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?