Tuesday, September 1, 2020

success' and 'failure' are basically illusions of locations created by a society at a given point in time.

 ജീവിതത്തിൽ പലപ്പോഴും ' വിജയം ' ' പരാജയം ' എന്നൊക്ക പലരും പറയുന്നത് അതാതു കാല ദേശങ്ങളിൽ ഒരു സാമൂഹിക സാഹചര്യത്തിൽ ജീവിക്കുമ്പോൾ നമ്മൾ ആഗീകരിക്കുന്ന വെറും ധാരണകൾ മാത്രമാണ്. പലപ്പോഴും എവിടെ എത്തി ചേരുന്നു എന്നതിൽ ഉപരി യാത്ര എങ്ങനെ ആസ്വദിക്കുന്നു എന്നത് പ്രധാനമാണ്. അത് പോലെയാണ് ജീവിതവും.

പലരും കരീയർ സക്സസ് ലക്ഷ്യമാക്കി പഠിക്കുന്നു. ജീവിത 'വിജയം ' എന്നത് ഒരുപാടുപേർക്കും ഏത്രയും കൂടുതൽ പണവും പദവിയും അത് രണ്ടും കൊണ്ടു കിട്ടുന്ന പത്രാസും ഉപഭോഗ പ്രകടനപരതയുമാണ്‌. അവർ ഏറ്റവും വിലകൂടിയ കാർ വാങ്ങുന്നത് സഞ്ചരിക്കാനല്ല. അത് വാങ്ങാൻ പണം ഉണ്ടെന്ന് സമൂഹത്തിൽ ഉള്ളവരെ ധരിപ്പിക്കാനാണ്. വൻ വീടുകൾ വയ്ക്കുന്നത് ജീവിക്കാനല്ല. ജീവിത ' വിജയത്തി' ന്റെ അടയാളമാണ്. പലപ്പോഴും അങ്ങനെ എന്തൊക്ക നേടിഎടുക്കാം (possession ) ചെയ്യാം എന്ന ഓട്ടപാച്ചിലിൽ ജീവിതം ഭൂമിയിലെയും ജീവിതത്തിലെയും ചെറിയ ചെറിയ സൗന്ദര്യങ്ങളും വിസ്മയങ്ങളും കാണുവാൻ മറന്നു പോകും.
പത്തു മുറിയും പത്തു ടോയ്ലറ്റും പത്തു കട്ടിലും ഉണ്ടെങ്കിലും ഒരു മനുഷ്യനു ഇതല്ലാം കൂടി ഉപയാഗിക്കുവാൻ സാധിക്കില്ല. പത്തു കാറുള്ളവനും ഒരു കാറിൽ ഒരു സീറ്റിൽ മാത്രമേ ഇരിക്കാൻ സാധിക്കുള്ളൂ .
ഇതെല്ലാം ഉണ്ടായിട്ടും തട്ടിപോകുമ്പോൾ ജഡമായി എല്ലാവരെയും പോലെ ആറടി മണ്ണിൽ അല്ലെങ്കിൽ കുറച്ചു ചാരത്തിൽ തീരുന്ന ഒന്നാണ് ജീവിതം എന്ന സൂത്രം എന്ന് എന്നുമോർത്താൽ തീരുന്നതേയുള്ളൂ മിക്കവാറും പ്രശ്നങ്ങൾ.
ഒരുപാടു പേർ പണ്ട് എന്ത് സംഭവിച്ചില്ല എന്ന സങ്കട വിഹ്വലതകളിലാണ് ജീവിച്ചു തീർക്കുന്നത്. മറ്റു ചിലർ നാളെ എന്ത് സംഭവിക്കും എന്ന ആശങ്ക വിഹ്വലതകളിൽ ജീവിച്ചു മരിക്കും
ആരൊക്ക ആയാലും മന്ത്രിയായാലും തന്ത്രി ആയാലും കുബേരനാണെങ്കിലും കുചേലനായാലും എങ്ങനെയായാലും എങ്ങനെയെങ്കിലും, എപ്പഴെങ്കിലും മരിക്കും. അത് ഉറപ്പാണ്. അത്രവരെയുള്ളൂ എല്ലാ സക്സസും എല്ലാ ' വിജയങ്ങളും ' പദവിയും പത്രാസും.
അത് കൊണ്ടു എങ്ങനെ മരിക്കും എന്ന് പേടിക്കാതെ എങ്ങനെ അത് വരെ ജീവിക്കും എന്ന് ചിന്തിച്ചാൽ അധികം വേവലാതികളില്ലാതെ ജീവിക്കാം.
ബൈബിളിൽ നൂറ്റിമൂന്നാമത്തെ സങ്കീർത്തനത്തിലെ രണ്ടു വാക്യങ്ങൾ എന്നും ഓർക്കും
"മനുഷ്യന്റെ ആയുസ്സു പുല്ലുപോലെയാകുന്നു; വയലിലെ പൂപോലെ അവന് പൂക്കുന്നു.
കാറ്റു അതിന്മേല് അടിക്കുമ്പോള് അതു ഇല്ലാതെപോകുന്നു; അതിന്റെ സ്ഥലം പിന്നെ അതിനെ അറികയുമില്ല."
എല്ലാം പുല്ലു പോലെ കരുതിയാൽ പുല്ലിന്റെയും പൂവിന്റെയും ലാഘവത്തിൽ ജീവിതം പ്രകൃതിയെ അറിഞ്ഞു അതിന്റ ഭാഗമായി ജീവിക്കാം.
ബാക്കി താഴെ.
A wonder called life.
The notions of ' success' and 'failure' are basically illusions of locations created by a society at a given point in time.
What matters is not necessarily the destination, but the wonders of travelling life-and travelers of life. ' Success' and 'failures' are illusions of the self, created by delusions of the society at a given point in time.
What matters is whether we make an effort to go beyond the 'comfort zone' of predictability as often imposed on us by the institutions and society.
What matters is whether we make an effort to constantly explore, learn, unlearn and learn again- by living ; wonder about our own life and other expressions of the living. What matters is whether we chose to live beyond the compulsions of livelihood. Whether life takes precedence over living and living takes precedence over livelihood.
We are often forced to become prisoners of livelihood! And sometime prisoners of our own self and dreams.
It is safer to be in the prisons of self and imprison your dreams- and then feel 'successful' or 'failure', being in conformity with the prisons of self we create and the bigger prison of life that society impose on us.
That is why we want to 'be free' but can't afford to enjoy the freedom. Because freedom can be scary for many. We want freedom, though we are too scared of freedom as it takes you to the paths of anarchic uncertainties and wonders of life.
We are too scared to move in to uncharted pathways as we fear that we lose our way in the jungles of life.
What matters is whether you can afford to be a nomad in life- as there are uncertainties at every turn of the pathways of life. Many may not choose uncharted pathways as the travel can consume you or with the real possibilities of losing the path and drifting without a sense of direction.
What matters more is the life before death and not the life after the death .
We don't choose our own names; we don't choose our religions; we don't even choose our nations. We don't even choose our gender. They all choose us to draft us in to conformed roles of expectations- and these expectations make false sense of 'failure' or 'success'.
Ask a farmer what is 'success' or 'failure'. Ask a human beings living in tribal commune; he/or she may not understand the notions of 'success' or 'failure'. Of course, a farmer gets happy when the sapling he/she plants blooms or become fruitful. He/she may feel sad when the sapling gets destroyed by nature or by some other means.
A young tribal boy may feel very happy when he climbs a tall tree to fetch honey or fruits. But he may not call it 'success'.
When one begins to understand the flow and waves of life in a big canvass through the ages, success or failure are basically illusions created by society at a given point in time.
We live by dreams and death. We live by hope and fear. We live by yearning for freedom and learning to managing emotions of fear of death.
Everyone tries to overcome death by subversive means of creativity. Some people create. Most pro-create and give their names to their kids
One of the reasons that I love few unusual friends is that they somehow discovered that the notions of 'success' and 'failure' etc are basically illusions. I also feel connected with them due to their sense of experimenting with life, and their sense of wonder and beauty.
They live creatively. There are many such nomads of life. But here I only mention three such people.
My friend Shaji Thomas whom I discovered in the Amazon is such a rare breed of a nomad. From Ramapuram in Palai, he went all the way to Amazon forests to understand and live with millions of expressions of life in the Amazon forests.
He was not seeking a career option. He studied theology, moved to anthropology. Learned Yoga. Went Sao Polo- to work in the slums, become trade union activists- and then moved on to Amazon as he dreamt of going to Amazon when he was in class 9 in his villge, Rampuram.
He and his beautiful wife Eli took us for an unforgettable boat ride in the Amazon river. Making us feel the winds of the river and fragrance of the flowers of the forests , and feeding us lunch in beautiful village of Eli. The villagers loved the guests from Belam. Though I know Shaji as an activist, when I learned that he made a living by sharing yoga with others. I knew he was different.
Another person who managed to go beyond this notion of success and failure is my dear friend Murali Vettath.
Murali Vettath and I discovered on facebook and it all began with a fight about the idea of international development in the inbox. I liked the irreverence in him. Then he asked whether Paul Zachariah was my friend .
And then we ended up as good friends as he often called me from London when I was feeling the winter in Oslo. I visited him many times in London- and he made excellent fish curry and tapioca for me; and when we meet we discuss everything under the sun. Then I visited his beautiful house at Irinjalakkuda.
He was as relaxed as ever and as we walked to the beautiful pond he made near his home in Kerala. Then we walked for lunch to a nearby canteen , I knew this guy is an unusual one;-) .
I love the nomad in Murali- as he is passionate as well as detached about life; but living every moment passionately. He made a film. He ran a restaurant in London. He hosts writers, and stars. He remains an activist- and active in whatever he does; or as a writer or the editor of Nava Malayali.
But he keeps laughing at himself and life itself. Murali is fine in Havana, Tokyo, London or Irinjallakkuda or the Bombay flat in Trivandrum. He is fine with local guy and a global guy. He is fine with Mammootty and little kid on the street. He is irreverent about him and others.
When we meet it is like meeting of two nomads in some junctions of life.
I love the nomad in Paul Zacharia too. He not only can express creatively- but what is more important is that his life is an art as he too lives creatively- with a sense of wonder and excitement.
I have seen this when I spent time with him in Kho Samui,- a beautiful island in Thailand or when I wondered in a swimming pool, at our apartment in Bangkok, whether he could write a novel in English- and he did write the novel. After many years, when he read the first chapter of his novel to a group of friends in Oslo, I felt happy.
When we, along with another nomad, Gafoor, discovered the northern Norway and the long drive to northern most city of Sweden, we were watching sky and cloudes, sensed the life within and beyond. it is the sheer sense of wonder that excited all of us and united us in our travels.
What is common in all of them is they keep wondering about the world, they get excited by little happiness - and they have all gone beyond the bullshit of 'success' and 'failure'. They are travelers of life on this planet. They are nomads of life. I too am a nomad.
For me life is a wonderful travel of wonder. An exciting journey of wonder, touching, feeling and sensing earth and its millions of expressions of life.
When we feel our own lives in relation to others : people and planat. Plants, leaves, flower and fruits. Flow of the river , wave of the sea, clouds in the sky, sun and moon.
When life is a simple journey of wonders and experiment, it is indeed exciting. Travel is more important than destination.
Because destinations are more like mirages. Only when we reached there we realize that was a playful illusions that seduced us . - Maya.
JS Adoor
T T Sreekumar, Murali Vettath and 162 others
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