The Primacy of life - Privacy!

Nowadays nothing is private: our culture has become too confessional and self-expressive. People think that to hide one’s thoughts or feelings is to pretend not to have those thoughts or feelings. They assume that honesty requires one to express every inclination and impulse.

Adapted from J. David Velleman, "The Genesis of Shame"

Should people make more of an effort to keep some things private? 

21st century is an era of technology where agility and might are the only dominating factors. The world has turned out to be a global village with the advent of internet communication. Just a click and you're connected to a pal in the extreme pole! A coin can't help but have obverse and reverse for it is the very essence of existence! The introduction of the all-pervading social networks has exposed the individuals. It has made exchange of ideas and innovations easy but at the same time has throttled the privacy of men. Certainly each individual must have his or her own private space.

J K Rowling said, "we do not need magic to transform our world, all the power that we need is already within us"! Each individual is intrinsically unique and is bestowed with a quality or a style that has never been replicated in the past or will never be! Thus each one of us has the right to keep certain things private. It is a proven fact in psychology that people of like minds and having similar patterns of thoughts understand one another better. The same paradigm is apparent in our age old adage - birds of like feather flock together! A jigsaw puzzle can only fit into its complement and not otherwise, howsoever hard I may try. Similarly, it is simply impossible for a man of other mettle to understand the plight of his mate, howsoever munificent he may be! For a stinky rich man, it is impossible to digest that having buttermilk is a luxury! The frequencies don't match and the signals get dissipated in vain! Therefore, it is necessary that certain things must not be exposed for none other than our own selves are capable of understanding it.

People often get fussy when it comes to sharing things in public. Sometimes it not only robs them of their self-respect but also poisons relationships. Gossiping is the original sin that exists in humanity ever since Adam ate the apple of knowledge. It is not apt to blame any single individual; neither you nor me. But nonetheless no one can deny the existence of garrulous lot of guys and girls that keep on rambling for no substantial reason. Not all matters are worth sharing in public. For instance, if I go bankrupt I will certainly not like the condescending attitude of my neighbors. Instead all that I would need is motivation. But the society is full of cynical people seeking for an opportunity to hail derides upon the wretched! Thus it is detrimental at certain points in time to share our hearts out in public.

Apart from that there are also times in life where sharing our predicaments with others would only make them more sorrowful. Gandhiji, the epitome of truth, said that it is not a sin to lie for the betterment of others! If such a man as him is asking us to respond to the spur of the moment, we must really sleep upon his avowal! Even amidst the doldrums, where the patient is hovering over the eerie borderline of no-return, the doctor will always try to create a cozy and heralding milieu for him or her to convalesce. In such a case if the doctor does share his mind, it would only serve to aggravate the destitute beyond recovery! 'The Last Leaf' by O' Henry is a perfect embodiment of the above mentioned scenario! Keeping things a secret at times is the only way out!

It is clear from the above assertions that privacy is an essential element for us all. Without privacy it is difficult to survive. It is not true that the relations are judged on 'how much' you ventilate but it all depends on 'what all' you ventilate! Quality gains primacy over quantity! Anything that serves for the well-being of others or for our own selves is salutary. In situations where privacy plays the mellifluous tones of magic, it indeed is a boon to mankind!

The Yin and the Yan......

"In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story." - Walter Cronkite

Do you agree with Walter Cronkite that it's necessary to see both sides of an issue in order to discover the truth?

The symbol of judicial systems is a blindfolded lady bearing in her arms a weighing pan. The telling feature of this emblem is the blind fold. It is the disinterested person (NOT uninterested!) who can judge an issue impartially or serve as an arbiter. Bias in any wake of life whatsoever only causes us to lean more towards our predilections sheathing and distorting the absolute truth on the way.

“Every coin has two sides.” The life is full of paradoxes such as the yin and the yen. The facade of every reality cannot be deciphered without the complete knowledge. For instance, the media may air the massacre and condemn the army for it. This in turn would enrage the public. But it may be possible that the army had no alternative to prevent the outbreak from spreading far and wide. A rotten body part must be severed ere it consumes the salubrious whole in its flagrant flares!

Blind leads the blind. It is in the ‘dark night of the soul’ that we become the Ba Ba sheep. In the sheep mentality one does not think for oneself and falls an easy prey to his own orthodoxies, and prejudices. Our religions are perhaps the most striking examples of this type. The Muslims, the Hindus, the Christians and the 300 other categories hold on firmly to their tenets and become blood thirsty bigots slaying in the ‘holy name’ of ‘Proselytization’.

It is extremely vital for us to digest the wholesome reality. Chemistry of elements can be used to elucidate the importance of the full picture. The organic compounds, esp. nitro compounds, can be of great industrial utility provided one knows the ‘Safety temperature range’! Heating them beyond a certain temperature can spell disaster and can put you behind the bars for incendiarism!

Assessing a given situation from a holistic viewpoint one must look at the pros and the cons alike without favoring one over the other. Prejudices always are so very cloying and difficult to part from but at the end of the day they only serve to make us the frogs of the well. Be it pure sciences, religion or our very judicial systems one cannot accede to lopsided views or he or she is to defeat the cause he or she sought to foster.

The opportune obstacles!

"When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you, and be a loser. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure." - Mary Kay Ash

What is your view of the idea that every obstacle can be turned into an opportunity?

“You are stronger than you think and bolder than you believe yourself to be.” What lies ahead of us  and what has passed are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Some call it the snoring serpent, others call it Christ. Call it what you will but the entire energy of this infinite universe has been converged to an iridescent spot within this marvelous human form. To it nothing is impossible; even the obstacles can be converted to opportunities.

“Say to the yonder mountain, be thy removed and it shall be and nothing is impossible unto you.” Bible in its unfathomable wisdom reveals that humans are invincible, redoubtable creatures but their very nature. To such an obstinate will the seemingly indomitable obstacles cannot in a millennium serve as a deterrent. The positive outlook and the desire to grow, in its scintillating pencil of photons, makes the obstacles shine as a prospective opportunity.

The epitome of love and devotion Meera, in her unshakable fidelity towards lord Krishna, turned the noxious poison into a cup of elixir. At the verge of extreme passion does one transcend the limitations of physical barriers and enters into a dimensionally larger world where he or she experiences utter freedom and eternity where even the slightest shadow of an impediment is not palpable. Hence it is possible to turn an obstacle into opportunity.

The effervescent is not put down even but the most heart-breaking of the hindrances. He looks at every obstacle as a challenge to outgrow his present skin of limitation as does a snake! He endeavors consciously to awaken the giant within him while the cynical in his myopic and rotten outlook towards the world has got the nerve to transform even the opportunity into an obstacle!

 The number of permutations in this universe are practically infinite, and with the possibilities for individuals. To a will that obdurately fastens itself to an ideal, hauls it to the point of asphyxiation, unto it be glory! Such a person in his life full of cheerful optimism is able to focus on the odorous roses instead of focusing upon the prickly thistles. 

Fantasy is more important than knowledge

"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come close to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has mean more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." - Albert Einstein

"There is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste." - Jahann Wolfgang von Goethe

Do you believe that fantasy or imagination is more important than knowledge?

The hieroglyphics of the antediluvian caves and the tapestries of the unknown centuries give insight into the intriguing human psychology. Even at present the traits of the Neanderthals permeate the lank strands of the infinitesimal building blocks of the body – that the scientists call DNA – and program us to readily decipher the pictorial and auditory impulses better than the dry information. In the light of this assertion it is evident that fantasy is more essential than knowledge.

Henry David Thoreau says that it is in the uncommon hours that we meet with success undreamt of on the quotidian plane. The great thinkers of our century like Napoleon Hill (the author of think and grow rich), Yoda, and William Blake have all emphasized on the psychological counterpart of the physical action. All great ideas descend in the pensive mood akin to that of words worth in the poem Daffodils.

Buddha said, “It is with our thoughts that we make our world.”  Eminent philosophers such as Neville goddard and Abrahm Hicks have asked us to ‘let go off the canoe.’ To push and pull causes strain while to allow oneself to fantasize the solutions of the perennially reiterating problems actually transforms our perspective enabling us to become more receptive greater knowledge.

The esoteric psychobabble is bemusing as such but is instrumental at this point in time. There are four brain frequencies: Alpha, Beta, theta and Delta. It is the lower frequencies of Theta and Delta where we fell rejuvenated. After a hectic, worked-up period of time the human brain needs relaxation or the fragile neurons would perish. Thus from a physical stance knowledge comes only because of the revitalizing effect produced by fantasizing.

A deep incision in the flesh – as many doctors have tried to – cannot find the soul. Similarly though not evinced, the function of imagination has to be discerned intuitively. Although it is not an empirical method we do find the veracity of above mentioned truths that fantasizing boosts one’s physical as well as mental acuity, enhances one’s self-esteem, and goads us to march forward to excavate the colossal mines of ‘formidable’ knowledge that abates the intricacies of life! 

There are no ugly things

“I never saw an ugly thing in my life; for let the form of an object be what it may – light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.” – John Constable

“If there is one thing worse than being an ugly duckling in a house of swans, it’s having the swans pretend there’s no difference.” – Teena Booth

Assignment: Is it true that there are no ugly things?

The ‘visor may be thatched but in there live Jove says Don Pedro a Shakespeare’s character in his play Much Ado About Nothing’! “Nothing is unclean of itself, but to him who esteemeth it to be unclean, to him it is unclean (Bible).“ The quintessence of human form lies deep within the heart of men – unadulterated as it were. Howsoever appalling or doggish the looks of our fellow mates may be, in there dwells the Juno’s swans, bubbling with unabated love and elated effervescence.

Appraising the phenomena of this vast universe and commending the theories and postulates of Quantum physics it is simply juvenile and imbecile to stick to the physical aspect of universe, for all is energy says the Physicists. And energy is formless! The apparent form (and thus the matter) is but an illusion of the incompetent senses!

The physical beauty is only one facet of this variegated reality. The seers of untold centuries – the antediluvian – have accentuated upon the everlasting spirit, the soul. The body is but a transient abode in its perpetual journey. The formless, the ever-free, the omnipresent, the omniscient, and the inexplicable is the self-definition of our lord – the ‘I AM’ as it is mentioned in the Bible. This eternal being cannot be construed by the senses. The evanescent body along with its beauty is like a bubble of a soap that may burst at any moment! The body is just a functional apparatus through which the almighty functions in diverse ways. Thus to categorize men or even for that matter inanimate things into beautiful and ugly is a folly. That which of its own self has no existence, that which is non-luminescent, how can it be ugly or beautiful? It simply is that which it is! And the spirit within, the part of the lord, how can it be a sinner?

The apartheid regime and the discrimination on the basis of skin color has stained our mother earth ever since. The caste and creed have left us in a deplorable state. The ‘tanned’ president of US, Barak Obama leave no room for the slightest scruple pertaining to the mettle of men! His efficiency and laudatory services to the world are unequalled. The world has witnessed millions of men such as Ashtavakra who in their demeanor were mutilated but indeed turned out to be enlightened masters. The verses of Ashtavakra - conserved in what is called the Mahageeta - resonate and goad the hearts of many somnambulist Bodhisattavas till date.  

Thus beauty to me is a figment of man’s imagination. And with the uprooting of the good, the evil must subside as it is the obverse of the same coin. The real essential part of the universe remains a conundrum even to the most erudite of the elites - beyond the classification by empirical scientific methods. Hence nothing of itself is ugly!

Ethics

Many people believe that being honest and honorable limits their options, their opportunities, their very ability to succeed. Unfortunately, in today’s me-first culture, ethics may be the only thing people choose to live without! They believe they have only two choices: 1 to win by doing whatever it takes, even if it is wrong, or 2 to be ethical and therefore lose. Few people set out to be dishonest, but nobody wants to lose.

Adapted from John C. Maxwell, There’s no such thing as “Business” Ethics.

Assignment: Does being ethical make it hard to successful? Plan and write an essay in which yo develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.

The zephyrs of the antediluvian – the ‘golden era’ have long been subdued. The glacial fangs of the nefarious times are the harbingers of the hum drums that we are to face in the 21^st century. As the does the snake shed off his skin, the humanity has peeled off the overcoat of ethics.

Morality and ethics, in a world that is driven by selfish motives, are redundant.  The politicians would vehemently and vociferously stand against what is known as corruption. I beg your pardon but I must redraft the old maxim – “Money is mightier than mind.’ Howsoever intellectual one may be, the proponents of materialistic avarice undermine his or her intelligence. At all places be it an honorary place of office or a pre-primary school the odds of the ones carrying those jingling pennies are greater than the ones bereft of them! Such is the trend!

The use of treachery or the slight-of-hand is but validated in our scriptures. Way back in the Dwapar era Lord Krishna goaded and exhorted Arjuna to pick up his weapons against the vagabonds of Dhritrashtra – the nadir of his blood line. To defeat and combat the evil one must get into his shoes and turn out in his attires. The epitome of truth had to bring in a ‘half-man’ to conquer the invincible Bhishma. Duryodhana was killed by manipulating the norms of a duel! Had it not been for all these, just Pandavas would never have been able to be victorious over the despotic Kavravas!

The egotistical attitudes of people are not lithe. Though it is said that virtue and truth are the best policies, it is not always the case. Gandhiji the man of truth and wisdom is reported to have approved of avoiding truth that aids to disparage others. A loving and encouraging milieu uplifts an individual way beyond the mundane ways of admonishing him or her.  Truth, virtue and the like may be rendered futile at some instant or the other. Although it is not a virtue to lie but to divulge the fact that one’s father has passed away at a time when he or she is stuck in a quagmire equally a sin.

The life is a mixture of sweet and bitter experiences spun intricately together from time immemorial. Virtue, moral and ethics are too stern and rigid to comply with the fluid, licentious world that we thrive in today. However a good blend of the ‘yin and yan’ will always make a nourishing, succulent and palatable plate, far removed from the vicissitudes of the saccharine or the acrimonious served alone!

Things do not change; we change

“Things do not change; we change.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Do we ourselves cause change in our lives by making certain decisions, or are we acted upon by events that happen around us?

Robert Frost in his poem, “The road not taken” states that “I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference” and “ages hence I shall remember it with a sigh.” Yes the sigh could be of fervent euphoria or a cynical penitence but the bottom line cries out from the verses that it was ‘I’ who decided to take the road less traveled by. Hence it is the personal decision of an individual that affects or afflicts him or her!

The entire human race has got an intelligible nerve to shake off all the responsibilities off its shoulders. We the couch potatoes – lying under snug, cozy bed sheets – blame the distant planets and constellations for marring our destiny, which is nothing but an act of complacency.

The circle of causes and effects is bewildering to the non-initiated. Osho in his book the ‘My way: The way of the white clouds’ lucidly mentions that ‘act as if the actor isn’t there and in the very acting will you become free of the despotic, tyrannical secondary causes beyond you.’ Thus it is solely our decision to do or to refrain from doing something that changes us and not the secondary cause (Events of life)!

The sheer force of human will has obliterated the most intimidating of the obstacles and has penetrated the darkest valleys of oblivion.  Medical science has combated fatal diseases such as T.B., astronauts have traveled far beyond our own solar system and the oceanographers have illumined the heretofore unexplored hearts of the ocean. Where there is will, there definitely is a way (and perchance if it isn’t, it shall be concocted)!

This ambidextrous creature has almost demystified this so-called unfathomable universe! Bible says, “Let the weak man say I’m strong!” The quintessence of every soul has the capacity to manifest unprecedented grandeur! Thus to assume a demeanor of a sheep and to bloat that the events shape our destiny and not our conscious decisions is an affront to our own divine nature!