Validation and Wisdom

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.