Life: 24 Essays by Tomichan Matheikal

The title of Tomichan Matheikal’s book Life: 24 Essays gives a fair idea of what the book is all about. It is about the intricate affair called life: What is life? Does it have meaning and purpose? How can we make it a happy experience? So on…

Scholars & Life: 24 Essays

The author states in the preface that these essays are written for ordinary readers and not for scholars. It seems he is trying to say that this book is not for those who consider themselves scholars as only empty cups can be filled.

Another thing to note here is that a true scholar never declares oneself as scholar. Socrates said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” This is what Tomichan’s book is attempting for—to rob you of all the little knowledge you have.

The author believes in scientific temperament, which is open to any given reality, open to understand reality in new ways, & open to accept new aspects. He quotes Physicist Carlo Rovelli, who says, “Acute awareness of our ignorance is the heart of scientific thinking.”

About the Author

Tomichan Matheikal is a teacher & a learner as well, having decades of experience, and authored a number of books. When I say experience, it’s not limited to profession only but life as well—his personal experience since April 20, 1960, and gained from others including the books. His Faustian quest for understanding life led him to various subjects such as literature, psychology, religion, philosophy, etc.

Success: Choice or Luck?

And you are going to get a glimpse of all of these in the present book in the form of statements from stalwarts like Malcolm Gladwell, Alfred Adler, Arthur Schopenhauer, Thomas Kuhn, Albert Camus, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, Charvaka, Aristotle, Mahatma Gandhi, Xenophanes, etc.

It also has the story of Bill Gates showing the role of hard work as well as luck in his success. The hard work was his choice, and the favourable environment he got was his luck. Success is the amalgamation of both.

Absurdity

The book begins with the absurdity of life through the stories of Naranath Bhranthan of Kerala’s folklore & Sisyphus of Greek mythology and ends with fulfillment & happiness through the story of Zorba.

In between, it discusses various routes that connect absurdity & fulfillment—a journey of life through different forms of meaning via illusion, delusion, religion, god, awareness, rebellion, acceptance, surrender, humanism, spirituality, etc.

The story of Naranath is about his habit of rolling a big stone up a hill, then letting it fall back down, and laughing at it. By the way, laughter is the language of mystics. I’ve talked about it in detail in my book on Zen way of living.

Goals in Life

Anyway, the story reminded me of another story from Shiv Khera’s book You can Win: A farmer had a dog who used to sit by the roadside waiting for vehicles to come around. As soon as one came he would run down the road, barking and trying to overtake it. One day a neighbour asked the farmer, “Do you think your dog is ever going to catch a car?” The farmer replied, “That is not what bothers me. What bothers me is what he would do if he ever caught one.”

Then Mr. Khera said, “Many people in life behave like that dog who is pursuing meaningless goals,” and it made me laugh like Naranath because as I see, the achievement of any goal is meaningless—absurd.

The reason is after achieving one goal, you start chasing another. It’s just like rolling the stone uphill & laughing at its absurdity because you’re still alive & need to do something. It doesn’t matter whether you roll another stone, or make a rocket & land on the moon, or let the same stone roll down to again roll it uphill. What’s the point?

Meaning of Life

You don’t get fulfillment through achievement but meaning. Achievement of Goal is itself meaningless but makes life purposeful, adds charm to the ruggedness of the journey called life, provides illusion of control, etc. There’s an entire chapter in the book that discusses the roles of goals in one’s life from various perspectives.

Sisyphus forged the meaning of his life in the act of defiance. Naranath created the meaning of his life in living out its sheer absurdity. The book Life: 24 Essays shows the various ways to obtain meaning of life and compares them. The author presents the pros & cons of each way honestly from his point of view. He looks at life from various angles.

The book advocates to create your own meaning instead of letting others do that job for you and warns of the Bandwagon Effect, which refers to the general human tendency to acquire a particular style, behaviour or attitude just because everybody else is doing it. People do this because of the general human tendency to conform. The book also throws light on its role in politics, economics, spreading rumour & hatred.

By the way, I’ve talked about the relationship between meaning of life & meaning of a story in my book on storytelling.

Taking Responsibility

The book Life: 24 Essays by Tomichan Matheikal points out how illusion & delusion make life possible, how we delude ourselves & consequences of self-delusion, how we are allowed the illusion of being free but we are not free yet it’s our responsibility to find meaning & fulfilment, how irrational & absurd are integral parts of existence, and how many of our sorrows are our own creations.

It asks to accept life’s inevitables, stop blaming others for your situation even if they have some role in it, take responsibility, learn from your mistakes, and move on without any regret.

Psychology & Behaviour

The book also discusses psychology of personal development through the concepts of outlier, naïve realism, guiding self-ideal, ego integrity & despair and how to avoid the state of despair.

It encourages you to be a rebel instead of being a good child. The terms ‘rebel’ & ‘a good child’ are talked about in detail. In fact, a chapter is dedicated for both.

The impact of social structures on behaviour patterns of humans, introduction of money and its relation to crime & prostitution is highlighted through the Yale-New Haven Hospital’s Monkey Experiment conducted by Keith Chen, a professor of behavioural economics.

It also talks about a lot of useful paradigm shifts in the fields of science, economics, psychology, etc.

Religion & Spirituality

The book deals with the difference between religion & spirituality, and both the topics are dealt with in great detail from several vantage points. The author is against the misuse of religion in the form of crusades, jihads, and other holy wars but also understands that there are people for whom life becomes far more bearable because of their gods and religions and they should not be denied their little consolations.

Regarding spirituality, the book says that it is not about suffering for a god, not dying or killing for a god. Spirituality is not uttering prayers in temples or churches. It is not even going on pilgrimages or donating to charity. Prayers, pilgrimages and charity may help one to become spiritual. But spirituality is not those things. To know what spirituality actually is according to the author, read the book.

Paradox & Non-duality

In one instance, you’ll find the author saying that our reason can tell us clearly why certain actions are good and others are bad. Our reason can tell us why we should choose the good and avoid the bad and hence can be the solid foundation of our morality.

And in another, you’ll find him saying that logic and reason won’t bring you much happiness. They may bring you intellectual satisfaction but intelligence is not enough. The goodness is the silence of the cemetery. You don’t have to be so good.

Aren’t they contradictory? They are. And they are not. Both together. This is how life is in its entirety. The author addresses this using the concepts of Advaita Vedanta & Quantum Physics.

Usefulness of Life: 24 Essays by Tomichan Matheikal

One morning a man asked Buddha, “I am an atheist, I do not believe in God. What do you say about God?” Buddha said, “God exists, and God exists more than you exist.”

That very day, in the afternoon, another man came and asked, “I am a believer, a theist. I believe in the existence of God. What do you say about God?” Buddha said, “There is no God, and there has never been any. God does not exist at all.”

In the evening a third man came and asked, “I don’t know anything about God. Will you help me a little?” Buddha closed his eyes and sat silently.

The man also closed his eyes and sat silently. One hour passed, and then the man opened his eyes and said, “I am grateful that you showed me the way.”

This book could show you the way if you allow it to shake your beliefs.

You can download the book from Blogchatter.