World-renowned playwright William Shakespeare, in one of his immortal five great tragedies, has exclaimed with awe and eulogy: “What a piece of work is Man!” American Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell has remarked: “Man is a strange amalgam of both angelic and devilish qualities.”
‘Fear factor’ in our DNA remains to be our birthright. Despite being a rational being and having reached the zenith of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution(ary) ladder, ‘fear of loss’ and ‘passion for profit’ rule the roost following which we very often, consciously or unconsciously, fall prey to ‘false vanity’ and are ridden with ‘identity-crisis’.
let’s now a bit delve into the eternal Biblical episode of Paradise lost by our great ancestral parents Adam and Eve. The Serpent-incarnate Satan (epitome of ‘Temptation’) lured the heavenly cute couple (Adam and Eve) to just have a taste of the ‘Forbidden Apple of Knowledge’ in a blatant disobedience to God, the Creator.
Thus, the symbolic ‘acid test of intense attachment and lust’ resulted in their ‘lost glory’ and ‘great fall’ and we, their posterity, have been endowed with the legacy of ‘thirst for knowledge [intelligent quotient (IQ)] laced with arithmetic (fear) of loss and profit.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Hence, since time-immemorial discovery and invention dogged even prehistoric man who evolved into from ‘Old Stone Age’ to ‘New’, ‘Bronze’ and ‘Steel’ ages. In quest of food for survival, the invention of tools for hunting animals paved the path for ‘brain power’ and ‘self development’ inching towards ‘survival of the fittest.’ But, fear of ‘fall’ and ‘loss’ dogged them like shadow.
Had it not been so, why then Demon King Ravana and Kansha were afraid of their respective arch bête noire- Rama and Krishna despite being all powerfulIJ It’s the entire ‘fear factor’ that forces one to feign oneself as invincible, but fear of death keeps on lurking in the face.
Hunting provided prehistoric man not only food, but also food for thought, feelings and emotions.
Observers are of the view that ‘thought’ and ‘emotion’ give birth to a sense of fear. Even though a man or woman very well knows that he/she has to perform well for existence, the deep sense of fear of underperformance in a community could make him/her a laughing stock. So, that fear makes him/her shy away from performance resulting in failure. On the other hand, sans any external pressure or compulsions (from one’s family or society), the fear factor seems to be comparatively weak.
Now let us discuss in context of an Indian family. It props up our identity. For the middle class (both lower and middle), education plays a pivotal role. The more the degrees add to your identity, the more you are acceptable and adorable.
Your salary counts and your consumerism becomes the index of status symbol in the society.
The glossy ‘visiting card’ (ironically flaunting our ‘identity crisis’) is allegorically the milestone of our ‘false vanity’. If a highly qualified (professionally-trained) son or daughter opts for a road not taken by others bathed in the adage “No risk no gain” and ventures into the pet project which may not yield in overnight returns and gains, he/she is looked down upon as an odd-man-out. Most of the members of our society and our family deem him/her to be a gone case.
It becomes obvious that the family patriarch/matriarch laments on the sacrifices made for adding such feathers to one’s cap. Sheer comparisons are drawn with others well-settled and reaping dividends from the perks and perquisites bestowed upon from the plum posts. Even a brand name of the employer or place of position matters a lot. Place of posting in a metropolitan city or abroad becomes a crowning glory and earns one laurels.
Survey reveals that currently joining an IT MNC after engineering is of low risk. Doing an MBA, even if in a nondescript institute, is also deemed to be of low risk. Reason given: there is least chance of facing the consequences of failure. On the contrary, being an entrepreneur is perceived to be a daredevil antic and disproportionately of high risk unless you hail from a well-to-do family having already carved a niche in business culture. But, history is replete with glaring instances of Jamsedjee Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, Bill Gates, et al.
It is wise to look before one leaps. Notwithstanding that, venturing out one’s first step can only enable to tread miles ahead. Going by this fear factor embedded in our DNA, it would only make our next generation easy-go-lucky and ultimately deter growth.
(The writer, a management expert, can be reached at rout.jagdish@gmail.com. M- 09439569999)