A society that fails to understand its problems and find out proper solution to them is a lost society. Such a society remains confused and, therefore, saunters aimlessly in the dark corridors of ignorance. It is really vital for a society to understand the basic issues that it faces. It also needs to identify the top-priority matters that hamper its progress and development. Without identifying its problems, it is very difficult for a society to figure out proper solutions.
As far as the issue of designing proper solutions to certain problems are concerned, there is not always an easy and smooth sailing. Certain well cogitated and experimented alternatives have to be carved out and then their proper benefits and costs have to be analyzed. Moreover, they have to be analyzed as per the political and social circumstances and checked whether they are feasible in all those respects.
Focusing special attention on all these tasks and diverting the attention of the people towards them is the task of intelligentsia within a society. Intellectuals are basically the consciousness of the society and in certain ways they are also its conscience. They have to figure out the actual problems and then identify the ways to address them. Therefore, they are of utmost importance for a society and their value has to be realized by its every member.
Nevertheless, in our society that the values of the commodities are gauged as per their appearance and external worth; people only see the material benefits they can gain from them. And they seem to be very hasty in order to gain such benefits. In such a scenario it is really difficult for them to develop any sort of interest for poetic thoughts and philosophical discussions. If they have the authority, they will definitely declare thinking and curiosity to learn as crimes – crimes that have no other punishment except death. It has to happen in a society where, though, philosophy and literature have some sort of respect but they do not have the capacity to fulfill the requirements of the society. It is claimed that they have neither cured any sick person, nor have given food to the poor; however, they themselves have been convicted and punished and given a poison to drink; therefore, they try to remain silent.
In the modern technological and scientific world, people do not find any achievement of philosophy and literature, as they are not directly involved in inventions and discoveries. They do not seem to need any poet or philosopher in their routines and daily activities; therefore, it is not possible for them to realize their importance and their status. However, this sort of thinking is not only business-oriented but at the same time it is logically incorrect. If everything in the society is measured as per their capacity to fulfill the temporary material benefit, the whole system of the society would collapse and the whole world would become nothing else except a market, where people can only sell and buy commodities. Though, the world has almost been turned into a market, there is still some respect for values and ethics, which can be a ray of hope in complete darkness.
The most tragic and unfortunate aspect of this sort of thinking is that it does not try to see the actual reasons of the incidents and happenings. The whole society, based on the same sort of thinking, starts accepting the material advancements as miracles and tends to neglect all those pillars on which the building of all these advancements is placed. If the modern technological and scientific era is analyzed, there would be few ideas of some thinkers and few thoughts of certain intellectuals and today’s materialistic advancement is based on the same ideas and thoughts.
It has to be understood that the material advancement itself is not an achievement; rather it is a source to satiate the psychological and spiritual thirst. While, the wisdom and the experience, which are shared through philosophy and literature, are the real achievements – the real creativity of human capacities. And, on the other hand the attitude of the society towards such wisdom and experience is nothing more than a bad joke. And a bad joke can never be considered a solution to the issues and problems of life.
Our societies really need intellectuals. It is really weird to note that the intellectuals are totally dependent on society and their favors, whereas, the society should depend on them and seek their favors for proper guidance. If there is any relation between the real beauty in nature and the society, it is because of the intellectuals. If there is no intellectual in a society, such a society is really orphan, as far as aesthetic sense and spiritual guidance is concerned. It is really important that in a society the intellectuals must have the authority to set the standards; only then the society can have balanced development and advancement. The advancement then would not be limited only to the materialistic aspects but would also include the emotional and the aesthetic aspects of life.
Accepting that the intellectuals and writers must have the most reputable status in the society; it is important to ask whether they have really fulfilled the requirements of being the real intellectuals and have they proved themselves deserving enough for such elevated position?