If I ask you: Do you have your own ‘philosophy of life’ to
live by? Most people would fumble and give one of the following answers:
1. Philosophy is useless, and I don’t need it. I deal with real life as it comes and not in terms of abstract philosophy.
2. I follow my religion or my guru, so I don’t need to form my own philosophy.
3. No, I have never thought of life so deeply so as to arrive at my own philosophy.
4. I have no time to ponder over the dry philosophical questions. Philosophy is for those who have nothing else to do.
5. It is impossible to have your own philosophy. You need to be enlightened to form your own philosophy. Only a Buddha or Mahavira can do that.
6. etc.
Wake up. Don’t delude yourself. You have a philosophy, but you are unaware of it because it has been formed by default. Without a philosophy, you won’t be able to make a single decision or perform a single act, apart from those commanded by your animal instincts for safety and survival.
I am aware philosophy is not considered ‘cool’ among youngsters. They think philosophy is idealistic and impractical because they have seen rogues and hypocrites all around. But, dear friend the truth is: "idealism is the disease of humanity because philosophy has not penetrated deeply in us". Hatred and ware come largely of fixed ideas and dogmatic faith. The clearer your 'philosophy of life' the more receptive and understanding you become of people, events, situations, and ideas. Sadly, neither the education system, nor the parents, nor the gurus, nor the society tries to impress upon the youngsters the importance and need to think for themselves and arrive at their own ‘philosophy of life’. All they teach them is to be better ‘money minting machines’ and humble followers.
Our ‘Philosophy of life’ is the summation of our: 'sense of life', beliefs, values, and dreams. It serves as a decision aid for evaluation of choices continuously presented by life.
Whether you -“pay taxes honestly or you don’t, jump traffic signals or you don’t, speak lies sometimes or never, are an entrepreneur or in a job, value money fame power or you don’t, take risks or you don’t, eat non-vegetarian food or not, marry or not, have a single child or five children, exercise or not, believe in god/soul/karma or not, fast-worship-pray or you don’t, believe in Ayurveda/homeopathy/allopathy or not, believe in palmistry-astrology and the like or not, make naïve generalizations or use statistical analysis, want to pursue joy or escape suffering, consider yourself worthy or worthless etc. etc.”- every choice you make carries a stamp of your personal philosophy and is evaluated through it. These choices affect every aspect of your life from your health, wealth, friends, family, career, peace to death.
You do not have a choice whether to have a philosophy or not. The only choice is either you consciously form it or unconsciously default it. Either way you will have a philosophy.
If you choose to consciously form your philosophy by rational logical thinking you will live with conviction, courage, freedom, and fulfillment. You arrive at your own decision aids to evaluate everything. You are responsible as well as free. You will not be bogged down by society’s stale and narrow definitions of right-wrong, good-evil, just-unjust, legal-illegal, success-failure, beautiful-ugly, saint-sinner etc. You won’t be tied with society’s invisible chains, but will be a bird with wings. You will have your rules and your way because it’s your life.
If you do not form your philosophy consciously, it will be formed unconsciously by default. It will gather all the junk thrown by society leading to a hotchpotch philosophy which will bring confusion, fear, chains, and regrets.
We unconsciously gather philosophy in bits from various sources like tradition, media, friends, family, gurus, religion, politicians, science, parents etc. Accepting the philosophies from these sources without applying our rational sense makes us philosophy jokers. Imagine yourself wearing a shirt of the choice and fitting of one person, pant of another, shoes of yet another, accessories chosen by another, hairstyle by another etc. without any coordination. Such a ridiculous combination would turn out to be. We cannot see this so obviously in the case of philosophy as we can see of clothes. But, a similar outcome arises when we suck ready-made philosophies from various sources due to our apathy for thinking for ourselves. We mix all these and try to hopelessly reconcile them. But, reconciliation is impossible. We leave those gaps to be filled by our emotions which often mislead us.
I was amused while I was trying to compile the opposite proverbs and sayings which we believe to be profound philosophical statements. These statements are regularly used in lectures, sermons, discussions, books, and media which influence us immensely. Don’t tell me that we apply the philosophies depending upon the situation, because only those statements with universal applicability become proverbs. These are someone’s value-statements and not opinions on specific situations:
1. Hold fast to the words of your ancestors V/s Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them.
2. Doubt is the beginning of wisdom V/s Faith will move mountains.
3. Wise men think alike V/s Fools seldom differ.
4. Slow and steady wins the race V/s Time waits for no man.
5. Actions speak louder than words V/s The pen is mightier than the sword
6. Look before you leap V/s Strike when the iron is hot.
7. The best things in life are free V/s There is no such thing as a free lunch.
8. Never judge a book by its cover V/s Clothes maketh the man.
9. A man’s reach should exceed his grasp V/s A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
10.The sooner the better V/s (Hindi) Jaldi ka kaam shaitaan ka hota hain V/s (Hindi) Kal karein so aa kar, aaj karein so ab.
11. Think of the devil and the devil is here V/s (Hindi) Badi lambi umar hain aapki, abhi aapko hi yaad kar rahe the.
12. Don’t wait, fight for your rights V/s (Hindi) Sabr ka fal meetha hota hain.
13.As wise as an owl V/s (Hindi) Ullu da pattha
I am not conveying anything about their rightness or wrongness. I just want to point out that there are contradicting philosophies propounded by people around the world. We use them in our conversations recklessly without ever noticing that the opposite thought also exists. Confusion is bound to be if your standards of evaluation are not in place.
I have quoted examples of statements which are proverbs and sayings whose authors are unknown. This saves me from the wrath of any sector group of followers. Bigger contradictions with contradictory conclusions appear between various religions, scriptures, spiritual gurus, pseudosciences etc.
The result: we become confused hypocrites. We believe in something, say something different and act in a totally different way. Your values and emotions don’t match, your beliefs and logic don’t match, your work and passion don’t match, your social work and purpose don’t match, you are busy but don’t know where you are heading. You are split – irritated and frustrated.
This disharmony is too much for you to bear in the long run. You are doomed for guilt, despair, restlessness, and dissatisfaction - and the worst thing is you are unable to know why. Every passing year builds regrets in you. The only way you discover to suppress your inner cry is to get indulged in your senses and chase money, prestige, power, and fame. Realize that the ego has taken you over. Even this diversion of the mind is unable to fill the inner hollowness.
As you grow in age the clutter keeps increasing and you ultimately resign in despondency. You feel as if you are drowning in the sea. You dread your independence. You now helplessly look for some pillar of faith to hold on. You then choose a guru, a group, place of worship, or pseudo beliefs to hold on in the sea of turbulence. You visit them at regular intervals, you donate, you fast and you pray - hoping for solace or a miracle. You waste precious time, money and energy on all these. You start suppressing your desires and following some rigid rules prescribed by some super authority.
You never realize that it all started because you did not arrive at your own ‘philosophy of life’ in a rational logical way. Your world which could have encompassed the whole existence is now confined to your narrow faith in something. Once you get into this trap it will entangle you further and further. Your weak rational faculties will soon go in a deep coma. There won’t be much hope of their returning back to real life.
Socrates (469 – 399 BCE) said: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Have you ever wondered: “Is what you are doing worth your life”? - I wish you realize this soon and give yourself back to existence. Please, don’t kill your life before your body dies. All I want to say is that: Take charge, it’s urgent.
Love,
Mahendra.
