Daily Fix
Behold! We Know Not Everything
T. SHER SINGH
DAILY FIX
Friday, May 11, 2012
A while ago, I wrote a column titled: “Absolute Faith Absolutely Corruptive,” which was published in a mainstream newspaper.
The thesis of the piece was that those who believe they know everything automatically acknowledge, through their boast, that they in fact know far less than those who know how little they know.
It wasn’t meant to be the tongue twister it sounds.
My intent was to cover every kind of braggadocio. Interestingly, the majority of those who took offence from the piece appeared to be religious fundamentalists.
Touche!
Ire was expressed by a handful of readers - adherents of three different faiths.
Which, I believe, proved my point that fundamentalism of any ilk carries the same baggage.
Let me try and explain my position in another way:
Imagine that I have devoted several years in the study of physics and other laws of nature, and have finally arrived at a clear understanding of the Theory of Relativity. I believe that leaves me then with a couple of courses of action available to me.
I have the option of using this new-found knowledge to delve deeper into the science, and build on it. That is, I can continue to learn even more, and then begin to utilize that knowledge in such a way that it can benefit as many people as possible.
Once I have learned to benefit from that knowledge, I can try to set an example whereby others can emulate what I have done, and then take over the baton to carry the race further.
I also have a second option.
I can celebrate the fact that I am one of the few fortunate ones who have managed to really understand the complicated Theory of Relativity. I can congratulate myself on being the recipient of the light.
I can stand in a pulpit and proclaim to the world news of my good fortune. I can claim that not only have I received the true knowledge but that the knowledge I have acquired is the only, the complete and the final truth.
I can then announce that the recipients of this knowledge are the Chosen Ones.
Henceforth, I can claim, those who seek for knowledge elsewhere, or do not seek, or cannot seek, or cannot attain such knowledge, are the Lost Ones, condemned to purgatory and, ultimately, eternal damnation.
I can go even further: I can then insist that the path I took to see the light is the only possible way, and that all other paths are wrong … and evil.
I can demand that those who refuse to take the path discovered and delineated by me - after all, I do have the best of intentions! -be declared inferior, ignorant, evil and/or standing in darkness.
And they are therefore to be excluded from certain positions and privileges in society.
I can then holler that it is in fact the mandated duty of those who are blessed with wisdom - like me - to ensure that all the Lost Ones are brought into line and into the fold.
I thenceforth use every opportunity I get, every spare moment, every spare penny, for the rest of my life in celebrating my good fortune, in singing the praises of those of those who have articulated the Theory of Relativity, in proclaiming its infallibility, and in harassing and haranguing others into following my way.
I can now show utter disdain for those who fail, or refuse, to subscribe to my joy, or who claim that they can experience similar joy in their own but different paths.
These, as outlined above, are the two options to choose from.
If I take the latter route, I will not blame you if you think that my good fortune has made me unnecessarily cocky and arrogant and proud, and that I could be doing more with my life than perennially singing self-satisfying hallelujahs.
Surely, there is more to life than merely discovering the light!
Surely, the discovery of knowledge does not mean that I am thenceforth to do nothing but sing songs in praise of the Discovery and the Knowledge.
Surely, the one obligation arising from my good fortune - if there is one - is to use the new-found light to lead me to greater heights and to point me to ways of being more useful as a member of society. In alleviating the suffering of those who need help, for example.
Surely, I can do all of this without losing my sense of balance and perspective, of fairness and decency and humanity.
Surely, I can remember that the man who first formulated the Theory of Relativity - Albert Einstein - himself stated that the “truth” he had pointed to was but a drop in the ocean of infinity.
Surely, I cannot forget that only a few decades after Einstein departed came another man - Stephen Hawking - who proved that Einstein’s formulation could be improved upon and that there was a better and clearer way of looking at Relativity.
Hawkins dared to doubt and to question.
And as a result reached the very peak on which Einstein had gained a permanent seat.
I do not mean to suggest that the Theory of Relativity is to be equated in any manner with spiritual knowledge.
The point I wish to make is that if you find the bombast surrounding every successive Faustian discovery offensive, imagine how it sounds when it comes from those who are specifically mandated to be humble and meek and selfless!
Conversation about this article
1: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), May 11, 2012, 7:08 AM.
I subscribe to this premise. But, you sir, like the Greek mythological hero, seem to have jumped from the earth to the planets, and after accumulating wisdom, returned to earth to amaze us with such knowledge. Now, what did you say was Relativity? After devotedly listening to Ramayana, this simple man can only ask, "Again, please, what was the name of Raja Dashrath's son?" Einstein himself answered the question when asked how did he cope if there was a dull academic meeting, and he was terribly bored. "No, no, on such occasions, I retire to the back of my mind and there I am happy." What a delightful retreat. I missed my chance to study physics because of mathematics since I had valiantly answered my teacher in the early grades that "solaa(n) dooni" was eight! But, I did learn something about space for fun and track satellites to this day despite "We know not everything."
2: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), May 11, 2012, 7:48 AM.
Guru Nanak says you can read cart-loads of books but without the Creator's Naam, there is nothing.
3: Gurmukh Singh (London, United Kingdom), May 12, 2012, 12:20 PM.
It is true that the more I know, the more I realise how little I know. Realising that I know very little is not humility; it is just a fact of real learning. More so with age, as time seems to run faster and weeks seem to become days, the question, "Why?" looms larger every morning, without an answer. However, I shall keep on learning ("Sikh-ing"?) to the end. That is my path. I have absolute faith in that path! I am not sure if that absolute faith in the path one is following, is absolutely corruptive! It is "absolutely" necessary to follow some system or discipline - work out one for yourself, or adopt or modify another - but do follow one. That system is called "gur" ("dhang" or "method"). Our Guru enables one to understand the "gur" and then gives the freedom to self-learn. It makes no difference what the topic of knowledge is. One has to have faith in the method (gur). Religious zealotry can be distinguished from having faith in some system or path which one has chosen to follow.