist. The damage is at the personal level.

The significant impairment, however, develops when political leadership gets corrupted with egotistical behaviour. That happens all over the world, from the most democratic nations to the dictatorial regimes.

Egotistical mindset attitudes of governing leaders steer the policies, programs, campaigns, attacks, and invasions in most parts of the globe, while nationalism and patriotism shift towards misleading directions to align with the egotist temperament of ruling heads.

History is the witness where egos of the kings, dictators, autocrats, elected presidents and prime ministers caused innumerable tragedies worldwide. 

Peace in the world, peace in the environment, peace for the poor get quashed just by the self-centred adamant behaviour of the egoistic rulers.

The egotistical or narcissistic behaviour of political leadership poses real challenges for peace and security in the world.  

However, when it resides in the minds of ordinary folks, egotism creates just a minor repellent feeling. For sure, when they brag, it is always a marathon delivery. But one good thing about egoists is that they don't talk about other people!

-Promod Puri