Bhullay Shah on The Education of Amphibian
In order to coordinate the conscious self and not-selves of a human being, whom Huxley chooses to term ‘amphibian’ – capable and bound to dual life style, Huxley proposes a few techniques that oppose modern progressive education. One of these, and arguably the most stressed upon technique, is the act of practically embracing the species’ amphibian-ness that is to harmonize the self and not-self. To coordinate the psychological and physiological, the psycho-physical. While studying the worthy essay I was reminded of the Punjabi Sufi poet of late seventeenth century, baba Bhullay Shah who put forward a similar plea in verse, Ilmon bas karin o yar.
While proposing a halt to ilm without discrimination of genre, Bhullay Shah braves to question an entire system of education and educators, as does Huxley. Both the intellectuals understand the worth and simultaneously the futility of ‘alphabet’ (ikko harf tere darkar), a difference created by, in Huxley’s words, the distance of language from the spirit. Bhullay Shah calls this spirit Alif – a pathway between man and the ultimate divine, the highest form of existence or existence itself. In tradition, Alif frees humanity while completing it in every aspect of existence, an idea synonymous to Huxley’s harmony of self and not-selves.
Bhullay Shah condemns capitalistic soulless academia, haughty gatekeepers of knowledge (ilm) that hold highest of degrees from finest institutes, and meaningless pulpits of exploitation and bigotry. Huxley’s philosophy of education joins hands with that of Bhullay Shah’s when they both agree on making the Alif or the psycho-physical the core of education or ilm.
This highly coordinating similarity between Huxley and Bhullay Shah is kinda fascinating to me.
