I remember my first Diwali when I was 10 years old. My mother performed her daily ritual of lighting the Diyas (small clay bowls filled with ghee with a handmade cotton wick). Some Hindus believe that this light welcomes ‘Lakshmi,’ the goddess of fortune. Some believe that this light symbolizes the triumph of goodness (light) over evil (darkness). As my mother explained how this Diya is the symbol that evil will eventually be overcome, I asked her, “If the evil is overcome, why do we still see it everywhere?” or something to that effect. I guess I was still sore from an incident in my school where many high-schoolers stole my school belt and took the snack money out of my pocket by turning me upside down. To make things worse, I had to deal with the punishments at home for being careless. Ah, the ‘good ol’ days!’
This was thirty-five years ago, and I guess my streak of skepticism started early. Over the last few years, I have renounced my religious beliefs and now consider myself a practicing naturalist—more on this transformation in a later post.
Diwali was supposed to be a symbol of triumph, and it was just that - a symbol. The real hope was for people to use this symbol as a metaphor for how they conducted themselves in their daily lives. If we all subscribed to the basic assumption that good eventually triumphs evil, or light eventually consumes darkness, or ignorance loses to knowledge - the world would be a better place. Common men will seek to perform deeds of goodwill instead of resorting to evil deeds. Masses will seek knowledge, and most men will run away from the darkness of their hearts. I assumed that enlightenment, knowledge, virtue as obvious truths.
I was fine with this symbolism until I learned more about World War II, Holocaust, Vietnam War, Chemical Warfare, Biological Warfare, and other atrocities conducted. They all had their reasons — both sides felt that they were truly the good guys, I am sure. But the evil was real, and the darkness was absolute. The only way the ‘bad guys’ kept their people on their side was by keeping them in ignorance. While all of this was obvious, I never saw this in realtime until 2016.
Over the last four years, we have seen the meaning of truth itself distorted successfully by the rightwing media, the President Of The United States, his sycophants in the Whitehouse, and co-conspirators - members of the US House of Representatives and US Senate Congress.
I thought Biden’s victory was a true triumph of good vs. evil. But this triumph is meaningless if the deceitful few spread lies that will make their cult believe that ‘good’ is ‘evil’ and subscribe to ‘evil’ since that’s the ‘real good.’
How are we supposed to celebrate Diwali if our basic definitions of good, evil, truth, lies, light, and darkness are put into question?
On this Diwali, I am hopeful that the cloud of disinformation will eventually float away, and my fellow citizens can appreciate truth again.
(I know, I know, I know — this is not going to happen!
But what’s so wrong in “hoping” on this Diwali?
Diwali is just a symbol, after all).