A popular acronym doing round these days about the kind of world we are living in is VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous). Whosoever coined this may not be credited with finding a path breaking idea as the world has always been like that. But the emphasis on volatility certainly makes a lot of sense given the present day milieu. While uncertainly, complexity and ambiguity were always there, the degree of volatility was not as high. Truly an era of disruption. The logical culmination is the growing paranoia. It is this paranoia that is telling on the health of this world. Physical health, mental health and even fiscal health. In fact, they are all related. Paranoia causes delusions and delusions are resulting in a trust deficient society as people are playing cloaks and daggers with one and another. Why this is so may not be difficult to find out. When every human being is a potential competitor, this is what can be expected. A basic fault with an intensely competitive societal paradigm is this assumption that you can only win at the cost of others. Therefore, the focus of every individual is on others. What others are doing, what others are thinking, what others are plotting? In such a situation when one apprehends threats from every quarter, peace is the first casualty. And it is this that has given rise to a kind of mental disequilibrium in the human beings. Look what is happening. Rage, depression, hatred, violence and all other kinds of negativities are on the rise. Seems as if the world is on a short fuse. A stressed world, a traumatised world and also a dramatised world. Dramatised because there is a mask on every face. Mankind is trying to come to terms with itself. Mental health has thus become a global issue. More so, in India which according to a WHO report is leading in number of depression cases. The irony is that it is not because of deprivation. Surveys are there to suggest that around 50 percent of professionals, the rich and the prosperous, are suffering from stress. Where lies the rub? Stress and anxiety, then are not necessarily afflicting only the deprived. Rather, they are affecting the depraved more. This depravity of the mind is burdened with wants. The result is incessant hankering for something. As Buddha said, when someone seeks then what happens is that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing... Because he always thinks about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal, seeking means having a goal. But finding means being free, being open, and having no goal. It is this obsession with goal that burdens the mind, which is always destabilised. Little wonder, the world is witnessing rise in mental illness resulting in societal distress. Suicides mounting, the divorce rates rising, number of gunmen going on shooting spree in prosperous societies like America becoming more common — where are we headed? Difficult to forewarn, but certainly not the best of the signs. The answer is to realise that, “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.”
Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com
