… Of Forgery, Context, Ambiguity & Free Will
In the midst of an especially sluggish and stubbornly persistent summer time in New Delhi, India, a series of seemingly unremarkable encounters and run of the mill events had nonetheless conspired to excavate from the recesses of her habitually agitated subconscious mind, a junkyard of reflections and corresponding sentiments she thought she had definitively disposed of in former essays, which were no more than a periodic discharge of her feverish dialogue and debates with herself, in the absence of other willing interlocutors …
… But this time, the ‘mise en scene’ was vastly different, reminding her of the significance and power of context — not only over perception, but also and more importantly sense of personal orientation and well-being — the limitations of consistency, and the illusory nature of an intrinsic mastery over the self, aka free will.
There was an unusually sharp-edged clarity to her thoughts, prompted by assertions that had been obstinately unequivocal and by consequence elicited the somewhat cumbersome subtitle of her essay, the components of which, at first glance, appear altogether unrelated, but upon further examination, it becomes patently clear that they do in fact enjoy clandestine relations.
It all began towards the end of a series she had been watching, during which the words, ‘fake it till you make it’ were articulated and it was akin to an epiphanic moment with respect to an illumination of the central ‘existential’ theme of the 21st century i.e. a forgery of the self, that which one deliberately fashions or shapes, as opposed to an authentic representation of oneself, the ‘double-entendre’ of the word itself blurring the lines between dualism and duplicity, for to forge is as much to construct as it is to counterfeit …
… Which begged the question, ‘fake it till you make what?’ the likely answer being ‘the most wanted list’, irrespective of context that provides both credibility and coherence and in which one feels an immediate ease in one’s own skin.
Moreover, to qualify for the ‘most wanted list’, one must altogether suspend one’s innate uniqueness and individuality, and conform to the near tyrannical criteria of a mass audience, thereby giving it consent to determine one’s value and self-worth …
… The text book Faustian Bargain, in the wake of which is a further diminishing of the boundaries of context and rise of a dystopian uniformity, each and every member of the ‘most wanted list’ permitted a voice, irrespective of whether they have earned it and are properly informed, rendering the world a virtual caricature of its former self, populated by deracinated and angst ridden impostors, all of whom/which has been legitimized in the name of ‘Liberty, equality & Fraternity’, the same motto adopted by the founding fathers of India in the drafting of a constitution that many might argue was ‘out of context’ with respect to the distinctive diversity of a country, validated by geography and further conceptualized by a visionary idea, upon which perhaps, it should never have been imposed …
… She had just finished reading eminent Indian author and politician Shashi Tharoor’s brilliant and brilliantly concise 100 page commentary on the Indian constitution, and would urge every Indian, especially those belonging to her milieu, to read it before so readily and eagerly parroting ‘Americanisms’ pertaining to constitutional rights and privileges.
The second most striking and thought provoking incident, was a causal conversation with a lawyer, who much to her surprise and disappointment, insisted on the incontestable validity of ‘free will’, a matter that has not only been inconclusively discussed & disputed by philosophers from time immemorial, but also one that the law itself treads upon with caution, making allowances for situations concerning irrational behavior — or more precisely, in legalese, ‘temporary insanity’ and by inference, absence of intent — which qualify for acquittal of a crime.
But in the opinion of the lawyer being cited (who, in hindsight, she suspected was being steered by irrepressible personal bias rather than an impartial professional lens, thereby inadvertently displaying the shortcomings of his own argument), to contest the plausibility of ‘free will’ was to embrace its opposite, the doctrine of determinism that declares all ‘human action as external to and beyond the control of an individuals will’ and hence condones both moral bankruptcy and crime; there was no middle way, no ambiguity permissible, for underpinning this culture of falsification is the buzzword ‘manifest’ i.e. a conveniently selective belief that one is all powerful over oneself and one’s own destiny and must therefore be decisive … until and unless, of course, everything goes terribly wrong.
Ambiguity — and intrinsic to it, a foolproof defense against falling prey to a phenomenon that notable 19th century American philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson termed ‘foolish consistency’, which over and above all else serves to hamper individual growth — is a tragically endangered asset, one that she had finally been able to see the tremendous virtues of, and developed great respect for in the last years of her father’s life, his own thoughts and analyses on a variety of subjects — in which, till the end of his days, he continuously evolved and honed his skills — mostly privately documented and only when repeatedly solicited publicly articulated, not in any instance even slightly definitive or conclusive, but instead exploratory, fluid and tranquil, without an ounce of the nervous tension that arises from a fear of being proved wrong, for he like others of his generation, was nether seeking nor defined by the approval or endorsement of an audience.
His responses, whilst open-ended were neither obscure nor constrained; instead, there was a surgical precision in the framing of a hypothesis and a meticulous, yet detached treatment of the various possible outcomes, both tone and tenor humble, reticent and most notably, relaxed …
… But alas, he belonged to a different era, in which context, credentials and originality bred quiet confidence and were given both place and priority on the then little sought after ‘most wanted list’ …
… In the words of Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism, Lao Tzu,
“With virtue & quietness one may conquer the world.”