The messed-up lives

Why are people who have everything still unhappy? Victor Ivan writes about death, parental care, superstition taught as education, and what Einstein and Freud had to say to each other about it.

කට්ටඩියා හා විද්‍යාඥයා එකකු බවට පත්වීම

Ivan argues that Sri Lanka’s media have never promoted primitive superstition as they do now, filling airtime with astrologers and sorcerers whose advertising has become a key source of revenue. He recounts testing an astrologer-candidate who claimed he could win elections by occult power, and a sorcerer-monk who threatened his life after Ravaya exposed abuse at his temple. Galileo, Newton and Einstein transformed human life yet have no followers; worse, some scientists now mimic the charlatans, spreading fear over kidney disease, milk powder and arsenic to suit political ends.

ගාන්ධි නූතන ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගැනීම (II)

It was Gandhi who showed the world that spiritual strength joined to popular power can be turned into an undefeated motive force working for the progress, the justice and the liberation of ordinary people, free of self-interest, malice and hatred. Einstein said at his death that a powerful following can be won not only by political cunning but by the example of a disciplined and exalted human conduct.