Unintelligible Is Always Admired By 'Over-Intelligent'

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 21 February 2023 " What's unintelligible is often admired by 'over-intelligent' people." Persian Maxim " I Make Things Intentionally Intricate Yet, Fools Will Always Appreciate Likewise, Obscure Scriptures Are Read By Those Whose Thinking Is Dead " -11th-century Arab atheist Al-Ma'arri, translated from Arabic by Bayard Dodge Sahal Ho Hayaat Toh Kya Maza Hai Daanista Ise Dushwaar Banaya Jaaye (There's no fun if life is smooth/ Let's make it difficult ! ) -Nashtar ' Nishapuri ' I've always found truth and sarcasm in this age-old maxim, ' You always admire what you really don't understand.' The great Italian auteur Federico Fellini's most inscrutable ' Eight and a half ' is a universally admired movie without being comprehensively understood by anyone. Jean Paul Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness' is very obscure, yet casual readers as well as the bibliophiles world over praise the book to the ninth clouds. Ludwig Wittgenstein's 'Tractatus' is the most difficult book ever written, yet readers dare not criticise it, lest others should look down upon them! So are almost all the movies made by Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen. They're admired because very few have actually understood their classics. This is a common human tendency to praise when we don't dig and divine a phenomenon. Years ago, an American historian Frank Avois aptly described Jiddu Krishnamurty's philosophy as 'unintelligibly popular.' Just look at the irony behind this subtle phrase: Unintelligibly popular. The main reason of Jiddu's popularity was actually his sophistry (misleading logic), which is difficult to grasp but sounds good like Socrates' philosophy. New findings prove that Socrates' immense popularity is because of his nebulous philosophy. The serious students of Greek and western philosophy find Socrates to be ridiculously intricate and 'exasperatingly meandering'. Yet, he's more popular than Plato, the actual philosopher of the western world. Unintelligible things appear very fanciful to us. There's an explanation to this universal proclivity. When we admire a seriously complex thing without understanding it, we know that others have also not understood it. And the human mind draws a certain kind of perverted pleasure by running down others with a refrain: You don't know? (suggesting your ignorance). Somewhere, we all love to underrate others and feel superior. When people say that they love western classical music, rest assured, they're lying, unless they're advanced students of western classical music. Because, they can't even understand the subtleties of a pianissimo, let alone analyse and play it on a piano. 'A single symphony takes a millennium to understand and appreciate,' wrote Kishore Chatterjee, India's foremost analyst of western classical music in his book 'Beethoven's Friends' (Niyogi Books, 1200/-). So, the next time you see someone admire a potentially difficult piece of art, request him/ her to explain it. The person will never meet you and try again to feel you intellectually inferior and creatively challenged. ------- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/unintelligible-admired-intelligent/d/129156 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism