Of meanings and myths

Sapiens was probably the most different of all the books that I’ve read and was super impressed with the author. Homo Deus, as rightly highlighted by Thala when I had mentioned last year that I was planning to start with it, had been quite a different experience. It was very dark and hard hitting even for a vegetarian like me. All said, I didn’t finish even 1/3rd of the book the whole of last year as I found the content too disturbing, especially around the way humans have domesticated animals, the food needs, how we treat other species especially the animals being mass produced for food, how we’ve become the scourge of this planet for other species etc. It was very depressing to read and couldn’t be more honest of an account. I’ve seen complaints on newspapers and been quite vocal about stray dogs and their menace. After reading this book, the outlook changed totally. I still can’t stand to think of pigs and pigsties. But from the perspective of food industry, poultry farms and pigsties have taken a whole new meaning after reading those sections. It is unimaginable for those who feed on them and earn their living on these industries and may even take offence. But from the perspective put forth by the author, it is hard hitting to say the least and would definitely lead to some soul searching questions. I am now at a stage where the discussion has moved towards God, faith and how it varied over time. What I read as mythology and stories, had all been major religions and faiths couple of centuries prior. People had actually gone to war praying to those gods and wars had been fought on their very names and spread. Humans have always been fanatics of one religion or other and only the name has changed over the eras. There was an example about the crusade that was actually the trigger behind this post. A hypothetical boy named John had been lead to believe that his father, his grand father and those prior to them have all been right in fighting the infidels (muslims) over the claim for Jerusalem. During a church meeting, the news comes that Saladin, the muslim king had defeated the second crusade and had taken over Jerusalem. John proudly and bravely proclaims on the church that he would join the third crusade declared by the pope and would seize back Jerusalem. The girls of his village go awe on his bravery and dream about him as he makes his way to join the crusade. He is surprised to realize that an exact same scenario has been unfolding on the other side with a muslim boy being lead to think that the infidel (Christians this time) had to be taught a lesson for exactly the same reason. Time passes by. The church where he was inducted undergoes renovations and rebuilding. His parents, himself and his descendants all expire and soon the church becomes the historical tourist spot that it is on present day. The scenario at present being, people braving wars to help those innocent civilians caught in cross fire. The youth who join human rights/Amnesty international to serve those on those war torn regions are seen with same sense of awe. The glaring difference being this time, the mission is to SAVE those very lives of those very same people (infidels) against whom the crusades were fought. The glaring discrepancy over that example and the changes that we’ve undergone over the passage of time and how much of a 360 degree turn in perception had all been made possible, when lot of people agree over same definition was hard hitting. For some idea to be accepted as real, all it takes is sufficiently large number of people to believe it, propagate it and accept it. Whether it makes sense, real or truth is all subjective. How simple a statement yet how profound it is!!! Schools world over and universities should make Sapiens and Homo Deus as syllabus for greater research and understanding!!! More to come.

Happy 2021.