CULTURE OF HEEDLESSNESS
Consumerism is making people live in intellectual starvation, leading to their complete heedlessness of God and forgetfulness of the purpose of life. Man must learn to ponder over deeper truths and live at a higher level of humanity.
In the present era, a particular culture has spread worldwide, called by different names— ‘progressive culture’, ‘modern culture’, ‘consumer culture’, ‘entertainment culture’, ‘secular culture’, ‘Western culture’, and so on. However, properly speaking, a more appropriate name for it is just one: the culture of forgetfulness.
On a vast scale, this culture has put human beings into complete heedlessness of God and forgetfulness of the purpose of life. As a result, today’s man is engrossed in different types of engagements. In this way, he does not find the opportunity to even think of The Truth.
In the ancient past, man had many free moments. He used to spend those moments in search of meaning. He used to contemplate the reality of things. He used to try to understand issues that were beyond the external world. However, the artificial activities of today’s world have enticed men so strongly towards them that few people now spare time to contemplate the more meaningful questions of life.
One of the many questions about human life is: How can one fulfill the material needs of life? In previous ages, this question was a straightforward one. Its purpose was to obtain the necessities of life—food, clothing, shelter, etc. However, modern culture has dramatically exacerbated the issue. Earlier, the question was how the needs of life could be obtained. Later, another question became the focus of attention—how can one get life’s material comforts and luxuries? The issue went even further, and men began to ask: How can life be as enjoyable and pleasurable as possible? How can man’s desires be fulfilled to the maximum possible extent? Arriving here, now man began to focus his whole life only on obtaining material objects of comfort. He no longer had time to think about making his life more meaningful. Because of this situation, we have called contemporary culture the culture of heedlessness.
There are two significant aspects of human life. First is the necessities of life, and the second is the purpose of life. An essential part of the ‘progress’ that the present age has registered is that it has dramatically increased the production and availability of material objects, going far beyond basic human needs. These consumer goods have been made to appear very attractive and alluring. As a result, man’s full attention is now focused on these things. Consequently, the list of one’s needs and wants (and many wants came to be considered needs) became so long that it appeared to have no end. Acquiring these objects became the be-all and end-all for people. In previous ages, the satisfaction of one’s needs happened through a few simple things. However, people’s list of wants (in addition to their needs) is so long that it seems never-ending.
Acquiring material objects to cater to one’s ever-increasing desires has now assumed the form of a veritable religion, the religion of consumerism. A deadly result of this is that today, almost no one wants to reflect on questions related to the very purpose of human life. The phrase ‘the higher purpose of life’ has become unfamiliar. Modern consumerism has led man to live at the level of beasts. As a result, living at a higher level of humanity has become alien for most people.
For this state of affairs, man has had to pay a hefty price— and that is, his intellectual development has stopped in the true sense of the term. Now almost every person’s condition is such that if you speak with them about issues related to their profession, they will appear to be ‘experts’, but if you talk to them on any subject other than their profession, you will feel that you are talking to someone foolish. From the physical point of view, they may appear very smart, but in terms of intellectual standards, they seem to be dwarfs. Perhaps it will not be wrong to term contemporary consumerist culture as ‘beast culture’. A deadly result of the upsurge of this ‘beast culture’ is that people of today’s age have become victims of intellectual dwarfism.
The condition of contemporary man is such that he now has access to a wide variety of material goods, but at the same time, he has become a victim of intellectual starvation. Today, man first needs to extricate himself from this morass of intellectual starvation. He must make himself consciously so capable that he may be able to ponder over deeper truths. He must live for a higher purpose than merely catering to his bodily demands. He must rise from the animal level and truly live at the human level.
There are two significant periods of man’s intellectual history: one, before the emergence of the consumerist culture, and the other, the period following the rise of this culture. If you reflect deeply, you will discover that man achieved a great deal in etiquette, refinement, and wisdom before the rise of the consumerist culture. In this period, excellent books on intellect and culture were written. However, after the rise of the consumerist culture, the development of etiquette, refinement, and wisdom came to a halt. In this later period, one can name hardly any book that measures up to the standard of learning and etiquette set by the past.
This difference has also reached even the realm of science. Before the spread of the consumerist culture, theoretical science witnessed remarkable developments. Many great thinkers emerged in different fields of science. However, after the rise and spread of the consumerist culture, the progress of theoretical science almost wholly came to a halt. Thus, scientists work on topics considered ‘marketable’ in today’s terms. In the past, science was the name of scholarly research. However, now, science has turned into a crass commercial activity.
A deadly result of this situation is that man’s intellectual and mental progress has almost completely stopped. Everywhere, you will see people who look very happy and beautiful, but human beings having a sense of fulfillment are almost nowhere to be found. There is an urgent need to change this situation. Otherwise, humanity will turn into a new sort of anarchic jungle.
The bodies of a man and several animals have many similarities. Their bodily activities are, to a great extent, similar. It is as if animals are humans that walk on four feet and humans are animals that walk on two feet. However, the study of psychology presents a different picture. It tells us that man enjoys a special status in the whole universe. The reason for man’s position is just one—and that is man’s mind. Man’s mind distinguishes him from animals and everything else in the universe. Man’s mind is a great treasure. This mind gives man a distinguishing status not enjoyed by any other thing or being in the universe.
The culture of consumerism has vastly exacerbated man’s physical demands and, at the same time, has almost completely stopped the proper development of man’s mind. However, it is the mental component that is man’s real being. It is this that makes man. Without this mental component, man would be just a beast.
A movement must be launched to overcome this problem. Once again, man should be brought back to his original or true nature. Man should be made a man once again. Once again, man should be capable of using his intellectual potential for proper development. He should once again become actively engaged in the path of actual intellectual progress.
