My parents and I were reminiscing on the old days. We had just moved to Delhi when I was about four years old. And none of us except my dad knew the language Hindi. And my mom mentioned that she had done a correspondence course to learn Hindi. I expressed my shock that I had no idea about this and asked why my parents didn’t tell me.

To this, my dad replied, ‘As if you would have cared at that age.’ True, my priorities were not what was going on in my parent’s lives at that age. But, it did make me wonder that we have a certain kind of innocence that even we are not aware of as kids. And as we grow up, it gets replaced by our mind and thoughts, which veil the innocence with patterns governed by fear primarily. Let’s hold this thought for a while.

Have you ever wondered what is next in human evolution? When we started, we had no distinction in ourselves between me and mine. We were just like animals who do not see them as distinct entities – they just are. Then our minds developed, and we advanced as a society. But now, one could argue that our minds have taken over. Instead of being used as a tool, we are being run by our minds. And in nature, anything that is out of control needs to be destroyed to restore balance. So, what does the human being 2.0 look like?

Jesus had said, ‘Be like children.’ And we all know the term, ‘Childlike wonder. And we also know that all great things are cyclical. If you have read ‘The alchemist’, you know that that boy ultimately comes back to where he started.

So putting these two things together, a) minds are not in balance and b) things are cyclical – one can surmise that the next human is one with nature, who does not see themselves as distinct entities despite the mind activity. In other words, human being 2.0 are beyond the mind; they have transcended thought.

We are going back to our innocence as kids. It means that for us in our next step of evolution, even as our minds take over, we still retain the child in us. We are aware that thoughts are just that and nothing more. We do not let our minds shape reality as it is, but we are the reality.

If this is too abstract, think of it this way: When you are a kid and see something, you see it. Like a bird, you notice the eyes, bird, beak – how it moves, flies, looks at you etc. As you grow, you – you see a sparrow or a red robin. And we do this to people too. We see them through labels – greedy, lazy, not my friend etc. etc. This is where the following quote is apt – ‘Teach a child the name of the bird, and you have made sure he never sees the bird again.’

Human Being 2.0 sees the bird despite knowing the name. Where are you on the evolution journey?