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 Man is a
curious creature - in the sense he has curiosity. But he
does not stop there. Over the centuries he has developed
certain expectations and certain ways and systems of
understanding and systematising phenomena, including his
own role in the phenomena.
The inherited evidence suggests that in the beginning
man depended mainly on his intuition to probe and
interpret reality. In the final analysis, he was not
interpreting reality, but he was interpreting reality,
as he experienced it.
This is a ticklish problem - that is teasing scientists
and philosophers even today. We do not know how to sort
this out in neat categories. It is a worrying riddle.
The notation he used for expressing his vision of
reality then was through myths and legends. Those that
couldn't be explained were attributed to the mysterious
ways of God, who himself was possibly an invention for
decoding the arena phenomena.
This is how he may have built the theories of Karma,
fate, the day of judgement, the concepts of Sin,
punishment and expiation, etc. Then the basic forms of
art such as poetry, music and mantra were invented to
`tamper' with reality from another perspective.
Nevertheless, was no nearer the truth. Truth then was as
elusive as it is today. Truth is like a chameleon - it
changes hues so that it can't be grasped.
Having drawn a blank with both religion and arts, man
came up with a philosophy to crack the code of reality.
The history of philosophy tells us that philosophical
investigations have gone on for over three thousand
years, but the understanding of truth or reality today
is as murky as it was when the father of philosophy
confronted it with his new instrument.
Dissatisfied with philosophy or as another alternative,
man thought up science, and perhaps, convinced himself
it would usher in the bonanza. Science, shy for a long
time, started gathering momentum in the 18th and 19th
centuries, especially in the west.
But this proved to be a flash in the pan or a false
dawn. As he probed the little world of atom and scanned
the vast world of astronomy his doubts multiplied and
his smug certainties receeded. Science was to usher in
an Age of uncertainty, instead ironically it unleashed
the Age of uncertainty. Santayana, an American
philosopher, was to say that Scepticism is the chastity
of intellect so Scepticism became the order of the day,
and possibly we won't see the light at the end of tunnel
in the near future.
These setbacks may exhaust generations, but as long as
man's curiosity remains undimmed this confrontation will
continue. |
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Interestingly enough, in addition to the big things
eluding us, many a time even the small things elude us.
Reality is dynamic and it keeps throwing up millions of
things every moment, every second.
Of course with circumscribed senses. We notice only an
infinitesimal position. We do not know what happens to
the rest.
Time's graves must be loaded with incredible and
countless things. Every day you run down the flight of
steps in front of your house.
But one fine morning you slip on a step end and fracture
your toe, let's say the left toe. After you are through
with your initial reactions (such as cursing the steps
or kicking them with the other foot), you will possibly
say, philosophically, `Life's like that'. Planes
normally take off on time. But when you go to the
airport, your plane will take off three hours late.
You are crushed by your irrational tantrums. When you
cease fire and return to peace, you will possibly say
`Life's like that'.
This little saying is accounted to the French. The
French are supposed to say, whenever they are in a fix
or at a loss to comprehend things, `Life's like that'.
How charming! |
