Pillars of Confusion

I love ‘pillars’. I love them for the images that they create in my mind’s eye. I love them for the potentiality that they promise. A potentiality for continuity, stability and familiarity. Somebody once said that each ‘door’ is the pathway to a new universe…a new dimension. For me, ‘pillars’ gives me hope that things will be alright; that all will be well. When everything crumbles, there will still be some things still standing...thanks to the pillars. Strangely enough I often reflect on this as I drive on the MRR2.

Pillars are quite amazing really. You see, some of the world's most renowned buildings have awe inspiring pillars. From the temples of ancient Greek gods, to the buildings of mighty Rome to the magnificent Indian temples to the majestic Japanese imperial buildings – they all have pillars. In fact their pillars are what that strikes you the most.

But as grand, majestic and beautiful they may be, pillars are merely there to play a utilitarian function. They may look big and intimidating but with closer scrutiny (and maybe some reflection) we can see that they are nothing compared to the super structure they are supporting. They are puny in comparison to the foundation on which they are standing on. They are meant to do nothing other than support the structure of the building. Within that building there are wonders that need to be kept safe from man and nature and the pillars are an important component of the total ‘security system’. They are tasked to maintain and secure. They are given the responsibility to hold and protect. Everything within these structures owe their safety, security, and continuity to these pillars.

Pillars are never meat to achieve something new. They are there to protect what has already been created. Pillars also do not take us somewhere new by themselves. They don’t and can't give directions. They can't drive us to do anything new. They are majestically passive in just maintaining. Never attempting to change. That's what they are really good at and meant to be.

Pillars are static…lifeless…dead. But they look grand nevertheless for the uninitiated.

So now the question is : if pillars are not meant to take us anywhere, then does it matter that we have pillars be it 8 pillars, 600 pillars or 6000 pillars? Well, of course it does. It matters to those who want to keep things as they are. It matters indeed to those who want to protect and preserve the existing foundation and the roof on which it stands.

It will not and should not matter to those who hunger for change. For them, it isn’t the pillar that is the problem but it is the foundation that needs to be looked at. They want to have a new foundation. In fact they want to dig out the old foundation, break down the old roof and build a new structure : with even newer pillars to support this new creation because some of the existing pillars have become weak by neglect and corrupted by man and time. For them, pillars are just a hindrance towards what is possible. They never focus on the pillars as its the foundation that needs attention.

Things can get more confusing of course as you will find that one pillar sometimes looks exactly the same as the next. I leave it to you to make senseof it all.

Or maybe you are like me...more interested in the foundation and keenly aware that the roof is leaking.