Though it is difficult to make out from their constant bickering, it is a fact that human beings collaborate on a bigger scale than any other species. Our knowledge is not only passed among each other but also from generation to generation. There are institutions that bring together thousands of people to achieve their mission and preserve their values through an astonishing number of years. Yet for all its astounding achievements there is something in the very nature of an institution that makes one look askance at it and to regard its activities as pretentious. The vision of its maverick founder tends to fade over time, its values become ossified and bear down on us in the form of an oppressive dictum.
A human being is dynamic. His/her actions bear the distinctive stamp of their beliefs and values. An institution, on the other hand, is impersonal and lifeless. Its values are firmly entrenched and spelled out. There are extraneous, pre-established rules that everyone must adhere to. Whereas, it is individual experience that turns a stale old maxim into a living truth.
This is the reason why organized religion doesn’t work, why schools fail. They all try to spell out the do’s and dont’s of life without there being a realization of the same on our part. A character in Doris Lessing’s ‘The Making of the Representative for Planet 8’ points out how everything changes (perhaps for the worse) when their civilization shifts from an environment of spontaneous learning to a more pedagogical approach.
It is clear that the zeal and enthusiasm of individual vision matter more than what an institution can do. The 19th-century philosopher Nietzsche urged people to renounce the shelter created by the false values of religion and to come up with unique values of their own that they can then aspire to. G B Shaw propagated the same view with his concept of the ‘Superman’. We too must try to be faithful to our individual vision rather than to strictures that are handed down to us. Our bold and independent minds must breed ideas instead of being at the mercy of them.