THE REASON BEING

As I was moving my mouse left and right, forward and backward, I reflect the scientific theories at work I could think of that might explain the movement of the mouse and hence the cursor on my laptop screen.  Among others include theories of force, mass, gravity, friction and probably a dozen more that work in tandem in trying to explain what caused such a movement to happen.  The general law of the universe or the constant conjunction between events – so they say, often proved to be true spatially and temporally.  The mouse indeed is just there following and obeying the order without question.  And behind all this is my right hand that exerts just the right amount of force and manufactures purposeful direction onto the mouse, still obeying and following instructions from my brain.  The brain is mechanistic still, submitting to the mind that in turn follows reasons.

Ability to reason is the distinct characteristic and skill endowed only to human beings that differentiates them from animals and other creatures.  Aristotle, for instance, posited that the very purpose of human being is to reason that guides them in making righteous decisions.  Article 1 in the Declaration of Human Rights states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

In brief, to be human is to reason.  However, since it is often maintained that the raw ability to reason is innate, i.e. we were all born with it, we tend to not pay much attention concerning the need to learn to mold our reasoning capacity and rational demeanour.  All the answers are said to have readily been resolved by the authority, be they culture and structure or fate and faith, leaving us less opportunity to exercise reasons or display wisdom, without which our common sense become uncommon and our intellectual sense ethers into nothingness.

To reason is to listen, i.e. to be able to separate between voice and noise.  The voice that is naturally in concert with our innate and learned conscience as compared to the noise that keeps pushing us to nurture and boost our selfishness and self-interest that both guide and misguide our actions.  For the higher our authority and the closer we are to our destiny, the more we will be held accountable for our actions.

As I try to fathom and make sense of what is happening around us today, I am ever more convinced that perhaps we have not done enough justice to our rights and duty to reason.  When righteousness is measured by loudness, fairness is judged by closeness, we ought to be ready to accept that our quality as human being is suspect and our hope to build a respectable nation is more twisting than it ever seemed.  What is happening with our politics and in our parliament lately may seem to demonstrate that my points may not be too far from the truth.

By Zaher Zain