By Mory Keita
The world, as we see it now, is the work of some visionaries.The absurd imagination of some crazy-old-fools who hundreds years ago, idly sat on their chairs to ponder upon humanity. They dedicated their lives to philosophy and sciences; then, scholarly came up with theories and system of belief to better mankind and eradicate its self-imposed misery.
Though, their philosophies are of unequivocal beauty, they are prone to change as humanity evolves steps farther. Ideas are but works of mind and the mind is but a conscious characteristic of the human race (the same can also be extended to every other race). Mankind in its current situation, which is characterized by unceasing warfare and destruction, needs more crazy-old-fools and fewer vile warriors who undermine the power of intellect in pursuit of brute force. When we separate ourselves from our God given intellect, we became lesser than animals and return to the dark ages.
The world as I see it now is evolving towards an age darker than the dark ages itself. Some of you might qualify me as a pessimist, but if we analyze our history (as far as it is recorded), we will realize that , we live in one of its worst centuries. The twenty first century stunningly resembles the fictional world of Uqbar in Jorge Luis Borges short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius (which can be found in Ficciones, his collection of short stories). Borges describes uqbar as a place where everything is pure fiction; by that I mean, in uqbar things are falsification of reality and the "reality" is but a part of a greater false perception. The similitude might perhaps not be apparent because, we live in an uqbar. We feign that we live in a peaceful world while we are not. We live in a myth created by a group of oligarch serving theirs egoist interests.
To summarize my thought, mankind needs more crazy-old-fools and fewer warriors. We desperately need more people-of-mind dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge to advance our common goal. I do not advocate for a utopian society, as it is unfeasible. I will elaborate on this issue in future posts.
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3 comments:
Nice reflection. I loved reading this post and all you posts. You are gifted I believe.
Keep us entertained,keep writing.
I don't know much about the Borges work that you cite here, but the concepts themselves fit Orwell's novel, 1984, especially with regard to the notion of "double-speak." Based on your post, you may enjoy reading 1984.
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius is one of the short stories in Borges' anthology of narratives, ficciones. Here is its Wikipedia link it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficciones.
Mohamed,Thank you for your great suggestion; Orwell's 1984 has been suggested to me many times by my U.S history and English teachers, but unfortunately, I hadn't read it yet. I plan reading it this summer.
Best Regards
Mory
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