5 minute read
What do we minimally owe each other?
from June 2021
By Ishan Singhal
Thanks to the advent of the internet and increased global movement of people and goods, we now live in an increasingly intertwined society, that as time passes, has become only more interconnected both at a personal and community level. Thus leading to a widespread influence of our actions over a larger community.
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Even though a larger, more interconnected society provides us with more resources, it also entails that we make greater contributions for its sustenance. Whether it be in terms of knowledge, resources, or services. With this increasingly complex connectedness that we share, how then do we not only go around sustaining our ever-growing communities but also decide what we owe each other within and across our communities? One small attempt is made here to redraw this question for the modern world, and ask “What do we minimally owe each other?”. And look for an answer to this question in the concept of dharma.
English translations of dharma point to words like ethics, righteousness, goodness, dutifulness and/or morality. These translations often convey as if the meaning of dharma was set in stone. Similar to the concept of ‘righteous goals’ and moral teachings that emerged in the West. However, what if dharma is meant to be interpreted more dynamically. With its meaning dependent on both the context and one’s role in that context.
In Prof. Eknath Easwaran's translation of the Bhagavad Gita, he interprets Dharma to mean 'the principles of sustainability'. Specifically defining it as “dharma means many things, but its underlying sense is 'that which supports,' from the root dhri, to support, hold up, or bear. Generally, dharma implies support from within: the essence of a thing, its virtue, that which makes it what it is”. Seen in this way, dharma can mean the dynamic interpretation of our duties given a certain role in a context, to not only sustain that role but the context in which it presents itself.
How can this be something we minimally owe each other? What is common here that it could apply to every interaction we have with people within and between communities across our lives? Consider what a student owes her teacher which could be different from what she owes her parents.
What a person owes their country could be significantly different then what they owe their neighbour. However, the point of commonality here is not in what is owed, but in the act of owing. For instance, a student may owe being ‘the best student the teacher has ever had’, whereas as neighbours we may owe each other help in moments of distress. Though what we owe each other here is different, but the act of owing is what is common. To sustain a house, a school, a community or even a country, we owe each other to be mindful of the roles we play within them.
Credit: Keith Negley
Take for example driving on the road. Often, we find ourselves aggrieved by the number of potholes on the roads or by narrow lanes and congested traffic. We believe that our governments owe us better roads (and in general better infrastructure and welfare systems) as we rightfully deserve them by paying taxes and being participative members of the government. However, what do we owe those inside the car with us when we drive? Or those around us on the road or in other cars? Or to those who may inhale the fumes from our vehicles?
There are entire movements and revolutions across the world campaigning for what we rightfully deserve. World history is littered with wars, struggles, riots, protests and movements over rights. Rights to freedom, vote, ownership, education, food, peace, liberty, safety and so on. But where are the movements for what we owe and where are the protests demanding citizens fulfil their duties? Sadly no cavalries or bandwagons appear in sight that seek to remedy the injustices we inflict on each other by not fulfilling our roles in society. Nor are there political rallies where politicians promise that from now on citizens would be held accountable for their actions. Where is the clamour to lay out what we owe each other?
Consider the recent fractionalization of our societies amidst the crisis brought about by a novel risk of disease over the past year. While we have rallied together for personal safety and aimed to protect ourselves and those closest to us, have we stopped to think what we owe each other in our community at large? As we impulsively focused on self-preservation, did our actions burden both those who were forced out of work and those who were forced to work?
Instead of looking out for neighbours or the less-privileged, several of us acted against our community by hoarding more than we needed. In chasing the best possible outcomes for ourselves, not only did we alienate ourselves from those around us but also from the debt we owe to those who sustain our lives. More so now, the current circumstances stand as an opportunity for us to consider what we owe.
This writeup is not written with the aim of being a sermon, nor is to dictate or evangelize some moral principles. The purpose here is to only make us question and wonder what is the minimal and basic gesture we owe to those around us. This is by no means an easy exercise, especially with the world around us being interconnected in ways where even small actions by us have far reaching consequences. But perhaps this is why it is more important now than ever, for us to have an empathetic gaze towards our actions and their outcomes.
One possible way to do this, is to consider our dutiful role in a given context and see whether our intended actions in a given scenario fulfils the duties of that role. And contributes to sustaining the essence of that role and the community through that role. You may not be aware of your dharma at every given moment or in your given role. It could be that you don’t even know what your dharma is in the first place, therefore perhaps the least we can do is to actively sit and contemplate it once in a while. I leave you to ponder, whether you fulfilling your dharma and I fulfilling mine could be what we minimally owe each other?
What do we minimally owe each other?
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