Victims of Civilization

[In this post, I take a jump from story-writing to article-writing, because the latter involves lesser imagination and time that the former, and I feel too lazy to etch a story around the idea I wanted to convey, so...here goes!] What defines a particular individual? Can a person be measured on the basis of his intelligence? Then again, intelligence can have variable definitions, which may vary from person to person. What I think is that the ambiguity of intelligence, as a term, is its true essence. Its flexibility in itself is a thing one can ponder hours on. Is intelligence directly proportional to success? Or is it knowing what succeeds in the society that actually defines intelligence? In both the above instances, it won’t be wrong on my part to remind you that intelligence is flexible. Just as in the case of ‘truth’, intelligence is merely a conceptualisation of the society-weathered human mind. Truth be told, what I actually assert is that defining anything in this world is a crime. It kills imagination a slow, suffocating death. It mauls down the inquisitiveness and genius for which God has provided us with organs called brains! It binds our inborn wildness and free-thinking that actually contributes a sizeable chunk to our ‘humanness’. It is human nature to think of oneself as a ‘superior’ being than animals, and because of that, there is an ever-prevalent compulsion of setting things in complete order among us. Humans just can’t stand chaos. Their lives must be in complete balance and everything should be in perfect organisation. The need for such a symmetric setting has resulted in the so-called social etiquettes and code of conduct, which I personally treat as cow-dung. Anyone who does not follow these set of rules, however inventive or intelligent he may be, is disowned and rejected by the bulk that is society. Let me sum up the above paragraphs for you in three words. Intelligence consumes intelligence. Intelligence is basically stupidity in the most layered and disguised form. Sort of putting up a lot of make up to enhance one’s beauty. The senseless and most unproductive fixation to find logical explanations and stability in the most random and arbitrary of happenings is what can summed up as human nature. Why don’t we have the balls to just let go and let the randomness of nature prevail? This sort of reminds me of the classic scene from the cult hit Fight Club, where Edward Norton, on being persuasively sweet talked by Brad Pitt, slowly loosens his grip from the steering-wheel of the car he is driving, and simply lets it go. He literally loses control. Digressions apart, what really prevents us from giving up the order and control of our life is pride, the pride of having the privilege of being born a human. Pride is a sort of drug that hampers our thinking and persuades us into believing that we are the sole masters of the world. It constantly reminds us that we are, officially, the most intelligent beings in existence. A fitting synecdoche of man’s desperate attempt of segregation and complexification can be seen in our current educational system. Our leaders consider themselves so wise and authoritative, they actually believe that a set of antiquated laws and rules and regulations can impart education successfully on a whole generation of students, year after year after year! How can a committee of a hundred-something members decide how to mould the future of a goddamn country? However intelligent one maybe, no one can be held responsible for judging what’s right and what’s not for another individual, other than, of course, their guardians. In the ideal world that I have in my proposition, there is no ‘society’. There is no formal education (that’s because I am suffering from it today and it’s MY world!), no etiquettes, and no stereotypes. No one represents anyone on a huger stage. Equality is practiced staunchly in each and every bracket of the world. However, like everything else, this ideal world also comes with an expiry date. As soon as humans take over, they use their minds, their priceless ‘gifts from God’, and use it to degenerate and complexify themselves and the objects around themselves. And alas, the perfect world remains perfect no more. Humanity is a misguided missile: it has the energy and potential to work wonders, but its crosshair is set at the wrong target! So long as each and every individual does not pay heed to anything except himself and his own conscience, the world remains purposeful and relevant. As soon as this line is crossed, our existence becomes synonymous with ego and pride. Materialism is a guiding force for some. Not many people work their hearts out to create something new, without being lured by a distant award at the completion of the task. This is another of the attributes of humans. And I don’t believe this to be wrong, hell no! Who wouldn’t want to be rewarded at the conclusion of a gruelling and tiring day’s work? But once again, just like in other countless examples, this simple desire for being awarded for one’s ability and effort transforms gradually into lust: lust for money. Now the tables turn. Those who have, over a period of time, earned a considerably vast bulk of money, get overly possessive about it and develop a phobia of parting from it. Hence, innovation gets rusted and stagnancy erupts. Repetitive and formulaic thinking gets encouragement and imagination chokes. This article grumbles a lot, and tries to be pseudo-intellectual, one would complain. Many readers would question, “What the hell is the point of the article?” This article is an object of self-amusement and a result of utter boredom of the author. It might seem to be just a set of random garble pieced together that pretends to be very high-fi and intellectual to the majority of readers. And I don’t disagree. The world is as it is, and it will continue to be so. There would never be the dramatic reforms that I suggest. It’s just a case of grass being greener on the other side. It is simply a tantalizing view of a parallel universe where the proposed ‘ideal world’ exists. Had I been in that parallel world, I might have conceived an article that would complain about the non-existence of a civilized society, and provide a view of the very systematic and mechanical lives we lead today. The fact that this article brings not even a shred of change in the lives of the readers renders it completely useless. However, before you start dissing me for wasting your precious time, let me quote Oscar Wilde: “All Art is quite useless”. THE END