Worldly-wise vis-a-vis Truly-wise

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!

Beyond the Horizons

There is something common between Ivan and I: both of us were reporters for a Catholic news agency for a while, and both of us had tried our hands in writing, though Ivan thought it was his "special calling", and I considered it as my "first love". Not that we liked factual reporting, but liked creative writing, where we could synthesize the knowledge we have garnered and reprocess them on the basis of our experiences, and re-present them in a palatable way to the masses. I was struggling more than Ivan, given the background from which I climbed up the ladder, and I was not envious of the youngster too!

Today meeting Ivan after some years, was a pleasure; we had spent several hours discussing about our lives in a religious congregation, which bade farewell to Ivan about ten years ago, and he continued to pursue his career with a news agency in Bangkok. As he poured out his pains and agonies in working with people of different nationalities, the way how they treated him because of his 'not-so-fair complexion' paying him just one third of the salary they paid for the house rent of an office companion, I felt sad for him, but I had not much words of comfort and consolation. It is his life and he has chosen it voluntarily, and would find a way to get through!

But what was more important for me to recall was the way how he got back to settle his personal scores with life; he had gone through unexpected alleys and valleys before he could find the plains, and as he stood at the endless vast canvass of life, he found an unseen Power leading him through. Life had taught him great lessons, and he would be ever grateful for whatever that had moulded and shaped him, and he would not regret for what he had to go through, though much of those moments were mingled with sweat and tears. The past sweet and sour experiences had paved way for his present, and today he is grateful for his past!

There are two ways of approaching our bitter past : either to curse the experiences of the past, and refusing to acknowledge their role in shaping our present, or to accept and acknowledge them as part of our life journey, and move towards the sign posts the past had placed our way. The people who opt the first option often end up bitter and defensive; they would find all the reasons to blame the world, and even themselves. The people who approach life in the second way are often wiser and happier; they would not have regrets but only gratefulness to the experiences and the people who had contributed towards those shaping moments.

Those who stand by life's stepping stones, and keep looking back at the thorns and thistles they had passed through and forget to look yonder towards the future in store for them, are bound to end up stuck up on the way; is this what Christ meant when he said, those who have put their hands on the plough and look back are not fit for the kingdom of heaven? I very much think so. Every past moments have shaped our present, and pave way for the future; but those who are not able to look towards the horizon beckoning them to reach the North Star, so that they can at least reach the end of the horizon, opening the gates to yet another horizon! I am happy my friend Ivan have stood at the end of one horizon, and is able to see the other horizon beckoning him tenderly and lovingly!