A friend of mine quite casually gave me a name, which I found quite amusing! Idiot. She even felt so bad and embarrassed at giving me this beautiful name. I am not kidding, I like this name very much, and as I just look at this word, a lot of associations float in my mind. Needless to say, idiot is synonymous to fool, and having gone through the Shakespearean literature, especially his plays, I realize to be a ‘fool’ or an ‘idiot’ is a rare privilege. The Shakespearean ‘fools’ are often just the opposite of what we might think them to be; they infuse wisdom into characters, in their associations, and they cannot be taken for granted. It is these clowns and comic characters who, while providing the much needed comic relief, provide an insight into the plot.
It is said that often we come across fools who appear to be wise, but in reality remain fools; the wise may appear fools, but beyond their deceptive appearance may be truly wise. The philosophy of being a clown is that it is better to appear a fool, than to be! But in reality, most of us spend most of our time, energy and resources to appear wise, and at the end realize we have been fools. It is in this connection that it is a wonderful thing to appear a fool, and at the end realize that beyond the foolishness, we have insight into reality, which can go beyond the flimsy side of life. It is only the people who acknowledge themselves as fools, who can reality take a dip into reality of life, where we may discover pearls of wisdom.
Is it a crime to be a fool? In our society, foolishness is often associated to lack of adequate knowledge (ignorance, or avidya, to use a Vedic word), lack of common sense, lack of presence of mind, not being prepared to respond promptly to situations and circumstances. If we apply these criteria to foolishness, then every computer should be deemed wise, far better than human persons, who may not have much date at their finger-tips. Believe it or not, every one born as a human person has a large size of foolishness ingrained in us; the degree may vary from person to person, but no one can claim that s/he cannot be considered a fool. Denial of foolishness maybe the first and major symptom of being a fool par excellence.
If ever we claim ourselves to be too wise for this world populated with foolish men and women, certain per cent of the blame will go to the world and our social upbringing. When we are born, we enter into the new world as tabula rasa! We know almost nothing; instinct tells us that for survival we have to start breathing, and begin to suckle the breast of our mothers. But at this stage we are quite happy to be ignorant about the ways of the world, and are not much bothered about it. As we grow, we realize that not knowing things is not a positive element, but a matter of shame. So we make frantic efforts to overcome ignorance, and begin to project ourselves as wise men and women.
Am I a fool, and an idiot? I see all around film posters on 3 Idiots, a film by Amir Khan, and though I do not know much about the film, yet I could remove the 3 and make it four, adding my name in that list. In fact, if I am not mistaken, all the three ‘fools’ depicted in the film belong to the Shakespearean model, and therefore cannot be equated with the commonplace ‘wise-appearing fools’. When it comes to the final analysis, what matters is not how we appear to the world, but how we appear to ourselves. If one has a reasonably positive self-image, no wise-fool can make him/her part of his/her own clan. And ultimately that is what matters in life!
No comments:
Post a Comment