The World, Shrinking or Slowing?

A lot has been said and written about the 21st century and the new generation; a generation that is widely believed to be best equipped if not purely superior in handling and directing the future of the world; a generation that is expected to take mankind to the next level of evolution and development. A lot has also been said and written about the world shrinking, how with communication becoming easier and simpler, working together no longer remains a problem and is favoured.
But are we seeing the glass half-full; is it even half-full or is it just a quarter or even less? True, we are more together, more united than we ever were before. True, the youth (read the new generation) potentially has the energy and passion to bring about major changes. The question is not ‘can it?’, the question is ‘will it?’.
Imagine hypothetically two average 20 year old boys from the 20th and 21st centuries juxtaposed. Look at their average daily routine. College hours and leisure time with friends remaining same, the 21st century boy will spend around half an hour to an hour on myspace, facebook etc. or checking out sports news/updates or just in general, browsing the internet randomly, while the 20th century boy will spend the same time outside, engaged in his hobbies or playing or even studying. I’m not trying to emphasize on the luxuries that the 21st century boy enjoys over his counterpart or the hardships that 20th century boy faces, I’m trying to highlight the unexplained laidback attitude that you will notice in the 21st century boy.
It is very likely that the 21st century boy will have a girlfriend and he’ll spend some time with her daily, which may not be the case with the 20th century boy, who’ll probably end up spending extra time with friends. This brings us to our second conclusion. Relationship is given undue importance in today’s world. Company has become so central to man, that working alone sounds like a harsh punishment than a preference. This probably underscores how insecure the generation is.
We keep saying ‘Man is a social animal’. So, we are social, which is a good thing, right? Not exactly; we are much less social than we pretend. ‘Survival of the fittest’ remains the governing law, except that we expect others not to acknowledge it.
Are we slowing down? There can be no absolute answer to this. Common sense suggests we should be developing faster since world population has increased manifold in the last century; so, more minds, more development. Not to be; if we plot a development curve with time, we’ll find a falling slope! You see, Lawrence Bragg won the Nobel Prize when he was 25 in 1915. When was the last time you heard anyone less than even 35 years of age win the Nobel Prize in the last half-century?
The new generation can have all the liveliness in the world, but what purpose will it serve if it itself doesn’t have one! What the generation clearly lacks, is purpose. It’s like a man who’s been provided with all the ingredients for the perfect dish, but not the recipe. We know what we want, we have whatever is needed, but when we get it depends on how badly we want it!

Lost

Why are we here? What is our purpose? What is the true meaning of life? These are some of the questions that have baffled the human mind since its origin. There have been people who spent their entire lives looking for answers, but the more they searched, the more they found themselves at sea.
I do not claim to possess the answers to these perennial questions, but I do have not been lost so much as to have overlooked the obvious. When we wake up early in the morning & go outside for a stroll, what do we most often do? We exclaim, “Ah! What a wonderful morning! Looks like a great start for a great day ahead!” and then we marvel at the surrounding panorama. The sight of leaves quivering due to the cold, mild breeze, the semi cloud-clad blue sky and the brilliant sun blazing its grandeur never fail to mesmerize us. But as the day goes on, we get so engrossed in our menial day-to-day work that we forget all about them. This, I feel, is exactly where we get lost.
The universe has remained a mystery to us and will remain to be so for a long time to come. But doesn’t that answer the questions above? Isn’t it understood that we are here to solve the mysteries? Isn’t it obvious that God has created this universe as a giant puzzle laid out for us to solve. The universe, genesis, life, emotions, survival, everything are links of the same gigantic jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle probably has a zillion pieces and our purpose is to keep putting them together, where with every correctly placed piece will come an unimagined revelation. God did not leave us hapless, to chance. Einstein was right, God doesn’t play dice with the universe. God gave us wits and skills, the development of which, however, may have been slower than expected.
We have been successful at developing the paths to put together the pieces, for the various arts and sciences are nothing but the routes that’ll eventually lead us to the completion of the solution. Mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, literature, religion, philosophy etc. all have a role to play in uncovering the ultimate truth.
God knows that one day, man will successfully solve the puzzle. Nobody knows what will happen after that, whether that’ll be the Judgement Day or will there be another puzzle to solve! But for now, we have enough problems to deal with, not thinking about that. So, let us all get back to finding clues & solving God’s puzzle, for every morning, God drops in a reminder of our purpose, which we conveniently forget during the course of the day.