One of Dostoevsky’s compelling novels is The
Idiot whose protagonist is Prince Myshkin who is perceived by people as
an idiot. On the one hand, Myshkin is an ideal human being with his
truthfulness, humility, meekness and altruism. On the other, he is incompatible
with the real world of basic self-interest and animal passions.
Myshkin, like most saints, is
admirable from a distance. But emulating his example will destroy our lives.
Saintliness is good in church-alcoves. In the world of real human beings, it is
inadvisable. People will hate you if you are so good. And they will drive you
mad. Or they will destroy you, even kill you. In the beginning of the novel,
Myshkin comes to Russia from a sanatorium in Switzerland where he was under
treatment of sorts. At the end of the novel, he is driven back to the same
sanatorium as a mentally broken person. His encounters with the complex human
world wreck him mentally.
You can’t be too good and be human at
the same time. Human beings admire goodness. But they won’t let it near them.
Not too near, that is. That is why, we keep our gods and deities locked up in
shrines and temples and churches, far away from us. We will visit them when we
need to be reminded of such goodness. When the world has sucked out our
goodness from Monday to Saturday, we will go to church on Sunday and replenish
our hearts with whatever goodness we are capable of withdrawing from there.
Nowadays, the places of gods and
saints are not able to transfer much goodness to the devotees, I think. Maybe,
those places have been politicised too. I find a lot of hatred peddled from
those places these days. Most people I meet now are too religious. Sickly so.
There’s a Christian song that I love. A hymn, I believe, it
is. Some of the lines are like this:
Do
You remember, when You walked among men
Well
Jesus, You know if You're looking below
It's
worse now than then
Pushing
and shouting…
Christians all
over the world, belonging to an infinite number of sects like Roman Catholics
and Protestants and Restorationists and Emmanuel Emperor Church and so on, just
celebrated Easter. All these Christians, about 2.5 billion in number, believe
that Jesus came to make the world a better place. But, as the song cited above
says, the world has become “worse now than then.” Evil has only increased in
the human world year after year though many divine incarnations came and went
with the sole objective of reducing the evil.
Jesus was
killed at the age of 33 by his goodness. Dostoevsky created Prince Myshkin in
the image of Jesus to a great extent. Myshkin is wrecked at the age of 26.
Jesus and Myshkin are two ideal human beings. Neither could survive in the
human world. One became a god and the other became an idiot. The ideal human
being is an idiot in the practical world of ordinary human affairs. Except the
very few lucky ones who become gods.
PS. This post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023
Previous Post: Hurt in the Heart
Coming up tomorrow: Jurassic World [Not about
the movies but about present India]
Well, an excellent description of today's world where goodness simply cannot survive in the ocean of evil that surrounds us. After all it is kalyug.
ReplyDeleteI am certain that India will survive any Armageddon because Modiji is an incarnation of god. Indian incarnations are post-truth.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteHarsh... but close to being true. I do think there are many who maintain goodness even in the everyday, but it usually comes at a level of sacrifice in some way (if perceived from the selfish greedy p.o.v.) For the 'good' themselves, they ought not to see sacrifice. If they do - then they are actually egoists and really part of the world they puport to be against! Which is to say, it is ego-lessness which is almost impossible to keep when engaging with the world, even where acts of goodness exist. YAM xx
For the letter G, I wanted to write about Gulliver's misanthropy. It'd have been harsher.
DeleteIf the world has a few more enlightened people like you, Gulliver wouldn't hate humankind so much.
Good people have it rough. Near misfits. Well-written post around a unique idea. One Day At a Time happens to be a favourite of mine.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely song. So meaningful and melodious. And the typical un-Christian questioning.
DeleteExtremism either way is not good.
ReplyDeleteNot practical.
DeleteAfter reading your post, I read Yamini's comment. For me, the balance is restored:)
ReplyDeleteI'm fortunate to have Yam here.
DeleteLoved your post. Found it the best among all i read so far. People are too religious and sickly so. Agree and so on point. The world doesn't recognise goodness.
ReplyDeleteI'd wish to be less of a misanthrope!
DeleteThis reminds me of the phrase "being too good for one's good!" I tend to agree with you... good people are often misfits in a naughty world!
ReplyDeleteInnocence is dangerous for both the innocent and those around!
DeleteTruth is cruel. Your article is thought provoking.
ReplyDeletePrince Myshkin's story reminded me of a Hindi movie Yugpurush which was released in March 1998. In that movie also, a person released from asylum after 25 years and having a mind as clean as slate has to go back to the asylum only within just a few months because the world is not meant for truthful and clean-hearted people like him. You have truly asserted that the ideal human being is an idiot in the practical world of ordinary human affairs. Ideals appear nice in the books only. Majority of the people who call themselves as 'practical' and 'prudent' use them in words but keep an optimal distance from them in their deeds.
ReplyDeleteBeing practical means making compromises. The movie you mentioned must be exploring that theme. Too much goodness won't do anyone good.
DeleteNot for the good person at least.
DeleteAnd more than making compromises, being practical is meant to be a hypocrite (not being true to own words).
DeleteHarsh but true...good people are found fewer every year and not really in real life
ReplyDeleteKaliyug is real!
Delete