Before the Internet, such things happened only between Man and God, in a language that had no script, like the Revelations. But while these script-less spiritual exchanges were accompanied with much sound and fury (remember all that lightning and thunder at Mount Sinai when the Ten Commandments were handed down, engraved on stone); the aftermath was marked by the dead silence of disbelief.
The proscription of adultery for instance, had men of intent and women who’d relent (for good reason), universally united through all the ages of History, quietly and resolutely, against such unacceptable heavenly intrusions into their freedom to opt!
Telepathy, we are told was extant in the Golden Age. Between men and men and between men and lesser mammals, silent, script-less telepathic conversations reportedly took place. One is not sure, as per evidence, if women were included in the telepathic elite? Historical gender injustice! Or for that matter plants!
It does seem though that telepathists’ were unable to develop a script for their soundless thought-exchanges and this could well be the reason for the decay and ultimate extinction of telepathy; unlike many ancient languages like Tamil that did develop a high decibel script and continue to survive despite the silent imperial onslaught of English and later the nationalistic fervor of Hindi.
While telepathy may be dead and gone, some forms of (often noisy) silent communication do appear to live on. Many ancient or medieval schools of medicine with departments of fuzzy psychiatry make good use of silent communication with Spirits or demons that have mistakenly or intentionally taken up residence in the bodies of the living.
Remember the Exorcist? Though getting a living body vacated of such silent other world intruders is no less easy than getting an ex-MP to vacate a bungalow in Luyten’s Delhi. Shamans are credited to be in regular silent conversations with the souls of dead ancestors.
Wonder if souls also communicate and conspire with each other as they do with the Shamans? Interestingly, language seems to be no barrier among the dead or their souls as it is among the living. Maybe Silence too has a thought script? Like Music has a sound script?
After the Internet, silent conversations have become commonplace. Silent messages, silent chat. They are instant and unlike telepathy one can simultaneously and silently communicate to thousands of people.
Zillions of invisible, silent conversations slice the atmosphere quieter than ghosts and with speeds that would make witches on broomsticks look like snails crawling in the air. Possibly, it is in the noisy impact these silent communications make that there is hope for the future.
This perhaps is the greatest game Changer in History, silent communication through the Internet. The more we communicate, the more we understand: ourselves, others, politicians and the World.
Himachal is known as the Land of the Gods and like elsewhere a new god has quietly logged in to the Pantheon. It is called the Internet Devta.
But unlike other Devtas, Internet Devta needs no oracle or clergy to access and interpret. It also does speak but silently, in black and white and all colours, communicates its wisdom to all who have questions irrespective of gender, caste, colour or creed. But access to Internet Devta is limited at present. And, it is not because we are poor.
Will the new government in the state help universalize access to Internet Devta so that we can seek answers to questions that affect and matter to us and which lie buried in Government files and which the politicians have consistently refused or avoided to answer? RTI notwithstanding!
Another Silent Question, demanding a loud and clear Answer, in writing, on Internet Devta.
But who will click the Mouse!
Nodnat – is a pen name that the writer with deep knowledge of Himalayan flora and fauna and a keen environmentalist has adopted. He hails from Kotgarh, in Shimla Hills and retired as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests from Himachal Pradesh forest department.
Very well written. Thanks for sharing. Regards
Sudhir Pande
The onset of silent bombardment of conversations defies the good old wisdom of less is more! Sometimes one feels silent conversation has further exacerbated our anxiety levels when the response is not prompt. I guess dichotomies of “Unable Telepathists’ and able tamil” will exist. Internet devta has certainly replaced the oracle in providing more accurate weather prediction.
More is less or Less is more or much more is much Less & vice versa,
Against our gatherers’ grain, it took us Ages to spin this Falsafa;
Whence I came and whither I go? Add the still wiser; Who am I?
Both telepathists’ or able’ – Tamils’ know – distance brings one nigh
He knows on our journeys will it rain or the Sun shine; Internet Devta!