WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE – HIS LIFE AND GENIUS

William Shakespeare is regarded the world over as one of the greatest literary figures. He was an elusive figure and not much is known about his life, though his works speak for themselves in so many ways, and to a variety of people and in a variety of ways, from the erudite to the common man. 

His appeal was clearly universal, maybe, because his themes and especially his characters were universal. You will find all the strengths and weaknesses of Shakespearean characters in most men. 

He had a way with words, dialogues and presentation that was not just artistically beautiful but also dramatic and deeply entertaining and providing an unforgettable experience. He was very successful in his time. Even today, his plays are performed the world over, in multiple languages and with great success. 

He was born in 1564 and died in 1616 AD. He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. He took to producing plays and that very practical need, maybe, gave his writings that edge of drama and powerful presentation. 

What was his specific genius? 

He had an x- ray vision into people, the kind of people we meet each day. In that sense, he had a deep grasp of psychological motivations especially flaws. The flaws could be made tragic or comic and he did both with great talent and genius. 

He mixed the life of these characters, with philosophy and statements about life too. But he was not primarily a philosopher but a great story teller. 

He knew HOW to tell a story, how to create emotion and sympathy in the reader and audience. 

It was not just plot twists, but the motivation of each character that he presented and also made use of, to tell a story dramatically. 

His dialogues were superb expressions of what happens inside the soul of people, even in evil characters. 

That gave a melodramatic sense of life to the play, to the characters and the fates of the characters. He had a genius to SEE And SHOW drama in the emotions and the psychology and the soul of the common human. Nothing escaped his merciless observation and he brought out the exact elements needed to give a dramatic effect, with twists and turns, expression and real emotions in each character. 

He brought out all the things that are usually muted and buried in the souls of people. 

So, the audience or reader identifies with the characters starkly, deeply and is obviously touched and that is a strange kind of mirror. 

Shakespeare gives that to any kind of reader. You can COME OUT in your mind and play your part while watching. 

As he himself stated, we are all players and we all play our parts and exit one day. 

So, he presented irony too along with emotion, an ability to satirize and even exaggerate without becoming base and cheap. 

That great artist always knew where his sympathy lay. He never crossed a line of truth, almost letting the characters speak, feel, dramatize, fail, succeed, laugh and cry. 

He was like a GOD who did not write but let the play, play itself out. He had no real judgments to make, and his plays do not really inspire, or elevate. He was, as we stated earlier, not a philosopher, showing only men as they are, not as they could or even should be. 

That was the genius of Shakespeare. Within that kind of framework, he did a superlative and matchless job. 

In the next sections, we will bring out that specific genius more concretely with a deep example, and give you the taste of how one can experience Shakespeare and how it can dramatically enhance your life by universalizing the souls of people around you. The reader finds great moments of truth on the conscious and experiential level about fates of men. In usual life, that is not seen or made conscious.

IT’S ONE LIFE, YOUR LIFE….MAKE EVERY MOMENT COUNT!!

IT’S ONE LIFE, YOUR LIFE….MAKE EVERY MOMENT COUNT!! 

This brings me to the end. Remember it is all about self –esteem. Do not be hard on yourself, do not be too self –critical and self depreciating. 

“Who am I to do great things?” is an unnecessarily self – critical statement. 

In fact, be simple, human , innocent- like a child or a youth 

Commit yourself to yourself – your ambition, your hero and find your peace. Then work to learn and do work that flows from true learning. It is really as simple as that. 

It is your life, an only life. Make the most of it. Make every moment count. 

May the universe shower you with all its blessings! 

Happy life!

THE PROCESS OF LEARNING-2

THE PROCESS OF LEARNING-2

You must ask honest simple questions in your chosen field. (Your choice of profession could be anything, even random, it does not matter ). You must read, struggle, try to ask people. Every book, even a bad one, every person will give you something , you don’t stop, you question further, you search and slowly, I promise you , YOU , your brain will begin to understand , to see patterns, links, principles. You will naturally now be excited. Your field will become precious to you. You will feel powerful. You go on and then –LIGHT! You will get the secrets, the foundations, the principles. You will not know all the details but now you will know the path of your learning, You will know that you can know all the details because the field basically and in essentials is now clear to you.

You will discover the handful of people, first handed professionals in your field, the masters and leaders in your field. You will talk to them, read them, observe them. Yu will suddenly realize you are at a height and there is nobody else. You have become a leader and you will see above all hundreds of possibilities. You will works ceaselessly and every day you will confirm and learn further. You will become better and better! Yes, you will laugh and you will also feel terribly lonely because you will be alone with such a wonderful and precious possession – your knowledge!

STEPS OF THE LEARNING PROCESS

So, when you begin learning in your chosen field, remember the following STEPS AND POINTS .

You will have to struggle for some time . This means that you will have to read several books and meet several people in you field. Unfortunately the world yet doesn’t have the book for each field where everything is laid out . Knowledge – as a rule –is in the minds of a few great masters and professionals in each field .

A ‘bad ‘or “ an average’ book will also help you if you read it critically that is carefully . You will get basic information from which you can begin to ask the right questions.

Asking questions is very important. Learning is a process of convincing yourself. If you don’t ask questions, how will you be convinced? How will you reach the end of the process of understanding? Do not accept too easily. You must go on until you really understand, really get it .

You may accept but only for some time. Then you must ask 

How is this true?

Why is this true?

What is the evidence?

Who said it, when and in what context?

(iv) is a good question. It will take you to the history of your field. The historical development is a step by step improvement with new ideas emerging. It can be very illuminating.

Asking questions lead to answers and to further questions and to answers and to still further questions. Knowledge is not isolated but a ‘whole’, that is, knowledge is a linked, interconnected pattern and picture of many things .Real life is not made up of compartments.

The above process honestly carried out with sufficient amount of reading and talking to people is enough. You will get the light – the basics, the principles, the foundations in your field.

From here you are more free. You can think on your own, try out, experiment. At this stage you will be able to come to new conclusions, new ways of looking at your field and a VISION will soon form in your mind .

What is that vision, purpose that comes after learning? How do we implement that vision and have a huge impact on the world? 

True learning naturally leads to a lifelong work that is vision. This will be explored in the next chapter.

THE PROCESS OF TRUE LEARNING -1

THE PROCESS OF TRUE LEARNING -1 

You see now, dear reader, to know that one doesn’t know is also a great thing because in that act your brain centers are receptive . When you are saying truthfully – “I do not know “, you are actually saying ‘ I want to know ‘, ‘ I will know ‘ and then the whole earth is yours to see, to know, to discover, to play with, experiment with as you please. This is the secret of learning, this is what happened and happens to great visionaries whether they are scientists, inventors artists, politicians, philosophers, cricketers, mothers whatever. 

To be real and true is to see and use your brain but then really use it as a tool to know and discover NOT use it to memorize and recall and get marks. Yes! You are not a computer but a human being and now you will accept it if I say that the greatest fallacy, the greatest myth is that some are intelligent and others dull. To be born as a human being is to possess the power to look, see, know, feel, think, discover. If you didn’t have that power, you would not be all ! 

It is only this that explains a Newton , an Aristotle , a Socrates, a Buddha, a Kalpana Chawla….. 

Whatever they saw, they saw and then they were not the same! 

Have you observed their psychology? They are childlike, humble, as if they were noting! They did astounding things but to them it was simple and it really was because it was real and true, and their brains were on and they were not blind. 

You see, blindness is not just of the eyes, it also pertains to the 99% of people who do not know and do not see even one thing with their own eyes, minds & hearts! 

This too is a wonder! 

This explains all problems of the world, doesn’t it? 

There is no problem on earth but this and it is not a problem as such; it is plain, impotent, worthless ignorance, a plain nothingness and hence terrible suffering. 

Not to know, not to have discovered the process and power of true learning is the most pitiable thing. True learning is simple, natural like breathing. At least it should become like that. 

Now you might ask me –then what is it that the majority are doing? Don’t they know anything? 

They “know “things but for me to explain that, I must bring In the concept called ‘compartmentalized learning’. 

You can know physics but not biology (or the reverse) as it happen in the school. This is pretty common. People say “I am good at singing but not painting”, “My son Is good at Maths but poor in physics”. 

In work a man says –“I know CAD”, ‘I know C++ “,” I know how to design buildings “and so on. They are even paid for it. A professor says – “My specialty is economics. I know everything about it “And he does, in a manner of speaking. 

If you “ know “ physics but not Maths, it means you know physics in a somewhat detached, abstract way and in a disconnected way . You know for example mechanics, heat, light ,etc., separately. You know the formulas and you have accepted the explanation but, you see, such a person has not linked those facts with the whole world, to reality. 

He has learnt “heat” but he doesn’t see the “heat“ in things Heat is the phenomenon of energy of atoms inside a body Everything is made up of atoms. You feel it too. If you are sincere and honest, it will stagger your imagination. You will read and get more facts (even from bad books and bad teachers), you will ask further question and think and think and ask and answers will again be got –Dalton’s postulates, discovery of electrons and protons ,Rutherford’s experiments, Bohr’s model etc. 

Slowly a picture , almost a story , reality will emerge , the links will starts forming …it will take you slowly to the periodic table , to chemistry, to biology ,to geography ,to applications, to the industrial revolution, to politics etc. 

You see a series of questions lead to a greater understanding of the world. One question naturally leads to another and then to another and ultimately you are forced to understand the whole world! This is not a fantasy and we are not talking about details. You will get a basic understanding of the whole world. There are many who have this kind of holistic understanding. 

But think! If a person knows only a narrow compartment he has not asked how that particular information has come. He doesn’t know the roots of his knowledge so his knowledge hangs in air and only used as procedures in a narrow domain. To know how to design buildings using ready made formulas is not true knowledge. It is a procedure and you will now understand that such a person cannot go out of a procedure. He can do only that and cannot think beyond that. Of course the procedure is important in practical life but it is delimited and confined and cannot claim to be a deep, wide, powerful knowledge. 

So now you understand, most people only know procedures and hence cannot be leaders, that is, cannot hold a wide vision and do wonders. Remember also that a wide knowledge created by somebody leads to procedures ultimately, not the other way round. Somebody has to discover true knowledge so that the majority can then on earn a living through acquiring compartmentalized knowledge. 

So now I can answer the question –how to learn? We will see that in the next section.