Literature as a Mirror that Affects the Cornerstones of an Effective Society

Mohammad Baset Dorrazehi

Master of English Literature

baset_bmn@yahoo.com

Abstract

Progress is essential to human welfare. Technologies also make human life more adventurous and comfortable but at no time in history must man forget that essentially he lives with the capacity to think and discern the right form wrong. All of mankind must go back and relearn the fundamental values of living in peace and harmony. They can draw inspiration from the literature of their region.

Mankind must respect merit for its own sake and must respect and revere the Bodhisattvas in society. Any society that believes it can get away by spreading disharmony is only fooling itself.

History shows that the great roman empire that stretched over continents became a small nation, so was the fate of the British empire and so will be the fate of nations that believe power lies in a nuclear warhead.

Already the global recession is crippling the arms of the wretched in the world. At best of times and at worst of times it is necessary to be humble and keep faith in universal brother hood. The milk of human kindness flows through literature. It is imperative that mankind should heed the prophecies and predications. After great wandering they realize that life is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Shakespeare warned us few centuries ago.  

Introduction

Man is a social animal and depends upon society to develop and acquire his full potential. When man sets down his experiences that explore the texture and meaning of human endeavor, it becomes literature. Obviously literature mirrors the manners and mores of the society and the raison d’etre of its ideology, culture, subjectivity, objectivity and collective wisdom. All these aspects affect the principles that form the cornerstones of a society and help it become efficient and effective.

The keystones of my theme are literature and society. Literature that mirrors the affectations of a society plays a complementary role in its efficiency and effectiveness.

History does not bear testimony to any work of literature that contributed to some landmark change or war but literature allover the world contributes to a reflection upon the prevalent situation in a society. It has been inspiring, critical. Yet relevant to the times it belonged to. Profoundly literature has also been the source of imagination, Prophesy and Reflections that have endured the test of the time. Literature thus is the soul of the society which can teach the man how to live and one of the main mottos of literature is “to live and let to live”.

Complex emotions and symbols, morals and intellectual considerations are engaged by literature to show its artistic form. The complexity and subtlety of everyday existence are used as forms in literature to explain an experience, there is also rhythm, repetition and contrast which help to buildup sensible aesthetics. Literary artists have higher sensibility and power of perception hence they convey experience with intensity and imagination. So, literature is able to lay down fundamentals for positive living.

Literature as a mirror

Mirror has that unique quality of being candidly honest; it reflects whatever it sees without evaluation or judgment. Most literary writers also attempt to speak candidly about their times so as to goad the power to change for the better. They use images and ironies to reveal their anguish but it is often seen that such works are appreciated after its time in hindsight. Like a mirror literature helps to make a clear assessment of what is wrong and what needs to be done to better the society.

Literature reflects universal truth through association, images, devices, symbols etc. These associative elements act as a mirror. This is exemplified in the words of Saedi which is a quotation at the gates of “United Nations” which translated loosely says that all men are uniquely of one essence a discomfort in one part of the body results in total discomfort allover.

Despite such prophecy mankind continues to build nuclear warheads. Saedi has warned us that humanity is the only religion for mankind. Obviously it used to be a practice in Islam in its heydays.

One of our wise sages said that as far as possible be honest in our dealings with others. Whether he is a friend or a foe, if you show honesty and mercy to a foe, he changes because you make him repentant and contrite about his action.

Shakespeare also expressed the same thought in his words “the quality of mercy is twice blessed, it blesses him that giveth and him that receiveth, truly such wisdom was practiced in those times and has stood by the society that believed in them.  

How literature affects the society?

Literature creates the imaginary worlds, imaginary ideas, thoughts and wisdom. These aspects become embodiments of the dramatic experience. The reader of literature partakes of these embodiments and explores the basic fundamental rules that govern human nature and also the structure of the world. The wise litterateurs of yore had understood that fundamentally the affairs of mankind, the basic good in man asserts itself thus through religious values and system with which they created structures in society, so that mankind would not stumble about in the darkness and destruction but world spent its time on future research and analysis for the betterment of the society. Literature appeals to both the heart and soul of the people hence it can be a powerful tool for change. The change can be both positive and negative.

We see today those nations that do not have high value literary traditions are the most stringent warmongers of the world.  A society or a group always needs norms and rules to sustain its ideologies and cultural mornings.

The works of Karl Marx and Engel had great effect on many nations in the world while Marxism is an abused term today, yet we see that Karl Marx laid down the ideologies that were imperatives of a society which was moving from agriculture to industrialization. The greatest defect of Marxism was that it was too utopian and idealistic and not very practical. Moving to Europe we have the French revolution which is known as only the revolution that was set off by intellectuals during the period of romanticism like Jean Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire.

The French kings who believed in the divine right to rule were brought to their knees by the writings of these authors whose keywords were equality liberty and fraternity.

We can see how these words have not yet lost their meaning. Mankind must live in a liberal equal and fraternal world which celebrates universal brotherhood. The success of the people in the French revolution is a reminder that ultimately the essential good always triumphs over evil.

Before touching on cornerstone of an effective society it is necessary to define an effective society. An effective society is not one that is materialistically affluent and industrialized but that in which the people are guided by an inner urge to positive values like integrity and honesty.

Tennessee Williams in his Glass Menagerie has written about ‘truth, life or reality, they are organic aspects which poetic imagination (literature) can represent or suggest. An effective society would have good governance and good lifestyle matrices based on positivity of thought and action.

When mankind strives with earnest and sincere efforts they leave behind a trail for the future to follow. The Taj Mahel is a living symbols of an invading emperor celebrating the grandeur of architecture and love. It continues to impress even after centuries. By contrast many wars have destroyed well kept museums and artifacts. Wars and nuclear catastrophe will make life unworthy for the coming generation. We remember the words of Milton that mind is its own place and can make a heaven of hell and a hell of heaven.

An effective society would always be in transition from hell to heaven. Here hell stands for base values like war. Terrorism, racism and nuclear catastrophe and heaven would stand for people with faith in universal brotherhood, knowledge and wisdom. Most of today’s societal problems rise from migratory tendencies of the rulers and their need to spread the disease of false ambition. Again we hear the warning words of J. Milton who says it is better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. It is warning to all men who move to new lands in search of fortune and end up becoming slaves in the new land. The poet with their powerful sense of perception sent out warning before the actual catastrophe happen but nobody stops to listen. There in lies the tragedy of a society which is of diseased mind that spreads its greed and its ailments to the rest of the world in the name of progress and culture. These nations or societies lack literary traditions or culture or their literary traditions have been silenced so that man can be manipulated at will. Such societies spread the cancer of hate and sanctions on other nations on the power of their military might but we have in the Bible the story of David who was able to kill a terrible giant with a catapult and save his people.

Literature is a great motivator to the right action and direction and without motivation one cannot act. This subject of high motivational value is very essential to good people to act in a manner that benefits them and which becomes a model for future generations. The figures in recent history are Mahatma Gandhi and Imam Khomeini who withstood the guns using the concepts of non violence and truth.

During the period when ancient lands were being divided a man born in Pakistan wrote the lines “Hindu nabanega na musalman banega, Insaan ki aulad hai Insaan banega.  Mazhab ne sikhata ne apas me bed rachna Hindi hai ham, Vatan hai Hindustan hamara, ham bulbulen hai iske yeh gulsetan hamara sare jehan si achaa Hindustan hamara” Means you will not become a Moslem or hindue, you are a son of a human and you will become a human being who will recognize that Hindustan is his mother land and we are all the song birds of one garden. Yet again we see that Iqbal Lahori is crying out from the heart and requesting the civilized men not to make humanity poor with their thoughtless actions. So, we can conclude that an effective society is one poised for growth and wisdom following the values of nonviolence and truth. It believes in universal brotherhood, equality and liberty.

Now the cornerstones necessary to foster these values have already been given to us by the societies of yore. Several teachers and spiritual guides were born to awaken humanity The Hindus  have the Gita, The Moslems have the Holly Quran, The Farsi have Zendvesta, The Jews have their Testament and The Christians with their Bible. Each of the prophets of these religions meditated, deliberated over life and its issues and laid down some cornerstones to develop a whale some society but man without literary pretensions have taken control of a vague war in the name of religion and other needs of the society.

The terrorists, the racists, and Zionist are all misguided elements of the society. A touch of love and understanding are necessary to bring back peace into their lives and make there aware of their talent for human consideration of society. Men like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Imam Khomeini have striven to walk the path not walked by common men. Among the cacophony of warmongers they have been the single lamp that deepest dispelled the darkness.  

The need for cornerstones

Today humanity stands for on a darkling plain of struggle and strives where ignorant armies clash at night. These are the words of W. H. Auden. Humanity can wipe itself out of existence through nuclear war or can survive by paying attention to the dangers of nuclear proliferation. By setting itself the task of overcoming the dangers with malice towards none and by having faith in the right as God has given us to see the right. So, the most vital cornerstone for an effective society is the sense of right based on universal values. The next cornerstone is respect for the views of others and their right to hold those views. A great military power should not and must not behave like a highway bandit holding the rest of the nations to ransom.

The most important cornerstone should be the belief of strong to protect the weak without exploitation or manipulation of the weak. Having laid down these cornerstones, it is essential that literature of the societies should be reflect wise and perceptive protest against all that is evil in society. The literatures carry the lone burden of being the watch dogs of a society. At times they become the lone role model of austerity and high thinking that infuses the youth to find their rightful place in the welfare of the society a look at those who shaped the cornerstones of the society is necessary. Thinkers who shaped the society through their thought and literature.

Let us begin with what was considered the oldest study of knowledge that is philosophy in Greek it means love of wisdom and some of the earlier thinkers like Socrates taught everybody to engage in self examination and to tend to theirs souls. Socrates sought to arrive at an understanding after examining the definitions and consistency of thought. Following him we have Plato who was creative and influential. He believed that people in society enjoy prosperity and harmony if they can find out their natural abilities and use them for the welfare of the society as administrators, military men and craftsmen. He strongly advocated that head of a state should be a wise man or a philosopher. A mediocre ruler will lead the society to ruin.

Plato was of the opinion that society consists of a cosmic hierarchy of unintelligent matter like nature, potent matter with life and intelligence and above all a force which moved the whole system invisibly. The intellectual matter needed to move up in search of the higher force. So, intelligent matter needed to constantly evolve. Schopenhauer was a German Philosopher and he believed that human life was a mistake because he thought the world was made irrational and could not have an author. Of course, we cannot forget Darwin who spoke of evolution of smaller form of life through the process of long term transmigration.

In the early 19th century we have J. S. Mill who spoke of the philosophy of a society and expressed that the aim of a society should be greatest good of the greatest number of people.

We cannot over look Marx and his utopian ideal of Marxism or dialectic materialism which attempted to control and eradicate greed and capitalism from human nature and society. From each according his ability and to each according to his need was his philosophy for a classless society.

The next philosopher whose theory for effective society was that man must use his will not to subjugate others but to conquer his own base lower tendencies.

Sartre was a thinker and posed existential dilemmas and wrote that if essence preceded existence then man must be responsible for his existence. He did not believe in a superior cause but believed that all life was accidental.

Carl Jung was a Swiss philosopher and he believed that the unconscious mind of the individual had an important role in society and it needs to be explored. He believed that philosophy, religion, mysticism were all necessary to understand the human mind.

From the above greats we see people who, at all times, thought of an effective society and prescribed truths to improve and ameliorate the society.

However, the society continued to evolve. At times it was wise and at times it was foolish. Wisdom in a society is generally the outcome of a creative spontaneity which gives meaning and depth to our existence. This creativity is expressed through literature, so society needs to nurture its literary traditions and talents to control the process of growth and destruction.

One of the wise men said ‘in the smallest you may find a master whom the deepest amongst you can never recognize.’ The society generally comprises a large number of undeveloped human beings who strive after the finite for the sake of theirs profit. The second types are the thinkers who strive and struggle for the sake of freedom and development but the small miniscule number returns to the finite for the sake of his infinite love for his brethren. Such a one is the Bodhisattva who has radiant inner light. Such mean lead the society to become more effective and prosperous. Today the society celebrates capitalism as a maxim necessary for the development and growth. However, the achievement of this aim has been at the cost of setting one man against another, one religion against another, one region against another and etc. All men read the Bible, the Quran, the Gitta and forget that all these epics of literature exhort that one must live in peace and harmony. The Jihads of the Holly Quran essentially meant that one should fight the inner negative energies to overcome Satan and lust but not to kill innocent kids and children on roads and hotels. The follower of the Bible are taught that they should love their brethren but think nothing of sending missiles to Iraq and talking hypocritically about human right violations. These actions are watched silently by the whole world because theirs societies are defective and they do not have a Bodhisattva to show the way. 

Conclusion

Progress is essential to human welfare. Technologies also make human life more adventurous and comfortable but at no time in history must man forget that essentially he lives with the capacity to think and discern the right form wrong. All of mankind must go back and relearn the fundamental values of living in peace and harmony. They can draw inspiration from the literature of their region.

Mankind must respect merit for its own sake and must respect and revere the Bodhisattvas in society. Any society that believes it can get away by spreading disharmony is only fooling itself.

History shows that the great roman empire that stretched over continents became a small nation, so was the fate of the British empire and so will be the fate of nations that believe power lies in a nuclear warhead.

Already the global recession is crippling the arms of the wretched in the world. At best of times and at worst of times it is necessary to be humble and keep faith in universal brother hood. The milk of human kindness flows through literature. It is imperative that mankind should heed the prophecies and predications. After great wandering they realize that life is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Shakespeare warned us few centuries age.  

References

1) Grey literature and its contrition to knowledge and society

2) Recognizing the role of literature in shaping society. D. R Wisewardene