It was a star-filled night in the distant land of the Greek heroes of lore, from Hercules to Perseus, from Theseus to the tragic Achilles. Two men of profound thought and capacitance for the twisting paths of philosophy sat on an endless turf, riddled by the state of their existence. One scholar soon questioned the basis of their work, the countless volumes of knowledge they had lent to their fellow men, and the priceless wisdom of the celestial bodies finally becoming one with the common man.
These men were astronomers, so to name a profession out of their expansive portfolio. The gentleman soon stated how the augurs had turned this knowledge into a weapon, luring the innocent with their ‘divine prophecies’ of the cosmos, which was, in reality, an extension of their work. The silence that followed was all but a rightful metaphor to depict the narrow state of mind their fellow citizens had become shaped into. It was a cause of worry, remarked the once silent scholar; the people of Corinth had been led astray; the stars whom we once viewed with fascination and curiosity became a source for fear, a perpetual terror of their anomalies.
The scholar stood up, pointing at a distant constellation; the stars were so stunning, their twinkling light illuminating the curious landscape littered with countless hamlets; the man pondered over the erratic patterns, observing figures shift and then seamlessly blend into one another.
Both of them stood up and took off, portraying a sense of great urgency; they traversed the many bobbing hills, braved through the midnight markets and reached the calm oceanside. Their eyes glistened with a strange light, yes it seemed maniacal; yes, they looked as if in a trance, but then they spoke in unison, “Astra inclinant, sed non obligant – The stars incline us, they do not bind us.” It was their message, a simple yet elegant one.
The augurs continued their sorcery, but the common man, who was undoubtedly aware, still fell into their well-woven trap.
This world of a couple of city-states was big enough of a problem for these two scholars, yet what about the vast peninsula that lay ahead, or for that matter, what about this whole world? Is it possible for us to deconstruct a dogma or a message knowing that we harbour absolutely no bias or that we never came across such an ‘arrangement of words’? Well, the latter may be true but what about the former?
How can we form opinions about things whilst having preferences, isn’t the whole point of decision-making proven immoral? Though this might be too harsh of an argument, and I’m sure there are plenty of significant notions out there, the reality is, whether it be a Greek city-state or the present circumstances of our world, we are always influenced by a multitude of facets, in the case of our Greek friend it was the stars.
What we look out for is that these men rightfully observed and identified their constraints and made it a belief to be free from their grasp. Can we really say this about ourselves? Imagine in this world, so full of the idiosyncrasies of our kind, have we breached that barrier which lies ahead of us, or have we, succumbed to the stars?
Thank You to Siddhant Pankaj Kaore. Author