OUR UN-SHARED CONSCIOUSNESS

by Shad Moarif

SPLIT PEAS IN A POD

Our national consciousness has been split into two competing camps: Urdu-literate-educated and English-literate-educated populations. “We” and “they” think and feel differently about social issues and have quite different perspectives of ground realities. However ambiguous they may be on their own, when placed side-by-side, they appear strikingly at odds in terms of meaning-making.

Those who speak, read and write in both english and urdu are at a titanic advantage compared to those who only read in their vernacular, and/or Urdu, and little else. It is because “our” knowledge of the world, of society, of transformations and critical turning points in our history, of social discourses and well-researched arguments, thoughts, feelings and opinions about a multitude of riotous topics….our consciousness in itself…. hums along bilingually, resides either overseas or in the minds of local Anglocentric ruling elites. It remains, to this day, an unshared consciousness. So “Our” consciousness and “theirs” creates “us” and “they”.

Yet, social and collective consciousness is intrinsically binding. We either thrive on many shared experiences of life and living or risk becoming prisoners of our solitary consciousness. After all, “us” and “they” is a hybrid creation that spring from the same source. Once birthed, our contrary consciousness run in parallel streams, jostling together like playmates, or become entwined, sometimes, like lovers. Or we simply quarrel and agree to disagree from some vague starting premise.

We quarrel incessantly because “we” began our journey together, as “they” did, from a fork in our history, and our children, too, continue to be delivered at the same Forked Junctions from where, some go to english-language nurseries, while others sit hunched, rocking back and forth, rhythmically, reciting Quranic verses they don’t understand. Some import their culture from Dubai and Paris, others resurrect their vernacular culture from their traditional homes. Some go to elitist English-medium schools, others to Government schools. The forked road grows further apart over time and something of great value deserts “us” and “them”: a bright-winged bird that had been nesting snugly on our shoulders, slowly awakens from its slumber, flutters its wings and flies away. It takes with it “our” connectedness with “them” and “theirs” with “us”.

HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS OF KNOWLEDGE

Those whose heritage includes: access to prestigious entry portals to better education, books and reading (in English and Urdu) , elite clubs and connections, travel opportunities overseas etc. will likely, bring a greater advantage of “knowledge” to bear. It is part of their inheritance, their cultural legacy.

Those who do not have access to the above, take pride in an alternate legacy which becomes the garment of their self-respect and honour. What they lack, in terms of knowledge, and all the cognitive, emotional, and intellectual advantages it brings, they make up with defensive pride, curiosity and concern.

Their curiosity may spring partly from what it could mean not to have those same advantages. And their concern persists about their children’s future, growing up as they do in inequitable eco-systems. They don’t look to quarantining themselves through it . They don’t plan to spend the rest of their lives feeling protected by forces that ignite their pride and indignation, or crush their dignity. They want to look beyond to be guided by new knowledge, not second-hand, hand-me-downs, new-to-them knowledge. For…and this is important….how “they” make sense of new knowledge may be very different from how “we” make sense of that same knowledge. In other words, “they” don’t seek knowledge to plug present or past deficits, or to seek approval of colonial masters. They seek it to make meaning out of their lives. Often these surface in ways that are more closely, indeed truly, aligned to our shared future.

We are all blessed with a social…often civilizational… impulse to know and understand each other, acquaint ourselves, perhaps even marvel at the “other” culture, their way of thinking and speaking, dressing, foods and jokes. It is what creates an emotional need for tourism. So yes, we all like to tour, look around, and feel inspired, get to know the world beyond our cultural frontiers, across our political divides, past geographical and class boundaries, perhaps even beneath our not-so-solid foundations. What makes us curious doesn’t kill us. It makes us grow and want to know more.

SHARING SPACES

Rival groups turn into rival populations: “one” seeks to rebuild ancient tribal-religious-sectarian foundations to revert to past practices. They want to survive, to protect themselves from unknowns. Many among them mistakenly believe that the relationship between too many knowns and unknowns are too vast and deep, to learn about or understand.

The “other” too, turns to face the future uncertainties of their unborn children. But they have long shed their past as one sheds an old coat grown threadbare with age and use. They have changed from within. They too fear the future, but its uncertainty inspires them to take control of their own lives. They plan & strategise, to carve a promising future for themselves and their children just as they would carve a lamb roast on a lavishly laid table.

Both “us” and “them” need to read each other as one reads faces and body language for cues about motives, intentions and goals. Or just fears and hopes. Listening to each other, they they may hear and see flashes of hidden realities never glimpsed before. Enough to want to question one’s own perspectives while integrating another’s.

Perhaps, Pakistan’s english-language writers, authors of fiction and non-fiction, opinon-makers (old and new), thought-influencers, critics, researchers, thinkers…..all their works need to be translated. It may perhaps bring two streams of consciousness closer together, maybe align their ways of thinking and understanding. Perhaps it will prompt a new breed of writers who can express their thoughts in ways that generate true and meaningful dialogues from within the crucible of a shared consciousness. Not heated arguments from outside un-shared consciousness.

This is not about managing diversity. Not about coping with differences by accepting them blindly, in good faith, because morality prescribes it. Not about agreeing to disagree. Not about dealing with class, gender, cultural inequities via established algorithms. Not about discreetly avoiding conflicts that we make predictable and inevitable because we are “we”, and they are “they” and never the twain shall meet.

It is more about “we” and “they” allowing one another the space to enter each others’ consciousness in the only civilised way known to mankind: reading, discussion and debate. Perhaps we need to stop treating knowledge as an intimate, personal possession, to be concealed from others so that, when push comes to shove, one reveals it to merely gain some petty advantage over the other. That would be a perfect recipe for destroying trust in another’s knowing, or in knowledge itself, so vital for building a shared consciousness.

Copyright © Shad Moarif, March, 2022 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED