Many like Adi Shankara have expounded that the world as we see is but an illusion or “Maya”. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
The dichotomous juxtaposition of “the real” and “the rational” calls for unravelling “the real”, the enigmatic tapestry of life interwoven by threads of reason and rationality. The conception of life itself is an enigma — philosophers and thinkers galore have contemplated upon its intricacies to demystify the profound and esoteric truths underpinning it. What is reality? The true essence of life has captivated many a thinker. Many like Adi Shankara have expounded that the world as we see is but an illusion or “Maya”, a deceptive labyrinth wherein the mortal man lies entangled. Understanding this fact paves the way for enlightenment and liberation.
What then is real? Is it some profound consciousness that lies beneath the abyss of the unreal world? Or is it the rational plane on which logic, reason, and rationale cross-fertilise to manifest as the real?
It is believed that those aspects of life which when tested on the touchstone of rationality emerge as real. Rationality is imbued with reason, logic and scientific temper. It is antithetical to irrational degrees, stigmas and pathologies of stereotypical prejudices that afflict the oblivious and the ignorant.
The scientific discoveries and inventions are real reflections of the scientific quest of mankind. From the heights of the space to the unfathomable depths of oceans, science has manifested reality before humanity. Things which would have seemed a chimera a few centuries or even decades ago are moulding themselves as reality. For who could have imagined that algorithms, symbolic of rationality, would power the most sophisticated of technologies such as generative AI. Chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini have rendered utopian ideas to manifest as a reality of our times.
Many experts believe technology is reshaping the way we perceive life in our lived experiences. The unreal transmuting as real has become a reality now. One can plug in a virtual reality headset and venture into another world that is seemingly unreal but surreal nonetheless. Like Alice in the Wonderland, one gets a glimpse of the unreal reality while being grounded in the real cosmic plane.
However, the rationale of rationality being the real may be manipulative and misleading, bordering on irrationality. Yes, logical reasoning embedded as rational expositions has real and tangible dimensions. Think about it from a different perspective. What we know as rational is subtly altering the very conception of reality, annihilating its very core. In an age dominated by AI and social media, humans have been held hostage by the so-called rational forces of technology incarcerating them in the Platonic “Allegorical cave”. Trapped in echo chambers of misinformation and disinformation, humans and societies are drifting away from the realities of human existence. The real bonds of friendship are giving way to virtual relationships. Traditional values and civilisational ethos, the core of real subliminal humanity, is eroding under the scientific juggernaut. Everything, our interactions, education, entertainment, and work, is being conducted on unreal platforms and displacing the real core of human consciousness. No wonder, we live in a world stricken with hate crimes, violence, and inequality.
Can everything that is real be rational? The answer is not an obvious yes or no, for the reality itself is a nuanced concept. The tangible elements of nature, the woods, the wildlife and the natural spaces are all but real manifestations visible to us. Can they be explained through perfect logic? To a certain extent, yes. For nature is a harmonious ecosystem where interdependencies and interrelationships between different species creates life on earth.
Biologists have ascribed logic and reason to how the food chains and food webs characterise the pyramid of natural ecosystems. Geographers and geologists like Alfred Wegner have drawn scientific rationale for the creation of myriad topographies and geological structures that abound on the planet. Scientists have even theorised the very creation of universe — the Big Bang Theory forms the rational underpinning for the reality of our cosmic creation.
Darwin has propounded the rationale for evolution of life on earth. “Survival of the fittest” becomes the rational explanation for the real life forms that we see today inhabiting the planet.
However, the rational framework stipulated to explain the reality is not sufficient to comprehend the unmanifest, unseen and profound yet real aspects of life and existence. Medical science has not been able to fully comprehend the fundamental realities of life — what happens after death is one such example. Natural disasters that leave deep and real scars are today being ascribed to anthropogenic or human-induced climate change. Yes, human activities have accentuated the frequency and the ferocity of disasters. But disasters did manifest centuries and millennia ago. It is believed that civilisations such as the Harappan civilisation that thrived in India and parts of Pakistan were decimated and reduced to oblivion by nature. Millions of years ago, a giant asteroid rendered the entire dinosaurs extinct. Can these species of realities be explained by reason and logic or scientific principles? Opinions are clearly divided.
Though reality and rationality may seem inextricably intertwined on the surficial level, however their relationship is a complex interplay of a myriad forces that transcend the boundaries of “the real” and the “rational”. For, here the body of religion and faith systems fill the void that lies in between the two.
On a spiritual and metaphysical plane, the boundaries of the real and the rational blur. Spiritual experiences and divine revelations are lived realities. Whether it is the divine revelation to the Prophet, spiritual ecstasy of Bhakti saint Meerabai or the divine transcendental experience of Ramkrishna Paramhansa, the real divine manifested in these mortal souls. Can mathematical formulae or scientific principles prove or explain their feelings and how they received the spiritual bliss? These experiences may fail to provide logic to the rationalists, but the reality is agnostic to these niceties and transcends human frailties. It’s imperative for us to be rational and driven by reason, logic and wisdom. For without rationality, there will not be order and discipline at the same time it is incumbent upon us to experience the realities of life not merely from the prism of reasoned ration rationality, but also subtle and profound forces of nature that are sublime yet real. Only then would life on earth be heavenly, when the real and rational marry each other within the cosmic church of ultimate bliss that lies beyond human comprehension.
milindksharma@rediffmail.com
Published – October 20, 2024 03:55 am IST
