TOWARDS HARMONIOUS LIVING!

TOWARDS Harmonious living!

Dr M. D. Thomas

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Living harmoniously with one another' -- that is all what human life would mean, at the end of the day. Can one think of something more than that in life? I don't think so. 'To live' as good human beings would simply entail 'living in harmony with one and all'. A life that is in disharmony with even one person, I don't think, is worth being attempted. Further, 'one another' refers to the reciprocal dynamics of life. It blends 'rights and duties' as well as 'give and take' in social life. It also connects systematically individuals, groups, communities, nations and other entities. 'Harmonious living' is the most affable way of living one's life and it emerges from the spirit of 'harmony', which is the most foundational reality in human life.

What does this harmony mean? Markedly, the word 'harmony' derives from the world of art, that of music in particular. It is the 'combination of simultaneously sounded notes to produce a pleasing effect'. In the general context, harmony stands for an 'orderly grouping of elements in a whole'. It connotes compatibility of perception, opinion and action as well as thoughts, feelings and words. It is a 'congenial togetherness' of persons and communities. It refers to a 'relationship' that is characterized by the quality of agreement and 'mutual civility'. The pleasing relations implied in harmony reflect the spirit of peace, order, accord, friendship, unity, consensus, cooperation, good will, rapport, amity, balance, and the like, as well.

As we look at life from slightly afar, the most characteristic thing that strikes us is its 'diversity' and its elaborate and never ending landscape. Life offers a great deal of variety in all elements. That is what diversity bluntly signifies. It exposes a two-fold truth. The constituents of life are not only more than one, but are different, one from another. Although there is a fundamental similarity in all the items of life, there is also a barefaced dissimilarity, not merely with regard to the major species of beings but to every piece in the respective species. That amounts to state that 'one being is clearly different from the other'. And, what would that 'difference' indicate? Is it a negative or a diverging factor? Never! Not even the least. Instead, 'difference', at its core, is an enriching and inventive feature, which makes 'unity in diversity' possible.               

Life is an 'inter-related' phenomenon in its essence. Martin Luther King, Jr, underscores this interrelatedness thus, 'All life is interrelated. We are caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied together into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the inter-related structure of reality…this is its interrelated quality'. The quality of life is defined by the level and fineness of its interrelatedness. Therefore, the dialectical reality of 'one and many' in terms of its distinctive elements has to be harmonized in all the areas of social life, such as gender, age, ethnicity, ideology, culture, caste, class, creed, and so forth. When that is done, the wisdom articulated by Paul Valery comes true in diverse areas, 'we are enriched by our reciprocate differences'. Life becomes realistic when it is conceived in its entirety and is lived collectively. This is what Yoko Ono highlights in her lyric, 'a dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is a reality'.   

Among the world of diversities, religion is exceptionally a major phenomenon. More problems of disharmony keep mounting in the area of religion than other areas, due to its high degree of emotionally sensitive character. Even though, in principle, religion is intended to unite people, as a matter of fact, it does it only in its limited context. In the larger context, more often than not, it is divisive and therefore causes conflicts or distance among people of different traditions. President John F. Kennedy suggests a way out of this tight spot, as he states, 'what unites us is far greater than what divides us'. Pope John XXIII furthers this argument by affirming, 'we have to look at what unites people rather than what divides them'. Pope John Paul II concludes the argument by categorically defining the objective of religion, 'religion should be what God intended it to be, a source of goodness, harmony and peace'. How could religion be put back to its right track, so that it is no longer a ‘liability’ but a ‘blessing’ for the human society?      

Mahatma Gandhi struck a note of unity among the diverse traditions of faith by asserting, 'the essence of all religions is one, only their approaches are different'. Along with all streams of ideology, culture, social customs and mores, all traditions of faith are the ‘gifts of the same creator’ and are the ‘common cultural heritage of the human society’. All human beings, including the creation, share a ‘common origin, a common existence and a common destiny’. For that reason, the seminal mantra of life, as per the Zoroastrian religion, 'good thoughts, good words and good deeds', has to be imbibed as the core ethics of life. There has to be no violation of one another in terms of the differences in each other. The dignity of the 'freedom of conscience' every human being is endowed with has to be honoured, with attention to all its details. It is this 'shared ethos' of life, especially in terms of faith, that was reinstated as President Donald Trump declared 18 January 2018 as the 'Religious Freedom Day' in America, as well.

As regards the human frailties in the arena of faith, religion, ideology, culture, nationality, and the rest, a foundational realization required of human beings is that 'we are victims of our own perceptions, ideas, positions, beliefs, convictions, claims, attitudes, approaches and decisions'. 'We are products of our own thoughts', too. Our perspectives have to be such that they help us evolve and emerge in life to higher altitudes and larger magnitudes. Jesus reminds us, ‘Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath’. Whatever life offers, including faith, is for the human beings and not vice versa. The great religious thinker Kenneth Leech says, 'God is always beyond us'. Pursuing this human and spiritual attainment is inherent in drawing continuous motivation from one's religion, faith or perspectives, in line with what the world genius George Bernard Shaw states, 'religion is a great force – the only real motive force in the world'.

Henry Miller considers life with reference to its focal point and direction and sums it up in his insightful observation, 'one's destination is not a place, but a new way of looking at things'. The 'new way' of conceiving life, of being a believer and of being a human being is oriented to constructing life anew, for oneself and for others. The yardstick made available to us by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow could help us measure this new way decisively, 'to act, that each tomorrow finds us farther than today'. Every thought, every word, every action, every step and every day is intended to process one's journey of life towards its larger horizons. For that, we need to be always ready to ‘revisit, reconsider, revise, restart and refresh’ our response to life, both at a glance and in the details of life. A 'sense of newness' with respect to one's own life and to that of others, along with that of the community, country and the larger society, is the bottom line of life.       

Relying on the above worldview, how are we going to translate the great ideal of 'harmonious and peaceful living' to our day-to-day lives? The thrilling prayer of Francis of Assisi could situate us on the way, 'Lord, make me a channel of your peace'. One has to become a channel of 'harmony and peace' oneself. A question can positively arise 'what impact can a single person make for making the society harmonious?' Mother Theresa has an answer, 'we know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something'. What a note of optimism and realism, at one stroke! Lord Robert Badan Powell has left a brilliant and empowering message for everyone who wants to try this sacred task, 'leave this world a little better than you found it'. Could we attempt it during the golden span of life the owner of life has bestowed upon us between our birth and death? If we do not succeed to make our society like the 'beauty in diversity' of 'rainbow', it doesn't matter. We are sure to leave our family, institution, community, nation and society certainly slightly 'more harmonious' than we found it. That, I suppose, is more than a 'good reason' to invest our hearts, minds, spirits and bodies to the sublime and noble cause. It is time, then, to begin our new journey together! On your march, set and go!!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The author is Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, and has been committed to cross-cultural perspectives, cross-scriptural values, constitutional values, interfaith relations, communal harmony, national integration and social wellbeing, for the past over 40 years. He contributes to the above cause through lectures, articles, video messages, conferences, social interactions, views at TV channels, and the like.

He could be viewed, listened to and contacted at the following portals – websites ‘www.mdthomas.in’ (p), ‘https://mdthomas.academia.edu’ (p), ‘https://drmdthomas.blogspot.com’(p) and ‘www.ihpsindia.org’ (o); social media ‘https://www.youtube.com/InstituteofHarmonyandPeaceStudies’ (o), ‘https://twitter.com/mdthomas53’ (p), ‘https://www.facebook.com/mdthomas53’ (p); email ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’ (p) and telephone 9810535378 (p).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published in Platform (Bilingual Monthly Magazine), Kolkata, p. 55-59 -- in December 2018