The current challenges arising from hegemonist and marketised power structures should be tackled through a rediscovery of spiritual unity and common bonds between people, said a former academic from I.G.N.O.U.
Speaking to journalism students on Wednesday (24th July 2024), Dr. Abdul Samad Ibrahim, former head of production at IGNOU, cited the words of a range of iconic thinkers — from the Buddha, Nanak and Kabir to Gandhi, Tagore and Kipling to advocate spiritual oneness.
“Our essential needs have been drowned by our acquired needs. Ignoring our essential similarities has led to a process of ‘othering’ and seeing enemies where there is none,” he said.
He advised budding journalists to follow the Gandhian concepts of ‘shakti’ and ‘peace’, which mean ‘the strength to stop seeking revenge’ and ‘the will to never write with anger or malice’, respectively.
“What connects people is not technology but a spirit of common humanity,” he said and asked students to stop seeing the world through mirrors and to come together for the betterment of all.
