The place of ‘I’

While trying to learn new words from a popular word-power book, I stumbled upon the root of the shortest word in English-’I‘. The word has its root in Latin as ego. Both these terms describe a rather negative breed of persons, such as, egoists, egotists, egocentrics and egomaniacs. Without indulging in the spiritual discourse of “So-aham”, and the identification of oneself with the divine, I would like to present a materialistic viewpoint.

Let me ask one simple question. When was the last time you felt really elated and experienced the inner joy and satisfaction? Was it the last time you topped in an exam or you were praised for your outstanding efforts? If your answer is Yes think again. Was it not the fact that you felt that your job is over or you proved your critics wrong? Here lies the crux of the whole matter, the basic question that whether it was YOU who actually got the pleasure or is it always that you choose a frame of reference to gauge your satisfaction and joy.The place of ‘I’ in the world comes to picture in this context. Very few actually understand what their ‘I’ wants.

In this fast-moving world, the focus is more on the relative than the absolute. The yardsticks have become relative and it has shaped the mindset of a generation accordingly. There is this buzz about ‘the competitive edge’ and the Darwinian philosophy of ‘survival of the fittest’. It is indeed the need of the hour due to the ever-increasing demands and ever-diminishing supplies. The issue of ‘I’ being lost in the crowd maynot be raised at all. But the alarm bells can be heard from the suicidal tendencies of today’s generation which finds its ‘I’ lost in the demands of the world.

What does the ‘I’ want? One needs to give sufficient time to one’s own ‘I’ to find this out. But this is difficult as some are actually afraid to do so, some procrastinate and are never able to do so and some think it is useless. There is also this feeling that one needs to go with the crowd and be a ‘team-man’ rather than indulging in this farcical occupation. People think that thinking about oneself is a sin of sorts which earns one the tag of ‘egoist’ or ‘introvert’. Having said that I must point out that people mostly think about themselves most of the time but they usually see the crust and are unable to penetrate it and analyze the core. They never satisfy their I’s actual wants but channelize their energy in being what the others want hem to be or at least that is what they believe,because others are hugely engrossed in thinking about their own ‘I’s too.

The solution is not as complex though. It is advised that every problem in physics should be approached by first selecting an appropriate frame of reference. The whole quandary about ’I’ can be solved by taking a similar approach and affixing a frame of reference. The problems related to ‘I’ must be dealt with by taking the actual frame of reference of ‘I’. It doesnot make one an self-centered maniac or all the ego-x  definitions mentioned above. Rather it helps to turn ego-x s into individuals  who understand themselves better to avoid being intolerable to others.

Taking the spiritual paradigm, it is indeed true that the universe is centered at ‘I’ which is indeed a manifestation of the cosmic infinitude. 

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