By Saeed Qureshi
Writing of opinion columns or articles and posting these on Internet is becoming a futile or purposeless undertaking as very few people read these thoroughly. More or less, the readers seem to have a tendency to simply glance at the caption or at the most read the beginning and end paragraphs and leave the main article. This mindset or attitude is understandable because there is an unremitting avalanche of information rushing in from countless sources and channels.
Everyone, every moment receives a barrage of all kinds of emails and it would be utterly impossible to read all of that stuff. The sages summarized this phenomenon in one single phrase that “excess of everything is bad”, no matter how valuable and worth reading it might be. There is a limit to one’s endurance in going through all the material most of which would be of no interest to the recipient or the addressee.
I have also observed that invariably the favorable or the unfavorable comments that follow the publication of my articles either on my blog or through emails are mostly based upon the caption and not on the actual text of the article.
There are readers who come up with counter argumentation or proffer their perspectives by simply glancing at the title of the article. In many cases such arguments or opinions would be out of context with the contents articulated in the body of the article. Occasionally it so happens that the scathing critique, the searching questions they pose or the divergent comments they post are already adequately answered or explained in the article. That perfunctory treatment of article reading has become routine practice with most of the readers.
There are many email senders or bloggers who pick articles from somewhere else and simply forward it. They would perhaps be under the impression that no one else has received those articles or pieces of information. It could be a political comment, an editorial note, an economic treatise, and a literary or philosophical composition, the synopsis of a book, a poem or the manifesto of a party and so on.
A section of readers prefer to not read the hard material and instead pick the jokes, the juicy poetry, the amusing anecdotes, and the private disclosures about some high profile persons in any domain of life. The emails or publications that carry the piquant, spicy tidbits and exciting gossips about the private life of someone are the most read, and sought after ingredients in these days of mushrooming information technology.
The information and knowledge are exploding every moment and it is impossible to keep pace with the dazzling speed and tempo of that expansion. The space is expanding at a terrific speed of 186000 miles per second. In the sim
ilar way, the frontiers of knowledge and contours of learning are continuously bursting at the
seams.
The human mind is incapable and too limited to assimilate all the information. It is impossible for the humans to retain ever proliferating and inflating dimensions of inquiry and research. The computers may do that but human mind is not a computer.
One can only imagine that in the coming times, what would be the shape of multi-dimensional human research and
incessant urge for delving into the hidden and un-revealed aspects and mysteries of nature and its amazing phenomena.
One may also fantasize or conjecture though not assuredly that if there is the God’s particle discovered by the scientists, there could be a possibility to reach the actual God through science. That endeavor of all endeavors could be in conformity with the divine will as well.
The conception and attributes of God almighty that come to us through Abrahamic religions is that he is like a human who talks, sleeps, takes rest, gets angry as well as pleased. He would punish or reward the humans for their bad or good deeds. God according to scriptures breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life and he became a living being.
We have also learnt through the scriptures and the apostles that God was face to face with Adam the first human bein
g crafted by himself from dust. After the creation of Adam and his appointment as his apostle on earth, God engaged into a bitter debate and controversial argument with angels, and Adam’s arch rival, the Satan
God is invisible from the human eye and is beyond the comprehension of human intellect and intelligence. Scriptures also tell us that God is the creator, master and lord of the universe who keeps a legion of angles and they perform different responsibilities at his command.
But all these interpretations and attributes about God’s being and form are physical and fall short of a God who has created this amazing universe that is abode of trillions of stars, galaxies and heavily bodies perhaps all spinning with a terrific speed.
Our planet earth is caught into two speeds, one around its axis and the other around in its orbit around the Sun. Both these speeds are terrific and are so harmonious that the earth looks stationary and the life is possible from vegetation to human beings. So God cannot be a potter as we are told by the scriptures. As such God almighty could create Adam without clay as he created heavens, earth and other living creatures all in six days.
Back to my articles! I have no intention to blame anyone for not being attentive and focused on reading my articles written mostly on the current international affairs and political issues. What I would like to emphasize is that one may not read the articles at all. But if you cast your eyes upon an article, it would be better to read it thoroughly.
There is no harm even if someone simply glosses over the caption and moves on. But in that case, no questions should be asked by merely reading only the title. This is also necessary if someone intends to differ with the contents. The questions should be relevant and within the context of the article.
In all fairness you may not read the articles at all if you are short of time or are in the habit of skipping through th
e long list of emails. It would be plausible to be equipped with the subject matter of the article if the readers would want further explanations from me. The writer is a senior journalist and a former diplomat. This and other articles can also be read on www.uprightopinion.com
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