THE FOLLY OF THE FOOL

THE FOLLY OF THE FOOL

The folly of the fool is that he believes he alone is right and always so, discounting with confidence the possibility that he could just as well be quite the opposite. Ignorance has its circumscribed certitude and you will fail to argue out with such a one as to rational counter-possibilities. He has his leader to cite that he is right, although such a one has been dead ages ago. His words, fossilised in rocks and pages, are bearing medieval fruits that fail the times, and yet they refuse to let go of catching minds indoctrinated in the crucible of nursery care in homes and schools.

Thus, population explodes and fools multiply, dragging humanity down into the depths of darkness. The book is cited as the universe of ideas. What it holds is sacrosanct and inviolable. What it rejects is false and unworthy of human attention. What is decrees is law and must be submitted to. What it prescribes is the pure path and what it proscribes is the way of the wanderer who has fallen into error and is heading for hideous hell.

And what if all these were the other way round? What if the fool finds out one fine morning that all his life he has been hoodwinked by unreason, superstition and silly suppositions that would do credit to a nincompoop? Will he persist yet in entertaining such foolish notions or will he reject them outright? But at what a price? Will his brethren allow him to walk off free and to preach aloud his findings or will he be silenced, citing the aforesaid codified law, the mandated punishment for such misadventure?

Written by Sugata Bose