Power And Glory

(The present write-up is the improved version of my article ‘Power and glory’ published in The Tribune Dated December 1, 1996.)

How meaningful had been the lamentation of Mirza Ghalib:

“Bas ke dushwar hai har kaam ka aasan hona

Aadmi ko bhi mayassar nahin insaan hona”

(How difficult can an easy task prove to be ! Even man is not fated to be a human being).

According to Akbar Allahbadi, there are hundreds of different facets of a man: he may be an animal, a human being, an angel or God.

“Janwar, Aadmi, Farishta, Khuda

Aadmi Ki Hain Sainkron Kismein”

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) had drawn an analogy between a man and a Chimera, a fire-breathing monster having a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail:

“What a Chimera, then, is man! What a novelty! What a monster, what a chaos, what a contradiction, what a prodigy! Judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depository of truth, a sink of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe.”

There are marked behavioural differences between man and other animals. If the basic desires of the animals-food, shelter, sleep and mating – are satisfied, they are well contented. In other words, the activities of animals are inspired by the primary needs o survival and procreation, but in the case of a man, unlike those of animals, sky is the limit to his boundless desires. To quote Bertrand Russel (1872 – 1970), the renowned English philosopher and mathematician, between man and other animals there are various differences, some intellectual some emotional. One of the chief emotional differences is that some human desires, unlike those of animals, are essentially boundless and incapable of complete satisfaction… The activities of animals, with few exceptions, are inspired y the primary needs of survival and reproduction, and do not exceed what these needs make imperative… Imagination is the goad that forces human beings into restless exertion after their primary needs have been satisfied. To those who have but little of power and glory, it may seem that a little more would satisfy them, but in this they are mistaken: these desires are insatiable and infinite, and only in the infinitude of God could they find repose… Of the infinite desires of man, the chief are though closely allied: the Prime Minister has more power than glory, the King has more glory than power. As a rule, however, the easiest way to obtain glory is to obtain power; this is especially the case as regards the men who are active in relation to public events. The desire for glory, therefore, prompts, in the main, the same actions as are prompted by the desire for power, and the two motives may, for most practical purpose, be regarded as one.

Nietzsche (1844 – 1900), the 19^th century German philosopher and writer, identified life itself with will to power and opined that life is ashamedly and unabashedly a phenomenon of will to power. According to him, man is a rope stretched between the animal and the superman – a rope over an abyss.

In order to fulfill the desires, man can go to any length, and is capable of transcending all barriers whether fair or foul, while animals adhere to certain ethics and norms, but the human beings are not governed by any moral code. How tauntingly and sarcastically, the sagacious bear, the wise one o the jungle, reprimanded he imprudent tiger cub for venturing out of all the beasts:

“It is the two-legged one called man who is the most dangerous one. The two-legged beast killed not for satisfying his hunger but for the pleasure of killing.”

Power-drunk and glory-obsessed man never visualizes that power like desolating pestilence pollutes what’re it touches and it is as transient as the changing colors of the sky. A man who for getting power and glory struggles day and night, scrambles for little mean advantages over others eventually vanishes from the world unwept and unsung into the pit of oblivion without realizing that all the paths of glory lead but to the grave. As per Isocrates lust for power is like a wicked harlot who makes city after city fall in love with her, to betray, them one after another to their ruin. Even the sexologists admit that sex is engaging in the first rounds but what sustains interest in the long run is power. Let me conclude this article by quoting the famous words of Mark Twain:

“A myriad of men are born; they labour and sweat and struggle for bread; they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantage over each other. Age creeps upon them…. Ambition is dead; pride is dead, vanity is dead; longing for release is in their place. It comes at last – the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them – and they vanish from a world where they were o no consequence.”