Opinion | India’s G20 presidency will focus on shifting mindset to benefit all humanity
- India’s time at the helm of the G20 will aim to reshape minds and move away from the outdated focus on zero-sum competition and confrontation
However, as India assumes this important mantle, I ask myself – can the G20 go further still? Can we catalyse a fundamental mindset shift to benefit humanity as a whole? I believe we can.
Our mindsets are shaped by our circumstances. Through history, humanity lived in scarcity. We fought for limited resources because our survival depended on denying them to others. Confrontation and competition – between ideas, ideologies and identities – became the norm.
Some might argue that confrontation and greed are just human nature. I disagree. If humans were inherently selfish, what would explain the lasting appeal of so many spiritual traditions that advocate the fundamental one-ness of us all?
One such tradition, popular in India, sees all living beings and even inanimate things as composed of the same five basic elements – the panch tatva of earth, water, fire, air and space. Harmony among these elements – within us and between us – is essential for our physical, social and environmental well-being.