Perfection?

While spending loads of time studying a subject (for the exam :D) like The Indian Economy- Performance and Policies , I often get into that idealistic state of mind with deep thoughts on development and change. With each subsequent chapter, one reads about the policies, their implementation and the actual outcome. This is the most interesting part for students like us because the outcome is always two sided (hence we can write whatever we like!). However, in the deliberation state, the thought that comes is when will we have a perfectly positive outcome? What is that “golden solution”? How to reach that point of perfection?

Take the case of land reforms, economic planning (Five Year Planning in India) or even the recent FDI controversy. If we want democracy, politics will accompany. Given the huge diverse population, there will be dual opinion about any policy thought upon. The consequences will be positive for some, negative for rest. Also, given that we are the argumentative Indians,  some of us could even defend that cigarette stubs and dumped polythene can result in some sort of fossil fuels in the future! Take it in generalised terms, every decision and action will have some appreciators as well as critics, for all justifiable or irrational reasons. A single outlook can never convince a population of a billion. Nor is it possible to grab several candies in a hand from a single jar unless with repeated attempts.

The thing is perfection can never be reached. WE CAN ONLY STRIVE TOWARDS PERFECTION. If perfection would have been an actual state, everything would have become static at that point. We always desire more and hence there can be no perfection. Otherwise, as such we were quite content even in those early man ages (yeah, with no cloth on the body!) and could have called that as perfection. Everything was in a balance : man was happy (truly 😉 ) and there was harmony with nature. That was a perfection of nature!

Anyways, we have taken the so called path of development. The cycle of life (with hurdles) will continue, whether some are exploited or not. Trying to perfect everything according to our perceptions, would definitely take a toll on the environment and would boomerang! Equilibrium will be attained with loss (reduction) of lives and probably the human race, just like the economic theory diagrams. Thus, the debate is endless over what is right and wrong. Be it technology, finance, defence, law, economics or medicine, all are approaches converging towards the same thing, “betterment of mankind”. But I think none of them can give a concrete solution because the equilibrium of nature has to be maintained.

In the light of this complexity, we again thrive working on the same set of questions about discovering THE solution to perfection. The best we can perhaps do is try to move ahead with the maximum positive impact. Now again this is pretty subjective. Each individual could perhaps be ready to settle for a little less if that left out part could prevent somebody from worsening off, if not making better off.  Also, lets accept the fact that differences will exist in the world. Agreed that a part of us will always be hungry for more. But maybe we could also try to respect the differences more.

We could consider the micro-economics perspective of it  i.e. individual development. And this would be in terms of immaterial contentment, peace of mind and attitude-correction. We, as individuals, have a lot to improve and thus there is a huge potential for development in the world. The “narrow domestic walls” are a creation of our mindset. The minute we see others as our own selves, there will be a change. Am sure many will be as surprised as I was, on knowing that the economy of Bhutan is measured through an index called as the “Gross National Happiness (GNH)”. Thus, the book I was reading is quite apt in saying that “Development is as much a state of mind as it is growth on other indices”.