The Non-linear Human Life

How much turbulence does a human being experience in life? You say it.

Linear form of Human life

First let me clear what linear is. By geometrical definition linear is something main characteristic that a straight line has. No change at all, goes straight to the end. So, in this approach human life can't be strictly linear because it gets changing. But still, normal natural variations of human life are precedent and are supposed to be linear. It is because these changes lie within ranges.

Let me explain things in our own way (Hindu Nepali way!). A life is born. After a few weeks the naming ceremony (nwaran) is done. In six months, a rice weaning ceremony is held. At some point in adolescence, bratamanda (holy thread wearing ceremony) is organized. A man is an adult now. He gets married. He has a child. Then children. All the processes get repeated for his children. He gets to be old now. Finally he dies. A normal Nepali undergoes these changes throughout life with added ups and downs. For example, sometimes a man is high-strung when his baby girl sprains her leg. Some other times, he may have to be bedridden in a hospital ICU after a road traffic accident. And he is destined to witness his parents' death which is going to be unbearable. Hence, the normal flow of life is called linear even if it has a few surprises as I have just mentioned.

But most human lives are designed to witness big surprises. Let us say turbulence, and these turbulences are what make a human life non-linear. Some events in life are so impactful that you would be doing or would have become something else than you are doing or have become now if that event did not have occurred. Linear events do have only temporary effects but non-linear events impact you and your family for a lifetime and afterwards.

We ourselves are making this world harsher to live in for our offspring.

In 2015, we had an earthquake in central Nepal. Nearly ten thousand people died and millions of people's lives were affected. This is an unprecedented event that no one had imagined. Many lives took another turn. You might have some ambitions but since your house got destroyed your ambition changed. You ran to build a new house for your family. You wasted all your time, energy and resources that there is now no way you can pursue the original ambition you had before the earthquake. Your life has become something else. Well, that's an example of how human's life, all of a sudden, becomes non-linear.

Some turbulence are regional i.e. they only affect people in a certain geographical range and some are global. Like the 2015 earthquake was one of the jolts in an otherwise linear life of some Nepalese, but it didn't affect an average American. Likewise, hurricane Harvey was a turbulence to some Americans, and not us. The Beirut explosion impacted thousands of Lebanese, not others so much. Contrastingly, the consequences of global warming are universal to everyone living on the planet, more so of the coronavirus pandemic. They in some way or the other have bent the life curve of each one of us.    

So, I am coming to more important points. When we generalize the non-linear events along the historical timelines, the frequency of such turbulences that a human life has to see has been increasing. That means, there are more painful events that I have to suffer than my forefathers did, and my progeny will have even more surprises. In 5-10 years of time, one significant event hits you: be it an economic recess, earthquake, locust plague, flood, landslide, tsunami, health disaster, drought, celestial collision or something else. The duration is shortening with each generation coming.

The causes, in my personal opinion, might be increment in population and unlimited human ambitions that adversely affected earth. The increase in population demanded extra resources and people started to devour upon nature more aggressively. They exploited soil, water, air beyond limits. They extracted minerals, raw materials and fuel from nature ravenously. To fulfill human needs they replaced jungles by cities. They accelerated the production by industries. We get landslides, floods, erosion, infertility, pollution, drought, famine and disease among many others as immediate revenges from nature. Ozone depletion and climate change are gradual revenge that seem to have little effect in each generation but when it explodes it will challenge the existence of humanity.

When we try to disturb the intricate balance of the components in nature in the name of fulfilling our greed and wants, there is a compromise to some of lives or resources. We don't try to compensate for the compromise. Like, for example, while broadening the road, we cut down the trees on the both sides of the existing road. We don't plant the saplings in the same surrounding so that in some years the greenery and freshness could be replenished. Eventually, the compromises will keep on accumulating until it recoils back to humanity. We ourselves are making this world more harsh to live in for our offspring. Why not just try to reflect upon each activity whether it is affecting nature or any of its components so that we can have compensatory actions immediately. We can't always keep cursing our fate, leaders or powerful countries for all the sorrows. We should act NOW to correct our wrongdoings that might have gone unnoticed. We can change our way on a personal level that has a small positive impact on nature rather than complaining about things that are not under our control. Ask occasionally some silly questions like, "Is an ant equally as important as a human being for this world?"