Mistrusted by history; Abandoned by faith
It’s all about words, isn’t it? Calling ABC XYZ doesn’t turn ABC into XYZ but it certainly questions one’s capacity to perceive properly. Generally, people choose to be bracketed or boxed into peculiar categories but they don’t enjoy being stereotyped. A cute paradox of our times. Given the bellicose nature of the ongoing sociopolitical changes, there has been an upheaval in the way we look at words too. All of a sudden, the demarcations between heavy-duty terms like culture, ritual, tradition, rite, religion, civilization, origin, morality, ethics, etc. are being made. The public discourse often tilts towards one’s social bias and political leaning but at least there’s a room for dialogue between strangers now. Small wins.
What we do defines who we are, yes, but we employ words too. Actions speak louder than words only in proverbs. Take for instance, homogeneity. The word of the season if you may. Everybody wants a piece of it because it helps thicken the bubble we live in. Instead of getting into the nitty-gritties, we paint thick dreamy images of people instantaneously being nice to each other. It’s a noble thought no doubt, yet, it’s not enough. There’s much more to human nature and its relationship with history. Collective history, to be precise. We see others in binary; just like we see ourselves. We don’t see ourselves as complicated—we are either good or bad; most probably the former — and end up doing the same with the so-called others. In our head, we’ve mapped out their history in a certain manner that either favours them or doesn’t. Their history is our masterpiece.
The seeds of mistrust are present for a simple reason: we’re missing the bigger picture. Hunger unites us, food divides us. Faith brings us together, religion separates us. The sky above has seen enough of our drama and our intrinsic hubris. We can’t upend these ground realities within a generation or so. But, a big BUT, conversations can make a breakthrough. Words (and the resulting insights) might be able to accomplish what silence (and the resulting ignorance) couldn’t. Our history is pitted against us but our future wouldn’t afford the same enemy.
As we pass through the present, we are witnessing change as all those who appeared before us did and all those shall succeed us will. Just that we assume that we are the special lot. We are not. We’re seeing how questions are being raised about institutions and ideas that were gifted towering status. Doubts are being raised about the effectiveness of democracy — maybe, just maybe, Socrates was right — and religion is being stealthily dragged into the witness box. We aren’t perfect and so aren’t our creations. When Donald Trump became the leader of the free world, he managed to satiate his remarkable hunger. Similarly, when the so-called secular countries like India and Turkey began to exhibit religious perversions, faith took a free fall. This series of incidents from the recent past extort us to clean the slate for our own good. They make us ask some not-so-decent questions. What do you think will happen if people come to accept that they are not capable of knowing what’s good for them, let alone know whom to elect as their representatives? What do you think will happen if holy sites like Dome of the Rock, Mecca, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, Vatican, etc. were to undergo gigantic earthquakes tomorrow?
Again, words. Only more terrifying.
