Opposites Must Reconcile: how many thoughts must a man have before we can call him a man?

One of the first things that happened in this new place is that I started going through some old DVD’s I had. I saw one without a label. Hmm what is it. a ha – some songs, deaf leopard, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan etc.. hey hold on Bob Dylan huh? I am no music geek. In fact I am hearld music anything but I remember liking some of Bob Dylan. Let play it. Today as I was playing the song I rediscovered was ‘blowing in the wind’. I had definitely heard it during college days, but I felt something else as I heard it today. The lyrics got out and reached some inner core. The amazing simplicity of the song had me spell bound. Even as I read or play it over and over again I find myself as captivated as ever.
I reproduce the lyrics here:-

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, n how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, n how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before theyre forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, n how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, n how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before its washed to the sea?
Yes, n how many years can some people exist
Before theyre allowed to be free?
Yes, n how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesnt see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

It is simple direct poetry at its best. In fact it is so simple that I got a bit confused trying to decipher the answer ‘is blowing in the wind’. What was on his mind? What is the poet alluding to? What is it that he is saying? Searching on net I came across the following para:-

"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan and released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Although it has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom. The refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" has been described as "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind". The song makes no reference to a specific event.

But further reading got me to these words that Dylan himself wrote:
There ain’t too much I can say about this song except that the answer is blowing in the wind. It ain’t in no book or movie or TV show or discussion group. Man, it’s in the wind—and it’s blowing in the wind. Too many of these hip people are telling me where the answer is but oh I won’t believe that. I still say it’s in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it’s got to come down some ...But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know ...and then it flies away I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and know it’s wrong. I’m only 21 years old and I know that there’s been too many ...You people over 21, you’re older and smarter.

The song is so simple a protest. Simplicity. That is the essence of his song, his verse and his thought. Only a work of an uncluttered mind can think like this. Sometimes I find it so silly that we try and see for deeper, hidden agendas and meaning where none really exist. It must be coming from an inner core of human mind that seeks to demystify and ‘solve’ everything. Sometimes they need no solving. Let them be. A blank mind can absorb so much.

That is also one of the reasons that I like teaching undergraduates as opposed to post graduate student. Something cracks once they get into an MBA. An attitude that says, I know it all. A selfish self centered attitude, a desire to control your own destiny, a stronger sense of internal belief that doesn’t open to outside influence? I don’t know. I too must have been that once I guess. Who knows – I might still be one now.