Developing deep Reverence for Life and treat others as ‘HUMAN’ The JOYFULTALISMAN

I call humanity to the ethic of reverence of life. This ethic makes no distinction between a more valuable life and a less valuable life, between a superior life and an inferior life. It rejects such a distinction, because accepting these differences in value between living beings basically amounts to judging them according to the greater or lesser similarity of their sensitivity to ours. But this is an entirely subjective criterion. Who among us knows what significance the other living being has for itself and for the whole? The consequence of this distinction is then the idea that there are lives without value, whose destruction or deterioration would be permitted. - Albert Schweitzer (https://www.schweitzer.org/en/discover/the-philosophy-of-reverence-for-life/ )

This profound insight of Albert Schweitzer on the ethics of reverence of life which makes no distinction between a superior life and an inferior life is how we treat not just other human beings but nature and other living beings. In this conversation we shall restrict ourselves to conversing how we should deal with our fellow-beings. As we move with break-neck speed in our pursuit for technological advancements and a large number of individuals trying to fast-track their tryst with their personal aggrandizements, there is a deep realization amongst many of us that the reverence we must have for all is declining. Historically, those who were superior or in the higher echelons of the society have always downgraded or discounted the importance of those who were inferior to them- be it because of their race, identity, class, caste, or economic conditions. However, rising inequalities and unequal access to resources and opportunities seems to be accentuating the problem as large numbers of people increasingly show insensitivity to the concerns of those below them. This is the bane of modern civilization.

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Vedabhyas Kundu: Munazah, at times I am anguished how an individual treats other fellow beings. We find how an owner of a roadside dhaba treats the boy who washes dishes mercilessly, we find how in many offices the bosses treat their juniors disdainfully, and we find how a contractor treats their workers in a construction site with utter contempt. In all these cases, we find lack of reverence for the other person, an inability to respect human dignity. Human dignity is essentially our inherent value that we possess like any other individual by virtue of being a human being.? Most of these individuals do not see the other person as a ‘human’, they don’t realize that each individual is important and we have no right to take away their dignity and self-respect.

Munazah Shah: I agree with you Vedabhyas. I think it is the lowest ebb of human values when someone insinuates others and hurts them for no rhyme or reason. Further, most importantly they try to make them realize that they don’t have any self-worth, and belittles them. When someone tries to make an individual feel small and compromises with their self-respect, it reflects the meanest aspect of a human being. In this context, I remember a very powerful quote of Wole Soyinka, Nigerian playwright and poet who underlined, “For now, let us simply observe that the assault on human dignity is one of the prime goals of the visitation of fear, a prelude to the domination of the mind and the triumph of power.”

Vedabhyas Kundu: Munazah, in this context, here let me share the experience of our young friend, Khushi Nigam: ??

To my mind dignity and work are interrelated: we take extreme pride in associating ourselves with "meaningfulness" of our jobs, of our roles in the society. Unfortunately, workplaces can often breed negative experiences; these can make one feel inferior, submissive, and humiliated. We often see this at unskilled workplaces: domestic workers, labourers and daily wagers are often treated with hostility one would rarely want to be associated with. I think people are treated badly and are humiliated because those who are powerful want to destroy their dignity, probably to make them more compliant and push them to work more. Moreover, by taking away one's self-esteem through bitter, uncalled remarks they want to stamp their superiority and authority.

I realized how much I value my dignity when I was an intern in a voluntary organization which (ironically) advanced women's rights. I joined as a trainee, fresh out of graduation. The experience started great: I was working with a deeply ambitious woman, whom I often associated with a maternal (rather than a professional) figure. The attacks on my dignity came in waves, and as a young girl, you are taught to never disrespect your elders. I was shy, and compliant, and let these attacks slide. The first incident was a back-handed comment about my clothes. We were organizing a ramp walk, and I was wearing a dress my sister-in-law had given me for Rakhi. This was immediately followed by a comment: ‘we would never hire you as a model, so don't try’ while pointing to my body. I felt humiliated, and for the first time, I became conscious that I was not beautiful. For a 20 year old shy woman, this is something which takes a long time to heal.

The second incident was when my ‘boss’ would offer us food from roadside stalls when we were too busy working. She would readily volunteer, and provided these were Rs 30 plates, we would never hesitate and consider it as a favor (we were never paid, and so I felt this to be like a fair compensation for working six days a week, 10 AM to 6 PM). The day she fired us, she asked us for the money back. Imagine the humiliation of eating food thinking it was an act of kindness! Somehow, this was so very degrading.

A lot took place in that one year- she ultimately ‘fired’ me for attending my niece's birth in Ladakh, because apparently working on her project was more important that witnessing the birth of my first niece. As she fired me, she degraded my character: She said girls like me smoke (I have never touched a cigarette in my life), and are only meant to be "eye candy" during meetings with senior personnel. Such things were shocking and extremely hurtful.

Ultimately, I am glad she taught me to stick up to myself. Unless I don't respect my dignity, I cannot expect anyone else to do it either.

So Munazah, this story of Khushi tells how individuals don’t mind taking away the dignity of another human being without thinking what that person would be going through.

Munazah Shah: Vedabhyas, let me be very clear that those people who don’t see others as ‘human’ have thrown their conscience in the bin. Khushi is talking about the type of language which her boss used. Language is powerful and how it is used – whether to respect one’s dignity or to disrespect- determines its impact on individuals. Words that were used by Khushi’s boss were demeaning and were a blatant attack on her self-respect. She said the organization she was interning was working on women’s rights and it is an irony that such an organization itself did not respect the dignity of women. Often we find such systems, individuals and organizations which are meant to promote certain human values, and become a model for others themselves compromising with these very values; in fact they throw these values and replace these with vices. They might organize meetings, conferences and lectures etc on such grand values. But unfortunately they themselves neither follow these very principles nor they encourage such values within their own system; these are just to show the outer world.? This, Vedabhyas, is sheer hypocrisy. Such individuals or groups never realize that we all are interconnected, we are all one. Here as we discuss the need for reverence for life in the midst of those daily humiliate and demean others, I am reminded of Mahatma Gandhi. He said, “I do not believe that an individual may gain spiritually and those that surround him suffer. I believe in advaita. I believe in the essential unity of man and for that matter of all that lives. Therefore I believe that if one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him and, if one man falls, the whole world falls to that extent.” (Young India, 4-I2-24)

Vedabhyas Kundu: ?Munazah, you are apt in describing how individuals and institutions which are supposed to promote certain human values themselves disregard these in their own systems and amongst their own people. Here let me share with you another insight of a friend who has been repeatedly subjected to insinuation and belittled, he shares a profound thought in this regard:

Insults on human dignity is a common trend these days. Perhaps it has been for centuries. While some have spoken about it, many others have protested for change and many others have taken it in their stride and moved on. It is not that I have not been subjected to such kind of humiliation on various occasions. Humiliation is not just in offices, but within family too.

However, as years have pass on, I somehow started ‘within me’ pitying, those who think that by the virtue of the position they have attained because of their luck or favouritism or fortune, they can insinuate people and insult people to belittle them. I have now started withdrawing myself from them in many ways. For me, the level of consciousness and the level of being conscious and having a conscience are the same thing and I feel I am far better as a human being than those who have by virtue of their power, the right to humiliate others. As a person or an individual, one must feel that, ‘my’ individuality is not in question because of their filthy statements or remarks and therefore it is their prerogative to talk rubbish. But it is solely my prerogative and my decision to accept it to throw these rubbish statements inside the bin. Having said that I am a human being not with a spiritually elevated heart, and therefore, while I withdraw, the pain of being belittled hurts big time. I leave it to the Universe to judge.

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As we come towards the end of this conversation, we agree that how we treat others, whether we compromise with the dignity of others or not may be an individual affair, but it is important to underline that no individual has the right to disrespect others or try to compromise with their dignity. To us, this is unacceptable and totally against humanity and human ethos.

We feel that through different programmes, approaches, lectures, engagements, etc, we need to sensitize people on the need to develop reverence for all life. This has become a necessity in the present times when the mad race for crass materialism allures individuals to disregard others or browbeat them. We need to tell them that it is only by respecting others and their dignity; we can promote the spirit of solidarity in our society. This is the only way to promote harmonious and mutual coexistence in our societies. When we develop respect for others, we are accepting them on equal basis and give them the same consideration one would expect for oneself.

We need to create awareness that by identifying the ‘human’ in others, we are promoting our own human values and hence helping ourselves in our well-being and happiness. We all must realize that when we recognize the dignity of an individual it results in mutual recognition and mutual respect. If I treat you with respect and recognize your dignity, it is likely that you may reciprocate. Also our aim should be to respect the divinity of all individuals. If we puncture the ego of others or hurt them, we can never gain their good will. Here we believe that we need to start from ourselves. We must learn to self-respect ourselves; we think it is the starting point. Also we need to look at our own inner conflicts. Unless we resolve our own inner conflicts, we will tend to keep on demeaning others out of our own frustrations. It definitely can never contribute to our well-being and goodwill. For this we need to learn to our little inner voice- our conscience. ?

Also we need to sensitize people on the values promoted by great individuals like Mahatma Gandhi who through his life and message of love, nonviolence, truthfulness and compassion underlined how every being in this Mother Earth including nature had sacred right to be treated with respect and kindness. Bapu believed in the goodness of all living beings, and his interactions with others reflected his deep reverence for all life. This also reflected how he valued the inherent worth and dignity of all individuals regardless of their background. We call this entire canvas of the experience of nurturing deep reverence for others and value their self-worth and dignity as the JoyfulTalisman. Definitely it is the talisman for joyful living and our path to practice genuine loving-kindness which entails not only being kind to ourselves but also opening ourselves up to others with compassion.

Can we all strive to follow these eternal principles by developing deep reverence for all life??

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