A Monologue!

I think I am still the camel turning into the lion, and the child is awaiting me.

Smile dear brother, smile. Not that innocent smile, the crooked smile. Because we all know! We are all part of that horde we call humanity. Don’t be reluctant! Let the putrid smell of humanity be inhaled. Let it stink. Let not our fake innocence deceive us anymore!

Why do you fret? Is it because I have seen the ugly truth? But didn't you know it all the while? Wasn't that our legacy all along?

Think about our civilisations, our cultures.
Don’t they make you proud anymore? Why? Is it because of the lies they were built upon – lies more evanescent than the clouds? Or are you thinking about what all have we not done to keep these lies sacred?

And yet we reek of honesty! Is that the reason for your apprehension?
Don’t worry about honesty, dear brother. It’s a pungent parable for the prosaic of lives.
Don’t go behind it, it blandishes the mind with rewards so resplendent that it has blinded many an eye.

Remember those wars; those thousands of wars, millions of killings. The rains have washed away the stains from the body and the ground but what of the heart? What could ever erode the sins of the heart?

Oh, the regret, the remorse, the guilt!

Now read me about your virtues. Why? You feel they are sardonic?

But isn't that inherently human? Aren't we the temporal always in search of the eternal? So why would our values be anything more?

Once, we found faith. We explored it. Weren't our lives entirely dependent on it for a while? But then we used it – each one of us used it for ourselves. And now we are against it. But by then we found reason. We are exploring it. But how much time, do you think, would it take for man to turn against reason?

Why have you burdened your soul with loads not your own?  Aren't you weary? Perhaps you are lost. Verily, it’s time for you to leave yourself so that you can seek yourself. Let the gospels and the facts be forgotten, but let not yourself be drifted into oblivion under their veils.

You are here in the river of time. Let the stinking smell be washed off.
There are fishes and parasites, don’t let them drag you and harm you, for they are envious of those who want to fly. Be above and beyond them for you struggle against yourself for yourself.

Now, won’t you go? It’s time for you to craft your horizon!

P.s.: Inspired from Friedrich Nietzsche's 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' The first line is in reference to the book.

A Cat-Dog Analogy !

Independence and Freedom are virtues that we all cherish. The goriest wars in history were only waged to preserve these values. In fact they are the cornerstones of modern-day lifestyles. And I am quite sure that you wouldn't have failed to notice a difference between cats and dogs in this respect.

Dogs have masters while Cats have servants. The dogs famous for their loyalty and selflessness are actually the ones who lack any kind of freedom or independence. They have their own fixed time to go out or to sleep, fixed meal, fixed bed everything of which is decided by the master. While on the other hand, Cats would eat when they want, sleep when and where they want, go out when they want and simply they don’t care what their master ‘staff’ tells them. 

But why is this difference? What is the origin of this difference?

It’s quite simple actually: Cats don’t trust anybody, not even their owners. Dogs have a strong faith that whatever their masters tell them is for their own good while Cats decide it for themselves. They don’t trust in others’ predicaments. And if you look closely, the nature’s best survivors are those who don’t trust anybody. Take the example of a crow. If you feed birds regularly most of them would not be alarmed by your close proximity but that’s not the case with a crow. It will either attack or flee, if it senses any unusual movements or proximity.

So why is lack of trust so important to independence and survival?

Again its quite simple, when you trust someone to do something, you are actually relieving your responsibilities; you are being dependent on him which obviously takes away the complete independence. And by not fulfilling your responsibilities yourself, you are missing an opportunity to perfect yourself and giving it to someone else. And going with Natural Selection, the more perfect you are, the more ensured your survival is. And frankly speaking, our society is a vicious cycle of trust! No one can fulfill their responsibilities on their own; no one can survive on their own.

But the truly dismaying question is: What is trust? How can we define trust?

Science, as we know, is the most reliable form of knowledge and its reliability is because of its testability. But can we know how reliable a person is? Science emphasizes on relying on any kind of knowledge only after it is proved. But then trust is, by definition, meaningless.  Then how come we built a whole new system, so unlike from what nature gave us, from something as hollow and obsolete as trust?

The questions, the answers, the ways of life and the ways of thinking are all being contradictory to each other and still each one of them can be true all the time and we cannot do anything else but being helpless. 

But I don’t want to be just helpless, so I ask you Who do you want to be: a Dog or a Cat?


--- Sarath Warrier---