The Devil's Disciple, Man and Superman, Pygmalion, and Saint Joan.
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The Devil's Disciple:-
True goodness need not be certified by a faith or an institution that claims sole rights to mediate with powers above and absolve people from sins. Adhering to an institution of such nature does not guarantee goodness of a person, and equally, one does not turn devil against one's own true nature simply by rebelling against such an institution,
When it comes to it, a man of noble spirit goes with the soul, and never mind his repudiation of institutions that claim rights to heaven.
Friday, February 21, 2014.
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Man and Superman:-
The idea had been around for a while, in various - genuine, not cartoon - forms, one supposes. At any rate various people developed it according to their best capacities of conception and perception. And it was a natural idea, after all. When one looks at evolution, it is only natural to expect that it might not be yet finished, and there might be higher rungs. If one thinks of creation, why suppose it is over? Who are humans to dictate that Divine can appear only once or is finished with Creation?
George Bernard Shaw goes here into a hilarious look at things as they are and then into what might, what magnanimity they can achieve at the next stage; at life force that dictates people marry and reproduce, albeit calling it romance and love; at limitations of best and sharpest intellect when faced with life force; and in an inspired act, at concepts of heaven and hell as they really should be seen, rather than the silly prevailing ones.
Truly delightful, one of the most hilariously delightful works of Shaw, and that is saying a lot. It leads you to think deep within while you are too busy laughing to notice it.
Monday, September 22, 2008.
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Pygmalion:-
This is the original play that the very famous and popular "My fair Lady" is based on, except that was more of a sweet version, and this retains the original English, perhaps British or even Irish, taste - not sweet, not sour, not bitter or hot, but a little salt and some of that sixth taste that is called "kasaila" or "kashaaya" which means tea in the old medicinal sense.
Here at the end there is a very well written epilogue that explains why the professor does not propose to any woman or have any romantic affair with any woman (and certainly with no man either) - not as a sickness on his part, but as a matter of evolution, and he is very evolved indeed.
Unlike US of today the social norms of Britain then were quite different and sex was not a compulsory activity to prove one was normal, and for that matter normal was never defined as average, either.
So eccentricity was not only allowed it positively thrived and flourished, and benefited the society enormously. Men like the professor could devote their time and energy to their preferred pursuits. He does end up baffled and quite unable to escape Elizabeth Dolittle though.
Friday, July 9, 2010.
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Saint Joan:-
An inspired young woman, a young country girl without education, saved France - from foreign invasion as much as from destruction and chaos - and the then powers had her not only imprisoned and tortured, but burnt alive in public, for fear they will lose their power, their stranglehold over people.
Few intellectuals have either bothered - or really have had the courage - to set matters straight, down even on paper, much less pay the homage due to the young woman who seems to have had more courage than the generations of men since then.
Shaw is amongst those very few men who did not lack the courage to write about Joan of Arc.
Saint she was, and a true heroine, whether any human authorities - with any institutional power and claims to any other source of authority - say so or otherwise.
Jeanne D'Arc was as much the mother of the nation of France as was Elizabeth I of England (even Britain for that matter), and that is not a small achievement for a human. Indeed seeing the amount of obstacle one has to question if these figures were human or a higher being cloaked in human.
One wonders if anyone would have the courage to compare the two (spiritually) tall figures, who were executed by the same empire, for very similar reasons - being heroic about liberating their own people, and with claims of direct connection of their souls to higher realms - one was crucified two millennia ago in west Asia, the other burnt alive a few centuries ago in France.
Divine after all is beyond time and space and geography, empires and institutions, and most certainly beyond gender.
Sunday, September 13, 2009.
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