http://ram-madhav.blogspot.in/2014/06/going-beyond-panchsheel.html
Very well written and we need not stick on to the
past on any issue because life is always happening in the now and in the
present context, everything is contextual/situational. There is no point in
following only rituals or following things ritualistically in any domain of
life. But unfortunately from individuals to institutions to international
diplomacy /relations follow this and lead their followers to lead a shallow
life.
There is also no point in patting and pronouncing
that relations are normal as if it is an achievement by itself, this applies to
all relationships. I can get into examples and detailed logical explanations
for all the points indicated above.
For want of space and time I would like to sprinkle
around some quotes of Dean Hannotte, a
great Psychological Counselor and Author
which will convey many factors, more lucidly, connected with such issues
as discussed in this article:-
1. " "Normal" is just a euphemism for
"lacking ambition".
2. "All euphemisms grow into damnations".
3. "Don't read history and weep. Create the
future and laugh".
4."There's never a right attitude for taking
the next step. Just get there."
5."All political correctness is a desperate
attempt to avoid analytical effort."
6"Power leads to abilities. Powerlessness leads
to despair. Which one is better?"
7."People always think they know as much as
they need to. Until, suddenly, they don't."
8."A genuine education requires forgetting old
falsehoods more than learning new truths".
9."If you need to be unconventional,
unconventionality will find you and lead you by the hand."
10."If
you don't believe you can do something, you'll never find out whether in fact
you could have."
11."It's better to long for something authentic
than to accept something false and call it "good enough".
12. "To be well-adjusted means that when
monolithic social forces change capriciously, you comply robotically".
13."You're welcome to join the conversation,
but please leave your guns, your umbrellas, and your citations at the
door".
14."Running away is always the easiest tactic,
isn't it? Unfortunately, as a strategy, it's about as effective as saying,
"I quit."
15."Dead historians didn't understand the
issues we're now facing. With every advance in psychological sophistication,
recorded history becomes less relevant".
16."Enlightened self-interest drives all human
progress. So don't worry, just act in your own self-interest. You owe that much
to all the people who will learn from the example you set."
17."All
social evolution is a work in progress. All innovations start out
"half-baked". It takes generations for any progressive movement to
understand what the hell it is really trying to do".
18."Lord Acton said "Power tends to
corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Adlai Stevenson said
"Power corrupts, but lack of power corrupts absolutely." Dean says,
"Power empowers. Next question."
19."It's easy to believe our existing skills
and insights fully prepare us for life, but actually new situations that
require genuine growth can pop up at the worst times and impose the most
inconvenient punishments."
20."Those who are really smart understand that
in disputes it's better to be wrong than to be right. If you're wrong you have
an opportunity to learn something. Only people who are allergic to learning
need always to feel they're "right".
21."I have a feeling that lots of discoveries
are awaiting our notice. Not only in the hard sciences, but all around us. In
how we think, how we relate, how we treat one another, how we view progress. We're
just beginning to become civilized"
22."I enjoy cherry picking passages in books
that bolster my own conclusions. But what really helps me is hearing the views
of others who are able to defend their opinions and, if I'm lucky, teach me
something I simply hadn't considered before".
23."All serious life changes make you feel like
a fish out of water at first. Then, once you've learned to crawl on dry land,
you'll realize how much you have evolved and how much more alive you feel. And
you'll never go back to living in the water again."
24."Many
inventions are dreamed up because they reflect the best our imagination has to
teach us about ourselves. When it comes to choosing between discovering more
about the world around us, and inventing a better world we can build with our
own hands and hearts, I vote for imagination".
25. "Ideologies aren't science. They're contour
maps of human ambivalence and confusion, what people feel when they don't know
what to think. People who take ideologies seriously are the first ones to
conclude that human nature is so intractable that a science of human nature is
impossible".
26. "When high school football teams pray for
victory, all they're doing is saying, "We deserve victory more than the
other guys." There is never any evidence offered, and for a very simple
reason. They know that imaginary friends in the sky aren't in the least
offended when you lie to them."
27. "We should applaud all progressive
movements. All negative and foolish practices need to be opposed, especially
religious and economic. There is no one "war for the future". There
are millions of people all doing their best to make different sorts of
contributions. It's not a song, it's a symphony" .
28. "Archimedes said, "Give me a lever
long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the
world." In psychological terms, this means: Find the biggest issue around
and give your life to it. Whatever small effect you have will eventually have
large effects on all the lesser issues out there."
29. "Do you need proof that social progress
comes from personal growth rather than political might? People who are skilled
and insightful solve their problems peacefully and with an eye to satisfying
all disputants. Governments solve their problems like reptiles: whoever is
bigger and stronger wins. Do the math".
30. "People confuse memory with consciousness.
They often say, "I tie my shoes unconsciously." And this is partly
why Freud's oxymoronic theory of an "unconscious consciousness"
appeals to the gullible. I believe we're perfectly conscious when we tie our
shoes. But it's such an unimportant event that we habitually remember none of
the details afterwards."
31."I know that people do bad things. But that
does not mean there are bad people. When a child thinks, "That man did a
bad thing! He's a bad man!" he's falling into the philosophical error of
reification, the big brother of deification. His mind perceives a true fact,
but his heart blows it out of all proportion; his emotions have defocused his critical
thinking. This cocoons him in a false sense of security, since he mistakenly
believes that he now knows everything he needs to know about what he has just
experienced. It makes him not more, but less, capable of dealing with that
flawed man in the future"
32."The world is full of talented and bright
people who fail to create anything of lasting importance to others but who
nevertheless lead interesting and occasionally instructive lives because they
insist on demarcating themselves from social traditions. Unlike conventional
people who settle down early in life, forget their dreams and wait to die,
people who are true to their human potential are alive for the duration. They
ask questions. They change their minds. They are living clumps of froth riding
the crests of ocean waves, occasionally born aloft by a gust of wind to land on
a new perch and view new wonders, while the great ocean beneath slumbers on
unaware."
Also links related to rituals and ritualistic behavior
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