Anand Amaladass S. J.
The theme of this issue ‘Alternative Ways of Thinking and Believing’ might give the impression that we are proposing a utopia type of society. There are enough utopias in the literary worlds. Utopia (Greek ‘nowhere’) is by St. Thomas More (1516), an imaginary ideal state, Aldous Huxley’s Island (1962), George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948). There are also religious myths promising new heaven and new earth.
Remo H. Largo (b. 1943) in one of his publications (2017) suggests how we could live our individuality in solidarity with others. Long ago Pindar (318–442 BC) gave this advice: develop yourself to attain your unique, inexchangeable and irreplaceable human being that you are.
It is amazing to watch people of all ages walking in a city park or as they come out of the central railway station. There are tourists, business people in a hurry, simple people greeting their just arrived guests and playful children. What is fascinating is the diversity of faces and shapes of different kinds. How manifold is their body language as they greet one another. One could never find two people who are same in shape and behavior. This is true of the millions of people all over the world.
This diversity is in no way extraordinary. Plants and animals are so diverse in their own way. However what strikes us the observers is that only we are conscious of our individuality and diversity among people, thanks to our spiritual and intellectual abilities. As we grow older we realize how different we are from one another — in appearance, social and professional positions or achievements, limitations and resources. We need to accept this as something ‘given’ which we cannot change. There is no royal way, quick fix solution, to live our individuality in solidarity with others.
We think and act as if we are all equal, all have the same needs, and we can all achieve the same. There are no valid-for-all rules to live in harmony with the surroundings. It is a challenge, which each one has to face or struggle in his/her own way.
Let us think of the possibility that we are all the same, in size and weight, same in appearance, with same feelings and talents and needs. Life would be monotonous. But we may not have some problems, which make us diverse in family, school and society. However without diversity there are neither human beings nor all other living beings. Diversity and individuality are basic foundations of all life.
The fitness principle is this: Every human being strives to live with his/her individual needs and capabilities in harmony with the surroundings. This is based on the total perspective, which understands the diversity among people, the singularity of individuals and the surroundings as foundation of human existence.
How best do people succeed to live their individuality in harmony with their surroundings? The struggle to find a fitting life exhausts people more and more. The children should fulfill the oft-exaggerated expectations of parents and suffer in the school under an unbearable pressure of achievement. The grown-ups do the splits between family and work to create the growing demands of economics. Old people especially at their age suffer under missing security and social distancing.
People of all age feel always estranged and can lead a meaningful life less and less corresponding to their individual need and capabilities. In a small way the fitness principle can help people to get back their individuality and in a big way the principle can contribute to reorient society and economics, so that people could lead a maximum possible successful life.
Anand Amaladass S. J.
