Seeing with the heart
“It is only with the heart
that one can see rightly,” Antoine de Saint-Exupery says in his classical
little book, The Little Prince. “What is essential is invisible to the
eye.” The most vital truths are not arrived at through reason. Even philosophers
need to listen to their heart, as writer Eric Weiner says in The Socrates
Express. The answers of the head are not only less satisfying, says Weiner,
“but, in the deepest sense, less true.” It is not clever answers that the world
needs. It is authentic answers which are required.
Authentic
answers come from the heart. The great teachers were all people who sat with
their ignorance and doubts for a long, very long while, before they arrived at
answers that eventually made the world wiser.
When answers
of the heart are lynched, we will have a perverse nation. Too many poets and
writers of India are perishing behind the bars because they looked at the
reality with their hearts. In a penetrating article titled ‘There
is freedom, but no mercy’ in the New Indian Express today, the
writer cites the examples of people like Varavara Rao. Rao, like many others
imprisoned for being good human beings in Modi’s India, is suffering from
serious medical problems as he languishes in the notorious Taloja Jail. What is
his crime? He wrote poetry. He looked at India with his heart. And wrote lines
like: “The foe fears the poet /Incarcerates him / But already the poet in his
notes / Breathes among the masses.”
The poet
finds a place in the hearts of the masses precisely because his truths come
from his heart. But in a political system that has been perverted by the spread
of falsehood and hatred, where the heart has been filled with venom, can we
write from the heart? Can writers afford to be authentic?
It is very ironical that a ruthlessly oppressive politician like Amit Shah writes in a national daily blaming Nehru for the suppression of freedoms in India. As the writer of the above-mentioned Indian Express article concludes, when leaders (like Amit Shah) play games with the people, the leaders win and the people lose. The people are at the mercy of the state that is incapable of seeing with the heart. Such a nation will glide into either dictatorship or degeneration. Either way, the future isn’t very promising. Unless the heart returns to the place it deserves.
This
post is a part of Blogchatter
Half Marathon.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteAnother excellent post! The manipulation of the mass media forms and the suppression of the independant ones (and individual voices) is all part of a picture of rule that harks back to very dark days indeed... YAM xx
We are living a large falsehood in India now. One big lie.
DeleteIt is not clever answers that the world needs. It is authentic answers which are required. You said it. Amit Shah has recently penned an article for The Times of India too. Our reputed newspapers and journalists are rubbing their noses in front of the high and the mighty now-a-days, thus losing all their dignity (earned over a life time).
ReplyDeleteI've given the link to Amit Shah's article in the post without mentioning Times of India, a newspaper that is totally sold out. I stopped reading that paper. But I saw Amit Shah's article because somebody drew my attention to it. The way our newspapers and magazines have sold their souls to the mendacious government is pathetic.
DeleteCertainly, repression of heartfelt thoughts and their expression has become the norm in the current times. We are also to be blamed to have chosen the ones mentioned above who think, they can rule for eternity! As rightly pointed out by you may the heart return to its right place!
ReplyDeleteWe are to be blamed for electing such leaders, no doubt. On the other hand, the leaders will learn certain lessons the hard way if they don't mend themselves.
DeleteEnjoyed reading this post. A politician with a vision of a leader is what we need.
ReplyDeleteVisionless politicians are the curse of India now.
DeleteLeaders always win, and people will continue to lose...No matter whoever gets elected, people will continue to lose. Systems need revolutionary changes which optimistically will take a decade or more
ReplyDelete