The Sacred and the Profane

Literature is a sacred treasure of mankind, and it must be looked upon with reverence and a sacred trust.

• Ultimate commitment of good literature is to ensure the moral well-being of the cosmic community

Dr. Jernail S. Anand | India

There are certain things which are considered sacred, and they cannot be put up for grabs. Faith cannot be bartered away for any price, nor for that matter, human conscience. The reason is we attach sacredness to these things, and man is not expected to sell them unless at the cost of losing his humanity. Being human is a morally supreme construct. And what characterizes humanity most is grace. Grace is the way we live out our lives with dignity, and stay above board. We see humanity fighting a losing battle against circumstances created by the few who make the majority suffer the pangs of deprivation and scarcity. Social conditions often force people to sell themselves in order to stay in the race of life. Selling your services has nothing wrong in it. But selling one’s flesh, faith, and conscience do attract blame.

As a man of literature, I think just as we are forbidden to sell flesh, selling literature too is an act which smacks of a graceless compromise. If men compromise so that they could live, even then it is tolerable. But when men compromise their principles simply to top the charts, and create best sellers, and if it is the lure of wealth which makes a man write stuff which sells, I think one has to stop here and start thinking.

Operation Create

We cannot fault the people who want their books sold, for only then, their message will reach the masses, and the Operation Create will be completed. But, what violates against sense and moral equilibrium is how writers are in a race to create best sellers, how they tout their awards, and how they self-profess their own greatness. Running from fest to fest, fair to fair, and shop to shop is great salesmanship. But  a true writer would not run after selling his books.  Books are not wares, they embody human faith. They are sacred to the community. And a thing held sacred cannot be put on the market rack in a fish market.

No doubt, today, people produce what sells because otherwise, it is considered a waste of time and resources. People go for light stuff, short pieces, and therefore, most of the literature is found on Instagram and other social media platforms. And writers are busy finding entry to book fairs and literary festivals, so that their products could be brought to the limelight. The highly provided writers succeed in profiling their works on the strength of PR and connections. Even papers have learnt to live with second hand matter if it is a firsthand monetary proposition.

There is nothing wrong if books go to amazon and flipkart or other portals. But, faking reviews is indefensible. It is immoral. Literature is the only lamp which spreads the light of morality, and good sense, and it is the only agency which is considered capable of salvaging humanity from the morass of self-love and self-possession. Here, the writers must stop before they get carried away by the market forces. All entertainment, and no instruction violates the Horatian ethos. A man of literature, a poet or a novelist, all owe it to the community, and to the cosmic forces, love for human grace and dignity which they must preserve. Selling literature like hot cakes was neither the dictum of Shakespeare, nor William Wordsworth. Did our great writers ever go to the book shops to sell their books? Can we think of Maxim Gorky or Kahlil Gibran or even Tagore doing this type of actions? I think literature is a sacred treasure of mankind, and it must be looked upon with reverence and a sacred trust. The idea of sales, and best sellers fits more with films, where these ideals are easily sacrificed, not with literature which has seen great authors who inspire love, faith, beauty and the ideal of aesthetics. It has to be remembered that the ultimate commitment of good literature is to ensure the moral well-being of the cosmic community.

Read: Reforming the Young Minds

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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