TRAUMA CAUSED BY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

TRAUMA CAUSED BY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Science and Technology are being increasingly used to serve the interest of aggression, economic exploitation and consumerism-materialism. Day in and day out these are being used to make nuclear weapons, missiles, submarines and armaments. Big industries are being used by industrialists to exploit the labor and to add to their own profits.

But this is not the fault of scientists and technicians. Perhaps the politicians who frame the policies and the industries who exploit are to blame. Nevertheless, the scientist cannot be totally free from blame. They could refuse to sell their knowledge and skill to make weapons of mass destruction or to be a party to research projects aimed at preparing new set of more deadly arms.

Scientists and technicians could also make sure that the industrial plants they invent, design or build do not lead to problems of environmental pollution and have enough safeguards for the workers and that these are not installed to exploit the poor laborers. At least one would have liked to hear of their non-involvement and non-cooperation in all such ventures in the future and their collective non-cooperation in weapons of genocide and mass destruction.

Science and technology have no doubt provided innumerable things of daily use in plenty and have made life more easy and comfortable yet what is absent is more thoughtful and careful application of all technologies to prevent long range damage to the earth and violence to human values and to mankind, and to foster social, economic and cultural development of the poorer sections by making such inventions as could be of great use to the rural folk. This situation can be set right if science and spirituality go together. Scientists have to have peace of mind through meditation if they have to use their knowledge for peaceful progress of mankind. Only a peaceful mind can use its knowledge for peaceful purposes. And peace, it must be noted is a quality or an experience of the soul; it is a non-physical, non material reality. The state of peace can be restored by spiritual knowledge in practice. A scientist, with a spiritualized mind, will create things and use technological skill for the betterment and happiness of all. The health hazard due to the third class products is the prime example of the misuse of science and technology.

SOCIAL AND FAMILY BREAKDOWN

SOCIAL AND FAMILY BREAKDOWN

One major problem faced by mankind today is the problem of social disintegration and family break-up. One notices political hostilities in one country, communal confrontation in another and class conflict in yet another. There is fragmentation all around us. There are strikes, subversive activities, confrontation between the people and the police, political instability and disunity everywhere on linguistic, religious, political, ethnic, economic, cultural and other grounds. It has become a fractured society and a society without cohesion. There is loss of institutional credibility. The underground press and the militant groups also are busy creating rift, schism, feud and friction. Everyone feels that there is need for national integration and human unity but no one seems to be able to do something about this problem.

Inequalities, injustice, unequal distribution, exploitation, selfish motives, utter disrespect of law and lack of love and regard for each other are leading to increasing number of conflict and fragmentations.

Religious also have ceased to be a cohesive force. These seems to be outdated and without relevance to current social conditions and many of their doctrines have lost credibility. Religious preachers are unable to give adequate

Moral guidance and to inspire people by their own example. Religions seem to be hypocritical and intolerant and the priest class seems to be money-minded if not corrupt. Religions also are, therefore, unable to serve as a cohesive force. And, where they act a cohesive force between followers, it easily takes stiff postures against others, thus causing schism within itself or leading to confrontation with others. One therefore, sees either fundamentalist and violent regimes on the world scene or the rise of secular, political creeds of the western type. In the latter case, state dogmatism and a moral regimes have appeared without being capable of bringing about emotional integration of the people whereas, in the former case, there is conflict among fundamentalist regimes themselves or against others.

At another places, non-theist ideologies, such as communism, have been adopted without doing anything to give moral base to the society. So, while conservatively-interpreted or outdated religion has led to disunity or apathy at some places, split on the basis of economic ideology or ethnic and cultural differences has resulted elsewhere. The world is thus breaking up because of many diving factors.

The break-up in the family system is due to breach in the traditional structure of the family. There are millions of fatherless children and split families in the world. The cases of divorce also are on the increase. There is culture invasion with very devastating effect on the family and millions lead a life of isolation, without getting family love and care. This has led to many problems such as maladjustment and mental depression . there is loss of identity and feeling of deprivation and loneliness. This kind of tention feeds many other problems.

Law and legislation is increasing so much to keep the society integrated and in better shape that one cannot keep pace with the growth in the clauses and sub-clauses of acts and yet one finds a great disrespect for law. There is quite an amount of lawless law and international anarchy. Many civilized states do not observe in practice the convenants, agreements or legal instruments signed by them. Many individuals also try to find escape routes from the grips of law. Thus law obedience to law or fear of authority also has ceased to check disruptive elements from distintegration.

There are divisive rendencies within every political party and hardly any political party misses any chance to criticize or oppose another party and tell people of its acts of ommission and commission. The political interests also sre a great dividing factor.

So, there is need of such education as promotes love, brings about emotional integration, has the cohesive force of a religion, brings about an ideological unity, gives to man the concept of virtuous family life, within the greater family of man-kind on spiritual basis.

We require knowledge which lifts our consciousness to ma point that transcends the boundaries of nationalism, religion, distinction of race, language and such other things that divide man-kind. Such a knowledge is only the spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge unites man with god and trains the the people to form a united mankind.it gives man a universal consciousness in place of consciousness based on various distinctions. The slogan of spiritual knowledge is unity and one world and not of any power blocks.spiritual knowledge makes all men the citizens of one earth.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION

POVERTY ALLEVIATION

It is well understood that to lead a healthy life one needs to have a good and balanced lifestyle which is possible only when he/she has economic stability and sufficient money to fulfill the health requirements. Therefore the alleviation of poverty is a must to lead a healthy lifestyle.

It is estimated that two-third of the world population lives in a state of poverty .According to World Bank; more than 40% of the population in the developing countries lives in absolute poverty. It is estimated that by the year 2020 ,about 5000 million persons ,i.e. more people than the total world population as it was in 1980,or , in other words, about 78% of world population in the year 2020,would be below the poverty line.

It should be realized that poverty affects one's life in many ways. It means lack of total absence of medical care, malnutrition for the aged or the children, diseases caused by unhygienic living conditions, erosion of morals, tension in mutual relationship, spurt in crimes and even deaths to many people because of want of proper food and medicine.

Isn't it a pity that, at a time when millions of people of all age groups are suffering gravely from the curse of poverty, billions of US dollars are being spent on sterile and destructive pursuits! If these resources are released to attack the serious and dreadful problem of poverty, the world would be a much better place to live.

Let us understand that at least in the current world situation, peace and prosperity are indivisible and are global in their nature. One prosperous nation cannot have peace if there is a poor nation struggling in its neighborhood with its problem of malnutrition and disease. Let us therefore divert the huge funds spent in armaments research and military built-up for the betterment of the millions of our poorer brothers.

Let us create an awareness that wastage of eatables, food materials and water is a crime against millions .Let us avoid storing or hoarding clothes ,shoes and other consumer goods in excessive and long-time stocks because food and these other commodities are the bare minimum one needs for one's earthly existence. Let the affluent nations not shy away their responsibility for sharing the rewards of their enterprises with the poor of the poorest people, for the latter having been on the planet earth, have some right to its fruits.

It need not be said in so many words that the quality of being spend thrift, and of being considerate to others and the virtues of non-hoarding and making sacrifices for the happiness of others, and the habit of economy and the spirit of generosity towards those who are less fortunate, are religious merits or spiritual virtues, planted and nourished by spiritual wisdom.

ENERGY CRISIS

ENERGY CRISIS

World Energy Consumption was expected to rise by 75 percentages between 1979 and 2000.The consumption rate is rising faster. It is thought that at this rate there is a clear possibility of oil running out within 50 years. The international energy situation, therefore, requires careful consideration.

Use of energy per person in the developed countries is extremely high. There is a very small number of people consuming a horribly high amount of energy thus depleting energy resources, increasing entropy and adding to the pollution of the atmosphere. There is thus need for rationalism of energy consumption and check on over consumption. It is not only a great injustice to the people of third world countries but the over-consumption at this rate is gravely detrimental to the future prospects of mankind.

Though alternative forms of energy are being tapped and there is gradual shift to atomic energy, the latter is also not free from causing damage to the environment or increasing entropy.

The kind of consumerism as is prevalent in the developed countries can be kept in check if they acquire the virtue of economy and have a comparatively simpler mode of life. There is thus need for a little change in attitude and lifestyle. One has to learn to live close to Nature and no more economic, simpler and less expensive scale and be at least a little considerate to others. Otherwise the fear of energy crisis will never let us lead a healthy life.

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN

Women and girls form half of the world's population and work for about two-thirds of work hours yet there has been social,economic and political discrimination against women over the millennia.

The causes of inequality, injustice and discrimination are directly related with some old religious beliefs and complex historical process.Even though the role of a women as a housewife, a mother or a sister is significant and eventhough women can do almost any work as proficiently as men do, women are considered inferior beings; they do not really count in the larger society.They generally hold a subordinate position and are dominated by men.

Though attitudes have shifted considerably due to education and also due to women movements in recent times,yet even now women are not given due regard or the rightful place in society.The idea about the inferiority of women has become ingrained in the minds of men and finds expression in their day to day life, behaviour,oral or written expression.Men have a tendency to dominate and consider women as things or as object of sex.This kind of attitude towards women lead to tension,debasement to morals and crime.

It is therefore essential to impart education which draws a person's attention to the soul rather than the body, to one's moral and mental qualities rather than one's physical weakness of a sort. It is now time that men accept the equality of women in the society. Nay, it is time to give women a higher place and a better role in the society in order to bring a qualitative change. Women will definitely prove to be of help in establishing peace due to their special qualities.Then only people can really gain an optimum health.

DIABETES

DIABETES

Diabetes mellitus has become one of the most widespread diseases in existence. The amazing fact is that half of the people with the disease don’t even know that they are diabetic. There are 2 types of diabetes one is juvenile diabetes which is also known as type-1 diabetes. And the other is fivefold among which 90% are type-2 diabetes. So it will not be unjust to say that diabetes has reached epidemic proportions.

Diabetes itself is a big problem. On top of it its side effects like kidney and cardio-vascular diseases are the leading cause of death. You may be shocked to know that one-third of the diabetes die due to kidney failure and 4 out of 5 diabetic die of cardiovascular disease. Optical and neurological problems are another major complications developed by diabetes, which ranks diabetes as no.1 cause of amputations and blindness in elderly.

Now you may certainly be curious to know the cause of diabetes. Among various one of the major cause found to date is our food habit. Our body always tends to maintain an optimal level of sugar in our body. For that purpose a hormone named insulin is used as storage hormone. Our food nowadays contain maximum proportion of carbohydrate which consumed requires larger amount of insulin as a result our body develops a irregularity that’s called insulin resistance. Our body becomes less sensitive to our own insulin which means we need more insulin to balance sugar level. Beta cells of our pancreas (producer of insulin) are forced to produce more insulin. And if this process continues for about 20 years then our pancreas deteriorates and stops producing insulin and we then develop diabetes.

Therefore to save ourselves from this epidemic we should not delay in changing our lifestyle. With proper diet, exercise and certain intake of food supplement we can prevent this silent killer. Diets containing food with low glycemic-index, rich in fiber, good protein, unsaturated fat, rich in minerals and vitamins can be really helpful for our healthy living.

30-40 minutes moderate walk a day certainly increases our insulin sensitivity and consumption of certain qualified nutritional supplement rich in magnesium, vanadium, chromium also improves insulin sensitivity and supplement rich in vitamin-E reduces the oxidative stress produced by diabetes.

Finally I assure you that with this lifestyle change non-diabetic will never develop diabetes and diabetic will be freed from drug or insulin dependence.

urbanisation

URBANISATION

Cities are expanding rapidly into metropolis and mega polis, engulfing the surrounding villages and suburbs as they expand. The expansion-both horizontal and vertical, is causing numerous problems in its wake. Daily, it is adding to over crowding, noise-pollution and pollution of the atmosphere due to the smoke from motor vehicles. One has to travel over great distances daily to reach one's place of work or residence or to meet people .Life has become so busy that one finds no time even to talk to, or to know, one's neighbours.

Due to enormous expansion, crime also has increased many times and accidents have multiplied. Life has become artificial, mechanical and dependent on so many things. The total city system is so complicated and things have become so interdependent that if one system fails all others will also, sooner or later come to a grinding halt. Man's life has become tense due to shortages of many kinds, due to fast speed and due to competition and crime in these cities.

There is thus need to tell people the benefits of life which is close to nature. There is also the need to give people such sources of inner happiness as can enable them to resist attraction to the amoral, immoral or debasing means of entertainment found in big cities and to other materialistic attractions of a city life. There is need to change our view of what is called "development" and there is also need to change educational system which is preparing students mainly for white-collar and elite jobs which bring them to cities for employment.

Stress-related diseases

STRESS-RELATED DISEASES

Modern age is known as the age of stress.Due to rapid industrialisation ,vast expansion of cities,fast means of transport,quick means of communication,break-up of families,sharp increase in prices of things of daily use,rise in the standards of living and break-neck competition in life ,there is rise in tension.

Tension or stress badly affects one's nervous system, breathing system, harmonal system,digestive system,system of blood circulation and infact all body systems.It plays havoc with the body and causes many psychosomatic diseases,such as high blood pressure,asthma,peptic ulcer,insomnia,heart diseases and even cancer.

The main reason seems to be lack of ability to adjust in the family,to face problems with a sense of self-confidence and with calmness,to bear up with people who have different ideas and lifestyles, to maintain the balance of mind and reasonable control over emotions and to face the realities of life without receiving a shock or being in a trauma.

These ability comes mainly from spiritual culture.One's faith in god works best for absorbing shocks in life and giving him a feeling of security.One feels more relaxed if one has goodwill towards all and behave with others with humility,sweetness of language,sense of co-operation and cordiality in relationship.These quality comes from spiritual study and acquiring a spiritual outlook towards life.

Hate ,anger,enmity,jealousy,inferiority complex,nervousness,emotional instability,lack of self control,strong sex-drive,high ambitions, habit of a very fast life,lack of love in one's relationships easily lead to stress or tension.

It has been found that meditation and yoga helps greatly to attain a state of mental relaxation,relese from stress and a feeling of assurance,security,rest and peace.Meditation has been found to be of great value in treating these diseases and to absorb the stress that one faces in various situations.

Dependency in Drugs, Abuse of Alcohol and Tobacco

Dependency in Drugs,Abuse of Alcohol and Tobacco

Barbiturates and derivatives of Barbituric acid have medicinal use as sedative, tranquillizers and hypnotics or in larger doses under medical supervision, as anesthesia. However, after regular and long use, one becomes dependent on them .One has the danger of becoming an addict to sedatives, tranquillizers and other drugs.

Gradually, one begins to take a bigger and bigger dose of these and this causes not only grave behavioral defects but their abuse is far more dangerous than the abuse of alcohol. One suffers social, emotional and personality deterioration and also has mental confusion, hallucination, delirium and may also have even psychotic or paranoid reactions. The most dangerous drug is the heroine, taken alone or with barbiturates, or the barbiturates taken with alcohol or other stimulants.

The youth who have worry and tension because of the coming examinations, or the problems of employment, or adjustment in their family, or the youth who once try the effect of the drugs out of curiosity or at the suggestions of some friends or the drug-agent, fall a victim to the drug-abuse because these drugs give pleasurable sensation and alleviate tension when consumed. These also give temporary euphoria and a feeling of kick. One, therefore, soon develops a craving for these and becomes badly dependent on them. If at that stage, one abruptly gives them up, one gets convulsions which may prove even fatal. If one does not give them up, one becomes physically and psychically more dependent on higher doses of these drugs which result in a rough deterioration of personality.

The psychoactive drugs, to which one falls a victim, affect the central nervous system. These drugs have a strong influence on the human mind and behavior.

Abuses of alcohol are now well-known. Not only one develops craving for alcohol and dependence on it but sooner, later or much later one suffers loss of control over one's emotions. An alcoholic has tendency to ascribe his own defects to others: he considers others, especially his family members of colleagues as wrong. Alcoholism also releases aggressive tendencies which may manifest in anti-social and criminal act. A person under the influence of alcohol acts more impulsively and his change in attitude and behavior generally leads to disturbed emotional relations and complications.

The youth and the disturbed people are being exploited by liquor firms and drug manufacturers or their agents who persuade them to use these. As a result, an increasing number of youth is falling victim to drug abuse and to alcoholic drinks.

There is thus a visible debasement of character, a gravely altered behavior and a fall in moral standards. This posses a serious threats to the society, for it leads to many social, economic and family problems in addition to causing spurt in crime.

Smoking also is causing a serious problem. Various constituents of tobacco or of smoke from tobacco are now known for causing various diseases. Many cases of lung or mouth cancer and heart diseases also are attributed to the use of tobacco. It has been found that even those people who do not smoke may, in some cases, suffer from cancer, if some particles of tobacco-smoke, coming from a smoking neighbor settle on their lips or into their lungs.

While use of medicine and guidance from medical practitioners is helpful or necessary for de-addiction or for enabling people to give up dependence on, or use of drugs, alcohol, or tobacco, it has been found that spiritual knowledge, education in values and also the practice of meditation greatly relieve a person from stress and worries. This education gives him a role and meaning in life, increases his capacity to withstand the shock of life and to feel relaxed. He will be physically and mentally energetic and efficient. These give him inner and lasting happiness and harmless feeling of spiritual ecstasy (spiritual intoxication), and give him various kinds of balances in his life.

Polluted environment

Our health is directly related to the environment where we live in.There are five major factors which determine the naure and magnitude of the problem of pollution.One of these is the size and the growth of the human population.The second is the rate of production,transportation and the kind and the level of the technology used for production and transportation.The third one is the tests of the nuclear weapons and the disposal of wastes from nuclear reactors, etc.The fourth one is the use of various kinds of insecticides,fertilizers,preservatives-added to foods and the use of such-like other chemicals.The fifth is the destruction of forests and denudation of mountains by cutting down of tree and such other action which destroy the ecological balance in nature.
If no timely measures are taken to preserve the ecological balance and to save the environment from further pollution, there is a distinct possibility of irreversible destruction of the global environment,for the capacity of the environment to deal with these effects is decreasing exponentially.
It must be remembered that pollution cannot be contained within the natural boundaries,for the earth and its atmosphere is one and wind,rains,ocean currents, etc carry the pollutants to far reaches of the planet.It must also be remembered that the health of man and other living beings and their well-being and his resources of water and air are directly or indirectly affected by pollution and action is therefore urgently necessary for the well-being of the whole mankind.
Since the present situation results from the rapid growth in population and unbridled application of technology in industrialised countries there is need that people exert self control and keep in mind the wider interests of mankind.