How Your Choices Impact The World

The war is not between Russia and Ukraine

The Andaman and Nicobar is an archipelago of 572 islands. Situated on the eastern coast of India, these islands are home to 6 indigenous tribes. They inhabited these islands some 40,000 years ago. These tribes live isolated.

There were more than 6, but alas! Other tribes vanished because of outside interventions like pacification and communicable diseases.

The existing tribes want their sanctity. But, how long could they resist the pro-development forces?

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are of strategic importance to India. These islands share the same ocean whose waters touch the shores of China — The ambitious imperialist.

To defend her land, India has her military establishment on the islands. The tribes are paying the price of development. They are losing their sanctity. Many tribes have vanished, and many have lost their solitude.

Should the other tribes join the pro-development forces?

Is Development Really Necessary?

The world has progressed. Why these tribes are still living such a life? Why are they resisting joining our world? Why they don’t want to reap the fruits of development?

Here, they can get better healthcare, insurance, education, job, and infrastructure.

Why should they join?

To become one of us?

What Is More Selfish Than To Make Others Be Like You

When someone wants you to be like them, there is selfishness attached to it.

In our era, pro-developmental forces emerged to gallop the world. This view that the whole world should be alike has gained supremacy. Result — You see the Hard Rock Cafe in Bali.

We ignore the problems until they become too big to control. Think of the pandemic, think of plastic pollution, think of WWs, think of species extinction.

We ignore these existential problems due to our selfish behavior — Who cares. I want money. That’s it.

Our collective mentality has shaped this attitude.

The majority of humans are followers and not independent thinkers. So, the majority of the world falls into the delusion of walking a comfortable path. We delegate our responsibility and in turn independence. We choose comfort over sanctity.

“It wasn’t in a war. It wasn’t in a battle. It isn’t in a melee of fire and destruction that most of us succumb to weakness. We are taken apart slowly. Convinced to take an easier path. Enticed by comfort. ” — Jocko Willink

We believe what is bombarded towards us. We do what we are preached is good to do. We become the herd.

We are unconscious of our actions. We are irresponsible. Greed controls us.

Think of the tribes of the Andaman Islands. Although not developed like use, they are organic. We, on the other hand, are all the same — Cliched and conditioned.

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

— Buddha

Thankfully, the Indian government has been making efforts to let those tribes live in sanctity.

But, for how long this resistance will remain?

Mono-sapienism has already taken control of the winds of the world since globalization — 8 billion and still growing.

Mono-sapiens are, as I call them, those who are schooled. They have gone through the same pattern that the curriculum wants them to go. They, although distinct, are influenced by the pro-development forces and know the whereabouts of the modern world.

Mono sapiens are conditioned homo-sapiens.

They wear clothes, they eat agricultural produce, they live in concrete jungles, they use machines, they know and follow a certain ideology, and they love comfort and money.

It is not that progress is bad but the way we have developed has cons more than pros.

We wear polyester. We breathe carbon. We consume packed food. We drink micro-plastics.

We are victims of consumer-centric development.

The problem lies in the way we choose

We are social animals. But, we are trained to become individualistic. Others benefit from you if you remain as an individual.

The purpose of industrialization was not to help the poor come out of poverty.

The idea was to sell one thing to the masses. This reduces the effort and the cost to produce a product.

It is meant to build a funnel so that one person can sell one item to the masses.

The world has become so money-centric that to hedge the individual interests of top dogs, the whole of humanity is made to suffer.

This funnel scheme became the sine-qua-non of the developed world.

• Individual interests of kings ascend over the masses — Wars
• Individual interests of businesses ascend over the masses — Economic Inequality
• Individual interests of autocrats over the masses — Imperialism
• Individual interests of governments over the masses — Global disparities
• Individual interests of politicians over the masses — Resource exploitation
• Individual interests of religious leaders over the masses — Communal disharmony
• Individual interests of self over the masses —Greed — consumerism/corruption/crime

Example — The plastic lobby makes it difficult to eliminate the hazards of micro-plastic entering the food chain.

When the masses believe in one thing, that thing becomes an unmanageable celebration.

Once the system gets established, it becomes difficult to eradicate. Think of:

• Poverty
• Credit
• Corruption

Commodities, Money, and Religion all are celebrated entities. Those who have control over these lobbies drive the world.

Unfortunately, the greedy lobby controls these entities.

The problem is not with humans. The problem is their greed. They think about individual interests.

The world suffers because these greedy individuals don’t have their skin in the game.

Ninety-eight percent of Americans — plumbers, dentists, bus drivers — have skin in the game. We have to worry about the 2 percent — the intellectuals and politicians making the big decisions who don’t have skin in the game and are messing the whole thing up for everybody else.

— Nassim Nicolas Taleb

Don’t let divorced people run the society.

How You Are A Commodity

Think of the times when there was no internet.

Every city has its distinct character. You must have experienced it when you traveled. But slowly, this distinction is getting extinct. Now, you can see malls getting erected on hill stations. You can get a Jacuzzi next to the Ganges. You can climb the Everest hands-free — The height of the service industry’s hypocrisy.

The rise of Mono-Sapienism

Due to the internet, the consumption pattern has shifted to oneness.

It takes only one ad to influence the whole country. It takes only one product to target a typical class across the nation. It takes only one company to influence and fit the market.

There is no harm in it.

It’s good that a single product can unite people. But it is the same single product that makes the whole country become a cliche.

The cities have lost their distinctiveness. The tech giants now decide and influence what to consume. And this can breed manufactured brains — just like what schools and TVs did in the past but now on a global scale.

Tomorrow, the majority will think that the Tribal of the Andaman Islands should join the cliche world.

It has always happened that what the majority thought has become the driving force of the country and the world.

Take for example — Capitalism, Consumerism, Fast food, Industrialization.

So, today’s majority of the world, including you, who are influenced unconsciously, is the driving force that will shape the future of the world. If the fitting majority thinks that this century is right for abandoning the planet then they will act similarly. They might make the mindset that they’ll be abandoning this planet and act in every possible way to make it happen.

What Keeps Us Repeating This Cliched Pattern

Competition.

We are running a rat race.

We are not playing the game. We are the pawns in the game.

When we run a race we don’t think about who organized the race. We focus on winning. The organizer sets the rules and we follow them.

School is a race. Job is a race. Earning is a race

This race has become an established system. You are the jockey. The top guns bet on you for your capability to the desire of living a good life.

Often we don’t think about the intentions behind the race and the rules.

You are not made to think. You are conditioned to become a dependent thinker.

You are ruled by people who don’t have their skin in the game.

Skin in the game means you own your own risk. It means people who make decisions in any walk of life should never be insulated from the consequences of those decisions, period. If you’re a helicopter repairman, you should be a helicopter rider. If you decide to invade Iraq, the people who vote for it should have children in the military. And if you’re making economic decisions, you should bear the cost if you’re wrong.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Ironically, even the people who rule the world are unconscious of their impact on the world. They act because they are either luckily positioned or they are greedy for power.

Let’s Take The Example Of Climate Change

Climate change is not a new thing. It has been there since the last century. Yet, the leaders didn’t make it a priority thing. And we, who are not the responsible inhabitants who triggered the thing, though know that it has negatively impacted the world, ignored to take serious steps.

Unless the leaders direct us, we don’t give a dime to any cause if it’s not personal.

Now, when Climate Change has started affecting us personally, we’ve started taking some interest in the thing. Yet, individually we don’t act. We wait for someone to lead.

Followers look for someone determined to stand for to lead the cause they wish to follow.

The UN started SDGs, and Greeta started Fridays For Future.

Sadhguru is building momentum across the globe to help people get conscious about the planet’s future through the mission #SaveSoil.

Every positive impact needs a conscious choice to be made by an individual.

Our planet and our species took 4.5 billion years to come to a stage where it has made it possible for us to consciously observe ourselves.

Our Planet is an incredible series narrated by Sir David Attenborough which is available on Netflix. Also available on YouTube for free this series is a cinematographic masterpiece. It showcases the diversity of the planet. It portrays the inter-dependency of elements of the fragile ecosystem. It clears our misconceptions about life and Darwin’s theory of the survival of the fittest. It urges you to investigate your choices.

Let’s Look at Consciousness At A Personal Level

Think of working on your body, or creating a masterpiece of art. It takes time to come into effect.

Building a positive habit is a conscious choice, you need to introspect and act on it. This does not happen when you are to start an addiction. Negative habits tend to become habitual without even your notice.

Why It Is Necessary To Counterbalance Unconsciousness?

Wise people don’t get fascinated to watch an ongoing war.

We’ve always thought that with the existence of the UN, wars have ceased to exist — We were wrong. The world is still immature and is on the same platform as it was back in the times of the 20th century. The wars are still alive, imperialism still exists, and consumerism is still eating up the planet.

There is a cosmic power that influences negativity and positivity.

Negativity spreads fast and impacts stealthily at lightning speed. Positivity spreads slowly and impacts deliberately with conscious efforts.

That’s why we see, fear, and react fast to negativity while we are blinded by the positive changes.

That’s one of the reasons why the majority of the world even though know the peace and tranquility of Buddha, don’t get influenced by the practices of Buddhism.

A lot of spiritual masters in India are not popular. They are comfortable with their isolated existence. Contrary, terrorists keep on spreading fear with celebrity-like appearances — They want to influence the majority so they keep bombarding their influence.

The modern world is no different than the last century. Every evil possibility exists and can pop up at any given time.

Whom to promote depends on individuals.

Will You Choose To Become Conscious Humans?

To create a virtuous loop in the system, the majority needs to become conscious.

Being conscious means resisting initiating the negative loops.

The negative loops like single-use plastic could’ve not impacted the oceans if the majority would’ve thought consciously in the last century and resisted it from becoming a snowball.

Some people pretend to support a cause and talk big about it but they suck while taking action.

They say they care about the ocean and litter. The future generations bear the cost of negligent people.

You’re not a conscious being if you are just thinking of being conscious. You need to sacrifice your toxic habits and desires to stand up for something you believe.

What you choose at your local market affects the whole world. Here’s how:

Think about plastic.

You use it once you throw it in the garbage. They dump it into the ocean. It disintegrates into micro-particles. It enters the food chain. It also enters the water. You eat fish. You drink water. You consume plastic so do your neighboring country folks.

Now, what happens when 8 billion like you act like you?

Think of CO2. Everyone faces the consequences of climate change.

Your choices affect the planet.

Every time you choose a mad leader or restrain from choosing a good one, or don’t oppose the toxic one, you put the world in trouble.

Every time you have a choice.

You should strengthen your voice for good cause. You should always inquire about the root cause. Introspect whether what you are choosing will be of the greater good:

• Am I eating right
• Am I buying right
• Am I thinking right
• Am I behaving right
• Am I promoting right

Always question yourself, ‘Am I making a conscious choice?’