Tuesday, June 27, 2006

 
Sanjay Maya Mukherjee

The other day I was watching TV when I got myself into a quarrel with my wife. And yes, it was all my doing. She was in the living room watching American Idol on TV. I was stargazing outside on the terrace. Then I went inside and started watching American Idol. Most of the contestants were giving okay performances. Then this girl came onto the stage and I thought she had a fabulous voice. My wife didn’t think so. Here’s the conversation that followed:

“She’s good.”
“Nope, she isn’t.”
“She’s got a good voice. She can sing.”
“No she doesn’t. No she can’t.”
“Listen to her. She has the range, she has the power – she could be the next idol.”
“She has no presence and she’s not the next idol.”
“She can be – she has the package.”
“She doesn’t have the package. There is nothing different about her. She’s like Fantasia from last to last year and Fantasia was much better.”
I knew what she was saying was correct but I couldn’t just stop arguing.
“Yes, she has a style that is similar to Fantasia but she’s good.”
“I am not saying she’s not good. I am saying she’s not unique enough to be an idol.”
“Yes, she is!”

Even I was surprised at my vehemence. My wife was quiet cool and she was talking calmly. I was agitated. Frankly, that contestant wasn’t the one I was actually rooting for. There ensued a great debate on music, performance, performing arts… and I lost miserably. In fact, I think in the end my wife decided I was behaving like a child and therefore topped the debate.

Now all of this happened because of my ignorance; ignorance not about the subject matter (which also was a factor), but about the concept of opposing viewpoints. I think ignorance is blindness to that which we are not aware of or that which we do not subscribe to. Paradoxically, this blindness is not that of a blind individual, but the blindness of a sighted individual – blindness of the mind.

Very often, we let our ignorance take our decisions and rule our actions (and words, in my case). We are quite often at loggerheads with others because we believe they are ignorant. At various stages of our life we think we are wise, that we have a handle on reality; that we have the vision to see. But we all see fragmented pictures the boundaries of which are defined by our limited vision and perception.

But is there something called wisdom and if yes, what is it? I think it is the state of being aware that our understanding is only a part of a much larger image. The wise individual is open to possibilities and aware that there are other realities based on other perspectives.

So is there a characteristic that defines a truly evolved mind? I have met a few people who I think are very wise. Over the years I have been able to identify one quality that they have in common: they can hold two opposing viewpoints in their mind without taking sides.

Thus, if I were an evolved mind I would be able to look at a situation, consider at least two viewpoints, and get down and dirty with both viewpoints so that I can make a strong case for both with sincerity. And after doing this, I should be able to come out of the debate with two perspectives without taking sides. Without taking sides because I would know that both are relevant points of view and not warring factions.

I have also observed that the wiser the individual, the greater the number of perspectives they are able to hold without taking sides. The greater, thus, is their understanding of the world.

I am, of course, far from being that evolved. So, most of the time, I begin by taking sides and then the conversation goes downhill from there. Some times, for variety, I start on a neutral point and then take sides so that the conversation can go down its usual hill. Most people that I know or have met are like this.

I think this is because we invest a lot of our time searching the ‘one’ key that opens all doors of knowledge, that one perspective or theory that explains everything, that one system that connects the whole world. As we grow, the key keeps changing but the search for the one key does not. And therein lays the problem: each one of us has a different key at every point in time, which is why there is a clash of perspectives.

I don’t think there is a single key for all doors. And I think so because there are no doors. I think we learn more about the same stuff as we grow older. It’s like when you are on the ground floor you can only as far as your eye can show in any direction. When we go to the first floor, we see a little more because we are at an elevation. And so on till the top floor. But it’s only when we reach the terrace that we can see for a much wider distance all around instead of only on one side of the building.

Yep, I think there are no doors. Now if only I can grow up and always respect an opposing viewpoint, then I might be on the path to becoming wiser. It’ll take some time, but I will get there… I think.

(This piece was published as a column in 'The Maharashtra Herald' newspaper, Pune on March 17, 2006.)
posted by Sanjay Maya 9:58 PM