The violinist played the last note with a solemn sway of the bow and then bowed to the audience with a proud panache. His heart longed for an applause. Then came one clap from somewhere. Two. A few more. And it spread across the auditorium. The ego of the violinist was pleased. It’s only much later he learnt that most people in the auditorium were deaf. Still later he learnt that the two or three people who initiated the applause were bribed to do so. Apparently the above is a moral science story meant to teach humility. The sheer truth is that the writer of the story was flexing his ego by writing it. I have adapted the story from Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), great philosopher. He told the story with the intention of accusing his audience (readers) of metaphorical deafness. He wanted to prove that his readers lacked the brains to understand him. Schopenhauer Schopenhauer had published his masterpiece, The World as Will and Idea . In his letter t
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