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?

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?

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.

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.

The God that evolved

Let’s rewind back to the beginning of human consciousness, some millions of years back in history; back in Africa, back to the time when the then hominids’ brains just about evolved to point that they realized they could understand their environment better than the other creatures. At this point (rather period) in human history the requirement was only survival. It is unlikely that they needed any god, life was mostly instinctual.

 

Forwarding a couple of million years the hominid brains almost tripled in size and this was key to self-consciousness historian say. But the world was still an unforgiving place. Only might was right; hunting and foraging was survival. Staying in groups ensured better survival and having a strong leader for the group helped well. The leader possibly became the origin of lords; Servility and condescension to the lord(s) of the group, most of the time, guaranteed security of both food and life.

 

Moving ahead in time, generations’ later, and our still-crude almost-human ancestors realized that there are forces of nature that were way more powerful that any of their group-lords. Earth (quakes), Wind (storms) and Fires were definitely on top of the list.

With the advent of agriculture on the fertile banks of rivers, human physical and belief evolutions took a fast pace. Agriculture and social structures brought security (relative to the past) to food supply and otherwise. Our ancestors had now some time to imagine: and so they thought that dark-forces (it still being a rather pessimistic time) governed the uncertainty (in harvests and in health) to life and so were gods. The earlier-identified powerful awe-elements (Earth, wind, fire & water) were never fully understood and so never discarded, just associated with these new inventions.

Wind is the carrier of disease (and of locusts), lightning the spear of the gods and volcano the seat of the gods. In fact, the then insurmountable mountains were all the seats of the gods, in most cultures.

 

A few thousand years back time was right for the need for stability and direction. The more time certain humans had at their disposal then more they wanted to make sense of the chaos of the world: Gods, sacrifices, fluid kingdom-lines, etcetra. And so arose the concept of Godhead of the gods. The creator of the minions, the more-powerful and higher in the escalation matrix! It was only logically to amalgamate the gods, based on their creative/preservative/dissolutive natures, under any of the three or two hoods. Most spiritually-progressive religions of the world had come up to this realization quite early. A good comparison is in India: over the last thousand years all the individual gods, prevalent across south Asia, were assigned as a manifestation of one of the Godheads of the Hindu trinity.

 

Last two thousand years: we contemplate that there can be only one God who is most powerful and most merciful. Notice the shift from a negative to a positive God; the One positive for humans. Now the three is boxed into One with each head being simply a face of the ultimate. That’s again only logical :)

 

Hinduism achieved this heap-to-singularity; so did its sister religions: Buddhism and Jainism; and so did the Abrahamic religions.

 

The next logical phase in the spiritual evolution is blending everything into the One! There can be no distinction between us and That; between good and evil. I am That. No duality. In this level of spiritual-maturity-model, only the eastern philosophies come close.

 

We have come a long way baby; why try harder :)

 

So I ask: what changed over the course of history? God or our concept of God? For instance, observe the character change of God/god from the Old testament to the New Testament: from a jealous, capricious, vengeful one to a gracious and merciful one.  If God is infinite how can he change in this short time-period. Its absurd to think in such lines.

The funny fact is that humans created this being(s) and changed the definition over time to rationalize the world.

Recipe for Success

There is no result without action, success or otherwise, and so therefore Intent is the core and single ingredient.

Desire is just wishful thinking; intent is cause for the action. Intent is automatic in one with conviction; Convinced that the result/goal, of the action/exercise, is imperative to the stakeholder.

Conviction > Intent > Action > Result

So if you have been a procrastinator there is nothing wrong; you just weren’t interested or convinced enough to do anything. In such cases, desperation brings the necessity to act.

A rags-to-riches story is all about a personal intent. But an individual’s intention and actions may not be sufficient for a non-individualistic result like say the history-making and/or pioneering explorations? Discovery of a new land; Exploration of the Dark Continent or the deepest point in the ocean ; Building mega structures as in Dubai; Putting a man on the moon; and Yes even revolutions : political (Say the French), religious(Protestant) or Socio-economic (White). An individual’s power is insufficient for the success of these bigger projects and thus requires collaborative action. One could transfer the intent to the team by simulating the glorious results by his/her powerful words (Mahatma Gandhi) or just by using the carrot of money (employment).

For longer-termed projects or big-hairy-audacious goals like the above, one could add another ingredient to only sustain the first element through commitment over the time period. And that is by risking something purposefully.

By virtue of the first element (intent) something is already at risk by default: that one may not achieve any results if not committed. That apart, one may (depending on context) risk money (investments) or risk his/her image (promises).

Conviction > Intent > Action (Collective/Individual) > Results > Commitment > Bigger Results! (Success)

As politicians do one could be loud about the risk like as a public declaration or one can be silent as his/her strong conviction; the louder the more commitment and more the chances of transformations happening in the network. And as they say the Universe would conspire for the intent to happen!

The Breadboard

JM reiterates that we humans are here to learn…continuously. Anybody who ruminates a lot like me can agree that this is actually what we do … consciously or unconsciously and continuously: when we talk, when we listen, when we observe and when we act.

All experiences, good and bad, are learning experiences. Yes, there are opportunities to learn something even with traumatic experiences such as accident, physical injuries etc. and relatively minor experiences such as fall-from-grace, humiliation, divorce, disgrace etc. In fact everything is a learning experience. Even all (apparent) hindrances to one’s progress are actually opportunities to evaluate-learn-innovate-improve.

Is our innate goal to know it all and reach perfection? 

Consider the above illustration:  Brain as a platform for building information connects which in turn generates knowledge which in turn allows for ‘wisdom’. Like a breadboard where connections between points are made, connections like these together form a circuit to perform a larger function. Consider the neurons in the brain to be like these connection points waiting to be connected to another. A fresh (newborn) brain is blank and without any links….blank, happy, innocent and blissful.

A link between a few neurons may be formed when the baby learns that a smile gives (mother’s) attention in return.

Links are thereafter continuously formed and reorganized in different patterns over these infant years. Even a fall during its first steps also links connections, as this too is learning.

Later on in life, reading a book builds a few hundred connections (words, ideas, grammar, writing styles etc.)

Playing the piano builds another bus of connections in another area within the gooey matter.

Pursuing a hobby builds a few hundred.

Focusing on one area (say in one’s career) could organize the related connections from what looked like chaos at first to a pattern over the years of accumulation.

One may just not really know it all but may reach the threshold of completeness. It would seem there is infinite storage and infinite more stuffs to be learnt. But there could be peace at the stage when there is a pattern in the connections say like the image on the right.

End of Curiosity?

One of the yearnings (instincts I would say but not as basic as hunger) in human beings is “to know”. Curiosity is generally inherent in higher-brained animals but, I observe, that this itch unbearable for humans. It is as if to learn is the destiny of humans. What kicked-off as simple observation, in early humans, of patterns of danger and of the awe that is the sun, moon and stars is still in progress albeit to a very complex (or rather progressed) level. We now observe the most distant stars and the inner most particles; and also try to analyze consumer patterns which are as complex as the weather. Will this curiosity ever be satiated?

Is this state what is enlightenment (since I don’t know of another better word)?

As per Hinduism, one path to this state is Jnana yoga or the Path of Wisdom. Instinctively urged to follow this path one assimilates as much understanding as he can about the universe. Either through one source or varied, though the Hindu scriptures claim that understanding the Vedas would suffice.

 

My gatherings is that enlightenment is like the total understanding (maybe just acceptance) of everything’s place in the universe. The enlightened ones generally seem to be in a state of total calm. They also then tend to be extremely quiet and unfazed by events around then. They do not want to change anything. It is probably because they now feel everything in the universe is in its place and everything is right. Their quench for knowledge (of everything) satiated.

But enlightenment seems like conquering infinity by just understanding the finite?

Well I understand that at the point of the so-called enlightenment our brains are COMPLETE with all (necessary) findings…at least as much that a human mind/brain can process. It may not exactly be complete with everything in the universe but at least the basic patterns of the universe that explains everything i.e. the underlying basic rhythms of the universe or most fundamental equations in the universe.

Physically speaking this may indicate a brain complete with: all possible electrical connections it can achieve; all patterns it could humanly recognize.

iBelieve...

... in the Singularity: the Infinite; the completeness of all worlds; the reason for all things visible, invisible and virtual;

And in Ruha, which is nothing but the will of Singularity: the omnipresent finger, the ordering principle in the ostensive chaos;

And in Matter, which is but just one of the human-sensitive manifestation of Singularity itself;

And in all the perceptive Beings, who for us humans guide us in this world and the next, in this life and the next higher life;

And in the catholic belief that through continuous learning, positive faith, discipline of action and enablement of other beings one will traverse the human-journey towards the Infinite with contentment and fulfilment

And in the recursion of updating this very creed if my wisdom deems so.

Amen.

Zen of automobile driving

Do you even think of 'the how' of driving while driving?

Steering left or right

Stepping-up on the gas

Pre-empting the changes

Easing down by caressing the brakes

Shifting gears at the slightest vibration shift

Uping the stereo volume

Switching the aircon on and off ... The car is like on autopilot really. And you too.

What looms infront through the windshield is the vision of the future. It looks different the closer one comes.

What you view in the rearview and side mirrors are the glimpses of my past; they appear closer than they are.

The route is a beaten path. One cannot think of any other way.

The present is what is within the car capsule.

All we normally 'think' in the present is the video-collage for the music flowing out of the 6 surrond-speakers.

Corporate Bull

Rewinding to year 1998 ...

 

I am an excited developer and am presenting my prototype to a manager at a company. A relatively new employee (and soon-to-be my lead), intent on impressing me and the manager, barges into our private dialogue.

 

Here is an excerpt of the proceedings. Names changed for privacy reasons

 

 

Me	So Sirji what I am saying is that we have made an exit in the code so that the user can customize it according to their requirements (What I really wanted to say was that there is nothing in the code, it is left for the customer to write what they want)
Manager	No, No, No, I'm not clear. Can you restart from beginning?
Me	<< Shit! It's already an hour of waste>>
Intruder	What Sujith is saying is that we can leverage the customizing technology in the core system so that the customer can tailor it as per their business exigencies
Me	<< WHAT?!!! And this fellow understood that line in a second?!! >> (And almost spraying out the hot coffee from my mouth)
Manager	Aah! OK
Me	Okay?!
Manager	But what I really wanted you to do was to conceptualize a sort of 'Flexi-Developer' system
Me	And what should that do Sir-ji?
Manager	You see Sujith, The challenge we have is that our company continues to engage in multiple custom developments within implementations these days. And so my tool should enable our customers to quickly build new modules, reports and screens
Me	<<Duh! Isn't that what Developer Workbench is supposed to achieve?!>>
Me	But Sir-ji that is not possible! How can one program that?! (Looking at the two pitifully)
Intruder	No problem, I understand what Sirji is asking and will help you Sujith. We will create one higher level of Table control which we can categorically split into its reflective views.

 

...

 

Like it says in the Dilbert strips, all you need for a corporate conservation is a shuffle between the Most-Frequently-Used words. Note all the highlighted words above, it helps me even today.

 

Sujith has matured a lot since ; but to this date cannot comprehend the connection between any of the words in that last line.

Science of Transformation

To better follow this one please read the ingredients for success in a future post :)

 

Change is necessary for continuity if not for continued success. Change can be minor improvements or complete transformations evens.  For successful changes/transformations the same recipe applies: intent & commitment.

 

To affect good transformations it sometimes may be beneficial to change the current environment too or launch the venture from a new platform. The common human needs to see and feel real differences for maximum excitement. This is why events and projects have logos, captions, mascots and even a new project location.

 

Intent + Risk + Environment

 

An example would be the case of an ‘enlightened’ person (religious/secular). We can point out some notable personalities who reached pinnacle of success ostensibly after a conversion; in the religious sense (born-again) or even by any thought paradigm(EST). One can see all the elements (intent, risk, and environment) in play here.

 

The ingredients are useful even if an individual, group and institutions contemplate the change of identity.

 

Success is hampered when transformation is incomplete. This means it is a case where one of the elements was ignored.  Happy married life: first there has to be the intent to be married and should not be forced upon. Then the promise: a public ‘I do’ or even a public ceremony will do. The couple is in a merged environment from then, good enough for the platform element. What commonly lacks or ignored is the commitment J which is essential for long-term success.

Karmic Credits

This post is not mine. I liked the analogy so much that for once thought I will just do a 'share' on my blog. All credits to the original author of this write-up. Man, you did then what the film Matrix did to the many of us!

"Hinduism is so complex. I do not understand it most of the time", said Eesha, a young girl to Uncle Ashok. Ashok had come over half an hour ago and Eesha was so engrossed in her video game then that she mechanically said "Hi" to Ashok, and continued with her game.

 

 

Ashok watched Eesha play Super Mario Brothers. He watched her move Mario to the right, hit and get hidden mushrooms and get bigger, or get a fire flower or a cape, collect coins, punch his way thru obstacles, climb ladders and occasionally get chomped by turtles. After the end of a life Mario would start his next life, from where he left off. Now that Eesha had finished one level she noticed that uncle Ashok, whom she met every week when her parents took her to the temple, was still there.

"Eesha, you are really good at this video game!” said Ashok. She nodded and added "Yep! And I can even beat my brother at it".

"You know you can learn many ideas of Hinduism from the video games", said Ashok.

"How Uncle Ashok?" Eesha asked.

Let us say if you got a video game and it gave you only one chance to beat it, will that be fair?” Ashok asked.

"No, that is why they give you multiple lives. Actually, with a new game it is very difficult to advance much further. It takes practice. When we had just bought this game, I used to 'die' in just ten seconds, every time", said Eesha.

"Hinduism is similar too. Most people do not lead a perfect life. So according to Hinduism, you get many chances to improve yourself. You get many lives. This is called reincarnation". He continued," and just as in a video game, if one life ends, you start over in the next life where you left off".

"Now what will happen if you do not go towards the right in your video game?" asked uncle Ashok.

"You will not move to the next level. You will not make any progress and time will run out", Eesha said

"Exactly! If you do not move in the 'right' direction, you will not make progress. Thus YOU determine the right direction and how far the progress you can make. 'What you do, determines the result' this is called the law of Karma. Your actions bear fruit accordingly. Now what happens in a video game if you keep making same mistakes?” Ashok asked.

"You go back to the start of that level" Eesha replied.

"Law of Karma similarly tells you that if you keep making same mistakes over and over again, you will move backwards. Now in a video game you get rewards and receive setbacks. In this video game a mushroom will make you grow bigger or an attack of a turtle will make you smaller, in real life too you may become rich or poor, but that depends where you start at and what actions you take. Yet getting big or small in itself does not mean progress. Does it?", asked Uncle Ashok.

"You are right, being big or small does not necessarily mean you will move forward in the game or even to the next level", Eesha replied.

"Now tell me what happens when you go to the next level?" Ashok asked.

"It gets tougher at the next level" Eesha said.

"Same is true in spiritual practice as per Hinduism", Ashok added. "Now tell me what happens if you get stuck at a level, what do you do ? and why ?", he asked.

"I ask my cousin Ojas. He knows what I should do. He knows where to the keys are hidden, where secret passages are. He has beaten the game already, Some times he even takes the controller to help me", Eesha said.

"In Hinduism, similarly a Guru helps you move to next level. A Guru or a master has already 'beaten the game'. She or He knows where the key is hidden that will unlock the door. She or He knows what where the secret passages are. She or He can even show you a 'warp' zone, to go to the next level. But unlike a video game, in real life a Guru cannot play for you. You have to play it yourself", said Ashok.

"You keep referring to Guru as She or He, why?” Eesha asked.

"Good question! Hinduism considers man and woman as having equal potential to become a master, a Guru. Just as you are better than your brother at video games, a woman can reach the highest state also. In fact there were many women who contributed to the Vedas, the Hindu holy books. There were many women Hindu saints in the past, and there are many women saints even now" said uncle Ashok. He continued, " alsothere are many ways you can go to next level, so some Guru will show a easier way and some a harder way, all depending on your capability.

Buddhists have Buddha as a Guru; Jains have twenty four Tirthankars as Gurus while Sikhs have ten Gurus whose guidance they follow".

"Now tell me what happens when you beat the last level?” Ashok asked.

"I have not beaten the game yet, but my cousin Ojas says that you see fireworks, music plays for long time, and then you see the name of the programmer", Eesha said.

"Interestingly, that is what Hinduism says also, when you go beyond the last hurdle you hear the music and you see THE PROGRAMMER - that is God and then you do not need to play the game again, except to help others" Ashok said.

"Let me ask you one more question. You get so absorbed playing a video game that you feel that you are being Mario or Luigi on the screen. But are you really Mario or Luigi? Who are you?” He asked

"I am Eesha, of course. But while playing the game I forget that I am Eesha and am only concerned about Mario or Luigi on the screen", she replied.

"Exactly, Hinduism believes that we go thru different lives believing we are the body or the name in that life. But we are neither that body nor its name. We are the Atman or soul which plays as a character of Mario or Luigi (or whatever). That is something we must never forget. We are not this body, but we are the Soul, or Atman". Ashok continued.

"Eesha have you noticed, that from video games you just learnt Hindu concepts of reincarnation, Karma, Guru and Atman." He asked, "Was that complex? “

"Not complex at all!" Eesha smiled, Her face was glowing by the realization of Hindu concepts, a knowledge she already had in the form of video games.

Free Radicals

Once upon a time there lived a monstrous dragon. It grabbed on anything it wanted and each day brought added new areas under its wings. The common man became either its slave or prey. It had huge wealth stacked up in its lair, collected over time from its conquests. This dragon was the Catholic Church. It had no worthy matches and it lived forever….or so it thought until along came the radical Martin Luther.

Once upon a time there lived a monstrous dragon. It grabbed on anything it wanted and each day brought added new areas under its wings. The common man became either its slave or prey. It had huge wealth stacked up in its lair, collected over time from its conquests. This dragon was the British Empire. It had no worthy matches and it lived forever….or so it thought until along came the half-naked radical Gandhi.

Once upon a time there lived a monstrous dragon. It grabbed on anything it wanted and each day brought added new areas under its wings. The common man became either its slave or prey. It had huge wealth stacked up in its lair, collected over time from its conquests. This dragon was Feudalism. It had no worthy matches and it lived forever….or so it thought until along came a radical concept called Socialism.

Once upon a time there lived a monstrous dragon. It grabbed on anything it wanted and each day brought added new areas under its wings. The common man became either its employee or wannabe. It had huge wealth stacked up in its lair, collected over time from its conquests. This dragon was the corporate IBM. It had no worthy matches and it lived forever….or so it thought until along came the radicals Steve Jobbs and Bill Gates.

Once upon a time there lived a monstrous dragon. It grabbed on anything it wanted and each day brought added new areas under its wings. The common man people became either its slave or prey. It had huge wealth stacked up in its lair, collected over time from its conquests. This dragon was the United States of America. It had no worthy matches and it lived forever….or so it thought until along came the radicals called terrorists.


OK, you get the pattern.

All the above dragons are today diseased and/or weak.
All the above radicals were influenced, if not the product, by the respective dragons.

And?
What happened to the radicals now?

They just mutated into different sorts of … dragons!

Martin Luther’s bold act inspired and gave birth to a whole generation of radical Protestants. Born out of revolt; awakened out of suppression; blinded by their concepts; these ‘believers’ collectively form the Hydra, the dragon of the new age. It cannot be reasoned with. Cut of one of its head and ten others form in its place.

Mahatma Gandhi’s bold act inspired and gave birth to a whole country of radical satyagrahis. Born out of revolt; blinded by their concepts; the awakened cattle class knew and practiced only civil disobedience. To the point, that the whole country spawned a generation of non-performers with zero civic sense. The general Indian carelessness is today its own terror, its own dragon to fear.

Socialism inspired and gave birth to a whole generation radical communists. Born out of revolt; awakened out of suppression; blinded by their concepts; this workers union polarized the world into two, brought promising countries to a grinding halt, sucked the excitement out of their citizen’s life. Though weakened now, they were once collectively the Hydra, the dragon of the new age. It cannot be reasoned with. Cut of one of its head and ten others form in its place.

Bill Gates and his contemporaries inspired and gave birth to a valley! Born out of ingenuity and entrepreneurship these fresh and exciting companies have today grown big, fat and as corporate as the original adversary dragon. Corporate career has today become nothing but a joke. Look around you and you can map a Dilbert strip somewhere.

USA’s acts inspired and gave birth to a whole generation of radicals called LTTE, PLO, IRA, Taliban and ISI. Born out of revolt; awakened out of suppression; blinded by their concepts; these ‘freedom fighters’ collectively form the Hydra, another of the dragons of the new age. It cannot be reasoned with. Cut of one of its head and ten others form in its place.


And? And the cycle will continue. It would be interesting to learn now how the Hydra can be contained.

Infinity to Outfinity

In the animation movie Horton Hears a Who! there is a world of living beings on a dust speck, which Horton carries on a clover and which he tries to frantically protect after having known that such a world exists.

The universe seems like an lot of space if we are alone. While we keep discussing on the possibility of similar beings like us (that means intelligent) elsewhere in the universe, we neglect the probability that the universe as a whole could be one organism. ... Maybe even a component or cell of another! If could be true, many more such universes could be part of a more complex organism.

Changing from the telescope to the microscope and diving deeper into our own basic units, doesn't the picture of inner space have similar patterns as with the outer space? Electrons around the nucleus; atoms together forming galaxy like cluster; and it is an awful lot of space in there too, proportionately the nuclei is like a peanut in middle of a football stadium of electrons. There could probably be many earths in the many layers of worlds as we go deeper.

If the visualization of the above gives us the creeps it is because of our self-made importance. It is only arrogance that makes us shun this line of thought. We believe that we are the most significant ones, the chosen tribe, the caste that knows God by default, Lord of the Earth. We should be at the centre of the universe. In the Middle Ages, Galileo was forced to recant and do penance for downgrading the importance of earth by taking it out of the center of the system!

Macrocosmically or microcosmically it is scary but intriguing to think that there may not be any end. There may be world within worlds within worlds within ... you get the picture. The word ‘salvation’ as per Eastern philosophies may mean nothing but allowing oneself to exit living on this earth and having the pass to enter the next ‘higher’ world.

The idea can also make one feel so insignificant, empty and meaningless.

A story from the Puranas (Courtesy www.mahashivratri.org):
"
Shiva once intervened to settle a dispute between two of the triads of Hindu Gods: Brahma and Vishnu. He assumed the form of a flaming linga and asked them both to measure this gigantic phallic symbol of Shiva.

Brahma took the form of a swan and went upwards while Vishnu took the form of a boar and went into the earth towards nether land. Both searched for eternity (as per our timings) but neither could find the ends of the linga.

While on his journey upward, Brahma came across a Ketaki flower which was supposed to reside on Lord Shiva's head. Brahma exhausted with his search to find the uppermost limit of fiery column, he made Ketaki assent to lie that he had seen the top of the column. Brahma then asserted that he had indeed discovered the origin of the cosmic linga.

Shiva appeared and then explained to Brahma and Vishnu that He is both the alpha & the omega and that both of them were born out of him and that the three were then separated out into three different aspects of divinity.

But Shiva was angry with Brahma for making a false claim. Shiva cursed Brahma that no one would ever pray to him. (This legend explains why there is hardly any Brahma temple of significance in India.) Shiva also punished the Ketaki flower for testifying falsely and banned the flower from being used as an offering for any pooja (worship).
"

Maha-maya

A portion of 'The Matrix’ movie script:

"…
Neo: Right now we're inside a computer program?
Morpheus: Is it really so hard to believe? Your clothes are different. The plugs in your arms and head are gone. Your hair is changed. Your appearance now is what we call residual self image. It is the mental projection of your digital self.
Neo: This...this isn't real?
Morpheus: What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. This is the world that you know. The world as it was at the end of the twentieth century. It exists now only as part of a neural-interactive simulation that we call the Matrix. You've been living in a dream world, Neo
…
"

Coming to think of it, what is reality? Is what we see real? What if our eyes are deceiving us? What if the color of this wall is not white but something else that our human eyes cannot register? Does Bats see it better because they do not see light but see sound! Bonzu the dog's vision is blurred where it is two dimensional. He cannot see photographs or watch television, but sometimes barks at nothingness....ghosts?
So who can see really? Us or them? I read once that cats see in black & white, so is that the real reality of the world? Are our eyes distracting our real vision of reality with 'unreal' color?
Elephants can hear sounds that are on one extreme end of the sound spectrum; Bloodhounds and bears can sniff out their objectives many tens of miles away. We cannot. So are we incomplete in our concept of reality?


Now read this para about solidity by Deepak Chopra:

"...
At a deeper level, there is really no boundary between ourselves and everything else in the world. When you touch an object, it feels solid, as though there was a distinct boundary between it and you. Physicists would say that we experience that boundary as solid because everything is made up of atoms, and the solidity is the sense of atoms bumping against atoms. But consider what an atom is. An atom has a little nucleus with a large cloud of electrons around it. There is no rigid outer shell, just an electron cloud. To visualize this, imagine a peanut in the middle of a football stadium. The peanut represents the nucleus, and the stadium represents the size of the electron cloud around the nucleus. When we touch an object, we perceive solidity when the clouds of electrons meet. That is our interpretation of solidity, given the sensitivity (or relative insensitivity) of our senses.
..."

So we perceive solidity wherever we 'feel' a force-field AND when we 'see' there is something to touch?

Sense organs scan the surroundings and send the information, within their limit ranges, to the brain which then create the experience of the world around. How are we to know that this experience is the right one? Are our instruments of reality sensors ineffective or inadequate? Was this a deliberation or isn’t there anything called reality?

Are we dreaming?! Are we living in a (virtual) reality that is only a generation by our brains?

Are we blind and sizing up the elephant?!

A buoy in the water

Pai spent what seemed like ages on a sail-less (row-less & motor-less) boat floating helplessly in the expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Though he had initially thanked all the stars for providing him with the presence of mind to run for the safety boats while the ship was tilting, he now curses all the gods for putting him through this misery of slow death. The safety boat, that he is on, moves very slowly only with the little movement on the ocean surface. The boat seems almost still. Pai wishes that the relentless sun would at least fry-off his noisy brains at least. Severely dehydrated, hungry, sun-burned and hallucinating, he contemplates suicide. He once jumped out of the boat to drown himself only to instinctively swim and pull himself back in…curses his father for teaching him to swim when he was six. His father had taught him never to give up in life.

After a few more miserable days: He sees something on the surface. He was just able to sit upright only because his thirst was quenched by a drizzle that blessed his boat’s location a few hours ago. What’s on the ocean surface is flotsam…a piece of tarpaulin…a sail! It’s what was lost of the safety boat in the violent drop into the water. This will certainly help the boat move at least in some direction. Something is better than nothing. Some progress is better than being stationary. Pai realizes that it is coincidental that the sail & boat crossed (in the least of probabilities…considering the sheer expanse of the ocean area). There should be some surface current carrying what floats towards a particular direction. This current carried the boat and sail in the same direction.

[After a few more weeks] Pai was sure the boat is moving now; but was it still in circles….towards nowhere? Pai could make out the difference in the water color and the surface choppiness. Wondered where the hell in the world he was, was he near land? He could see nothing in the horizon except water. He was starting to give up hope.

[After a few days (?)] He was sleeping too much the last couple of days, so was up when the first lights came up the horizon. Pai almost sees something and then it disappears. Was it hallucination? Whatever it was that's his only glimmer of hope, he has to try and reach whatever it is. Energy explodes into his being and he tries his best to use the sail to direct the boat faster towards that possibility. Occasionally he uses his hands as row. After what seems like an eternity, he sees it clearly this time…on the horizon…it's a top of a coconut tree! Thrilled and now brimming with optimism we works as an athlete would. As luck has it one of the rows, that was also lost earlier in the violent fall, is also found floating...this is too much of a coincidence, does the ocean have intelligence? He picks it up and put it to use like a man driven by a vision.

Pai has to reach close enough to bring himself to the notice of the few people on the island. He gets the feeling they would soon leave on the yacht anchored close. He shouts, waves and beats the water frantically with the row until one of them finally sees him. He is saved ! And he praises his stars repeatedly for getting him back to civilization.

 

Musings: Life is meaningful in pursuit, else it is like a flotsam

Self-Imprisonment

Maintaining the quality of the relationships within one’s network maybe quite useful. Not really for altruistic reasons, but useful for at least one’s own good living. The better the relationship maintenance coupled with the depth of one’s reach within their network, the better it is for one’s own quality of life; while it may be not presently the situation then definitely in good time. By reach I meant one’s network being as big as possible. Knowing more people and keeping good relationships certainly helps in generating ‘good luck’ – opportunities for better life/helping hand/good fortune etc. In short, it pays to have a high likeability quotient.

It can also be said that doing the opposite can provide the negative results too. This is clearly apparent with individuals who are generally bashful, inconsiderate to the people around them, with few friends and/or pessimistic to life itself.


I know of a fortunate yet unfortunate person; a very experienced yet immature person; an educated yet ignorant person. Hmmmm…aren’t we all this way?

Fortunate I say because at the time I began closely observing this person he seemed to get the best things in life very easily while the majority of us had to struggle very hard for the same. Some of us had agreed then that he is in the right place at the right time. He earned in tons, got his way in situations, everybody knew him and used to command the steering wheel of life. That would make him wealthy, successful and famous in our envious eyes.

Unfortunate I say because nobody actually likes him. At least nobody that I know who also knows him. The person I am talking about, to say the least, is arrogant, a corporate bully, extremely manipulative, irritatingly talkative and flamboyantly egoistic. And the worse part: his act in life (in landmark education terms :-) ) is “I am right and all the useless rest of you are wrong”. Yup it’s hard to change him. The guy never listens and he adamantly believes he is right. in fact he once adviced me: “Making enemies is the norm in a successful corporate career. What’s wrong?”

How long can the stray good fortune go on for people like this? And here is my observation.

Like the person mentioned above, when one start the interesting phases of life (like career) they are in a space like the white space in the box. The space can be as big as the box boundaries. So many possibilities in life, so many opportunities, endless vistas and there is excitement.

Naturally, very soon one would encounter a problem: an obstacle in their way in the white space. For the kind of individual like the above person, the problem would almost always be a relationship issue. The momentum in excitement and confidence would not allow the individual to bow down. And if not resolved one creates a virtual fence. A fence that cuts that leg of our relationship network; that limits the opportunities in one’s life from that network; that which is only an interference to the positive opinion signal across the relationship network; in the macro level, limits our luck factor. "But so what?! Who the hell needs that relationship anyway? One has the rest of the space around it for life." So, the haughty one go ahead in full steam.

What next? The attitude lands one in yet another problem in life. Promptly he creates another fence for himself.

“Bah! Just another fence in the infinite space. The opportunities are endless.”

 

And a few years later …

Guess what are loud taglines at this junctures:
“Life is this way, it sucks” ,
“Shit happens”,
“Everyone is a fool”,
“I don’t need anybody”,
“Who needs friends anyway”, “What good they bring?”,
“You know my child, I have learnt not to trust anybody in life”