The crash of Philosophy is a greater tragedy than what we can visualize. The structures that are now in place need to be re-evaluated.
Dr. Jernail S. Anand | India
If face is the index of mind, newspapers are the index of our society, while the soul of the society flows through its TV channels. They present a shocking state of affairs in the world society. It is not that everything that is shown is right. Sometimes, papers do not mention what is actually happening on the ground. There are two sides of the coin. One is what is shown and the other is the reality that has been pushed away from the glare of TV screens.
Is Beauty the Creation of Mirrors?
Media is the mirror of the society. When we spend more and more time before the mirror, it may be a beauty exercise, but the facts sometimes point to a grim reality: that the ugliness is increasing to dress up which we need more cosmetics and more time. The governments hire the mirrors, or start manufacturing them in their own production units. They are now programmed with absolute insensitivity so that the twisted reality gets the best makeover. And the people thinking right are made to look like seditious elements.
The stories which tell of the righteous, the truthful, the good and the fair are nearly missing from the papers. Are they missing from the society too? If the answer is yes, are we living in a rogue society? With them is absent the columns relating to literature. Book shops have become history already with highly civilized shopping malls having no book stalls. What type of a society is reflected from these facts? A society which has left books, literature, beauty, truth and justice far behind?
The Crash
If the news headlines are to be believed, the decline in public conduct is so brisk, one wonders we are living in times where philosophy has crashed and what rules the world today is naked passion for wealth and power. If power, political or civil has become synonymous with corruption and foul conduct, and if crime is not an exception but an accepted way of life, who will defend the society against robsters?
It is the failure of education, failure of teachers, the fall of good, the fall of philosophy and in case of India, the fall of the spiritual that has spelt the doom of the fair and the just. If we go on with present system of education, very soon the philosophical decline will swallow all the glory which embodies the idea India.
Why did people from the West made for India? Its magical mystery of spiritual philosophy pulled at their heart strings. Lord Rama and Lord Krishna, Swami Vivekananda, the Vedas, the Upanishads inspired the world with a mysterious vision of creation, and India was looked upon as a land of sages, saints and ‘rishis’ and peace and tranquility. The Indian dream appears to have blown over. Our newspapers tell the story of our fall. The glory that was India has become history. If you still have any doubt, check up with Bollywood blockbusters. The history that we are creating now is the exact opposite of our past tradition of good conduct, righteousness, and fairness in dealings and preference for a life of piety.
Starting afresh
It is time to think of starting afresh. The crash of Philosophy is a greater tragedy than what we can visualize. The structures that are now in place need to be re-evaluated. Creative imagination, literature, free thought, universities are the places which become the targets of assault. It is a fight between corporatization on one hand, and philosophy on the other. Imagination is a radical catalyst. The corporate kills the imagination, and snaps the creative powers by forcing people into a deadly regime of a living from hand to mouth. The teacher is starved. His seat of power, the school, is vandalized by businessmen and universities become the centers of power play.
Media and the Crash
The crash of philosophy is reflected in our newspapers, in our electronic and social media. Who can stem the tide? There is only one discipline which talks of goodness, righteousness, truth, fairness and justice and it is literature. We have no intention to teach literature, the only bulwark which can give life-breath to the society on the brink of moral disaster. We are crying over the destruction of the eco system. As important is the pollution of the moral climate of the world society, where crime rules the imagination of the people.
The malignancy of the society is entering the third stage which is incurable. We have to check its slide into the abyss of total insensitivity. Treating symptoms and chatter of ‘all is well’ parroted by the sold media is an invitation to the failure of the system, and when systems fail, nations are led into slavery.
Read: Nurturing Generations: Parents’ Duty to Society
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Hailing from Chandigarh, India, The author is Laureate of Seneca Award, Charter of Morava, Franz Kafka and Maxim Gorky Awards, and President, International Academy of Ethics
