It is literature that affects the consciousness of a people in the most powerful way. Thus it was that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the messenger of God through the Quran introduced into the human race a consciousness that brought about as a milestone culmination - the Renaissance itself.
In the recent past however a new post-renaissance literature has emerged that is dark and elitist. It is called ‘high literature’.
The difference in character between the former and the latter types of literature is that while the former is popular among the masses the latter is accepted only by the few.
High literature has affected the consciousness of the human race in a tremendous way making our world topsy turvey. Thus it is that in our world we now need to make sense of the esoteric before we can make sense of the exoteric.
However it is interesting that there are groups of people who owing to poverty are isolated from this global mind set and such is the case with a number of villages in the rural areas of Pakistan. Villagers here are illiterate and thus have not been exposed to the modern consciousness.
Interestingly it is because of this reason that they have retained their use of their Qalbs [i.e. they see things simply and clearly and need not arrive at it through the maze of the modern mindset].
The gate keeper to my house is from such a village and he must ‘feel’ and ‘integrate’ within his small world view everything he is exposed to intuitively for he was never trained to compartmentalize an issue and process it only through the analytical mind.
For this group of people then the need to make sense of the esoteric before they can make sense of the exoteric does not exist. That said they still need a body of knowledge with which they can detach if exposed to the modern consciousness and retain their cognitive mode of functioning i.e. a body of knowledge by which they can defend themselves against the modern mindset.
People think that the task to create such content is easy for the audience need not ‘work out’ of a topsy turvey world just defend against it. They think that content catering to the latter goal alone would be simpler to create.
I think it's because of a set of Topsy Turvey values prevalent in our world that make Dubai possible. For the current system allows rampant Zulm which is accepted owing to the promise of economic benefit to the world. This is essentially so because the system is not based on Checking malevolent intent. And all this is true because of the topsy turvey values of the people running the system.
In the recent past however a new post-renaissance literature has emerged that is dark and elitist. It is called ‘high literature’.
The difference in character between the former and the latter types of literature is that while the former is popular among the masses the latter is accepted only by the few.
High literature has affected the consciousness of the human race in a tremendous way making our world topsy turvey. Thus it is that in our world we now need to make sense of the esoteric before we can make sense of the exoteric.
However it is interesting that there are groups of people who owing to poverty are isolated from this global mind set and such is the case with a number of villages in the rural areas of Pakistan. Villagers here are illiterate and thus have not been exposed to the modern consciousness.
Interestingly it is because of this reason that they have retained their use of their Qalbs [i.e. they see things simply and clearly and need not arrive at it through the maze of the modern mindset].
The gate keeper to my house is from such a village and he must ‘feel’ and ‘integrate’ within his small world view everything he is exposed to intuitively for he was never trained to compartmentalize an issue and process it only through the analytical mind.
For this group of people then the need to make sense of the esoteric before they can make sense of the exoteric does not exist. That said they still need a body of knowledge with which they can detach if exposed to the modern consciousness and retain their cognitive mode of functioning i.e. a body of knowledge by which they can defend themselves against the modern mindset.
People think that the task to create such content is easy for the audience need not ‘work out’ of a topsy turvey world just defend against it. They think that content catering to the latter goal alone would be simpler to create.
I think it's because of a set of Topsy Turvey values prevalent in our world that make Dubai possible. For the current system allows rampant Zulm which is accepted owing to the promise of economic benefit to the world. This is essentially so because the system is not based on Checking malevolent intent. And all this is true because of the topsy turvey values of the people running the system.
Faraz, this is interesting discussion about "High Literature", can you give a specific example of DARK and ELITIST literature. I am specially interested to know the term DARK, what this really means in context of Literature and the effect that it has on our world.
ReplyDeleteIqbals's poetry or Shakespeare's plays were popular among the masses.
ReplyDeleteGood art such as this always COMPLETES you,
adds to your understanding,
it ties up loose ends,
through its messages
and the values it cradles within
it enables you.
Thus good art is popular among the masses.
Many books however are also DARK such as the movie "Silence of the Lambs".
this literature that
distributed as entertainment,
has within it also a set of values
"High Literature" has destructive values,
and so it disables you.
It does so by glorifying malevolence in some way.
there are those who say about this art that,
it is accessible only to THOSE who understand
its COMPLEX message within
thus it's "High art".
For those whose hearts can see,
and wish to cleanse breath life into it
would automatically turn away
from haunting literature.
you are very right faraz. For us, who are now some what older, its fine, cos our minds can differentiate. However, for much younger audience, this is extremely destructive.
ReplyDeleteA good example of this are video games which are full voilence and gore, to which little kids are hooked onto. THough lately, real life is no less gori and voilent with all the suicide bombing and all, but still.
Lately, the madia has started showing voilence as such a natural behavior, its disgustingly disturbing. like yesterday, i caught a bit of "All the boys love Mandy Lane". It showed voilence as such a natural behavior, it was disturbing.
I like what Black Simpson has to say...
ReplyDeletebut I dont agree with completely shunning such forms of writing or Art for that matter, in any form. What is important I think, is that it not be made accessable to the masses and children. Like they have ratings for movies. Such forms should also come with a form/sort of license, that would be accessable to those who are of an age and have reason to delve into those kind of shores, for whatever reasons...
It's actually the values they contain that are distasteful. For malevolent values where ever found or malevolent intent when we encounter it [in ourself or in others]; is wiser to keep a distance from it I reckon :)
ReplyDelete