World is a place where numerous kind of breeds takes
birth, breathes and dies a silent death. Unnoticed they come and dies in
equally vague scenario. The things that happens in between is a different story
all together with the same basic theme- “Fight for survival”. You must have
noticed I said ‘breeds’ and not people. Yes, from where I see, we all lie in
the same category with the same basic needs- Food, Mate and territory.
Sounds Bullshit? Let me place it this way.
1.
You work to earn Bread.
2.
You take a protective Stance for you partner
(don’t you?)
3.
You want to rise and shine a lot more than you
do right now.
In this context, territory needs a little bit of
explanation. You see, in the animal kingdom, the territory is limited to
marking a perimeter around the area where you live, warning others of consequences
if they dare to breach in. “Marking your territory” is an act of dominance. Humans
have evolved this concept and now it is not limited to just the physical space.
People compete for a lot more- From mere promotions to huge take-overs, thrones
to a sense of freedom, lavish lifestyle to uncanny desires- everything has
become a part of Human territory and we are still the same old “monkey-gened”
animals fighting for it.
Yes, we have evolved. But this evolution has not eradicated the
‘animal instincts’ we have. It has just structured its presence. We have learnt
to subside our anger, control the urges and redefine the way we feel. But, at
the slightest of chance, we go back to being us- fighting, loving and not
caring about anything but ourselves and our immediate surrounding. Yes we are ‘selfish’,
everybody is ‘selfish’, it’s the evolved part of us that disguise the fact
brilliantly. This ‘selfish’ face, well as we know it, comes out in its prime
when the person feels a threat to his survival, his territory or anything else
that ‘basics’ may contain. I am not saying that there is no good ‘selfless’
deed done by people. I am just saying that most of these ‘good’ people will
chicken out once their motivation (something that strengthens their ‘territory’
is gone!). For the very few that’s left, well they have learnt to defy their
desires and instincts completely (and one may say that is so against the
nature!).
“Pleasure is the structure of society. From childhood until death we
are secretly, cunningly or obviously pursuing pleasure. So whatever our form of
pleasure is, I think we should be very clear about it because it is going to
guide and shape our lives. It is therefore important for each one of us to
investigate closely, hesitantly and delicately this question of pleasure, for
to find pleasure, and then nourish and sustain it, is a basic demand of life
and without it existence becomes dull, stupid, lonely and meaningless.You may
ask why then should life not be guided by pleasure? For the very simple reason
that pleasure must bring pain, frustration, sorrow and fear, and, out of
fear,violence. If you want to live that way, live that way. Most of the world
does, anyway, but if you want to be free from sorrow you must understand the
whole structure of pleasure.”
-J krishnamurti
The human society have laid guidelines for everything with
the sole aim to chain the animal in us, but left loopholes for those few
ferocious outliers that will break the whole system if not given the freedom to
thrive the way they are. This was necessary because a single spark could start
a fire-storm. Let the spark live his life and die in peace, than to air it and
spread it!
Even though we know that we have our freedom and we are free
to do whatever we want, it dies out when it comes to bigger picture and much
bigger pictures.
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they
are free.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Giving this believe of freedom is the society’s way to
suppress those instincts to fight for it. Those who rage against it satiates
their desire to dominate, and the picture comes full circle again.
I could go ahead and include the establishment of monetary
system as a way to pipeline those ‘desires’ in a constructive way (for the
development of the society) and destructive way (for the real you.) but that
will be simply go beyond the basics.
Every single beating soul on this earth have been given a
gift- to live and living is not about redirecting your feelings, emotions and
urges, its about how much you have contemplated and gave way to your instincts.
Paulo Coelho took the example of tie (as
a ‘chain’ of social ethics!) and explained exactly what’s actually treasured by
an individual:
“The only really useful function a tie serves is the sense of relief
when you get home and take it off; you feel as if you've freed yourself from
something, though quite what you don't know.”
This “something you don’t know”, is the act of suppressing
the basics in order to thrive and ‘fit-in’. There is a way everything works and
society is a way to keep everything in a state of acceptability. But killing
the instincts is a li’l more than what should be accounted for it. Keeping a
balance between what instincts demand and what can affect the existence of
another is the way to go about it!
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