Page 20 - GOTIL (ENG) Sample

xviii Introduction

modern conveniences, city folk must exercise artificially
or else develop conditions like diabetes, hypertension,
heart disease, arthritis, constipation, and so on.

Such artificial living makes for artificial people, who
may smile superficially but are hollow within. The
modern city dweller is constantly over-stimulated with
a bombardment of information, advertisements, and so-
called entertainment. But his heart remains spiritually and
emotionally empty. Although modern man can hardly
envisage life without cars, computers, television, and
innumerable other diversions, this plethora of gadgets
is a meager substitute for peace of mind.

Most villagers in the Third World still rise early, work the
land, and hardly ever travel far from home. Despite their
apparent poverty, they are often more content than those
who have more money than necessary. Villagers tend to
be better mentally balanced than those who live life “in
the fast lane,” divorced from the simple pleasures of stable
family life and mutual sharing.

But village life throughout the world is under threat
of extinction, as the demands of consumer society are
fast standardizing the planet into one vast urbanized
megacomplex. Traditional cultures and values are being
destroyed and people being reduced to screws in a massive
economic machine. The charm has even been extracted
from agriculture — now it is “agribusiness.” Sanity has all
but been civilized out of existence.