How to Escape from the Intellectual Rubbish? by Russell

How to Escape from the Intellectual Rubbish?

Russell

This piece is a part of Russell’s essay “An Outline to Intellectual Rubbish”. It begins with the statement that no superhuman ability is needed to avoid foolish opinions. He asserts that there are simple rules to save one not from all the errors but from silly errors. He cites the example of Aristotle who declared that women had fewer teeth than men. Russell says that if Aristotle had asked Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open until he finished counting, he would have saved himself from making a very serious mistake. He did not do so because he thought he knew. This according to Russell is the greatest mistake. He further illustrates this situation stating his own believes about hedgehogs and believes of the ancient and medieval authors about unicorns and salamanders. Russell says that one’s opinions are to be brought to the test of experience.

There are also many ways by which one can become aware of one’s bias. If an opinion contrary to one’s own makes him/her angry, then they must understand that they themselves are doubtful in the subconscious level. He explains the difference between arithmetic and theology. Arithmetic is about knowledge, but Theology is only about opinions. Knowledge is the result of observations but opinion need not be so. So whenever one gets angry about another person’s opinion, the person should be on his/her guard and make observations to ascertain their idea.

Russell talks about dogmatism and suggests ways to get rid of is as well. They are

1. To become aware of the opinions held in social circles different from one’s own. Travel is a good way of reducing the intensity of insular prejudice. Here Russell sights his personal experiences of travelling. When he was young he lived much outside his own country especially in France, Germany, Italy and U.S.

2. If one cannot afford travel, they can communicate with people who have different opinions. This will help one to think from the others’ perspective.

3. Otherwise one can read a newspaper belonging to the opposite party. If such people and newspapers seem to be mad or mean one have to caution oneself that they will be seen in the same situation by others.

Russell gives another interesting observation that knowing the customs of other countries will not help always. When the Manchus conquered China, it was the custom among the Chinese, the women to have small feet, and for the Manchus, the men to wear pigtails. Instead of these two people dropping their foolish customs, each adopted the custom of the other. The Chinese continued wearing pigtails until the Manchus dominion ended in 1911. One must, however, learn to judge and accept only what is good in other people and cultures. Blind conformity to another faith or practice will not do any good.

Another method to avoid dogmatism is to imagine arguments with a person having a different bias. The one and only advantage of the method is it is not subject to the limitations of time and space. Russell says that he had changed his mind several times as a result of such kind of imaginary dialogues.

Russell asks one to be careful in taking opinions that flatter one’s self-esteem. It is very difficult to handle this problem because everybody is conscious of his/her sense of superiority. According to Russell this should be tempered with a little modesty and reasonableness. Our standard of values should not be absolute because there are other people and other cultures. Their standards and systems of values are equally respectable and valued for in their lives. He further states that it is more difficult to deal with the self esteem of man as man, because we cannot argue out the matter with some non-human mind. The only way to solve this general human superiority is to remind about the episodic human life in a small planet. Moreover humans should know that the other parts of the cosmos may contain lives superior to themselves. 

Fear, Russell says, is another common source of error. Imagination works negatively and harmfully when one invents certain kinds of fear (disastrous war, ghosts) or entertains illusory gains (eternal life, heaven) etc. one must learn to admit, at least to themselves, these fears. When one overcomes fear he/she becomes less superstitious and more rational. Russell gives some examples to show how magic, sorcery and witchcraft only create illusions of freedom. One becomes really free only when they conquer fear rationally.

Russell, citing the example of Socrates on the day of his death, specifies that people speculate about future life (life after death) because they are unhappy with today’s world. Such thoughts are also signs of fear.

Two mark:

Russell suggests five ways of avoiding dogmatism. One is by making oneself aware of opinions that are in opposition to his own. This can be achieved by travelling and also by mingling and conversing with people having different opinions. The second method is avoiding blind imitation or conformity. The third is by indulging in arguments with an imaginary character that holds a different opinion. The fourth way is by dealing with self-esteem or one’s sense of superiority which is the most difficult one. The last one is overcoming fear, rationally. It is fear that leads to disastrous wars and unhappiness. So it has to be overcome consciously.

Rite of Spring by Arthur Miller

Rite of Spring

Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller in his short essay “Rite of Spring” talks about his love and reluctance for gardening. Miller uses the title from a musical ballad of a Russian composer. The Russian composer Stravinsky’s ballad’s English title, “The Rite of Spring”, is about a pagan ritual in which a girl dances before being sacrificed. The wise elders of that pagan society are seated in a circle and are observing the dance. Later they are offering the girl as a sacrifice to the god of spring in order to gain his blessings. The word rite means sad ceremony or act; here Miller may call gardening as ceremony that is done in the spring season.

                    The writer begins the essay by stating that in spite of knowing the reason for gardening, he has been cultivating vegetables in his garden for the past 36 years. He knew well that buying vegetables is comparatively cheap and easy task than cultivating it in the garden. It requires complete attention as well. On the other hand he does not like eating vegetables instead he prefers to have hot dogs. If the present day tasty foods could be cultivated in the garden, he would do that without a second thought. But cultivating vegetables in the garden was a boring task for him, despite that he loves gardening.

                    In the month of April he is firm about not planting anything but soon nature’s signs call him for gardening. Firstly a scent of earth tempts him. Secondly the sun’s brightness and the birds screaming and finally the worms in the melting soil invite him to the task of gardening. He stares at the soil of his garden not only with pleasure but with conflict as well. The pleasure is about cultivating something in the garden and the conflict is about choice making that is which method to be followed.

In the past years he had been using 36 inch wide black plastic between rows to keep the soil moist in dry times and to keep the garden weed-free.  Though it is useful, it looks unromantic. The writer feels the black plastic in the garden gives industrial look. Hence this time he prefers hay mulch than plastic as it improves the soil’s composition. Gardening also enables one to be knowledgeable about the various types of soil in a small landscape and how sensitive it is. The use of chemical fertilizers will reduce the richness of the soil.  He claims that he will not use fertilizers more and he is not sure about the reason for it. He does not know why he uses very little fertilizer. Maybe he does not want to spend too much on fertilizer, or maybe he does not want the weeds to thrive on fertilizer. But certainly it helped him in learning nature.

He calls the attraction of gardening as neurotic for some and moral for others. It saves one from feeling pointlessness about life and difficulty to grasp something. Gardening also brings out one’s parental care as the plants lives completely depend upon the gardener. In other cases the plants like squash and cucumbers may endanger the lives by turning up in massive numbers. Miller calls gardening as moral occupation as it makes one to be ambitious. By April one will be ambitious to keep a neat garden like the one in the catalogues. But by July the unthinned plants brings chaos. That time his wife comes as a redeemer. Now as the mistress of the garden, she decides which plant to live by moving through row wise.

By this time his mother-in-law makes her first visit to the garden. She used to be a woman who spoke her mind and who was always straightforward in her speech, but now she has learned from experiences that it is not wise to do so. Now she has changes that instead of giving suggestion about planting by then she would wait till October when she makes her annual trip to her home. Her advice by October is of no use that upsets the narrator to decide not to plant anything next time. In spite of such decision, the thought of emptiness of the garden, motivates him to plant again. The sight of dozens of green shade leaves glittering in the sun, beautiful vegetables are lovelier to admire than the hot dogs. Here the writer changes his mind by preferring pants over hot dogs. This healthy growth reflects in orderliness in one’s own spirit as well. Thus the writer changes his mind by accepting that the April is for gardening.      

Now the writer changes his opinion once again by claiming that gardening is pointless, time-consuming hobby. He further states that he does not understand why people love gardening. Because gardening is not a simple hobby or a habit to love, but it is about character building. A garden can be seen as an extension of oneself. It is a place where determination will continue; it also allows one to accept one’s mistake. It helps in character building.  Gardening is not a simple task but it means more that is why Adam is a gardener.  The gardener can become hopeful after repeated failures. He believes that this year will have a good harvest, even though there might be disasters like drought, flood, and typhoon. The God has done His job properly and chosen the right occupation for mankind, because only man can regain hope after repeated failures, believing in new and better possibilities. He concludes the essay by stating that he wrote it in the coldest days of December. He might want his readers to justify his lack of interest in gardening as the result of the climate; yet he pointed out the role of gardening as character building.

Summary of Maya Angelou's 'I know why the caged Bird Sings'(a chapter)

I know why the caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is a great Afro-American writer, whose original name is Marguerite. This prose is an extract of her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which explores the themes of economical, racial and sexual oppression. This piece describes her life as a black girl in Arkansas, the way she comes out of her silence and her empowerment. As her parents divorced, Marguerite and her brother Bailey lived with their maternal grandmother’s house with their mother. She was raped by her mother’s boyfriend at the age of eight. She shared this with her brother and later that culprit was killed by her uncle. The traumatic incident silenced the small innocent girl. Maya considered herself especially her speech as responsible for his death and withdrew herself to silence. This extract tells the readers how she comes out of the guilty feel and gains her speech after five years with the influence of her neighbour Mrs. Flowers.

Maya, the narrator begins this part by stating about the influential person of her life Mrs. Bertha Flowers, who was the reason to develop Maya’s love for language and speaking skill. Mrs. Flower is an aristocrat among the black community. Maya describes Mrs. Flowers’ superior position through her elegant appearance and dressing style.  Maya goes to the extent of describing Mrs. Flowers smile and simple actions. The gentleness and care of Mrs. Flowers enabled Maya to understand what a human being can be. Maya feels attracted by Mrs. Flowers and compares her with the women characters in English movies who live with individuality. To Maya Mrs. Flowers looked more beautiful than the white heroines. Maya feels relieved as Mrs. Flowers does not talk to white people. She believes that the white people may have superiority complex over the black and due to it they may call Mrs. Flower as Bertha which may shatter the image of Mrs. Flower.  The fact of Mrs. Flower a black enables Maya to feel proud to be a black. This indicates Mrs. Flowers appeal on the young narrator.

The narrator’s grandmother Mrs. Henderson has a strange relationship with Mrs. Flowers. Her grandmother calls Mrs. Flowers as sister though they both belong to different churches. Mrs. Flower is an educated upper class lady lives in the hill side, away from Maya’s locality. She speaks formal English and her grandmother responds in informal language with grammatical error. Such communication between them especially her grandmother’s grammatical error irked the girl and at times she longs for the ground to open and swallow her.

She narrates a life changing incident that is still fresh in her memory. One day Mrs. Flowers buys provisions from the grandmother’s shop. When the grandmother offers someone to carry the luggage, Mrs. Flowers calls Maya to help by stating that she wants to talk to her. Maya feels excited about this chance and changes her household dress to a formal one. Mrs. Flowers appreciates the dress and extends her compliments to the grandmother for stitching. As that is the first compliment the old lady receives compliment for her work, her excitement makes her to take off the dress from Maya. Maya feels ashamed of standing half naked in front of her favourite person. Again she feels like getting sunstroke and dying than to face Mrs. Flowers.

Later they both start walking towards Mrs. Flowers’ house. On the way Mrs. Flowers tells her that she got good feedback about Maya’s writing from school and the only trouble with Maya is her silence. She advises Maya that language is a powerful tool for communication and it separates man from the rest of the livings. Mrs. Flowers asks Maya to read books aloud initially. When they enter the house the sweet smell of vanilla invited them. Mrs. Flowers says that she prepared tea cookies for Maya and asks her to eat it. Maya feels overwhelmed with the thought of her favourite lady preparing something special for her. She compares the special moment of drinking lemonade and eating cookies with Mrs. Flowers with having mead (an alcoholic drink of medieval period) with Beowulf. Beowulf is a famous Anglo-Saxon hero of an epic titled Beowulf. He is known for his bravery and considered to be a saviour of people. Next Maya compares the special moment with having a hot cup of tea and milk with Oliver Twist. Oliver Twist is the protagonist of Charles Dickens’ famous novel Oliver Twist. Comparing the event of having cookies with Mrs. Flowers with Beowulf and Oliver Twist tells the importance of the moment in her life as well as her interest in reading literature.

Mrs. Flowers reads a poem for Maya and that listening melts her stiffness. Maya says that it was the best thing that she has done in her life and speaks for the first time with Mrs. Flowers.  Mrs. Flowers gives her some books to read aloud and some cookies for Bailey, Maya’s brother. Maya is excited about her visit and returns home happily. Her grandmother and Bailey wait to receive Maya. Maya imagines the happy expression of her brother to receive cookies and says ‘by the way’ Mrs. Flowers gave cookies for Bailey. Something upsets her grandmother and asks Maya to take off her dress and be ready to get beating. Initially Maya thought it as a joke but soon realised the seriousness. They three kneel down and pray to god to forgive her mistakes and she even gets some beating from her grandmother. Now she understands that she has committed some unforgivable mistake. That day evening the grandmother tells the reason as Maya has used the word ‘by the way’. The word way means Jesus and one cannot use god’s name in useless way. Bailey tells her that the white people, whose god is Jesus as well use the word ‘by the way’ casually in their conversation. Grandmother rejects his argument by stating that white people use hateful words before god and no need to consider them seriously. This indicates the Afro-Americans faith in religion.

This prose piece enables one to understand the socio- economic condition of the black community in America.  Most of them live in poverty driven condition and have great faith in Christianity though they are converted one. It also presents the transformation in the life of Marguerite from silent phase to active phase. The title is apt for her autobiography as one can understand the Maya Angelou is the caged bird.  The title of the book is taken from her favourite poet Dunbar's poem "Sympathy". For Angelou, the image of a caged bird serves as a metaphor for her own life. She compares her personal struggles including racism, abuse, oppression, and poverty with a cage. As a caged bird she tries to get the attention of the public regarding the injustice she and her community faced through her poetry.