First Thought
The animal called Man that dominates the whole wide world today vainly believes that he stands at the peak of civilization. He truly contends that in his history of hundreds of thousands of years; he has never achieved such an unparalleled level of success and material possession as he does today. The past of thousands of years brings a look of pity and sympathy in his gaze. He has harnessed the thunder of the skies to do his bidding; changed the course of rivers to irrigate his lands, generating electricity barring their flow, and even traveled far into space to the moon and back. It does not end there; he believes he will soon be able to make inter-planetary travels possible.
But who will tell this creature that this his handiwork does not end there; there are other areas too where he has trodden; this ‘civilization’ he is so proud of has other sides too. It has completed all the preparations that will wipe him off of this world. The atomic bombs that this civilisation has brought forth have been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of men; women; children, the weak, and the elderly at one time in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This civilization has brought death upon more than 101 million human beings in the two world wars.
So, this civilization that man is so proud of can be termed as that? In my opinion, not. It is a technical material advancement only that is completely devoid of soul and conscience. A program that brings man down as a human being at a higher speed as it reaches greater progress; cannot be denoted as a civilization. With the help of this civilization, man has amassed more than enough weapons, nuclear bombs that in fact can destroy this earth several times over.
That it has not been destroyed already is not owing to this civilization, not the humane feeling of how many lives will be lost in the process either; not definitely the idea of love for human life; it is fear alone. Fear that in the process of annihilating his enemy he too will perish. The United States is well aware that no sooner will their InterContinental Ballistic Missiles be launched than similar ones from across the ocean will be on the way also. The same is true on Russia’s side; they too know well that in the process of annihilating the us they will not survive either. Fear and fear alone have long deterred these superpowers from going for each other’s jugulars; it is not humanity, it is not mercy, it is not respect towards truth and justice that has stopped them from carrying out these ultimate atrocities. It is the primal fear that in killing the enemy, they too will be killed. History bears proof in the tragic events of Hiroshima & Nagasaki that they do not refrain from these on the basis of humanity and love for fellow man.
In their technical, ‘civilized’ jargon; they refer to this factor as ‘deterrent’. We can be sure that the moment the United States or Russia is convinced that they have surpassed their in inventing superior weaponry that can withstand the amount of nullify its effect, that very moment they will launch their attack. No number of humane feelings, empathy, or sympathy for human life will be able to stop them from carrying out their mission.
Former United States President, Gerald Ford stated in a clear message that their biggest guarantee of peace was their military might, which was the greatest deterrent. In other words, the United States was safe only as long as it stayed ahead in nuclear weaponry to ensure that whoever attacked America would themselves too, die. The same holds for Russia.
Therefore; a status quo remains in effect. Two parties each holding a gun at the other yet not pulling the trigger only because in doing so, they would spell doom for themselves too. So how can this be called a civilization, where the entire existence of it is founded in mortal fear?
This is no civilization; it is technological advancement only and such a condition cannot indefinitely go on. If human beings do not collectively realize, they stray away from this path of technical advancement alone, that progress in science needs to be used for the good of mankind and break this age-old social system to create a new, better one, then sooner or later one of the parties is bound to pull the trigger.
I am aware that many people will not agree with this notion. A thinking man would not take such a suicidal step; to them, I would like to state that yes; mankind will not consciously decide to commit suicide or even mass murder but a stalemate cannot effectively remain in place indefinitely, can it? At one point or another, circumstances will compel one party to pull the trigger. In the last century, mankind has brought down two world wars on themselves. Let us take the instance of the First World War; if a referendum was held all over the world to see if people wanted a war or not; we can see that almost all if not most of the populace would vote in the negative; yet did the world war not take place? Even those who were directly responsible for starting the world war probably have voted against it. That alone cost the lives of 40 million human beings. It did not end there, for within only 21 years of that horrible experience, mankind got involved in another great world war. The second time around also, if a referendum was held to ascertain if the peoples of the world wanted such a war; the result would have been the same, in the negatives. Yet the sad truth is such a war did indeed take place, spanning across years and continents; resulting in the deaths of 70 million human beings and countless others maimed for life, causing hundreds of thousands of women to be widowed; raped, and countless children orphaned. Therefore, even if the entire people of the world stands against it, the event occurs; like the world wars on the other hand; if people all over the world desire a particular scenario like peace it doesn’t come to be.
Why is that? As we discussed earlier; it is circumstances; and these circumstances again are the direct result of people’s actions. The Prime Minister of Great Britain during the First World War when describing how the war started replied, “We all slithered into it”. The world today screams the slogan of ‘Peace, we want Peace’. The oppression of the weak by the powerful; the triumph of truth over falsehood, the injustice of the rulers over the ruled; and the treachery of the rich over the poor have turned this world into a living hell. The earth is soaked in the blood of innocent children and people. All these have not happened without reason; nor is it that creatures from another planet have come here and created this condition; man, himself has caused all these sufferings. For this, all the efforts for peace are going in vain. Not only that; all statistics inform that apart from technological advancement man is rapidly degenerating on all other levels; the more educated people are becoming on materialistic education, the more self-centred; selfish; and inhumane they are turning. In other words; this materialistic education is producing people to become bandits in gentlemen’s garb and all indications tell of continued sharp rises in all manners of crimes, murder, kidnapping, robbing & rapes.
We find no single state where the crime rates are dropping, where does all this end? These questions plagued the minds of most sane and thoughtful people. On top of all these lies the ever-present threat of nuclear bombs. All these prove beyond any doubt that to date man has not been able to produce and promote a balanced system of life that can enable man to live in peace. What then, is the way out from this doomed existence? Is man destined to self-destruct this way?
There is indeed a way out of this quagmire. However; there is not much time left to make this journey. This journey will allow mankind to deviate away from this path of self-destruction and allow them to strike a beautiful balance between his body & soul; his heart and brain at the same time, enabling him to reach the heights of development and success. But to embark on this particular journey, mankind must first and foremost reach a conclusion to a highly pertinent issue. On this decision will rest whether he will reach success or meet doom, in failure. It is to be thought out, carefully evaluated, and neutrally analyzed decision whether there exists a creator for himself and this entire universe. If they decide the creator exists; the next step would be to search if any Guidance for mankind from Him remains on this earth. For it is Him alone who can tell which way to proceed on, that will allow this creature (man) to live a balanced; progressive; peaceful, and productive life on earth.
Common sense dictates that the situations of either scenario; (belief in the existence of the Creator, or not) cannot be the same. For example; if you are to visit any particular country or state; will your decision, be the same in all circumstances? Let us suppose the law & order situation of one country is very secure; it has an effective police force that is manned by efficient, responsible people whereas another country is quite lawless; with no definite systematic government or police department; would you find the two countries to be in any manner similar? Without a doubt, the answer would be no. In the first instance; you could enter the country all by yourself and roam around without having to fear anything. As for the other country, you would most definitely not be comfortable entering there alone; even if you were compelled to go there, you would do that in a group, be armed, and be vigilant about your activities. As you know there prevails no law & order in that country, your weapon will serve as law. Therefore, whether one visits a country in fear or trepidation depends mostly on whether there exists an effective government, this will have a direct result in fact, on all your actions there. Hence the question, whether the Creator exists or not is the ultimate path to peaceful, progressive existence or the road to transgression & futility.
To date, mankind has not yet reached a decisive answer to this question; so all these differences in opinion remain. Mankind must collectively reach a decision at this point because today the Question is not just all the wars; bloodshed and tears that the past and present histories of man are full of, today the question is of his very existence.
