CAT 2025 Lesson : Reading Comprehension II - Abstract RCs

4.3 Abstract RCs

These are passages from abstract topics such as literature, psychology, sociology, philosophy, religion etc. These can be symbolic, or implicit in nature. These are opposite in writing style to scientific and analytical passages.

These commonly occur in XAT, which includes a poem. The CAT exam has also had 1-2 abstract RCs. Abstract RCs seem more difficult for most of us, as we are not used to these genres. The subjective nature of such RCs also makes it more difficult to grasp the key message, compared to analytical RCs. The upside here is that these RCs will usually have slightly easier questions and options. These are easy to solve once you have grasped the author's viewpoint.

4.3.1 Example

Today religion is often considered a source of discrimination, disagreement and disunion. Yet, religion has been a great unifier of humankind. All social orders and hierarchies are fragile, and the larger the society, the more fragile it is. The crucial historical role of religion has been to give superhuman legitimacy to these fragile structures. Religions assert that our laws are not the result of human caprice, but are ordained by an absolute and supreme authority. This helps place at least some fundamental laws beyond challenge, thereby ensuring social stability...

Religions hold that there is a superhuman order, which is not the product of human whims or agreements. Professional football is not a religion, because despite its many laws and often bizarre rituals, everyone knows that human beings invented football themselves, and FIFA may at any moment enlarge the size of the goal or cancel the offside rule. Based on this superhuman order, religion establishes norms and values that it considers binding.

Not all religions have actuated this potential. In order to unite a large expanse of territory inhabited by disparate groups of human beings, a religion must possess two qualities. First, it must espouse a universal superhuman order that is true always and everywhere. Second, it must insist on spreading this belief to everyone. In other words, it must be universal and missionary. The majority of ancient religions were local and exclusive. Their followers believed in local deities and spirits, and had no interest in converting the entire human race. As far as we know, universal and missionary religions began to appear only in the first millennium BC. Their emergence was one of the most important revolutions in history, and made a vital contribution to the unification of humankind.

This passage describes the requirements for a religion which unites people.

4. Example

A portal as of shadowy adamant
Stands yawning on the highway of the life
Which we all tread, a cavern huge and gaunt;
Around it rages an unceasing strife
Of shadows, like the restless clouds that haunt
The gap of some cleft mountain, lifted high
Into the whirlwinds of the upper sky.

And many pass it by with careless tread,
Not knowing that a shadowy...
Tracks every traveller even to where the dead
Wait peacefully for their companion new;
But others, by more curious humour led,
Pause to examine;—these are very few,
And they learn little there, except to know
That shadows follow them where’er they go.

This poem speaks about how we ignore shadows most of the time, even though they follow us all the time.

4.3.3 Solving Abstract RCs

For abstract RCs, we recommend taking short notes, using symbols and connectors, so that the passage becomes clearer. However, this is optional based on your memory and speed (e.g., you can avoid notes if you remember the concepts well just by reading, if taking notes breaks your focus while reading, or if notes slow you down). Try this for a few RCs and see how this works. Remember that you can solve the questions even if you have not fully understood the passage or you do not agree with the author's viewpoint. I am not advocating solving an RC if you do not understand it at all, only those where you understand the crux, but some concepts within the passage are difficult. This is usually the case in Abstract RCs, and that is okay.

A list of abstract websites and topics is given at the end of this lesson. Please practice reading 3-4 abstract passages each week, so that you are comfortable with this genre.

Example 11

Read the passage below and answer the 3 associated questions:
[XAT 2020]

Once, during a concert of cathedral organ music, as I sat getting gooseflesh amid that tsunami of sound, I was struck with a thought: for a medieval peasant, this must have been the loudest human-made sound they ever experienced, awe-inspiring in now-unimaginable ways. No wonder they signed up for the religion being proffered. And now we are constantly pummeled with sounds that dwarf quaint organs. Once, hunter-gatherers might chance upon honey from a beehive and thus briefly satisfy a hardwired food craving. And now we have hundreds of carefully designed commercial foods that supply a burst of sensation unmatched by some lowly natural food. Once, we had lives that, amid considerable privation, also offered numerous subtle, hard-won pleasures. And now we have drugs that cause spasms of pleasure and dopamine release a thousand fold higher than anything stimulated in our old drug-free world.

An emptiness comes from this combination of over-the-top non-natural sources of reward and the inevitability of habituation; this is because unnaturally strong explosions of synthetic experience and sensation and pleasure evoke unnaturally strong degrees of habituation. This has two consequences. First, soon we barely notice the fleeting whispers of pleasure caused by leaves in autumn, or by the lingering glance of the right person, or by the promise of reward following a difficult, worthy task. And the other consequence is that we eventually habituate to even those artificial deluges of intensity. If we were designed by engineers, as we consumed more, we’d desire less. But our frequent human tragedy is that the more we consume, the hungrier we get. More and faster and stronger. What was an unexpected pleasure yesterday is what we feel entitled to today, and what won’t be enough tomorrow.

Question 1 of 3
Which of the following options BEST reflects the author’s understanding of human perception of pleasure?

(1) Pleasure comes from whatever we are exposed to for the first time.
(2) Pleasure comes from what appears to be a valuable discovery or invention.
(3) Pleasure comes from what we are accustomed to.
(4) Pleasure comes from what we are deprived of.
(5) Pleasure comes from what is perceived to be extraordinary.

Solution

In this passage, the author contrasts the easy access to sources of pleasure today. These sources are often artificial, provide a high intensity of pleasure, and are plentiful. However, the author feels that the very intensity and availability reduces the pleasure we feel from them (unnaturally strong explosions of synthetic experience and sensation and pleasure evoke unnaturally strong degrees of habituation). As we become habituated, we get less and less pleasure from these sources.

Therefore, we can infer that pleasure comes from something which is not commonly available. We cannot infer that pleasure has to come from natural sources, as we know that artificial stimulants provide a much greater degree of pleasure.

The option which is closest to uncommonly is option (5) – extraordinary suggests a similar meaning.

Option (1) is not correct – we can feel pleasure from the same thing, as long as it is not easily available (this would lead to habituation).

Options (2) and (4) can be eliminated in favour of option (5), as these are special cases of uncommon or extraordinary. Valuable might simply mean expensive, which might reduce access. Similarly, we would find something to be uncommon if we are deprived of it. But there are other ways to make something extraordinary, and hence, we can eliminate these two options.

Option (3) is factually incorrect, as accustomed objects will quickly lead to habituation.

Thus, we can select option (5) as the most suitable choice.

Answer: (5) Pleasure comes from what is perceived to be extraordinary.

Question 2 of 3
Going by the author, which of the following options BEST answers the question “how can one sustain the pleasure derived from any experience?"

(1) Periodic displeasure with synthetic experiences leads to sustaining pleasure.
(2) Awareness of a habituation moment helps sustain pleasure.
(3) The closer the experience is to nature, the more sustainable it is.
(4) Training to appreciate sweet whispers and fleeting moments of joy to sustain pleasure.
(5) The harder to replicate, the more sustainable the pleasure from that experience.

Solution

Similar to the previous question, sustaining (continuing to extend ) the pleasure from something would require the item to be uncommon. Therefore, we again need to look for an option suggesting uncommon. This is mentioned in option (5), which should be the correct choice.

Option (1) is incorrect – we are concerned with objects which are not easily available. We need not mix displeasure with pleasure.

Option (2) would also not be sufficient, as awareness of pleasure would not prevent habituation (getting used to the pleasure). Therefore, we can eliminate this option as well.

Option (3) is factually incorrect, as we know that natural sources provide a lower intensity of pleasure than artificial sources (commercial foods that supply a burst of sensation unmatched by some lowly natural food... drugs that cause spasms of pleasure and dopamine release a thousand fold higher). Therefore, we will not get any pleasure from natural sources unless we prevent habituation from artificial sources. This is the first consequence of habituation, mentioned in the second paragraph.
Option (4) also speaks about natural sources of pleasure, and can be eliminated with the same reasoning.

Therefore, option (5) is the correct choice.

Answer: (5) The harder to replicate, the more sustainable the pleasure from that experience.

Question 3 of 3
Which of the following options BEST describes “emptiness” as described in the passage?

(1) A feeling, evoked by the carefully designed commercial foods, alluring us to them.
(2) The inevitability of habituation that one gets from repeated consumption of manmade foods or drugs.
(3) A feeling of absence of sources of pleasure when extant sources are in abundance.
(4) Yearning for newer sources of pleasure when extant sources are in abundance.
(5) A feeling of weariness around extant sources of pleasure that are in abundance.

Solution

The author tells us that emptiness comes from a combination of over-the-top non-natural sources of reward and the inevitability of habituation. Therefore, we can infer that constant access to unnatural or artificial sources of pleasure (high intensity sources) causes emptiness because we are unable to feel pleasure any more.

This is explained best in option (3).
This is preferable to option (5), as absence of...pleasure is preferable to weariness (meaning tiredness). Similarly, option (4) is speaking about yearning (craving, desire) does not convey emptiness either. Thus, options (4) and (5) can be eliminated.

Option (1) mentions an artificial source, but not constant access to the source.
Option (2) has part of the cause, habituation, but does not explain that habituation leads to emptiness. It seems to suggest that habituation is emptiness, which is not correct.

Therefore, we can eliminate these options and select option (3).

Answer: (3) A feeling of absence of sources of pleasure when extant sources are in abundance.

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