We humans have assumably evolved over the several centuries, adapting to the ever-changing environment, ever gaining in competency, continually till we now dominate the planet. What has made this possible?
We believe that it is Love and War, the two sides of the same coin. Together, they intertwine the peak and nadir of human emotions. Imagine what a war does to both sides. It brings up strong emotions. It glorifies the struggle of one side, while it heightens the aggression towards the other side. Together, it makes for a heady concoction.
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The issue of apna (ingroup) and paraya (outgroup) is clearly delineated. With keeping the imagery of the enemy alive, the boundaries of interface get hardened, and negotiation becomes impossible. Emotions run fast and deep, and perceptions and cliques get formed. Perspectives get forgotten. Context is everything. So, opinions get formed as content and context are seen together.
This is evident from the long-running Israel – Palestine conflict that has been raging for decades. With the Russian – Ukraine war dragging on inexorably, with neither side winning, it has become evident, that the conflict would be protracted, long and its impact would last over decades. Love and War integrate two strong emotions of love and hate and bind them in an anvil in which there is no escape. War is possible, because ‘imagined ideas’ have currency. Currency to create human impact, experiences, memories. Sometimes those which we would want to forget, forgive, and move on, but can we really?
Humans have used the power of ideas and imagined notions, to create a shared purpose, a shared value – in short, the ingredients necessary to support group effort and collaboration. Back in the days of the early humans in Africa, men hunted in cohorts, as they realised that the ‘prey of size’ could only be available, if the individual efforts were pooled. Humans, “not like us” cohort, were quickly eliminated in a systematic war of genocide and pogrom, that continues to this day. A terrible blot on human race and humanity.
Even animals seem to have better empathy and respect for other living beings. Other animal species have hunger like us, but it is satiated after a meal. Then the animal lies indolent, passive, calm, rested. Not so with humans. We have a hunger that goes beyond food. Our hunger is for needs beyond satisfying our biological needs for food, water, and sex. Those perceived needs are nothing but our inexhaustible desires.
“There is a saying that no man has tasted the full flavor of life until he has known poverty, love, and war.” O Henry
War was & is the weapon of choice for furthering expansionist interests. Both the Warlord and the Crusader-Warrior ventured into war, for a narrative that included a story that all societies were pagan if not Christian by faith. Thus, it was justified to take away the pagan’s property (humans, animals, and properties), as it was okay to turn the pagan to a life of perpetual slavery. Indeed, the shiniest affluent industrial nations in the world, must carefully examine their inheritance. For indeed, most of the nations’ wealthy today, have had an inglorious era of merciless and brutal subjugation of the ’other’.
The War usually starts with an imagined idea of an ideal for the victor. The ultimate sacrifice offered is ‘life’ itself. For to die in war is to be immortalised as a martyr, with a promised special heaven awaiting, with glories and treasures imagined but not attained in his living world. These imagined notions, repeatedly discoursed, become the narrative that held people’s beliefs in the past, and today, the more contemporary ‘social character’ of ideas of the day.
Ideas exist in a span of time. We are repulsed with abuse today, or death by severe torture, yet are more tolerant to modern day notions of ‘democracy’ or ‘capitalism’, taking these ideas as given. Some day in the future we might even be open to idea of euthanasia, and probably even make it ‘mandatory’ at a certain age.
As humans, we learn to listen to stories. Our values are shaped by the stories we hear when we were young and impressionable. Stories are the human imagination we live by. Stories are the deeply ingrained ideas we are prepared to die for. These stories form the core of our beliefs. They govern our attitudes and our worldview of how we view the world. It provides an ethnocentric lens from which it is impossible to view the other side. In this, empathy and compassion are lost.
Our Indic wisdom has much to share. Indeed, it calls out, ‘We are all One family’, and again ‘Let all be happy’, even while asserting that ‘Let noble thoughts come to us from all directions’. āno bhadrāḥ kratavo yantu viśvato (Rig Veda 1.89.1). It articulates a world in which one lives by Dharma and holds all actions against Dharma as Adharma.
Indeed, the Mahabharat, is a unique story of Love and War. The Mahabharat truly offers all facets of human behaviour, actions, and emotions to unfold as case studies and how each protagonist makes choices. It clarifies ‘role taking’ with ‘role making’. It ideates the importance of ‘responsibility’ for the ‘role’.
Today, what holds currency, and what enables the dominant ideas of our times, is to be reviewed against who controls the narrative. Control the narrative and you control the event. In other words, just don’t attempt to change the behaviour; it’s better to change the Story, in itself. Can we?
(Steve Correa is an Executive Coach and HR Consultant, who has had over three decades of corporate experience. He is author of, The Indian Boss at Work: Thinking Global Acting Indian. Sage Publisher. Srinath Sridharan is a Corporate Advisor)
