Tomichan Matheikal's blog

  The world in Kafka’s fiction is a veritable prison in which you are not free though you are allowed the illusion of being free. As the police Inspector tells the protagonist of The Trial , “You are under arrest, certainly, but that need not hinder you from going about your business. You won’t be hampered in carrying on in the ordinary course of your life.” Carry on in the ordinary course of your life. Eat, sleep, mate, and do some job like all other normal people. That is the ordinary course of life. If you dare to do more than that, the authorities will tell you in no uncertain terms that you are crossing your limits. What are those limits, however? Kafka does not make it clear. His protagonists fight invisible forces. The so-called authority lies beyond the reach of the ordinary mortals in Kafka’s world. In The Trial , for example, it is the Law that determines the protagonist’s fate. What is the Law, however? Joseph, the protagonist of The Trial , admits his ignorance ...

  Human beings have infinite ways of deluding themselves. ‘Just-world bias’ is just one of them. It is the belief that we live in a just world which rewards us for our good deeds and punishes for the evil ones. In other words, we believe that there is a moral order in the world or the universe by which our actions merit just consequences. You get what you deserve. What you reap is what you sowed. What goes around comes around. Karma. Most religions believe in the just-world concept in one form or another. In religions, a god or some divine entity controls this system. Many people who are not religious believe in a universal force that maintains this moral balance. The naked truth is that there is no such force or divine entity dishing out justice to us from somewhere out there. The death of an innocent child due to a pandemic alone should be enough to make us realise that the heavens are not a bit as fair as we would wish them to be. We can choose to hoodwink ourselves with bel...

  Lewis Terman is a psychologist who put a high premium on intelligence. “There is nothing about an individual as important as his IQ, except possibly his morals,” he declared fervidly. He carried out a lifelong research on certain highly gifted children continuously until they grew up into adulthood. His research is the longest-lasting longitudinal study ever conducted. In 1921, Terman sent a team of fieldworkers to California’s elementary and high schools with the mission of finding out the brightest students. Intelligence tests were conducted on the students suggested by the teachers. The top ten percent of the candidates were given another IQ test. Those who scored above 130 in that second test were administered a third test. Thus Terman selected the most intelligent students of California, no less than 1470 of them. These students, who came to be known as Termites, were monitored constantly as they grew up. They were tested at regular intervals, the results were analysed, ...

  One of the best philosophies of life is humanism. It is an attitude to the world that is centred on human experiences, thoughts and hopes. Our rational faculty is the foundation of this philosophy. Our reason can tell us clearly why certain actions are good and others are bad. Our reason can tell us why we should choose the good and avoid the bad and hence can be the solid foundation of our morality. Our moral code does not require other trappings like gods and religions. Humanism asserts that we have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to our lives. This noble philosophy aims to build a more humane society through an ethic based on human and natural values in the spirit of reason and free enquiry. The American Humanist Association defines humanism as “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism or other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfilment that aspire to the greater good.” It ...

  “Good children do their homework on time; their writing is neat; they keep their bedroom tidy; they are often a little shy; they want to help their parents; they use their brakes while cycling down a hill.” [ The School of Life: An Emotional Education by Alain de Botton et al] The world wants good children. Moulding good children is apparently the only purpose of the very existence of parents and schools. This is one of the gravest injustices done to children. The excessive need for compliance shown by the good child, the eagerness to please others, and the unquenchable thirst for appreciation are signs of a subdued existence. The good child is a bud that won’t bloom. It is a nestling that won’t fly, at least not far enough. The good child is a bland breeze that carries no tang. The good child chooses such compliance maybe out of love for a depressed parent who makes it clear that she couldn’t cope with more problems. The good child may be trying to soothe a violent pare...