Very interesting! Mr Babusenan hit the dot on Valmiki and Asoka, but do not know whether Russel could be in that spectrum; may or may not be as iread the true one reproduced below: (For those who are perplexed , it is about that nano second, an event or impact, created a total change over). 2 Extract of Bertrand Russel and emily whitehead: “Bertie, my soul is sick with anguish” Evelyn Whitehead to Bertrand Russell
August 4th, 1914 Evelyn Whitehead was the wife of Russell’s Cambridge mentor and colleague, Alfred North Whitehead. By the time of her letter of August 4, 1914, the Whiteheads had known Russell for over 20 years. In the letter, Evelyn expresses concern about the approaching conflict that would become known as the First World War: “Bertie, my soul is sick with anguish.” (The Whitehead’s sons, North and Eric—on whom Russell doted when they were children—would end up fighting in the war; Eric was killed shortly before armistice). Evelyn also states her assumption that Britain would be involved: “if Germany is really the aggressor in all this I do not see how we can keep out of it.” Her view of Britain's role in the War was, of course, in opposition to Russell’s pacifist stance. Their difference of opinion is ironic since it was an experience with Evelyn that Russell credited with leading him to pacifism in the first place. In 1901, Russell and his wife, Alys, spent an academic term living with the Whiteheads. One day he and Alys came home to find Evelyn in severe physical pain. In his *Autobiography*, Russell describes a profound experience: “She seemed cut off from everyone and everything by walls of agony, and the sense of the solitude of each human soul suddenly overwhelmed me. … Suddenly the ground seemed to give way beneath me, and I found myself in quite another region. Within five minutes I went through some such reflections as the following: the loneliness of the human soul is unendurable; nothing can penetrate it except the highest intensity of the sort of love that religious teachers have preached; whatever does not spring from this motive is harmful, or at best useless; it follows that war is wrong, … that the use of force is to be deprecated, and that in human relations one should penetrate to the core of loneliness in each person and speak to that.” Evelyn recovered, but the experience had a lasting effect on Russell. He wrote: “something of what I thought I saw in that moment has remained always with me, causing my attitude during the first war, my interest in children, my indifference to minor misfortunes, and a certain emotional tone in all my human relations.” Russell’s political views were so transformed that he went from zealously supporting Britain in the 'Boer War' to advocating peace, and his emotional life was so transformed that within a year of the experience he told Alys he no longer loved her. In fact, it is now widely assumed that he had fallen in love with Evelyn, though there is no evidence that the two ever had an affair. In the dozen or so years leading up to the First World War, during which time Russell and Alfred were collaborating on *Principia Mathematica, *Russell and Evelyn developed a close emotional intimacy. Russell supported the Whiteheads financially without Alfred ever knowing, and when Russell’s affair with Ottoline Morrell began in 1911, he turned to Evelyn for support and even arranged for Ottoline to meet her for advice. Evelyn relished her role in Russell’s life and may not always have had his best interests at heart. However, there was real affection there, too, as is evident in the letter displayed here. The letter also contains an amusing anecdote. Evelyn describes “an interesting talk” she had had the day before with Gertrude Stein. Stein expresses an opinion about a quarrel between Ottoline Morrell and Roger Fry, a friend of Russell’s from their student days. Stein sides with Ottoline. On a typescript copy of Evelyn’s letter (also found in the Russell archives), Russell added a note: “Roger & Ottoline had a quarrel, but I never knew what it was about.” In fact, Fry and Ottoline had had a brief affair just as Russell and Ottoline were becoming lovers, and Fry was worried that his new love interest, Vanessa Bell, would find out about it. The lives of Russell and his circle were never boring. There are approximately 30 letters from Evelyn Whitehead to Russell in the Russell archives. Unfortunately, Evelyn destroyed all of Russell’s letters to her. Sources: (1) Bertrand Russell. *The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, 1872-1914* (Volume I). London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1967. (2) Ronald W. Clark. *The Life of Bertrand Russell*. Jonathan Cape and Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1975. (3) Nicholas Griffin, ed. *The Selected Letters of Bertrand Russell: The Private Years, 1884-1914.* London and New York: Routledge, 2002. II Gandhi changed in that nano second on seeing that drama, Harichandra. Alexander wrote that he takes nothing from this earth, after seeing the bravest PURUSHOTHAMAN on the banks of Zeelum. Kannadasn wrote: Manidan enbavan, deivamagalam; ...orukkaka thannai thandhu thyagi agalam. Changes had taken the turn , both ways in History. When as tiruvalluvar said,: Than nenju arivadhu poyyarkka; poythapin, than nenje thannaich chudum. That nano second must make one realise that he is not under any falsity. KR IRS 9523 On Mon, 8 May 2023 at 02:05, Chittanandam V R <[email protected]> wrote: > > > *One Question, One Sight - V.Babusenan* > > *One question, one sight, sometimes ( very rarely, of course) changes a > man totally. * > > *Retnakaran, a professional **dacoit, confronted a question the answer of > which transformed him to the * > *great sage Valmiki who gave asylum **to Sita and wrote **Ramayana. The > question put to him by one of the Seven Rishies was **this: "You agree > that, by plundering travellers, you are committing a sin. You say that your > wife and children gladly share your booty. You ask them now whether they > are willing to share your sin also and please come back with their reply." > There was no need to go back to the Sages. The family's refusal to share > his sins opened Retnakaran's eyes and the rest is **legend. * > > *Coming down to ancient history, we find Asoka, the 3rd century BCE > emperor belonging to the Maurya dynasty, possessing expansionist greed like > other monarchs, annexed Kalinga to his otherwise vast empire through a > **fierce > battle. But the gruesome sights of the battle field totally changed and > immortalized him as a man of peace.**This is, perhaps, the best example > as to how a sight changes a man altogether. * > > *Evelyn Whitehead, wife of a popular Cambridge mathematics professor, > was an always smiling, well-dressed, **well- behaved woman who was a > great support to her husband. Though the professor was popular in the > university circles, especially for his mental balance, at home he was a > different person. He shunned mathematics as regards personal expenses and > the lady had a great struggle at month-ends to settle the bills that > poured in. Bertrand **Russell, who was collaborating with his professor > in the writing of a big book on the basic principles of mathematics, had > great affection and respect for his professor's wife and discreetly helped > her financially in managing the household. * > > *But continuous silent suffering made the poor lady a heart patient. She > had occasional chest pain. Once, when he returned home after participating > in an animated discussion on Greek tragedies, Russell witnessed a sight > that **made him a different person altogether. Evelyn Whitehead was > writhing in severe chest pain and the professor and children were standing > around her, watching helplessly. He looked at the youngest child, a three- > year-old boy, **and, suddenly his heart was filled with a kind of > ecstatic feeling. The change in him was an attitudinal one. He **started > to have great concern for human suffering for no obvious reason. The Boer > War was raging in the African continent at that time and Russell was whole > heartedly with the British forces till that moment. His sympathy now > shifted to the Boers. Likewise, his sympathy shifted to the subjugated > Indians. We know this very well from the immense support he gave > consistently to the India League and its dynamic secretary Krishna Menon. > He stood **against a world war, inviting isolation, loss of job and > reputation, courted imprisonment twice (second time when **he was on the > verge of 90!), led vigorous campaigns against nuclear menace and spent his > savings to bring to **book the mighty persons responsible for the > Vietnam atrocities. 'The Unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind' > that made the real Bertrand Russell was the outcome of a metamorphosis > caused by a lone housewife without her knowing it! * > > *- V.Babusenan* > > ********************************************** > > *Chittanandam* > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZopisoCxGtt16qF2%3DO_uHTmbd-uyn7n5aPqK4y5b8izC%2BA%40mail.gmail.com.
