Utility Value of Philosophy

As I am in the process of writing I shall attempt to refrain from drawing comparisons of any sorts. Discussing philosophy particularly its utility value is a sufficiently serious task and involves thinking in depth. There will not be any reference made to specific philosophers either of the past or the present. My pursuit of this topic is one of examination.

Interest in philosophy develops out of an intense quest to know the truth. Despite not being a standardized subject, the application of reason proves to be its foundation. It is primarily concerned with criticizing, reviewing, analyzing and sensing the validity of arguments. The unknown is what philosophy aims to de-mystify. If by knowing the unknown adds significance to our lives then philosophy probably has some utility value in the long-run. Is the unknown of any importance is the question. Is it of any relevance to man?

Philosophy definitely has aesthetic appeal. Its artistic quality can be appreciated when we re-discover our wish to encounter the ultimate mystery of the universe. Philosophy determines to establish its belief that wisdom is the real cure to human suffering as wisdom gives relief to the restless man. In this manner it is not only aesthetically appealing but it also helps in mellowing down chaotic impulses as responses to stimuli. Philosophy helps in creating choices mostly of which we are unaware. It opens up a clouded mind giving way to the sunshine of objectivity. It brings about hope in despair. It tentatively guarantees the development of our mind which has the potential to from independent views and respect differing view-points.

All this is fine but there is another question confronting us. Does philosophy have any utility-value in the form of monetary benefits? Unfortunately it does not. There is no way here I can vote for the ayes. Philosophy factually is devoid of direct applications that practical and commercial life demand for a living. At the attitude level a philosophical bent of mind helps. Our quality of life becomes enriched by the training philosophy gives. With that granted though, financially it is unrewarding. It has predominantly only academic value.

Philosophy has an impact on everything we do with its share of consequences as well. Any philosophy that we adopt has metaphysical consequences. Philosophers never can escape this. Possibly silence is the best way out but thought is to be expressed and that itself means taking a stand. A thoughtless mind makes the individual either a stoic or a mystic but not a philosopher.

Impossible it is to evaluate beauty, creativity and fair aesthetic sensibilities by money. Only the dull, monotonous and practical can guarantee comfortable and wealthy lives with almost complete certainty.

Philosophy as love of wisdom represents the beauty and equanimity of thought even if it is materially useless.

Art:the focus of all emotions

Mankind has served from time immemorial to express emotions which could not be expressed in natural life. Suppressed emotions have had to come out some way or the other. They do in fact manifest manifold. Be it odd mannerisms, gestures, mental illnesses, outbursts of energies or paintings and the fine arts, suppressed emotions have their ways. Leonardo Da Vinci's thoughts for instance have led to various interpretations quite exotic. There was a period when Sigmund Freud achieved great heights because of his concept of the unconscious layer dominating us all. In the light of such flourishing theories two questions spring up in my mind. The questions in contention are the following:

Can mankind ever be free from the 'Unconscious'?

Is it necessary to be completely rid of the 'Unconscious'?

Both the questions are of a different nature. You see, when man doesn't behave naturally he builds up as a consequence, a private inner world. This inner world of his goes through a transformation depending on the kind of experiences he has in the external world. Thus a world of opinions is created. Now it is just a question of being channelized. The media are plenty. After all energy gets dissipated in many forms. There is often a platform by which energy is channelized. If the platform is steady, you tend to be more conclusive than you were pre-disposed to be. If it is bumpy you get into the realm of argumentation and reasoning. If on the other hand there is no platform then you end up being creative. This means that you create a path for yourself. A path, which is inscrutably pure. There is no difference then, as a consequence, between your private inner world and the external one. This leads to a state of existence where there is nothing like diffidence or confidence but one harmonious reality. A journey without a destination is an ideal without a subject. You pursue what you wish to pursue and in a harmonious way at that. However, be mindful of introspection. There can exist simultaneous journeys or paths. Platforms may vary depending on the experiences you have.What you create will there-after be a response to stimuli. It is nothing but the work of natural emotion.

Suppressed emotion only distorts. Especially when there is no room for direct expression. With the instance of repression, you start expressing incongruently. This is in actuality an indirect response to a previous past not responded to. In the process you have given way to a promising career in psychoanalysis. You create forms of artistic expressions. You develop insights through reasoning based on apparent discrepancies. You measure and define your experiences on par with all that you have learnt. You may also develop patterns of behaviour with abnormal references. Idiosyncrasies, defence mechanisms to name a few are by-products of perceived experience. While there are desirable effects, there are also undesirable side effects of unnatural existence. But the more natural you are, you will certainly demonstrate attributes fascinating an exclusive public to an incredible degree. Such revelation will not be interpreted as 'Psychosis' as it is extremely desirable. Being the well-spring of authentic 'Art', it gives rise to a canvas where in you can paint your emotions either through enigmatic colours or strokes of genius through direct simplicity. Art becomes the focal point of all emotions. There is no longer a prosaic platform on which to walk but a sound theme to vent out your tabooed feelings.

Art brings to life a desired reality. It converts experienced moments into creams of picturesque designs. So if by being free from the unconscious would mean the end of aesthetics then such freedom is far from worthwhile. Only the second question having been answered the former directs its way also to a relieving answer. Mankind can be free from the unconscious only when translation of experiences gives way to 'there and then expression'. This means that only when there is provision for direct response to stimuli there is hope for freedom from the unconscious. As this has proved to be impossible, emotions find refuge in the artist's canvas for figurative expressions.

Hibiscus

Have you ever seen a rose mallow
Greet you with a pleasant smile
Have you felt its warm arms
Fondle you with its petals of style
A time never has come for too long
For off you go without a look back
At the trumpet shaped conspicuous wonder
For there is nothing as a human you lack
And this rose mallow is a dream deeply real
My love why do you leave without a touch
Without a semblance in the blemish of truth
There is no love in excess too much
You can see its simplicity oh my darling
Why don’t you even take notice and gaze
At this esteem-free lover so pure
From this worldly censure and praise
Shall awaken you oh my darling
From the gross and the conscious
The rose mallow is so nearly a gaze away
There is no cycle in line quite vicious
That you may walk without a notice
Without a sweet recall of my rose mallow
That we both may cherish
Ajay Seshadri

Enlightenment through music

Many people feel to this day that enlightenment cannot be described in words. Could this be a myth? What if the words chosen to convey a point are viewless in the sense that while nothing well-defined is communicated, the myriads of thought are still expressed? The demands of day to day living respect only the well-defined stands that we take but not the asymmetric notions which we wish to express. The benefits of music help us appreciate these notions. Emotion merges with thoughtful energies giving us the musical or poetic experience. This is the enlightenment that I am talking about.

Music is not just an experience but also enlightenment. It is not my wish to convey a point of view that the enlightenment is static. In fact it is truly dynamic in that you grow in terms not expressible by time. Just imagine a location in space where there is no time, no space and no gravity but just you. Just you and yourself to be with. An imperfection too graceful to be brought down to standard forms. An enlightenment beyond thought. That is what music is.

Listening to music is itself a form of self-induced therapy. If you experience it you wouldn't wish to communicate it. You would long to express it in artistic forms. It may be in the form of music itself. Some say music is a journey, a few others say it is a trip to our sub-conscious world which we at the conscious level dared to face. For it is our true nature we face in the form of musical notes. The melody is so sweet that we don't take into account what we are going through at the time of going through it.

Anything self-induced is self-sustained. We don't bother about the limits of joy when we are in joy. It is the same with music. We don't bother about when the song is going to come to an end. We just enjoy and relish the tune in the process allowing music to take us to a semi-conscious state of existence or Sleep! You like to be in a state of wonder don't you. If you could afford it you may say. It never happens at the expense of life. However limited space is , music can still encompass and fit in without stress.

Music is the only phenomena which survives time. If we were to know this musically we would compose our music of life. We would live in ecstatic heights of imagination. Nothing would stop us from blossoming into flowers of rhymes, into flowers of melodies. How wonderful that would be? A lovely song sung yesterday continues to appeal to us today. It will tomorrow also. It is precisely this nature of music that makes it survive time.

Any emotion can be expressed through music. Any thought can be expressed through music. It is how excessively romantic you are. Romance has its place in the dormant shells of talent that everyone possesses. If they are let out it is like letting out butterflies held captive in our stomach in the air. A release is worth the free flowing rivers demolishing dams of imprisonment. Music is freedom. Freedom is enlightenment and music is in enlightenment.

Artistic Innocence

Is it the child or the portrait that I admire,
The almond brown eyes make me fly higher.
I do wish to come down you know,
Profound words of joy to flow.
Is it the child or the portrait that I admire,
His shining black hair makes me fly higher.
The canvas is essential dear I understand,
There is no one who has an upper-hand.
Is it the child or the portrait that I admire,
Angel like innocence makes the day retire.
It is night now darling I feel heavenly,
Those curious eyes I adore terribly.
Is it the child or the portrait that I admire,
The artist of grace do I desire?
Oh! It is art that I admire for it knows no death,
The wings of fragility feel my breath.
It is art indeed that I admire both in form and truth,
The influence of childhood upon youth.
By Ajay Seshadri

Sun Never Sets

Forming letters to create a meaning
In distant passion far reaching
Closer you get to finer silk
The joy you beget in sweet milk
Familiarity never takes for granted
Affections and impudence implanted
Sweet to that tongue is milk and honey
To which the arrested find funny
Distant passion is it torture-never
Fierce in intensity for the better
Far-fetched ambitions are never far-fetched
To you without they are fearfully stretched
But the closer to distant passion you get
In your heart the sun never will set.

By Ajay Seshadri

Philosophy of poetry

Doubtfulness is an obstinate desire to find truth. Doubting is a means of examining validity. Reality as perceived by the senses is something a rationalist takes for granted as fundamentally true. We may safely call it an axiom. The external world by this definition is an axiom. Doubts arise when a subject of contention is not known with complete certainty.

Philosophers have strong leanings towards abstract phenomena. The more abstract a subject the more of imagination and visualization it demands. A philosopher theorizes with a curious motive of intellectual satisfaction. Relevance and practical value of his theories need not bother him the least bit. He is different from the metaphysician in the sense that he is rendered more realistic. Many metaphysicians in many ways are apt to doubt the reality of the external world. The invisible world very interestingly appeals to his fancies the way number theory appeals to a serious mathematician. The former remains unverified unlike the latter. The very many concepts in metaphysics cannot be perceived by the senses. The doctrine of illusion receives tremendous attention by metaphysicians.

Philosophic doubts differ from metaphysical ones. The nature of phenomena and things concern the philosopher. The ultimate questions generic in content get addressed by him. If one views philosophy as just an extension of science, Logic and analysis play a crucial part in discovering the nature of truth and ultimate reality. If any assertion is beyond it then it is likely to be ignored.

Now I wish to discuss the branch of aesthetics affected by philosophy. I will have to move away from hard-core philosophy subjects in order to contemplate its relevance to literature (aesthetics). The ultimate questions such as the concept of imagination, theories of consciousness and literature’s explicit philosophical implications will be addressed. These questions form the philosophic doubts which creep up in literature. It is aesthetics that will be analyzed and not so much the aesthetic impacts. Value of literature is determined by its rich flavor of stylistic grace. The impact is secondary but essential for mass popularity. This will not prove of any vital importance to the literary or philosophical analyst.

By not restricting the analysis to critical appreciation I shall have gone to the transitory stage where literary or poetic work of art cuts across the border-line of philosophical investigations.

A poetic movement is in its own way as charming and significant as the poem itself. Nature and type characterize cult. Poetry itself mirrors imaginative aspirations fulfilled in imaginary worlds. Such a fulfillment may be fictitious. Nevertheless, it is fulfillment.

An inspired poem as a narrative happens unconsciously and any attempt to cater to another state of mind and not the poet’s will render it artificial. Indeed, editing is more apt at the conscious level as the constraints of grammar constantly keep an inspired activity under check. Editing involves being conscious of grammar. The end-readers constitute the audience and the interests of the end-readers vary depending on their tastes and wave-length. Grammar is less prone to change or dynamism than human interests. A study of syntax develops as much an understanding of the form of prose as rhyme schemes do of poetry.

Free language like free thought sustains independence and cannot be governed.
Poetry in free language and thought reveals emotions as figurative realities beyond the grasp of the rational. Therefore it is no wonder if it happens to have idiosyncrasies when we view it grammatically. Grammar is prescriptive while language in its free form is neither descriptive nor prescriptive but relative. Communication of thought must keep in mind the standards and levels of knowledge of the end-reader which it hopes to inform. Here the end-reader is the constraint. A language-expert need not be a good communicator. Somebody who communicates well necessarily cannot analyze the dynamics of language the way a language-expert is expected to do.

Philosophic doubts and literary and language ones converge at a point of enquiry. Doubt undoubtedly marks the beginning of all inquiry. There is no such thing as relevance of doubt. It is irrelevant undoubtedly. In-fact it is more normal than a conclusion. A conclusion is important but it involves the highest degree of risk and responsibility. Conclusions about poetry and prose as literary forms involve delving into forms with romantic intensity. In prose, form precedes essence. In poetry essence exists in the form of form. Essence is the form. Essence and form merge in poetry like no other literary-form observed.

It is important for prose to adhere to some level of grammatical level-headedness if we suppose that prose is direct in presentation.
The content is free of choice. There can be no limits to content. Human comprehension may be limited but imagination beats limitation.

By Ajay Seshadri