Perspective

In my view, there is one powerful word in the English dictionary, which is the key manipulator of our humanity. It's "Perspective". Everybody carries their own perspectives. It defines what is important to them and what is not. Two people having a common perspective become friends, otherwise, they become enemies, in worst case. The depth of their friendship or enmity is define by the how much overlapping their perspectives are.

There is no perspective that is always right or wrong. Something you feel right may not possibly agree with the other person's view. He might have his own reasons to disagree with you, however illogical they are. Some times, a given perspective may appear right, perhaps just for a short period of time; however over a long run, it may be absolutely disastrous. For example, religion was formed to bring order in the chaotic society. Though it did well earlier, they are now driving us to religion wars. If people who developed religion foresighted this, there could have come-up with something better than what we have today. We are now too struck with our religion, which is a perspective though, to think of anything contradictory.

Secondly, perspectives of an individual defines his identity. Any contradiction to his perspectives make him feel threatened to his identity. The identity can also be called as "Ego". A person is egoistic, if he believes firmly on his perspectives, and self-center in them. A person is egotist, if he brags about his achievements, as he perceive value in those, and wants to show off to make others feels the same.

Finally, people are too busy in airing their own perspectives, despite wrong, to hear anything opposing. Many people are not realizing because realizing anything does not fetch them immediate benefits. People understand others views if they can easily relate to their perspective. If they could not relate, they feel that they either did not understand or it is stupid.

[There are many things in life that could be explained with one word "Perspective". I tried to cover as much as possible. For remaining things, you could come up with your own analogies]

To Me, Everyone is a Kid

To me, everyone is a kid, but only the things that satisfy their desires change. For example, as a kid your desire is to have a wonderful toy than your neighborhood friend's, as you grow to an adulthood, the desire remains the same, except that the wonderful toy is replaced by a wonderful car. Contrastingly, if it's so, why can't we call everyone as adult, as the desire is constant for both adult and kid. That's a very good opposing point of view. But, I still stick to my opinion, not by being stubborn though, but with a proper reason. I observed many people (or the so-called adults) are as demanding as kids. They quarrel like kids, if not butcher others, to get what they want. Their first priority is what they want, and do not care what others think of them. This is exactly what kids do. By observing this behavior, I feel more happy to classify them as kids than adults. I believe that even God, if he exists, is a kid. He has a desire to create us, nature, and the laws. I don't know whether he quarreled with Satan to realize his desire, but he might have got a tremendous pleasure of realizing what he wants, like kids. Otherwise, he wouldn't have created us, if his creation is boring.

Though this concept seems convincing to some, there is a chance of getting mis leaded. If you consider everyone as kid, you may tend to ignore them, as kids' ideas/opinions are often ignored. I argue that if you take this concept literally, you'll certainly get mis leaded. In my opinion, no body is less or more. Everybody has some thing good to learn from. In fact, everybody is a mix of good and bad. I would tell you not to ignore adults as such, but only their childish behaviors. Be aware of those behaviors, and treat those as we treat kids, and take those behaviors in a light-hearted manner.

I believe that having such mind-set would keeps us from taking things personally, if somebody hurts us: both physically and emotionally. Ask yourself, do you really care if a five year old scolds you, instead you might love to take him on your lap and kiss him, and to some extent try to mend him. Still, if the kid is too tough to deal with, just leave him, and move on. There are many kids out there to play with.

Fiction Versus Non-Fiction

I have heard about some debates on which one is a good read: fiction or non-fiction. But, I feel that the debate is pointless, because both are the same in terms of gaining knowledge. The only difference I see is the amount of knowledge you gain per page (or per unit of time).

Fiction books are like conveying the author's thoughts in the form of story-telling, which like kids, interest readers. Whereas, non-fiction is to the point where the author conveys his thoughts succinctly. I appreciate the fiction in the way that the author tries to convey something by framing a real world situation. This, I feel, is required for people who can't frame the situations on their own. Whereas readers of non-fiction (have to) come up with their own analogies to relate the concept. According to my observation, people who are either too busy or unable to come up with analogies on their own, prefer fiction. These people don't want to stress their brains. In other words, reading fiction doesn't require much brain stress. That's why we find many people reading fiction whenever they find time: waiting at bus stops, queue, hospitals, before bed time etc. Here, it's ok to involve your half-brain, and keep the other half, for e.g., observing the bus you want to take. On the other hand, reading non-fiction requires some mental effort to really understand and relate things, which requires your 100% concentration. If you read non-fiction at bus stops, you may more likely miss the bus :).

At the end, I would say, [as if I have made a final conclusion on the world's hottest debate], it's all about your choice: nothing is good/interesting and nothing is bad/boring.

There is an article that gives more elaborate view on this topic: Read...

For Math Geniuses

Prove that !(!x) != x. If you can succeed, your are shaking the foundations of Boolean Algebra.

Unnatural Selection

Documentary: Life Running Out of Control aka Unnatural Selection

This is one of the best documentaries I have seen. This explains how genetically modified plants/animals lead to suicides in Indian cotton farmers to effect of health on humans who consumed them. In US, genetically modified plant/animals products are being sold for the past eight years. Also, these products are increasing penetrating into international markets. People are increasing consuming them all over the world. In a lab test, mice were fed with genetically modified food. Scientists observed that trails of DNA of genetically modified food is seen in mice; this might eventually affects immune system of mice. On humans, the effects of genetically modified food, though may not surface now, will certainly show up in forth coming generations. Some of the genetically modified fish are escaping laboratories into wild. This leads to genetic pollution, which doesn't dilute like chemical pollution over a period of time, instead reproduce to change the ecosystem, however, bio-engineering firms claim that those fish varieties are sterile. But, God only knows what the effects are.

My question is: Is it really to be seen as genetic pollution? Or, are we catalyzing the evolution process, which otherwise would take millions of years to show the effect, naturally? However, natural evolution is factored by environment and errors (or changes) in cell mutation. But the genetic modifications we are working doesn't seem to be having environmental consideration, which makes genetically modified species difficult to survive in the wild. But, somehow, if they adapt to survive, then the human-driven evolution starts.

Belief in Good Day

I was grown-up in an orthodox Hindu family in India. My father is a great devotee of God. He always believes that the things, good or bad, happen around us is undeniably due to God's influence. He follows the notion of good day to start any work, assuming that good days bring fortune to us than bad days. Recently, I asked myself, "Why do many people, like my father, believe in good days?". One reason could be: this belief may protect us from becoming slaves to our reactive/impulsive self. To expand, we want to start something today, but today is a bad day, and have to wait for a good day to start. Can we use this waiting as a time to contemplate on the work we are planning to start? Perhaps, this contemplation allows us to foresee the problems that would arise, and gives us time to correct. Many people might have seen benefit of waiting for the good day; thus leading to such belief.

On a second thought, will procrastinating things for good day is good for every situation? Probably, No! Some emergency situations require quick action.

Is Memetic Evolution Cause of our Unhappiness?

Stay tuned ...

Why do we Criticize?

By and large, people criticize for survival and/or for seeking attention. But, few criticize for well-being of the society. Survival instincts and attention seeking/identification belong to the basic traits of humans. These traits influenced prominently for building value system in the society. Fortunately or unfortunately, we associated Money, Status, Information, etc as societal attributes to our value system. Whoever has these in surplus matter most than those who don't have. Here, we concentrate just on information, which is a key attribute (in the value system), for explaining why we criticize, as criticism constitutes sharing of information. There are two types of information that gets shared: good and bad. Criticizing for good to happen is constructive criticism, whereas criticizing for bad to happen is destructive criticism. Generally speaking, the prevailing criticism is destructive criticism. That is, people are curious to know bad or weird^[1] things than good things; thus fueling bad criticism. In my view, I guess that this is due to survival instincts everybody has. To explain, if you propagate good about people around you, there may be a threat to your survival. In other words, propagating bad about your neighbor could boost your survival in the society.

Secondly, as said, humans love attention or identification. Knowing something important that others don't know is definitely a value to you, at least to show your uniqueness. And it's norm that society appreciates value, and values those who have value. You knowing something will attract those who wants to know something, especially bad or weird things. And people attract to those who know something, so that they in turn attract those who wants to know something. Most of the times, the information shared is bad (such as rumors/gossips) than good.

Some criticize something because they have no other choice apart from living with it. For example, if your manager is a bully, you criticize him/her all the time, unless there is an immediate choice of you moving under other manager or leaving the company. It's the same with other relationships also. Once you moved out of it, the amount of criticism will definitely reduces, and eventually fades away.

Lastly, few people who either don't care or feel safe of their survival and identity in the society criticize for its(society) well-being. There people are rare.

References:
[1]. Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time, by Michael Shermer, 1997. (Book: Amazon)

Levels of "Why"

Mr no-why is a reactive
Mr why is a contemplative
Mr why-about-why is a genius
Mr why-about-why-about-why..etc either leads to madness or achieves nirvana.

Go Placidly

By Max Ehrmann (1872-1945)

"Desiderata" was written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann (1872-1945). In 1956, the rector of St. Paul's Church in Baltimore, Maryland, used the poem in a collection of mimeographed inspirational material for his congregation. Someone who subsequently printed it asserted that it was found in Old St. Paul's Church, dated 1692. The year 1692 was the founding date of the church and has nothing to do with the poem. See Fred D. Cavinder, "Desiderata", _TWA Ambassador_, Aug. 1973, pp. 14-15.

DESIDERATA

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
And remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly & clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull & ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud & aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain & bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing future of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment
it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness.
Beyond wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees & the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labours & aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Wisdom in a Nutshell

"Judicious use of knowledge makes for wisdom" - Zarathushtra

Wisdom provides a framework in which knowledge fits in. This framework accommodates knowledge which is applicable irrespective of time and place. It should also support right application of knowledge at the right context. However, the framework has to be built with the worldly knowledge, which is the primary source. To do so, one has to be open-minded, detached, analytical, and curious/observant. Being open-minded helps you accommodate multiple perspectives. Being detached enables you accept perspectives that are contradicting to your own. Being analytical helps you analyze every perspective. And being curious catalyzes you to quickly gain more perspectives.

Philosophy in a nutshell

It was Saturday evening. We were two sitting in a just two-chaired table sipping a hot coffee. My friend was pleasurably puffing out cigarette. I looked at him, and asked, "Are you interested in philosophy?". He reply with half-comfortable face, "No". I asked, "Why?". "Don't know!", was his reply. "Would you like to know what it means?", asked him as if I knew a lot about it. Then I continued after his positive response to know what it is, "Philosophy is generalization of the set of things you have observed (or experienced)". I saw his pupil dilating. I proceeded saying, "Take for example, we come to this coffee house every Saturday. And we observed that we had to wait very long to place an order, whatever might be the reason: lack of servers. After observing the pattern, we generalized saying that we often get late at this coffee house. After visiting many such coffee shops, we make a bigger generalization that 'visiting coffee shops takes significant amount of time'. Assume that this becomes the philosophy of coffee shops as most agree with that." I felt thankful to him listening to my boring explanation. He looks like agreeing to me. Then I continued asking, "Do u know what perspective means?". I saw him swinging his head sideways. I added continuing the coffee shop philosophy, "People may look at the same philosophy in their own view. That is, different people may have different perspectives (or opinions) on the same philosophy. A person rushing for a work look at coffee shop as a time consuming place. And another person planning to pass time, may think that coffee shop is the best place to be in. The same philosophy, but different perspectives. No perspective is right or wrong, and there are valid reasons for each perspective." I thought he understood -- may be in his own perspective. Then I didn't continue with the discussion, because I didn't want to take this discussion out of the nutshell.

Are ashrams useful?

Few weeks back, I visited an ashram in a place 40 to 50 KM from Pune. As soon as we reached there, one of the seniors escorted us, showed us the facilities, and explained the purpose of his stay. He talked about so many things about philosophy and life, and also how the ashram daily activities map to the issues in the real world. One of the things he mentioned was, people there work as a team to perform some of the activities. The goal of this is to teach them how to work as a team, which will help them use this experience in the real world, once they complete the course. My question is: will it help at all? The issues in real world are completely different: each person in a team is a completely different person with different perspectives. People try to cheat, take advantage of, and outsmart each other. Whereas, in ashram, everyone of your team tends to be humble, and cooperative, and there will be the least possibility of conflicts.

I am bringing this small instance to question the very purpose of existence of ashrams. Will ashrams ever help us to live peacefully and competently in the real world? Can they train people to meet the different challenges that people face in the real world? In other words, is it technically possible to simulate the real world environments in Ashrams?

All know this!

Human brain is an adaptable machine. But, in a small interval of time, it acts like a hardwired machine. That interval widens with the age. And it's comfortable within its boundary as far as the boundaries are not touched. Any event that pushes its boundary will break it down. The interesting part is, as it's adaptable, it tends to rewire to tune to aberrations. But in some unfortunate cases the brain doesn't get back to its previous normal state, which leads to permanent damage.

Emotional Intelligence Vs Cognitive Intelligence

DEFINITIONS
Emotional Intelligence - Understanding your own emotions and those of others, and being able to use this information to bring about the best outcome for all concerned. Knowing where emotions come from and being able to manage your own and those of others. Knowing what emotions mean and what information they are providing. Being able to work well with others as well as alone. Being able to combine cognitive knowledge with emotional knowledge and use them in tandem.

Cognitive Intelligence - Intellectual abilities such as logic, reason, reading, writing, analyzing and prioritizing. These go on in your own head and utilize only the neocortex, not the emotional centers of the brain which also provide crucial information. These abilities do not require any social skills per se, i.e., you can solve a math equation by yourself, or write an essay, or balance a business’ books by yourself.

Courtesy: Susan G Dunn M.A. http://www.susandunn.cc

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A bowl of beans

A rich man gives a bowl of baked beans to a hungry beggar, and asks him what is its value. The begger says, "my life". The rich man gives another bowl of beans to him, and asks its value. The Begger says, "my meal". For 3rd bowl, the beggar says, "my snack". Finally, the rich man gives 4th bowl of beans and asks its value. The beggar says, "a bowl of beans!".

Overgyan

One day a student asked his Master: Guruji, you are giving me gyan everyday from morning to evening, and at night I am falling asleep exhausted. This happens daily, and I don't have time to think. Guruji responded saying, "keep drinking water everyday during my class. This will solve your problem."