The question that came to my mind was..what does being modern mean?
Does a ''modern attitude'' have to be in opposition to the traditional conventioanl societal norms? Does it necessarily have to question the traditional authority?
The general idea of being "modern" is a break from the normative, from the traditional way of looking at things, a break from the conventional way of representation of life, due to the questioning of the traditional values, morals and ethics.While values and ethics and morals are true always..they are barely understood by pple as they shud be.
i remember...during my graduation days, we had an excerpt from Nietzsche...in which he had said.....'' the ethical moral system is a fraud perpetuated by society, as a pretence created by the human society to hide the blind ungovernable forces that lie behind our thoughts and actions.'' i wrote this in my diary......cos it disturbed me then as well.
But if morality, ethics, truth( social) ...all become suspect then there will not be any basis for our actions and thoughts, no unified worldview that one can subscribe to. And yet, the very fact that there is a need for a unified worldview, leads one back to Nietzsche's idea.....the need to cling onto something...to hide the ungovernable and irresolute ideas. Its all a muddle !
i'm confused ! completely confused.
What is more important?....resolution of the disturbing ideas or resolving the rules that tend to snub them? i'm sure initially the rules were formulated according to the needs of the people and yet over time what has become more important is the absolute nature of those rules. The primacy on "rules" has led pple to manipulate their lives in conformation to the social standards.
i remember when i discussed something similar with my teachers one day, they agreed that following such prescribed moral ethical system and "rules' of living is definitely hypocrisy. Afterall we create rules for ourselves...the society. So, who decides their authenticity? Besides,something which is irrelevant or unacceptable today would be acceptable tomorrow, quite possible. But then, they also said that not following the standard rules or norms but living according to one's own will and wish is hypocritical as well. What is right or wrong, true or false is quite subjective..depends on a lot of things, including the social setup, the epoch, the particular moment and a lot of other factors.Something might be true and relevant for a particular moment and not quite so for the other.
But then again , who decides all this? If not us, then where is our own agency?We all become just the victims of social conventions and not agents of change !
If its all about following the set pattern, then there is definitely no difference between the ''brain beings'' and the herd mentality of the animals.Afterall, even they follow their rules......moving together in groups or herds, and doing what is expected of them.What is the use of our minds and intellect, our critical faculty and our jurisdiction if we don't question things and decide the way we want to lead our lives?
