The illiterate person is a liberal. His very ignorance keeps him human for he is free of the trappings of all that constitute illiberal thought. The literate person is very often illiberal for his shallow knowledge of the workings of life slants him more often than not towards a specific direction, thereby blinding him towards other avenues of knowledge. It requires great training of the mind before one is able to overcome the pitfalls of knowledge and emerge enlightened in a broad acceptance of the diversity that life offers.
But for the ignorant, unless swayed by the literate through fanatical persuasion to think and act in a like manner, life remains rooted to the soil of simple deeds and dreams, unhindered by the complexities of corrosive thinking consequent on indoctrination of some kind that goes by the name of education. The ignorant man lives close to Nature and lives by its code of coexistence with all that exists barring his own need to live off Nature which calls for his participation in the food chain. But mental violence? No, the illiterate man is non-violent in this regard unlike his literate brethren who grow in violence in proportion as they grow in knowledge.
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo : top - Swami Ranganathananda ; bottom - Dr. Henry Kissinger.
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