“This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel – a solution of why Democritus laughed and Heraclitus wept” – Horace Walpole.
Unusual Thanksgiving it is….. The irony of a narcissistic authoritarian taking the most powerful position in the first nation of the world, while members of the Sioux Nation are being teargassed on their own land, on a day celebrating the immigrants is not lost on me. Try as I may, it is hard to celebrate without going into a major denial. Denial is certainly a survival mechanism that allows us to function through the painful reality of our lives. Escaping reality is becoming increasingly hard these days. A journey into the past, reading philosophy and constant questioning seems to be the only soothing relief from the painful restlessness of the daily existence.
“The Business of Philosophy is not to give Rules, but to analyze the private judgements of common reason” -Immanuel Kant.
As I was walking up the escalators in Dubai airport this advertisement caught my eye. It was reassuring to know that scientists at CERN are on the quest for the “God Particle”. In our data and evidence obsessed culture, there have been many times I have felt conflicted with my perception of truth and the evidence (or lack thereof) for it. Navigating through this complexity has been mostly uncomfortable if not frankly painful at times. Yet the only way to move forward is for science to prove the insights before meaningful changes can be integrated into our lives. Progress is slow and patience is difficult.
Zeno of Eleo was a Greek philosopher who was brilliant at producing paradoxes. He describes a story of Achilles and the tortoise in which the two of them decide to have a race. Since Achilles can run twice as fast the tortoise he gives it a long start. But by the time Achilles reaches the tortoise’s starting point , it would have moved half the distance of it’s lead, and by the time Achilles reaches that point, the tortoise would have moved on by half that distance and so on and so on. Achilles is never able to catch up with the tortoise as per logic. But we suspect that Achilles will overtake the tortoise eventually and sure he will. But the interesting thing in this story is that one can argue a perfectly logical reasoning that leads to a false conclusion. And so it seems to happen quite often in medical research, market analysis etc. Our models of prediction and understanding are so limited that it is humbling.
When looking at my immediate world or the larger world out there, the arrogance and know it all attitude is astounding to me. Yes, we have made a lot of scientific progress; rational thinking and science is getting us closer and closer to more accurate models of predictability. But the absolutism in science and near absence of humility makes me squirm. I have sat through medical lectures where eminent scientists have made boisterous claims and dismissed the not so well studied concepts. There is clearly conflict of interests from pharmaceutical companies and the researcher’s need for publications when presenting data. It is so heavily biased by the confounding factors, that the objective truth is hard to know. We are not a society guided by truth but by material success. While this has always been a conflict in human history, our times may be more significant. The recent election has showed that truth is vulnerable and is at the mercy of powerful and manipulative con-artists in all fields, not just in politics. Growing up in India, this was a self evident fact to me, that the ones that have power and previlige can and will manipulate the truth. Yet I have seen men and women with integrity fight for values in the midst of utter chaos and that gives me hope.
As my adopted country is shunning its moral values in favor of blatant and crude pursuit of power at any cost, I am reminded to keep faith and continue to live the values that have served me so far. It is hard but I intend to do my best.
The next few days will take me through the ancient temples of Tamil Nadu. I am in the quest for my own god particle. A recurring theme in my spiritual quest is the “Shri Chakra”, an esoteric Tantric concept, which has been popping up frequently in my consciousness over the past few years. The spiritual significance while difficult to elaborate in a few words, basically refers to the harmonious union of the masculine and feminine elements in nature, be it in a macro or a micro cosmic level or everything in between. Symbolically it is represented by a geometrical pattern of intersecting triangles with a central point of union known as the “bindu” . In the tantric goddess tradition the Shri Chakra is also worshipped in the form of the goddess “Lalitha Tripura Sundari”. She is yet another manifestation of the mother goddess Parvathi, and is a consort of Shiva. Shiva, the masculine aspect in his inert form represents consciousness. Shakti is the feminine aspect infuses dynamic energy into this inert consciousness to manifest the cosmic universe which pulses with life. The Shiva-Shakti union is inherent to all of the manifest universe. This union is represented by the Shri Chakra. This spiritual calling has a particular relevance today, when patriarchy is desperately waging its last battle for dominance.
The human civilization has a very short term memory. If one goes back to the pre Judeo-Christian times to what was considered “pagan” times, the forces of nature and both the masculine and feminine aspects of nature were honored as divine. Over time our civilization has become out of balance, where the masculine is overly burdened and has been conditioned to dominate over thousands of years. Contrary to our understanding, this is equally unjust for the masculine as well as the feminine. One has to remember that the masculine and feminine aspects are present in all of us, both male and female species. In a philosophical sense the masculine represents protection, providing/giving, focussed attention, mathematics and objectivity, where as the feminine represents receptivity, nurturing, intuition, emotion and creativity. One without the other is incomplete. Interestingly I see increasing rejection of unbalanced masculine in every realm of life, in medicine, in sciences, politics etc. Infact when American public chose Trump over Hillary, they may have subconsciously chosen the feminine aspect (instinct embraced by Trump) in favor of objectivity without intuition (represented by Hillary). Quite the paradox indeed. We will soon be forced to reckon the need for a true union between the two aspects, in each of us as individuals, couples, families organizations, nations and in the greater universe.
Random Musings of a wandering heart doctor 