The human side of healthcare

We all dream of a better world where there is peace, happiness and harmony, don’t we? No one would like degradation of environment, loss of human lives due to wars and murders, corrosion of human spirit by crime and corruption, dehumanisation through poverty and troublesome social, economic and political conditions, embroiled with high tension and turmoil that drain human energy and make life miserable. On the contrary, all would like life to be characterised by harmony and health, well-being and wealth and heavenly happiness and purity. But the question is, what are those values and how can such a socio-politico-economic system be established which has those values and which will enhance human experience and enable men and women to have such life-style as can make such a society viable? The answer, perhaps, begins not with systems but with self-awareness, with a honest reckoning of what ails us collectively.

If we conduct a survey among various groups of people on this particular subject, we will find that their opinion would most probably crystalise around ten or fifteen major points. They would say that a better world is one in which the following exist only in milder forms or in a lesser degree than we have them in the present-day world. These major problems or causes of sufferings are wars, violence and cruelty in any form, poverty, unemployment and social, economic and political injustice, environmental pollution and ecological imbalance, corruption, crime, indiscipline and obscenity, disease, infirmity and high mortality rate, slavery, lack of freedom or deprivation of human rights, hunger, malnutrition or starvation, wrong attitudes towards the other sex and abuse of children, addictions, intoxications, tensions and lack of happiness, hatred, suspicion, fear, cut-throat competition, rivalry and absence or lack of love and co-operation at various levels of society. What is noteworthy is that most of these crises are not merely external problems; they are reflections of a disturbed human consciousness.

Post this survey, if we conduct another kind of survey, asking every segment of society about what efforts or improvements they expect from the other segments so that we may have a better world order, a fair enough consensus on the following lines would emerge. People would say that they want: - Scientists to have an orientation of spirituality, religious leaders to have scientific temper, doctors to treat not only the body but also the mind or the soul, education to have spiritual and moral development also among its aims, women to be given proper social status and man’s attitude and outlook towards them to be more spiritualised. Now these and such other aims can be fulfilled if every segment of society works a bit for the fulfilment of what other segments expect of it. Each individual also has to contribute a bit of his or her talent or time to work towards raising awareness of the people so as to realise the above goals. For this global task, global co-operation is required. Hence, a new kind of bank to which each individual or institution can offer its contributions so as to build a better world is the need of the hour. This “Bank” need not be financial alone; it can also be a collective reservoir of noble thoughts, values, wisdom, compassion and constructive actions. The more humanity deposits these inner riches into the world atmosphere, the greater will be the possibility of creating a future marked not by con flict and chaos, but by peace, balance and true human fulfilment.

(The writer is a spiritual educator and popular columnist for publications across India, USA, UK, Australia, South Africa, Canada & Mauritius. 10,00+ Published Columns have been written by Him.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rajyogi Brahma Kumar Nikunj Ji

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