Obfuscation
John Steinbeck has called farming and fishing the most noble of occupations. Gandhi would agree. Gandhi was a certified approver of the "music of the five fingers". He argues that the brain must be educated through the hand. Those people who go through the ordinary rut of education and deny themselves of any manual labor are missing music in their life. He does not advocate that people close down libraries and run down staircases with pickaxes in their hands. He admits the importance of intellectual output, but points out that after a while the brain begins to get weary of mere words. He quotes from the example of Brahmins of India and Tolstoy's peasant Bondaref, who when not being chased by wolves was working hard with his hands thus improving the quality of his intellectual output.
I must say that I agree. The world is full of fragmented images each claiming to be the absolute truth. The need of the hour is clarity. When you are "playing music with the five fingers", there is little room for blurring the picture (we shall follow the example of the good Merriam Webster dictionary and call this mode of action "obfuscation"). That is the problem with many of us today. We utilize clever bullet points, Power Point slide shows, aggressive headlines, pithy pictures all with one aim: to obfuscate. There is little room for obfuscation for the worker drilling on the road. At the end of the day, there is a gaping hole in the concrete. Or there is not. The only way, that great giver of life -rice- will sprout on fields is when the honest farmer has planted the seeds. There is little room for dodgy maneuvering.
Today, obfuscation has assumed dangerous proportions in a world that is full of cubicles and short on time. We follow the words of opinion leaders or intellectuals to the letter. It is the fastest way many of us form our opinions. But a clever "obfuscator" can lead the best guru astray. For example, all the newspapers today are talking about the missing Saddam Hussein in Iraq? Wasn't the whole point of the war finding the Weapons of Mass Destruction? Now if someone finds the weapons, there has been so much talk about them that it will be easy for the Administration to justify the war. But wasn't the whole point of the war that there exists conclusive proof that the weapons could have been deployed within 45 minutes on the West? It is okay to have a bowl of pudding; you still need a bowl and spoon to eat it properly. Nobody even talks about the cutlery anymore. Even if it were found that the weapons could have been deployed in the time Saddam takes to trim his moustache, wasn't the point of the war that he had links with terrorists and had intent to deploy these weapons. This most important issue (not everyone with a knife is a murderer, Perry Mason would say) has been confined to the dustiest and darkest attic. And pray who is the confiner?
Obfuscation.
Such is the power of obfuscation that is has 99% of the world talking about an issue that does not matter. One can only imagine how great an impact it is having on our day-to-day lives. The need of the hour is to get back to some form of good old-fashioned labor (be it ironing your shirts crease by crease) so as to bring honesty back to at least some of our actions.
John Steinbeck has called farming and fishing the most noble of occupations. Gandhi would agree. Gandhi was a certified approver of the "music of the five fingers". He argues that the brain must be educated through the hand. Those people who go through the ordinary rut of education and deny themselves of any manual labor are missing music in their life. He does not advocate that people close down libraries and run down staircases with pickaxes in their hands. He admits the importance of intellectual output, but points out that after a while the brain begins to get weary of mere words. He quotes from the example of Brahmins of India and Tolstoy's peasant Bondaref, who when not being chased by wolves was working hard with his hands thus improving the quality of his intellectual output.
I must say that I agree. The world is full of fragmented images each claiming to be the absolute truth. The need of the hour is clarity. When you are "playing music with the five fingers", there is little room for blurring the picture (we shall follow the example of the good Merriam Webster dictionary and call this mode of action "obfuscation"). That is the problem with many of us today. We utilize clever bullet points, Power Point slide shows, aggressive headlines, pithy pictures all with one aim: to obfuscate. There is little room for obfuscation for the worker drilling on the road. At the end of the day, there is a gaping hole in the concrete. Or there is not. The only way, that great giver of life -rice- will sprout on fields is when the honest farmer has planted the seeds. There is little room for dodgy maneuvering.
Today, obfuscation has assumed dangerous proportions in a world that is full of cubicles and short on time. We follow the words of opinion leaders or intellectuals to the letter. It is the fastest way many of us form our opinions. But a clever "obfuscator" can lead the best guru astray. For example, all the newspapers today are talking about the missing Saddam Hussein in Iraq? Wasn't the whole point of the war finding the Weapons of Mass Destruction? Now if someone finds the weapons, there has been so much talk about them that it will be easy for the Administration to justify the war. But wasn't the whole point of the war that there exists conclusive proof that the weapons could have been deployed within 45 minutes on the West? It is okay to have a bowl of pudding; you still need a bowl and spoon to eat it properly. Nobody even talks about the cutlery anymore. Even if it were found that the weapons could have been deployed in the time Saddam takes to trim his moustache, wasn't the point of the war that he had links with terrorists and had intent to deploy these weapons. This most important issue (not everyone with a knife is a murderer, Perry Mason would say) has been confined to the dustiest and darkest attic. And pray who is the confiner?
Obfuscation.
Such is the power of obfuscation that is has 99% of the world talking about an issue that does not matter. One can only imagine how great an impact it is having on our day-to-day lives. The need of the hour is to get back to some form of good old-fashioned labor (be it ironing your shirts crease by crease) so as to bring honesty back to at least some of our actions.
Back
For the last one month I have been very desirous of something. (Desirous - that which is more than mere anticipation or making wishes.)
When my mind began to revel in the delights of various scenarios that would result if I got what I desired for, my laziness kicked in. Though with the years laziness, like a hungry frog in a pond full of insects, has become better at coming up with excuses each one cleverer than the last.
My mind queried, Is it good to write about non-violence when the mind is full of desire?
No of course not, I replied (and we will leave aside the mind body duality discussion for a later date).
I lazed. I lounged. I drank out of taps lapping greedily through cupped hands. I found happiness in some"thing" after a long time. I saw the news. I also discovered that there are people who take what appears on our news channels seriously. There is an entire world that is affected by the tripe shown on our TV screens. I argued vehemently in one direction. Then I read of other people arguing in an equally convincing manner in the opposite direction. Reasoning and arguments are like a grinding wheel. You keep them in a corner to sharpen your knife periodically. What happens after that is none of their business. Cut a yellow pepper. Or slice an egg.
Anyway, as I move my shoulder one way and then the other, I feel a garb hit the floor. I feel free to run. To write. I don't know if the garb contains all things bad or there is some good. I do know that wearing it was necessary.
And once my shoulders get used to the lightness of the weight that they now carry, I shall type again. (It shall be some time tomorrow.)
We can enter a world where true non-violence, though not completely possible in action and duration, can be experienced at least more than one time a day.
For the last one month I have been very desirous of something. (Desirous - that which is more than mere anticipation or making wishes.)
When my mind began to revel in the delights of various scenarios that would result if I got what I desired for, my laziness kicked in. Though with the years laziness, like a hungry frog in a pond full of insects, has become better at coming up with excuses each one cleverer than the last.
My mind queried, Is it good to write about non-violence when the mind is full of desire?
No of course not, I replied (and we will leave aside the mind body duality discussion for a later date).
I lazed. I lounged. I drank out of taps lapping greedily through cupped hands. I found happiness in some"thing" after a long time. I saw the news. I also discovered that there are people who take what appears on our news channels seriously. There is an entire world that is affected by the tripe shown on our TV screens. I argued vehemently in one direction. Then I read of other people arguing in an equally convincing manner in the opposite direction. Reasoning and arguments are like a grinding wheel. You keep them in a corner to sharpen your knife periodically. What happens after that is none of their business. Cut a yellow pepper. Or slice an egg.
Anyway, as I move my shoulder one way and then the other, I feel a garb hit the floor. I feel free to run. To write. I don't know if the garb contains all things bad or there is some good. I do know that wearing it was necessary.
And once my shoulders get used to the lightness of the weight that they now carry, I shall type again. (It shall be some time tomorrow.)
We can enter a world where true non-violence, though not completely possible in action and duration, can be experienced at least more than one time a day.
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