Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis

Following the day of the 76^th death anniversary of the great German philosopher Hegel, my interpretation of his three brainchild:

When my mother gave me birth, I was all alone in the world. I can say so now, but I don’t know if I really felt alone back then, because I didn’t knew what being alone meant :P. This loneliness dissolved. As I started growing up, I realized there were people around me: my parents, my sisters, my relatives. They nurtured me, protected me, guided me, they helped me grow and become an individual.

One fine day, and I don’t know when, I discovered I had one more brother, named X. I wasn’t sure if he was my own blood, but I could feel him and much more than I could feel connected to the other people in my life. He was my same age. Agile, innocent, inquisitive, patient, intelligent, fun loving and open minded. And above all, a great observer and analyzer with infinite thirst for knowledge. I thoroughly enjoyed being with him and learning in his company. I call him Albert, though others usually behaved as if unaffected by his presence.

Time passed, and I kept growing older. I moved out into the real world, and found lots and lots of people in the form of friends, teachers, professionals, indifferents and so on. Albert was always still around, but then I became conscious of yet another brother of mine. Y, who I named Ashoka was different from Albert. He was aggressive, arrogant, argumentative and stubborn. He had his ideas and ideals, and would defend them on each and every step. He had an inflated ego, and his character’s strength attracted respect and condemnation at the same time. I learned lots from him, be it anger, aggression, etc. on one hand to debating, logic, etc. on the other hand. And increasingly with age, Ashoka started dominating Albert in all places. When in solitude, Albert always loomed around, while Ashoka marked public places as his territory prohibiting Albert to hang around much there.

Now, I’ve learned to live with both Albert and Askoha. And I can even decide who will underplay in a situation and who won’t. And all this, I learnt later, was a blessing from the youngest of us all. Z, who I fondly call the Buddha, had amazing capabilities. He was calm, serene, synergizing, hopeful, optimistic and highly intellectual. But the best aspect of his character was the ability to look for good in everything around him. Buddha helped me manipulate actions of Albert and Ashoka, and activate them whenever needed, to get the best out of their abilities. And it gave me all its powers of creation, of spreading bliss, of experiencing contentment and happiness.

Buddha, be my companion now, and for ever!

Credits to:

• Philosopher Hegel, for the amazing theory of thesis(Albert), antithesis(Ashoka) and synthesis(Buddha).
• Bhagyashree’s latest forwarded text message, which inspired me to write this.
• Gurmeet, for putting the concept across so beautifully.