Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Ignorance is bliss....really?
The more I read references to this proverb, the more I am provoked. But I continue to ignore this topic for a full blown write-up. Why? why? why?
Sunday, April 27, 2008
..meant to be....or can you affect it?
If it was "meant to be" then God/Alien is one sloppy lazy ass programmer and if "you can affect it" then God/Alien is "mice" who is just waiting to know the ultimate question for which the answer is 42 :)
On a more serious note, this has got be as far the theists will go debating about some of the tough questions about life. The claims I have heard for the "meant to be" argument has got be the pinnacle of absurdity, it just blows my mind ( was it meant to? ) how someone can just blindly kill a person and say it was meant to be. Supposedly God etched on our brains or is continuously doing so, using the latest nanotechnology available to him/her/it all the things that we are supposed to do. The best part about it is that "WE HUMANS KNOW ABOUT IT"! Hurray! I just don;t know how God keeps giving us these clues out of the blue and telling us what he/she/it has done or what he/she/it will do. The priests are the ones who should be hanged first who deliver sermons which is the prime reason for this epidemic madness about "meant to be" or should I say "not meant to be" ( watch "There will be blood" ). The priests in the religious sanctuaries are the prime reason for people who are obviously ignorant and drugged by the religion bug to fall for the "meant to be" logic. I compare the priests to marketing guys or the salesperson. They are so clever with their words that you just don't know how they sold their product to you without you ever saying "I need it". Once they leave and you start thinking about it, that is when you realize what a big blunder you have made and that you have been tricked. But there is nothing you can do now and you can only be more careful the next time. Similarly these religious priests *cough* pricks *cough* are just earning their livelihood by making you do those thousands of Yagnas and poojas and nothing more. It won't be far away when you can kill someone and the priests will tell you that the person was meant to die and that you can cleanse your sins by performing a yagna ( which would cost you a meagre 10 grand or so ) to please the Gods ! Not kidding!
Phew! Can you affect all of the crap that is happening in this world? I think so, atleast you can give it a try rather than surrender. So stop whining like a cry baby that you are not happy because it is not meant to be and start to think about how you can change it! Now get to work. :)
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Balance....life, universe and everything
"The rich are sad and the poor are happy", this is one of the hackneyed sentences of consolation you will hear from your parents if you are from a middle class family. Albeit, it is said so that you stop cribbing about not having a bike, it is very true. Satisfaction is _the_ word which the human mind doesn’t like. They repel, which is a good thing because that is what drives you and me, keeps us on our toes, keeps us sharp, wanting for more and very ambitious. I agree that it can take some bad turns, but that is life. Even if you are Anil Ambani or President Abdul Kalam you will not be satisfied with what you have. If not for the poor will the rich people have chefs, chauffeurs, maids etc etc… How is satisfaction related to balance of life, I will get to that later. There is a sense of balance that one cannot see directly but on closer observation one can identify the intricacies of life which answers most of our questions.
Balance – just try to look at this world from the outside, maybe standing from the moon or mars with an alien telescope watching all the events unfold. When there is something in abundance, and it gets out of hand, a kind of correction is made, one that will set things right so that the show goes on. What are the two most popular subjects of debate or rather hot in the news these days? Terrorism and Global Warming. If you don’t think so, you must be from Uranus. Getting back to my point, Terrorism is the means of reducing population and Global warming is just the Earth’s way of setting things on its surface in the right proportions. How is that you ask, well, population is increasing three fold compared to what it used to in the 80s. Tada, correction needed. One call to our Department of balance and there you have it. 10,000 terrorists rigged with C4 who will blow themselves up anytime anywhere. Get it?
Similarly, the same applies to Global warming. Although this is a little hard to ingest, imagine these factors and then I will explain why Global Warming is a sergeant of balance. Earth is oval, it rotates around the sun in an elliptical orbit, sun’s temperature is increasing by the day, more people – more vehicles – more gases. But as some scientists rightly said, earth has cooling and heating cycles. Don’t compare the melting of glaciers and rise in ocean level to Global warming. The ocean level has been increasing from thousands of years. The glaciers are melting at the same rate, If not a little higher, and there is not enough evidence to prove that it used to happen even in the 1900s because no one went there. Keeping the scientists theory aside, philosophically, it is nature’s way of signaling the Department of Balance. Now what does the Department of Balance do, equip around 10,000 green peace and Love_earth maniacs with huge cut-outs and banners whose sole purpose in life is to protect earth. They are even programmed to enlighten others and ruin their life too. Remember the ozone bullshit in the 1990s? Why is nobody talking about Ozone nowadays? One scientist recently pointed out that the ozone has recovered and it has filled the gaps in many places which were pro-radiation. I don’t think that if it was not for the thousands of activists and so much of media coverage this would’ve happened. SO, the Department of Balance prevails when it comes to Environment and population.
Phew! I am sure you are thinking “load of crap”, “Shove it up Uranus ;-)” and some more expletives, but let me tell you, this is _the_ stuff. If you understand how the Department of Balance works, you will prevail in the battle of life, the universe and everything. Well, how does balance come into picture in our day to day life? Putting it blatantly, you have a girlfriend; you don’t have a respectable or a high paying job. You have them both; you don’t have good relationship with your family (read parents). If you have all three; you are a social outcast. Your parents might be sick, your girlfriend might be cheating on you, you might’ve just been divorced etc etc.. If not, you have lots of desires which are yet to be fulfilled and you have depression. No? Then my friend, you have understood the inner-workings of the Department of Balance and are satisfied with what you have. The advantage of learning about the balance of life is that it helps you to get on with life. What come may you will get up and move on. You will not get carried away by the victories or highs of your life because you know, storm is coming.
It happens in such a delicate and precise way that it is very hard to notice or co-relate. You just fought with your friend and the relationship went sour, then you win an award at work for your excellent work ethic. A sweeper works his ass off for 20 years and is looked up with contempt by the rich all his life, and suddenly one day he wins the 50 lakh lottery. You win the national level quiz competition and after 20 days your mother falls sick and is hospitalized. Each and every instance of your happiness and sorrow is taken into consideration by the Department of Balance. So, the lesson for everyone here is simple. Take the losses gracefully and be happy that something good will follow it up and don’t be overjoyed when things go your way because there might be a storm en route your house. SO – What did I say in the first paragraph – satisfaction. BE satisfied with what you have but don’t stop craving for more - If that makes sense. Now, do you understand how satisfaction and Department of Balance go hand in hand?
By the way, do you know why the Department of Balance is called so? I mean it is such a crappy name. That’s the point, get it? The cheesier the name the higher the popularity - ipso facto lesser power. Got it? No? Ah damn, get back to work.
Replies to some comments:
i)
Your theory of Balance seems to be directly contradicting another axiomatic observation, "life isn't fair." If everything is balanced, as you say, then by inference, life should be fair, shouldn't it?
Life is fair. If you look broadly, taking into consideration the whole 60 or 90 odd years you live. If you take only the last year then probably it might seem otherwise. Even if someone dies at the age of 10 life will be fair and the Department of balance will ensure that the balance is fair and square when he dies. Well, the details about afterlife is a totally different subject, so for now, we can think that it is balanced out when a person dies.
ii)
If I take a loss gracefully, does that result in my "sorrow counter" increasing by a lesser amount than it would if I was overwhelmed by the sorrow?
Also, if I 'feel happy that something good will follow' does that feeling of happiness also add up in my "happiness counter"?
Huh!! The "sorrow counter" or the "happiness counter" do not change on how you react to the situation. It doesnt matter if you sit and cry for 10 days when something bad happens. It doesnt matter if you hold a party for all the people you know when you are happy.
If you get fired, the sorrow counter is increased by 10. Now, if you sit and cry for 10 days, the counter does not change because the damage is already done. Your friends know you got fired, your colleagues, your parents, relatives. So, even though you mourn, it doesnt matter. What would've been better was if you had picked up yourself and started searching for the job the very next day. WHo knows, the department of balance might've landed you in a better job the next day, thus cancelling out the sorrow.
And coming to the fact where I said, feel happy that something good will follow, how happy can you feel when you take a smack right in your face. I mean, if you are fired, or your girlfriend dumps you, your parents are sick, you just met with an accident. During these moments you really cant be happy - literally. So, it won't affect the "happiness counter". But, what I meant when I said be happy was, don't sit and mourn for 10 days, instead start looking for a job.
Balance – just try to look at this world from the outside, maybe standing from the moon or mars with an alien telescope watching all the events unfold. When there is something in abundance, and it gets out of hand, a kind of correction is made, one that will set things right so that the show goes on. What are the two most popular subjects of debate or rather hot in the news these days? Terrorism and Global Warming. If you don’t think so, you must be from Uranus. Getting back to my point, Terrorism is the means of reducing population and Global warming is just the Earth’s way of setting things on its surface in the right proportions. How is that you ask, well, population is increasing three fold compared to what it used to in the 80s. Tada, correction needed. One call to our Department of balance and there you have it. 10,000 terrorists rigged with C4 who will blow themselves up anytime anywhere. Get it?
Similarly, the same applies to Global warming. Although this is a little hard to ingest, imagine these factors and then I will explain why Global Warming is a sergeant of balance. Earth is oval, it rotates around the sun in an elliptical orbit, sun’s temperature is increasing by the day, more people – more vehicles – more gases. But as some scientists rightly said, earth has cooling and heating cycles. Don’t compare the melting of glaciers and rise in ocean level to Global warming. The ocean level has been increasing from thousands of years. The glaciers are melting at the same rate, If not a little higher, and there is not enough evidence to prove that it used to happen even in the 1900s because no one went there. Keeping the scientists theory aside, philosophically, it is nature’s way of signaling the Department of Balance. Now what does the Department of Balance do, equip around 10,000 green peace and Love_earth maniacs with huge cut-outs and banners whose sole purpose in life is to protect earth. They are even programmed to enlighten others and ruin their life too. Remember the ozone bullshit in the 1990s? Why is nobody talking about Ozone nowadays? One scientist recently pointed out that the ozone has recovered and it has filled the gaps in many places which were pro-radiation. I don’t think that if it was not for the thousands of activists and so much of media coverage this would’ve happened. SO, the Department of Balance prevails when it comes to Environment and population.
Phew! I am sure you are thinking “load of crap”, “Shove it up Uranus ;-)” and some more expletives, but let me tell you, this is _the_ stuff. If you understand how the Department of Balance works, you will prevail in the battle of life, the universe and everything. Well, how does balance come into picture in our day to day life? Putting it blatantly, you have a girlfriend; you don’t have a respectable or a high paying job. You have them both; you don’t have good relationship with your family (read parents). If you have all three; you are a social outcast. Your parents might be sick, your girlfriend might be cheating on you, you might’ve just been divorced etc etc.. If not, you have lots of desires which are yet to be fulfilled and you have depression. No? Then my friend, you have understood the inner-workings of the Department of Balance and are satisfied with what you have. The advantage of learning about the balance of life is that it helps you to get on with life. What come may you will get up and move on. You will not get carried away by the victories or highs of your life because you know, storm is coming.
It happens in such a delicate and precise way that it is very hard to notice or co-relate. You just fought with your friend and the relationship went sour, then you win an award at work for your excellent work ethic. A sweeper works his ass off for 20 years and is looked up with contempt by the rich all his life, and suddenly one day he wins the 50 lakh lottery. You win the national level quiz competition and after 20 days your mother falls sick and is hospitalized. Each and every instance of your happiness and sorrow is taken into consideration by the Department of Balance. So, the lesson for everyone here is simple. Take the losses gracefully and be happy that something good will follow it up and don’t be overjoyed when things go your way because there might be a storm en route your house. SO – What did I say in the first paragraph – satisfaction. BE satisfied with what you have but don’t stop craving for more - If that makes sense. Now, do you understand how satisfaction and Department of Balance go hand in hand?
By the way, do you know why the Department of Balance is called so? I mean it is such a crappy name. That’s the point, get it? The cheesier the name the higher the popularity - ipso facto lesser power. Got it? No? Ah damn, get back to work.
Replies to some comments:
i)
Your theory of Balance seems to be directly contradicting another axiomatic observation, "life isn't fair." If everything is balanced, as you say, then by inference, life should be fair, shouldn't it?
Life is fair. If you look broadly, taking into consideration the whole 60 or 90 odd years you live. If you take only the last year then probably it might seem otherwise. Even if someone dies at the age of 10 life will be fair and the Department of balance will ensure that the balance is fair and square when he dies. Well, the details about afterlife is a totally different subject, so for now, we can think that it is balanced out when a person dies.
ii)
If I take a loss gracefully, does that result in my "sorrow counter" increasing by a lesser amount than it would if I was overwhelmed by the sorrow?
Also, if I 'feel happy that something good will follow' does that feeling of happiness also add up in my "happiness counter"?
Huh!! The "sorrow counter" or the "happiness counter" do not change on how you react to the situation. It doesnt matter if you sit and cry for 10 days when something bad happens. It doesnt matter if you hold a party for all the people you know when you are happy.
If you get fired, the sorrow counter is increased by 10. Now, if you sit and cry for 10 days, the counter does not change because the damage is already done. Your friends know you got fired, your colleagues, your parents, relatives. So, even though you mourn, it doesnt matter. What would've been better was if you had picked up yourself and started searching for the job the very next day. WHo knows, the department of balance might've landed you in a better job the next day, thus cancelling out the sorrow.
And coming to the fact where I said, feel happy that something good will follow, how happy can you feel when you take a smack right in your face. I mean, if you are fired, or your girlfriend dumps you, your parents are sick, you just met with an accident. During these moments you really cant be happy - literally. So, it won't affect the "happiness counter". But, what I meant when I said be happy was, don't sit and mourn for 10 days, instead start looking for a job.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Temple...Huh!! What is that?
mom : Get ready, we shall be going to the temple today.
me : Why?
mom : What do you mean why? To pray and get blessings, plus today there is big pooja there.
me : Can't we just pray here?
I hate to put my mom in this kind of situations but now she is used to it. She chooses to ignore such questions, but me, I try to justify why our ancestors might have had this system in place which will give me a better understanding of the cycle of life. The very notion of having temples where GODs are supposed to show up and bless you, and wipe your slate of sins clean, is downright ridiculous and those preaching that they do are hypocrites. When they can claim that GOD is everywhere, then why can't we just stay at home in a quiet and serene place and pray? Why would GOD want people to idolize him/her? Then he would not be called GOD, he would be a HUMAN. Pah! If offering GOD coconuts, lots of food and decorating him would make him happy, then why the rich still have problems? Why aren’t the poor dead already?
They claim GOD to be the creator, the destroyer and the one who controls the entire universe. I personally cannot comprehend, how a person of that stature could design a system and ask the living creatures to worship and pray, and only then will they prosper. The concept would sound something equivalent to - Your company chairman asking you to worship him and only then you shall be paid. There are so many practices followed in the Hindu religion which make me laugh by just visualizing GOD instructing people to do so, or GOD impressed by their deeds.
I, being an agnostic, try to justify, that if there was some superior being in control of the entire universe then what would impress him/her will be how we live our life and our relationships with our fellow beings and with the nature. It does not matter how much money we have dropped in the temple fund box, what matters is how much we have helped the needy. It does not matter if we prayed today and asked for blessings, what matters most is if we have been honest to ourselves today. Our ancestors are not be blamed but we ourselves for acquiescing without asking the million dollar question - "Why?”
So, the next time you stand in front of an idol or drop money in the temple, ask yourself, "Why?", and you will realize how stupid you thought GOD to be. :-)
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Hi...I am superash....Who?
I use this nick of mine quite a few places over the internet and many have asked me almost like in unison - "Do you fantasize being a superhero?"
Don't we all? I mean not literally, but everyone wants to be famous and rich. The goal/aim drilled into every single childs mind from the time it was pulled out from the dungeon. Being a superhero and trying to protect the good from the evil is every kids dream. You just want to jump up and fly higher and higher, faster. But as you grow up these fantasies die down eventually and you become so called 'realist' and try to act like a more mature person. Deep down you still dream of transforming into someone many people will like and appreciate for what you are. You want to be noted and idolized. The downsides to that need not be mentioned as we are already aware of it(Britney and the Indian cricket team, if you were dormant in some cave all these years). But everyone ends up wearing masks and being someone they are not. Some say it is necessary to survive - It is important for one to go with the herd or else he/she will be a social outcast. My thoughts on it are : Go by your gut and always listen to your heart, they are more capable than your brain.
So, why have I nicknamed myself superash? Because I want to be the child I once was and don't want to be rich and famous. I know I sound ridiculous as only hermits talk like this. I want money, enough for me to sustain myself and my immediate family. I want to be famous, among the people I care for. And yeah, going by the theme of this blog, to keep asking questions...:-)
~If you feel dizzy, sit down somewhere, breathe slowly and then drink a bottle of water. Everthing should be fine. I did the same after writing this. :-)
Don't we all? I mean not literally, but everyone wants to be famous and rich. The goal/aim drilled into every single childs mind from the time it was pulled out from the dungeon. Being a superhero and trying to protect the good from the evil is every kids dream. You just want to jump up and fly higher and higher, faster. But as you grow up these fantasies die down eventually and you become so called 'realist' and try to act like a more mature person. Deep down you still dream of transforming into someone many people will like and appreciate for what you are. You want to be noted and idolized. The downsides to that need not be mentioned as we are already aware of it(Britney and the Indian cricket team, if you were dormant in some cave all these years). But everyone ends up wearing masks and being someone they are not. Some say it is necessary to survive - It is important for one to go with the herd or else he/she will be a social outcast. My thoughts on it are : Go by your gut and always listen to your heart, they are more capable than your brain.
So, why have I nicknamed myself superash? Because I want to be the child I once was and don't want to be rich and famous. I know I sound ridiculous as only hermits talk like this. I want money, enough for me to sustain myself and my immediate family. I want to be famous, among the people I care for. And yeah, going by the theme of this blog, to keep asking questions...:-)
~If you feel dizzy, sit down somewhere, breathe slowly and then drink a bottle of water. Everthing should be fine. I did the same after writing this. :-)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Why?
The world in itself is a mysterious place, and to add to that the dogmatic beliefs which are forced onto me as a child, adulterating my mind with ambiguous explanations about the world around me. I don't blame my parents for this because any parent faced with a question as to why is the sky blue will answer in the same way. :roll:
But the problem with this approach by my parents reflected on my approach to life as a student. Instead of questioning why is it x and not y? I started accepting things as they are and mugging them. Why is it x? Because my teacher said so. And I knew from the beginning that I am very bad at remembering things. So, the outcome was a mediocre score in Class10, and to add to the misery, countless enquiries from relatives and friends. I guess they just love to hear it again and again from you that you were not among the best. Gives them some kind of satisfaction, when they find out that not many are perfect and I am one of them. Recovering from that was an uphill task and I finally got respectable score in my 10+2 and a job as an S/W engineer after my B.E. and I guess I'm doing ok. And I have learnt it the hard way, always ask "Why?". :-)
I want to point out that the question 'why?' is one of the most important questions that everyone should ask everywhere to everyone and to themselves. Someone once said "Adroit is the one who can find many solutions when others can find only one". The only way you can achieve this is by asking more and more questions. Be it the meeting or a lecture. If not to the speaker, ask yourself and keep the answers to yourself. I know I am getting too philosophical, guess I should put an end to it.
I am myself bemused that I decided to create a blog, as I don't like others see what I do in my life and what I eat, where I go, whom do I meet etc. So, this blog will concentrate mainly on the 'Whys' that we all have in mind, but don’t want to find out the answers.
But the problem with this approach by my parents reflected on my approach to life as a student. Instead of questioning why is it x and not y? I started accepting things as they are and mugging them. Why is it x? Because my teacher said so. And I knew from the beginning that I am very bad at remembering things. So, the outcome was a mediocre score in Class10, and to add to the misery, countless enquiries from relatives and friends. I guess they just love to hear it again and again from you that you were not among the best. Gives them some kind of satisfaction, when they find out that not many are perfect and I am one of them. Recovering from that was an uphill task and I finally got respectable score in my 10+2 and a job as an S/W engineer after my B.E. and I guess I'm doing ok. And I have learnt it the hard way, always ask "Why?". :-)
I want to point out that the question 'why?' is one of the most important questions that everyone should ask everywhere to everyone and to themselves. Someone once said "Adroit is the one who can find many solutions when others can find only one". The only way you can achieve this is by asking more and more questions. Be it the meeting or a lecture. If not to the speaker, ask yourself and keep the answers to yourself. I know I am getting too philosophical, guess I should put an end to it.
I am myself bemused that I decided to create a blog, as I don't like others see what I do in my life and what I eat, where I go, whom do I meet etc. So, this blog will concentrate mainly on the 'Whys' that we all have in mind, but don’t want to find out the answers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)