Can
we have validation beyond and besides Oriental, Occidental, incidental or
accidental values? Can such a validation lead to real wisdom? And what is wisdom?
Every word, every language, every ism,
every idea , every validation has gone through a sea change and the only thing
we can see is 'change'.
“We live in a changing universe, and few things are changing
faster than our conception of it”-Timothy Ferris
Any method of validation must be geared
towards a world which offers peace and a conducive atmosphere for unity based
on real understanding of the need for cohabitation on this planet of all
species and elements of nature.
So, any validation must be
fundamentally humanitarian in principle [ so that humane values are prioritized
over any ideology or regional or tradition or trend based moralistic strictures],
environment friendly in approach [ for
the sake of leaving a livable planet for posterity] and global in perspective [
for the sake of universal applicability wherever or whoever wants to adopt it].
My intention is not to sound over
philosophical and dampen any sincere and scholarly attempt by anyone but it is
only to ensure that one set of validation to replace another set of validation
may not serve any purpose in the long run as it may even inadvertently generating competitive merits and demerits
debates and claims of complexes etc.
So, any
validation which attempts to attract a greater number of people , especially youth must factor in many
aspects, some of which have been indicated below.
Though , at the outset, we all must
accept that there cannot be a please all and fix all [problems ] validation.
In short there is no panacea for all
human problems.
Still, it is worth evolving synergetic
proposals when we think of validation keeping intact the sensitivities,
acceptability adoptability and the
happiness of as many as possible.
Let us journey through the many aspects
to be factored in and also see why it is
necessary to take such a journey?
No event in history in any part of the
world, no issue in any socio-political system, no invention in any branch of
science, no idea in any philosophical system, no scripture in any religion, no
art or literature depicting any cultural or regional traditional flavors, no
economic activity impacting human life , no study of human emotional or psychological reactions, no geological or ecological changes
have happened without some purpose and therefore, it would be wrong to study or
evaluate any of them without or out of context.
Everything, everyone in every domain
have contributed through evolutionary
process to the present state of life as
it is.
Therefore, it is no wonder that from time immemorial these domains namely
religions, science, social systems, arts, literature, history, trade [economics],human
psychology, geological wealth etc have dominated the arena of discourse and developed
technologies too to suit or make optimum utilization of these aspects of human
life and mathematics chipped in to help
us decipher the patterns and also project the probable growth trajectory of all
these activities.
In a way, most of these domains
indicated above form part of every life to some extent ,of course, with different manifestations and varying
degrees of intensities and relative importance, but, all of them are in some way
interconnected, interdependent and are interrelated.
Therefore, any meaningful system of
validation cannot sustain if it fails to
factor in at least a superficial macro perspective of all the above vital aspects.
My oft repeated favorite quotes ;-
"The
spirit of Advaita is not to keep away from anything, but to keep in
tune with everything." - Swami Chinmayananda
“In
the end nothing less than the whole of everything can be the truth of anything
at all”- William James
So, it goes without saying that no specific/particular
approach of validation can claim greater or superior
standing if it restricts itself to any
exclusive ideological identity [however lofty , good and great it may be ] or
any constraining cocoon of confirmation
bias based regional, religious or national fervent doctrinal designs.
After all, we all PICK what we want,
what we can and what we are destined to.
We need
a sound PHILOSOPHICAL approach
which creates synergy than
seclusion be it termed as Oriental, Occidental, or incidental or
accidental .
We can have any categorization and
classification for intellectual and academic reference but human life requires
a validation that may have wind through all of them and transcend all that .
We PICK any or every word in any
language to define what we perceive, want to project or promote or protect.
Words and languages are some of the
tools and techniques used as the frames of references to record and communicate
what we manage to understand to posterity.
PICK
refers to
Perspectives,
Interpretations,
Contexts
and connotations,
Kindles
in us-what a word kindles in us.
Everything has its relevance and appeal
to different souls at various levels.
That's why we cannot deny or defy the
importance of anything or anyone.
No over simplifications or sweeping
generalizations.
This has produced statements and
literatures like religion without god, philosophy without religion,
spirituality without philosophy, two days back TOI central page article God the
real liability for spirituality.
Everyone of these statements or
articles or books may make good sense too, but then, intellectualization of (
intellectual approach) of everything may not be grasped by everyone and that
may be a crude way to exclude some souls from the ambit of enjoying certain
aspects of life.
There are many things which may elude
any human intellectual approach but may reveal the splendor of life in all its
dimensions and dynamics.
Besides PHILOSOPHY in brief may
be defined as below
Provides
prompts and perspectives to perceive life ;
Helps
understand hidden aspects of life ;
Interprets
intrinsic values, inner meanings and inquires into everything;
Lays
out ideas to decipher life’s meanings ;
Offers
operation manual for many options for open minded people;
Synergizes
scientific methods and sensitivities;
Optimizes
our sense of interrelatedness and interdependence;
Promotes
broader perceptions beyond parochial frames of reference;
Hitches
our life beyond many types of identity cages;
Yokes together our passion and
compassion to observe dispassionately,
and to probe into many things in depth.
Every identity that is dear to those
who live it and love it and generates lot of pride and passion that produce great outputs
in many fields.
However, such identity must not act as
a protective shield to seclude one from appreciating, accepting and
assimilating other identities.
“Evolution itself is an
open ended and indeterminate process”… “Given the remarkable progress in our
understanding of biochemistry, molecular biology, and evolution as a whole … we
have failed to develop concepts, ideas, even a language that could capture the
dance of this life” - Guy Murchie
We may
extrapolate to many other domains the following statement that is made in the
context of why human beings give importance to religion.
“Humans
have a need for a stable frame of reference. Religion apparently fills this
need. In effect, humans crave answers to questions that no other source of
knowledge has an answer to, which only religion may seem to answer. However, a
sense of free will must be given in order for religion to appear healthy. An
authoritarian notion of religion appears detrimental.”- Erich Fromm,
While the music of life produces
melodies out of what one likes and loves; the harmony of living requires many such different melodies.
Real
values of life must value life in its totality devoid of any extraneous
identity is that possible?
Each
life i.e. my life, your life and the lives of all great saints are really
speaking very insignificant transient events of a few years-mostly less than
100 in flesh and blood with conscious awareness- compared to LIFE as a whole
which has happened some four million years before and may continue for another
few millions years hence in various forms, shapes in multiple species
expressing its own attributes some of which we have understood, some we are not
even aware of.
In fact the whole of Bhagawad Gita, one of the reasons why it
became more popular among the 28 Gitas, is that all its 700 stanzas are sand-
witched between two words the starting word 'Dharma' and the last word
‘Mama’.
It must be actually read as ‘Mama Dharma’= my dharma- does
not mean either Krishna’s or Arjuna’s Dharma, rather when everyone reads
it becomes ‘his Dhrama’ and all these 700 verses [ subjected to all sorts of
excellent, enlightening as well as, often used as tool to justifying
traditional practices, explanations by many] primarily are about attitudes to
be adopted, actions to be executed and reactions to show at different
situations taking into consideration the overall welfare of all [humanism].
This manual is more about balancing the intellect and
emotions and most importantly through both emotions and intellect, or to be
precise in short it talks about the dynamics of synthesis of human nature and
nature of Truth [ define as you may- it is the inevitable and intellectual
perception and sometimes all logic eluding factor].
Life is all about movements, actions and reactions which
broadly could be defined as i.e. Karma but then the Laws [Dharma ] of motions
[Karma] of life are very important and therefore prioritized.
But
real universal wisdom in my humble opinion may be like this whether sanctioned
or sanctified by either social mores or religious morality.
Wisdom is the work shop
where works of evolutionary trends and experiences of everyone in it emerge to
express wisely the essence of everything to enlighten everyone;
A
wisdom which prioritizes living in the present context and along with
practicing certain time tested values which have relevance in present context
but with global perspective to bequeath a liveable planet, a lovable society
with lovely infrastructures and improved living conditions;
A
wisdom that evaluates
everything and everyone with contextual relevance and based on the inherent
attributes or merits of what or who is being evaluated without extrapolating
any presumptions, opinions, judgments, perceptions, expectations,
ideologies, doctrines, identity based ideology and so on;
A
wisdom which is willing to make minor adjustments, small compromises, spontaneous
cooperation to create compatible and conducive atmosphere with humility devoid
of any egocentric pride;
A
wisdom with
the realization and a perspective that must be aware that life is a constant
process of learning of the multiple dimensions of many things and the various
dynamics of those dimensions involving the constant interaction and interrelationship
with everyone and everything.
A
wisdom that is willing to accommodate multiple methods or means of life with
some overall tolerant attitude embedded on humanitarian concerns towards all
human life and environmental or natural concern towards all other species.
A
wisdom that gets its clarity of understanding through a churning process that
takes into consideration several aspects from the practical to the
philosophical to the all fantasies of the mind.
