A bad workman, it is said, quarrels with his tools. But, I am going to reverse this saying, and prove to you that tools also start quarrelling with a bad workman
Dr. Jernail S. Anand
A bad workman, it is said, quarrels with his tools. But, I am going to reverse this saying, and prove to you that tools also start quarrelling with a bad workman. We call a work man bad, only after we decide that the work done by him, is not up to the mark. Not only up to the mark, has the work done by him sometimes destroyed the peace of some other people. It can also cause confusion in society. So, ‘bad work’ is not something which is not done improperly, but broadly speaking, it also includes any work which brings harm to society.
If we are to give a sweeping statement, we cannot say this world is entirely good. Nor can we say, it is entirely bad. A safe statement is to say that this is ‘a mixed world’. So, for all that is messy in this world – whom can we hold responsible for it? Very easily, we put the blame on gods. It is easy to say that everything happens according to the will of God. So, if the world is in a messy state, it is God’s Will. In this way, we strip man of his responsibilities, which rest on his insistence that he is born with a free will.
The idea of free will controverts with the idea that Milton wanted to stress in ‘The Paradise Lost’: To justify the ways of God to man. Nobody has seen God, but after all, we are created by some invisible force, and our strings are pulled from behind the curtain, so that sometimes, it feels, we are puppets dancing to the tunes of an invisible player. Can the idea of free will be sustained if the metaphor of puppets is accepted? Puppets have no mind of their own, whereas living beings are blessed by a sensitivity which classes them apart from lifeless objects. It also grants them a little space with regard to their will. I think it is like living in a society. Within the four walls of the house, you can arrange things as you like. But, the society has certain rules which you cannot transgress.
‘Bad work’ is not something which is not done improperly, but broadly speaking, it also includes any work which brings harm to society.
Gods, however, govern mankind, not only from outside, but from the inside also. They can peep into our minds, and propel them in different directions, depending on their understanding of our destiny. The theory of ‘Karma’ depends on human action, but no action is possible unless there is a process of thought. If you do a good action, it is because a good thought entered your mind. Gods do not monitor only our actions, they monitor our thoughts also. If our feelings are good, but we happen to act amiss, the gods will give us credit for this divided mind in committing it.
I was talking of a bad workman quarrelling with his tools. And also that sometimes, tools too lose their patience and turn angry with a bad workman. And when it happens, you can imagine what type of structures will come up. I think the metaphor of angry tools imparts that sense of inadequacy to the world that we have created. We are not perfect masters of any art. We are bad at good things which could make this world a better place. We are bad at loving each other, we are bad at comforting each other. We are bad at understanding each other. And we are bad at tolerating each other. The result is before us. We are good at hating each other. We are good at distrusting each other. We are good at not tolerating each other. As a result, we have a world which is defective. Our world lacks goodness, love, joy, and prosperity. Rather, it is full of uneven human classes, religions, creeds, and philosophies which are at logger heads. The ‘best’ tools that we have today are our weapons. If we are puppets, better call ourselves ‘deadly puppets’. We speak with our weapons and we prove ourselves with our killer power.
The Loss of the Word
Another big issue with this world is the ‘Loss of the Word’. There is no scarcity of people studying great books, and teaching great things, yet, ultimately, there is a decline in the number of people who believe in the World of the Word. Even words do not cry when they are used in unpleasant combinations. Men have acquired the agility and ability to acrobat with meanings. The world is drifting away from God and his Word. If this is civilization, we are riding a boat which is fast moving towards self-annihilation.
Read: IMITATING ANGELS – The Philosophical Poetry from India
If we look back, we will see God had created this universe, giving proper space to every object of nature. But, we have not been able to maintain the delicate balance of life. We are educated, but we behave like blind folks. What use are our degrees and diplomas if the world in which we live is finally to be described as a ‘defective world’ ‘a messed up world’ and a world fast adrift towards self-annihilation.
We always wish to bequeath a great legacy so that our descendants could live in peace and prosperity. What we are leaving behind as a legacy to our upcoming generations is neither ‘peace’ nor ‘prosperity’. The shifting focus of life from books towards films, from agriculture towards technology, and from goodness towards unscrupulous successfulness – are sure signals of moral and ethical decline. We are going to bequeath to our children an uncertain world which has failed to synchronize the commands of the Original World and the Artificial World. Let us own our responsibility and our failures for handing over a ‘defective’ world to our kids.
Read- SAJDA: THE THANKFUL GESTURE & MAN’S GOOGLE PLAY
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Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, President of the International Academy of Ethics, is author of 161 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great Award by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. The Academy of Arts and philosophical Sciences of Bari [Italy] honored him with the award of an Honorable Academic. Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engg and Management, Jaipur. Recently, he organized an International Conference on Contemporary Ethics at Chandigarh. His most phenomenal book is Lustus: The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Mahkaal Trilogy]. Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com
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Wow What a beautiful and insightful write. Ofter I to feel leaves, flowers and trees conversing with me
Wow and a big thanks Sirjee ❤️