DEMYSTIFYING THE IDEAS OF GOOD AND EVIL: HUMANIZING PHILOSOPHY
Dr Jernail S. Anand
Whenever we think of the idea of good and evil, we tend to invite higher forces into play. Good has a vast penumbra, so does Evil and it takes no time that the scenes of heaven and hell start dancing in our imagination. Life is not such a serious matter that every moment we try to jump into the vortex of philosophy, and our forehead remains furrowed with lines of care and anxiety. It is another thing the lovers of mystery want us to remain on tenterhooks, always in the fear of gods, always keeping not only fingers but our minds crossed. In fact, life is not a simple mathematics in which 2 plus 2 becomes 4. Life tends to mystify us, and it is this mystery which fills us with incertitude, so that there is a lot of suspense which keeps the eyes winkless and minds, restless.
Loss of Simple Joys
It is not essential every time to turn our eyes up, and feel we are being watched. If we know there is a CCTV camera overseeing us, it makes us cautious, and we tend to lose the naturalness of our actions. This is what corporate systems want to make of us: lose our naturalness, lose our natural joy, they want us to become fear-filled puppets, dancing to the remote dictates of an invisible master sitting far away. It is this simple joy whose loss has cost us dear. We are living under the shadow of two great forces. One is the divine schemata, which has been kind to human beings. And the other is the corporatia, which is essentially unkind and based on human exploitation. Workings of both the systems tend to mystify humanity, and keep them on tenterhooks. We are afraid of gods, and we are afraid of the demi-gods of the earth, displeasing whom can be an instant disaster.
Giving the go by to Philosophy
I started with the idea that it is possible to lead simple and happy lives without referring to higher philosophy all the time. We can come down to simple equations in order to find out what to do and what not to do. Although it appears our actions are super directed, yet we should not forget that we may not be the directors of our destiny, we are actors. Even if we have been given a written text, yet something has been left to us. It is how well we can perform. Here, it all depends on our powers of delivery. All the men are equal. The only difference is how they deliver.
It is important to see how an ordinary man acts in his life. He does not bring in Mahabharata or Ramayana, nor does he remember Upanishads. He only remembers simple lines from Baba Farid and Guru Nanak, and performs his daily tasks. At the most he justifies what has been done to him, by the theory of ‘Karma’ without reference to what Lord Krishna said, because it is too much of steam for ordinary intelligence. It may be surprising, but it is a fact that ordinary men are a happier lot, than people like you and me, who are always obsessed with philosophy. We are always scared of the falling skies, while these people know how to survive when skies have fallen. They have survived through centuries. Philosophy has no other source than the story how these common people have suffered and survived. They not only understand the philosophy of good and evil in their very simple ways, rather they are the fodder of philosophy. There would be no philosophy if the ordinary people cease out of existence.
Demystifying Human Life
I am talking of demystifying human life and de-philosophizing human actions. There is one philosopher after millions of men who have really suffered this life. The philosophers are men who are essentially unhappy souls, who fail to find any happiness in the systems which afflict mankind. Happiness, joy, certitude, - all are absent from the combined forces of the philosophizing squad. The thoughts of evil, and lack of joy are permanent guests in the yellow tents. While on the contrary, happiness knows it is the simple hearts of ordinary men where it can have its joyful stint. No philosophy can disturb them when things go wrong. If the wheel of a car is punctured, the most normal act for an ordinary man is to get it mended and move on. But, it can be a cluttering moment for a philosopher, who would start on a journey into the stars, and try to see, why he had to face such a tragedy.
Resting Philosophy Under the shade of a Banyan Tree
Let us now leave philosophy to itself. Let it have some rest under the shade of a banyan tree. Let us move into the people who are busy in their workaday life. They leave high philosophy in the temples where they shed a penny or two from their pockets. Now, it is for the gods to keep pondering over their destiny while they are out to script it out in their actions. I would call it the Krishna Squad or the ‘Vasudhaiva Katumbakam’.
They know life is short, and will not be repeated. So, they think men should do good deeds. An action which gives you happiness, is always good. Sometimes, their goodness is waylaid, and, in that black hour, they are made to turn greedy. Even then, they do not turn the pages of scriptures. They suffer for their follies. Sometimes they fight also, they are sent to prison, from which, they emerge without learning any lesson. They again indulge in morally unsound practices. This is ordinary humanity. The way it is. They act and suffer and that sets the equations right. And nothing more. They do not bother about happiness. They do not bother about suffering. They have no idea there are angels hovering over them, or devils working inside them. They are just human. Good or Evil. They don’t mind. The education which they got was full of flaws. It talked about honesty, goodness, and happiness. But, the real life made heroes of fraudsters and politicians. They are confused what to accept : the scriptural truths which lie unproved, or the bare facts of life which stand in front of them in brutal truth.
No Thinkers, Only Actors
Ordinary men are no thinkers like us. They are actually actors. So, it is only in their actions that they have to make or break their destiny. They know what is happiness. And they also know what is good and what is not good. As I have said earlier, happiness has the longest stay in poor quarters. It signifies the fact that it is among the ordinary people that the idea of happiness sustains. It has no interest in philosophers, mystery makers, and even demi-gods who keep pontificating on goodness and happiness ad inifinitum.
Author:
Dr Jernail Singh Anand, President of the International Academy of Ethics, is author of 161 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great Award by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. The Academy of Arts and philosophical Sciences of Bari [Italy] honoured him with the award of an Honourable Academic. Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engg and Management, Jaipur. Recently, he organized an International Conference on Contemporary Ethics at Chandigarh. His most phenomenal book is Lustus:The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Mahkaal Trilogy]. [Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com Mobile: 919876652401[Whatsapp] [ethicsacademy.co.in]
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