Postmodern humans or robotic automatons?

How do we live our daily lives, our public responsibilities and our faith or religion in an interrelated way, so as to have a meaningful life?

The new "terrorist" era has given rise to many reactions. There is a growing need for some people to impose their will, ideology or beliefs. Much of this is in the information transmitted and fed to us by a globalised media which is under the control and direction of very few. There is no system of scrutiny. With the technology that is available at the present time this is nearly instantaneous. Therefore, we are conditioned and used to having a globalised media as our source of information on a daily basis.

On the other hand, we seem to have become less investigative as a global society. We seem to have lost habits of independently scrutinising the motives and reasons for events and the way they are presented to us in certain ways or styles. In a few words, we have gradually been converted to automatons that react and respond guided by those who have conditioned our minds and behaviours. In the end, therefore, we and our elected leaders are failing to participate in the political systems in our countries. Our political leaders have become the servants not of their democratic societies, but of economies and globalised politics. Now, let me go to the point.

September 11 has been marked as a date significant for the terrorist attacks in the United States. Brutal assassinations of innocents occur in many countries. These are unacceptable to those who value human life.

We must condemn them with all our will and ensure that each individual human person on this planet makes the effort to avoid such barbaric acts. But how can “I” do that? "Me"? I have no power to do anything.

So we must ask ourselves why we don’t have power to change our destiny: to love, to respect and to live in peace.

What have we done? What are we doing? What will we do in order to correct this?

This takes me to reflect a little more deeply on "why" and "how" such things happen. What have "we" done wrong to deserve such attacks? And why are these attacks increasing, rather than decreasing? When will they stop to let the world be a place of peace, harmony and respect for the human person and the environment in which we live?

Profound indifference and intolerance dominate many societies at present. Have we misunderstood the whole ownership of advancement in many fields which facilitate the so called “progress” of human beings? As we have advanced on the material and economic interaction, have we failed to increase the cultural interrelationships of East and West?

In order to contribute to shaping the world in which we live, we need to realise that we have responsibilities here that are individual and collective, rather than just to take a passive attitude. There is too much at stake. Our very existence is in danger.

We must act now. If not for a concern for others, or for ourselves, then from our beliefs and the principles under which we live. These exhort us to peace, respect, harmony, generosity and love.

Leadership