Self Evident Truths

The Complete News Series : IV

Singapore's former prime minister, Lee Kuan Yu once remarked to the effect that ' nothing good comes out of sitting on the fence.' In the Mahabarata, the guru incarnate tells a young soldier that even though sankhya and yoga, as a way of life, represent two entirely true and independent views of life … a man is still obliged to pick one side and challenge the other.

 

It is the apparent sense of being opposite. Are men and women different? Is capitalism better than socialism? Is black different from white?

 

It therefore comes as a great challenge to the thoughts of a man to encounter the phrase ' all men are created equal '… whether that is in the Mahabarata or the American constitution. The difference in meaning between the two text is that the Mahabarata bases its premise on the entire experience of creation … the American experience represents it as a dream to be achieved.

 

How do we make a choice? In the old testament Abraham makes a choice between his love for his son and his love for god. He chooses to sacrifice his son but god stops him and points to a lamb caught in the thickets of a bush nearby … it is after all exhausted from its attempts to free itself and may already be close to death.

 

Alexander viewed the issue briefly and being in a busy state of mind cleaved it into two with his sword. The report I expect would be that he spent the remainder of his life debating with himself on which part belongs to which half. They must have both appeared exactly true to his mind. In comparison a predator on the hunt picks the sick and the weak.

 

The American constitution goes on to add that such a truth of equality of all men is ' self evident.' That must mean that it proves itself true on the basis of validation and application to life. It is verifiable like a scientific principle. A man may live his life as such and prove the principle.

 

In the Mahabarata the young soldier asks his teacher why if all things are true does god allow for such conflicts to occur … and why does he have to choose one side and fight to the death over it. The teacher answers that it is the science of creation. A quick check with science today and we find that nature creates bonding of materials through the force of magnetism that in turn relies on a north and south pole, positive and negative charge, attraction and rejection.

 

And then there's the man who loved sports … and the man who would be God.