10 November 2014

The Chinese Finger Trap


At a fundamental level both theology and science strives to make meaning of the world (physical or mental) humans live in...Funny, but that what they are for.

Theology was most human-digestible of the two; for the survival-focused masses this was therefore the alpha and omega for a very long time. They offloaded all brain-racking' mysteries onto the biggest mystery of all : God. Religious institutions ruled the roost for most of history and tried its best to snuff out all scientific temper.

Science, in the mean time, survived the oppression and painfully evolved into the new-age religion! It is what now ALMOST EVERY human truly believe, live and breath. Scientist, thinkers, consultants and researchers are the new monks, priests and bishops. They turn all magic to drab logic.

Will the twain meet?

7 February 2014

Analysis leads to Paralysis

Which leg should I put forward first?
If it should be the right, how would I know its the right thing to do?
And if its right thing to do, will it end up with the right result?



And even if it ends rightly, will I have missed out a paths leading to a better result?
Above everything else how do I know this is the path destiny intents for me?
So Should I even put anything forward?

29 January 2014

Headspace Bandwidth

Your mind is like this water, my friend. When it is agitated, it becomes difficult to see. But, if you allow it to settle, the answer becomes clear” ~ Oogway to Shifu in Kung Fu Panda


Are we clear?
I mean are we clear of the clutter in our heads?


How can I not be preoccupied, not be lazy, not be tired and ultimately not be happy … with a mind like below


Inhibiting Initiative
For many there is this noise between their ears that is eating up all their creative space. They frequently complain that they are too exhausted to do anything at all.
Observe if you are continuously justifying, reasoning, rationalizing, reconfirming (your point of view), planning, scheming and not the least judging. These internal dialogues waste our precious thought space.
Observe that sometimes external (work or otherwise) trauma/pressure can change these dialogue-threads’ noise. A trauma (say a personal accident) can temporarily kill all the conversation threads, but none for too long.

Stalling Decisions
Noise and too much chatter do not allow for decisions; without a stand - vacillation between places causes another tempest within the mind’s ocean.

28 January 2014

Impedimenta


to self-realization, improvisation and progress is what I am referring to here. Keeping out the simpler analogies like the fence, the boulder and the mountain, here are some of my categorizations of life-impediments (and all at the 'self' level) that we should learn to overcome. Some of them may be related and frequently


Imagine a mental construct such as a giant Cloche over an individual and you can get to understand the impact of an invisible but artificial ceiling of performance. Like the elephant that believes it cannot move the small log (chained to its leg) which was originally meant to restrain it when a calf, one builds such mental entrapments over the formative years and sticks with that belief to the detriment of one's progress. ‘I haven’t done this before’ is a statement coming out of people in such glass-ceilings. ‘Nobody does it this way’ is another such statement which translates to the ceiling: ‘I can’t do it’.





Observe our behavior and realize that we, in some situations, act or speak as if there is a deadly Sword over us; like Damocles’. Here we are fearful of the cutting pain of retribution if ‘inappropriate’. The fearful here has compromised his/her integrity in the past and not ready to own and settle it.





Some prisoners, in the past history, were restrained by the Ball & Chain. Well many of us are still prisoners and will never be truly free unless we do the simple (mental) act of letting go of the past. Settle your conflicts - internal & external, clear the air, throw out your garbage, acknowledge the right and unshackle the burdens you have always been carrying around … unnecessarily.





This is interesting that it could happen to whole communities :) nations even. The question to ask is ‘Am I in a Pit?’ Like frogs in a well, put in by somebody, the newborns of the older residents cannot image they are in a hole and therefore believes there is no world but this. A variant of the pit if the Cave; the difference being that latter is opted for. Isolation is safe as change is risky; therefore such inhabitants never ventured out like The Croods. The cave dwellers are escapist, they do not need the external hand for help out and may even sting the hand like a scorpion would. Actually being in such a construct is the so safe that is it one of the most dangerous: one would be safe from life and any improvement itself!





The most prevalent one of all: the illusion probably ALL of us live with but what most never realize is that one I call the (colored) Spectacles; the filter we apply on our sensory inputs, particularly on our vision and hearing. It is the input signal-distortion circuitry one has introduced by themselves; much like the Malayalam proverb of the bad-colored vision of the jaundiced.





OK, being able to identify and remove the spectacles is one achievement but it’s a tendency for bipolar disorder if one is able to see life as a coin: head or tail, right or wrong, good or evil, saved or infidel, truth or lie. Such dualists have difficulty accepting ‘shades’ of color; for them the OR operator functions more than the AND operator.





If one feels like in a Maze, then he/she is bored of following destiny’s path like cattle-path. It’s time to get into the driver’ seat take control of the steering of one’s destiny!

The Crown is like the Ball & Chain, a burden on one’s head either as expectations set by the environments or as an artifact of one’s past achievements (Bask and Waste off like the celebrities who did that one time hit) or simply because one has put him/herself on a high pedestal (The faster one goes high, the more deadly the fall)





Whirlpool is the mother of them all: the combination of all (or most) of the above especially with one being the cave. Being trapped into one of these powerful black holes is unfortunate, chances of succumbing to a fall is high. One would, at the minimum, need the experience of negotiating each of the above in order to effectively fight this monstrous-one out.