I suppose the vitality of a group, an individual or a society is measured by the extent to which it posses courage and above all, creative imagination. If that imagination is lacking our growth becomes more and more stunted, which is a sign of decay. What then is happening. Today? Are we trying to improve in this respect or are we merely functioning somewhere on the surface without touching the reality which is afflicting on the surface without touching the reality which is afflicting the world & which may result in political conflict, economic warfare or world war? So, when there are discussions on the concept of man as visualized in the Eastern Ideal or The Western Ideal. They interest me greatly from a historical point of view and from a cultural point of view, although I have always resisted this idea of dividing the world into the orient and occident, I do not believe in such divisions. There have, of course, been differences in racial and nation of outlook and in ideals but to talk of the east & west as such as little meaning. I can see the difference between an industrialized and a non-industrialised country. I think the difference, say, between India and Europe in the middle ages, would not have been very great and would have been comparable to the difference between any of the great countries of Asia today. I feel that we think roughly because we are misled in our approach. Differences have crept in and been intensified by this process of industrialization & mechanization which has promoted material well being tremendously and which has been a blessing to humanity. At the same time, it is corroding the life of the mind & thereby encouraging a process of self destruction. I am not for the moment talking or thinking about wars and the like we have seen in history races come up and gradually fade away in Asia, in Europe and other places. Are we witnessing the same thing today? It may be that this will not take effect in our lifetime. In the past anyway, one great consolation was that things happened only in one particular greater of the world. If there was a collapse in one part of the world, the other part carried on. No part will be left to survive, as it could in older times. During the so called Dark ages of Europe, there were bright periods in Asia, in China, in India, in the middle east and else where. In the old days if progress was limited, disaster was also limited in extent and intensity. Today, when we have arrived at a period of great disaster and it is a little difficult for us to choose a middle way which would unable us to achieve a little progress and, at the same time to limit the scope of disaster. That is the major question. A person who has to carry a burden of responsibility is greater troubled by the practical aspects of this question. Am I right in saying that the mental life of the world is in a process of deterioration, chiefly because the environment that has been created by the Industrial Revolution does not give time or opportunity to individuals to think? I do not deny that today there are many great thinkers but it is quite likely that they might be submerged in the mass of unthinking humanity. We are dealing with and talking a great deal about democracy and I have little doubt that democracy is the best of all the various methods available to us for the governance of human beings. At the same time, we are using today-by today I mean the last two decades or sothe emergence of democracy in a somewhat uncontrolled form. When we think of democracy, we normally think of it in the rather limited sense of the 19th century or the early 20th century use of the term. Owing to the remarkable technological growth, something has happened since then and meanwhile democracy has also spread. The result is that we have vast masses of human beings brought up by the Industrial Revolution, who are not encouraged or given an opportunity to think much. They live a life which, from the point of view of physical comfort, is incomparably better than it has been in any previous generation, but they seldom have a chance to think. And yet in a democratic system, it is this vast mass of human beings that will ultimately govern or elect those who govern.
