What makes some things cliched, the others not? Excessive usage leading to loss of impact?? Why are somethings more frequently used than others? Questions , answers to all of which lie in one universal truth. We are all alike. We experience similar things , think in similar ways and when we need to express our feelings we use similar expressions, expressions so exact that anything else would lose the efficacy.Thus are born cliches. I shall start with a cliched thought then.
There are three kinds of people in this world - the believers, the pragmatists and then there are the confused- stuck between the two.The believers are the ones that have read all those stories and believe in them and happy endings or rather the happy ever after pseudo endings.Their lives are mostly influenced by beliefs which though idealistic are impractical.But this breed of humans is extremely rare. We can also look at it as phases in life. Childhood would be the perfect example of such a state of existence. Unfazed , pure souls oblivious to the truth called life.
Then there are the pragmatists. The calculated man. Everything he does is planned and is supposed to lead to a material goal, the only thing he believes in. It can be anything from money to fame to carnal pleasures.Though closer to the truth such a person is far removed from feelings like love. Everything he does has to lead to something.
Thankfully (or not) most of us fall into the third category, Confused. We have read our stories but life as we see it does not seem even close to what was portrayed in them. Close to truth and feelings alike we don't know what to believe in what not to. The same old question haunts us - To be or not to be! Our lives are full of cliches. We try to be really objective in everything we do but rarely do we succeed . Our lives are but a fight for relevance. All our actions are driven by this single factor - fame can be associated with relevance to society , Promotions with relevance to job , etc. Existence has to lead to relevance i.e. if we exist we have to remain relevant. What we feel is a complex mixture of emotions and objectivism , the two that are as far apart as probably the north and south poles. Like the poles can't ever meet so can't feelings and objectivism.
Struggle for relevance remains the second most important activity next only to struggle for existence. Though most human action is still based on instincts we have over the years trained our instincts to meet the objective i.e to remain relevant at all times. All human fears can be related to the above mentioned. Fear of dying can be related to struggle of existence, all the other fears are in some way or the other related to the struggle for relevance.
All said and done we are still mortals. All the struggle ends sometime. The greater question is why struggle when you know it'll all end sometime. Possibly because you want people to remember you? There is no end to this. But this is the end of this post of mine(very abrupt i know). Cogitate over it.
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6 comments:
I'm writing a story based on this, actually - a conflict between logic and emotion, the apollonian and the dyonysian, sense and nonsense.
I believe that we find comfort in logic and rationality, but only until a certain extent. I believe that there is no higher purpose - once we are dead we are dead - or maybe we are reborn, but we die again and there is no point to any of it. And it frustrates us and it confuses us because there is no sense in it to find comfort in.
The idea of a god - specifically an anthropomorphic god who looks down from the heavens and guides whatever goes on here on earth is not a very logical concept. If you think about it, it actually does have its roots in logic. We are hopeful for someone out there who knows what's going on, because we sure as hell don't.
Kaushik
@ Kaushik - Indeed! With your permission i shall append it to the post?
basically .. serious stuff .. but as i said .. i guess in some places you have kind of under-clarified in your effort to make it a blog post ...
P.S: I was the first one to read the post .. kinda 'premiere' :P
nice post.. basically you can link the struggle for relevance/recognition back to the struggle for survival...you have a much better chance for survival when you are recognized as someone of importance.... the very fact that we "like" company, value friendship, develop feelings like love, hate and what not all stems from the very basic instinct to survive and live a "comfortable"life.
Coming to the point about why we struggle even though we know that its all going to end someday....well,, whats the alternative? To live, you have to struggle. without struggle, there is no way you can continue with life. You always have the alternative of choosing the exit any time and ending all struggles. Its just a question of what you choose to do, Then again, I dont believe in choice, so you are doing whatever it is that you are doing because its the only thing you could have done :D
Wolverine is a classic example of the confused type.:D
That's a lovely title :-)
Ah, to be a believer again...
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