Humility

Humility

• Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari wrote the book “Humility.”

• The author discusses the contrasting history of human civilization.

• The author tells us that humility is a quality that is lacking in most cultures.

• He exemplifies the virtue of humility by presenting the universal human capabilities such as morality, art, spirituality, and creativity that are inherent in our DNA.

• The author discusses many groups and societies’ claims and beliefs regarding their past and significant inventions.

• People from many tribes around the world take pride in their cultures and see them as the pillar of human history.

• These arrogant individuals often believe they are at the center of the universe.

• The author removes humankind’s illusions of superiority and mastery, demonstrating the virtue of humility, which is described as “a acknowledgment of the real boundaries of our techno-social knowledge and abilities.”

• According to the author, most cultures lack humility, which is a desirable quality.

• The majority of people have a tendency to think of themselves as the center of the universe and their culture as the foundation of human history.

• Homer, Sophocles, and Plato, an ancient Greek writer and epic poet, are still regarded by Greeks as the founders of history (great philosopher).

• According to them, major technologies and ideas originated in Greek cities like Athens, Sparta (which was notable for the social structure of ancient Greece), Alexandria, and Constantinople.

• The Jews consider themselves to be one of the world’s major religions and claim that they are responsible for the development of monotheism.

• However, there is no reason to believe that because there are only 15 million Jews, they should be given more importance than the Hindu religion, which has a much larger following.

• Each group considers itself the center of the universe and the creator of the most influential theories and innovations.

• However, no organization is entirely original; some variation of its ideology and views have already been held by others.

• The most violent faiths managed to convert the greatest number of people to their faith, and they are the religions that have survived.

• The Jewish-attributed Biblical saying “love thy neighbour as thyself” had previously been used in China.

• Chinese people have theories about how the world has developed.

• The Yellow Emperor, the Xia and Shang dynasties, which were afterwards followed by people from the West, Islam, India, and many other cultures, are considered by Chinese nationalists to be the true originators of human history.

• Later, Hindu nationalists dispute these Chinese boasts or claims, claiming that even the invention of airplanes and nuclear weapons was made by ancient Indian sages before Confucius or Plato, not to mention Einstein and the Wright brothers.

• They stand in for Hindu mythological figures such as Maharishi Bharadwaja, who created the airplane and rocket, and Vishwamitra, who not only created but also employed missiles and Acharya Kanad was the father of atomic theory.

• He disputes the statements made by Chinese historians, arguing that nuclear weapons were also in use during the time of the Mahabharata, which explains how later, more advanced civilizations developed from it.

• One of the best instances of Hindu civilization may be found in the Mahabharata, which shows the employment of nuclear weapons in a time before Chinese pride.

• Religious Muslims view all of history prior to the Prophet Muhammad as largely relevant. They believe that the Muslim Community has played a central role in all of history since the Quran’s revelation.

• However, nationalists from Turkey, Iran, and Egypt claim that their countries were the origin of everything good in humanity and that they are the true guardians of Islam’s purity, even after the Quran was revealed.

• Numerous ethnic groups, including the British, French, Germans, Americans, Russians, and Japanese, are proud of their unique contributions to bringing the human race out of primitive and immoral ignorance.

• The nomadic tribes of northern Mexico known as the Aztecs assert that they were able to manipulate physics and sacrifice people in order to preserve the planet.

• Each group believes that it is the creator of the greatest ideas and contributions, the center of the universe.

• However, no organization is entirely original; certain variations of their ideologies and beliefs have survived them.

• The most violent faiths managed to convert the greatest proportion of the community to their faith, and these are the religions that have endured.

• The author believes that each of these arguments is untrue.

• He claimed that no nation or religion existed at the time that humans first colonized the planet, domesticated animals and plants, built the first city, or developed writing and money.

• He even claims that because Jews, including his own people, think they are the most important thing in the world, he is all too familiar with such arrogant pride but they claim that they are solely responsible for any well-known innovations or achievements of humanity.

• Similar to how monotheism was not initially Jewish, it has roots in Egypt.

• Monotheism has aided in global disaster, hence one should not take pride in its invention.

• A few centuries after its founding, Christianity prohibited all religions, with the exception of Judaism, though many Jews were nevertheless punished; in contrast, Islam today completely ignores all history prior to Mohammed.

• Many outstanding concepts, according to Chinese nationalists, have their roots in their culture.

• Jews hold the view that they are God’s chosen people and that non-Jews are inferior to them in God’s eyes.

• Despite calls for religious tolerance from some sages, the majority trend throughout history has always been to harass individuals who hold opposing views.

• Ironically, most religions have advised against this self-centeredness.

• When the author visited Israel once, his yoga instructor told him that yoga was created by Abraham and later he discovered that all of the fundamental yoga poses were inspired by the structure of the Hebrew letter.

• The son of one of Abraham’s concubines learned these poses from him, and he later taught yoga to the Indians while living in India.

• Thus, Jews are credited with introducing yoga. Jewish scholars might disagree with it.

• In the end, he argues that criticizing one’s own people is more polite and simple than criticizing strangers or foreigners because such individuals are unfamiliar to the critics.

• Jews hold the view that they are God’s chosen people and that non-Jewish mortals do not hold the same status as them in God’s eyes.

• Morality, creativity, art, and spirituality are elements that all people have that are engraved in our DNA. They originated in Africa during the Stone Age.

- Sarvesh SJB Rana

PhD in Political Science

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Honors in Literature