Foolishness is better than smartness......

The above statement may seem very strange to many. Generally smartness is more sought after quality than foolishness. Let me clarify the statement, before proceeding into the blog. Smartness is referred as an attribute of the mind, while foolishness is referred as attribute of the heart.

There are famous quotes on "foolishness" which we find generally difficult to comprehend.

Steve Jobs's famous quote "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish".
Why he is talking of foolishness? Even though most of us know that he one of the geniuses of present times.

"I learned pretty soon that it was essential to fail and be foolish."
― Daniel Day-Lewis, only three-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor

"Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great."
― Cher

“People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools.”
― Alice Walker

Lets begin with a zen story.

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Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.

Ryokan returned and caught him. “You may have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.”

The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.

Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.”
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The story is such that, it takes certain level of foolishness, to get something out of it. Smart people may find it incomplete, and may not get an inch of it.

We often felt that decision that we take from heart (foolishness) are often the best ones. The decision that we take, after lot of deliberations and calculations, are mostly mind based. They may bring material gain, but not peace of mind and bliss in a long run. Why it is so?

Decisions by heart are often not you own decisions. These decisions are taken by you only, when you forget yourself as a person. It seems, these are the decisions of existence, not yours. These decisions are in tune with the existence and that is why, it bring peace and harmony  not only in our lives but for everyone. On the contrary, decisions taken by mind are centered on us as a person. While taking decisions by mind, we do not care for others and existence. The result of all such decisions can only bring stress and disharmony for you and all. People who practice smartness may achieve lot of things, but may miss life. On the other hand, people who can be little fool may be at peace and experience life. Also foolish people are lovable and liked by many, but that is not generally true for smart people. Foolish people have many friends, but smart people generally have opportunistic friends. 

So how to nuture foolishness in our lives. Foolishness is related to the wisdom. And it seems, it is not possible to achieve foolishness by mind. 

"Foolishness is a twin sister of wisdom."
― Witold Gombrowicz, Polish author

“Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else ... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.”
― Hermann Hesse

We can say that foolishness is the attribute of the wise. It is very similar to the saying that forgiveness is the attribute of the brave.

We can imbibe foolishness by lot of attention. Our attention is generally almost nil. That is why we are not able to concentrate. This is what even Karma Yoga is saying, “Just concentrate on your actions, forget the results”, as results disturbs our attention and concentration.

Everything around us is teaching us foolishness. But it is us who do not want to learn. That is the reason, everyone find peace in the company of serene and calm nature. People who are extremely peaceful, like great masters, are the ones who can help us learn foolishness.

Another easy way of learning foolishness is the company of children. Children are free from ego, past and future, and they are in joy state almost all the time. They can play with anything, it does not matter whether it is broken or inexpensive etc.  May be it is gift of nature that children, irrespective of whether he/she born in poor or rich family, is enjoying this bliss state. But as we grow, we start drawing happiness from material things, and bring endless suffering for us, which is stupidity.  It is even said that, it is better to spend time in the company of children in case you are not able to go to places of worship. There is a famous shayari (couplet) in this regard.

घर से मस्जिद है बहुत दूर चलो, यूँ कर लें

किसी रोते हुए बच्चे को हँसाया जाये

ghar se masjid hai bahut duur chalo, yuuN kar  len

kisii rote hue bachche ko ha.Hsaayaa  jaaye)

This couplet is from a famous poet Nida Fazli. There is an interesting conversation between Nida Fazli and a priest. Priest got angry hearing such a couplet. He asked Nida Ji, “How you can justify that; bringing laugh to a crying child is better than visiting places of worship”. Nida Ji said, “I know just this; it is you who have made places of worship they are artificial, but children are made by god himself/herself ".

There are few words, where their pronunciation in hindi has a close correlation to their meaning in hindi/English. Let us say word, pounced as ‘Buddhu’ in hindi, having a meaning ‘fool’. This word has close correlation with word ‘Buddha’. If you ask a smart person, he will say Gautama (Siddharta) was a fool to have left the kingdom and went to jungle. But a foolish person can only appreciate, the act and know what Buddha has achieved. Similarly, the word फूल pounced as ‘fool’ in hindi, having a meaning ‘flower’. It can be correlated as; someone who is ready to be little foolish, can only blossom and can have the fragrance of a flower.

Ending the blog on a lighter note. From now onward, if someone says to you that 'you are a fool'. There is no reason for you to be angry, you can say thanks to him/her for the compliment, and just laugh....

Your valuable comments are welcome. Learning by sharing.