Monday, February 5, 2007
On attachment: Gandhi vs. Orwell
In one of my classes, we recently discussed Mahatma Gandhi's proscription that you should have no close friends because attachments to others will lead you to compromise your principles and ideals. As someone who values and finds strength in my various personal attachments, I found this statement very interesting. I realize how influential other people can be, but it seems possible to maintain close relationships and personal beliefs. In George Orwell's essay "Reflections on Gandhi," he expresses his views on this theory of Gandhi's with a statement I found very true and powerful: "The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals." While I can understand that Gandhi was willing to treat everyone equally and sacrifice his attachments in order to dedicate himself to God, I would rather live a life filled with all of the incredible complications that go along with a close relationship.
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3 comments:
1. Maya, your entire blog is awesome and your posts are interesting and thought provoking! I really enjoyed reading about Orwell’s “Reflections on Gandhi.” Although Gandhi’s argument to steer away from attachments to others which may cause us to compromise our morals is compelling, I completely agree with your remark that I would rather live a “life filled with all of the incredible complications that go along with a close relationship” than suffer the solitary conditions of Gandhi. Perhaps Gandhi could conceive of a balance between uncompromising morals and close personal attachments considering the sheer sociability of humans. What class is this for? It sounds really interesting.
I can totally relate to Ghandi. Sure life is always full of learning experiences. Sometimes we do become attached to someone and forget about our responsibilites to ourselves. It sometimes seems like an addiction, a wanting to be accepted and cared for by others, yet when everyone deceits us, it is then that we realize that the only one who will always be with us will ALWAYS LOVE US, and never judge us is God. Don't get me wrong, I do not believe in any organized religion, I just think that when we reflect on who we turn to when things are not working out for us, it is always God. Even when we forget about him, he is always there. But like I said before, the wanting to be loved is addicting. No matter how many times we are deceived by people, we will once again try to find someone who will make us feel good. We will never learn...
when i first saw the picturesque skyline of boulder and the pink font on baby blue background, i was a bit hestiant to read on. =p but your posts, especially this one, are intelligent and inspiring, all while retaining the feminine touch you seek to project. your thoughts are so clear and emotionally moving...
this particular post really hits home for me because there's one relationship in particular in my life that i can't shake, a person who negligently puts herself in difficult situations and stresses out unnecessarily over not-so-difficult ones. in fact, her manufactured stress becomes my stress at times, and i DEFINITELY feel “defeated and broken up” by her antics once in awhile. with her, i do feel like i put myself in harm’s way for the sake of loyalty.
but to me, i look at it as the price of friendship… the “price of fastening one’s love upon other individuals.” those crisis moments are what make the happy moments i have with her even sweeter, right?!? yeah it's complicated, but she knows and i know how close our friendship is and how colorful it makes our lives. sooooo… i'm glad SOMEONE out there (other than orwell) understands me!! lol.
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