So, finally something has forced me to write again. It is the observation of some people (actually, the majority) that I have met lately. Those who know me know that I am rather asocial (out of choice) and my main source of meeting new people is my profession. The people I normally get acquainted to are either my students or my colleagues. Logically, the number of students I meet is higher. In other words, younger people. So this is my observation of most younger people, the people born in the digital age. And with this piece I would just hope to open their eyes a little bit, although I know almost for sure I will fail to do that.
The thing that I have observed is that the majority of people, men, women, boys, and girls are averse to learning. They not only not make the effort to learn things, they make an effort in stopping themselves from learning. Sometimes they take great pains to “achieve” ignorance. They have learned some things in their households with their families and relatives and have cemented those ideas as the absolute truth in their minds. They never challenge those ideas themselves and do everything within their power to stop others who try to show them the fallacy of the said ideas. These ideas can be of any political ideology, religious thought or just their limited and personal worldview. And believe you me, these people sometimes even try to convert others to their “belief system”, however, they generally fail as they lack charisma, an important means when it comes to convincing other of anything. Nevertheless, there are those who do have a “charismatic ignorance”. These people are the ones who generally make insane politicians, cult leaders, founders of terrorist organizations etc. There is a vast variety among these people. I will give some examples.
To begin with I would once again take the example of this “learned” Muslim man (See: https://lampsofdesert.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/islam-in-india-and-elsewhere/) who once debated with me about how Saudi Arabia was the epitome of culture, a beautiful heaven of human rights, and with freedom spread along the length and breadth of this peaceful country. Sounds laughable? Well, this man tried to make me appear as if I were condoning general massacre of the Saudi population. He didn’t succeed, because I wasn’t speaking against the poor Saudi people who are oppressed by their fifteen thousand princes and their whims. Actually, I was talking about the abominable House of Saud that ruthlessly rules the nation state denying the people their basic human rights. I was talking about how this “royal” family has desecrated the land of the birth of Islam. But this sounded hostile to this learned man’s ears of stone. And both you and I know that he will never pick up a book of history to get an idea about what we were talking about.
Another example could be the people who are visually fit after having passed hours and spending large amounts of money at a gym. The first problem they have is they believe that they are the height of fitness and good health. Generally they turn to fitness as a result of lack of confidence and bullying in the past. They are told by others how unfit, weak, fat, or unattractive they are and when this reaches an unbearable point they begin their gym membership. They eat really carefully and avoid all the things they “think” or “hear” are bad for their health. They take supplements, fat burners, steroids et al to reach their goal. Eventually they do achieve the perceived visual fitness. And this is when their belief that what they have is the true strength, fitness, and good health is cemented. Now they become the bullies. Now they laugh at the ones they don’t think “fit”, they brag about how much weight they lift and what they eat. They give unsolicited advice to others under the guise of being caring, but what they are doing is psychologically shaming their former non-confident selves. Time and again, men I can incapacitate within two minutes, have laughed at me when they come to know I know a thing or two about martial arts and self defense because to them I don’t “look like a martial artist” (See: https://lampsofdesert.wordpress.com/2016/05/21/the-fitness-farce/). They know nothing about martial arts or self defense, but they think they do. And they are satisfied in their beliefs. They will never do anything to learn anything new. They believe they are strong and fit. Only an unfortunate encounter with someone truly strong can show them a mirror.
Then there are the ones whose lives revolve around mating. They look for mating partners, yearn to get one when they are single, proud when they get one, placing getting married or being in a relationship as the main objective of their very existence. According to them if you are not behaving similarly, either you are homosexual and hiding this fact for some reason, or you are a failure on the romantic front, or you have some psychological defect. There are people who are destroyed after a relationship goes south as if the sole purpose of their entire existence was mating. Then there are those who are a failure themselves and calmly and silently look forward to getting married to the person their parents will look for them like a wolf lurking to catch a prey. They talk about love they experience post marriage, but the truth is they would not have been able to get a stable partner without the help of their loving parents. And then these people will go around preaching the advantages of pre arranged marriage and will urge everyone to do it and question everyone who doesn’t.
Well, I am tired of these people and hence, nowadays I argue less, I write less, I protest less, I hope less than I used to. Because, after years of arguing, writing, protesting, hoping and then witnessing no change at all, I am exhausted. To conclude I would quote Osho once again “The less you know, the more stubbornly you know it.” Thank you.
- Rishiraj
LAMPS OF DESERT 