Friday, June 24, 2011
Flower
Was out on my morning ritual ; a stroll and a cup of tea from the shop across.Found this small yellow flower,the sunflower kind,smaller version lying on the road.Some child must have plucked it and made reluctantly to let go by the speeding auto or a hurrying mum.There it was lying alone abandoned,but it showed no sign of those feelings.It faced me smiling,couldn't guess whether it knew of its uncertain life.Any time a speeding bike or a rushing stranger can tear it into pieces.Whether it knew that or not,but it chose to smile as if greeting me with a warm hello.Stuck by its beauty,but a little preoccupied,I walked further,but was unable to forget that smile.I turned back and looked at it,it was still there smiling at everyone passing by.Went back picked it up,and kept it on the near by wall.I was asking myself why am I doing this? The flower was still smiling ,as if to say,thanks ! You helped me to smile a little longer from a place where I can see a little farther.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Faith
Man was one another ape which roamed this planet; he was driven by the same instincts as that of others. As popularly claimed, to think and reason is only Man’s domain, with better observation this seems not the case, for most animals exhibit behavior which indicates that they understand cause and effect. How else we can explain the movement of migratory birds, or the extraordinary ability of ants to save food before adverse weather. Very recently man has started suspecting his self proclaimed superiority on planet earth and started relying on animal behavior to predict natural calamities.
Like other animals man lived in the wild; essentially in ‘groups’, given his ‘extraordinary’ physical abilities in comparison with some of his wilder counterparts like elephants and lions. Unlike other animals which lived in herds, man was always afraid, afraid of the unknown; he lived in fear, always prepared for a calamity.
Other animals, especially, the elephants, which also lived in groups, surprisingly exhibit excellent understanding of their individual strength, yet respect the discipline and seemingly have a greater understanding of living in a group. At times of adversity, the stronger among them stood at the rim and protected the weakest at the center.
This was not the case with humans, at times of adversity; they tend to push the weakest to the rim and the smartest (. . . Note usage ‘smartest’ and not ‘strongest’!!) among them tend to stick to the center, receiving minimal blows. This surprisingly had continued to this day. Fear always had dominated human behavior. Those who shielded themselves from an impending danger behind the backs of weak have come to be called as smartest.
But this was not the case always in human history, there had been moments when men of great honor, displayed enormous courage in the face of danger and did great deeds to protect the weak. They respected the idea of collective living and by hard work, perseverance and sacrifice made themselves stronger. Like elephants they realized their individual strength yet recognized the benefits of collective living, and took upon themselves, the task of protecting the young, old and the weak.
Having said that, as mentioned earlier, fear always dominated human behavior, so it’s not surprising that the ‘smartest’ greatly outnumbered ‘strongest’. Also the smartest assumed that, it’s impossible for them to become ‘strongest’, given the hardship and sacrifices one has to undergo to gain strength. Other immediate necessity for the ‘smartest’ was a mechanism which can continuously supply ‘strongest’, yet prevent the ‘strongest’ from turning against the ‘smartest’. This gave rise to three great innovations of the ‘smartest’ in human society.
1. Glorify the ‘Strongest’, make them heroes, make legends on them, make them Gods; this will motivate more and more to be ‘strongest’.
2. Make set of rules and regulations which the ‘Strongest’ have to adhere to. Make them a little impossible to adhere to, so that the ‘Strongest’ will remain in a state of self doubt always.
3. Third and most important, make it an offense (preferably punishable by death) to turn against one’s own society and its ideas.
Now if you have caught the nerve of this article by now, you will realize that the above mentioned ‘innovations’ are not innovations at all, in the first place. These are already rules of the wild. There was no need to write them down as a mandate. The wild functions the same way, the animals to this day obey the same rules. A closer observation of the wild will reveal the following.
1. The strongest among the herd is revered by the other animals in the herd.
2. The strongest always by their own will protect the weak.
3. To be weak, unable to fight for the combined cause is surely a way to death in an animal herd.
Isn’t it revealing that, the ‘Smartest’ just lifted them off nature, tweaked them a little and took upon themselves, the task of supervising and enforcing their adherence. Because for them; that’s easier and probably their only way of survival. This concept pervades every human organization existing today, be it a society, village, country or a faith. The ‘Smartest’, the most afraid, are the ones who shout the loudest when the rules are questioned.
We observe, the courageous few define ‘Strongest’ and the largely fearful define ‘Smartest’. The core factor defining the human behavior being ‘Fear’, it becomes essential to understand fear.
Going back to the origins, during evolution all of human race had a similar psychological setup, at some point of time in evolution, like other animals man gained the ability to observe, remember and recall. Man started observing patterns in nature, and was soon to suspect & decode those patterns, like the winter and summer solstices, the monsoons, the seasons etc. Exactly at this time, there evolved two kinds of men; psychologically, the men of mind and the men of heart.
The men of heart were the ones that were soon to realize that they were nothing but a miniscule part in the overwhelmingly complex cosmic cycle. They learnt to respect and humbly submit themselves to the forces of nature. Often praying and requesting them to be merciful to them. In turn they drew enormous amount of energy from nature, not because they understood nature, which they seldom did, but because they chose not to oppose nature. They submitted themselves to the cosmic dance and called it their faith. Little did they modify their animal like existence, but lived blissfully as they never suspected that the supreme force in action would desert them.
The men of mind were the ones, who observed the patterns, but were too intelligent enough to think what they should do if in case this pattern breaks. So they channelized their energy in finding ways to trap nature, make use of its patterns to amass resources. Ever suspicious of nature, they disconnected themselves from it, and called all their actions as their own smartness. But time and time again, they felt exhausted as they had to continuously live in a state of preparation, but as time went by, thought themselves to be too big to let themselves surrender to nature. They got trapped in their own actions and fear became their faith.
Gradually men of heart became courageous, men of mind became fearful. ‘Men of mind’ built institutions, rules, regulations, codes and texts, to keep ‘men of heart’ in their control and claimed share in all that have been gifted by nature to ‘men of heart’. ‘Men of heart’ appear to be enslaved and ‘Men of mind’ claim superiority. Alas! Little do they realize that, all that is required for the ‘Men of heart’ is a little faith, and they will leap to their freedom, and ‘Men of mind’ have to let go of their fear, but how can they? For that is their faith.
Like other animals man lived in the wild; essentially in ‘groups’, given his ‘extraordinary’ physical abilities in comparison with some of his wilder counterparts like elephants and lions. Unlike other animals which lived in herds, man was always afraid, afraid of the unknown; he lived in fear, always prepared for a calamity.
Other animals, especially, the elephants, which also lived in groups, surprisingly exhibit excellent understanding of their individual strength, yet respect the discipline and seemingly have a greater understanding of living in a group. At times of adversity, the stronger among them stood at the rim and protected the weakest at the center.
This was not the case with humans, at times of adversity; they tend to push the weakest to the rim and the smartest (. . . Note usage ‘smartest’ and not ‘strongest’!!) among them tend to stick to the center, receiving minimal blows. This surprisingly had continued to this day. Fear always had dominated human behavior. Those who shielded themselves from an impending danger behind the backs of weak have come to be called as smartest.
But this was not the case always in human history, there had been moments when men of great honor, displayed enormous courage in the face of danger and did great deeds to protect the weak. They respected the idea of collective living and by hard work, perseverance and sacrifice made themselves stronger. Like elephants they realized their individual strength yet recognized the benefits of collective living, and took upon themselves, the task of protecting the young, old and the weak.
Having said that, as mentioned earlier, fear always dominated human behavior, so it’s not surprising that the ‘smartest’ greatly outnumbered ‘strongest’. Also the smartest assumed that, it’s impossible for them to become ‘strongest’, given the hardship and sacrifices one has to undergo to gain strength. Other immediate necessity for the ‘smartest’ was a mechanism which can continuously supply ‘strongest’, yet prevent the ‘strongest’ from turning against the ‘smartest’. This gave rise to three great innovations of the ‘smartest’ in human society.
1. Glorify the ‘Strongest’, make them heroes, make legends on them, make them Gods; this will motivate more and more to be ‘strongest’.
2. Make set of rules and regulations which the ‘Strongest’ have to adhere to. Make them a little impossible to adhere to, so that the ‘Strongest’ will remain in a state of self doubt always.
3. Third and most important, make it an offense (preferably punishable by death) to turn against one’s own society and its ideas.
Now if you have caught the nerve of this article by now, you will realize that the above mentioned ‘innovations’ are not innovations at all, in the first place. These are already rules of the wild. There was no need to write them down as a mandate. The wild functions the same way, the animals to this day obey the same rules. A closer observation of the wild will reveal the following.
1. The strongest among the herd is revered by the other animals in the herd.
2. The strongest always by their own will protect the weak.
3. To be weak, unable to fight for the combined cause is surely a way to death in an animal herd.
Isn’t it revealing that, the ‘Smartest’ just lifted them off nature, tweaked them a little and took upon themselves, the task of supervising and enforcing their adherence. Because for them; that’s easier and probably their only way of survival. This concept pervades every human organization existing today, be it a society, village, country or a faith. The ‘Smartest’, the most afraid, are the ones who shout the loudest when the rules are questioned.
We observe, the courageous few define ‘Strongest’ and the largely fearful define ‘Smartest’. The core factor defining the human behavior being ‘Fear’, it becomes essential to understand fear.
Going back to the origins, during evolution all of human race had a similar psychological setup, at some point of time in evolution, like other animals man gained the ability to observe, remember and recall. Man started observing patterns in nature, and was soon to suspect & decode those patterns, like the winter and summer solstices, the monsoons, the seasons etc. Exactly at this time, there evolved two kinds of men; psychologically, the men of mind and the men of heart.
The men of heart were the ones that were soon to realize that they were nothing but a miniscule part in the overwhelmingly complex cosmic cycle. They learnt to respect and humbly submit themselves to the forces of nature. Often praying and requesting them to be merciful to them. In turn they drew enormous amount of energy from nature, not because they understood nature, which they seldom did, but because they chose not to oppose nature. They submitted themselves to the cosmic dance and called it their faith. Little did they modify their animal like existence, but lived blissfully as they never suspected that the supreme force in action would desert them.
The men of mind were the ones, who observed the patterns, but were too intelligent enough to think what they should do if in case this pattern breaks. So they channelized their energy in finding ways to trap nature, make use of its patterns to amass resources. Ever suspicious of nature, they disconnected themselves from it, and called all their actions as their own smartness. But time and time again, they felt exhausted as they had to continuously live in a state of preparation, but as time went by, thought themselves to be too big to let themselves surrender to nature. They got trapped in their own actions and fear became their faith.
Gradually men of heart became courageous, men of mind became fearful. ‘Men of mind’ built institutions, rules, regulations, codes and texts, to keep ‘men of heart’ in their control and claimed share in all that have been gifted by nature to ‘men of heart’. ‘Men of heart’ appear to be enslaved and ‘Men of mind’ claim superiority. Alas! Little do they realize that, all that is required for the ‘Men of heart’ is a little faith, and they will leap to their freedom, and ‘Men of mind’ have to let go of their fear, but how can they? For that is their faith.
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