Columnists
Solomon's Paradox
by I.J. SINGH
I am hopelessly addicted to the television series, "Law and Order". It often catches interesting contradictions in our communal existence. Law represents collective values that are often shaped by religious truths; yet, many times, some very strange paradoxes surface between societal codes and their legal interpretations, and the two end up at loggerheads.
A recent episode depicted how some truths remain timeless.
We all know the story that most powerfully evidences the sagacity of King Solomon: of how two women appealed to him for justice! Each claimed the same child as her son. These were Old Testament times, when the best evidence was often circumstantial, or the word of elders in the community.
In those days of pre-DNA technology, how justice was delivered, and how Solomon identified the real mother by challenging the biologically-based maternal instincts of the two women, still makes a heart-warming story.
So, I was utterly fascinated by a recent "Law and Order" television version of King Solomon's dilemma, transplanted into a very different age. Imagine a woman, pining for the joys of motherhood, impregnated by an embryo that is the product of in vitro fertilization.
By a medical error, she is implanted with an embryo derived from the egg of a different woman. A healthy baby is born. Now, the question arises: which woman deserves custody - the biologic mother, whose egg became the embryo, or the birth mother, who carried the embryo for nine months and brought it into the world, even though human error was responsible.
So, which of the two women with competing claims deserves the child?
The matter demanded the wisdom of Solomon, and he was freely referenced during the trial. This fact, that both sides in the court drama cited a parable more than two millennia old to buttress their cases, is what kept me riveted to the action.
Clearly, ancient Solomon had found a place and relevance in a modern American courtroom. What a fascinating way to connect people to their roots, I thought. What an effective method of teaching the fundamentals of Judeo-Christian life.
I am sure that over the years, most of us have endured many a philosophical tome and dense explication of our religions. We might remember fondly that we napped through numerous dry-as-dust sermons. And, if you are at all like me, you could hazard an overly large bet that very little from those hours stayed with us.
What did shape our thinking and attitudes to religion, more often than not, were the parables and short little stories, with which our mothers and grandmothers entertained us at bedtime.
The present-day rendition of Solomon's wisdom reminded me that it is through children's stories and tales of the past that we preserve and transmit cultural memory, thought processes and values. For most of us, Sikh heritage came through parables that percolate in the Sikh collective memory. The serious reading and critical thinking came later - much later, if at all.
Our grandmothers told the stories well, but they couldn't always connect them to life as it was lived all around them and us. Also, we now exist in different times. Mothers and grandmothers who are still connected to traditional lore are rarer than pearls, and more precious. (My comments apply equally to their male counterparts; I do not mean to be selective or sexist here.)
When the words of King Solomon were brought into a 21st century courtroom, they came alive to a modern meaning and a wider application.
The issues of love, hate, greed, jealousy, sloth, lust, ego, pride and power define us now, as they did when human life first arose on Earth. These issues make us what we are, and shape the societies we construct.
It is true today, as it was true when the world began. It was also true when Buddha, Jesus and Nanak trod this earth. The parables of most religions, like Aesop's fables, carry morals that transcend time. They are pithy nuggets that enter our core painlessly. That's why their magic and meaning become eternal.
Now we remember Aesop, the slave, because he could render the timeless lessons of philosophy and ethics accessible to millions through his simple stories. If Guru Nanak and Jesus of Nazareth have etched a permanent place in our hearts, it is because they reduced the philosophic essentials of life to simply-understood principles, precepts, concepts and words. How could one listen to the story of Solomon's wisdom and not be struck by its awesome simplicity and enduring relevance?
If religions are eternal, their truths should speak across the span of centuries, beyond millennia; they should remain timeless.
If religions are to be universal, they must connect to us beyond our self-constructed fences. Not only do they need to transcend limits of culture, caste, creed, gender, language, geography, or politically-defined boundaries, but some of them do venture bravely in that direction.
Come to think of it, when I go to a gurdwara, or when I read the Guru Granth, what I am often looking for is this: to hear an inspiring story out of Sikh teaching and tradition that talks about my life today. And I find that that's how the Gurus taught, and not through soporific sermons. Only thus can religious principles shape lives, and not remain limited to a single half-hour on a Sunday.
When the wisdom of the great minds becomes an automatic and inseparable part of everyday thinking and conversation, that's when it becomes eternal. That's when it shapes and defines us.
I welcome Solomon in the courtroom. Certainly, the teachings of Nanak and Buddha would be equally enlightening.
Conversation about this article
1: Tejwant (U.S.A.), July 31, 2007, 1:49 PM.
The unique thing about Sikhism is that our visionary Gurus did not write any history, unlike the authors of the Old and New Testaments. The Gurus were not interested in themselves. They taught us, through Gurbani, that it is all about the message, not the messenger. Perhaps that's the reason they gave themselves only numbers in the Guru Granth. No names. No titles. Just beautiful, priceless, timeless poetry. It is important to note that Sikh history runs parallel to its Scriptures, and most of it is through oral history, etched in the minds of all Sikhs since they are in the womb. The best example is the sacrifices of Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadar ... these and other stories are no where to be found in the Guru Granth. Neither is there even a mention of the foundation of Khalsa on the day of Vaisakhi in 1699. All this is passed down to us via the oral tradition. It was always the mothers, grandmas and others, mostly ladies at first, who lived in the same household, that acted as the carriers of Sikh history; however our storytellers went a step further. Through this story-telling, they also instilled in us a sense of pride, a sense of belonging, a sense of being a seeker, a sense of a Sikh who is always ready to listen ... and to fight for justice. Hence, one can say that the Court of Nanak is being played everyday in Sikh households by all, especially by the women.
2: Pritam Singh Grewal (Canada), August 02, 2007, 11:58 PM.
I enjoyed reading "Solomon's Paradox'. It reminded me of the third Nanak, Guru Amardas's words, "Babanian kahanian put saput karein" - the stories and lessons from our Elders, e.g. the Gurus, transform their progeny or followers into ideal humans. Guru Nanak's sakhi about throwing water at Hardwar towards his crops in Punjab countering the superstition of offering it to the ancestors in the Sun, or the one in which he shows preference for the honestly-earned simple-fare of Bhai Lalo and declines the feast thrown by a corrupt official; are but two examples of the way he taught us the lessons of life so effectively.
3: Amrik Singh (New Delhi, India), August 03, 2007, 5:52 AM.
Indeed, the story of Guru Nanak's visit to Hardwar, his travels to Mecca and beyond, his meetings with Lallo and Bhago, with Kauda and with the Sidhs ... all of these are seminal stories that are, like Solomon's Paradox, part of the collective wisdom of humankind. What's lacking to date, however, is that they remain sitting on our bookshelves and in our hearts, still waiting to be re-told in the new lingua franca of the world - but in proper English and without the indianisms and grammatical idiosyncracies that come with the "tellings" from the sub-continent. It is time someone tackled this important task and re-told them in the language of the new diaspora, something that our children and all others can relate to, with equal ease ... such as the very tale of Solomon's Paradox! You, Dr I.J. Singh?