NCERT Solutions For Class 11 English Elective Chapter 41 My Three Passions

Bertrand Russell says that love brings ecstasy in one's life. He opines that the bliss that love brings is so magnificent that he could sacrifice his entire life for a few hours of this ecstatic joy. Love has the power to expel loneliness from one’s life. Russell says that in love he has seen the ecstasy that the great saints and poets have imagined. Russell has achieved unimagined dimension of happiness through love.

The three passions contributed immensely to Russell's life. He found his life worth living because of his passions. These were the propelling force behind all his actions. Bertrand Russell believed in love, knowledge and pity. He entered into relationships because he wanted love. He gained knowledge and won the Nobel prize. Because of his pity for the sufferings of humankind he took a stand against wars. He helped suffering people and gave away most of the money he inherited. His three passions were three vital virtues governing his life.

Russell compares his three passions to great winds because they have been the driving force in his life. They gave him the reason for his existence. His three passions were - the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. He says that love and knowledge, so far as possible, led him upward toward the heavens. But pity brought him back to earth.

For Martin Luther King, the concept of agape stood at the centre of both his spiritual belief in a knowable God and his assertion that love, and nonviolence were essential to humanity. He defined agape as “purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is the love of God operating in the human heart.” We can’t define agape in one sentence. It has many aspects. It is unselfish love that seeks nothing in return. The parents and children seek love in return. Husband and wife love each other deeply but seek love in return. However, agape is not reciprocal in nature.

Russell’s concept of love and pity tie up with King’s concepts of agape as he too believed in realisation of God through love. He felt pity for sufferings and stood against wars and violence. Even Russel’s notion of pity is synonymous with Agape of Martin Luther King Jr. Because pity is a feeling for other’s suffering. A person moved with pity helps the other and does not expect anything in return.

Bertrand Russell had three passions governing his life. The first two being love and knowledge, elevated him and took him to the heavens. However, the third one, i.e., pity, brought him back to the Earth. The first two passions are abstract. We can experience love, but it is not a physical entity, rather an abstract term. It is real and experiential but not a physical thing. However, pity is an aspect of love. The quality of pity is earth-bound while the other two passions are elevating. His heart became lighter and he felt himself in the heaven. Filled with knowledge and love he was flying through the heights of ecstasy. But pity gave him a heavy heart. The pain in the echoing cries reverberated in his heart. Pity is a quality that impels a person to do concrete action to alleviate the sufferings of others. Pity is realistic in the sense it is aroused in one’s heart at the sight (knowledge) of the others’ suffering. Thus, pity is an earth-bound quality.

Bertrand Russell had three passions governing his life. The first two being love and knowledge, elevated him and took him to the heavens. However, the third one, i.e., pity, brought him back to the Earth. The first two passions are abstract. We can experience love, but it is not a physical entity, rather an abstract term. It is real and experiential but not a physical thing. However, pity is an aspect of love. The quality of pity is earth-bound while the other two passions are elevating. His heart became lighter and he felt himself in the heaven. Filled with knowledge and love he was flying through the heights of ecstasy. But pity gave him a heavy heart. The pain in the echoing cries reverberated in his heart. Pity is a quality that impels a person to do concrete action to alleviate the sufferings of others. Pity is realistic in the sense it is aroused in one’s heart at the sight (knowledge) of the others’ suffering. Thus, pity is an earth-bound quality.

Russell had sought for knowledge with great passion. He wished not only to gain scientific knowledge but also inner knowledge which is the ability to understand the hearts of men. According to Russell, in his pursuit for knowledge, he was able to achieve some knowledge, though not much.

Russell was a mathematician and philosopher. But he never wanted to use his knowledge to earn materialistic treasures. His definition of knowledge was slightly different. It was not merely scientific truth and conventional knowledge but deeper insight into the psychological and spiritual realm of human beings. He wanted to understand the hearts of men (spiritual and psychological knowledge), to know why the stars shine (scientific knowledge), and to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway over the flux (theoretical/mathematical knowledge).

The given essay actually is the preface to Bertrand Russell's autobiography. Every human’s life is driven by a passion. Different people have different desires. Russell was driven by three passions that any ordinary person might possess. This is the reason for which he describes them as simple. These are basic passions that every human being pursues. Everyone longs for love. All have a desire to achieve knowledge. All people have certain degree of compassion.

His first passion was love because love brings ecstasy. Russell was willing to sacrifice his entire life for a few hours of this ecstatic joy. According to him love has the ability to relieve loneliness. The union of love foreshadows heaven. Russell was fortunate enough to experience all these features of love in his life.

His second passion was knowledge and he earned it. He was a mathematician, a logician and a political activist. He wrote on philosophy and contributed to literature. He received Nobel Prize for his works in literature.

Thirdly, he felt “an unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind”. He took a stand against World War I and Vietnam war. Any person having human values will pity a suffering man, and so did Russell. Russell was born in a prominent aristocratic family of Britain and gave away the wealth he inherited. He believed in free thought in religion and morals. He could live his passions, so he called them simple.