The many-faceted truth
Myths Are Real,
Reality Is A Myth
by Dr Awadhesh Singh
Wisdom Tree
Paperback
Price: ` 295
Pages: 246Living in this mortal world is
not easy. Your troubles begin
with the time you start getting
taught, and imparted certain
values by your parents, and
later, by your teachers and
surroundings. By the time
you grow up, you are already
moulded a certain way,
expecting that life will give you
a fair deal simply because you
have been fed the right values.
But it doesn’t happen that
way. Life seems to favourthose whose values contradict
yours. The good and the meek
suffer, whereas the violent and
cunning prosper, causing you
to question the ways of the
world and also of the Divine.
The book, Myths are Real,
Reality is a Myth, is a good
attempt at trying to demystify
how culture, religious
indoctrinations, mythology,
and a collective belief system
affect the behaviour of man,
regardless of whether they are
based on facts or not.
What logic and common
sense fail to achieve, instilling
a fear of God in the masses,
easily does. But instead of
creating a harmonious and
happy outcome, these attempts
often unleash the very forces
the society was aiming to
subdue or eliminate. For
instance, certain communities
in the world are extremely
non-violent by nature and will
not resort to bloodshed even
if badly provoked, because
their religion or culture
considers it sinful. Yet, when
such a community is attacked
by another community which
sanctions violence in the name
of God, it is unable to protect
itself through non-violent
means and gets annihilated,
resulting in the dominance of
brutal forces on the planet.
Similarly, men and womenwere strictly segregated by
many societies to ensure
fidelity and avoid unbridled
licentiousness between
the sexes. But as a result,
the women got severely
marginalised and short-
changed for opportunities to
grow and evolve. Consequently,
the women revolted and began
to share the workspace with
men. The change in dynamics
resulted in increased extra-
and premarital affairs, and
the moral fabric of the society
got severely affected. The
author provokes the reader to
question his moral high-ground
and consider the validity of
contrarian views too while
trying to decode the reason for
his unhappiness.
The book compels the reader
to objectively view and dissect
his beliefs and dogmas, in order
to find the truth for himself.
Awadhesh Singh urges the
reader to seek self-knowledge
by passing his beliefs through
the fire of experiment, before
declaring anything as the
gospel truth. Because the
ultimate truth is not static but
a living, pulsating, as well as
a constantly changing and
shifting reality. “The Tao that
can be spoken is not the eternal
Tao,” he quotes in the final
chapter. Can anything be a
greater indicator of the truth?Shivi VermaRevelations^95