Today for example I say “I like color Red” and tomorrow if I say ‘I like color Blue’, people will pounce on me to declare that I am self – contradicting fool! The unwritten inviolable rule of the society is that we cannot contradict ourselves. In fact, according to the society, we cannot have contradictory beliefs, thinking, behavior etc.
I ask today… and probably forever I shall keep asking … what is wrong if I contradict myself? I am okay with color Red or Blue. Why should I not contradict myself? I am not saying you should believe me. I am unpredictable even for myself. I contradict myself. Whether you want to believe me or not is up to you.
In a way, the very nature of contradiction is positive; it is not negative as popularly perceived. Contradictions represent growth. It means intellectual development. It can never be that if I like red color, I continue to like or if I believe in God, then tomorrow too I should believe Him. By asking not to contradict myself you are prohibiting my freedom of contradiction.
It was raining few minutes ago. Now the sun is shining. The weather, whenever it feels like, contradicts itself. That’s why we say that the weather is unpredictable. Assuming there is God (I am being neutral) – He too contradicts himself every moment. He blesses His devotee with wealth today and blesses him with poverty tomorrow. Can we say that the God is contradicting himself? The Hindus simply say it is His ‘Leela’ or play!
Heads & Tails; Black and White; Day & Night and many more similar are not the ‘other side of the same coin’. They are, to put it simply, contradictions defined. Similarly, Life and Death are contradictions.
Now pray tell … What’s wrong if I contradict myself? I contradict through every moment of my thinking. People continue believing in God, in spite of contradictions…because they want to believe. Similarly, if you want to believe me, you are most welcome; it is not the case that the contradiction of this matters!
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
