It takes all kinds to make this world

In his poem, The Second Coming, W B Yeats talks of a situation of utter chaos and anarchy, in which “The falcon can’t hear the falconer.” “Things fall apart” and what is portended is an uncertain, somewhat ominous future. The Second Coming was written in the aftermath of World War II and predicted the birth of “Antichrist” at the end of the Christian Era.

With Bengaluru recording its highest ever temperatures and facing an acute water crisis, one notes that Yeats’s poem is relevant even today. Only mindful of short term commercial gains, humans have grown increasingly distant from nature and their own original truth.

Heedless felling of trees, increased carbon footprints, encroachment into water bodies and imprudent use of groundwater is responsible for the condition the city is in today; man is disrupting nature’s delicate meteorological balance. In addition, humans burn fossil fuels, carry out unchecked mining and quarrying, and release harmful industrial waste into rivers. 

With only a handful of professions being perceived as “prestigious’ ‘, many people has strayed lightyears away from their innate nature. So also the emphasis on and lauding only traits like speed, assertiveness, ruthless ambitions et al. However, every personality type is equally important for what its owners bring to the table.

While the world requires alphas for their leadership qualities; it also requires the betas for meditation and peace-keeping. And so also the people who fit into the “sigma” archetype for their stoicism, introspection and originality. 

Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) are a category of people on earth, who typically draw the most flak. However, instead of advising them to “grow a hide” and muscle through life, why not encourage them to embrace their authentic nature? HSPs are often perceived as “the whiners” but the truth is that their brains process sensory information and emotions at a deeper level than other humans.

While HSPs may get drained by too much stimulus and have more needs than the standard world is ready to acknowledge, they come with advantages like good listening skills, empathy, great strategic-thinking and problem-solving skills and the ability to create or appreciate art.

Afterall, the world just doesn’t need engineers and lawyers; it also requires poets, seers, healers, storytellers and naturalists. Perhaps, conserving nature and accepting all types of people for what they are is a way to avert “the Antichrist?”