What is the best relaxation method that can take us out of stress? One may instantly point at entertainment that includes enjoying art and literary work. It soothes the mind, nourishes the brain and invigorates the body. After experiencing the joy of entertainment, one may feel like being reborn. Economists have, therefore, designated it as the final consumption bundle. Since everyone loves to consume that bundle, entertainment has the highest following. It too leads to another implication. Those who are involved in the entertainment industry make the highest earnings too.

The creators of arts and literature view the world from an aesthetic angle. They see the world in a different way. That view is essentially a subjective one. It comes from the heart and not from the head. Heart represents the emotional side of the brain. Hence, a creative artist should also live in the emotional world. He should understand how people behave, guided by different types of emotions that arise in them from time to time. His task is to present it objectively to others.

An economist by nature is a scientist. The working tools of a scientist come from the head and not from the heart. Hence, for an economist to enter the creative world, he should make a complete somersault to the opposite pole. Can an economist do that? Yes, says W.A. Wijewardena, the well-known economist from the Central Bank. He became a creative writer by publishing in 2007, his first anthology of short stories, My Little Princess. (Sarasavi Publishers, Nugegoda) Writing a comment on the short stories on the back of the book, the well-known medical-scientist turned artist, Professor Carlo Fonseka says that ‘…some of the stories have the flavour of Jataka Stories in the searing exploration of impulsive human behaviour’.

Encouraged by the praises (and also comments) of critics, Wijewardena is now ready to go into a bigger venture. He is to release four publications simultaneously, at the end of May. One is a long novel, The Rivers Flow Atop the Mountains, the second is a fictionalised version of economic knowledge for the layman, Economic Wisdom for Babies, and the third and fourth being the Sinhalese translations of his Babies and the previous short story book, My Little Princess. All four books are published by Sanghinda Printers and Publishers, Nugegoda.

In this backdrop, we thought of grilling Wijewardena to learn more about his literary pursuits.

A – All of us consume a wide range of goods and services. Of that list, the final and the most rewarding bundle is entertainment. Whatever the professional engagement of a person, at the end, he derives the ultimate pleasure by listening to a song or watching a movie or a drama or reading a literary work or enjoying a painting. When we look at artwork from this angle, an economist has the highest qualification to become an artist.

After I have enjoyed the creative works of others for more than five decades, the pleasant feelings which I had harboured in me had to be thrown up in some form for others. I couldn’t keep them bottled up within me any longer. So, I had to become a writer.

A – Yes, two books in English and two in Sinhalese. One is a novel called Rivers Flow Atop the Mountains. The other is a publication in book form the column I wrote to the Sunday Times to educate the readers on economic issues in simple and reader friendly form. The latter is titled Economic Wisdom for Babies and it is a semi fictionalised form of disseminating economic knowledge. The other two books are the Sinhalese translations of the Babies and the previous short story book. These books have been translated into Sinhalese by another economist attached to the Central Bank, Anil Perera.

When My Little Princess appeared in English, many requested that it be made available in Sinhalese too. Similarly, the readers of the newspaper column too requested me to publish it in Sinhalese specifically for the benefit of students. That is how these two Sinhalese books are to appear in printed form.

The well-known writer and Sinhalese Guru, Upul Shantha Sannasgala, agreed to publish all the four books.

Q –What is the theme of your novel Rivers Flow Atop the Mountains? Isn’t it a little odd title for a novel?

A – What we see in the present world is a tendency to follow eastern religions, especially Buddhism, in order to seek salvation from this sorrowful existence. This novel aims at coming out with the practical way which people should follow to attain that ultimate supreme goal. The main characters in the novel are all deeply immersed in the sorrowful mundane battles which the life has thrown at them. They do not understand why they should continue to suffer. The novel points to ‘fear’ as the main cause for our suffering. Fear is a destructive mental emotion and it kills both the inflictor and the inflicted. But, unknown to us, while we are scared of fear and do anything to avoid it, we inflict fear on others. Sometimes we do it unconsciously and sometimes we do it knowingly.

Fear is a negative emotion and we are told that all negative emotions are destructive. But what about the positive emotions? Are they constructive? No. Both the negative and its antidote, the positive, are harmful, as far as the personal liberation is concerned. What the Buddha has taught us is to attain the middle, non-fear which is called Abhaya. This novel, through its characters, tells us how one could attain the mental state of Abhaya and then reach enlightenment.

Now, about the title of the book. Yes, it is difficult to understand. But when you read to the end of the book, its meaning becomes clear. It simply says that once you attain the mental state of Abhaya, it is like doing the impossible. Rivers normally flow downward from mountains. It is like the long series of births and deaths or unceasing sansara. Rivers flow to the oceans carrying with them all the defilements, get evaporated, come down on the mountains in the form of rains and flow to oceans again with new defilements. They are expected to repeat the process again and again. But, when you attain the mental state of Abhaya, you take your river of life atop the mountain. Then the river does not flow downward again and it remains there forever.

A – The best example is provided by the Dhajagga Sutta in Samyukta Nikaya. In this Sutta, the Buddha advises the bhikkus who are scared of going into forest dwelling for meditational practices, not to follow God Shakra who himself is inflicted with fear because he has not rid himself of greed, hatred and delusion. His advice to bhikkus is to follow the Buddha who has attained the state of non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion and accordingly, the mental state of Abhaya. So, the key to attain Abhaya is the avoidance of both the negative side of greed, hatred and delusion and its opposite, generosity, love and knowledge. One who is interested in liberation should follow the path of equanimity characterised by non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion.

This was the common wisdom in ancient India. When Alexander the Great visited Taxila University in the 3rd century BC, he meets this Buddhist Sage called Dandamis. He asks Dandamis ‘how can one make oneself loved and respected?’ Dandamis’ answer is based on this deep Buddhist philosophy. He tells the Emperor, ‘if one has immense powers, but does not inflict fear in others, then, one is loved and respected’. This shows the destructive power of fear and the need for getting rid of it!

A – As I mentioned earlier, this book aims at educating the ordinary people of common economic issues by using fictions. Story telling for educational purposes is as old as the human history. It is a sure way of attracting the attention of students and helping them to hold that knowledge fast in their mind. Since almost all standard economic papers are written in technical language full of frightening mathematical equations, ordinary public shuns that economic literature. As a result, the level of economic literacy of people is at a very poor state. This book uses the fictional form to inculcate that economic wisdom in readers. This is similar to the methodology adopted by Jathaka Stories or Panchathantra in ancient India or Ayn Rand or Robert Pirsig in the modern era.

There is an essay in the book on the fictionalisation of economics which the readers may find useful in understanding this strategy. It covers how economic principles were taught in Jataka stories, Panchatantra, novels of Ayn Rand and Robert Pirsig.

The topics covered in the book are all current controversial subjects like environment, free trade, role of middlemen, inflation induced economic growth, violence, marriage, traffic controls, and many more. They are all presented in the form of discussions and debates among students and other ordinary folks. The laymen’s misconceived understanding of the issue at hand as well as the true economic reasoning relevant to it is presented in these little stories.

My long teaching of economics at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in fact shaped the arguments presented in the little stories.

The readers who read the original column in fact loved it. This book is an edited and updated version of the column that appeared in the Sunday Times.

A – Perhaps I may be a full time writer.