"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.
5 comments:
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?
"Each and every instance of your happiness and sorrow is taken into consideration by the Department of Balance."
"Take the losses gracefully and be happy that something good will follow it up and don’t be overjoyed when things go your way..."
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"?
If the theory of Balance holds good, then as a net effect of the above two things, wouldn't it mean that only bad things will keep happening to me?
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.
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.
nice 1....but for ur theory to gain acceptance...u need to put the right references wen u state facts....read 'the state of fear' to get a larger picture of global warming...assuming u still haven't .....cheers!!
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