Read a book, listen to a story that someone’s telling, watch a movie, and
if they’re any good, you’d be moved to tears, inspired, touched, angry;
and you want to do something to make a change for the better. This is
what a story does to you. But, it also appeals to your imagination. It
is the only faculty, not reason, that allows you to enter the world of
another human being. Story telling and imagination are powerful
combination. Without a story, moreso, without the ability to imagine,
life would be meaningless, unconnected dots of facts. Want to know what
it’s like? Just look at any statistics or a resume of someone who’s
looking for a job. You don’t feel a thing. You are detached - a high
wall that bars you from seeing people other than statistics on a graph.
Imagination
opens you up to a world that isn’t yours. Imagination allows you hear
not just their stories, but their heartbreak, their sorrows, their joys.
I had just finished reading a news about a 9 year old girl, murdered by a family
friend. It is awful to die during Christmas season only because it is
the time - I want to believe - when no crime is committed. I turned the
page. Her death was just another news amongst countless news unrelated
to me, my life. Imagination could have made the death of a beautiful
child my own story if I chose to weave a story out of
it.
Moral
values are like news. We all know that ‘Do unto others as you want
others to do unto you’ makes sense only if we are a victim of injustice.
The golden rule applies when I am involved, when I feel that I have been wronged.
We are taught the golden rule. But, we have all taken it to apply to ourselves and not to the others.
We
are taught that the golden rule and other ethical codes are the
principles of reason, not of emotion. So, the teaching of the golden
rule and other ethical codes are treated in the same way science and
mathematics are presented.
But, this is very wrong.
Moral
codes are emotion based that are best presented to the imagination by
way of a story. If we were taught this way, then we would be receptive to the world of other persons. Only then will we be able to see
ourselves in the light of their stories. Moral teachings/stories aren't just about
ways of fulfilling one’s happiness. They are there for us to reach out
to the other, to go beyond our limited and limiting perception, bias and
prejudice. And, only then are we able to correct ourselves and follow
the golden rule and other ethical codes - for it matters not to us, but to them as well.
