By: Amar Yumnam
The fundamental drive for human beings is survival, Darwin or no Darwin. Now this survival has meanings only when we can afford what we feel like possessing and still have something (better if we have much more) to satisfy our greed. This is because human beings are not absolutists but are always comparatives. It is always better if we have things which others do not, and even if others have, we should have more than the others. Otherwise how are we going to enjoy a meaningful life? Remember we live life only once. So it is either you have it now or you do not have it forever.
Universal Limits: The “Queen of Social Sciences” (read Economics) teaches you that the resources of a society or the world are limited at any moment of time as compared to the collective needs and desires. Juxtapose this to reality that you live life only once. So it is an absolutely logical that you follow the nature of things by indulging in efforts to possess things at others’ cost for otherwise it is impossible to satisfy your relativist principles. Here you may recall Einstein if you like, but better if you do not. Possessing things at the cost of others can mean either direct looting or misusing (includes abusing) your organisational or official position to ensure flows of resources to your kitty which otherwise would not occur in the normal process. One can excel in this game if newer means of dispossessing office and others can forever be innovated.
Stars and Luck: At this point, you may wonder as to what would happen if you are not lucky enough. If you are not successful, you need not be successful for you are just a fool. While so many have been successful, you are not able to prove your mettle. So you do not deserve anything, and you should forthwith stop worrying about a happy life.
Here you may think of consulting the astrologers and other fortune tellers as to how you can have a turn for better fortune. You may resort to this, at most, only once in your life. This would be just at the beginning of your journey for adventure and conquer, or if you continuously look towards it, you are not a worldly-wise person. Once you are able to strike a little bit of initial success in your venture of possessing for self even if it means dispossessing others or abusing official position, you should garner more energy and be increasingly aggressive in your pursuits forever. Forget the stars and luck, you should be able to buy through the stars and own the luck with the sheer strength of your “ill-acquired” (this is a term the poor jealous masses use, but you should never allow yourself to be distracted by such silly comments) riches; you should flaunt your riches or how would the others become aware of your success, and thus become respectful of you.
Law and You: At this point, you may feel like asking of me as to what we should go about the law of the land. Remember, the rule of law is a disease inherited by the human society from the Age of Enlightenment. The best would be if you have never heard of the Enlightenment and thus your mind remains unpolluted by the various legacies of it. But you definitely should be aware of the contemporary noise about governance. You need not bother about the nuances of it. I would, however, advise you that you be aware of one major component of the recent concerns for governance. It centres on establishing alternative forms of legalities, emphasise alternative. As a successful person, it demands of you that you are skilled enough (remember skill is better than intelligence for success) to project your way of functioning as a new form of governance – an alternative legality.
As regards the method for dealing with the existing laws, it is easier done than said. You should be able to buyout the enforcers and buy in their loyalty to your cause. A lesson from Economics would be relevant here. Exchange has been heralded as one of the fundamental pillars of modern civilisation. As a successful person, you should be adept in the practical application of this principle. Exchange some of your possessions for a larger protection. In other words, you should be a good pragmatist as well as empiricist. Being pragmatic is enough if you are not comfortable with the term ‘empiricist’.
Moving Upward: As I said above, you live life only once. Further success implies being larger than others, whatever that means. It necessarily connotes moving upward hierarchically and spreading your wings horizontally. Here you should dispossess yourself of the ideas of shame, ego and justice (or whatever idea you may have of right or wrong). All ideas are right if they are going to serve the cause of your moving upward. Any moving upward should be treated synonymously with moving forward. So you should not leave any stone unturned in order to see to it that you move upward, and situate yourself in a position to impose your whims and fancies as new forms of governance – the alternative legality.
Practice Where: Biharunder Nitish Kumar and Gujarat under Narendra Modi are not favourable places for the practice of this survival tool-kit. But do not lose heart. By and large India remains your fertile ground. Above all, Manipur is the right place for your pragmatism in herself and more so in her federal manifestations.
