any questions?
what is it that is really good or bad? what does one do to do good? not once, but everytime? is it what one thinks is good or is it what is good by itself? such questions are bound to face everyone who thinks about his life and actions for a while. this does not mean that not gettingthese questions is an anomaly, but merely ignorance that one shall have to answer them for oneself someday. always better to answer them with thought than by action when one won't be afforded the luxury of time. the questions above are primary, and preliminary, even primitive. they have been haunting man since he realised he was man, different from those creatures who did not realise what they were. they also stem from a sort of self-imposed duty that it is my dutyto find out answers to all questions that dare to face me.
the first were put by nature. they were answered by man with caves, fire, wheel, digging, cloth from hide, and all further finds or creations.
the next set came from man himself. as he felt that though all were men, all were not just men. theywere not like each other. this led to a feeling that who is not likeme is not for me. this led to groups, tribes. this posed the question of sticking together. this was countered with worship of nature or anything else that suited some main men. it was used as a glue to keep men together and away from others.
then came questions about being the only group around. no other groups could be tolerated. wars followed. all men to be like us. if not naturally, then by force. if they couldn't think like us, we could force them to pretend so out of mortal fear, or better, not to think at all.
nature poked its head again. man realised it wasn't used enough. enough is never enough, as history tells. trade came. getting what others have and we don't by giving what we have, so that we may someday have both. this showed man how many places there really are in this place. he went around and found new ground. his mouth watered. so much to 'have'. obsession. madness.
by now there were so many groups with so many feelings,the place was cut up into big pieces of each group. no two groups could stay together. some similar stuck together, as kids afraid of the dark think they are obviously friends and stick to each other. man really didn't show his reason and intellect to let others livebut only live at the cost of others, which is not necessarily bad unless done knowingly.
in between, some cranks kept speaking their minds and getting killed. they asked questions which had answers written all over them, which made the main men squirm, which in turn made those who feared and/or worshipped main men squirm too. no one likes things that makes one squirm. these things are called pests and got rid of. no remorse for killing pests. these pests didn't know that its not that men want answers, but that men hate questions. getting rid of them is the best way of solving them.
i want to farm, but there's a forest in the way. no forest, no problem.
i know i'm wrong. this man knows it and says so. no such man, no say, no listening by others. 'all's well that ends well'.
which is why man hates questions. some men loved questions that didn't need answers. they were answers unto themselves. these men got lost in finding more such questions. next question, please. they wrote down what they found. they told others to try to find their own by starting with the ones they had found. young boys and girls listened to them, thought and wrote too. all of them were safe till they spoke, or someone read what they wrote. if the main men smelt thought, they smelt blood. no questions, please. some were smart enough not to write, but hide it in colours, or verse. some hid it in sounds. main men thought, thought is all finished. it was all but finished. it grew secretly. minds were the farms, barns and markets. it was bartered wherever possible.
some groups of men, who 'got nothing', literally and figuratively, were simply called 'peoples'. 'got nothing' means 'getting' as in 'do you get what i say' and 'did you get what you wanted'. they just didn't die, so kept alive. worse, they felt this was the best they could do, as some men told them great men and things said so. main men loved these people. they had stopped and stooped from being men. people never thought, just lived on till death. its still that way, you know?
but the thought market thrived. it fought and lost, but never gave up. it was always in the 'running'. towards something, and from something or someone, one and the same time. it was tough. it still is.
its a long relay. the torch passes on. main men think getting the runner is enough. but as history tells, enough is never enough. the torch burns yet. as do men and their minds with thought, the fire that invented man. isn't that good?
- shreenivas satishchandra joshi
