Man's Physical Urges and His Freewill (2/3)

2. The Urge for Food

The urge to quench the thirst and fill the stomach to satisfy hunger is very strong in human beings. Man, after a few hour of toil, feels thirsty and, working for some time, feels hungry. While working he dissipates physical and mental energy. The lost energy can be recouped by taking food and water provided for him by the Creator to satisfy this physical urge. The restoration of the lost energy is essential for the maintenance of man's life on earth. His existence depends on how conveniently and regularly he gets his food and water.

A. Scope of This Urge

The   sources   of   food   and   water   are   available   in   the environment around man. He has to work hard and find out ways and mean to get it. Nothing will reach his mouth automatically. He has to explore and use the natural resources by dint of his physical labor and mental faculties. He works for it sometime singularly and very often collectively.

In  most  cases  he  cannot  get  the  desired  result  acting  by himself.  People have to help each other, seek cooperation from others, collaborate with many to explore the sources of nature and add utility to objects of nature. This collective effort, in due course of time, has developed into present day collective farming, giant marketing and distributing centers, small, medium and large scale manufacturing plants and industries, inter- continental institutions of finance, trade, commerce, banking, insurance another innumerable catering services which are constantly bus day in and day out to provide the basic needs of man. Everybody is working, either as an employee or as an employer, to get the means of exchange, the money, to get his stomach filled at least with two square meals a day in order to maintain himself on this earth. The entire economic structure of a society and in the world around has been developed to serve this need of man. Everybody is working for hours to add some economic values to goods and services in the society. In return he or she earns some money, to satisfy his or her natural urge for rest and that of hunger and thirst on the satisfaction of which depends the very existence of man.

Thus, the satisfaction of these urges demands a society in which everyone has the means to earn his livelihood. It naturally demands a system where economic opportunities are equally available to all and sundry. It needs an economic system free of human exploitation and discrimination that favors   none.   It   requires   an   economic   structure   where everyone has freedom to move around, choose his profession, vocation or employment. This is the natural outcome of the need that every individual human being should have a free choice to make an effort to earn his livelihood in order to meet his or her urge for food and rest with relative ease. The totalitarian states of Eastern Europe and Russia were a great hindrance in fulfilling this choice of man. That is one of the main causes of their failure.

B. The Other Way Around

Let us analyze the economic urge of man in its natural perspective. Man, in his primitive form basically needs only a glass of water a few times a day, a few slices of bread, a few ounces of meat or other protein, and some vegetables for his two regular meals. He has two clear alternatives to satisfy this fundamental need.  He can have it, either through rightful means and hard labor or through wrong- doings, fraud and exploitation. Both ways and means are open to him. He has the freedom of choice and power of discretion. No matter which of the means one chooses, he will get his provision only to the extent ordained by the Creator in either of the cases. The choice of means will be his responsibility for it lies within the domain of his freewill. If he fulfills his urge of hunger and thirst through rightful means, his efforts will be beneficial to the society. He will be rewarded by the Creator in both the worlds. If he resorts to wrongful means like fraud and exploitation, he will fill the society with oppression, selfishness and injustice. In that case both he and the society will suffer.

C. Horrible Consequences of Free Choice

The simple urges for food and rest were given to man to support   his   existence   on   earth   by   using   the   resources provided by the Creator in his environment. But man, when he becomes a slave to his urges, multiplies his wants by leaps and bounds. If the national resources of his country are not sufficient to meet his desires and extravagant needs, he looks to other people and lands for their satisfaction. This opens the door of exploitation of others when the unlimited and unrestrained desires chase limited means available in his national or geographical bounds. Man then tries to usurp the rights and shares of other fellow men. In consequence, powerful nations subjugate poor nations and exploit to the fullest in order to satisfy the demands of their blind urges.

The situation further deteriorates when uneven distribution of wealth in a national boundary restricts the free flow of surplus resources of one country to another where there is shortage. This is the curse of nationalism.

The world, therefore, presents a very sad picture of its inhabitants. Only a few developed nations are happy, prosperous and affluent. The rest of the world is under-fed, under-nourished or semi-starved.  In   comparison   to   the developed   countries, the standard   of   living   of   under-developed or developing countries is miserably low. This is the direct consequence of centuries of economic exploitation of the East by the West, of the South by the North, and the legacy of restricting the natural resources within the national boundaries by the affluent societies.

This shows that satisfaction of human urges crossed their natural bounds. The urge for personal comforts and luxury in one sector of human society disturbs the equilibrium and the natural distribution of wealth of others when it transgresses its limits. This is nothing but the dire consequences of the choice   of   man   to   live   through   wrongful   means   and exploitation of the weak by the strong. This is against the law of nature; and hence the entire human race is suffering. No economic device can restore the equilibrium unless man learns to bring his natural urges under his command, avoids extravagances, learns to live within the available means in his surroundings and fairly barters the goods and services with the poor and under-developed countries. This will be possible only when man gets rid himself of the mania of raising his standard of living at the cost of others and steps down to live a natural, simple life. Otherwise, the economic slavery of the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America will continue indefinitely. The worship of the goddess of human urges will make the very existence of man a horrible holocaust. This is all due to the misuse of man's freewill to meet his physical urges in a reckless and selfish manner.

(Continued)