TOWARDS HARMONY

  International Mountain Day 2024 / 11 December / Article Mountain Symbol of Heights in Life! Fr Dr M. D. Thomas Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Mountain Day is being celebrated on the 11 th day of December. The year 2002 was observed as International Year of Mountains. As the year drew to a close, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 11 December as International Mountain Day. It was first observed in 2003.   The above observance is aimed at drawing attention to the important roles that mountainous regions play in water and food supply. The day was also intended for raising awareness and triggering action on issues relating to sustainable mountain development. Themes like freshwater, peace, biodiversity and climate change were considered in yester years. Activities on and around International Mountain D...

  World Philosophy Day 2024 / 21 November / Article May Philosophy Day Motivate Thinking! Fr Dr M. D. Thomas Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- World Philosophy Day is celebrated on the third Thursday of November every year and this year it falls on the 21 st day of November. It was declared an international day by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.   World Philosophy Day was first celebrated in 2002. In 2005, UNESCO institutionalized World Philosophy Day. The first ever World Philosophy Day was held in Paris at the headquarters of UNESCO.   The intention of declaring the day was to honor philosophical reflections around the world. It is a day for people to share thoughts, openly explore and discuss new ideas and inspire public debate or discussion on the challenges of the soci...

  Towards a Culture of Complementariness Dr M. D. Thomas ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diversity is the characteristic mark of the entire creation, human beings in special. Diversity implies two things – being many and being different. ‘Many’ refers to being more than one. ‘Different’ denotes the distinctiveness of someone or something.   ‘Manyness’ signifies the pluralistic character of life and nature. ‘Difference’ characterizes the uniqueness of every item, as well. Both dimensions together define what life is. Being many or different is never a negative factor. Both are positive elements. The world of vegetation, animals and of the humans are full of diversity. Diversity keeps increasing, unimaginably so. The ever-emerging newness in the beings keeps energizing the human imagination. In actual fact, variety is the spice of life. Male and female are the basis of diversity. They have the...

  International Day of Non-violence / 02 October / Article Non-violence a Benign Attitude for Life Fr Dr M. D. Thomas Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 2 nd day of October is observed as ‘International Day of Non-Violence’. It was established by the United Nations in its General Assembly on 15 June 2007. The day is designated on the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation in India. It is not a public holiday, except in India thanks to Mahatma Gandhi. Disseminating the message of non-violence through public awareness and education is the purpose of the day. Re-affirming the desire for a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence as well as drawing attention to global issues is also part of the objective.   The idea took off from a Hindi teacher who taught international students during the World Soci...

  Religion has to move with the Times Dr M. D. Thomas ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Religion is a major entity of the human society. It has a significant role in regulating the social life of the humans. In other words, religion is a key factor in establishing social order. Without doubt, it has and will have an unparalleled place in human life. Undeniably, religion has contributed substantially to the culturing of human life and to the making of civilizations, world over. It has added taste and meaning to the lives of millions and millions of people. It has benefited human lives immensely. All the same, it cannot be denied that religion has been behind wars, conflicts, tensions, frictions, divisions, discrimination, hatred, and the like, from time immemorial, though in more or less degrees. Besides, it has been responsible for a lot of communal divide, distance and havoc in the country and world...

  Minimalist Philosophy of Life Dr M.D. Thomas ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minimalist philosophy of life is one that proposes the idea of living with the minimum life requires. Minimalist lifestyle is that which organizes life with the minimum. The former refers to the theory of the practice, whereas the latter signifies the practice of the theory. Minimalism as a philosophy of life would mean living a simple life with fewer and carefully selected things. It boils down to fewer commitments and less noise and as a result more clarity on things. It focuses on what truly matters, by way of more time and more calm. Bible discusses a king (Luke 14:31-32) who would first sit down and plan before he goes to fight another king. He would decide whether with thousand soldiers he could defeat the other king who has twenty thousand soldiers. If he couldn’t, he would send some people to speak to him and ask...

  International Moon Day 2024 / 20 July / Article May Moon Be Our Friend and Companion! Fr Dr M. D. Thomas Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   The 20 th day of July is designated as ‘International Moon Day’ by the United Nations. The General Assembly declared the day in its resolution 76/76 on “International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space” in 2021.   Celebrating the achievements of all States in the exploration of the Moon was the purpose of the day. Raising public awareness about sustainable Moon exploration and utilization was also part of the objective.   International Moon Day marks the anniversary of the first landing by humans on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 lunar mission. It commemorates the day man first walked on the moon in 1969.   NASA reported the moon landing as being “.....

  World Population Day 2024 / 11 July / Article Make Population a Strength and a Blessing! Fr Dr M. D. Thomas Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- World Population Day is observed on the 11 th day of July. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. The day was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on 11 July 1987. This is the approximate date on which the population of the world reached five billion people.   Raising awareness of the issues related to the global population is the objective of the day. The key issues that gained importance and urgency are family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights.   The day was suggested by Dr K. C. Zachariah, who was senior Demographer at World Bank then, on the occasion of the Five B...