Essential Philosophy: Problems of Life
By Raja Sharma
Copyright@2011 Raja Sharma
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved.
Chapter One
If you try to understand existence, you will find that there is nothing which can be called single, one, unique on its own. It can be unique and single only because there is an opposite of it. The entire existence is paradoxical and this very thing is the most significant. Everything has been balanced very methodically and beautifully: day is there because there is night, light is there because there is absence of light or darkness, height is there because there is depth, and if you able to learn how to balance the opposites, you gradually become capable of knowing the mysteries of life, existence, and godliness. The art of balancing is to be understood and adopted in this life. Existence is infinite, Universe is infinite, god is infinite, but the things which make this existence are there in paradoxes. This is the most beautiful thing of the existence. You give importance to breathing in but you take breathing out for granted.
There are many philosophic logics which define life through their own way: Aristotle’s logic presents linear, one dimensional view of life. Likewise many other philosophers believe that logic is linear but actually they are following a fallacy because everything happening around us is present in paradoxes. The process of life is actually a meeting of the opposites. There is always a conflict between the opposites but finally there is always a meeting of the opposites. You are born and life begins but at the same time death begins to happen because you begin to die every second. Finally there is an unknown and mysterious confluence of the two energies: life and death.
You say that you are alive but you can’t explain life because it is only happening to you hand in hand with death but when a man dies, happening stops and two energies mysteriously remain undefined. We simply say that this or that man is dead. We know that every living being is dying every second but we don’t say it or we don’t want to say it because we are deeply attached to one and that one is life. We disregard the opposite, death, but when the last moments arrive, I believe, the person who is going to die definitely understands that he had lived vainly without understanding the opposites because he was unable to create the balance between the two.
The Aristotelian view is not to be followed because his view of life is linear and if we adopt this view, then there will be only men and no women, or, only women and no men. If the world was made according to Aristotle then there will be only light and no darkness, or, only darkness and no light. That would be logical. There would be either life or death but not both.
There is nothing which is complete on its own and single is not important individually, it gains importance because the other is there. Life is life not because of a single energy; it is life because there are opposites of everything. And life is really possible only because of both, because of the opposites: man and woman, yin and yang, day and night, birth and death, love and hate. Life consists of both.
The majority of the people in this world are trained in their schools and colleges to adopt the view of Aristotle, and as a result they begin to believe that one is important, and thus they disregard the other. Modern science is very close to understanding the mystery of the existence and the universe because science has understood that life is not logical, it is dialectical. Life can be viewed from opposite angles, from opposite points. Only man does not complete the life, woman must be there. Light is called light because darkness is also there. The same can be said about human and super human or god. They complement each other so beautifully.
We disregard the opposites because we have attached ourselves to logic. If I tell you that after your death you will have a better life and you will have more than one woman to enjoy, you will pounce upon me and answer back that what would be the use because your body would not be there. After your death your body would be burnt or buried or thrown in the river or sea. I tell you that there is a great possibility that the life without body will be much more beautiful and more enjoyable. I have dreamed of a world which is definitely like the one I am habitual to. I have my imagination and my own points but I don’t want to impose any of my ideas on you because you might have something completely different in your mind and I have never even remotely thought about it. Views are views, dreams are dreams, and imaginations are imaginations, and you have your right to dwell in the world of your imagination.
I tell you that after your death your soul would be free and there would be eternal life and you would be flying from place to place like the radio waves and your area of travel would be infinite. There would be some other type of love making, without the involvement of physical bodies, and you would experience the never ending bliss. Would you buy it? No, you won’t because I am someone like you, but if the same thing is said by your religion, religious preachers, sellers of ideas, or your folklore, you are ready to accept even the nonsense. You will only listen to those gurus, the holy books which have gained superiority only because you have willingly accepted the ignorance and you never want to venture out of it.
You are not ready to believe me because you have been trained in such a way that you can’t even think of any other form of life, away from your bodies, away from your sweet home, away from your girlfriend, and all that you have achieved in this world. You have logic there but what I am telling you is dialectical. If you give a little deep thought to my point, you will begin to see that it might happen to you after your death. I have tried to experience this life and at the same time I have not disregarded other possibilities. I have already dreamed of a world where only non physical existences would be residing in a perfect harmony with the infinite, the existence.
But for the time being I would like to dwell upon the aspects which are important in this very world.
Having discussed the paradoxes or the presence of opposites, I am led along a path which is often ignored or overlooked. Yesterday, I entered a room which was dimly lit.
“It is a little dark in here,” said my friend.
“There is some light in here,” added the other.
I smiled and said, “What would you call something between light and darkness?”
They turned to me but suddenly their faces lit up.
I had touched something which was never talked about with my friends. Yes, we talk about good and bad, light and dark, man and woman, young and old, day and night, but do we really talk about the other possibilities which are essentially present between the two opposites.
In schools they tell the little ones that they teach you good things and they tell you to avoid bad. I don’t teach good things, rather I tell you to understand both good and bad but not without understanding that there are many other unnamed possibilities between good and bad.
We talk about white and black but we ignore many other complexions and skin colours. We talk about man and woman but we never talk about a shemale. How would you react if you saw a naked human being with a beautiful face and full rounded beautiful breasts along with a penis below the waist? You can easily call it a physical abnormality or something else but I call it another possibility.
The opposites are very vehemently discussed and argued but the possibilities which lie between the opposites are almost never discussed. This is my area of exploration and I am deeply interested in them because they bring out something remarkable and it adds to my understanding of the world and living beings.
Life and death are the two opposites and everyone knows about it but what about the possibilities between the two. You will say that the period between the two is living with your life and I agree but my mind does not accept it because there are many phases in your life when you are only breathing in and breathing out. There are many changing scenes and many ups and downs. Life and death are studied as opposites but those millions of possibilities are mostly ignored which lie between them. What would you say when you find a person lying in coma for more than ten years? One day he opens his eyes and asks about his pen which he had left on the table in his room. How would you explain that he had kept that pen ten years before? How are you going to describe those ten years? What was happening to him during those ten years? Was he alive? Or was he partially alive? Or was he half dead? Or was he dead to some greater degree? Neither you nor your doctors or scientists can explain.
This leads to a very interesting conclusion that the amount of knowledge and understanding which we have gained is perhaps not even a drop in the ocean. I am happy that there is lot more to know and this makes life more interesting and worth living.
If something like this happens to you, I can assure you that you are on the way to Athens. Believe me you will begin to understand life better and you will rejoice in the things which were so cruelly and foolishly ignored by you.