Books I have lovedThis is the third in a series of articles on books I have loved. I urge you to read my earlier two articles as well. If I have already emailed them to you then do not delete those emails and refer to those mails more than once. Here are some more of the books have loved. Russell is pure entertainment. And you will learn a huge amount as you are being entertained. His vast learning, clarity and intellectual honesty will make sure of that. Russell was a life long unrepentant rationalist but he himself had a mystical experience of a sort. He was not looking for it. It just dawned on him. And it basically drove and guided all his efforts for the rest of his life. He describes his experience as factually as possible in his Autobiography. As far as Sceptical Essays is concerned I have read the book more than once but only two chapters have stuck in my mind. The first is the introductory chapter and the second is the chapter on China titled Eastern and Western Ideals of Happiness. This chapter on China as far as I am concerned is as close to perfection as anything that it is ever possible to achieve using the written word. I feel very strongly about this chapter because as the time when I read it seemed to speak directly to me and address my problems. Just a few of the concepts that so changed my life and gave me a completely new perspective. I am here quoting from the book: "Confucius was in all things moderate even in virtue. He did not believe that we ought to return good for evil. He was asked on one occasion: "How do you regard the principle of returning good for evil?" And he replied, "What then is to be the return for good? Rather should you return justice for injustice and good for good." Contrast this with the statement in the Bible that advises us to turn the other cheek. This advice might be useful for person who are saints or who wish to become saints and spread the word of God. It is not advice that is meant to meet the needs of ordinary men and women who are just trying to survive and bring up a family. The books written by the Chinese have this characteristic that all they ever wanted to do is to help you survive, help you look after yourself and lead a happy life to whatever extent possible while you are on this planet Earth. They never did try to bullshit you, they never did. And they had no ulterior motives. The Bible if you look at it that way has an ulterior motive. It wants you to go and spread the word of God. The Chinese seem to think that God can look after Himself, you can't. And here is how you can get along and be happy while you are on this Earth. Here is a second quotation from the book Sceptical Essays regarding the ethical systems of the Chinese as compared to that of Western nations. "It never occurred to the Chinese, as it has to all modern white nations, to have one system of ethics in theory and another in practice. I do not mean that they always live up to their theories but that they attempt to do so and are expected to do so, whereas there are large parts of the Christian ethic which are universally admitted to be too good for this wicked world." What can I say about these sentences? Pure poetry. I feel very strongly about these passages as they cured me of my own naοve and hopelessly misguided idealism. We were not meant to be angels. Not everybody is a saint and almost nobody wants to become one. All most people want to do is to get along and survive and be as happy as is possible under the circumstances. And is that is the case then why not help these ordinary folk to get exactly what they want. They may not do much good but if they are thinking clearly and are not misguided then at least they will pass through life without doing much harm. It is my own experience and that of others no doubt that if we find ourselves to be deceived by people whom we trusted then we lose all sense of what is good and become hopelessly disillusioned and cynical. And we become so filled with hate that it is difficult to stop ourselves from harming others. We might find ourselves deceived by our family, our friends or the books that we have read. In such cases most of us throw out the baby with the bathwater and reject not only what is bad in the ethic that we were taught but what is good in it as well. I like things explained to me. I want to know what I am getting into. And I want someone whose motive I can trust to explain these things to me. Bertrand Russell is that person. And so are the Chinese. The Introductory Chapter in Sceptical Essays makes a compelling argument in favor of skepticism. We in India and no doubt in western countries as well under the Christian influence are told to have faith and be obedient. Russell wants us not to believe but to be skeptical. And he says that this quality alone, if it became universal would turn our Earth into a paradise. Russell's description of how our unconscious malevolence towards others leads us to find excuses for actions that lead to our own ruin is incomparable. You will find that too in the introductory chapter and that itself is worth the price of admission. And the price of admission is meager. I picked up my copy of Russell for the rupee equivalent of GBP 1.50 more than 10 years back. I still have the book with me. I don't think the price has gone up very much since then. From my own experience I would say that it is better to know yourself as the Greeks advised, if you wish to be happy in this world. For that books are only an aid. It is better to do meditation or learn martial arts. But is you are of an intellectual type, read Russell. You will not regret it. It is best of course as Osho Rajneesh advised to be man of science as well as a man of the spirit. Then you are multi-dimensional, truly capable to taking on the world. Anyway this article is about books I have loved. And I certainly love Russell. I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful to you. Stay tuned for more in this continuing series.
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