On “Independence day”

1. Supposed to be a special day for a place called India – the day we claim we got independence, political for sure – from the imperialist British forces.
2. What is a nation? Is it the geographical boundaries or its currency or its people or its contribution to the world-at-large? Or is it a shared grand illusion?
3. An Illusion that meets many ends of many folks.
   Creates a greater identity for most.
   Gives ways in which we claim ownership of a piece of God’s creation.
4. A mechanism to create semblance of an external order.
   A way in which the “finest” acts can be canalized in the service of an “ideal” – of a just, a strong, a caring “Nation-state” which promises to look after the safety and security of its citizens and their properties.
5. History says that we lived in groups since time immemorial. We call ourselves social animals – as if the rest are not.
6. The idea of a nation as a geo-political entity, appears to be a logical limit to the size of the group – stretch it to the be the world and it appears, that unless there are aliens out there, this is one size too large!
7. We are impelled by the search for an identity, which is more permanent and greater than our physical selves.
8. The need for biological security, for the continuation of our bodies, is a very basic instinct. Given that we are physically much weaker than most around us, survival must have driven the growth of the intellect. Or may be that was the grand design experiment – can “subtle” overcome the gross? – may be that indeed is the story of all Life.
9. To take inanimate matter, in a world which in its natural state, is always “running down”, and to create the intricate web – called Life, what brilliance!!
10. This need for survival, leads to social clustering, as it does in many a “meek” animal. In any social setting, there is a natural tendency for coordination. This leads to innovations like language, norms, communities, villages and inexorably the nation-state, a concept which has divided us humans as much it has united us humans!!
11. Turning to the concepts of independence and freedom –
    Who can be free? Who can be independent? And freedom and independence from what?
12. Are independence and freedom equivalent?
    Independence implies not be dependent on anybody else
    Freedom implies no bondages of any kind