Not all Indians were happy when the Supreme Court ordered that the national anthem must be sung in all movie theaters and that everyone must stand. Many were delighted. But many were dismayed. They said national feelings cannot be, and must not be evoked with mere symbolism.
The time has come to pay more attention to the words and sentiments of our national anthem. Jana Gana Mana is a celebration of India’s diversity. Rabindranath Tagore wrote it way back in 1905. A few years later, in 1913, Tagore won the Noble Prize for Gitanjali, a collection of his poems. In Gitanjali, Tagore fears that ‘the world will be broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls’.
We are witnessing a fragmentation of the world in the new millennium. We thought that with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the cold war between nations was over. Now walls between nations are rising again. Within countries, including in India, walls are rising between people with different religions and cultures. Parts of countries want to break away. And majorities want to push minorities out. Hate and violence is spreading. Terror is lurking in the streets. Social media has become another battle-field.
Hard walls are rising between people with different world-views: between those who believe in liberal democratic ideas, and those who believe in the superiority of their own religion, their own race, and their own nation, and want to suppress others. Increasing populism and authoritarianism is threatening democracy everywhere. The world is being frightened to protect its fragments behind narrow domestic walls.
Tagore also worried, in Gitanjali, about what would happen to the world ‘when the clear stream of reason loses its way in the dreary desert sand of dead habit’. Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahnemann says that our mind has two parts. A part that ‘thinks fast’. And a part that ‘thinks slow’. ‘Thinking fast’ requires the mind to use stereotypes and mental categories so that we can make quick decisions based on superficial impressions. This helps us to take ‘fight or flee’ decisions quickly, as all animals can. Stereotypes are ‘habits’ of the mind. They enable the mind to think fast. The other part of the mind—the reflective, ‘thinking slow’ part—works when we pause, when we listen deeply, and explore new ideas. The thinking slow part of the mind is more developed in humans than other animals. Whenever we use one part of our body much more than another part, the body changes its shape. That is how a sprinter’s body develops a different shape to a weight-lifter’s. Their strengths lie in different parts of their bodies.
The beauty of social media technology is that it enables us to quickly connect with many things. When we click on something we like, technological algorithms provide instant links to other things we may like. On social media, and in video games, one must take immediate decisions. Should I click on this or not? Thus, social media develops the ‘think fast’ part of the mind. There is growing evidence that the barrage of stimuli in social media is making young people very good at responding quickly and at multi-tasking. However, with the growth of their ‘thinking fast’ capabilities, their ability to understand people who are not like themselves is reducing. Because, not only does social media reduce the use of deeper reflective abilities, it also pushes us into echo chambers of people and ideas we like. It is not surprising then that tests by neuro-sociologists in the US have found that markers of empathy amongst college students have reduced by 40% in the last ten years. There is even some evidence that the physical shape of the minds of children who are habituated to video-games and social media is changing.
Debates on TV have degenerated into cacophonies with everyone speaking and no one listening. Good ‘communication’ has two sides. On one side, speaking clearly. On the other side, listening deeply. Communication in the modern world is getting very lopsided. When teaching communication, we are taught the speaking side, to make our points more forcefully. We award winners of debates, who can effectively demolish the arguments of others and put down others. There are no awards for those who listened well and tried to understand the other point-of-view, to learn from it and expand their own knowledge.
Our bodies are very complex systems. Yet, yoga teaches us that something as simple as good breathing can tone up the whole body with its complex organs—the heart, the lungs, and even the mind. Listening is to human society as breathing is to the human body. Deep listening shakes the mind out of the dreary desert sand of dead habits. It reduces the narrow domestic walls between people. Listening can lead human societies towards ‘the heaven of freedom’ where everyone rich or poor, black or white, can ‘hold their heads high’, as Tagore had prayed.
The Dalai Lama says, in his Foreword to my book, Listening for Well-Being, that listening is the first wisdom tool of Buddhism. From listening follow the other two wisdom tools of Buddhism, viz. contemplation and meditation. Also, deep listening to others is essential to develop compassion and empathy.
India is a very diverse country. It has been nourished by many cultures. It has produced many great religions, and played host to many more. That is what makes India special amongst nations. When we sing the national anthem, and celebrate India’s diversity, let us also recall Tagore’s wisdom in Gitanjali.
Let us listen to make ourselves more compassionate human beings. And listen to also make the world better for everyone. Let us teach listening in our schools and colleges. Let us practice listening to ‘people not like us’. As we have a ‘national yoga day’, let us have a ‘national listening day’ too.