Pop Goes the Experiment!

 

As a high school student, biology was always my favourite subject. I had this firm belief that all humans were created alike and equal in every sense of the word. I had the conviction that if some new born babies from different backgrounds were kept in complete isolation from the outside world, brought up by one couple, for some years -they would all grow up to be exactly same human beings- the replicas of one another! I used to believe that we all are what we are only and only because of our upbringing! I was definitely going to conduct this experiment once I grew up! This sounds so naïve and funny now, doesn’t it?

Gradually, the light of awareness started dawning on me- I came across the highly interesting science called genetics. Then I came to know about another wonderfully interesting science called psychology! It made my eyes open wide with intrigue! 

                                Pop goes my experiment!

Omg! What a glorious world it was! Not that I got to study psychology as such, other than having a glimpse of child psychology during my Montessori training. That set me on the path of exploring the ever surprising, innocent, ever revealing world of babies and children, never to look back. I was awestruck by Dr. Maria Montessori’s  (https://montessori-ami.org/resource-library/facts/biography-maria-montessori)  work with children and the Montessori method. The director of our training programme, the respected Ms Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan  (https://www.indianmontessoricentre.org/ms-sivaramakrishnan) was a dynamic lady who provided us with never ending food for thought.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t complete my Montessori training but got the opportunity after a few years to work again with preschool children and adolescent children. I even applied a few of Montessori principles to bring up my own baby and I was amazed by the outcome. I had a most peaceful, calm and happy baby and toddler.

Gradually spirituality started attracting me towards itself. I was always a believer but now things started becoming clearer in my mind. Now, everything seemed intertwined. The conception, the birth, the growing up, the growing on- (we never stop growing, do we?), the passing on – it’s all a heady mix of genetics, psychology, bringing up and of course 'karma'!

Ever since the first homo sapiens treaded this earth, we humans have tried not just to survive, rather we’ve tried to develop, to make our lives better. In many ways, in innumerable ways, we’ve succeeded. But then why are pain and agony increasing day by day on this earth? Shouldn’t we be happier, more content, more secure?

I started this piece with regards to children. As I said earlier, I’ve been fortunate enough to have been working with children of different age groups since many years now. But when I look around, why do I see that the children today are more restless, hyperactive, unfocused than ever? Are they healthier than our generation? I see so many children from well to do families who are nutrient deficient, suffering from aches and pains, headaches, depression! There are children who are tall like giraffes but thinner than bamboos!

What sort of development is this?

Lillian Eichler Watson in Light from Many Lamps ( https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1270698.Light_From_Many_Lamps)  says, “We who live today stand at the apex of a vast pyramid of human development, slowly accumulated through the many long struggling generations of the past. We are the heirs of all that has ever been accomplished, all that man has ever done to improve himself and the world in which he lives. We are the heirs of all that man has ever dreamed, thought out, fought and died for- all that he has eloquently written or expressed and left behind for the guidance of future generations.”

I agree with her, generations after generations have struggled to achieve development. But I think now is the time to pause, introspect and retrospect, think and analyse- are we on the right path? Or are we just rushing one after the other like the sheep in a herd? Pause my fellow brothers and sisters, take a deep breath, look upwards, towards the Supreme Father for guidance and mercy before it’s too late, otherwise as Eckhart (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meister_Eckhart), as early as 14^th century A.D. wrote

“Whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, secretly Nature seeks and hunts and tries to ferret out the track in which God may be found.”