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| A Philosophical Outlook | | How low should expectations be? | | Sanjeev Sikri
On a visit to a heritage estate, while being escorted by the land lady I was shown around the rooms bygone which were once a home to their ancestors and a place to rest for the travelers or as it was called at the time Musafir-e-khana. The place though in the ruins sang a melody in its naked bricks. The evident infiltration of nature with creatures crawling and chirping sprung from the cracks and crevasses of the home once bound. Each room connected to the other through passage doors that were like veins to the flesh. The interconnected rooms opening into various views of the estate surprising me at every step, it was then that the land lady pondered on the idea to ‘expect the unexpected’.
We are swamped in the idea of not having expectations based on the directly proportional relationship between expectations and disappointment, where greater the expectations one has in life the greater will be the level of disappointment. In the words of Shakespeare “Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it promises”. Therefore to expect least serves the purpose of happiness in the sense that then even the least of gestures far exceed the expectations. Though the idea does seem rational, it radiates hopelessness. A complete lack of faith in humanity, mirroring the sense of being of this age. A time when expressing compassion is a sight too rare and thus celebrated.
On the logical front, to expect the unexpected is not the same as expecting less. Now pay close attention to the logic I shall propose, if one were to expect the unexpected, the unexpected would become the expected and that which was earlier expected now becomes unexpected because now the unexpected is being expected, this is what we call in the field of logic, an infinite regress (Read that again). If you expect the unexpected there is basically nothing unexpected left anymore to be expected, therefore you tend to expect everything. In the mathematical sense, the set of ‘unexpected’ thus becomes an empty set and the set of ‘expected’ becomes a universal set.
What this saying tends to propose is to keep in mind the various possibilities in how all the factors affecting the decision and consequence may vary. But that is not the route we want to take in this discourse. The reason why having no expectations resolves to hopelessness is because one is not even hope to meet any one else’s expectations nor does one expect that in return. To the extent where humanness is also not expected, in fact it is celebrated when observed sporadicly.. All of us have driven past mishappenings, because we have in a sense failed to express solidarity and compassion which forms the foundation stone of humanness. Are not social media posts filled with self care regimes, is that not a reflection of the dreary times our generation is living in, where the sick have to help the sick. Where the existential insecurity has overpowered the sense of purpose than ever before. One has become more distant to humanity than ever before, sharing posts is not humanity, holding hands is! Is it too much to expect humane behavior anymore?
If looked upon closely, Aristotle may just be wrong on attributing rationality to humans and Camus may just be right in claiming absurdity to be at the core of things. To the extent where human rights have to be defined and codified and agreed upon by the nations, of which some nations still disagree on what is basic humanness. What to expect of a human and what not? Is it not a crisis to not even expect humanity from fellow humans? One should always expect the expected, not by expecting from others first but rather by meeting humane expectations first. In the words of Gandhi I conclude “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Then would the Musafiri be willing to stay at the Musafir-e-khaas and then would it make sense to be human amongst humans, right? |
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