Why is it so difficult for people to accept their mistakes? Why is logically correct not always correct?
What is the basis of living a life? Is it being a good person always or being a very successful person? Can these 2 adjectives co-exist? Logically they can, but I haven’t seen it happen till now. Talking of goodness, how do you measure that? What is the scale of relativity? The same question can be asked for success.
Logic may be difficult to apply and then we use approximations. Still we are trying to apply sound logic. I have seen people working the other way round. If they can’t apply logic, they will behave illogically. Even I have done that. I know it’s the easier approach. So do we boil down to the question: - are we scared of the difficulties of life? I still don’t feel comfortable with this question. I believe I am still not asking the right question. Logically, leading an illogical life should be more difficult. It’s haphazard, incoherent and what not.
More than 90% in exams, a greater than 9 CPI in college and an A-rated performance in office, add to that a family; mom, dad, bros and sis, cousins, uncles and aunts, later on wife and kids; and the cycle repeats for everyone. This is the application, but where is the logic? And where are the approximations? Where is goodness and success? By some theory, I assume that since the application is same (“or is forced to be the same”), all human beings must be governed by a common theory. By whatever I have formulated till now, I don’t see a place for illogic till now.
Let me add another angle to it. Since the world around is a complex equation formed by many variables with different exponents, some complexity has to come in. Lets me throw in emotions, sentiments and traditions. I have tried very hard, but till now, I have not been able to use my heart in such cases. I feel sad in my head. I feel happy, again, in my head. Heart seems to be a metaphor here and I will assume it as such. Well well, don’t we come to a logical conclusion here using our brains? Ofcourse, we do. Hmmm, adding emotions and sentiments should not bring the chaos in the equation. Let me touch upon the forbidden or shall I say the forbidding concept of traditions. I want to use the word forbidden, because it is in the name of tradition, that people are forbidden to cross stupid barriers and use logic. I think it very well suits the purpose. So are traditions creating the chaos? Let us be more sceptical before concluding anything.
If we believe in the concept of God, I want to believe that He must have made human beings to rule the world and therefore gave them superior brain power to think and create. Interestingly, we did use our mind to create some amazingly marvellous discoveries and inventions. But we also created concepts. Concepts are a fascinating thing. They can be abstract and then you can work on all the various possibilities. I assume that the concept of tradition came in because we wanted to lead a normal life and to preserve our “glorious past”. So I suppose that to rule the earth normally, we created traditions, but as far as I see, for most of us traditions rule us. It is interesting to correlate between human beings and machines. Machines work on defined rules. Most of us work on defined traditions. As machines don’t challenge the rules on which they work, we don’t challenge the traditions. I bet if machines knew what it means to challenge the rules, we must have seen a matrix in reality by now. Fortunately or unfortunately, machines don’t know it and UNFORTUNATELY, we don’t want to know it.
Let me elaborate on one of the amazing contribution of tradition: CLASSFICATION. We have all kinds of castes, creeds and on top of it the gender classification. If I quote biology here, I see that men and women have a different physical appearance and functionality because of evolution and strictly evolution. What logic does tradition or shall I say the creators of tradition have to force different ways of living for the 2 different genders. It’s absolutely true that they have none, but what baffles me is that I find it hard to trace the roots of such stupid behaviour. If I try to explain it through evolution, I see that earlier women were weaker than men and they stayed back at home and took care of the kids. But this sounds like a functional organization rather than a forced custom. What happened next is a big mystery to me.
I don’t want to deviate too much from the topic, but my point in touching the effects of tradition is to bring to the surface a point of view. A view which states that as human body evolves, our traditions have to evolve. Only then can it get a logical place in the human lifestyle. I believe that the evolution of human body has left the evolution of tradition by a millennium.
There is one more thing that needs to be looked at. And this can only happen when all kind of evolutions are at the same level and pace. If the rules governing all human beings are same, they should be exactly similar in all forms. This definitely is not true. That should mean that the life cycle, criteria for success, etc., etc., should be different for different people.
I am not a champion of waiting and letting things unfold themselves. Me and may be a few others like me would like to force the change. That I believe is logical.
Hmmm…. Nice thoughts. But as you had already told me, and I agree, you seem to have deviated a bit from what you had in mind. But still, the thoughts have been well put down, chaotic at that.. Just like the thoughts. I agree on most issues, except for the fact about goodness and success not co-existing. I feel they do, as you have mentioned that it is all relative, and once you have set standards for yourself you could be both successful and good. No matter what others feel, they either have different standards or none at all, both being irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteAs for being scared of the difficulties in life, well I think people are scared of the consequences. Trust me; most people would go through hell if they are promised money or some similar equivalent. So it’s not about the hardships for most people but about the profit you are promised, which might be temporary or superficial. Hence most people are guided by the sole logic, what do I get? What varies is what one wants to get in life.
Of course, I sternly agree about the various kinds of discrimination that are prevalent. Traditions are something I am not too fond of either, not as a rule at least. I feel our predecessors have wasted a lot of time in creating a plethora of traditions for us, we might follow the ones we like. But. We have no right whatsoever of forcing it on others. We should realize that just like us the other person might also be in possession of a brain, and has a life. So, I guess, the only logic that exists in my life is that, I set standards for myself, I try to live up to them and use my energies for my life. Others, well, I think you could do better with yours.
Finally, after all my “Pravachan”;
Nice Blog :)
Even the idea of Logic differs from one individual to another! What seems logical to me may not seem so to u!Talking about traditions,I think Indians are born with them! As far as the difficulties are concerned, who doesnt have to face them as the ultimate result most of the times is sweet post the difficult phase!so bottomline,Logic is a self-defined theory in itself! See even this statement might seem logically to me not necessarily to everyone else!and more so its fun to be Logically Illogical!
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