Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

07 November 2018

Less than the Sum of Individuals?

To my mind, most religions promote the higher values in life – meaning transcending from body level to soul level. Until recently, I was neutral about this. But through my experiences of religious practices,  I intuitively recognized this value. Now I strongly appreciate the value of this – as an exponential enjoyment of pleasures. The more we care about others as we care about ourselves – the higher the level of transcendence. To my mind this is the basis of the saying that ‘the value of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. There are times when the ‘value of the whole is less than the sum of its parts’. This usually happens when we live with ghosts.

The current crisis in Sri Lanka confirms that even at leadership level those driven by numbers keep dragging the whole to less than the sum of the individual parts. Let’s take for example the Tamil Politician who crossed over from the main Tamil political group – TNA to the Rajapaksa alliance. Like President Sirisena, Mr Viyalendran also is taken to have done so for the ‘benefits’. In Public life – the expressions of public figures could legitimately be interpreted by members of the  Public as per their own Truth. This includes the interpretation of the Constitutional provisions. When such interpretation by the other side is strongly negative relative  to the value shown by the leader – it carries with it the risk of dragging  the total below the line of observation where the total equals the sum of its individual parts.  

 

As per Uthayan News reports – the President has blamed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for the failure to find a solution to the ethnic problem. In turn – his deputy – Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa has invited Tamils and Muslims to trust him. The solution cannot be ‘given’. Benefits can be given. It is true that ‘such benefits’ would tempt minorities within minority communities as Mr Viyalendran has confirmed. But with him comes also the ghosts within minority communities – especially from the East.

It is commonly believed in my circles that we should not speak ill of those who have passed away. The reason is that once they pass away – they are believed to merge with the Holy Spirit. Those who respect and value them get the blessings of the Holy Spirit. Those who speak ill of them inherit their negative human values as if they are weaknesses of the speaker.

Mr Rajapaksa continues to invoke the LTTE – to gain political credits. If LTTE is dead – those who genuinely value them will invoke them at exponential / spiritual level.  Insiders who ‘use’ them positively would get their weaknesses also – as if they were still alive. Those who use them negatively and as ‘outsiders’ would invoke on themselves the effects of  blasphemy. Hence the value of  Mr Rajakasa-Sirisena partnership is less than the sum of the individual parts.

Law is an intermediary facility through which one is able to take a calculated position with ‘externals’. To the extent we deal at ‘benefits’ level – we are ‘external’ to each other.

This morning I received from a Tamil Diaspora leader an email with the following address by supporter of law: https://www.facebook.com/Eran.Wickramaratne/videos/565783823879535/

The law is the ladder that leads us to the higher level where the value of the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Minorities need such a ladder to be equal. Separation needs to be physical  and not mental if we are to be empowered by our leaders who have left their physical bodies. Tamils became Equal Opposition in National Parliament due to this respect for our elders who practiced the Common Law and continue to live through their heirs. It is the duty of TNA needs to oppose all those who use Tamils negatively and more so unlawfully. That is our way of getting even at local level, through the non-violent pathway.