Date: June 22, 1999 12:54 AM Author: Zafom (mfzbj@hotmail.com) Subject: How much is too much? How little is too little?
A modern man today occupy the same biological status as his ancestors of three thousand years ago. Yet to sustain a modern man, he needs, compared to his ancestors, ten times as much mother nature's milk to get going. Sorry, we don't have to go as far back as a thousand year, even of the same era, a man in Paris or Tokyo or KL consumes in his lifetime ten times much more natural resources than a man in an African jungle, or in central Asia. The justification? anybody?
People are saying, a man, unlike animal, has social, intellectual, artistic, spiritual dimensions which requires material commitment, hence the extra requirements. The more developed a man, the bigger his physical requirement to meet these needs. If this trend go on unchecked, there will be a time when the whole world is barely enough for just one man. We already see the symptoms- genocides, murders, dominations, hegemony etc.
There are individuals who starts questioning the validity of it all. They are beginning to think we are having too much in the name of the liberation of human spirit. The question is how much is too much? In the 40's Thor Heyerdahl (Of the Kon Tiki expedition) set out across the pacific, in search of an answer. Even in those years, he thought man is having more of the natural world than what he really needs. He found the polynesian, a rather primitive people ( in relation to modern europe). He began to live among them. Even then, western way of living , started infiltrating the culture, (with spoons and forks, sewing machine, etc.) This situation might muddle his perception in searching for the answer. So he and wife retreated further upriver, away from even this people. They tried to live as simple as possible. In such situation, health began to be a problem. he got malaria, and daily inconveniences forces them to turn around. The question then was how little is too little?
Between the extremities of a wasteful rennaissance man and and a cave men, mankind had never been sure where the midpoint should be. I believe the answer can never be answered in any scientific way. No mathematical formula, no sophisticated gadget, no statistical method would ever be succesful in pinpointing the co-ordinate of the "enlightened being". I believe the answer lies in the realm of spirituality. In religion, In conscience, in ethics, in moralities, in poetry. These aspects of humanity has always been on the sideway of modern thinking. They are neglected (compared to the material aspects) because they lack quantifiable characters. Difficult to weight, measure, as such not fit for consideration.
Fellow human being, we might not understand much, but we will make many better decisions if we develop and use our metaphysical side, our spiritual side, in dealing with humankind. imagine one evening you were standing on a beautiful beach watching the sunset. With breeze running through your hair. Suddenly you got ecstatic, caught in the beauty of the scenario. Then the better way to describe this joy to other human being, is not through a numeric "scale of ectasy", rather a few line of a beautiful prose. Is it not?
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