“Nothing exists apart from atoms and empty space. Everything else is opinion.”
I remember coming across this
ancient Greek wisdom some time in my undergrad years. Being as philosophically
loaded as it is, my mind would always refuse to accept the underlying cynicism
and generalisation. Trained in the scientific school of thought as most of us are (at least through the bulk of our formative years), we invariably
- albeit at times only subconsciously - grow to respect, love and prefer the
beauty of determinism and order in all walks of life. And while at one point or
another we may end up surrendering the joys of scientific pursuit to the more
brilliant of minds amongst us, it does not happen before we understand, accept
and start experiencing the universe as an objective reality governed by
infallible principles, laws and truths that help separate right from wrong. This
means opinions can only begin where the unflinching grasp of the truth ends.
But life is more than just
science and math. In fact, as we break the shells of childhood, adolescence and
eventually teenage, and endeavour to discover the world on our own (beyond the
vestigial learnings accrued from the preceding generation), we also break past
the comfortable determinism of science and start venturing into the maddening
chaos of fields of knowledge such as sociology, economics, politics and
psychology. The scientific temper in us rebels at the realisation that in the
multivariate analysis of life, these complex subjects carry a much bigger
coefficient than science and math. This disappointment stems partly from the
fact that unlike science, these fields of practical knowledge are/can-never-be
correctly/exactly taught/simulated in any classroom environment (without significantly
diluting their objective essence), and partly from the sheer existential dread
from the realisation that in these areas of human experience, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’
almost always lead to an incorrect over-simplification culminating in nihilistic
self-doubt and identity crisis.
The universal lockdown of the
past 2 months happened to perfectly coincide with a transition phase in yours truly's professional life. Relieved vastly of the usual toils of work, I ended up
condemning my mind to immerse itself into the everyday developments across the
world, just like you.
Back when I had first stumbled on
to the quote, I was what I would now describe as a left liberal, and a lazy one at that. Riding high on the youthful
exuberance of premature enlightenment, right
wing ideologies & institutions would always seem authoritative and
conservative to the extent of being dogmatic and regressive - like unnecessary relics of the
past. Examining these subjects and several socio-economic developments of the
times in isolation with a myopic world view, it would always seem fashionable
and at times heroic to consider oneself an iconoclastic renegade, at least in
thought and principle. This ideological inclination resulted from an absence of
consequences for a privileged dependent adult who was still learning and living
on his parent’s earnings, blissfully shielded against the direct ravages of the
society (and the world at large) by the guardianship of the government
institution of learning to which he belonged. Rebellion had not only seemed convenient
but also the right thing to do.
But as one eventually sheds these
temporary institutional asylums that foster collective identities (read ‘herd
mentalities’) and strives to carve one’s own individuality and place in the
world, one starts gaining cognizance of the much larger forces at play. Like a
young scientific mind that wakes up one fine day to the infinite vastness of
the universe, this is one of the most revealing and humbling experiences of
life. Learning to watch our own backs in a world with consequences attached to
every action forces us to descend from the comfortable intellectual &
moral high grounds and empathise with the ideologies and institutions that we
had once abhorred with misguided pride and prejudice. This happens because the cosy
controlled confines of college classrooms and corridors (please appreciate the delicate
alliteration) get swiftly replaced with the real world where nothing exists and
happens in isolation. Every event is embedded in a context which is part of an
infinite chain of causality running across ages, cultures and geography, too
complex to be comprehended in entirety by any single mind.
Given enough time like one enjoys
during a professional transition in a global lockdown, one gets to endeavour to
peel away the multiple layers of convoluted nuance attached to any
socio-economic development to try to unravel the elusive underlying ‘truth’ - constantly switching between the
ideological left and the right in attempts to rationalise both perspectives in
the process. Eventually, hours of aimless scrolling over endless news feeds on
social media force you to return to the timeless wisdom of the ancient Greeks- that
sentient intelligence evolved over millennia has helped us build a world that
is too complicated to be examined and governed by just one view or ideology.
Moreover, it would be pointless to force the other side to do so.
This is because in the
information age constantly fuelled by technological progress, subjects like
sociology, economics, politics and psychology have become such seamlessly
integrated with one another, that it is virtually impossible to make an argument
– ideologically left or right – in one without an implication or inherent
assumption in one or more of the other. In short, the biggest problems of the
21st century are so complicated that they demand a highly
sophisticated and conscientious approach towards solution.
The latent problem is the vast intellectual
differential among the masses, all of whom now possess the ability to
communicate (read ‘indoctrinate’) at unprecedented scale and speed. This
knowledge gap is being exploited 24X7 by carefully, and at times unwittingly,
crafted social media bubbles – toxic and violent echo chambers of both the left
and the right and their respective ever expanding followers – that always refuse to agree on anything under the sun.
As a result, everything is an
outrage or an outrage against an outrage or even an outrage over the lack of
outrage, over one thing after another, day in and day out with extremely
limited room for tolerant consideration towards constructive criticism. Those who even
attempt to bridge the gap are labelled hypocrites or deluded and are
mercilessly shamed or ostracised, until a small minority is forced to resort to
unscrupulous or even violent means to get their voices heard. Such
socio-political movements often culminate in a revolution that comes at the
cost of years of peaceful progress and resets the game all over again. The
degree and extent to which social media has normalised violence, hatred and death is a
shocking testimony to same. This doesn’t end up deciding who was right, it only
determines who will be left – to survive and eventually start playing the game
all over again. These violent delights
have violent ends.
To you, my truth will seem just like
an opinion, and vice versa. 'We do not necessarily need to agree and arrive at a
consensus, so long as we agree on the ground rules on how we would disagree
without a consensus.' Sadly, this fundamental tenet of progressive democracy is easily lost in the complicated,
fast paced, noisy and high stake socio-political discourse of our times, where vested
interests and extremist ideologies keep running over the bitter truth until it
looks familiar and acceptable. Perhaps like Neo
from the Matrix, more of us need to
be unplugged and awakened to the power of causality and consequences in the
real world. Else the anomalous Agent Smiths
among us and their malicious codes will continue to wreak havoc and revel in
the chaos by constantly playing both sides of the table.
Or we can choose to go back to the blue pill of a comfortable work
life in a metro city and simply forget all this even exists, except for that occasional small talk and WhattsApp forward.
Left or right, the problem – as the Architect explains in the movie with
delightful verbosity – is choice.
