I was just sitting in my room, worrying about the various things that were happening in my life. Then one thing dawned upon me. Life is all about decisions. Decisions about every action that we take, everything that we do which eventually determine who we are, and what we'll become. Be it the microscopic view or the weltanschauung, or what topping you want on your pizza, everything rests on our decisions.
One thought led to another and very soon, I was reminded of the Civics class in school when we were taught "The Fundamental Rights". I remembered that there are 6 Fundamental Rights, one of which is the "Right to Freedom". This lead me to ask myself a very important question
"Are all of us as free as we seem?? "
Every decision that we take seems to be governed by many factors around us. Few of them are peer pressure, parental pressure and most importantly, social dictum. Most of us do things in order to portray ourselves in a better way in front of our peers(society as well). Life is nothing but an exercise in Positioning. Most of us are known by who we seem to be, rather than who we are. Somehow, all of this is because of our restrained decision making abilities, which translates into lack of freedom.
There is an identity that is associated with the people of every institution. And the irony is that, it is an accepted identity, accepted by society. Individuality has become a secondary criteria in any field. People are judged more according to institution rather than who they are. This has become a norm in society.
Whom do we blame for all this?? No one. This is because right from the olden days, people who have come up with ideas not conforming to social decrees have suffered. Socrates, Darwin, Aristotle to name a few. The whole world claims to have become more rational/open minded but that is a fallacy. We claim to be a secular, non racist etc etc.. But one look at the Marriage Classifieds will show us how racist we are. And is there any one complaining?? I guess not. Why? Society is ok with it!
One thing we need to realise is that not all ideas that are against the beliefs of society are malevolent. The search for freedom is still on. Independence is just a small step. Give us one right, give us a hundred, people will remain what they want to be portrayed as. We seek to visit new lands, meet new people but one person that all of us are ignoring is "Our true self".
One thought led to another and very soon, I was reminded of the Civics class in school when we were taught "The Fundamental Rights". I remembered that there are 6 Fundamental Rights, one of which is the "Right to Freedom". This lead me to ask myself a very important question
"Are all of us as free as we seem?? "
Every decision that we take seems to be governed by many factors around us. Few of them are peer pressure, parental pressure and most importantly, social dictum. Most of us do things in order to portray ourselves in a better way in front of our peers(society as well). Life is nothing but an exercise in Positioning. Most of us are known by who we seem to be, rather than who we are. Somehow, all of this is because of our restrained decision making abilities, which translates into lack of freedom.
There is an identity that is associated with the people of every institution. And the irony is that, it is an accepted identity, accepted by society. Individuality has become a secondary criteria in any field. People are judged more according to institution rather than who they are. This has become a norm in society.
Whom do we blame for all this?? No one. This is because right from the olden days, people who have come up with ideas not conforming to social decrees have suffered. Socrates, Darwin, Aristotle to name a few. The whole world claims to have become more rational/open minded but that is a fallacy. We claim to be a secular, non racist etc etc.. But one look at the Marriage Classifieds will show us how racist we are. And is there any one complaining?? I guess not. Why? Society is ok with it!
One thing we need to realise is that not all ideas that are against the beliefs of society are malevolent. The search for freedom is still on. Independence is just a small step. Give us one right, give us a hundred, people will remain what they want to be portrayed as. We seek to visit new lands, meet new people but one person that all of us are ignoring is "Our true self".
6 comments:
hmm.. interesting.. but as a wise man once said, stop living for others and you shall soon realise that you have nothing to live for! :D
"Most of us are known by who we seem to be, rather than who we are." :
truly said and this is because of the various circumstantial pressures & we're into the dissonance with ourselves. The 'seem to be' factor exists because most of the times we're not the same as who we actually are but rather seem to be at pains to potray ourselves according to these circumstances.
I believe the true freedom is realized when you're 'being yourself'. For me personally, this two-word phrase is one of the most difficult thing to implement. Bizarre thing is that most of the times we don't know ourselves whether we're being what we actually are or are we just enacting.
-shekhar
Dude,
The very fact that you mention the likes of Socrates implies that his ideologies that are more than 2000 years old have had an impact on you. Social transformation takes time - quite a lot of it. And hence 'revolutionary' ideas of one generation become common sense the next.
Because it is not possible to determine the 'individuality' of every person, institutional background is used as a proxy; much like a brand name assuers us of the product's quality. Doesn't mean unbranded products are worse - just that it is more likely that a branded product performs better. Of course, this logic will hold only in a professional context. But in 'arranged marriages' the guy & gal never meet and hence no chance to determine one another's individuality. Branding seems to play pretty much the same role here!
'Positioning' - you hit bull's eye mate. At the cost of digressing, I'd like to give my two paise on this. Positioning and branding are concepts that seek to create acceptance in a large set of prople which is a mere illusion and transitory. You could consider 'real freedom' as the ability to break free from the positioning that you have consciously or inadvertently made for yourself; and make decisions that you deem right.
- Siddharth
Babywe, When you have nothing at all, all you still have is freedom. THere's but one thing that always stays unguarded, that's your mind. Freedom - It's not constricted to some fundamental right. It is eternal and more pronounced. It's innate, and the free-er one is, the more inner cement you see they have. The more liberated the mind, the more intense. The more convinced, the wider. And more passionate.
For it takes more freedom in yourself to actually close out of your environment.
Rigid bodiness all the way [:D]
For d first time I agree every bit of it. I can relate it to wat's presently goin on in ma life.. decisions taken for others! If u dont, then u're tagged as a rebel!
Keep it goin anna... Rock on!!
@ ani : Living for others is different from Living as others!! Anyways nice quote!! :D
@shekhar,siddharth:
Yes!! Interesting!! Glad to see that you are not in dissonance with my views :D :D!!
@ NO-mad!:
I agree Freedom is not constricted to a fundamental right.. But that was why I thought what I thought!! Civics class :(
Freedom is innate.. and Everyone is free.. But how much of our freedom do we exercise is the crux of life :(.. Rigid bodied!! Blaaah!! Slibblewa!
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