6. Prosperity and Open Mindedness

I wondered if there is any relationship between the state of a society being prosperous and state of it being open to outside influences. It is not possible to devise an experiment for obvious reasons. Therefore I took help of history to serve as a guide in my thought experiment.

6.1 Societies open to external influences

When I looked at history I found that societies that have been open to other cultures have been economically most successful. They have adopted ideas irrespective of source of their origin, refined it, and having made it better, used it for themselves. The golden age of Indian society was at the time when it was most open to all kinds of ideas; let the ideas be internal or external. Majority of Indians at that time had given up yoke of caste and traditions and adopted Buddhism. At that time, there were six different schools of thought and the most prominent school emphasized reason as the basis of all thoughts. Similarly, Islamic empire at its zenith was open to external ideas. It was the time when Muslim lands were center of science, technology, and innovation. 

Europe had industrial revolution from steam engine, gunpowder, printing, and paper. None of these were an exclusive European invention. Gunpowder, paper, printing, and shipbuilding originated in Asia. Europeans refined these to make them more useful. Today American empire is zenith of scientific innovation as well as is an economic superpower. They are most flexible to change and are not afraid of learning from others. In fact, they succeed by importing not only the best ideas but also the best brains that originate those ideas. Japan adopted European technology and infused it with innovations like just-in-time management to garner a disproportionally large share of global economy. 

Today, China and India are economically riding on payoffs obtained from learning from other cultures.

 

6.2 Societies closed to the external influences

Against this, the cultures that closed themselves from the outside influences have stagnated and eventually suffered humiliation or extinction. Japan was an important maritime and trading power before it closed itself to the outside world. Humiliation at the hands of an American fleet forced them to open themselves to the outside world. China was an important economic, military, and cultural power before it mysteriously closed itself to the outside world. It virtually became a European colony. India was one of the most closed societies. It refused to learn from others or heed to reason for a long time. We refused to learn even from Muslim conquest. 

It was the humiliation of being treated as sub-humans at the hands of English colonialists that we finally started learning from others. After independence we cut ourselves away from rest of the world in the name of economic self-sufficiency. Only the humiliation of mortgaging our national gold forced us to actively engage with rest of the world. Today some portion of Islamic lands has cut itself off from the rest of the world with disastrous consequences.

6.3 For individuals

What is true for cultures and nations remains true for individuals as well. Pandit Nehru’s family was employed as officials in Muslim court because they learned the language. Later with changing times, they learnt English and became barristers under British rule. We all know rest of the story. In Rajasthan, Marwaris immigrated to other places in India and started trading in those places. Today, they corner a major portion of Indian trade and industry. In Rajasthan, Rajputs were rulers at British times. Those Rajputs who refused to learn and change with times have become a ghost of their former self. Rests have consolidated their position in the society. Communities and individuals in prominence today have emphasized a lot on education. Because; it is through education that you can learn and adapt in human society.

 

Charles Darwin had remarked, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Fortunately for us, we live in a time when India is most actively engaged with the world in a long time. Indian software, pharmaceutical, financial, auto, and other companies have started making a mark in the world market today. Every year close to eighty thousand Indian students go to pursue studies in United States alone. Indian diaspora has made an important mark in their adopted countries. Let us, pledge, that we would not be afraid of learning from others and teaching others whatever little we know.