Sanity

Sanity is a responsibility otherwise many people would have lost it easily.

Pecularity of Lovers.

'After another moment's silence, she mumbled that I was peculiar, that that was probably why she loved me but that one day I might disgust her for the very same reason.' #Albert Camus

Man as a fallen Idol.

I am a modern man. I have lost my soul to history. Some say I have deserted my Gods while others believe that they have deserted me. I look up to skies but seek no one there. No angels are there to guide me. No Lucifer there to ever tempt me. Stumbling at every step in the dark, I refuse to seek help with directions. Alas! I am a modern man.  This is my fate. I worship no one but the fallen Idol that I am.

My life these days.

“Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.” #Coleridge

A carrot is a carrot.

You ask “What is life?” That is the same as asking “What is a carrot?” A carrot is a carrot and we know nothing more. Letter to his wife, Olga Knipper Chekhov

Ethics of forgetfulness.

''How little moral would the world look without this forgetfulness!  A poet might say that God had placed forgetfulness as door keeper in the temple of human dignity. '' - From aphorism 'Origin of Justice' by Nietzsche

We lost ourselves in love by R.D. Laing

We lost ourselves in love.
 And then lost love.
We searched for it thro both our hearts.
 In vain.
We found only our graves.
We looked above,
Below, about:
But always the same pain.

The pain has gone.     
We sit and watch TV
We seldom yawn.     
She makes me cups of tea
We tell no tales.     
There’s no more need for guile
We do not pick our nails.     
We sometimes smile

We’re grateful to the powers that be
For lifeless, loveless, hateless, apathy

I can’t remember when I last felt glad
I can’t remember when I last felt sad
I can’t remember when I last got pissed
I can’t remember when I last was kissed.

He didn’t particularly like her
But she was having his child
She didn’t especially fancy him
But her parents were going wild

He was too selfish and guilty
To walk away scot free
She felt like a caged canary
When he said “Marry me”

They had a beautiful baby
Then another two or three
She prayed to the Virgin Mary
To return her virginity

He contemplated murder
He tried a mistress or two
She would often shudder
When she thought of what life can do

They grew old together
Each completely alone
Neither could help each other
Their hearts had turned to stone.

Reverse Revolutionary politics.

The only thing that needs to be changed about the world is that a lot of people want to change it; that too in opposing directions. Therefore, the Marx's famous proclamation that 'Philosopher's have hitherto only interpreted the world, the time is to change it', should be revisited too.

People have hitherto only tried to change the world, the time is to 'leave it as it is'.#Paradox

Nietzsche meets a thelogian and a scientist.

  Theologian:
  Life is a mystery. It is a question that begs an answer. God must be the answer.

Scientist:
Life is a question that begs an answer, but the answer lies in simple natural explanation. We have no need of a supernatural hypothesis. Nature is the answer.

Nietzsche:
Ah! both the morons above  got it wrong. In life there are no answers (facts) only questions (interpretations).

 

Sic Transit Gloria!

''For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph - a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.."

General George S. Patton from the movie 'Patton'.

Enslavement

I need infinite variety of experiences in my life to be free, for what else is stagnation but enslavement?

A story about Jihad!

I could see it quite vividly. He was standing there in the distance, standing tall. With a sword in his hand, he smiled at me. That was my future getting ready to wage a war against my decadent past.

Philosophy and Life!

Philosophy taught me that if you never want to commit mistakes then remain silent. Life taught me that it was my gravest mistake.

A Child!

“The soul is healed by being with children” · Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Cage.

“You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.” - Kafka

His life was completely sucked up by two concerns lately. An unresolved grief from the past and a fear of complete uncertainty of the future. The present no more existed for him, it was just a void in which nothing meaningful ever happened. It felt as if life was trying to make a terrible example of him. He could not for the love of God understand what was going around. No longer he saw himself as an autonomous individual. His Self seemed to have evaporated gradually. Biologically, he was alive none the less. Not as a living Self in control of the affairs of his own life but rather as a mere spectator of his own Self. Somehow living outside his embodied Self. Always conscious of what his embodied 'false-self' was going through. Being hyper conscious of your own life is a painful experience especially when you are living outside it as a critical observer.

The life that he once knew was no more there. He was no more interested in the 'outside world' which seemed superficial and shallow. The inner world of his own profound (or deluded) experience seemed to be a safe place initially. The inner world provided him the security of solitude, freedom from being misunderstood and above all the protection from being hurt by others. His inner world was initially a shield that protected him from constant attacks of others. No longer he was worried about people treating him as an 'it' rather than as an 'I'. So, he held himself back from the sufferings of the outside world.

Alas! this false sense of protection was short lived. This strategy to protect himself was in fact  highway to self-destruction. The fear of being treated as an 'it' somehow transformed into a strategy to treat the others as mere objects. He found it impossible to love someone as another human being or develop a long lasting meaningful relationship. He saw his embodied self living a life outside himself out there. A life he thought he was no longer a part of. This inner world of his was actually a prison. A prison that eventually deprived him of his autonomy, his happiness and above all his own life. He envied his embodied false self that lived 'its' life in front of his own eyes. He was not in control of his life anymore. As a prisoner living behind the bars of his own inner world, he saw his whole life slipping from his fingers. Perhaps he couldn't hold back from this perpetual suffering anymore. There were no more safe havens to run to.

Waiting for Godot: An excerpt.

ESTRAGON:

We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?

VLADIMIR:

(impatiently). Yes yes, we're magicians. But let us persevere in what we have resolved, before we forget.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Backett.

Non-Productive Life

Self-deception is the best medicine for curing the disease of non-productivity.

The Fall.

The 'FALL' in the fall in love.

Re: Popper V Kuhn

This blog entry is my reply to Awais Aftab's insightful post about Popper v Kuhn debate.
http://awaisaftab.blogspot.com/2012/06/popper-vs-kuhn.html


I have absolutely no clue how can one categories Kuhn as a positivist. However, coming back to this brilliant blog post.

Here are a few reservations.
I think for me Popper will regard any new scientific theory not a move closer to truth(truth with capital T) but rather a move away from falsehood or mistake. A subtle difference but still very relevant in understanding Popper's argument. I can substantiate this interpretation by summing up Popper's argument from another philosophical work 'The Open Society and its enemies'(by no means a work of philosophy of science but sums up Popper's attitude towards all kind of historicism and teleology). Popper argued vehemently in that book against teleological approach of Hegel, Aristotle, Marx and Plato for holding a view of reality (truth) based on purpose (telos). However, this critique does not mean that Popper is a relativist. Let me rephrase what I said, as per Popper it is not scientifically possible to talk about the absolute truth but we can always recognize falsehood. Since for Popper science thrives on falsification, there is always room for absolute truth (in abnon-demonstrable way).

The difference between Popper and Kuhn for me lies here. Popper despite being skeptic about teleological theories of all kind held a vision of science based on 'demarcation'. By demarcation I mean that Popper genuinely believed that the scientific method is distinct from non-science. Hence his emphasis on 'falsification' as the dividing line between science and non-science. However, for Kuhn science is not a disinterested and cold inquiry about the nature of reality. In fact, scientists are no different from priests who dogmatically promote their own denominational theologies (only making sense within their own paradigms).

This relativism is exactly what disturbed Popper back in 1960s. Kuhn's understanding of 'normal science' was a threat to future of science according to Karl Popper. The famous 1965 International Colloquium was called by Popper in order to destroy this idea of Kuhn.

Memory and Solace

Life is strange. Its better to live with some people only in memories.

Human actions and introspection : Spinozian Perspective

''I have laboured carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate, but to understand human actions; and to this end I have looked upon passions, such as love, hatred, anger, envy, ambition, pity, and the other perturbations of the mind, not in the light of vices of human nature, but as properties, just as pertinent to it, as are heat, cold, storm, thunder, and the like to the nature of the atmosphere, which phenomena, though inconvenient, are yet necessary, and have fixed causes, by means of which we endeavour to understand their nature, and the mind has just as much pleasure in viewing them aright, as in knowing such things as flatter the senses''.

Spinoza from Tactatus Politicus.

Limits of Self-denial!

Theres a thin line between egoism and selflessness. Perhaps extreme form of self-denial and altruism is indistinguishable from selfishness.

Revolution.

What is personal revolution? - The moment you realize that you have actually evolved.

Vengeance

Resentment- He was absolutely drowned in it. His spitefulness and desire for vengeance knew no limitations. For he was wronged in such a way that his soul had been damaged beyond repair. In such a situation life presented him with a choice. Either to save his own soul and try to see the good in everything or to remain spiteful forever and explore the dark and sordid side of other people especially those who have wronged him. As expected he sacrificed his own soul for he had no desire to see the good in bad things. Such is the power of vengeance.

Power of Love.

'It is love that keeps the world together from inside'.

Young Goethe in Love

Monologue.

X: I have deceived myself for you a thousand times. Lost myself in you a thousand times. In search of you I have found myself anew a thousand times. Yet I stand hear today, feeling as empty as ever.
You have thrown me in heaven and hell a thousand times. Many a times you took the life away from my life. Many a times I felt the life flowing out of me. Ecstasy, Joy, Misery and Pain. I have experienced it all. Yet nothing seems to stay.

You ask for my surrender. Well I have already surrendered to my fate. I want you but time and again you throw me back to myself. I want to unveil you but you being the greatest of schemers made me the veil and hid behind it.

I pray ardently but you communicate with me only through the language of silence. Why should I abide by your rules then? Why should I honor you? You gave me enough courage to challenge your authority but not enough to deny you. What kind of justice is this? Love me, despise me, kill me, adore me but just let me know it Lord. Will you ever answer oh dear Lord?


(Just the eerie silence)

Young Goethe

Goethe: A poet- I used to believe in that.
His Friend: But?
Goethe: Nobody else did.


Young Goethe in Love

Life is Beautiful

The only satisfactory answer for all the absurdity and suffering in the world is love.

Friendship.

Seeking Happiness.

Quite often I wonder what constitutes true happiness. The nature of happiness is inextricably connected to nature of time and reality. Without exaggeration we as human beings capture only a tiny part of our vast and gigantic universe. Our own lives seem almost insignificant in front of ever flowing river of time. Time eats up everything. Whatever has been, is not. Whatever is, will not be. Everything is brief and fleeting. In this state of flux, the present only belongs to us for the briefest moment and then forever to the past.

How can one be happy in such a fleeting universe? I have observed that a lot of us believe that true happiness resides in distant future. All our hopes, ambitions and dreams have something to do with the future. This makes us use the 'present moment' only as a means to an end, the end being future happiness. It never occurs to us that the future happiness may never arrive. Death may end our lives any moment. We are left with nothing but the regret. The ultimate realization comes a bit too late. Eventually we realize that the 'present' was all we had and we lost it for something that was never ours (the possibility of future happiness). Some might suggest that true happiness will only come if one learns to live in the present moment. This solution comes at a prize. We have to let go of our dreams and ambitions. I propose a a new solution here. True happiness is never about being happy. It has nothing to do with the present or future. True happiness lies in 'seeking happiness'.

So, Always look on the bright side of life :D :D

Ultimate Skeptic.

He doubted everything including his own happiness.

New Opium of the masses.

“A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death - the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged.”- C. Milosz

Botay!

Its been an year now.

Memories

When you live the same day again n again, you end up developing the inability to make new memories.

Being and God!

Imagine if God and Being were one and the same thing. Then was there any need of arguments for the existence of God?

Human nature and Psychoanalysis!

Critics have always accused Freud of portraying a one dimensional picture of human nature dominated by the dark and gloomy side. His pessimistic take on civilization and human race is quite evident in his major works. However, a cursory reading of psychoanalysis will show that all was not bad or evil in Freud's work.
Freud famously remarked about human nature that a man is much more immoral than he actually thinks he is yet he is much more nobler than he actually takes himself to be. This apparent paradoxical claim is the  greatest contribution of Freud towards the understanding  of human nature. Human nature lies beyond the realm of good and evil and can never actually be grasped by what our conscious minds know.


P.S
Things I continue to learn from Freud #Awais ;)

Things I learned from Freud!

Motive might be nothing but a retrospective rationalization of our irrational instincts based actions.

Truth

Truth is not a thing to be understood; either it is seen or not seen.

Schopenhauer's Philosophy in a Nutshell!

All life is desiring, desire emanates from some sort of lack or void. To lack is to suffer. Therefore, all life is suffering.

Empty Emotion!

He was a keen observer through and through. Always observing the emotions of other people with zeal. Faces spoke to him all the time. He lived through smiles and tears of others. Life was never kind to him though. He recognized all such emotions without living one himself.. His life was just one empty emotion.

Mister Cellophane

''Cellophane
Mister Cellophane
Shoulda been my name
Mister Cellophane
'Cause you can look right through me
Walk right by me
And never know I'm there...''

Flirting!

Haha! I find it way too amusing.

Paradise!

Paradise is nothing but a dream based on unfulfilled dreams.

History and objective truth.

'To remain ignorant about what happened before you were born, is to remain forever a child' - Cicero

What is history? When the God created the world with it simultaneously the birth of time took place. From the womb of time flows all history. History is the recording of past events or to be precise an interpretation of the past events. Many a times we fail to draw this distinction. The subject of history has attracted the attention of many great thinkers and philosophers for centuries. The importance of the subject cannot be denied. However, the question of objective history remains as controversial today as it was during the time of Herodotus and Thucydides.

By objective history one means that is history a factual account of what actually happened in the past or is it just a subjective evaluation of the past events on part of the historian. Can history claim itself to be a purely scientific discourse? If yes then on what grounds it can claim to be a science? If not then what productive function can history perform if it is merely a subjective interpretation of the past?

Lipold von Ranke once summoned all the historians and asked them to work on a major project. Their task was to record the past 'as it actually happened'. The project seemed possible to many, for others it was doomed to fail. Positivists have always been of the view that history can follow a scientific method and a critical approach can help us arrive at the truth which is 'out there'. JS Mill famously argued that historical laws are discoverable by inductive reason. History unfolds itself by showing regular patterns and follows certain laws. Therefore, if a historian remains loyal to such laws in recording of past events he/she will end up arriving at the actual truth. Psychological laws are also considered to be part of historical laws that are discoverable by human reason.

Positivists have always been accused of over simplification with regards to their theory of history. There is a major difference between a historian and a scientist. A scientist studies phenomena from the outside whereas a historian studies it from the inside. B. Corce was of the view that history is subjective because historian himself is always present in his construction. James Baldwin aptly summed up the position in these words, 'People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them'.  Albert Camus says in 'The Rebel',

''Man cannot grasp the totality of history since he lives in the midst of this totality. History as an entirety can only exist in the eyes of the observer outside it and outside the world.''

I happen to agree with this view. Objective history is an impossibility. The question of objective history is intimately tied to historical absolute or the ultimate telos of history. Such an absolute can only be conceived either from the outside or after the end of history. The suggestion that we can arrive at objective truth by studying the psychological motives of the people can even be dismissed by use of common sense. At times, we find it difficult to know the exact motives of our close family members and friends. If knowing the motives of our loved ones is difficult then imagine the impossibility of knowing the motives of people who lived thousands of years ago before us. Perhaps history is nothing more than a reconstruction of our past tradition by 'intellectual empathy' for our forefathers.

Neruda's Postman!

'Poetry isn't only for those who write it, but also for those who need it.'

Naivity of the Human Race

"In most cases, people, even the most vicious, are much more naive and simple-minded than we assume them to be'' - Brothers Karamazov

A little prayer!

You who turn stones to gold, change me' - Rumi

You love me

Ghalib and Philosophical Idealism!

'Hasti ke mat fareb mein aajiyo aey Asad
Aalam tamaam Halqah-e-daam-e-Khayaal hai' - Ghalib

Iqbal Manzil - The Birthplace of Allama Iqbal

Chaos within, Chaos without!

It is 11 March 2012. Here I am wasting my time on my blog. As I compose this post of mine, I don't exactly know for what purpose I am writing it. Neither do I know where exactly my current flow of thought will lead me. Complete uncertainty surrounds life at times. May be its one of those days for me too. This is not the first time I am encountering such a state of affairs. In fact it has become quite a routine now. What is happening to me? I don't know. How do I feel? I don't know again. Nevertheless, whatever it is, its not a pleasant state of mind .

I think there is certainly something wrong with me. May be I think too much. May be I like to think of myself as a thinking man when in reality I may not be such a person. Sometimes I think I need to indulge myself in some work or keep myself busy to avoid thinking. But then I will only be able to indulge myself in some work when I will actually stop thinking. What should I do? Where should I go? I know not. Is this a punishment or a reward? I know not.

I am not a human being. Perhaps, I am nobody. Frustration, resentment and self-destruction defines me. May be life is manifesting its dark side in me. Light serves no purpose when one is blind. Eyes are of no value when there is complete darkness. My life lacks light and today I feel completely blind too. Imagine how terrible one's life would be when absurd claims like these make more sense to oneself than one's very own ordinary daily life.

My mind speaks to me. It lacks direction but still forces me to keep on moving despite being cognizant of being lost. Alas! its time to come to terms with my ultimate fate. My life is nothing but chaos within and chaos without.

What is Life!

'' The purpose of life is to reconcile us to its eventual loss. ” Julian Barnes from Sense of an Ending

Fable Of The Mermaid And The Drunks - Neruda

All those men were there inside,
when she came in totally naked.
They had been drinking: they began to spit.
Newly come from the river, she knew nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way.
The insults flowed down her gleaming flesh.
Obscenities drowned her golden breasts.
Not knowing tears, she did not weep tears.
Not knowing clothes, she did not have clothes.
They blackened her with burnt corks and cigarette stubs,
and rolled around laughing on the tavern floor.
She did not speak because she had no speech.
Her eyes were the colour of distant love,
her twin arms were made of white topaz.
Her lips moved, silent, in a coral light,
and suddenly she went out by that door.
Entering the river she was cleaned,
shining like a white stone in the rain,
and without looking back she swam again
swam towards emptiness, swam towards death.

Person in Love.

I have quite often wondered about the nature of love. The popular image of love never ceases to amaze me. Its laden with false ideas and misconceptions. Things like fidelity, sincerity, longevity and a kind of benign symbiosis are considered to be essential characteristics of love. When in reality they may not have anything to do with it. The problem lies in seeing love only as a romantic concept when in reality it may be one of the most destructive concepts. It has the tendency to corrupt the clear perception of a person. No wonder a person in love quite often over estimates his own abilities.

KB! You Bootaaaaaay :)

I saw you today Botay.....Wish you were reading this post of mine. I know you would have loved this song. Call me crazy or insane but then you know me..that is the way I have always been. God bless you :-)

Pain and Pleasure!

Remembering my Childhood!

Another year is gone. I just turned 26 yesterday. Time seems to be fleeting with out even making slightest whispers. I am not fond of celebrating birthdays but spend some time reflecting back on my childhood yesterday for some odd reasons. It was like recalling a half forgotten dream. Despite the difficultly in visualizing my past, one particular memory remained quite vivid. It was related to my fondness for a particular 'Dua' as a kid. I haven't sing or listened it for ages now. Somehow there is nothing profound about the prayer but I decided to search it on youtube and surprisingly ended up finding it. To my surprise I still enjoyed the Dua. It is simple yet so moving. So here it goes, 'Teri hei zameen; tera aasman'. The message is universal.

Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End- Abbey Road

Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

Boy, you're gonna carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you're gonna carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time !

Muslim Feminist v Western Feminist: Perspectivism!

Allah Bachaye!

Being brought up in a strictly religious and conformist family and society; I have always been quite aware about the religious sensibilities of people. Despite my differences with others I have always respected the choices of people with regard to their specific mode of Islam or religion in general. From puritanical Salafies to die-hard Shias, all have been part of my inner circle of friends. This may sound counter intuitive but i have had absolutely no issue with them and their views. I still don't.

However, there is one group of religious people who make me uncomfortable. I call them 'born again' muslim reverts who preach and preach over zealously (born again because they have been living a so called hedonistic life until the guidance arrived). They talk as if their decision to revert back to 'conformist' Islam is enough to guarantee them a place in heaven. Quite often they speak to you in a way which makes you feel morally inferior. To me nothing is more immoral than moral snobbishness. I have strong reservations about such people. My issue with them doesn't stem from their conformist stance on religion but rather from their new attitude towards those who haven't seen the 'light of guidance' yet. I needed to give vent to my feelings because I met such a friend of mine who made me feel exactly this way. The session was a torment for me. At the end of our meeting I just whispered to myself, 'Ab Allah hi is ko Allah se bachaye' and left the place.

Smile!

Neither teleological nor ontological argument holds the truth
The greatest proof for the existence of God on earth can be found in our smiles.

Sense of an Ending - Barnes on Suicide!

This is an excerpt from the novel 'Sense of an Ending'.

''Alex showed me a clipping from the Cambridge Evening News. “Tragic Death of 'Promising’ Young Man”. They probably kept that headline permanently set up in type. The verdict of the coroner’s inquest had been that Adrian Finn (22) had killed himself “while the balance of his mind was disturbed”.

I remember how angry that conventional phrase made me: I would have sworn on oath that Adrian’s was the one mind which would never lose its balance. But in the law’s view, if you killed yourself you were by definition mad, at least at the time you were committing the act. The law, and society, and religion all said it was impossible to be sane, healthy, and kill yourself. Perhaps those authorities feared that the suicide’s reasoning might impugn the nature and value of life as organised by the state which paid the coroner?

And then, since you had been declared temporarily mad, your reasons for killing yourself were also assumed to be mad. So I doubt anyone paid much attention to Adrian’s argument, with its references to philosophers ancient and modern, about the superiority of the intervening act over the unworthy passivity of merely letting life happen to you.''

Worst temptation!

Virtue and morality has a temptation of its own. Perhaps the most poisonous one there is. Thus, many incorrigible sinners have yielded to it once in a while.

Making sense of Hegel!

For the better part of 20th century the analytical school of philosophy has dominated the academic circles. Along with many other continental philosophers, one name which particularly evokes extreme repulsion within analytical circles is the philosopher GWH Hegel.

Hegel's reputation as a philosopher in his own time was second to none. He literally ruled the German mind during the first half of 19th century. His influence went beyond the border as well. In England, the dominant school of philosophy hitherto had been empiricism.But such was the spell of Hegel's idealistic philosophy that even Anglo-Saxon mind, which was averse to rationalism or idealism, became a victim of it. People like Bradley and McTaggart openly called themselves Hegelians and taught (in fact preached) Hegelian ideas in major Universities of UK. It was only with the emergence of people like GE Moore and Bertrand Russell that Hegel was eventually marginalized from the academic circles first and then from the popular discourse. As a matter of fact his work became a constant subject for ridicule, non-sensical metaphysical speculation and a prime example of philosophy losing itself in obscurantism.

Its been almost hundred years since Hegel's philosophy has been put to flames as far as academic philosophy is concerned. However, none will dispute the legacy of the man who had inspired a chain of great thinkers (even today people like Francis Fakuyama use Hegelian ideas to shape their own thesis.

I confess,its been long since I'v last read Hegel or took his philosophy seriously. However, recently while preparing my lecture on Marxism for my Jurisprudence class I had the opportunity to re-read some of the Hegelian ideas. The problem with teaching Marxism is that you cannot make sense of what Marx is really up to unless you have sufficient idea of Hegelian philosophy. As expected, the very name of Hegel's philosophy evoked a sense of boredom in me. Yet, I lingered my way through secondary literature. As I kept on reading Hegel and his subsequent influence upon Marx, one question started bothering me and captured all my imagination. How can we summarily dismiss  a thinker who has been the main source of Marx's own methodology and philosophy? By no means Marx is a an ordinary name, his influence has been compared to prophets, a luxury that not too many philosophers enjoy. The impact of his philosophy and ideas went well beyond the field of philosophy and changed the very politico-economic face of our
planet. The question for me then was quite simple. How did Hegel's legacy lost itself in obscurity? What made Hegel's ideas so different or radical?

Therefore, this blog entry is my attempt to make sense of Hegelian philosophy and strip off the obscure crust that surrounds some of his major ideas that has shaped our modern world.


Phenomenology of Spirit as a starting point:

A major problem in reading Hegel is the difficulty in finding out the starting point. I have decided to tread the same path Karl Marx took in understanding Hegel. He started of with one of Hegel's major works called 'Phenomenology of the spirit'. I will start by explaining the ideas presented in this book one by one.

When it comes to want of words German language is quite rich. The German word for 'spirit' is Geist. However, the spirit is synonymously used with the word mind in German. So one may call it 'Phenomenology of Mind'.

Universal Mind (The Absolute):

Being a pure Idealist, Hegel believes that his theory is the gradual unfolding of the Universal Mind. Right from the start the obscurity begins, what does he mean by Universal Mind?  Hegel believes that the Reality is rational. That rationality is corresponded with the idea of Universal Mind. The individual minds i.e your mind or my mind are just individualized or particularized manifestations of this Universal Mind. There has been considerable debate with regards to what this Universal Mind is. Some have called it God, while others have equated it with the mystical doctrine of 'unity of being'. I personally think that there is no conclusive answer to this question. One may find arguments in favor of both schools of thought but I personally lean towards the pantheistic understanding of Hegel. However, this is not the concern of our debate. For the purpose of this post I would rather tag Universal mind as 'Absolute Idea' manifesting itself in everything that exists.

Development of the Absolute:

In Phenomenology of the Spirit, Hegel traces the development of the Universal Mind. Initially it manifested itself in individual Self or ego, but that ego was neither self-conscious nor aware of his own freedom and universal nature. It encountered the other individual mind and saw it as an object to be conquered. This is where Hegel introduces his concept of Master/Slave relationship.
What Hegel tries to demonstrate by this relationship is the fact that the Mind (Universal Mind) not being self-aware about its freedom takes the other individual mind as something 'alien'. Therefore, the development of the Mind takes place through such inherent contradictions. Hegel calls this 'Dialectical process'. This is probably the most commonly known concept of Hegel. The thesis meets its antithesis and then as result of this confrontation comes out a synthesis. However, this synthesis is itself a thesis and the process continues.

The meaning of history is manifested in this process. The whole of history is a progress towards the Self-consciousness of the Absolute. In the words of Iqbal the Hegelian philosophy can be summed up in one line, 'infinite becoming finite and then again becoming infinite through self-evolving synthesis'.


Hegelianism and Rationalized mysticism:

To sum up what I have written in the preceding part of my post. Hegel saw Mind as Universal and the essence of of this Universal Mind lies in freedom. This freedom is only possible with complete self-consciousness of the Absolute history. Hegel's analysis leads to a strange conclusion. If the end of history is the self-consciousness of the Mind then that stage culminated itself in none other that Hegel's own philosophy. I admit Hegel must not have been a very modest or humble dude otherwise such a conclusion must have seem preposterous to him.

In spite of Hegel's supercilious claims, I would like to draw a comparison between Hegelian philosophy and mysticism. The resemblance is uncanny when it comes to their conclusions. The only difference appears to be in their methodology. Hegel's method is partially rational and partially historical. Whereas mystics emphasize the intuition above reason and history. But it is important to mention here that like all mystics Hegel believes that the Mind is Universal. The apparent multiplicity is just a matter of appearance or lack of self-consciousness (ignorance).

Therefore, the apparent conflict is just 'Maya' resulting from transitory phenomena. Furthermore, like mystics Hegel also believes that whatever happens occurs out of sheer necessity. History in unfolding itself follows a rational and necessary path towards final self-emancipation of the Universal mind or Absolute Idea. Therefore, its meaningless or pointless to challenge a particular development of history. From this one may conclude that Hegel's philosophy may be interpreted as an attempt at rationalizing mysticism. This is a task very few philosophers have dared to undertake.

Conclusion:

Finally I would abruptly end this blog entry without criticizing Hegelian ideas. The task has already been done by numerous other writers and philosophers. The purpose was to re-read Hegel and make sense of his ideas.

I plan to write a sequel to this blog entry regarding how Hegelian philosophy was further interpreted by people like Beaur, Fuaerbach and Marx. Until then you folks should try to make sense of Hegel too :-)

What is compassion?

Q. What is Compassion?
Ans: Refusing to use the same sword for another by which you yourself were killed once.

Purgatory of Disbelievers!

Nature was cruel to him. He was too intelligent to believe in religion. Worse, he was too intelligent to believe himself too. This is the eternal purgatory for disbelievers.

Paradox of Love based World View!

In recent times my skepticism regarding the love based world view as expounded by mystics has gotten more stronger. Mystics through out the ages have propagated a world view based on love and tolerance. Their Christ like ethics seems to focus solely on love as a solution to all the existential problems. However, I have my reservations with this world view.

If we define love as absence of hatred and lack of repulsion for 'the other' then such a view is an impossibility. For instance, such a world view cannot explain our attitude towards all kinds of hate based world views. Rejecting such alternative world views must necessarily be based on repulsion or hatred of some kind (hatred of violence or intolerance etc). In that way a love based world view cannot claim to be based on complete absence of hatred.

Conversely, someone may  accommodate such alternatives within a love based discourse by tolerating the intolerant. This leaves us with an even greater problem. The love based world view by endorsing the intolerant doesn't completely get rid off the potential hatred. Therefore, its a catch 22 situation. I call it the paradox of love based world view.

I'm not Fat its just..

A: You are getting fat Qasim..
Me: I am not fat its just the universe which is expanding :p

Love and Forgiveness!

“One forgives to the degree that one loves.” - La Rouchefaucault

This is  true. The amount of our love determines the boundary of our tolerance. For instance parents love their children and for that very reason they may forgive their gravest mistakes. Similarly, a person passionately in love may forgive or ignore things that one normally doesn't tolerate.

However, what about the tragic figure who forgives the beloved out of sheer love but finds it impossible to forgive himself for loving the other? Is there a cure for such a soul? Perhaps love is not only about forgiving others but also oneself. Forgiving oneself for being oneself. Perhaps the essence of true love is to cherish even our mistakes. Perhaps!

Goethe's Shikwa!

I should honour you? For what?
Have you softened the sufferings,
Ever, of the burdened?
Have you stilled the tears,
Ever, of the anguished?
Was I not forged as a Man
By almighty Time
And the eternal Fate,
My masters and yours?

Do you somehow imagine
I should hate life,
Flee to the desert,
Because not every
Flowering dream may bloom?

Here I sit, forming people
In my image;
A race, to be like me,
To suffer, to weep,
To enjoy and delight themselves,
And to mock you –
As I do!

Prometheus by Goethe.