LOL!

I saw a man fishing at the lake last Sunday. As I was watching, he caught a fish. He released it from the hook and let it go back to the lake at once. I realized that his way of fishing might be just a symbolic activity. 'Fishing for fishing sake'! He was not a serious fisherman but a compassionate one! But this is a common scene in the US. There is a general consensus that if the fish is fairly young you don’t kill it. You release it back into the water.

But the young fish might have a traumatic experience for a couple of minutes, which had made an imprint in its brain. A near death experience! Rest of its life was going to be affected by it. Its arousal mechanism might have burned out by the extreme nature of this trauma. The threshold had been crossed and this had affected the pleasure center in its brain. Now on, it had to re-enact the same scenario to experience any pleasure or to feel anything at all! Seeds of attraction towards the ‘reckless’ behavior was planted. Thus the possibility of one more aspiring 'misfit-fish' was established. Look how a small but intense event affects one at a subtle level.

For the man this was a time to get away from his household duties and his wife, sit in quietude with his can of beer and smoke, contemplate on blankness for the whole day. Once in a while to break the silence, a fish will catch the bait for him to act upon and to get him into a moment of mild excitement. Again he goes back to the stillness of the lake and the silence of the morning. He will be there until the sun sets before he returns home.

In the Greek myth of Sisyphus, he was cursed to roll a huge boulder against a steep hill, which tumbles back down when reaches at the top. Then the whole process starts back again, lasting into eternity. Does he have the choice of not doing it at all? If he does, will he stop doing this absurd act? He doesn’t seem to be enjoying it. But he cannot help doing it. May be he is attached to the rock and addicted to the ‘boulder act’.

Interestingly enough, there is this exact legend in Kerala's (south India) folklore; the 'crazy Naranath', does the same thing not as a curse, but as a daily routine. He laughs out loud (lol!) as the stone tumbles down the hill! He does the same over and over again. Here it is a funny thing he does, to show the absurdity of all human endeavors. But he is taking it light-heartdly and enjoying the fun. Isn't this a curious difference between the views of ancient Greeks and Indians!

Anything man does has a futility embedded within it. Humans do a lot of things to make some sense out of this absurdity; may be there is an urge to feel relevant or whatever we do is aimed at giving some hope to the future generations. At the same time, the idea of sharing and co-operation, even if it is to survive, are also innate to us. I think empathy and compassion are embedded within us.

When we are alive, we can feel better that we are showing a good model to live and it is a hopeful thing to do to future generations. It’s better to create something to your heart’s content, enjoy the ride, let it all go in your mind at the same time and just laugh about it! (LOL!) We don’t feel the great minds are gone even after their death because we still feel their presence in their works, as if they have left their spirits here somehow. May be that is a way to make some meaning to life. This is a very inspiring thought.

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Photo: Pokhara Lake, Nepal ©sebastian varghese.nov.2014