Fear to Faith: First step in the direction of real education

Fear has a great functional utility. It helps us survive. It operates at two different levels. Firstly, at the physical level. For example, the moment we touch fire, our hand immediately sends a signal to the brain and the brain directs the hand to move away. This entire chain of reactions happens in a fraction of a second unconsciously. The conscious brain has no role in this. Similarly, the moment our eyes notice any moving object coming near to them, they blink automatically. The moment we feel the bite of an insect, we immediately react to moving that insect away from our body.

With the growth of human communities, we had fewer physical threats, and therefore the role of the physical defense system declined significantly and emotions started occupying center stage. In present-day human beings, fear operates mostly at an emotional level. The fear operating at the emotional level has a different origin. Probably the emotional minds of human beings grew and developed as we started living in communities. We started developing a sense of belongingness with our family and community. As communities grew in size, they made certain rules to keep the community united. These rules took different forms such as social customs, moral values, ethics, traditions, rituals, etc. Some of these rules are universal while some vary from one community to the other.

Basically, human beings seek security by staying with their communities, and therefore “social approval” is a very significant factor in feeling secure or insecure. To get this social approval, we follow social customs, moral values, ethics, traditions, rituals, etc. Violating any of these rules makes us uncomfortable due to the underlying fear of getting outcasted from the community. On the other hand, by following these "community rules", we feel safe and feel a sense of pleasure. Thus, the pain of getting "social disapproval" and the pleasure of getting "social approval" become the fulcrum of our lives. 

This fear operates at the conscious as well as unconscious level. With life experiences, the unconscious mind keeps storing all these fears. We see people not having wealth being mistreated by society since childhood and therefore develop a strong desire to accumulate wealth. We see society respecting and giving VIP treatment to certain persons holding positions and therefore develop a strong desire to accumulate power and develop a strong network of relations. We also see society valuing knowledge and therefore develop a desire to accumulate knowledge to gain recognition. We see society praising the individuals who are social activists and therefore develop a strong desire to work for social causes. Many of these desires operate at the conscious level and many more at the unconscious level. In fact, our conscious mind is under the illusion that it’s making the decision for a particular reason while the true reason is the strong desires or fears in the unconscious mind.

Now the question arises as to what is wrong with life being driven by these fears and desires. The answer is quite simple and lies in the genesis of these fears and related pains/pleasures. As we discussed, these fears have their genesis in our basic instinct to survive. But can survival be the sole reason for existence? Do we live life just to survive? Does this universe take birth from the big bang just to survive? That seems quite improbable. There has to be a greater purpose. Such rich diversity of life can not exist just for the sake of survival. There has to be a purpose for this entire creation. What can be a more probable purpose than evolution? All life forms evolved from simple single-cellular organisms to human beings. Neurologists say that our brain evolved from the brain stem to the emotional brain to the rational brain. Neocortex which comprises our rational brain is the latest evolved part.

So, each one of us needs to take a call, as to whether we wish to spend our entire life centered around fear and fear-driven accumulation of wealth, relations, power, and knowledge; or whether life should be driven by a greater purpose with faith in the divine. As we have already discussed fear has its own functional role. But survival can not be the sole purpose of life. If we don’t connect the computer to the internet for fear of a virus entering the computer, that’s a sheer waste of the capabilities of the computer. If we don’t move out with a fear of getting some viral infection, that’s again a sheer waste of the human body. We have developed a multi-layered defense mechanism in the form of skin, white blood cells, etc to protect the body against attacks by micro-organisms. With this safety, we freely move out, even in places that are flooded with bacteria and viruses. Similarly, we have devised safety features for a safe internet connection. We install firewalls and anti-virus inside our computers and freely connect to the world of the internet. We do not make it a life mission to have the thickest skin or the maximum number of white blood cells. Similarly, the purpose of owning a computer can not be limited to getting the best of the firewalls or the anti-virus for our computers. Similarly, the purpose of life cannot be limited to the accumulation of wealth, relations, power, and knowledge.

The purpose of life is much richer. It’s to explore different possibilities of life. To use the body and the mind to explore new possibilities. To understand and appreciate the mysteries of nature. To explore the human psyche. To explore new possibilities in dance, drama, music, sculpture, painting, singing, poetry, etc. In fact, in ancient India, we had such a rich culture. We explored so many aspects of human expression in the form of diverse art forms. It’s pitiable to see present-day society being so obsessed with materialistic pursuits and losing the charm and fun of living in the rat race. The purpose of life is to experience love and joy again. The love and joy that has always been an integral part of us and somehow we lost sight of the same due to ignorance and resultant fears and insecurities. 

I feel that true education has to aim at the holistic growth of the kids with the following steps:

1. We can not wish away the survival instinct and its role in our lives, but we can keep it in the right place. We have to tell our kids the relative significance of money, relations, power, and knowledge. We need to explain to them that first of all these accumulations can not be the objective of life. The objective of life is the best use of the body and mind to explore life. Secondly, the accumulation of money, relations, power, and knowledge has a huge cost. Time is limited and the more time we invest in making efforts towards these accumulations, the lesser is the time left for the exploration of nature. Thirdly, and most importantly, the marginal utility of these accumulations reduces quite sharply. After a point in time, more wealth, relations, power, and knowledge, all become more of a burden than an asset. We have to therefore keep the fear-driven efforts at an optimum level so that we get time and energy to explore life.
2. The more time we spend on fear-driven activities, the more fearful we become. The more we think about bacteria and viruses, the more we feel obsessed with them. Similarly, the more weight we give to “social approval” the more it gets into our head. This needs to be demonstrated to the kids with examples. As we accumulate wealth, our lifestyle changes. Many of the things that were luxuries so far become necessities. The amount of effort required to make available these “new necessities” increases and thereby we get trapped. Similarly, the greater the network of relationships, the greater the obligations and the demand on time they create. We have less time and energy left to invest in exploration. The more power we accumulate, the greater the responsibilities and pressure for time. The more knowledge and information we accumulate, the greater effort it requires to update. We, therefore, need to understand that these accumulations have huge maintenance costs.  
3. Keeping in mind the initial “cost of acquisition” and “cost of maintenance” of these accumulations, one has to decide the optimum level at which these accumulations are to be kept. While making such a decision, generally, one gets influenced by the “community suggestions”. As a child grows into a teenager (much before in the case of aggressive parents), it starts getting “community suggestions” about good and bad. Doing engineering or medicine is a good career. Art is chosen as a career option by the students who are not so good. Jobs with six-digit packages are good. Getting settled in the USA or Europe is very good. One should marry in the same caste. The child is yet to develop his own “Philosophy of life” based on his own nature (Swa-dharma) and gets caught in the trap of “community suggestions”. The community fails to consider and appreciate individual differences. It has a highly “standard model of rights and wrongs” for all the kids and the immature kids fall into the trap.
4. Parents and the community need to play the role that Krishna played for Arjuna. They are not required to themselves fight the battle but to become the charioteer by making the kids aware of the wider reality like the “Virat Swaroop of Krishna”. Then they need to tell the kid about the real place of the “fear-induced accumulations” as Krishna told Arjuna the real place of relations in life. Then parents need to inspire the kids to observe to understand their Swa-dharma or true nature and then motivate them to fight the battle by acquiring the necessary skills for the exploration of life.
5. It’s a constant effort since most of the society is engaged wholeheartedly in the “fear-driven pursuits” and keeps influencing all its members with “community suggestions” and at times “community commands” to follow the norm. It becomes quite difficult for the kids to have their independent “philosophy of life” in the first instance. Even if some make efforts in that direction, it becomes almost impossible for the “infant philosophy of life” to survive the strong force of “community suggestions” which are more in the form of “community diktats”. That’s why it is the duty of the parents, not only to help a child develop his own “philosophy of life” but also to help him have a “protective cover” around the same so that it does not get prematurely trampled by the "human animals" roaming around. 
6. Parents also need to have regular discussions with the kids to help them fill the gaps and reconcile their "philosophy of life" with society at large. After all, the kids have to live in the same society. If this reconciliation does not take place, the "philosophy of life" will turn out to be a utopia and the kids will be soon forced to replace their "personal philosophy of life" with "mass hallucination" or to run away from society.
7. Parents can not do any of these until and unless they themselves have their "own philosophy of life". If parents subscribe to and become part of the "mass hallucination", it's not possible for them to guide the kids. It's only Krishna who could guide Arjuna. Krishna also could give the teachings of Geeta to Arjuna only and not to other Pandavas because only Arjuna could wholeheartedly surrender to Krishna.