Bleed.

 After all has been said and done, after the dust has settled, there remains but a bunch of vague questions, mysteries to be precise, the answers to which have always been precariously positioned just a strand of hair beyond the horizon. The closer mankind thinks it is getting, the truth always manages to elude it's reach. So, in countless ways, human lifetimes are like desserts which stretch away into oblivion on all sides while man is left standing practically, in the middle of nowhere. An arid, homogenous expanse on all sides. Not a being, not an organism, not a sign of life in sight. No landmark, no street-signs, no compass. No clothes to shield you from the nothingness all around. 

 

Where do you head now? More importantly, why are you here? What are you here for? A reasonably accurate picturisation of the above scenario in one's mind would, i think, suffice to make one begin to realise the power of the landslide of chaos within every inch of one's being. 

 We may therefore infer, that complete absence of a bias towards any path or direction to be chosen among the innumerable others and a lack of sense of direction ushers in such chaos, that the mind is clouded upto an extent, where to make sense out of the scenario becomes a highly impossible task. Hence, where we are headed, what we are looking for and which way we choose is a decision which the human mind shall never be able to make without the influence of external factors. This is but a different version of what the first line of the sixth grade 'Civics' text-book told us- "Man is a social animal".

 The society, the collective conscience of all humans, in a course of time, comes to a consensus upon what is the best path to be taken. Morality and ethics, are guidelines, laid down by the collective, based on what they do and do not consider virtuous and malicious. Every individual being who is part of the collective is to abide by them without questioning them.

 The dumbing down of the masses is what they would refer to, in Economics, as 'The Bandwagon Effect''. The social phenomena on the occurrence of which leads to a sudden surge in the market demand of a product. The demand for a product by one consumer is fueled by the consumption of the product by another consumer which triggers a chain reaction known as the Bandwagon Effect. Astounding, since nobody really pauses to think whether the product really yields any utility to them at all.

Tyler Durden: Do you know what a duvet is? 
Narrator: It's a comforter... 
Tyler Durden: It's a blanket. Just a blanket. Now why do guys like you and me know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival, in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then? 
Narrator: ...Consumers? 
Tyler Durden: Right. We are consumers. We're the bi-products of a lifestyle obsession. 

 Somewhere, along the corridors of time, the masses lose, or rather relinquish their autonomy on the thought process. Free thought is curbed and the path endorsed by the collective is accepted without much consideration. With the passing of time, the crowded path becomes more and more frequently trodden upon and the alternative options become invisible. The chaos in the minds of the collective is replaced with a sense of direction, as their vision is restricted and a sense of assurance that they are headed towards the truth and are on the right path comforted by the company of millions of others. The mind finds peace and contentment with this assurance. That what appears to be the 'truth', the meaning to life, may only be a mirage, or worse still, may not exist at all, is an invisible contingency to them.

 What they always seem to forget is- 'Because everyone does it' may , at times, be a good enough reason to refrain from something but should never be a good enough reason to indulge. That the path endorsed by the collective, results in the formation of the 'system'. The system we all bitch about, but never dare to look beyond. The system that we loathe and yet, succumb to. The morality and ethics imposed by the collective are not the Commandments of a creator and are neither right, nor wrong. The capability to distinguish between the two may not even be innate. It may not be in your genes, but just in your minds. The ethics are variable and just as vulnerable to change over a period of time as everything else. I mean, not even the most liberal of thinkers of the 19th century would have considered homosexuality to be ethical. Today, homosexuals are being embraced as naturally different and not terrifyingly psychotic. Another century down the line, Marijuana would probably be legalised in all parts of the world. Change, is a constant and the best way to live, is in limbo.

Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities — the political, the religious, the educational authorities — who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing — forming in our minds — their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to inform yourself. - Timothy Leary.

P.S. I should really stop plagiarising stuff. But there is a perennial clutter of thoughts in my mind and i am not writer enough to write them down in a manner which is comprehensible.

More later.

Sumedh.