IN April this year, a so-called spiritual leader from Sargodha helped by his disciples brutally murdered 20 of his followers by tearing them to pieces saying he was clearing the way to heaven for them. Astonishingly, the followers who missed this opportunity to attain nirvana were full of remorse and regret.

Our society is on the brink of chaos. The trend of spiritual leaders is common in society and people follow their spiritual guides blindly. Many people, even the well-read and well-off, wait for miracles ignoring ground realities and hard facts. It seems society has missed a turn in the road of sound education and critical thinking.

I feel the need of the hour is critical thinking. How does a person think critically. The answer is literature. One definition of literature is “something which compels you to think and ask questions.” Books can resolve this problem but our circumstances don’t encourage the reading of books.

Our education system is producing rote learners instead of well-read, well-informed, polished and creative personalities. It is time our syllabi and teaching methods underwent a drastic change to reflect the needs of the first half of the 21st century.

Now more than ever we have to introduce our youth to books, to Socrates and to Shakespeare, to Mir, Ghalib and Iqbal if we are to improve the sagging values of our society. Otherwise, a dark and deep abyss beckons us and our society is on the brink.

Muhammad Zeeshan Dogar

Lahore

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2017