Ideological Limitations

It is hard to find anyone who does not follow an ideology. We are born with no ideology, but as we grow up, we are bound  to get tied up  — or down? — with one or other ideology. And this is a natural course that our social upbringing takes us through. However, following an ideology or getting blindly tied to an ideology does not allow you to explore the full potential of your existence, for human life is so complex and multi-dimensional that it would not be possible for one ideology to capture its meaning fully. Furthermore, humanity faces multi-dimensional problems, and one stand-alone ideology can not provide solutions to all such problems. 

The richest man, Bill Gates, who made millions of people rich and created jobs for millions, started Bill Melinda Charity Foundation to provide aid to the poor sections of the society across the globe. Why a person like him, who champions capitalism which does not have anything called charity but profit as the sole mantra, started a charity organization? Because he knew that capitalism — an ideology — alone could not solve the problems of humanity. Around 30 years back, Deng Xiao Ping started a new model for his country, China: a blend of  economic capitalism with political socialism. Deng realized that the ideology of socialism could not solve the problems of the Chinese people, more specifically: poverty alleviation. So he decided to bring in capitalism, though in a controlled way, and allowed it to play its part to solve the problems of his people. Both these are examples of visionaries who understand that it is futile to insist on one ideology — and pooh pooh other ideologies — to solve all the problems of humanity.

The biggest harm that an ideology does to man is it blinds him from seeing truth . Man came first, and ideologies were made later. So man is more important than ideology. Still, why people kill others because of ideological differences? Knowledge predates man, so man acquired knowledge which actually form the foundation of any ideology. Even when you follow multiple ideologies, you can can still end up in serious differences with people who follow other ideologies. Why so? The answer for both questions is the same:  ideology ties you down to a limited knowledge base and stops you form seeing truth. Why are you, even when you possess knowledge, not able to see truth?  Because truth is beyond knowledge, so beyond ideologies. As long as you are bound to an ideology or ideologies and  even when you posses massive knowledge on these ideologies, it is highly likely that you will miss truth, so the judgment, too. 

The ultimate bliss a man can have is the ability to find and see truth because that gives him freedom to be human beyond all ideologies. So go beyond the limited knowledge-bases of ideologies and enjoy the ultimate freedom to be a human. Let me conclude by a quote from a address by Steve Jobs during a convocation: “Don’t be dogmatic, create your own milestones.” To create your own milestones, you need to go beyond the existing knowledge base, seek more knowledge and travel further that will ultimately takes you to truth.