The Human Understanding Is Unquiet, It Cannot Stop or Rest - Admission/Application Essay Example

The human understanding is unquiet; it cannot stop or rest and presses onward, but in vain.” The endeavour of man, here referred to as “human understanding” is insatiable. It is a never ending and a ceaseless activity that goes on without seeming to end. The relentless efforts of mankind to know, explore, understand itself, the environment around it to the tiniest and minute details are an ongoing process that doesn’t stop but pushes forward. In this quote the author refers to the general endeavour of mankind to know more and to do more. The author refers to the human efforts as incessant and never ending, but adds a conclusion that it is in vain. Knowledge is endless, understanding is timeless and limitless, it encompasses the fringes of the universe and perhaps even beyond of which we are an infinitesimally small speck. Yet our continuous efforts through thousands and thousands of years handed over from generation to generation, funded with large amount of finances and through the collective study and research of the most powerful minds mankind has ever seen, seem a futile effort, a desperate attempt to unravel the great eternal secret. The author though the word “but in vain” conveys the perception and the feeling of humanity in the edge trying to seek the greatest and ultimate knowledge. Through the words “human understanding is unquiet, it cannot stop or rest and presses onward”, conveys the insatiable hunger of mankind to enlighten itself to understand nature within itself and outside be it through astronomical breakthroughs, biological breakthroughs and technological advancements. According to the author, despite mankind’s intense and continuous effort to know more, to comprehend the eternally elusive truths, to capture the ultimate revelation, it would be in vain. The brave, ambitious and collective efforts of mankind referred here as “the human understanding”, insatiable as it is, seems to have no end or conclusion (i.e., “it cannot stop or rest”, but carries itself further and further into deeper and more detailed study. The result of this intense effort to understand leads mankind into a labyrinth, a maze of paradoxes, and a riddle that is impossible to comprehend, thereby making it a fruitless attempt to unravel the secrets and get the answers. 2. It is vain to expect virtue till they are in some degree independent from men; nay, it is vain to expect that strength of natural affection which would make them good wives and mothers Here the author refers to the innate qualities of women that make them the greatest nurturers, natural healers and curers of mankind. The author says that is useless to expect qualities that characterise good wives and mothers in men, because those qualities are intrinsic to the women-folk. They have been created to lead a life symbolic of love, affection, warmth, sacrifice, friendship and responsibility. Women have been created to serve the purpose of rearing the child and building a home. They have been gifted with the virtue of natural affection which comes to them instinctively, as they reach out to the human-beings in their lives, taking care of them and loving them. All these are qualities that are genetically embedded within women, qualities that they posses not only from birth but even before that, when they are in the womb, from the time it is decided that they would be born as a girl child. These virtues being instinctive and God gifted, it is absolutely useless to expect the same sort of virtues from men that would make them loving, caring and affectionate. The difference of purposes of men and women, the differences in their virtues are highlighted here as well as the wisdom to understand the difference. The author drives a realisation into the mind of the reader about the purposes of the two genders in the world. Again the author through her statement tries to convey that the world is unequally segregated between men and women, a prevailing situation where men are discharged with duties and responsibilities that require action and self denial. On the other hand, women have little say. A woman is admired for her beauty and amidst all the admiration if she neglects her prime, instinctive duties (of mother hood and wifehood) then it would be a great failure in the role of a woman, a mother and a wife. 3. “The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and commenced its infernal work” Greater power comes with great responsibility. When great responsibility is rested on someone’s shoulders, together with it comes a great authority as well as immense power. The person in charge has the freedom, the authority and the flexibility to choose what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. In this book, the author refers to the mistress as a kind, noble and delicate heart. She is a person who has not known what the horrific realities of slavery was, the unthinkably inhuman treatment that was metted out to slaves and the hard and demonic heart that masters and mistresses had. She was unaware of this dark world owing to her life and background. But in the very next paragraph the author says that the fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hand. The author refers to the power as the authority to rule over the slave. The author refers to the new mistress to be all she appeared when he first met her at the door. She was woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. Owing to the fact that she never had a slave under her control before, she was new and unknown to this dark world. Being engaged in service under the industry, before her marriage, she was far away from this inhuman and horrific world of slavery. The author towards the beginning, also describe her to be unlike any other white woman. Anyone who met her felt better after meeting her and was thankful for having met her. Even the meanest slave was put to ease after meeting her. But this kind heart was not to be so for long. Soon the effects of great power would stoop her shoulders low and make a demon out of her. The cheerful eye under eye under the influence of such great power became red with rage, the voice that sounded melodic and harmonious changed to a harsh one with horrid discord. That angel like face soon turned into a face of a demon. 4. Marriage is the only actual bondage known to our law. There remain no legal slaves, except the mistress of every house Marriage is the only legalised, socially accepted relationship of bondage known to the law. The author talks about the revolution in the society and institutions. The author says, what good are we to expect from the changes proposed in our customs and institutions. Would mankind be truly benefitted if women were free? If not, then their minds should not be disturbed and an attempt should not be made to create a social revolution in the name of abstract light. The concept of marriage comes with a lot of liabilities in the life of a woman. The sufferings, atrocities, evils of all sorts, in innumerable cases due to the subjection of a individual women to individual men are far too horrific to be over looked. There may be some people who would count the extreme and exceptional cases to conclude that these cases are rare, but the truth is that millions of women face the hard truth of subjection and servitude in their married life. Innumerable cases of mistreatment, physical torture, humiliation and psychological torture take place when women are married off to men, and those very men misuse the power. The menace of human slavery has been abolished from the face of the world through years of protests and struggle. The slavery of the Negros under the subjection of white men is now a banned concept and all men are free. But the only legalised, unsaid form of slavery and lawful subjection remains marriage. It is still the only form of slavery that women are forced to enter in most cases owing to the practice of culture and tradition. In such cases the woman is left at the mercies of the man, who has the sole power and authority to treat her the way he likes. If only such men had not tyrannised over the one human being that law compels to bear everything the society would have reached a paradisiacal state. The law of servitude in marriage is the most monstrous contradictions to the principles of the modern world and its modern society and to the all the experiences through which those very principles were painfully and slowly worked out. 5. The goal everywhere has become maximal production and maximal consumption Success is measured through numbers, through turn over, revenues, profit figures and percentage growth in company revenue. This is a direct consequence of sales figure, number of units sold, or in other words number of units bought/consumed by the consumer. In a world driven by consumer demands, shaped by consumer preferences, modelled upon the consumer behaviour and psychology, the goal of organisations has become to ensure maximal production to ensure maximal consumption. Maximum production is not possible if maximum consumption is not ensured. Though there are rare exceptions that do not follow this thought, for most of the industry the intent is the same: Market domination through increased consumer demand, satisfaction and customer loyalty. The author talks about the gradual shift from need to luxury in the life of the day to day consumer and a shift from regular production to a frenzy of competitive and aggressive production to maintain market status and consumer preference. The industrial revolution has spiked up the production rate exponentially for various industries, let alone the emergence of various modern industries. It has initiated the trend of excessive production and has enriched the lives of people mostly in the west. This increased capacity to produce has also fuelled the desire of the consumer to buy. From a need based buying the consumer has shifted to a luxury driven buying. The modern consumer buys whatever he feels like and justifies it by saying that it saves effort and time, but at the end of the day he doesn’t know what to do with the time saved ending up spending more on killing time that he has saved. In present industry the criterion of progress is seen in the figures for consumption. This holds true for the capitalist countries as well as the republic countries. Man in the industrialised country transforms himself into a more and more greedy passive consumer. Similar to the food habits to people, the buying habits of people have changes and most consumers end up binge-buying thus contributing to the high sales figures of brands. References: 1. Mill, Stuart John. “The Subjection of Women. John Stuart Mill (1869)- Chapter 4 ”. Marxist.org. 24 Mar, 2012.Web. 24 March 2012 Read More