Has it ever happened that you were fuming red hot anger towards a person and confronted him/her only to realize that they had their own reasons for their behavior and at once all of your anger seemed to have magically vanished (you even started to empathize with them)? Well if this hasn't happened to you, you might be the epitome of Godly nature. For the rest of us all lesser mortals, me especially, this is a daily routine, much like breathing. Coincidentally, Buddhism talks about how understanding and love aren't two separate things. When you understand, you cannot get angry on people anymore. This blog is an attempt to explain my understanding on why religious people and those who revere casteism behave and act the way they do. Don't get me wrong, I'm a hardcore atheist and vehemently oppose religious fundamentalism. But the first step in such opposition must be an honest understanding of its moral motives. As wise men say, "a good place to look for wisdom is in the minds of your opponents"
The crux of the blog is this- religion and caste make people feel whole and at peace because they offer coherence across three levels namely physical, psychological and communal.
Think about it, a child born to religious parents would be bombarded with stories of God and his devotees right from his childhood. He starts worshiping a certain physical form of God and does daily rituals and is surrounded by a whole community that endorses and practices it over time. So clearly there is a tradition within which certain symbols and forms have meanings. there are certain actions or behavior which reinforce or substantiate the symbolic meanings and then there is a community to endorse and practice it over time. Every caste similarly has a deluge of peculiar, personalized and obscure symbolistic meanings (kula dheivam and kula dheiva kovil) with religious, emotional and hierarchical values.
A devout Hindu, for example would have grown up hearing stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata and other gods. He would take bath several times a day because his religious tradition tells him to do so. He does poojas and gives food to God, literally. He would ask for Saraswathi's forgiveness if he steps on a book accidentally. He would call upon Lakshmi to ask her for prosperity and wealth. He knows that each of these gods have a unique physical form and a particular restricted area of service and each of these gods invoke distinct behaviors and bodily sensations in him. His understanding at the psychological level has spread down to his physical behavior, and when the visceral levels connect, the rituals just feel right to him.
After say fifty years of these practices entrenched within him, you go to that Pichumani's house asking for his daughter's hand or to debate the existence of God and question his caste beliefs, of course he's gonna pour boiling water over you. His explicit understanding is supported by hundreds of physical feelings, endorsed by his community over several years and his stance will always be visceral.
No matter how logical you structure your response and give incisive explanations, for the hidebound Mr. Pichumani, your answers and supposed actions just doesn't feel right for him. He starts giving you reasons that has got nothing to do with your argument at all. This is called confabulation. Mostly it would be "we elderly people know whats right and wrong for you" or the more authoritative "just do what I say". You can never change his mind using logic because the argument you defeat is not the cause of his position. It was made up after the judgement was already made. Their feelings (which are more visceral and got nothing to do with rationality) come first and their reasons are invented on the fly, to throw at you.
This readers, is why they behave the way they do. Even though they are caught in a limbo from our viewpoint (and objectively too), ensnared deep by pretentious and hubristic delusions and take pride not for their achievements but for the achievements of their forefathers, it pains me to say that they experience meaningfulness (oh the irony) in life because there is cross level coherence within them. Now you can explain why the age old grumpy thatha in "Pariyerum Perumal" kills couples; because he thinks it's his purpose, he thinks he's doing it for his God.
Atheists on the other hand, who think themselves as rational (for better or worse) are skeptical about traditional practices and consequentially about the meaning of our lives. Thus we have no coherence whatsoever and this lack of meaningfulness in life results in being torn apart by internal contradictions and neurotic conflicts like depression, existential crises and nihilism. Life just seems prosaic for us. Meaning and purpose simply emerge from the coherence.
One of my recent favorite songs from the movie Gypsy effusively paraphrases my thoughts on religion and casteism in an Utopian world.
மனிதம் தாண்டி
புனிதம் இல்லை வா
இதயம் தாண்டி
இறைவன் இல்லை வா
கரங்கள் கோடி இணையும் போது
சுவர்கள் யாவும் இடியாதோ
மனங்கள் மாற துணியும்போது
மதங்கள் ஓடி ஒளியாதோ
வா வெண்புறா
Think about it, a child born to religious parents would be bombarded with stories of God and his devotees right from his childhood. He starts worshiping a certain physical form of God and does daily rituals and is surrounded by a whole community that endorses and practices it over time. So clearly there is a tradition within which certain symbols and forms have meanings. there are certain actions or behavior which reinforce or substantiate the symbolic meanings and then there is a community to endorse and practice it over time. Every caste similarly has a deluge of peculiar, personalized and obscure symbolistic meanings (kula dheivam and kula dheiva kovil) with religious, emotional and hierarchical values.
A devout Hindu, for example would have grown up hearing stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata and other gods. He would take bath several times a day because his religious tradition tells him to do so. He does poojas and gives food to God, literally. He would ask for Saraswathi's forgiveness if he steps on a book accidentally. He would call upon Lakshmi to ask her for prosperity and wealth. He knows that each of these gods have a unique physical form and a particular restricted area of service and each of these gods invoke distinct behaviors and bodily sensations in him. His understanding at the psychological level has spread down to his physical behavior, and when the visceral levels connect, the rituals just feel right to him.
After say fifty years of these practices entrenched within him, you go to that Pichumani's house asking for his daughter's hand or to debate the existence of God and question his caste beliefs, of course he's gonna pour boiling water over you. His explicit understanding is supported by hundreds of physical feelings, endorsed by his community over several years and his stance will always be visceral.
No matter how logical you structure your response and give incisive explanations, for the hidebound Mr. Pichumani, your answers and supposed actions just doesn't feel right for him. He starts giving you reasons that has got nothing to do with your argument at all. This is called confabulation. Mostly it would be "we elderly people know whats right and wrong for you" or the more authoritative "just do what I say". You can never change his mind using logic because the argument you defeat is not the cause of his position. It was made up after the judgement was already made. Their feelings (which are more visceral and got nothing to do with rationality) come first and their reasons are invented on the fly, to throw at you.
This readers, is why they behave the way they do. Even though they are caught in a limbo from our viewpoint (and objectively too), ensnared deep by pretentious and hubristic delusions and take pride not for their achievements but for the achievements of their forefathers, it pains me to say that they experience meaningfulness (oh the irony) in life because there is cross level coherence within them. Now you can explain why the age old grumpy thatha in "Pariyerum Perumal" kills couples; because he thinks it's his purpose, he thinks he's doing it for his God.
Atheists on the other hand, who think themselves as rational (for better or worse) are skeptical about traditional practices and consequentially about the meaning of our lives. Thus we have no coherence whatsoever and this lack of meaningfulness in life results in being torn apart by internal contradictions and neurotic conflicts like depression, existential crises and nihilism. Life just seems prosaic for us. Meaning and purpose simply emerge from the coherence.
One of my recent favorite songs from the movie Gypsy effusively paraphrases my thoughts on religion and casteism in an Utopian world.
மனிதம் தாண்டி
புனிதம் இல்லை வா
இதயம் தாண்டி
இறைவன் இல்லை வா
கரங்கள் கோடி இணையும் போது
சுவர்கள் யாவும் இடியாதோ
மனங்கள் மாற துணியும்போது
மதங்கள் ஓடி ஒளியாதோ
வா வெண்புறா
Such clarity !!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written da. Looking forward to reading many such articles authored by you.
ReplyDeleteNice !
ReplyDelete