Austrian philosopher Ivan
Illich was of the opinion that most of us lived a life of
counterproductivity. That is, we defeat
ourselves.
Happiness is one of the
most sought after goals in life. We do a
lot of things in order to achieve happiness. We take up a profession assuming that the job
and the salary will bring us happiness.
But soon we find ourselves competing with somebody or the other in order
to achieve a higher position in the workplace because we assume that the
position is the key to our happiness.
Then we need a house that suits the professional position. We need a car, the best possible. Our children should study in the best school in
the city. The fulfilment of every desire
leads to more desires. Desire is
unhappiness. The fulfilment of one desire
brings in more desires. More
unhappiness, in other words.
Counterproductive life, Illich called it. The Buddha had said much the same thing in
slightly different words long ago.
The secret to happiness
is obviously cutting down our desires.
Learning to live with as less as possible is the prominent key to
happiness. When the whole world is
rushing at a breakneck speed towards more and more illusions driven by desires,
it may be difficult to stand aside and learn to be content with less and
less. Yet that standing aside is the
real key to happiness.
Illich illustrates it
with an example. You buy a car assuming
that you are going to gain a lot of time by being able to travel faster at your
own convenience. The truth is that you
spend a lot of time getting your car fuelled, waiting at traffic signals and traffic
jams, keeping your vehicle in good condition, recuperating in a hospital after
a crash, and so on. Illich made a
calculation and found out that the “real speed” of a car in America of 1970s
was 3.7 miles per hour. But people lived
under the illusion that they were getting on much faster on the highway to
happiness.
Illusions. They drive most of our lives. When we finally learn that most of the things
we did or acquired made little qualitative difference in our lives, we are too
old to do anything about it.
When I think of the
current craze in India to bring about a religious rashtra, I am reminded of
Illich’s counterproductivity theory. Let
us assume that we do succeed in bringing about that dream-rashtra. Is it going to be a utopia? Has any nation ever been happier for being
theocratic or homogeneous in any way?
The most bizarre truth is that the present desh bhakts are doing exactly
what they condemned in the theocratic nations earlier!
Once we achieve the
dream-rashtra, we will soon find ourselves disillusioned. We will start dividing ourselves into many
other groups: linguistic, for example. Such
divisions are inevitable as long as people are driven by desires to be one up
on the other. Today we want to be one up
on Muslims or Christians or whatever.
Tomorrow we will want to be one up on Tamils or Mizos or whatever.
It is better to start
reading history with a genuine desire to know what revolutions achieved so
far. Nothing except meaningless and
heartless sacrifices of human lives. No
revolution has made the world a better place.
It is better to usher in the revolution in the heart. As Ivan Illich said, “Carry a candle in the
dark, be a candle in the dark, know that you’re a flame in the dark.”
Sometimes it is more than a desire. It is the fear deep within of what others would. Today they want to be a Hindu rashtra or whatever because they are afraid that others would take advantage of their diversity if they become Buddha . Who are those others then? That's the disadvantage of diversity. If everything goes right diversity brings in the difference.
ReplyDeleteEven the Islam religion has diversity within which has caused wars if I am not wrong within their sects.who is to be blamed for that? Human nature I guess.
Human nature, precisely. In fact, I'm suggesting a change in the outlook which I know is rather impractical unless people are ready to change a part of their nature itself. Yet there is no other solution, I think.
DeleteIs it fear really. Or is it a craze for power? I think it's the latter. In a globalised world (which of course is going back to narrow nationalist concepts - breakup of EU, Trump's victory, etc)diversity is not a problem; rather, it is the solution.
I spoke to quite many people about this. Most of them, Hindus all, give me the reason that they want to avenge the past in which a certain religious people ruled over them, destroyed their gods and temples, and so on. That's the silliest argument I've got so far. And most people I spoke to are of that view.
Thanks for sharing this great article and it is very interesting also. For more information you can check it out here : https://www.eduparna.com/
ReplyDelete