Skip to main content

The Question Again

What are we here for again? Moreover, where did that vision of whatever we are supposed to do go that we started updating and watching Google Talk messages? The society today is becoming weaker by the day. Weaker in the sense that we depend on each other more with every passing moment, and the depravation from human contact even for a couple of minutes is beginning to become a dark, scary prospect that nobody seems to want to explore. Whether its going together for classes, or to eat or to play a game or sport or finish an assignment, the world is being pulled, literally, to doing it with each other. Even in their most alone moments, people today are chatting on Gtalk or abusing each other on DC. I admit that my life and observations are limited to BITS-Pilani, Goa ONLY as of now, but isn’t the same applicable elsewhere too? We are getting more and more used to being in the comfort of other people (when a bit of introspection would reveal it is not a comfortable state of being at all).

I have never had a problem with human interaction. In an ideal society, it IS the way forward, as it facilitates sharing of ideas and helps dissemination of ideas and distribution of workload; but surely what we’re making out of society today isn’t what it was meant to be. Its fast turning into a recluse from reality, an excuse for escapism from work, and a reinforcement of perceived normalcy in a rapidly degenerating civilization from its ideal trajectory.

Human life is certainly not meant to be JUST sharing of feelings (and not ideas), sharing of mutual cozy warmth due to cancellation of external disturbance, and most certainly not the supposed progress of the human race at the cost of all other races, and the environment and the rest of the universe, really. Everybody knows (though many choose not to remind themselves) that nobody knows why we are here, or what this “ideal trajectory” really is. How about spending some more time trying to figure that out, instead of jacking off to the latest pop diva or getting wasted on perversely cultivated weeds.

It is in order to say here that SOME institutions have in fact taken steps to this measure – finding out the bigger picture – namely science and religion/spirituality. These two schools roughly over the course of the last two millennia have literally catfought each other in hope of emerging as the sole authority. Ironically, prior to two millennia, they walked hand in hand and actually tried to move toward an answer. There were no states back then, no supreme court and certainly no swarm intelligence (though the human has always threatened to move toward that very eventuality). Then came Jesus Christ, or did he? Over the course of time, (at the cost of the ever-vulnerable general public) two separate schools emerged – and tried to suppress each other at every stage, completely conscious of the lethality of the other one. There was a time when religion dominated, when science tried to fir itself into the bible’s scheme of things; now its science on top and religion tries to justify itself scientifically! Enter spirituality, an underhand ally to religion- though at the surface they constantly pretend to snub each other; thus giving the perception of healthy competition, and seemingly increasing the choices of common man. Some of the ancestors of these various religious/spiritual bodies (if they actually existed) must even have got it right, but over the years and subjected to corrupt conditioning, practically all these schools have lost their true essence.

What not many have realized until today though, is that science and religion are essentially two opinions, rather two angles of seeing the same ‘real’ picture. I am convinced reality is one and one only. Traced to its roots, one would find both these bodies talking about the same truth, describing the same components of the bigger picture in their respective languages and perspectives.
Nonetheless, we must look beyond. Our eyes may not be showing us everything we ought to see, our mind may or may not be able to understand everything that’s going on; but in the light of present day social antics, our ability to see, feel and judge have surely deteriorated, if not lost forever.

We have seen with humans though, in the limited way we can see, that (in our domain of concern, at least) nothing is impossible; and that there is no perfectionism (a contradiction right there, a thing to ruminate on, later), nothing like glory or bust – only progress. This can only give us hope (hope being the sickest creation of humans yet, yet being an essential and invaluable asset), and hope is the basis on which humanity survives, it’s the driving force that allows us to wake up the next day and look forward to a better future. There is no denying we are in a mess, but I am sure somewhere in the depths of our depression shall we find the answer we have gone looking for across the galaxy and beyond. The best way out of shit is through it; embrace complexity, and symmetry shall emerge from within.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An eventful Independence Day!

First of all, I’d like to wish Happy Independence Day to all my readers. Today was a day of a national reconciliation for me (like many other of my compatriots). Yet, the national experience of today has been different than previous ones, towards the worse. Although I am more aware about my country today than I was yesterday, I feel no prouder of my country. The feeling I have today is of disappointment (and not disillusionment, mind you). I still believe in my country and its potential to be the world’s finest, but today, I must criticize it for the state of affairs that pervade it. Incidentally, I watched the movie Peepli Live today, and it left me disappointed and depressed. I already know the current state of India, how it is soiled in corruption, red tape and dirty politics – what I didn’t learn is how can I make a difference… what I, the Common Man of India can do today to ensure a more prosperous tomorrow. The movie had plenty of Masala , its fair share of Profanities (were th...

The Coronation of Wazza

Caution: The f ollowing discussion is wrought for football (soccer?) fans, especially those in favor of a club by the name Manchester United. Viewer discretion recommended. A long ball was launched up to Rooney and he took it down with a great touch, turned, and with the Arsenal defense backing off, hit an unbeatable curling shot into the top corner to send Goodison wild. Everton had won, Arsenal’s unbeaten run was over, and Rooney had arrived. Always searching for the sound bite, commentator Clive Tyldesley exclaimed “ Remember the name: Wayne R ooney ! ” That was October2002 – he was only 16 then. Wayne Rooney signed for the Reds two seasons later after a staggering £27m tra nsfer. In September 2004 , he scored a hat trick on his United debut. He was only 18 then. Since then, he has scored some truly memorable goals for united including the scorcher volley against Newcastle , the chip against Portsmouth , the late, late winner against Milan . Besides, he has gone through thr...

The Mall

…..And there's nothing wrong with me This is how I'm supposed to be In a land of make believe That don't believe in me….. “Malls: Where people make believe, where escape from reality is cool, where individual identities are conveniently camouflaged in social swarms” – this is what I texted a dear friend last evening. I was at a mall with my family. It was a Sunday evening. I wondered whether the place was reminiscent more of a Virar local at peak rush or a toddler fancy dress competition. There seemed to be an odd, unspoken mutual need for all those people to be there – maybe to reassure each other of their existence. By themselves, they felt like lost strangers, but together they represented the majority of purposeful rationalism. We went to the furniture and lifestyle store(y), then to the apparels outlet – a shame-inducing collection of what the definition of fashion (and hence society) is today, inspired of course by our own dons and divas of the film “industry”, ...