Notes on ‘Notes from the Underground’
‘Heart and Head in the Underground’
We have even become so unaccustomed to living that we sometimes feel a kind of loathing for ‘real life’ and that’s why we cannot bear to be reminded of it.
—Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky ¹
Muḥammad Iqbal once beautifully said, “While the head is still pondering on the edge; the heart plunges into Nimrod’s fire.” 2 This opposition between the head and the heart—between thought and action—that Iqbal is highlighting here, has come to increasingly characterise modernity, ever since Descartes. As dwellers of modernity, we have all fallen into this ‘Cartesian-chasm’ to a greater or lesser degree. Many of us, with our ears plugged into phones and eyes fixed on screens, seem to trudge through cities like zombies. Others, trapped in their dark rooms, remain entangled in the sticky web of the internet like helpless insects. We all seem to be afflicted by a kind of solipsism—an urge to retreat into ourselves, to be left alone and keep ourselves distracted from life.
Being a ‘modern man’, I have often struggled with this kind of solipsism. I have a tendency to overthink and seek reasons for everything. This tendency often has a paralysing effect on me, which is difficult for me to snap out of. Were it not for the five prayers forcing me out of such paralysis, I am sure I would have been perpetually trapped in my own thoughts. However, I have often wondered, what is so wrong about being trapped in one’s thoughts? What is so wrong about trying to tease out reasons for everything? Surely, to act correctly, do we not need a complete understanding of the state of affairs? Reading ‘Notes from the Underground’ by F. M. Dostoyevsky made me realise why I was mistaken.
Dostoyevsky’s underground man spends his days confined to his little room. He is a creature filled with intense rage, spite, and resentment. Unlike the ‘common people’, who take life as a given, he is hyper-conscious of everything and he endlessly searches for reasons behind his thoughts and actions. He is paralysed by his mind and trapped by the ‘inertia’ of his thoughts. He envies, and deeply longs for, the friendship and love that common people experience in their lives. Yet, every time these things are extended to him, he rejects them in the vilest of ways. He is a man trapped within his own consciousness and tormented by his own conscience. But why is he this way? How did he come to be like this?
The answer lies in the zeitgeist of the world in which he lives. The scientific spirit of modernity is the cause of the underground man’s torments. From the scientific perspective, man is viewed as being merely a part of nature, with absolutely nothing metaphysical about him. The underground man understands the grave implications of this perspective. He knows that when he puts himself ‘under the microscope’, his volition and individuality, that make him who he is, are nowhere to be seen. He is made from the same matter as everything else, and like everything else, he is bound by the iron chains of natural laws. All his actions and emotions are caused by his surroundings; his volition seems to be an illusion. Scared of his surroundings, the underground man chooses to retreat into the realm of his thoughts. There, in his own fantasies, he dreams up new ways of tormenting himself, for it is only while suffering that he feels he exists.
Reading ‘Notes from the Underground’ was a terrifying experience for me. The book left me alone, in an underground of my own, trapped in perpetual thought which allows no respite and offers no certitude. In the dark underground, I endlessly wondered about what got me there and whether there was a way out. For a long time I was alone with my tormenting thoughts, but eventually, my silent solitude was interrupted by words which echoed in my heart like a sudden thunder on a quiet night:
صبحِ ازل یہ مجھ سے کہا جبرئیل نے
To me, on the first morn, Gabriel did remind;
جو عقل کا غلام ہو، وہ دِل نہ کر قبول
Accept not the heart which is enslaved by the mind!—Muḥammad Iqbāl ³
The tragedy of the underground man is caused by his inability to accept that some truths are beyond reasoning; that some beliefs, like that of human volition, arise purely out of intuition. The underground man could not see that his intense self-obsession was the cause of his misery, and that only a genuine concern for others could cure him. He could not see that the way out of the underground was not through his head, but through his heart. His heart was enslaved by his mind and this doomed him to slow and painful decay.
In an age such as ours when underground men not only exist, but are mass-produced, ‘Notes from the Underground’ offers us a much-needed critique of modernity. What makes this book truly great, is that although first published in the 19th century, this text remains very relevant and profound. Personally, this book is significant to me because it taught me that the head has its limits, and that in some matters, the heart takes precedence. It gave me, as Roger Scruton once said, “the real reasons, for not having reasons.” 4
Bibliography:
F.M. Dostoyevsky; Notes From the Underground, Part 2, Section 10.
Muḥammad Iqbāl; Bang-e-Dara, 166, verses 5 & 6.
Muḥammad Iqbāl; Zarb-e-Kaleem 78, verses 7 & 8. (Translation is my own.)
What Conservatism Really Means- Roger Scruton & Hamza Yusuf. YouTubeLink
Thank you for writing this profound post, subhanallah, on a very similar note, but not precisely the same, but still i had this poem of Iqbal in my notes, and you’ll enjoy it, and may be able to relate it to your beautiful post:
جان و تن
عقل مُدّت سے ہے اس پیچاک میں اُلجھی ہوئی
رُوح کس جوہر سے، خاکِ تِیرہ کس جوہر سے ہے
میری مشکل، مستی و شور و سُرور و درد و داغ
تیری مشکل، مے سے ہے ساغر کہ مے ساغر سے ہے
ارتباطِ حرف و معنی، اختلاطِ جان و تن
جس طرح اخگر قبا پوش اپنی خاکستر سے ہے!
معانی: پیچاک: الجھن ۔ روح: جان ۔ جوہر: چیزیں بنانے کا مادہ ۔ خاکِ تیرہ: اندھیری زمین ۔ مطلب: عقل ایک مدت سے اس الجھاوَ میں پھنسی ہوئی ہے کہ انسانی روح کی اصل کیا ہے اور انسانی جسم اس کی اصل کیا ہے اور وہ آج تک اس عقدہ کو حل نہیں کر سکی ۔
معانی: مستی و شور: بے ہوشی اور شور ۔ سرور: خوشی ۔ دردو داغ: عشق کا درد اور غم ۔ مطلب: علامہ خود کو صاحب عشق کہتے ہوئے عقل پسند کو یہ بات کہہ رہے ہیں کہ میں جو صاحب عشق ہوں میں تو اس بات پر غور کر رہا ہوں کہ مجھ میں مستی، لطف اور غم اور داغ کی جو صورتیں پیدا ہو رہی ہیں یہ کس وجہ سے ہیں اور تو اے عقل پسند اس بات میں الجھا ہوا ہے کہ پیالہ شراب سے ہے یا شراب پیالے سے ہے ۔ یعنی میں تو سمجھ چکا ہوں کہ لطف و مستی اور درد و داغ کی ساری کیفیات روحانی ہیں ۔ روح کی وجہ سے پیدا ہوتی ہیں لیکن تو اے عقل پسند ابھی اس مخمصے میں پھنسا ہوا ہے کہ روح بدن سے ہے کہ بدن روح سے ہے ۔
معانی: اخگر قبا پوش: لنگارہ لباس میں ۔ اپنی خاکستر سے: اپنی راکھ سے ۔ مطلب: اگر اے شخص تو روح اور بدن میں تعلق اور میل جول کی بات سمجھنا چاہتا ہے تو پہلے حرف اور معنی کے میل جول کی بات سمجھ لے ۔ جس طرح حرف نہ ہو تو معنی کہاں سے ہوں گے ۔ اسی طرح اگر روح نہ ہو تو بدن کہاں ہو گا ۔ جس طرح حرف اور معنی میں تعلق ہے اسی طرح روح اور جسم میں تعلق ہے ۔ دونوں ایک دوسرے کے محتاج ہیں ۔ روح کے بغیر بدن کا اور بدن کے بغیر روح کا ہونا ناممکن ہے ۔ اس لیے ہمیں جان و تن دونوں کی پرورش کرنی چاہیے ۔ راہبوں کی طرح تن کو بھلا دینا اور جان پر توجہ رکھنا یا دنیادار کی طرح تن پر توجہ صرف کرنا اور روح کو خاطر میں نہ لانا درست نہیں ہے ۔ درست وہی ہے جو اسلام کو اپناتا ہے وہ بتاتا ہے کہ روح اور جسم دونوں اللہ کے انعامات میں سے ہیں ۔ دونوں کی ان کی جائز تقاضوں کے مطابق پرورش کرنی چاہیے