SCHIZOPHRENIC

            
        It is great to watch great movies time and again especially when there not much good movies around made in the current times. So I watched the movie “A Beautiful Mind”, the biographic film made on the life of the famous Nobel Laureate John Nash ( a schizophrenic), again. Surprisingly it gave me a new perspective, a new thought.

Schizophrenia, as defined by the Encarta dictionary is “psychiatric disorder with symptoms of withdrawal into self: a severe psychiatric disorder with symptoms of emotional instability, detachment from reality, and withdrawal into the self”. Does this ring a bell? It rang for me!”           Does not the meaning sound vaguely similar to that of INDIFFERENCE? Every day we read the newspapers filled with stories of horrors. Statistics reveal rising levels of violence, poverty, rape, and all sorts of criminal activity. In our everyday lives we see undisciplined people violate rules framed for public good, we break rules and build excuses for it. To all this what do we do? Remain silent spectators? No, we have become blind to all this. We don’t care for anyone else. They are not our priorities. Some service minded people will take care of it!           Wow!!! SERVICE what a word!! What a beautifully disguised excuse! We have given up on our human feelings and hid ourselves in our own tiny worlds and ensure every day that by no means our comforts are degrading, and that is all we care about. A Gandhi, a Mother Teresa or people like them will do whatever necessary to alleviate the problems of the world. They are the ones born for service; we are born for pleasures or pressures of our daily lives.          Our definitions of reality and the reality as such do not coincide a lot of times. A lot of what we believe are what we desperately want to believe, not facts. As long as our realities remain highly flavoured by our fantasies there is no big hope for a great future. Until we take good care of TODAY, there is no reason why TOMORROW should be better.           We share a common planet and it is our common responsibility. And this responsibility demands that we all get ourselves cured of our insensitive approach to the problems around and participate in making the world better in small ways and big so that we have a good today and a better tomorrow.

Listening to life

Most of us would have stumbled over this familiar question “what is life?”, some of us would have given ourselves the familiar answers like “life is a journey”(maybe to heaven or hell, as if earth was a passing station!) or “life is a drama, we are all just actors”(who is the director and producer? Some might want to answer it is God (even for those who dint believe in one?)) And the rest of us would have just left the question as we always have more pressing things in life to attend to than getting philosophical. But it seems that few of us were adamant in finding the answer and it is such kind of people who went into deep meditations in dense forests or dangerous hilltops and finally felt that they discovered something or everything of importance. These people, at least some of them, became great spiritual masters in human civilisation. People who sought to find answers from these spiritualists rather became their worshippers than understanding what life is (as I see most of the spiritual texts are very complex and intrinsically complicated so the situation is understandable!)

Well, I too got interested in answering this question, especially because there were too many contradicting answers to another very popular question “how to lead one’s life?”. Most of us would have faced this situation so it is needless to explain further. I came to a conclusion that when the “what” part is clear the “how” part will automatically get clarified! Fortunately I was able to discover a valuable piece of wisdom in such pursuit.

Life manifests in many forms. Let us zero in on humans for now. Some are born healthy and some are wasted, some are born rich and some poor, many more variations can be observed by which we are affected either positively or negatively. Who is to be held responsible for these? But aren’t we supposed to ask a more basic question “is it necessary to hold somebody responsible?” I fully understand that we are bred in a society that glorifies the fact that to treat the effect one needs to study the cause very well, so it is clear that nothing should stop the hunt for reasons. Let’s apply the same to this problem. Many years of study of human history and civilizations have revealed that most of what humans believe and practice took form in a very natural way meaning there was no structured development and it was all so random. So obviously you can’t hold one person or one community or one event responsible for the differences and anything and everything it brings with it. This understanding gave me the following lesson, Getting obsessed with reasons is not a great idea. The COURSE is more important than the CAUSE.

So that decided we now have to understand how the course should be! Whenever this question surfaces on the horizons of mind I am reminded of one of the famous verses of the famous Longfellow from “the Psalm of life”, to be more specific let me quote the lines:

        “Lives of great men all remind us
         We can make our lives sublime,
         And, departing, leave behind us
         Footprints on the sands of time”

Today not many of us are concerned of what happens after death; in fact we are so much engrossed in squeezing countless activities into the twenty hours of the day. So our concentration is on the course which is good news! Now dealing the problem at hand of how the course should be handled. Is the course of life supposed to be a pursuit to greatness like Longfellow suggests(so that some shipwreck finds inspiration from it?)? And what does Greatness mean? Is it wealth and fame? Is that the recipe for unlimited joy in life? Simple observations are more than enough to understand that the wealthiest is not necessarily the happiest man! And fame, well the history is in itself the testimony that limelight-the instrument of fame is fickle(read carefully it is footprints on the sands not engravings on rocks!) and often not justified in the sense that the same public remembers both Abraham Lincoln who was instrumental in abolishing slavery and Adolf Hitler who spoke about (and implemented) ethnic cleansing!!! So what is the answer? Is our lives sublime only if it is comparable with that of personalities like Albert Einstein or Socrates? Well first of all we do not have first-hand evidence as to how these great people felt when they were alive. And even if it is for fun, let us assume that all of us did figure out the secret to greatness, o my god just imagine how many names to remember? It is nice to have one Albert Einstein, one Beethoven, but a million Einsteins- sounds crazy right? And our everyday life teaches us that people can touch our lives through simpler ways than complicated ones as in the technology of internal combustion engine! So it is clear the neither fame nor wealth is the criteria that suggest an ideal course of life!

Not just Albert Einstein or Beethoven had lived but so many other Toms’, Harrys’ and Dicks’ had also had lives and they were not worthless just because it was not recorded. Maybe there is no ideal way to living life. All lives are justified as they are. And the baseline to be remembered is that we are a part of a very complicated organisation/civilisation how we affect or not affect the world is out of our reach and control.

With all these analysis intact, the final conclusion that I arrived upon was that life is a set of events that occur with no particular reason, through which we navigate based on our individualistic perception (courtesy: the society we are born into), look around and you will understand any reason is born only after the event has occurred, Reasons don’t lead to events, it is events that lead to reasons. And the activities we do, may it be anything from simple ones like reading a book to composing literature or launching a satellite, they are all just expenditures of the energy we are invested with. This simplifies everything so much that, whether you were instrumental in the development of cutting edge technology or you spent all your time chatting with your girlfriend/boyfriend, both bear not much of a difference from the cosmic standpoint. There is no hierarchy of lifestyles or living!

my life my very own way

However we are bound to expend the energy we consume and that is the cosmic law, and it is blessed that we have the advantage of choice to select in what ways we are to do the same. It would be just great to celebrate the randomness of life and living.

CHEERS TO LIFE AND Living!!!

LoVe it LiVe It!!!

??????ME????????

                               

?ME?

Am I the word I am called?

Or am I to create the meaning my name has to hold?

Or am I the one people think I am?

Or am I what I want people to think of me?

Or am I the person expected to please my loved?

Or am I the one to be loved and pleased?

Or am I the one to adapt to the world as such?

Or am I  to join the crusade for change?

Or am I the voice I hear inside my head at times?

Or am I plural like the thoughts I have?

Or am I just simply “plus one” on the planet of life?

                                                                       -Sukhi

TRAVELLING INSIDE

Our mind is one of the most amazing of creations, here I don’t confine the meaning of human mind to that of the homo-sapiens brain because studies in the field of human anatomy and psychology suggests that though a large part of the thinking activity happens in our brain, there is a considerable participation of the other areas of the human physique as well. I guess it is not very difficult for anyone to accept the ingenuity of the human’s mental abilities, nonetheless I would like to emphasize the magical things the intelligent neural network that run across all along our body does. We are giant receptors of data around us, constantly all our sensory organs receives huge amounts of data that amounts to be called BIG DATA from the surroundings every moment, but the brains processes all of these almost instantaneously and keeps us sane from this overload of information! This is just one example of many.

As an ultimatum to the capabilities of the human brain, humans themselves desired to create a man-made brain which resulted in the emerging fields of artificial intelligence. To an extent the researchers and scientists have created intelligence artificially after spending billions of dollars and many years of tough research but there is a long way still to go. The joke is, all this appreciation and acknowledgement for our brain power is done only in the scientific circles especially those concerning psychology and artificial intelligence. As a commoner we are so blind to the innumerable services our brain provides us every moment!

But it is only sensible that we are so ignorant of our own capacities after all, our eyes see only the world outside not inside and the same goes with all other sensory inputs. All that happens inside is so silent except rarely as in cases of disease.

This, however grabs us of our opportunity to understand how special we are and how elegantly our bodies help us to survive. Just because our body does not advertise its wonderful services does not mean that we have to always remain oblivious to it. We do see less fortunate people who have some deficiencies physically or mentally and live a very difficult life.

So it is only reasonable that at least once we stop cribbing for all that we don’t have and like the title suggests travel inside and feel grateful for all the things we possess just because we are born human! I am sure if you would take time to understand even a part of all that you are capable of doing without a second thought and how difficult the same is without our natural gift then you will fall in love with yourself!!!

Falling in love with oneself is a blissful experience, far beyond what words can explain. This phenomenon will at once teach you to respect yourself and fill you with an overwhelming amount of gratitude and love as a result of which you will be able to respect every other person the same way!!!

To be in love with the self is not becoming selfish rather it works in an opposite way. It makes one more empathetic and loving! All this explicitly guarantees transformations that changes life for the good!!

Let there be no further delay, mute the voices around you, look inside, listen to yourself and fall in love with you, I am sure it has got no side effects, that might worry you later!!!

THINKING ALLOWED

Conventions need not be your convictions!

Many times in life it happens that we acquire great wisdom in some of the most unlikely moments. One such is the anecdote from my classroom memories. It was when one of my teachers was giving a philosophical dimension to the very famous “EUREKA!!!” moment of Archimedes. In her observations of the incident-the running of Archimedes nude into the streets was not because he found out something so great (it is acceptable that what he found out was a simple principle involving mass and volume) but because whatever he found out was his OWN discovery, implying that any knowledge that is self-discovered has such wild taste of joy that is almost unfounded in other means.

Joy, beyond doubt is an all-time favourite pursuit of all of us. But the path of true knowledge is not a popular choice.

Why is the path of knowledge so less travelled?? Is thinking such a difficult task?? Psychologists talk about different levels of mind like the conscious level, the unconscious level and the sub-conscious level. It seems that we have pushed a lot of our thinking and lot of our decisions we make into the unconscious realm almost voluntarily. How many of us think seriously about our career options apart from the money factor?? Life partners?? Who our friends should be?? Our attitude toward life?? Our behaviour towards people around us??..

Some of us might argue that we do think seriously about these questions. A more fundamental question that is important to our discussion is “how independently and individualistically we think about these questions?” many times or all the times we are mechanical in our decision making or most of the times somebody else makes the decision for us. How healthy is this for our life? If we so easily give up on our right to decision making then how much of life is left for us to live??

Why don't we make individualistic decisions and think differently mostly?? The answer obviously is the fear of losing. If it is agreeable that love is the most exhilarating intoxicant then it is equally agreeable that fear of losing is the most serious of handicaps!

Thinking is the most gratifying activity ever. People who have dared to dream big more specifically in a different way have been rewarded in unimaginable ways. This is not a bait to invite my readers into the habit of individualistic thinking just an inspirational fact to remember. Thinking is a self-rewarding and self-motivating pursuit and decision making is a step in the course of the process of thinking. So let us embrace this healthy habit of thinking deeper and more individualistically. Let us swear for ever that we shall not even unknowingly give up on our right to take any decision in our life. Because

WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO LIVE OUR LIFE 100%!!!

WE ARE UNIQUE AFTER ALL!!!

    It is noticeable that in appearance each of us is different, unique in some way. It really is amazing as to how with almost similar features Nature manages to create subtle differences that amount to an appreciable quantity to say most of us apart from each other.

    Are these differences exclusive to the physique or are they reflected on the mental realm as well?? Beyond doubt the answer to this question also is positive. More so in the recent times we are beginning to appreciate that there are differences in the mental abilities as well. We have begun to appreciate the different intelligences vested on different individuals.

So it is accepted that we differ in our mental and physical capacities, in its strengths and weaknesses.

     If this is the case it is only deducible that our dreams and passions should be different/unique too. But why is that we are cleverly manipulated in the name of social norms and culture and religion to live lives that are same, monotonous and clichéd??

     Isn't one’s life a journey chasing one’s individualistic dreams?? Given that nothing is impossible isn't this dream chase a medium through which fantasies can become realities? Won't this make realities and living and livelihoods interesting beyond imagination (which is so boring as of now)?

     Nevertheless the unwanted bondages are now waning. Rebels to the meaningless formalities/regularities are slowly passing on the essence of this vital revolution into each soul that braves the wildness of life and endure the challenges and the implied insecurities of life as its very own nature. The weaklings who distance themselves from life through fake securities and insurances are however out of the game though.

    This revolution is one of a kind. Unlike the revolutions that our histories have seen so far the momentum of it is not gathered by the strength of the crowd but by the valour of the individuals.

DARE TO JOIN THE REVOLUTION…

BE TOUCHED WITH ITS ROBUSTNESS……

GET INSPIRED BY ITS WILDNESS….  

  

WHY THINKING ALOUD??

               

             

             WHY THINKING ALOUD?

Thinking is man’s natural activity and thoughts can be called as the immediate product of this activity. Undoubtedly for an individual, to be in control of his thoughts has been one of the top contenders in the list of “nearly impossible things”.

But since it is obvious that thoughts are preface to actions and it is actions that create habits and it is habits that define a person’s individual character, it is essential that we are careful about what we think. Because ultimately what we think is what we are!

EVERY THOUGHT THAT IS INVISIBLE HAS GOT INVINCIBLE  POWER

Interestingly the seed of thought is the most powerful than anything imaginable. In fact everything that man sees as his creations today were just thoughts some day!

So thinking aloud is an initiative at the individual level to think right and think well.