Let me ask you a question- do you
have any friends in your life? And when you talked to them at last? Does anyone
stand by your side always no matter what your success and sorrows take place?
Anyone's voice can make you feel cheerful and is full of positivity? And by
these lists of questions, I have been trying you to remember any of your
friends at this moment. Today is marked as friendship day and is being
celebrated all over the world among different people.
We are living in this world where we
started our journey from birth because of our parents. Further, we are supposed
to be living with certain new relationships, they may be your sisters,
brothers, uncles and aunts whoever, but entering into friendship with some
others who are not born with you is a special kind of relationship comparatively, what relationships you are having already but by your birth. It happens without
any deliberation.
In some other cases, many love
their parents and soulful siblings a lot more. Yes, friendship is highly hard
to define. It is full of the emotional element rather than a materialistic
thing. Once you started feeling oneness with someone they may come into your
unknowingly but would play an important role in your life. It is
indeed.......! In this special day, by this flow, here I tend to explain one of the dramatists of Elizabethan age named Francis Bacon's essay 'Of Friendship'.
Of Friendship
- Francis Bacon
Whatever the matter of discourse, Francis Bacon always
writes consciously on both optimistic and pessimistic dimensions of a
particular taken topic. His ethics are always talking about the two sides of
the same coin. In this regard, one of
his famous essays titled ‘Of Friendship’ clearly demonstrates the practical
side of friendship in everybody’s life.
This essay consists of different kinds
of discourse on Friendship. Before jumping into this essay, it is necessary to
get clear about the question that “What happens if one is completely turned
towards solitude and become a lover of it?”.
Solitude is both blessing and cursing:
Here Aristotle says that whoever enjoys by pushing
themselves towards solitude they must be either a beast or a god. But Bacon is
completely contrasted with Aristotle’s statement. He condemns by saying that the lover of solitude must be a beast and
beast only. Sometimes in some others cases, it may be a matter of appreciation, but in most of the cases, being alone or isolated ourselves from the rest of mankind will worsen our mental and physical state worse than before. To pursue nobler studies, many intended to leave society and settle themselves isolated from them. Many heathens and holy fathers of the church who are also the lovers of solitude also come under this category.
Solitude - a matter of blessing:
Bacon gives certain analogies and examples of classical and ancient characters. They are,
* Epimenides - A Canadian priest and the poet of the 6th century, his history remarks his power of prophecy from Zeus god. When he was a boy, Epimenides happen to herd his father's sheep where he is said to have fallen asleep in a Cretan cave for 57 long years. Once he became conscious he had the power of prophecy from Zeus god.
* Numa - The second king of Rome who is completely pious and a man of wisdom. As a widowed king, he used to spend his leisure time in the woods. When he happens to have a walk at Villa Caffarella (a part of Rome) where he happened to meet nymph Egeria. She was the one who completely takes over his solitude by infusing the thoughts about how to run a country and its religious institutions.
* Apollonius of Tyana - a neophythagorean philosopher of Rome, also a lover of solitude.
Solitude - a matter of curse:
Real solitude is not about being isolated from other human beings surrounded us. Rather, if you are supposed to feel empty and void when all people happen to surround you that is the real state of solitude. Exact solitude is a mental state of isolation, not a physical one. When you are mentally dead, you supposed to all the people's faces as mere pictures in the art gallery and their talks are nothing but noise. Bacon stresses that not all physical crowd is not a company. When you have one trustworthy lovely friend you can feel a kind of world through them. Here pure love matters.
Latin maxim: 'A great city is a great solitude'
This means if a city is considered as a great city, definitely people scattered and make a distance from one another, so there is a possibility of the state of solitude is high in the range. So if a city is getting greater and greater the human bond between one another is getting smaller and smaller.
Bacon on good dimensions of friendship:
The nature of mankind is he used to seek a company or someone's warm, especially when he falls down and not good. Bacon also stresses that the fruitfulness of friendship is giving timely suggestion and cure the comrade's wound by uttering encouraging words to them. This is similarly like a sinner confesses his sins to a priest. Discharging the burdens to closest friends is like therapist counselling.
During ancient times, almost all the Kings had sincere friends as their counsellors. Every action of them is just getting advised by their counsellors come friends. Generally, King's life is made full of sorrows and downs, when their low esteemed state they need a sincere friend to console him. Once a king and any loyal persons in his life even they are from lowborn he raises them equally to him. In Indian mythology, we consider Duryodhana and Karna's friendship is known for loyalty and friendship. In this way, Bacon also points out Kings and their friends from ancient history.
* Sylla and Pompey - Just like Duryodhana, Syllabus raised Pompey to his level.
* Julius Caesar and Brutus - Even though Brutus assassinate Caesar for his country. Caesar's love and friendship for Brutus is highly notable one to this context.
But in both cases, Pompey and Brutus were not loyal till the end to their Kings.
Trust level:
But if a man is introvert and keeping silence with others is completely troublesome to meet their own worries and anxieties. He is the one who creates a danger zone to him and intends to live with his own problems.
* Charles the Hardy and Louis XI - both did not have any friends till their life to share their sorrows.
Bacon points out Pythagoras statement on keepers of secrets that those who are not sharing their worries and sufferings to any people are those eat their own heart's flesh. But Bacon calls them Cannibals. A good friend doubles the pleasure and shortens the troubles by sharing their good and bad
Themistocles, an Athenian philosopher said the sharing thoughts of a person is just like a tapestry, a decorative cloth that is used for decorating something to create sight on it. On the other hand, the thoughts that are hidden are like a cloth that is many folded not abruptly shown to others.
Bibliophile's intimacy towards books: "Good books are like good friends"
This statement conveys if someone doesn't have any trust and belief towards others, they surrounded themselves with great good books. Some bibliophile says that it is enough to have goods books but not on making friends.
Bacon condemns by saying that books are dead and their words are not live at present. So books and its contents are referable to some extent. But having friends and living your life with them give new aspects of understanding life. Some say that observing fellow beings which makes us clarify our good and bad but by their faults made by them. Bacon is not at all ready to convince with this idea and condemns that it is improper to analysing some one's fault because everyone has their own reason to flaw at a certain issue.
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