A Writer’s Self Interrogation
Dear friends,
Today I would like to discuss a very crucial philosophical insight with every writer on steemit. You as a writer or thinker might have come across this thought and if you did not then here I am discussing this with you.
A few day back I was reading Mahatma Gandhi’s Autobiography My Experiment with Truth, I’m sure many of you must have read this legendry work of exponent of truth and ahimsa (non-violence). It was while reading his book that a beautiful insight into a writer’s writing was brought to my attention.
Did you know that even though Gandhi always wanted to write his autobiography, he was pulled back by a philosophical fear? Even once he was almost at the start and a simple question from his friend made him wait for next four years and think whether it is a good idea or not. Now if you haven’t read his book then you would wonder what was his friend’s question?
Well, his friend had his own skepticism regarding whether Gandhi should write an autobiography or not. Let me quote here his powerful view. Gandhi’s friend said to Gandhi:-
“ What will you write? Supposing you reject tomorrow the things you hold as principles today, or supposing you revise in the future your plans for today, is it not likely that men who shape their conduct on the authority of your word, spoken or written, may be misled.”
Interrogation With A Writer
Friends we all are inclined towards writing but as Gandhi’s friend posed a very relevant question. Do you truly know who carries the weight of your writing? Do you ever think before writing that how, your writing might impact your follower? Did you ever pose a question that our beliefs are constantly evolving and changing, but a written piece survives in all eternity? What if, what I write today, is not what I believe in tomorrow but there will always be people who will base understanding on your abandoned beliefs? So do we have any responsibility as a writer? Are we misleading people or are our writing shrouded in our hypocrite intellect? A few questions which I would love to hear fellow Steemians views.
Self-Reflection
As a writer I try to be cautious to adhere to only those thoughts which I believe in; yet I to see an evolution of what my beliefs were five years ago and what they are today. So, did I misled people; maybe it is not in an writer’s capacity to see the future of his philosophical interventions. We has human beings are in a constant state of learning and self-reflection. Our rationale is influence by our surrounding so is our ideological affiliations. In my belief ultimately a writer’s task to lit a path but it is a reader’s discretion. A writer can put insights into a path but its consequences are part of a reader’s endeavor. Beliefs and ideologies are transient. It is due to this transient nature of ideologies that dynamism is part of this realm.
This transient nature of one’s belief is what Gandhi’s friend emphasized on, that you might move on from what you believe today, but these abandoned beliefs are lightening path for someone’s life.
What do you think of this ideological dilemma???
Quote Source:- Gandhi's Authobiography
Image Source:
http://www.pulitzer.org