Sometimes some trivial talks about just anything can take you to a place where you ultimately realise the fact that what you have got at the end of it all, is a thought to cherish in your lifetime. Such talks are even more trivial if they happen at a place like facebook or orkut or other social networking sites. These places are full of jerks (and it includes me too) who have nothing to do but to pass their time rather waste it in silly talks with friends. One such silly talk ended quite high for me today.
The thought to cherish for me didn't arrive during or just after the talk was over. It led to a flight of thoughts for me, a flight where one thought came after another and I just kept jumping from here and there. Ultimately, where I ended was never expected of a flight that started at such a trivial place like facebook. Hmmmmm. Sometimes even places like facebook can be quite beneficial!
Actually, what happened was a debate that was going on some friend's wall between two friends. The debate involved issues of spiritualism and the idea of happiness. It was a heated debate in between the two of them and being influenced by it, I managed to sneak into it. There were references from mythology and from literature. The debate somehow ended with a reference from Swami Vivekananda. With the debate ending, I closed the chapter, though, continuing to think something about that. It was then, I realised that I haven't read a thing from Vivekananda. I realised the fact that though I have read a lot about this man and his ideas, I haven't read nothing from him directly. Thinking continued and then, I realised that I haven't yet read nothing whatsoever literature or philosophy has to offer.
There was a feeling of guilt that appeared inside me for not having time for such works of art. As far as my reading is concerned, it is completely limited to coursebook ones. Where people read and get influenced by the ideas of Tolstoy, Nabokov, Tagore or Vivekananda, I have always preferred Robbins, Harrison and Schwartz. Then the thought of what's wrong with it came to me. So far as my reading the coursebooks are going to give me my earnings, I don't think anything is wrong with it. Then the thought of what can I get from reading the others arrived. They can give me a school of thought. They can give me some ideas to base my life upon, to extract from them my opinions on issues of my life and to look beyond my life. Hmmmm. Quite a plausible answer, a witty one too, but not that much to stop my flight of thoughts. Yes, It continued.
The last question that my mind asked me was the toughest one to answer for me. Do I really need such school of thoughts or such opinions which are based upon other's observation and inferences? Any person is driven in his/her life by many different ideas. These ideas are mostly imported from others sometimes willingly, most of the times, imposed. The education plays a great role in formulation of our ideas and opinions and this education involves the ever continued process of reading. Reading the works of art, literature, philosophy and so on. So, it started to seem like necessary to read things in order to get my ideas of life. Then, something struck me somewhere.
I was not feeling comfortable, at all, by inferring all this. The whole idea of borrowing my ideas from someone else looked ridiculous to me. If somebody else can think, can formulate his own ideas and opinions then why can't I? Am I born with some mental disorder so that I will have to borrow my ideas from others? No, I am not. I can have my own ideas, my own opinions. The whole flight of thought recapitulated inside my mind in a flash and then my belief in myself grew even firmer. Inspite of the fact that I haven't read nothing so far, If I am able to think and formulate my opinion on this very issue of reading, I don't think I need anything to read. I have a set of ideas of my own to govern my life. I have a set of opinions of my own on issues of my life. I can, with an insight of my own, look beyond my life. So, why should I let anybody to come and influence me with these. As long as, I have a conviction of my own and I can defend it with logic, I really don't need any influence!
6 comments:
first toh well wishes for ur eng blogspot.....nxt....regarding ur present blog.....i totally differ in many places...infact if i would'nt have known u ,iwould have thought it to be a piece of an ammateur mind...adamant nd hyperexcited.....but...acc to me there is no harm in reading excerpts from other's lives..directly or indirectly....start frm beginning.....take for eg.a youngster who has just started to understand world around him....he is a naive and a novice to life's ups nd downs......he is not born with principles of life....if there is nothing then to guide him he might be lost,adapt a wrong path....in such circumstances parents play a role...we learn frm them...watch them,make them the mentors of our life...this is not called copying.....so what is the harm if such a role is played by excerpts frm lives of swamiji.....infact that is the right age to read stuff like this....again i don't say to copy them...i just say ki if u like any of their ideas nd if it helps u..then try to inculcate it in ur life....one must keep his mind open for changes when needed.......see everything,understand evrything...learn frm everything....that is my moto and hence i see no harm in reading them nd learning frm them just as one can learn frm his elders....again i don't support getting influenced all the time....which is a mark of a failure.one must def have his own standards... ..but then i see no harm in learning sumthing new nd better.....
@nidhi: First of all, thanks for your wishes. Now, regarding your point about a youngster, I think this is not only the parents from whom he learns everything. I have said nothing against the coursebooks as you would see in my post, and a youngster can learn life from his coursebooks too, as did I. For that he doesn't need to look for philosophy or literature. Moreover, from deducing his values of life from his coursebooks, he also makes himself a man with a great insight as he deduces everything himself, he doesn't just gobble everything down served from observations of others life!
I totally agree with your point of view that one should keep himself open for any change if it comes for good. But, with a clear-cut conviction, do u really need to change then? Won't it be like changing your identity itself?
Moreover, even I don't say that reading something is harmful or bad, what I say that its not a necessity anyhow. You can do it for chilling yourself out but you don't really need it! Thanks again for your comment!
Hmmmm..... what i could infer frm ur blog was that u don't support reading any piece of literature be it in ur coursebooks....u urself said that since books give earnings they r necessary for u but..so far as their giving ideas of life is concerned,u don't think u need them bc u can think ur own....obviously u r talking abt literature bc u donlt xpect ur sciencebooks to give ideas of life....khair...see..nothing is necessary,literature is not read as necessity....u just should read them for njoyment nd they automatically teach u virtues of life....same way for a youngster reading swamiji is not imp but it would be good if he does...supporting my statement that 'see nd learn frm everything'......if u can learn frm ur schoolbooks as u said in ur comment,then why r u against learning frm lifestories of others...???nd my dear..if u rethink u'll realize that what is taught in our school books is just shortstories based on values that is also taught by them.....nothing diff....so why not read their own stories!!!.....nd i think inculcating sum good thing inside u does'nt mean u lose ur identity....just as eg...if u learn later in life a diff but better nd easier method of doing any surgery...and start practising that ,which u should def do...does'nt mean u r a bad surgeon...does it??sum experiences teach us many things...turning a blind eye to them just bc changing means loss of identity is a big mistake...
I always supported the coursebooks. Maybe, I was not that clear in my post but what my point was that whatever its been given in coursebooks, it is sufficient for anybody to deduce his opinions and virtues. Moreover, that way, he doesn't only deduce his opinions but also learns how to do this. I stated in my reply to your first comment that reading literature books fir fun sake are good but where the matter of getting ideas and virtues comes, I start disagreeing.
Now regarding the point of adopting newer techniques of surgery, I agree to you on this. It doesn't change your identity but again, this goes with my point of having a clear-cut conviction which needs to be changed only when you can't defend it. If I can't defend my techniques to be the best, I should change it and adopt something new.
hmmm....but again comes the matter of ur believes....i agree reading literature coursebooks is sufficient to set ur opinions but again my belief is that one should read as much as possible including life excerpts....it may teach u sumthing by serendipity which u might not have known earlier...afterall there is also no harm in reading,so acc to me one must not miss the opportunity.....obviously it is not a necessity....
Hmmmm......that was exactly my point, the title itself says that I don't really anything to read....reading is never condemned and as habit, it is one of the most rewarding timepasses......atleast better than spending hours on useless facebook or orkut or other networking sites!!! Thanks for a wonderful discussion!!!
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