WE ALL ARE SO BOOKISH!

You ask a successful person about what one should do. He might say, “Do things that you like, because that is where you can succeed.” If you try to find what the person giving such advice likes, perhaps, barring a few food preparations you may not find anything more about his liking. Right from the childhood stage we learn to choose from what is available and what is within our reach. Our notions about what is appropriate, what is good for us, what are the right ways of doing things, what is better than something else, and what we actually like etc. are rarely based on our own genuine experiences.

The man being the most intelligent living being evolved the concept of a very special social system for his benefit. We learn from the history of mankind that in various parts of the world the human race took considerable care that their societies were assigned several responsibilities to take care of the man and they (the societies) were granted the necessary rights to fulfill those responsibilities. We have also learned that the distance between the man and his society went on increasing as the time passed or the man progressed in whichever direction he could. Today we cannot say with much confidence that our societies are taking enough care of us. We on our part also have convinced ourselves that we, individually, cannot do much to make our societies more responsible.

It is difficult to deny that the relationship between the man and his society needs improvement. A deep study of human history gives us enough clues that we, individually, must feel more responsible for the mankind. We must also act to make our societies more responsible for the mankind. If this is not done the societies become mere groups of men, who use human societies to fulfill their selfish interests. Due to the selfish and self-centered influences that the man leaves on the human societies, the spirit of collective responsibility gets dampened and the devilish spirit of violence begins to destroy the social fabric. The devil is a parasite that thrives on unrestrained selfishness, inactivity and captivity.  The much selfishness of a few may also lead to competitive violence of many. There is no freedom if one is asked to choose only a very few of the alternatives from many of the alternatives offered by the powerful. Freedom comes from being selfless, restrained and creative enough to be able to find new ways for the benefit of all, even in the most adverse of the circumstances. The books that tell one how to find a path for oneself in the  hostile surroundings, to look after one’s own interests are the books written for the people with fearful minds that have no courage to free them from the shackles of captivity.

We must stop being bookish. We must courageously keep on experimenting with what we read and think, till we begin to experience freedom. Courage, creativity and total commitment for the good of many is not possible without necessary selflessness and exercising restraint in matters of self interest.

 PROMOD KUMAR SHARMA

[The writer of this blog is also the author of “Mahatma A Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” and “In Search of Our Wonderful Words”.]