Is this Progress or Annihilation?

When I lie awake in bed during my lighter hours, many things puzzle my mind. Where is the world heading to?  Has the man climbed the zenith of the ladder of progress? Can we be proud of the so-called progress or development? Has the world shrunk into a tiny global village because of the information technology? Is this the best of times or the worst? What is going to happen to the planet where we live?

One of the ever recurring questions is: Has the man achieved the zenith of progress or civilization as he is boastful of?  Most people will not hesitate to give an affirmative reply to this question. To prove what he asserts he will cite the man’s landing on the moon several decades ago. He will refer to the marvels of the computer science. He will not hesitate to mention the destructive nature of the intercontinental ballistic missiles, wonders of medical science, the nuclear bomb and many more things.

There is no doubt that all these discoveries and scientific inventions are good when they are used to improve the quality of life on earth. If they are used to destroy the man and his surroundings, any sensible person will straight away repent that they were invented by man for his own destruction. The possibility is that, given the inner functioning of the human mind, the chances of abusing these potentials are greater than the chances of using them for good

No one can deny that we have attained the fullness of material advancement.  For what purpose have we achieved this object?  Is it solely for the happiness of humanity or for the purpose of acquiring supremacy and subjugating the nations branded as holding opposing views? This destructive capability has been amassed and stocked for maintaining the superior strength to frighten the weak. If the designers knew at the time that they would lead to mass annihilation of the humanity, they would have thought twice before inventing them. See the misery that was caused to many millions of people in Nagasaki and Hiroshima and also to the generations yet to be born, as a result of dropping the atom bomb on these two Japanese cities. This is only one example of abusing science for the extermination of man by man. This is the so-called material advancement of man of which he is proud.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the man has travelled a far distance from the time he lived in the forest just like a wild animal. We call this forward march ‘progress.’ That is the material side of the progress. Yet is it possible for us to say that he has simultaneously transformed his inner qualities to match with his material advancement?  I am referring to what is called spiritual development. With all the religious teachings we find in the world, men are behaving like wild beasts. Look at what is happening around us. Newspapers are full of incidents that expose the true nature of man. Bribery, corruption, robbery, mass murder, rape, terrorism, civil war, piracy and infanticide have become so common among us that no one thinks about them seriously. Is this what is called advancement or civilization? If you call it so, the man who lived in the Hunting Age or Stone Age was more civilized than the modern man with all his so called advancement.

The next fatal error is the destruction of the environment under the guise of development. Clearance of the forest cover to construct massive irrigation projects, to establish cities, to build giant housing complexes and industrial schemes has already shown the bad effects of this evil process.  Rivers, streams and water holes are going dry as never before. Changes in the seasonal pattern of rains have badly affected the cultivation throughout the world. The most respected scientists have warned unambiguously that global warming is taking place and humans are causing it by burning oil, natural gas and coal and by destroying the forest cover. Further they have requested the world community to take prompt action to reduce heat trapping emissions.

It is more than clear that the man’s greed for power, jealousy, and hatred and above all his suspicion of all others who do not agree with his point of view have made him to stockpile weapons of mass destruction to be used whenever the necessity arises. Desecration of the environment under the name of progress has irrevocably imbalanced the natural organization of the global system, which will ultimately wipe out the life on earth. This is the sum total of the progress that man has achieved and this is called civilization. If this can be called ‘progress’ or ‘civilization’, what should we call annihilation?