Open the eye and shut the I

Human beings are strange creatures. Strange because they are driven by a formless entity called ego. It was this ego that was the undoing of many a mighty kings in the past. The legend goes that when Lord Ram reached Ayodhya after killing Ravana, many residents asked in dismay how could Ram slay mighty Ravana. Ram’s cryptic reply was that he did not kill Ravana. It was the ‘I’ that killed Ravana. It is because of this ego that human beings have acquired a unique trait that can be expressed in many forms of behavior. From rationalisation to ideological excuses to justifications there are many ways in which these ego defense mechanisms unfold. It is the ego that gives the human beings the illusion of invulnerable status leading to primacy of self- aggrandisement. The author historian Barbara Tuchman has tried to bring out this basic aspect of human character in the classic literary work The March of Folly written over three decades ago. Human beings have hardly learnt a lesson from their follies all the way from Troy to Vietnam and perhaps even in the present Corona pandemic. This is the one weakness that leads to most problems of humanity. It explains why human beings jostle with one another to take out their cabin baggage from the overhead bin, even as the plane is about to crash. Where do they want to carry their cabin baggage is intriguing. Let go is the mantra that every one chants but letting go is the difficulty that most fail to overcome. Contexts keep on changing but human character remains fairly stable. Why humans acquire a myopic vision is a question of attitude hard to view but how this attitude influences behavior is a common sight. Unless human beings open their eyes and shut that capital l, no great learning is possible. Coming to the question of the Corona pandemic, several assertions and assumptions are doing the rounds these days suggesting that human character is going to change this time. Let us wait and see for one more time. Chances, however, seem bleak. Pandemics have been attacking humanity since ages. The Biblical mention of plague or the plague of Athens were early references. Many more have appeared periodically killing millions. The earlier schools of opinion attributed these catastrophic incidents to God’s curse for humanity going astray. A correction for moral pollution. Even today there may be a few similar views. But who cares. It is naive to believe that humans are going to buy the proposition and mend ways. If we closely observe how things have been shaping up from the initial phases of the pandemic to the present times we should have no pretensions. Many see the pandemic as an opportunity. Opportunity to flaunt their egos. To play the Messiah, the grand  saviour even as misery comes to the share of many. The poor, the meek and the vulnerable were reeling under the crisis but the affluent and the powerful found better things to do. Many thought it was time to change the world, failing to realise it already has. And not because of them. But that is human nature. Difficult to say if it is a curse for sinning or an opportunity for winning. Nevertheless, commerce continues to drive and thrive. Human nature doesn’t change that easily. Even God knows this. But He continues trying. After all, it is His creation.

The new scourge

Human mind is the main source of stress as well as its main victim. Stress has always been a major psycho-somatic issue afflicting human health from ancient to the modern times. For the ancient man, the problem was anxiety of the uncertain. Little knowledge, naturally, proved dangerous. The irony is that with more knowledge, we worry more now. As technology infiltrated our lives, life got derailed, and went offline. George Orwell’s proverbial big brother is getting bigger causing more and more anxiety and stress to human beings. Aadhar that was supposed to make life easier has become a cause for concern. While the banks are insisting on data and digitisation, the cyber thugs are swindling money from accounts with consummate ease giving sleepless nights to the customers. But this is not the only cause of online driven anxiety. The Coronakaal, as we can call it now, is giving a double whammy. On the one hand warnings galore from many sources are scaring people to abnormal levels, while on the other, the work from home is making many experience virtual hell. A new mega organism, the online CEO, has emerged on the scene. Relaxing in the cool climes of homes the corona age boss is keeping all employees in his loop on the toes. Shooting mails at the oddest of the hours he is issuing directives by the minute. One step forward two steps backwards, that is the nature of command, because he himself is not sure what to do. Needless to say all this is leading to excessive stress as the hapless employees are continuously on alert for the next mail or WhatsApp message on their mobiles. These nightmarish experiences are slowly but surely threatening to become a full blown health crisis. Already, anxiety and stress related disorders are on the rise and frustration is leading to depression and even suicides. And you cannot blame this on Corona only. It is the big bug, the bloated bossy ego of haughty minded people that is the root cause. While Corona related data of distress is available, the online distress is making life more miserable. People are already feeling the Zoom fatigue which may be a generic expression for all the different online platform related stress. There is ample evidence to suggest that exhaustion from excessive video chatting is harmful to both mind and the body, as the total psycho-biology gets affected. It is time we thought of a tweak in workmen’s compensation act to include executives who are increasingly becoming victims of on line stress due to idiosyncratic fancies of some people. There could not be a better time to enact the right to disconnect legislation that is waiting assent as a private member’s bill, given the agony and torture employees are subject to. Many western nations already have such legislation in place to protect employees from online firing directed at them. Not only privacy and freedom but life as a whole is at stake as this round the clock monitoring and maneuvering is driving people crazy. As oldspeak is being replaced by newspeak in a new Orwellian global order, human beings become puppets tied to online strings. And the key deliverables in this new order are stress and anxiety. What Orwell visualised in 1984 is being realized in 2020.