Reason, logic and sense—the sane usage of these terms nowadays stirs the hornets’ nest. People with chaotic brains get furious and jump to bite you. Talk rot but don’t talk sense—this is the lesson they teach you.
And then who doesn’t know that in order to survive in Rome, one has not to fight but follow Romans! One has to vomit muck in the manner others do through their mouths and manners.
One has to behave like a gaga and act like a ‘Moron’. One has to oblige every Mr. Simple Simon who happens to be the boss of anything. One has to accomplish any wrong and justify the same through any nonsense.
In brief, one has to do everything which everybody every time is seen doing in Rome—Yes, throttling the sacred essence and meaning of life, tarnishing the truth, and befooling others as well as your own self.
“Turn a blind eye, just be Blind” — these are the words of consolation whenever you see wolves turning amuck and lambs running for life; whenever you hear vehement barking of dogs and ludicrous stammer of sensible; and whenever you witness all that which makes you despise yourself; all that smacks of corruption of thought, corruption of deed and corruption of cash all around.
Object, argue and dust the jacket, this is what some of us may wish to do with everyone who is absolutely wrong but thinks he is absolutely Mr. Right. A renowned thinker once said—“There is nothing that helps a man in his conduct through life more than knowledge of his own characteristic weakness, which guarded against becomes his strength”.
Verily no soul on earth is impeccable. We all tread a slippery ground some times. But it doesn’t mean that we allow slack tendencies of our nature to prevail on us and become a living weakness per se! Instead of fighting against any suffering sickness, why allow ourselves to be infected with more contagion?
The fact is that every person in the world is not content with what he is or what he has. The oscillating pendulum of his insatiable desires always shows an upward swing.
As such, he looks for outlets which can provide him a sort of solace, and in this ‘pursuit’ he eventually halts at inordinate full-stop since bad things/means are always more enrapturing and sapid.
The whole process leads to pollution of every kind, passing from smoke into smother.
Seeking happiness in satisfying the desires by way of reprehensible ways vanquishes the method of seeking happiness by limiting the desires.
Bernard Shaw writes- “You have no right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.”
The question arises: how to produce happiness? Well, happiness is a state of mind. You can simply produce and find it by being grateful to Allah; by striving to be comfortable with your conscience; by being with your good companions; or by being in love with those who love you unconditionally. Ironically, happiness has been a misnomer for most of us.
We derive so-called happiness from pitiful things like dancing to the tunes of filmy lyrics, TV-watching, eating flavorsome food, donning cheesy clothes, wearing ostentatious ornaments and more so from owning a huge house and classy car.
To be precise, happiness has been integrated with any sort of perversion and a plausible terminology has been invented to justify the same. We have been successful in maintaining a charade.
All the same, plugging the loopholes or flaws in ourselves, in society or system or set-up is not altogether a chimera or a hopeless case. There is always a scope for amendment.
Planet earth, hitherto, hasn’t at all got filled with sly souls in entirety! Noble souls and hearts still exist amongst us. And it is they alone, for whose sake Allah is still sustaining this world which otherwise appears ripe for a drastic doom.
Such souls aren’t simply ordinary. They are extraordinary. Unlike many of us, they have the sound faculties to grasp the superficiality of this flimsy world, and the actual reality of life. They never mold the truth because of personal expediency.
They speak it out boldly even if it goes against them. They counter their opponents by substantial arguments and not by jumbled street-jargon. Incoherence of words and deeds is not their hallmark.
They know that the world is not their perpetual abode, and that’s why they live like travelers—unassuming, simple and selfless. For them—
Life’s but a walking shadow,
a poor player.
That struts and frets his
hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.
But then, good men never die ala good deeds. We certainly hear about them ever and anon. They live in our hearts and in our history. They are beyond erasure. We carry them within always. And that’s their victory.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK