Prisoners of our own selves

Power is ephemeral and we must never forget that we will leave stage one day

According to German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, “The worst human trait is to enjoy the suffering of others.” In an Iranian film, Taste of Cherry, a character says, “I know that suicide is one of the major sins, but being sad is also a major sin.” Everywhere in the world, there are people who are being victimised by other people. The Famished Road is a novel by Nigerian author Ben Okri. The backdrop of the story is an unnamed small town in Africa where Azaro, an abiku or spirit child, lives with his father and mother. This settlement is suffering from worst conditions featuring immense poverty, non-availability of facilities, hunger, fights in the name of politics, hooliganism, and what not. In his novel, Old Goriot, French author Honore de Balzac describes the humiliating and terrifying behaviour of the Parisian elite class through Rastignac, a law student, who had turned the lives of people into a hell.

Let’s try to examine why the elite class around the world is so ruthless, selfish and apathetic. The desire of human beings to acquire and hoard more and more is as old as the human being himself. In fact, since the very beginning, man has been insecure, forcing him to hoard everything. And the same insecurity is clinging badly to him till today. But he is by no means ready to break this relationship with his ancient past. It is a great misfortune that the human history has not changed its character and man has not changed his instincts.

Nobel laureate Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez has written a fascinating story about a village in Colombia. The people of this village are tired of natural calamities, epidemics and floods. They then start fighting among themselves like all the poor people of the world, and a civil war breaks out. The village elders sit together and the inhabitants of the village decide to migrate collectively. Their decision to migrate is due to economic compulsion, as they dream of peace, happiness and prosperity. But the day they pack up, these socially and economically destroyed people remember that their most precious heritage is not with them and they all run towards graveyards. They then dig graves and pack the bones of their dead ancestors alongside their belongings. The elite class always makes a prison inside them and can’t get out of it all their lives. They are their own prisoners and their own guards; no matter how hard they try, they are unable to free them from themselves.

In all the games of life, the real importance is not the circumstance, but the will. We ourselves decide how our lives will be lived. Our circumstances cannot be decided against our will. When we understand this well, we get aware of the entire philosophy of life. Philosopher Plutarch advised Roman Emperor Trajan that he must first rule over his heart. Former UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold has said, “You cannot play with the animal within you until you become a complete animal. You cannot play with evil and lies, unless you give up your right to truth. You cannot play with savagery, unless you give up the sensitivity of your mind.” Once we gain self-awareness, we should take objectives and principles to live our lives. If we don’t, we will live the life of an animal whose purpose is to survive and fulfil his instincts. Remember, every animal gets old one day, no matter how long it lives. This is the way of the world. Even the lions eventually die — pretty miserably. At their peak, they rule, chase other animals, catch, devour, gulp and leave their crumbs for hyenas. But they fast come of age. An old lion can’t hunt, can’t kill or defend itself. It roams and roars until it runs out of luck. It is cornered by the hyenas, nibbled at and eaten alive by them. They don’t even let it die before being dismembered.

Power is ephemeral and we must never forget that we will leave the stage one day. A desolate grave will be our final destination.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2023.

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