Words are important. For words create images in our minds and images create imagination. All human imagination is due to language. Without language there’s not much of an imagination. And imagination has been the main driver of human evolution and progress.
And perversely this imagination leads many to question reality. Reality in the sense of what’s present around them, the living, the nonliving and with that whatever’s happening around them. That creates many poorly understood gaps in our perception of life. And in these gaps, spirituality enters to fill it with its own sleek and surreal explanations. Explaining to the convert that nothing is real. And that actual reality is somewhere else. May be beyond our horizons in this life but most likely, in afterlife.
Lot of spirituality saunters around the concept, that what we see and consider as life is an imaginary construct. Reality is somewhat or totally different. And it will come to you, only after you follow a certain path or a certain code of conduct.
Is reality imaginary ? To a certain extent yes but for exactly opposite reasons. Because whatever a person feels, sees, hears or experiences are external stimuli perceived by our sensory organs(eyes, ears, etc.,) and processed by brain into images, sounds and much more. In that context reality can be surmised to be a product of our perceptions and its processing by our brains. We may choose to negate the experiences perceived by our sensory organs. That won’t in any sense negate what is there present around us.
But then apart from that….. is there any real, tangible and measurable quality about life.
None !!!
There are a lot of spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical theories that try to explain. Though they are just theories. In success and failures people seek explanations, more so for failures. Amongst the many answers they find, they accept the ones that align with their way of thinking (knowledge, biases and prejudices) and latch on to them.
These answers and their providers have few things in common. Confidence to the extent of, it being hyper exaggerated, a sense of superiority (which may be, in the face or subtle) and a exotic collection of words, which if heard without the theatrics and atmospherics, may mean absolutely nothing and even sound like ramblings. When these ramblings are written down, they look like a huge collection of random words to which any meaning can be assigned and from which any inference can be drawn, all depending on the one who is reading or reciting it.
Myths, cults, religions, sects have risen from this huge pile of words. Some words have become etched in stone and have dictated human behaviour since centuries.Words on their own have no value. It’s the context that provides them with their power. Sometimes such a great level of power that it can control and destroy humanity by inflicting huge sufferings on them.
From a simplest point of view, it’s difficult to understand if humans create and control words or words create and control humans. Though we know words cannot control humans on their own without the human willingness to subjugate themselves to the words. And that is the truth.
Our understanding of reality derives from our experiences, their memories and emotions associated with it. That’s all there is to life. So question arises, should we negate our experiences or not? If we do let go of our experiences and the emotions associated with them, we are left with almost nothing. Just an animal like consciousness that lives from moment to moment. If we don’t let go of our experiences then we have to endure pain and sufferings. If we relish pleasures and victories then can’t really say no to pain and sufferings.
©️ShashikantDudhgaonkar
