Empty Souls, Empty Minds

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 15 December 2023 “All Empty Souls Tend Toward Extreme Opinions.” ― William Butler Yeats This famous quote of the Irish poet and Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats assumes greater meaning in today's times when most of the idlers harbour extreme opinions. It'll be in the fitness of things to know the exact context behind this quote because it has a contemporary relevance. When Rabindranath Tagore was in England in 1912 for the publication of 'Gitanjali, ' he'd often meet Yeats. In fact, Yeats helped Tagore in the publication of his book of poetry that had 103 mystical poems. Tagore got the Nobel for Literature in 1913. One day, Tagore asked the ex-Protestant agnostic who were those people who would die for their religion, god, country and all such (external) intangible identities. Yeats said, "All idlers and empty souls" and further completed his statement, "All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions." India at the moment is teeming with such empty souls and minds having extreme opinions. "Empty minds oscillate between extremes," opined French author Andre Gide. See the neo-Hindus, there's one from the South on this forum, in today's Hindu India. Muslims are pariahs and plague as Hindu extremism is on the rise and lumpen elements are on the loose. These empty Hindus have nothing worthwhile to do except for displaying extreme hatred for Muslims. Empty souls, being empty, always have enough space for all types of negativity to thrive and assume dangerous proportions. All the extreme opinions that you get to see on social media and platforms are being generated by empty souls and minds. The same is happening in neighbouring Bangladesh. Read Deep Halder and Avishek Biswas' latest book 'Being Hindu in Bangladesh: The Untold Story'. It justifiably claims that in 30 years, there won't be a Hindu in Bangladesh. Extreme religiosity and Islamic fundamentalism are not allowing Hindus in Bangladesh to live peacefully. They're being threatened to embrace Islam to survive just like Hindu Sindhis in Pakistan's Larkana, Shikarpur, Hyderabad and Sukkur (Sindh Province) are gasping for breath. According to the Human Rights Report, 2019, all Hindus in Ghotki district of Sindh Pakistan became Muslims to survive. The ills and curses of mankind, viz, god, religion, nationality, provinciality etc. occupy empty minds and make them go berserk. We entertain extreme views in all matters because we're terribly empty beings. Just the way, abandoned places are occupied by anti-social elements, abandoned and empty minds are taken over by all extremely despicable views and opinions. ----- 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/empty-souls-minds/d/131316 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