"A human is the most advanced species of life form ever created by the gods. It experiences happiness, grief, jealousy, greed and self doubt at a higher level that that experienced by other life forms. But what makes it unique are the various states of paradoxes it has the capability to live in. It can love with all its heart and hate with the same heart. Its as if there were two souls, one which fiercely cares and the other which hates bitterly. And these two souls work together seamlessly, transferring inventory from one to the other. It is amazing to see the creature struggle through each day, squeeze out every ounce of mirth from its life aimlessly. No, there is an aim to this unique creatures life. Death. The creature thinks that it puts off death by living each day. But it is actually dying and losing a bit of its soul each day till the time when there is no soul left to sustain life."
"Chitra, you amaze me by your acuity every time. But tell me one thing, how is it that the human sustains the capability to suffer through the above paradoxes?"
Chitragupta noticed the twinkle in the lords eyes and realised that he was being tested. "The primary emotion that a human feels is fear my lord. Fear of being not respected by the people that it considers important. It fears this more than death itself. This fear acts as the germination bed for other emotions, the basic driving force. It binds itself in the shackles of the rules prescribed by the society and doesn't want to break free from this bind. It finds itself in a strange position, not able to endure the shackles and also not ready to break the shackles. This leads to a desperation which strangely acts as the motivation for it to sustain the paradoxes"
The lord replied smiling, "Are you sure that the emotions that you mention are really paradoxes Chitra? Life and death, mirth and sorrow, greed and giving, love and hate. Aren't these emotions complementary than opposites? Just like you have a right and a left eye, two hands and legs. Are they paradoxes too? These emotions son are intrinsically materialistic. What you call paradoxes my dear are actually metaphors to each other. Do you realise Chitra that these emotions that a human experiences are different but are also the same? In want for a better phrase can't they be termed as paradoxical metaphors?"
(To be continued...)
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