When L. imagines how, in a few years, the new students will “close their eyes with the tiredness of being alive”, one can easily replace “being alive” with “identity,” since being alive (incarnated), means being subjected to certain limitations, conditions, and contingencies, all of which are limited and limiting (even the very fact of having a body.) In a sense, this is precisely what an identity is – something which is limited and limiting. All this while, there is another dimension which transcends them and occasionally rebels against them – lovingly, ferociously, or both at the same time.
In the midst of protests against discrimination on the basis of race, caste, creed, religion, gender and what-not, one longs for precisely that dimension within that simultaneously encompasses and transcends all these. If anything, the final scene of Payal Kapadia’s film speaks to me of the fundamental need to find and unleash that dimension, after one and a half hour of labouring towards it through the ordeals of the world. The scene at the end (which mirrors the one from the beginning) enacts this act of transgression through a dance which is at once spontaneous, ritualistic, poetic, primal, and transcendental.
When one is fully involved in something, they become present. And by becoming present they actually end up going beyond time. Time, in a sense, equals the past. The past is memory and identity is predicated on them. To go beyond means to shed the past, to wash memory away – in other words, to know nothing. The very thing Mukul evokes when he recounts his symbolically-charged dream: “𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵… 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.”
***
In order to change something, one has to first understand and accept that the situation they want to change is actually happening – to try to refrain from the temptation to deny reality.
I’d rather have it differently, but I tend to think that injustice, – just like idiocy, stupidity, ignorance, brutality -, will always exist (like they always did.) History is most probably cyclical. Things come and go – everything passes as time sweeps and swallows them all, one by one or altogether. All this is not a justification, nor an apology of pessimism or passivity. It does not invalidate one’s efforts towards a better world or the fight against injustice. One can actually imagine themselves being aware of all this while in the midst of it of a protest, fighting for the rights of the oppressed.
This is merely the realization that the world and reality are very complex and multifaceted, in ways that rarely comply with rational logic – because life doesn’t make logical sense (a statement which, once again, doesn’t work and shouldn’t be used as a justification for abuse.) This is nothing more than trying to see the big picture and having a deeper understanding of one’s condition and (constantly readjusting) position in relation to history, personal history, the past, the present, the future, society, the workings of time, and existence itself. It is about understanding that all these aspects and layers are interconnected and intertwined, that they permeate one another.
This is why you can’t say “Here we have this box for social issues and here’s this other box for metaphysical ones.” These boxes do not exist, they are abstractions that we resort to in our attempt to make sense of the world. They are our abstractions. Everything is, in fact, interconnected, nothing is separate in reality. This is why discussing a subject inevitably calls for a discussion about everything. This is why it’s only natural that a discussion on social issues engenders a discussion on metaphysics. And it is also the reason for all the digressions and side notes which often pop up in conversations.
“In reality” – this opens up yet another complicated discussion where language fails. But I think I understand what the protest leader refers to in the end when he says: “𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 <<𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.>> 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴!”
This is a very lucid and mature view stemming from a rather deep understanding of society, the world, and existence. A certain degree of clarity, seeing things as they are. A certain kind of nonduality, the intelligent kind of nonduality, not that which is used as an excuse for stupidity or lack of responsibility. The nonduality which understands the role and the necessity of duality on the relative planes of existence.
The protest leader’s discourse is also a testament of humility and a sober perspective on the individual’s relation to forces bigger than them: “𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘶𝘴, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘩𝘢𝘯, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘙𝘚𝘚, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘮.”
These realizations may solve absolutely nothing on the more practical plane, socially, or politically. But they awaken a different kind of revolution within oneself.
(Featured image: still from “A Night of Knowing nothing”, by Payal Kapadia)