Akshay came into being this day 15 years ago. Being and non-being; the nature of these two states has been explored by Greek philosophers since the 6th century. Plato had put forward the idea that what 'is not' is also in a sense 'is'. If a being is a material thing in the visible realm, a non being is a non material thing in the invisible realm, goes the Platonic logic.Sounds perfect. Which means there is more to nothingness than meets the eye. Taking that Greek philosophy further and giving himself the creative license Lewis Carroll had introduced the concept of 'Unbirthday' (which is every other day except the birthday) in Alice in Wonderland. He even wrote a very silly song to go with it. Birthdays and 'unbirthdays' are expressions of time. So do we live our state of non-being in a rabbit hole like Alice? Could Akshay from his state of non-being watch our lives through a looking glass? Life, as Alice would say only gets curiouser and curiouser.
To get back to Platonic logic; he was simply extending what his teacher Socrates had expounded - that reality is unavailable to those who use their senses. He said the sun-lit world of the senses is a den of ignorance and we should climb out of it, for this material world is no more than a fleeting phenomenon. Its impermanence fills us with a fear of the unknown. He urges us to see it with the eyes of the mind as that will take us beyond the physical world and transmute our fears into hope.
