All Moments are Precious

Socrates was in prison awaiting his execution. One day he heard a fellow prisoner singing a difficult lyric by the poet, Stesichorus. Socrates begged the man to teach him the lyric. “Why?” asked the singer. “So that I can die knowing one thing more,” was Socrates’ reply. There’s a Persian maxim, ‘There’s no end to learning.’ It’s never too late to learn a new thing and add to the repertoire of your knowledge. Thomas Arnold, professor of philosophy, and Allama Iqbal at the University of Lahore were on a voyage to England. Thomas Arnold was one of the three great Arnolds, who were contemporaries. The other two were Matthew Arnold and Edwin Arnold. Suddenly, an overpowering tempest threatened to sink the ship in the middle of the sea. Everyone on board was terrified, except for the great philosopher. He was reading, unfazed. The captain of the ship asked Arnold, “Aren’t you afraid of death?” “Death has its time. Why should I worry? I cannot afford to waste a single moment learning something new,” calmly answered the unruffled philosopher. The tempest eventually died down and professor Arnold learnt that the 1st-century Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna was a Brahmin, who embraced Buddhism and propounded his famous ‘Madhyam Marg’ (the middle path). Arnold also came to know that the same Nagarjuna gave the world the concept of ‘Ex Nihilo’ (nothing comes out of nothing), all during that mad scramble to save one’s life. There’re so many things to do in life. Alas, one life ain’t enough.

Source: Economic Times, 7/08/2019