Looked At From On High

Looked At From On High

1988 9 September 12-13 Looked At From On High (621) Pick up any physical map of the world and you will see vast plains, lofty mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans, etc, each of whose features stands out quite clearly with little or no reference to national boundaries. A long mountain range, or a mighty river often spans several countries, while the oceans lap the shores of all continents alike, regardless of the human beings who claim to be their separate possessors. There is a lovely and awesome grandeur in this free-ranging pattern, but this promptly disappears when we take out a political map and try to discern nature’s free-flowing lines through the zig-zag maze of political boundaries which impose themselves artificially over the earth’s natural features, chopping up the world’s terrain into unequal blocs which seldom reflect the true needs and aspirations of the ordinary people within them. The indelible stains of the clashing colours of the political map are constant glaring reminders of the lamentable separateness of the countries of the world. It is sad that they are separate, not just in terms of terrain, but in ways of thinking and in ways of living.

It is only when we look at our planet from far out in space that the world looks like one harmonious whole. Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian astronaut who, along with Soviet crew members, circled the earth in April 1984 in the Indo-Soviet spacecraft, Salyut II, was interviewed from the earth by an Indian journalist when he was far out in space and able to look back at the earth and see it just as we can look up at the sun and the moon and see them as shining orbs from where we stand on the earth. Asked what the earth looked like from space, Squadron Leader Sharma replied that looking at the earth from space was a beautiful experience and that it was difficult to understand why there should be so much tension on the planet. From above, no borders could be seen: the whole world looked like a single peaceful, harmonious entity.

Looking at the world from an aeroplane, one has much the same experience: towns blend into the surrounding countryside as if they were integral features of it; there is no visible clash between the world of man and the world of nature; the tensions which divide man from man are nowhere apparent. It is only when one comes down to earth that the scenario changes – and not for the better. One re-enters the world of self-made political entities with relationships scarred by hostility and suspicion. It is a world in which man despoils nature and does little to make reparations to the environment. In short, it is a world in which the motto is ‘Every man for ‘himself!’.

From space, all seems right with the world, but the moment one sets foot on terra firma, the deficiencies of the human species loom large on the horizon. It is here that all the meanness and pettiness of everyday life overshadow the natural bounties of the world around us. It is sad that the remedy for this is so close at hand and yet so few of us go in quest of it. The remedy, of course, is true belief in God. Once one has reposed one’s trust in the Almighty one is able to soar high above the baseness and friction of everyday living; one is able to surmount the barriers of political confrontation; one is able to lead a good, upright, natural life even in an environment which has been rendered artificial by the selfishness and greed of those who have seized power. Only by God’s grace can we live in such a world, but be not of it.