Politics of self and the world of illusions: By Fayyaz Baqir

Self is the mirror of the world around us. The battle that takes place in the outside world at the same time takes place in each individual’s inside world. Victory or defeat of the forces in the inner world is reflected in the outer world. One can ask what is the connection between the inner and outer world.

Most of us blame things happening in our lives on the outside circumstances. While it is true that we cannot choose circumstances of our liking we can choose how to respond to these circumstances. We have the power to observe, see the difference between right and wrong, chose the right thing, pay the price for our choices, refuse to accept injustice and tyranny, seek the help of others, and support them in their hour of need. If we can stand our ground we are free. We win the battle against injustice the moment we refuse to cooperate with unjust people. The smallest battle in terms of scale and the biggest battle in terms of significance is the battle against one’s self. Our lower self needs comfort, convenience, ease, free reward, and protection. It wants to escape any hardship and is unwilling to pay the price for achieving its goals. It lives in a world of illusion.

We are under the illusion that if we compromise on principles we don’t pay any price, we don’t suffer any pain. In reality, we suffer the pain in both cases whether we ally with justice or injustice. In the first case, we suffer the agony of taking a soul-shaking decision and in the second case, we suffer the agony of repentance for not siding with the truth. Our cowardice, greed, lust, and hypocrisy keep haunting us. We fail in overcoming our weaknesses because In many cases we suffer from one fatal flaw, we can easily see the shortcomings of others but not our own. That is the biggest block that comes in the way of personal and social change. We spend limitless energy in the effort to change others without realizing that before others we need to change ourselves.

Life sometimes gives us self awareness in an unkind and brutal way to show us that being kind to others is the only way to be kind to ourselves. We protect ourselves if we protect the weak and vulnerable. If we cannot defeat the tyrant and the greedy person inside us we cannot defeat him outside. I will like to narrate an incident of one of the finest neurosurgeons in Pakistan. I don’t want to take any names so let us consider it a piece of fiction. This surgeon had set a rigid principle, not even looking at the patient without a down payment made by the family members. One day handsome a young man who had a severe accident and was in a precarious situation was brought to the hospital. No one could identify him and contact his family. The doctor refused to look at him without the payment in advance. After much persuasion by his staff to give this young man a chance while they located his family he agreed to see him. The young man breathed his last by the time doctor reached him. The young man was his son.

If we only act for things for which we are paid and don’t render unpaid services for things that need to be changed we should not complain when we land in a deadly situation. We cannot blame it on foreign hands, conspiracies, bandits, and highway robbers. The robber we need to fight against is sitting inside us. If we can overpower the robber within we can defeat the robber outside. For that, we need to stretch the circle of our imagination. If we want to make the world outside we first need to discover our inner beauty and share it with the outside world.