We cant walk on two different paths at the same time, we cant follow the spiritual and the material at the same time and not expect some conflict and confusion for they are parallel tracks that will never meet. There is a constant conflict between idealism and reality too- about what we can implement in our lives and all that we can only follow only if we are break away from everything that we know, consider normal, everything that holds us down to this earth.
There is a conflict between freedom and earthly commitments, idealism and reality, what we believe and what we can do about it. There is no right or wrong choice and even if it exists, I do not know how to choose and how to measure the success in each of them for success in one might mean total disaster on the other front.
Byron, Wilde, Che Guevera and even our own Changampuzha- all were social misfits and viewed as rebels and at times irresponsible to their family. To an extent even Siddhartha before he came Budha, was also irresponsible towards his family as he left them in the middle of the night after he realised the truth about disease, death and grief and he discovered a path that very few others have been able to follow.
I do not say they should have shackled themselves to their families or even society's perception of right and wrong for if everyone had done that we would still have believed that the earth was flat and the sun and other planets revolved around the earth which is at the centre of the universe.
I do not know what to do and I am confused. Man is born free and yet everywhere he is in chains, although Rousseu was talking about the chains of the ruling class, I am talking about the chains of relations and society, of obligations and commitments and also of the favour bank (in simple words-if someone does you a favor, you owe them a favor in return that must be repaid whenever the favor is called in).
School, College, Job, Marriage, Family, Sustain the family and then cycle repeats for your progeny. That is the end of one story and also the beginning of another and although one could ask what is wrong in it, I do not think that is the right question. I do not see anything in this life although I do admit that life in itself is a challenge when we do something different, it is frowned upon. When we choose to stay away from the normal, it is criticised. I do not have much experience in the defiance going away from norms thingy but whenever I have tried it, it has been difficult, fraught with uncertainty and also vehement opposition from all sides.
I can barely imagine the sort of opposition that those who really went against popular opinion faced in their time. Swimming upstream if it is the right path is made easy by the knowledge that it is the right way but what if there is no right way or we do not know which is the right way or perhaps lack confidence?
If it was to me, I would follow my heart and do what I want to do although this might just be wishful thinking and when it comes to the fork in the road, I may very well take the easy, safe road that is used by the crowd. All I hope is that when I reach that place, I have the courage to take the road that will lead me to happiness and fulfillment.
1 comment:
What is spiritual and what is material? Can you distinguish, in theory, spirituality from the material. I would say you have assumed too far that they are, in fact, two different parallel paths. I did not assume anything and hence I will not say anything about it. :P
A Man can stick to a thought and get rid of it too. This creates a turbulence which is nothing but a conflict. So should 'thought' really be the nature of Idealism? Or can something replace a thought to point towards the right direction? Like Energy or Emotion.
Siddhartha has questioned 'responsibility'!! No reasoning exists after that.
People who have strayed from the usual and the normal do not have a common perception of the world. Theirs is uncommon. They don't see the purpose or at least the veracity of the choice between right or wrong. They just don't care because they don't see why they should care. All this is either inherently irrational to them or is insanely unobvious.
So the thought that 'courage' is the differentiating factor between the normal and the unusual is itself far too simplistic.
Normal people are those that have tender minds too tender to even withstand the tenderness.
The so called 'courageous' have tender minds too but hard enough to sustain the tenderness throughout their life. They are creative and 'courageous'. They see things just like a child.
A normal person can also become extraordinary when the education system, the environment, nutrition and several million external factors are placed in the right zone. And we did learn that entropy always increases!! Now don't we produce the best IT minds with our crappy education system??!! :P
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