The non-conventional, non-pure world
"I'm not in search of sanctity, sacredness, purity; these things are found after this life, not in this life; but in this life I search to be completely human: to feel, to give, to take, to laugh, to get lost, to be found […] to be so human."
- C. Joybell C
Contemporary thinking, as well as general discourse, historically, has been marked by an overwhelming concern for purity. From politics to education to culture, there is a repeated emphasis on preserving entities and concepts in their nascent, pure forms— whether it is studying the 'pure' sciences, or governing through a 'pure' democratic framework, we operate under restrictive ideas of purity which do little justice to the complexities of life and the world. For instance, the sciences are located in a social context, democracy consistently jostles with non-democratic forms of governance in its operation and culture is always an evolving, mixed bag instead of being a fixed phenomenon. There is thus a pressing need to understand that the lenses of purity obfuscate our understanding of the world, which in reality, is non-pure and defies convention.
In a country like India, democracy itself is marked by contradictions of its own— governments are given tremendous amounts of power based on democratically elected majorities, and thus, while it is technically a government by the people, it inescapably does not entirely become a government for the people, because the wishes of the minority which in some cases is numerically large, are sidelined in the process. A truly democratic government however does not discard the aspirations of their non-voters and thus, despite following the system, good governments move beyond the purity of their voter-base to work for all people. Therefore, a good government has to step out of the purity mandated by the system to do its job and this is a glaring instance of why purity as a concept does not hold against lived realities.
On a related note, purity is dangerous to the idea of pluralism. Culture is always a potpourri of contributions by diverse individuals and communities and thus, to claim that culture 'is' a particular thing is a disservice to the intricacy of collective existence. In India and the world, where communities share spaces together and musical, literary, sartorial and culinary traditions are all marked by intermingling and syncretism, an investment in purism is ill-placed. Purity, thus needs to be done away from our moral vocabularies to think of a world where we live together and share our lives with tremendous cultural vibrancy.
Thinking of another field, education cannot mean anything today if it is not interdisciplinary. The sanctity of individual disciplines is a weak idea against the skills we need to develop— a humanities and social sciences student needs to know Mathematics to study architecture or statistics to conduct surveys. Similarly, a science student needs to know of ways in which scientific intervention can impact society and communities. All students need to know the art of public speaking and be equipped with physical education for holistic development. Thus, sciences, humanities, rhetoric and other disciplines cannot be kept separate in their hallowed cubicles if we are attempting to create holistically skilled individuals and citizens.
On a personal and spiritual level as well, purist endeavours do no good to the challenges and complexities of selfhood. The law, society and the world categorizes us but an individual is never just one thing, or an assemblage of defined characteristics. A notion of purity, thus subordinates and in-considers our evolution and our dynamism and to call ourselves one thing limits space for self articulation. The Human Library, a worldwide nonprofit group where people from the community serve as "books," sharing their real-life stories and struggles. as The Washington Post reports has documented accounts like those of Erin Berg, 32, whose title was "Autistic, Gay, but so much more." Berg says, "I just wanted to impress upon people that I'm not just a label. I'm not just one thing,"I'm not just autistic. I'm not just gay. I'm a nerd. I really love my dog."
Purity is simply incompatible with the world— a pure entity is unattainable and undesirable. We are never pure, opportunities are never pure, no avenue of human activity is pure and a process of purification is a travesty of human capabilities. It is time to move towards the world of the non-conventional and the non-pure to find a space where we relentlessly develop and push the envelope on all levels— political, personal, professional and cultural. With no limits on our individual and collective self-determinations, we can embrace our human potential and let our creativities uplift the world.
(The author is Founder Upsurge Global and President SAHE (Society for Advancement of Human Endeavour)