Standing on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, gazing out into the bright New York night, one cannot help but marvel at man’s ability to subjugate the world around him. However, looking at what is happening around us today, it seems that we have lost attention to our inner self in the drive towards our scientific advances. I would like to share “Modern Man”, a poem by Muhammad Iqbal, the “Poet of the East” from “The Rod of Moses”:
Love fled, Mind stung him like a snake; he could not
Force it to vision’s will.
He tracked the orbits of the stars, yet could not
Travel his own thoughts’ world;
Entangled in the labyrinth of his science
Lost count of good and ill;
Took captive the sun’s rays, and yet no sunrise
On life’s thick night unfurled.
