In one collective form of insanity, whole populations of people rise from sleep at about the same time each day, move in great herds to locations at some distance from their home territory, perform repetitive manoeuvres there, return home when evening falls, slump in front of a flickering coloured light, and after a while fall asleep again. They repeat the process day after day for decades. The disease is called ‘normal life’, and variations from it are regarded as eccentric; if the variations are marked enough they are even called ‘madness’ and ‘delusion’.
This book by A.C. Grayling is a compilation of short essays or introduction to various topics we deal in our everyday lives…War, Nature, Marriage, Death, Philosophy and many more…
The author writes with clarity but the topics chosen are too complex to be written simply. Hence writing these topics in a couple of pages became unidirectional and incomplete for me…
Rather than leaving us with questions, the essays were sort of conclusion on what the author has thought and experienced…
However, some of the topics had interesting discussions like the above on how we describe madness/ abnormal to any unusual behaviour…
Another one is the following on teaching morality using religion :
Religion is worse than an irrelevance as regards the inculcation of morality, for the following reasons: in an individualistic society, where personal wealth is the chief if not the sole measure of achievement, a morality that enjoins you to give your all to the poor, that says it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter heaven, and preaches selflessness towards one’s neighbour and complete obedience to deity – such a morality, wholly opposed to the norms and practices not just accepted but extolled in our society, has little to offer. Most people ignore the contrast between such views and the universal instruction to go forth and multiply one’s income and possessions; and obey the latter.
And when religious fundamentalists add a preparedness to incarcerate women, mutilate genitals, amputate hands, murder, bomb and terrorize – all in the name of faith- then religious morality becomes not just irrelevant but dangerous.
Little disheartened, the book may be read in passing, as an additional perspective, but doesn’t add much value as a solo reading…
Disha 