The whole truth

Human civilization is marked by sharp ideological differences reflected in various ideologies seemingly contradicting each other. There is capitalism versus communism, nationalism versus internationalism, theism versus atheism and so on.

Are these ideologies false or some of these are true. It appears that none is wholly true and none wholly false. In this connection, there is a short story of blind men and elephant. One who touched tail told that elephant is like a rope. another said elephant is like a tree trunk. All were correct according to their perception. But none was wholly true because the whole body of elephant could not be experienced. Same is true of different ideologues.

The nationalists emphasize ancient traditions and cultural values and ignore physical needs of people. the communists and Marxists overstress physical needs and class conflicts ignoring other human needs and unity of purpose between different classes. There is not only class war but also class cooperation, which is ignored by the Marxists. The spiritualists and religious saints overemphasize the after death world, which is hypothetical and preach to ignore the worldly realities. The individualists stress individual liberty and ignore social responsibility of individual.

Thus all are right and all are wrong. We are all like blind men who see only part of the truth. We need to see the world as a whole and blend the different ideologies so that all aspects of life and all human needs are satisfied. This is a continuous process. Corrective action is needed whenever one aspect is overemphasized. Buddhism and Jainism emerged for correction of the ancient violent religious traditions like animal sacrifice. The excesses of Buddhism and Jainism resulted in cowardice and lethargy. Swami Vivekananda emerged for correction. The excesses of one ideology bring another for correction and so on. The correction goes on. The human race has to constantly move on and not cling to any system. The sole aim of all endeavors is to bring about a system catering to welfare of all, dignity to all and ensure individual liberty consistent with social responsibility