Why do we constantly seek justice from life/universe/God?
We demand that good deeds must lead to good outcomes and bad deeds must lead to bad outcomes.
Let us take a further step and look at the plant kingdom, mainly trees.
Apart from the Whomping Willow that features in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I am yet to come across a tree that causes any kind of harm.
If we are able to make peace with the random deaths/losses of animals and plants, why is it that we - humans - expect life to be transactional only to our species?
During a conversation with a friend, I put forth this theory to him. He looked at me shocked. "Dai! I thought you were the only person in our group who has an optimistic outlook towards life. What has made you so pessimistic?"
Have you ever played the mafia game?
In 1983, a talented young guitarist had been kicked out of his band without any prior warning or a discussion. And this incident had taken place a couple of days before the band was about to record their first album. The young guitarist, naturally hurt and sad, had vowed to start a new band and become so successful that his old band would regret their decision. And over the coming years, he managed to actually do what he had vowed to do, forming a heavy-metal band called Megadeth that would go on to sell over 25 million albums worldwide.
We demand that good deeds must lead to good outcomes and bad deeds must lead to bad outcomes.
I, for one, have been a strong believer of karma. Any friend of mine who has opened up to me about a problem in his/her life can vouch for receiving this text message from me - "Good things happen to good people. Stay strong". While I would love to believe this, and though I might always continue to send this message to any of my friends facing a problem, I want to objectively inquire if life/universe/God actually operates in a transactional manner.
Let us take a look at the animal kingdom.
How many chickens that are slaughtered for our appetite might have actually committed a crime? How many goats that are beheaded for our religious ceremonies might have actually been bad? How many deer that are hunted by a lion would have actually wished bad for another deer?
Let us take a look at the animal kingdom.
How many chickens that are slaughtered for our appetite might have actually committed a crime? How many goats that are beheaded for our religious ceremonies might have actually been bad? How many deer that are hunted by a lion would have actually wished bad for another deer?
Let us take a further step and look at the plant kingdom, mainly trees.
Apart from the Whomping Willow that features in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I am yet to come across a tree that causes any kind of harm.
Trees provide shelter. Trees provide shade. Trees provide fruits and vegetables. Trees provide rain. Trees take in carbon dioxide. Trees prevent soil erosion.
Considering these traits of trees and assuming that life/universe/God operates in a transactional manner, we should all be living in forests. Clearly, that doesn't seem to be the case. The forest area on our planet only seems to be decreasing with every passing day.
Considering these traits of trees and assuming that life/universe/God operates in a transactional manner, we should all be living in forests. Clearly, that doesn't seem to be the case. The forest area on our planet only seems to be decreasing with every passing day.
If we are able to make peace with the random deaths/losses of animals and plants, why is it that we - humans - expect life to be transactional only to our species?
When a harmless rabbit is randomly killed, why should a harmless human be aptly rewarded?
During a conversation with a friend, I put forth this theory to him. He looked at me shocked. "Dai! I thought you were the only person in our group who has an optimistic outlook towards life. What has made you so pessimistic?"
I couldn't help laughing at his response. I then tried to explain with an example.
"Consider animals. We know that the lion is more powerful than the zebra. And so, when a lion kills a zebra, we simply call it 'survival of the fittest'. Now, let's take a look at our society. According to the societal definitions of good and bad, let's assume that there is a person who is good but not that smart, and there is a person who is bad but really smart. Among these two, who do you think is better equipped to survive the challenges of life? Isn't the 'bad but really smart' guy better equipped? Isn't it easier for him to succeed and isn't that too simply 'survival of the fittest'? Why do we then make such a fuss when we see bad (but perhaps smart) people succeeding in life?"
My friend looked at me appalled. "Dai Soorya! Do you realize what the corporate world has done to you?"
I let out a hearty laugh again and changed the topic of the conversation.
"Consider animals. We know that the lion is more powerful than the zebra. And so, when a lion kills a zebra, we simply call it 'survival of the fittest'. Now, let's take a look at our society. According to the societal definitions of good and bad, let's assume that there is a person who is good but not that smart, and there is a person who is bad but really smart. Among these two, who do you think is better equipped to survive the challenges of life? Isn't the 'bad but really smart' guy better equipped? Isn't it easier for him to succeed and isn't that too simply 'survival of the fittest'? Why do we then make such a fuss when we see bad (but perhaps smart) people succeeding in life?"
My friend looked at me appalled. "Dai Soorya! Do you realize what the corporate world has done to you?"
I let out a hearty laugh again and changed the topic of the conversation.
****
Have you ever played the mafia game?
(If you haven't played the game or heard about it, then spend a minute or two going through the rules of the game here).
The victory of this mafia game is determined by which is the last majority group in the game - the mafia or the villagers/civilians. The entire game is moderated by the 'narrator'; my friends and I, during our mafia games, refer to this person as 'God'.
Now, imagine that you are playing this game with your friends and you have been assigned the role of a mafia member. The game begins and you devise smart strategies with your fellow mafia members and you successfully eliminate one civilian after another in every round of the game. As the game is midway, the narrator/God suddenly decides that it won't be right for the mafia to win the game and starts influencing the voting process of the entire group, trying to get the mafia members killed.
As a mafia member, when you see this happening in the game where the narrator/God is acting against you, won't you feel enraged? Won't you want the game to be played in a fair manner?
When this happens to be the expectation from a game, why does our expectation change when the playground becomes the real society/world?
****
The writer Mark Manson, in his blunt and brilliant book, The subtle art of not giving a fuck, narrates a true story.
In 1983, a talented young guitarist had been kicked out of his band without any prior warning or a discussion. And this incident had taken place a couple of days before the band was about to record their first album. The young guitarist, naturally hurt and sad, had vowed to start a new band and become so successful that his old band would regret their decision. And over the coming years, he managed to actually do what he had vowed to do, forming a heavy-metal band called Megadeth that would go on to sell over 25 million albums worldwide.
When I read this story, I experienced a feeling of personal victory. A person had been wronged and he had managed to put aside his defeat and emerge victorious. But what Mark Manson wrote next caught me off guard.
The band that had kicked out the young guitarist went on to become Metallica, considered by many to be one of the greatest rock bands of all time, that would sell over 180 million albums worldwide.
After I read this, I could not help smiling. It was such an unexpected twist.
Though Mark Manson does not use this story under the same context as I have in this article, the story helped me realize something.
Our literature and cinema have always conditioned us to expect a magnificent victory for the underdog, for the wronged man, for the man who is put through extreme hardships. We have come across so many triumphant and 'happily ever after' endings for these characters that we tend to develop the mindset that if we feel we have been wronged by a person or by life, we expect life to compensate for our pain by future fame and success and happiness. But what about the unwritten and not-filmed stories of millions of people who were wronged and faced extreme difficulties and continued to fail throughout their lives?
Does this mean there is nothing to look forward to in our lives?
Absolutely not. I want to suggest a simple change in the way of looking at life.
If you believe that you are a good person and if you happen to continuously fail in life, do not feel cheated. If you believe that you have been wronged by somebody or by life, and if you happen to face constant difficulties, do not feel let down. If you believe that someone is a bad person or if you believe that someone has wronged you, and if he/she happens to succeed at something, do not feel betrayed.
Life/universe/God never offered a guarantee that a certain moral value would be rewarded and a certain moral value would be punished. It is us - humans - who have set up such expectations.
The same way that we, as a society, have defined successes and failures.
A low-paying job need not be a setback because the business experts say so; the end of a romantic relationship need not be the end because the romantic authors say so; a smaller circle of friends need not be a failure because Facebook users say so.
An experience in life can be just that - an experience that teaches us new things about ourselves and the people around us. It need not be perceived to be good or bad because the society defines it so. And it definitely need not be a blessing or a curse from life because you have lived and behaved a certain way.
If life has paved the way for a deer to coexist with a lion, then perhaps good can also coexist with bad. If the universe has paved the way for a tree to coexist with man, then perhaps right can also coexist with wrong. One need not always triumph over another.
Life does not take sides between good and bad. It just goes on.
It will be great if we also live and simply experience all that happens to us, abandoning our biases and expectations and demands.
