Barely 12 hours after I ended my piece on the movie Aligarh with the note that people watching the movie would perhaps get sensitized to the plight of the gay and the lesbians, I read the article in the Sunday edition of TOI - that the movie was not releasing in Aligarh. A BJP MP reportedly felt that Aligarh would be thought of as being a hub of homosexuals. And someone actually succumbed to this argument. The defending lawyer in the movie Aligarh nails it as he explains the subjectivity of morality. Shown as an exponent of free-thought, he says, and quite rightly so, what is moral for one could be totally immoral for another.
Let us take the case of mind-controlling parasites who make the hosts dance to their tunes. This is not some sci-fi movie. It is a reality in the animal world. Something that came to light only after knowledge about it came to the fore. Awareness of things that exist in nature that may be contrary to what is generally known, could be an outcome of the forage of a hungry mind or could simply be some accidental knowledge-gain. Either way, awareness makes one realise that there is so much more to know than what one already knows. Even the great philosopher Socrates had said, "I know I know nothing"!
When homosexuality gets discussed as paving the way for moral degradation, it is a reflection of a bigger malaise - that of a deep-seated rot in the way we think - a thinking that could be a result of the outcome of narrowness in thoughts. And narrowness in thoughts arise where there is no knowledge force to widen the thought channels. To prevent a mid from rotting, it is important to let knowledge grow as that can keep the mind fertile as no other. In fact, it is laughable when people strive to protect knowledge like those who try to protect race - lest the race gets defiled or impure. Just as it is said for travel - that the more one travels, the more liberating it is, the same could be said for interaction - the more one interacts and debates, the more liberating it can be - liberation from both narrow opinionated thoughts and disinformation that may have been gathered as a result of little knowledge about facts and issues.
It has to be understood that gaining knowledge is liberating. It had the potential to moult thoughts - where fresh knowledge-gain could lead to the shedding off of previously-held thoughts, replacing them with newer thoughts.
Building mind walls to protect the supposed purity of knowledge is not only detrimental to one's own growth but to the growth of the society at large. If one were to think of what one knew as the be all and end all of knowledge, it would be akin to the proverbial case of a frog in a well. Even as a huge expanse of universe exists outside of the well, the frog would be totally oblivious to it.
There are no absolutes. There can never be. Knowledge has always proven this to be true, and will continue to prove it to be so. It is only this that can help to build an inclusive society.
Let us take the case of mind-controlling parasites who make the hosts dance to their tunes. This is not some sci-fi movie. It is a reality in the animal world. Something that came to light only after knowledge about it came to the fore. Awareness of things that exist in nature that may be contrary to what is generally known, could be an outcome of the forage of a hungry mind or could simply be some accidental knowledge-gain. Either way, awareness makes one realise that there is so much more to know than what one already knows. Even the great philosopher Socrates had said, "I know I know nothing"!
When homosexuality gets discussed as paving the way for moral degradation, it is a reflection of a bigger malaise - that of a deep-seated rot in the way we think - a thinking that could be a result of the outcome of narrowness in thoughts. And narrowness in thoughts arise where there is no knowledge force to widen the thought channels. To prevent a mid from rotting, it is important to let knowledge grow as that can keep the mind fertile as no other. In fact, it is laughable when people strive to protect knowledge like those who try to protect race - lest the race gets defiled or impure. Just as it is said for travel - that the more one travels, the more liberating it is, the same could be said for interaction - the more one interacts and debates, the more liberating it can be - liberation from both narrow opinionated thoughts and disinformation that may have been gathered as a result of little knowledge about facts and issues.
It has to be understood that gaining knowledge is liberating. It had the potential to moult thoughts - where fresh knowledge-gain could lead to the shedding off of previously-held thoughts, replacing them with newer thoughts.
Building mind walls to protect the supposed purity of knowledge is not only detrimental to one's own growth but to the growth of the society at large. If one were to think of what one knew as the be all and end all of knowledge, it would be akin to the proverbial case of a frog in a well. Even as a huge expanse of universe exists outside of the well, the frog would be totally oblivious to it.
There are no absolutes. There can never be. Knowledge has always proven this to be true, and will continue to prove it to be so. It is only this that can help to build an inclusive society.
So true. Liberalism and acceptance of diversity of thought simultaneously are key to learning and subsequent wisdom!
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