"Crisis of poverty of thought" by Aziz Ali Dad

The following article  “Crisis of poverty of thought”  by Aziz Ali Dad, source “View Point, July 22, 2011”.

 

In Pakistan our souls have been constantly fed on the emotions through the medium of poetry. It has permeated so much in our psyche that we view the order of things through the spectacles of emotions Over reliance on poetic medium has become an integral part of our thinking processes as our perception of history and other events is informed by it 

“What does a philosopher demand of himself first and last? To overcome his time in himself, to become ‘timeless’.-- Friedrich Nietzsche

Historically, Indo-Gangetic region proved to be a fertile ground for the genre of poetry. Great mystics, preachers, reformers and founders of religion in India expressed their ideas in poetry. Even where sacred texts are written in prose, poetry became an efficacious medium to disseminate religious teachings and injunctions to the masses. The genre of poetry reached its zenith during the Mughal period as we see eminent poet cum “thinkers” indulging in mushahiras in the courts of the Mughal kings, princes and patricians. Dominance of poetry during the period of decline signify deeper crisis in the society. Poetry’s dominance over intellectual and cultural life of subcontinent resulted in poverty in the realm of philosophy.

Though there are some thinkers who can be treated as philosophers in loose term, their number is miniscule in terms of influence on overall thinking paradigm of south Asia as compared to poets. During the colonial period we witnessed emergence of individuals who started to engage philosophically with existential issues and intellectual challenges of the time. They represented their intellectual insights through the medium of prose. Despite their periodic forays into philosophy in prose, poetry still remained a dominant medium of the intelligentsia. Even Allama Iqbal resorted to poetry for the propagation of his ideas. This situation compels us to raise question about relationship between poetry and poverty of philosophy/thought.

In the 1960 Marshal McLuhan wrote a crisp but illuminating book ‘Medium is the Message’. The main argument of his book is that medium not only determines our message but also changes our way of thinking by bringing about changes in the way we perceive the world. Although, he brings examples from mediums introduced by technology, we can extend his argument to the genres employed in literature and different disciplines to convey the message.

 

For more details: http://www.viewpointonline.net/crisis-of-poverty-of-thought.html