The master of funk

It is rather unfair to blame existentialism as a cornerstone of all that went wrong to the world at large. At no point of time can I refrain from blaming myself for what possibly went wrong with me. I know of a friend who has this unique ability of finding unequal reasons for things that went the other way and I know that you identify with many who do so. The pretext remains that they are far too ignorant or adamant to accept that things on which we don’t have much control, are better left without much analysis. Pragmatism lies in our abilities to make the most of what we, as an individual, can and leave the rest undisturbed; with optimism and faith of a certain kind. But that is me speaking and you might as well have reasons not to think similarly. You will talk of situations, choices, affordability and social structure. You will come back to the point where I started from, sighting the fact that this ardent insistence of disregard to the “norms” and doing one’s own thing is a reason to many a downfalls. You may even criticize me to be an atheist and how self-destructing it can get when you have no fear of an ubiquitous obvious, the threads of which we were all intertwined with, since the time we lived. When I talk about faith of a different kind I talk of confidence and abilities which are developed and if persevered, remain.

I will not go into individual examples, as these can be singular and mis-leading. The world today is talking about the huge mess that the so called greedy wall-street bankers have made of the financial system. The blame is being forced on individual interests of bankers as much as the corporate game of one-upmanship. Billions have been lost and the investor is appalled at the abysmal lack of sensitivity shown by the fund managers whilst dealing with hard earned bread of common man. Recently I read about people complaining of the fact that the principle of “to each one his own” has endangered trust among human beings and sighted this example of reckless mal-utilization of individual capital. Morality is being questioned on the pretext of lack of fear that is expected to emanate from a civilized god-fearing man. A hint at again blaming existentialism as a means of justifying wrong doings. I beg to differ again.

In fact many in and out of business would agree that if the blame has to be fixed, the foremost to be considered are the seekers of returns. In a game of “who makes more”, sanity is often sacrificed. So you have people queuing up for higher returns on investment to an extent that innovation in financial markets became an absolute necessity. Hence the derivative market and more and more exploitation of the ever shrinking resource bank, loans being sold and securities created out of virtual assets. The argument which held firm and clear pre black sunday was individual existence and individual enhancement. So why blame existentialism now, when everything we have lost were focused on our own well-being.

The point to note is not far fetched. You might as well question me that am I doubting ethics? Am I demeaning group responsibility? My answer would be that ethics and cumulative responsibility is the benchmark that we can hold our ambitions against. Individual whims and desires cannot at any point outgrow essentials like morals and beliefs, but at the same time lets hold each one of us responsible for any detours we take to satiate our thirsts of different kinds. If we are justified at taking certain risks, our positions will be vindicated and if we are unable to return home in peace, nobody but our own actions remain responsible. The dice for the game of life is unevenly loaded and is meant for the masters of funk. It is not made for the fainthearted.