Saturday, February 02, 2008

Hedonsim --->

Though segmentation of various sects of society has already created many problems; nevertheless I propose another one. Like all other segmentation philosophies this one is also based upon a premise which would want to boost social welfare. Without digressing much, I shall jump to the critical points.

Well, why do we need this philosophy? I don’t think we do. Let us not argue upon why we need this philosophy, let us talk about when we need such a philosophy. Segmentation is done when there is some kind of homogeneity present in smaller groups, contrasted against other smaller groups. Thus, I would say color amongst people wearing red, blue & green caps; I would want to segment them on the basis of the color of their caps. I can go another step further and say that I want to segment them on the basis of the color of their skin. Possibilities are limitless; you can go on refining your segmentation criteria to get more and more segments. One such criterion is morality.

Someone said morality is universal. It has to be same and true for all beings. I do not refute that, in fact that is what I believe more strongly in. But we shall not forget that when your views are presented against a wall, you feel that the wall is stronger, unless the views are allowed to diffuse from the sides, so that even they can show that they have capacities to impregnate the walls of the common high held notions of the society. Hence, a new thought in the air.

Today is a very different world compared to past, but still there are few things common. The world still has people who have power, money and desires with which they seem to conquer this world. It is difficult to explain the segmentation I am proposing but the basic rule is to contrast them on the basis of different morality. Consider a section like film industry. For an average individual the values hyped there are futile and shallow. People live their lives maturing in these values. For them enriching their pockets, lusting for fame and power is considered reverent. Individual possessing any of the above is more or less worshiped. And that is their culture. For most of the individuals in this sect this is nothing morally wrong. They have cultivated such values within themselves, which are considered to be their way of living. At the same time an individual living in an entirely different sect, per say some one like me, who still believes at least if not follows in entirety, the values of an average Indian society man, these would be considered lowly. Because my parents never taught me to run after money, they never taught me to praise people possessing power/money, they never taught me to act as a social butterfly. And yes these are never my priorities in life.

Well I can be a little less harsh and instead of using morality I should use the word values. So, it is basically value segmented society. And yes values vary largely from one sect to another. But after all we wanted to talk about moral values so I will be calling it moral values now. Moral values are relative. That is why it is so difficult to form a universal civil code. Born as free human beings, we have all the right to behave in a way that we want. But are we really born in a free world? We are born in a civilization. And civilization is bound by a code. A code which has been refined over ages by the experiences and learning of mankind! So, we say we are born in a free world, if our country is not ruled by some other country, but the truth is that in any case we are ruled by someone. We are never free. You are not allowed to murder, hunt, do drugs, and free sex. So considered evils are unacceptable. Hence, here we are slaves of the modern free world.

Different sects of society tweak these constraints according to the prevalent moral values.

Thought for the day

A seed is sown. A stem appears with little leaves. Along with these leaves grow tiny buds. A visionary very keenly observes each stage of growth of this plant and sees the future beauty yet to appear. This visionary pictures the future of this plant on a piece of paper using a palette of colors and a brush.

And finally bud grows into a full fledged flower, sprinkling the beauty of its color, brilliantly into the environment. Each passing day registers another tiny little advancement in its size. Visionary captured this entire beauty in the painting, and was happy with the progress and waited for more.

Until one day when the path of growth of this flower is obstructed. Lack of anticipation baffles my visionary. Since, this is not something that was expected. Visionary was stuck in strange situation, where the prediction of the flower’s growth had gone wrong. So, visionary decided to observe for more time and draw another real time picture. And thus compare them for true beauty.

The flower tried to force its way, but failed after a few tries, and it bended its path. Suddenly the visionary realized that the beauty of the original picture was no where seen. It wasn’t hard for our visionary to realize what had gone wrong, neither is it difficult for most of us to realize that, but then when we are not in observation mode we tend to ignore this just like the flower. Because being a part of the system we know how things are from our perspective, but a universal perspective is also something that is with us alone. And from inside we know what is right and what is wrong! What we should be doing and what not!

From being someone who respected values and followed them religiously to someone who compromised once and then just went with the flow is trivial. There is a very high likelihood of finding such people in your vicinity. More or less everyone is like that. But then so is the loss of beauty.

It would be highly immature to think that your entire life will witness absence of compromises, but when it matters the most, one should not bend their rules.