Momentary Lapse of Reason

This certainly isn’t about Pink Floyd. Its something that every idle soul reading this blog could relate to. At some point or other, we have all had moments where we completely lost our sense, logic and rationale. In fact every now and then this momentary lapse of reason gets us into deep rut. It makes us do things we regret for long and cannot even relate to in due course of time. But the irony is…while we were doing it, all our actions would have seemed perfectly justified to us.

How many times have we completely transformed from being a perfect commonsensical to either an immoral self in our personal lives or an unethical chap in our profession? And when you look back you cannot believe you could have done it in your perfect senses. Also when I said – every single person reading this could relate to what I am saying, I had enough facts in hand. Mankind itself has been through several such momentary lapses in the past. Whether it is the holocaust by the Nazis; the bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki or the innumerable religious riots, man has been through several such barbaric rampages. Many would argue that the Jewish killings or the nuclear attack were all planned and did not happen when a few men had this historic “momentary lapse”. However if we look closely, we would realize that many of the people involved and responsible for such mass massacres had started taking pleasure in these activities. And if we were to check their historical records, most of them had been from a non-criminal background. How could such people lose their sense of reasonability in a flash?

Would love to have an answer. But I must remember that there have been serious accusations of me doing an Ashutosh Gowariker in my blogs… so I am gonna keep it short. I tried asking a few friends if they had an answer. I wasn’t surprised to hear Alcohol as being the favorite reply. I guess no one takes an intellectual seriously these days!!

Is this lapse something that is motivated by emotions, money, fright or certain mysterious thoughts hidden deep inside our subconscious? Or does this lapse follow a circadian rhythm? I was astounded to hear from one of my friends and a fellow blogger Abhigyan (a big yawn) that people are already making money, taking advantage of this lapse induced in people at certain times during the day. Famous trade organizations ensure that the meetings with high-profile and influential ministers are held late at night. This ensures that most of their tenders and deals get passed. (I wish this implied – corruption was dead !!)

This theory still needs some validation. Nevertheless can’t wait till I have this “fit” yet again….might as well try some alcohol now…