In this pandemic, this one image disturbed me a lot….
Adding to this my son asked me:
“What is the difference between an educated and an uneducated person?”
“Is that the morality or the moral values which has something to do with education?”
After hearing that questions we had a small discussion. I was thinking about ‘moral values’ rather than the ‘education’. Among so many definitions provided in a number of platforms, I picked up the definition that ‘education is a process of knowledge sharing. In the current scenario, it’s become so mechanized output-oriented project. Many times and at many places, it's a systematic structural way of formal institutional ‘learning’ In this process appreciating individuals' moral values and conscious thinking has taken a back seat. So once again the point to be noted is ........
Does knowledge influence and encourage conscious thinking?
When we continued the discussion I focused on moral values and their relationship with our own consciousness. I told my son that education doesn’t have any connection with moral values because morality is directly related to one’s own conscious thinking and actions. In continuation I quoted few real-life examples:
· A lady rag picker who feeds many street dogs
· A common man who says NO to a plastic straw in a juice shop
· Many women who bring their own cloth bag for the vegetable shop
· Middle-aged man who buys guavas for the old lady standing next to the vendor in anxiety counting the few coins in her hand.
· A small kid who picks up the biscuit wrapper on the pavement and dropping in the bin
· A homemaker who offers a nice cup of tea for her servant maid
· Old couple who pays the school fee of their maid’s daughter
All the above-mentioned individuals may be or may not be educated, but their act of kindness and affection towards a human being or the environment/society, makes them stand out from the crowd. They shouldn’t be termed as they are lost in the crowd, they are just one in a MILLION, rather it’s the other way they are ONE in a million. The conscious act of an ordinary human being becomes an extraordinary act of kindness, love, and care……
Discussing further the question that came to our mind was ‘Whatever we do with the approval of our inner sense is that right?’. The degree of good or bad right or wrong depends on the individual’s perspective. After pondering upon so many examples we came with the aspect that education enhances your moral values but family and society help you to retain your values. Also, it’s the self who has control over their mind and consciousness which is going to guide them, teach them what’s right and what’s wrong.
Finally, after many rounds of discussion about different points, we ended up with the quote……….
Consciousness means
You are not to learn from others
What is right and what is wrong
There is no need to learn from anybody
You have to simply go in
Just the inward journey is enough
The deeper you go, The more consciousness is
Released.