By Paramjit Bakhshi
The way in which the great debate about tradition has raged on reminds one of the following lines, from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: “Myself when young did eagerly frequent, doctor and saint, and heard great argument, about it and about: but evermore came out, by the same door as in I went.” So leaving such weighty matters for the scholars to discuss, let us go on, to matters more interesting. Let us talk about sweethearts. Tell me if you remember, the first time you saw your girlfriend? Or your boyfriend? Didn’t they appear to be, as Wordsworth puts it, “a phantom of delight” when they first “gleamed upon” your “sight”. How many beats did your poor heart skip? Perhaps it did a few somersaults too. For those of you, who are not romantically inclined-of which one hopes there are but few-but for those whose hearts beat to all cadences of music, of which one knows there are many-let me offer another example. Maybe you will remember, the first time you heard that awesome song, which you still instinctively hum all the time.
Yet, whether it is our first love or that sensational tune, after a while, some of the magic rubs off, as we continue to see or hear something, which initially strikes us with utter delight. We might have been fortunate to have married our first (or second or whatever) love, who has put on a few pounds by now, as surely as we have too. Years of interaction would have also brought to the forefront, some flaws in his or her character, and the chemistry might now, have turned tepid, from being really hot. Not to forget, the song for which one bought the whole LP record. Perhaps now you don’t listen to it, as often as you used to. However you can never dream of throwing it away. With time and with familiarity, the quality of what once was new and now is old, changes. In a sequel to the bestseller, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, called” Lila: An inquiry into Morals”, the author Robert Pirsig discusses the definition of quality.
Something which has newness and in a manner sweeps us off our feet has what he calls “dynamic quality”. To one’s mind, this might in a way apply to a person, a new -piece of music, a book, an item of food or even a scientific invention or just a new way of looking at things and ideas. At the forefront of the discovery of “dynamic quality”, are poets, writers, musicians and composers, inventors, chefs, scientists, prophets and perhaps many other people, who push the boundaries of our knowledge and experience. Being by nature adventurists, they live at the margins of what is the mainstream society. Not all their ideas are always accepted, and very often they are shunned, even punished, killed and even crucified. In terms of proportion these people constitute a small but essential part of the society. A society with very strict rules has no space for such people.
However the bulk of society consists of people, hung up on what is old and time tested. They believe that old is gold. These are worshippers of things which, according to Robert Pirsig’s definition, have a “static quality”. To bolster their view they lean on established religion and social tradition. They thus, have a very fixed view of morality and what is socially acceptable. If Beatles and Elvis Presley were the rage during their youth, they still cherish that music, and you are unlikely to catch them, going gaga over any new band or over any novel development. They are what we might call traditionalists. Generally speaking they are people to whom the established order has been kind and beneficial. Any change is unfamiliar territory and is perceived as a threat by them.
Generally speaking the two -, lovers of Pirsig’s “dynamic quality” and of “static quality’ -live together in an uneasy truce. This is the way it normally is. For a society merely seeking novelty, would soon perish if it fully abandons the brakes of tradition. Not all that is new is good. This, the traditionalists believe and thus advocate extreme caution. But what very few realise, is that unless we make way for the new, there would be no progress, and society would decay and perish under its own inertia. An appropriate analogy for society is a car. If we drive a car too fast, we are more likely, to lose control of the steering and crash. However if the brakes of tradition are applied perpetually, the steering is useless, because one is not heading anywhere. In a world where change is the only constant staying static can only lead to atrophy and decay.
It is only a very isolated society which does not allow the new to come in. It builds a castle of fixed ideas and beliefs and hems in the youth from dabbling with new ideas. But by its nature, youth is pure energy – an “irresistible force’. It constantly looks for new experiences through exploration of the world, and seeks to push the envelope a little more. If songs have been sung on the duitara, it wants the guitar and drums. If their fathers have been farmers the children might want to do business, instead of arranged marriages they might prefer a union of soul mates and instead of curry or syrwa they might like pizza and chow. In the olden days young energy was expended in hunting and in wars. Today the lucky few might have fast cars and video games. With a severe shortage of play grounds, for the rest, the necessary exploration gets confined to pre marital sex, alcohol and drugs.
One of the definitions of tragedy, taught to us literature students, and the one I particularly like, states that tragedy occurs, when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. Our tragedy is, our youth banging their head against immovable tradition. There is no worthwhile traditional pursuit to occupy them today and psychologically they are indoctrinated to shun new avenues. As a result many boys die early of alcoholism and drugs, and large number of girls become mothers in their teens.
If one is not sure about the new, one also needs to be careful about what is traditional. Not all that is traditional is beyond reproach. Corruption has also become a tradition in our society as is the use of money power during elections. Nobody raises an eyebrow on these issues, and in fact some people even collude with, if not worship the corrupt. As one prepares to wrap up this piece, the “surgical strike” on corruption, black money and terrorism is in the news. The surprising thing is, it not a young slick Harvard educated person but a sixty six year old home grown visionary who has had the wisdom and the courage to knock down decades old rotten political and social tradition. Ample proof that attitude rather than age determines outlook. Closer home, can’t any of our champions of traditional knowledge, also initiate, much needed social correction even if it veers away from tradition? If all that are on offer are NH7, and other festivals and celebrations around town, leading our young back to the square one of music, alcohol and numbness, these “new” and much hyped activities lack ‘dynamic quality’ and can only be termed traditional. Almost everything dished out to our youth, from farcical trade fares to skill development programmes is old wine in cheap new plastic bottles. Somewhere we have a very deep disconnect from the reality of the world.
In this connection, one would like to quote from a book interestingly titled, “The Wisdom of Insecurity”, written by Alan Watts. The following paragraph puts things in context: “The more we accustom ourselves to understanding the present in terms of memory, the unknown by the known, the living by the dead, the more desiccated and embalmed, the more joyless and frustrated life becomes. So protected from life, man becomes a sort of mollusc encrusted in the hard shell of ‘tradition’, so that at last when reality breaks through, as it must , the tide of pent up fear runs wild.”
The reality of the tragedy of our youth is not hidden from anyone. The burning question is whether we want the irresistible force of youth to prosper or do we want it to be sacrificed on the altar of static tradition. The choice is ours. Let us choose a path that gives our young, besides exciting soul mates and lyrical songs-a real dream to pursue. And we shall have writers, songwriters, inventors and visionaries and yes-some real progress.
The writer can be contacted at [email protected]