MOST “WISDOM” IS JUST A SMART CONCOCTION OF STIMULATING WORDS, CREATED TO MISLEAD YOU.
“Manipulation” has been the key driving factor of almost all of language.
“Manipulation” has been the key driving factor of almost all wisdom.
e.g. consider a simple, obvious and a very rational piece of wisdom – “accept a good thought for its goodness, regardless of who says it and regardless of where it comes from“.
Of the various stories about the origin of the Indian phrase “Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam” (the world is a family), one story, ascribed to a collection of fables, Hitopadesha, goes like this –
An old fox wanted to have a deer for food. Unable to hunt, he manages to befriend the deer and have himself invited to the deer’s house.
A crow watching all this warns the deer of the dangers he is getting into.
Seeing the hesitation in the deer’s mind, the fox quotes this to the deer – “‘This is mine, this is not mine’ – these are thoughts of the small-minded. For the large-hearted, the whole world is a family“.
The deer is overawed with the wisdom, and is all the more determined to invite the fox over to his house.
It is not known if the deer became part of the fox’s family, but he surely became a part of the fox’s physiology.
What does it take to say something really noble and wise?
What does it take to write something really noble and wise?
To say something very noble and wise, all it takes some twisting of the tongue.
To write something very noble and wise, all it takes is a random movement of hands.
Of course, conjoined with some intellectual jugglery and emotional wizardry.
Anybody can conjure and assemble a set of words, either verbal or written, and say something very noble and wise. The content of a message should be the most insignificant component of what has been said.
Why and when do people say something nice, wise, humane, emotional, touching?
No, human beings are not birds. It is extremely rare that a human being sings what is in his heart. It is extremely rare that a human being sings because he has a song within him. When that happens, that song is ignored as much as we ignore the singing of birds around us – they make for a good, sweet background noise, but nothing more than that.
What we actually pay attention to in the foreground is something that stimulates our intellect and emotions. We love noise. We love drama. We love adrenaline. We love testosterone. We love oxytocin.
Natural, authentic, genuine expressions do not come with noise or drama or adrenaline or testosterone or oxytocin. Natural expressions are bland and tasteless. They have to be crafted, sculpted, marinated, fried, baked, soaked in sugar syrup, and appropriately seasoned and garnished before they could be served to people as something yummy and delicious.
If a message is too delicious, it has been very skilfully cooked by a MasterChef of words and expressions.
Most of the time a human being opens a mouth or pens a thought, it is to accomplish an objective – usually, something sinister. The famous dialog from the movie “A Few Good Men” – “You do not get to that position without knowing how to side-step few landmines” – is bang on about the abilities, skills and intentions about any person in a position of power.
What actually matters about any messaging, any “wisdom” is – “Who said it, and why?”
Why do people make noble statements?
Most of what is said out there is a red herring, a mask, a distraction, a detour.
There are many many reasons for which a noble or a wise statement could be made.
Somebody could be just being patronizing.
Somebody could be just insulting and belittle a certain section of people.
Somebody could be just balancing off the personal history of the stands he takes
Somebody could be just hiding some big truth using the veneer of this noble statement.
There could be a thousand possible motivations behind a certain message, and most of them are intended to manipulate you into believing or doing something that you otherwise may never ever believe or do.
When we ignore the intent behind a message, and focus only on the content, we happily walk into the trap set by the puppeteers.
The most important points to address while addressing any argument, message or wisdom are :
1. Who said it?
2. Why did they say it?
The “content” of a message should be the least of all concerns. It doesn’t cost a dime and doesn’t spill even a drop of sweat to create “timeless wisdom”, especially if it evokes deep emotions, touches you deeply and moves the whole of your spirit.
How could one possibly find out the intent behind a message?
Words are the prettiest of all masks. They are capable of hiding everything ugly and keep you busy with a compelling, beautiful, toy that you cannot get your eyes and hands off.
Behind Pretty Masks 
Also, many a times we believe something, because it resonates with something within us, either an insecurity or fear or some such self-reducing emotion. All beautiful words take advantage of these emotions and keep us stuck. If only we could rise above these emotions, we would be able to truly see through these beautiful words. Such a brilliant observation that – “It is extremely rare that a human being sings because he has a song within him.”
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