It's about filling a space

By

Dr Ghayur Ayub

The platform at London Bridge Underground station was crowded with people of all colour and creed. Everybody was in a hurry to reach their destination. There was a lot of shoving and pushing as they tried to get on the train. I managed to board a carriage, partly by the force of the moving and pushing crowd. It was packed with people striving to find a place to sit or stand. As the train pulled out of the station I looked around and found some still jostling for more room. It got me thinking about how all these people with different backgrounds had one thing in common; they were all looking for space.

What is a space? I know that in the field of science space is intimately linked with time. I remember reading Robert Bryson hypothesizing that a single quantized entity in nature inevitably led to the evolution of two very different perceptions: time and space. He called the entity "˜tise' and its quanta "˜tisons'. According to him, "˜tisons' are the carriers of all electromagnetic energy. To me, this perception was pretty close to time-space warp of Grand Unified Theory (GUT) of Quantum physics.  His concept was not accepted by the physicists and mathematicians when he submitted it to Physical Review Letters in 1991 and to Nature in 1993. A noted physicist, Asim O. Barut,( 1926-1994) wrote about it, "I do not see anything wrong with entertaining the concept"¦But as a working physicist I do not know what to do with it."

Whilst standing in the train amongst the restless commuters, the question came to my mind; why do people look for space and what do they do with it after finding it? I carried on pondering this even after I reached home. Unlike Asim, I thought the question needed a philosophical understanding. Wasn't it the philosopher Kant who proposed over 200 years ago that space and time do not really exist but are intuitions or perceptions imposed by our own minds?

I thought that if we envisage space in that context, we find it has not just a physical connotation but a psychological dimension also; just like intuitions and perceptions have philosophical dimension. In other words, the aim of occupying a space is to get psychological appeasement. We see this phenomenon everyday on our TV screens. Next time, when you watch a famous personality on TV, just observe those standing behind him. You will find people pushing one another just to get a space for themselves and to be seen. If you ask them later, why they did that, you would probably get many answers-some logical others illogical. But almost all would tell you they felt good within to have found a space. It boils down to the territorial grabbing attitude we inherited in the process of evolution that make us selfish human beings. So basically we look for space for our mental wellbeing and physical comfort. Now here comes a tricky question. Feeling good has spiritual dimensions also. Are we talking of that? The answer is non-affirmative; because spiritualists give spaces not grab them. We use our talents not only to grab space but struggle to expand it by pushing, pulling and grabbing more. It has become a way of survival for humans, despite the mental development which instilled an element of give and take into us as civilized human beings. How many of us use this added quality to accommodate others. The scenario gets worse when it comes to the politicians of Pakistan. 

Recently, a close aid of a prominent political leader told me about the attitudes of those politicians who visited his leader. According to him, the vast majority of them were, what he called, typical space grabbers. He laughed when he described the phenomenon during "˜photo sessions'. There was acute similarity between those elite politicians and the common space grabbers seen behind the TV personalities. I thought it must be amusing to watch them and their oafish attitude all for a chance to stand close to their leaders. The aid placed his finger on his pursed lips, when I asked him, whether they were doing it for the respect and loyalty to their leader or just finding space next to him so they could sell their image to the people of their constituencies. Then he said something that made me chuckle, he said, 'Some of these people make promises akin to linking the sky with the earth'.

I am not trying to downgrade these politicians who are looking for spaces. It applies to the majority of people. But it becomes a matter of worry with regards to the politicians as they deal with the lives of the poor people who vote for them. We as Muslims believe that during the chaotic Day of Judgment people will all be looking for spaces. But those spaces will be the ones they deserve. The question is; are we looking for the spaces we deserve in this world?  And do we understand its concept and its consequences?   The way I understand, space is psychological and physical vacuum that sucks people in general without knowing the consequences. While, majority of politicians rush to get sucked knowing its undesirable cost. In doing so, they create distaste, animosities and difficulties for others.

As vast numbers of politicians in Pakistan are space-grabbers, so we should not expect a change in the system as all of them cannot change over night. According to the law of critical mass there should be enough number to put the country on a progressive spiral. That also seems impossible the way things stand politically. This brings me to the final argument. If it is not possible to muster a critical mass of such politicians what should we, as common men/women of the country, do to see our country be put on the road to progress? The answer lies in supporting a leader who is not a space-grabber. He genuinely fills a space for reasons other than selfishness. He is a person who understands its nature and occupies it for selfless reasons. I would call him a wise politician, because he visualizes a space, assesses its dimensions, understands the way of occupying it, has the capability of maintaining its occupancy and has the ability to expand it with the intentions to use it for the good of his countrymen. In political terminology, he is bracketed a statesman as he is not self-centered and gives value to the needs of the people. Such a leader knows the space, understands its depth, appreciates its principles and recognizes its ethics keeping in mind the good of the public. In simple words, he takes firm stand on principled issues and does not flip flop every time he is pressurized. It is such a leader who can lead even the space-grabber politicians on the road that leads to prosperity. Do we have a leader in present political arena that fits or nearly fits these qualifications?  I would leave the answer to the political acumen of the readers.

The end