Validation and Wisdom

Can we have validation beyond and besides Oriental, Occidental, incidental or accidental values? Can such a validation lead to real wisdom? And what is wisdom?

Every word, every language, every ism, every idea , every validation has gone through a sea change and the only thing we can see is 'change'.

“We live in a changing universe, and few things are changing faster than our conception of it”-Timothy Ferris

Any method of validation must be geared towards a world which offers peace and a conducive atmosphere for unity based on real understanding of the need for cohabitation on this planet of all species and elements of nature.

So, any validation must be fundamentally humanitarian in principle [ so that humane values are prioritized over any ideology or regional or tradition or trend based moralistic strictures], environment friendly in approach  [ for the sake of leaving a livable planet for posterity] and global in perspective [ for the sake of universal applicability wherever or whoever wants to adopt it].

My intention is not to sound over philosophical and dampen any sincere and scholarly attempt by anyone but it is only to ensure that one set of validation to replace another set of validation may not serve any purpose in the long run as it may even inadvertently  generating competitive merits and demerits debates and claims of  complexes etc.

So, any  validation which attempts to attract a greater number of  people , especially youth must factor in many aspects, some of which have been indicated below.

Though , at the outset, we all must accept that there cannot be a please all and fix all [problems ] validation.

In short there is no panacea for all human problems.

Still, it is worth evolving synergetic proposals when we think of validation keeping intact the sensitivities, acceptability  adoptability and the happiness of  as many as possible.

Let us journey through the many aspects to be factored in  and also see why it is necessary to take such a journey?

No event in history in any part of the world, no issue in any socio-political system, no invention in any branch of science, no idea in any philosophical system, no scripture in any religion, no art or literature depicting any cultural or regional traditional flavors, no economic activity impacting human life , no study of  human emotional or psychological  reactions, no geological or ecological changes have happened without some purpose and therefore, it would be wrong to study or evaluate any of them without or out of  context.

Everything, everyone in every domain have  contributed through evolutionary process to the present state of  life as it is.

Therefore, it is no wonder that  from time immemorial these domains namely religions, science, social systems, arts, literature, history, trade [economics],human psychology, geological wealth etc have dominated the arena of discourse and developed technologies too to suit or make optimum utilization of these aspects of human life and mathematics  chipped in to help us decipher the patterns and also project the probable growth trajectory of all these activities.

In a way, most of these domains indicated above form part of every life to some extent ,of course,  with different manifestations and varying degrees of intensities and relative importance, but, all of them are in some way interconnected, interdependent and are interrelated.

Therefore, any meaningful system of validation cannot  sustain if it fails to factor in at least a superficial macro perspective of  all the above vital aspects.

My oft repeated favorite quotes ;-

"The spirit of Advaita is not to keep away from anything, but to keep in tune with everything." -  Swami Chinmayananda

 “In the end nothing less than the whole of everything can be the truth of anything at all”- William James

So, it goes without saying that no specific/particular  approach of  validation can claim greater or superior standing if it restricts itself  to any exclusive ideological identity [however lofty , good and great it may be ] or any constraining cocoon of  confirmation bias based regional, religious or national fervent doctrinal designs.  

After all, we all PICK what we want, what we can and what we are destined to.

We need  a sound  PHILOSOPHICAL approach which creates  synergy  than  seclusion be it termed as Oriental, Occidental, or incidental or accidental .

We can have any categorization and classification for intellectual and academic reference but human life requires a validation that may have wind through all of them and  transcend all that .

We PICK any or every word in any language to define what we perceive, want to project or promote or protect.

Words and languages are some of the tools and techniques used as the frames of references to record and communicate what we manage to understand to posterity.

PICK refers to

Perspectives,

Interpretations,

Contexts and connotations,

Kindles in us-what a word kindles in us.

Everything has its relevance and appeal to different souls at various levels.

That's why we cannot deny or defy the importance of anything or anyone.

No over simplifications or sweeping generalizations.

This has produced statements and literatures like religion without god, philosophy without religion, spirituality without philosophy, two days back TOI central page article God the real liability for spirituality.

Everyone of these statements or articles or books may make good sense too, but then, intellectualization of ( intellectual approach) of everything may not be grasped by everyone and that may be a crude way to exclude some souls from the ambit of enjoying certain aspects of life.

There are many things which may elude any human intellectual approach but may reveal the splendor of life in all its dimensions and dynamics.

 Besides PHILOSOPHY in brief may be defined as below

Provides prompts and perspectives to perceive life ;

Helps understand hidden aspects of life ;

Interprets intrinsic values, inner meanings and inquires into everything;

Lays out ideas to decipher life’s meanings ;

Offers operation manual for many options for open minded people;

Synergizes scientific methods and sensitivities;

Optimizes our sense of interrelatedness and interdependence;

Promotes broader perceptions beyond parochial frames of reference;

Hitches our life beyond many types of identity cages;

Yokes together our passion and compassion to observe dispassionately,

                                                  and to probe into many things in depth.

Every identity that is dear to those who live it and love it and generates lot of  pride and passion that produce great outputs in many fields.

However, such identity must not act as a protective shield to seclude one from appreciating, accepting and assimilating other identities.

  

 “Evolution itself is an open ended and indeterminate process”… “Given the remarkable progress in our understanding of biochemistry, molecular biology, and evolution as a whole … we have failed to develop concepts, ideas, even a language that could capture the dance of this life” - Guy Murchie

We may extrapolate to many other domains the following statement that is made in the context of why human beings give importance to religion.

“Humans have a need for a stable frame of reference. Religion apparently fills this need. In effect, humans crave answers to questions that no other source of knowledge has an answer to, which only religion may seem to answer. However, a sense of free will must be given in order for religion to appear healthy. An authoritarian notion of religion appears detrimental.”- Erich Fromm,

While the music of life produces melodies out of what one likes and loves; the harmony of  living requires many such different melodies.

Real values of life must value life in its totality devoid of any extraneous identity is that possible?

Each life i.e. my life, your life and the lives of all great saints are really speaking very insignificant transient events of a few years-mostly less than 100 in flesh and blood with conscious awareness- compared to LIFE as a whole which has happened some four million years before and may continue for another few millions years hence in various forms, shapes in multiple species expressing its own attributes some of which we have understood, some we are not even aware of.

In fact the whole of Bhagawad Gita, one of the reasons why it became more popular among the 28 Gitas, is that all its 700 stanzas are sand- witched between two words the starting word 'Dharma' and the last word ‘Mama’.

It must be actually read as ‘Mama Dharma’= my dharma- does not mean either Krishna’s or Arjuna’s Dharma, rather  when everyone reads it becomes ‘his Dhrama’ and all these 700 verses [ subjected to all sorts of excellent, enlightening as well as, often used as tool to justifying traditional practices, explanations by many] primarily are about attitudes to be adopted, actions to be executed and reactions to show at different situations taking into consideration the overall welfare of all [humanism].

This manual is more about balancing the intellect and emotions and most importantly through both emotions and intellect, or to be precise in short it talks about the dynamics of synthesis of human nature and nature of Truth [ define as you may- it is the inevitable and intellectual perception and sometimes all logic eluding factor].

Life is all about movements, actions and reactions which broadly could be defined as i.e. Karma but then the Laws [Dharma ] of motions [Karma] of life are very important and therefore prioritized.

But real universal wisdom in my humble opinion may be like this whether sanctioned or sanctified by either social mores or religious morality.

Wisdom is the work shop where works of evolutionary trends and experiences of everyone in it emerge to express wisely the essence of everything to enlighten everyone;

A wisdom which prioritizes living in the present context and along with practicing certain time tested values which have relevance in present context but with global perspective to bequeath a liveable planet, a lovable society with lovely infrastructures and improved living conditions;

A wisdom that evaluates everything and everyone with contextual relevance and based on the inherent attributes or merits of what or who is being evaluated without extrapolating any  presumptions, opinions, judgments, perceptions, expectations, ideologies, doctrines, identity based ideology and so on;

A wisdom which is willing to make minor adjustments, small compromises, spontaneous cooperation to create compatible and conducive atmosphere with humility devoid of any egocentric pride;

A wisdom with the realization and a perspective that must be aware that life is a constant process of learning of the multiple dimensions of many things and the various dynamics of those dimensions involving the constant interaction and interrelationship with everyone and everything.

A wisdom that is willing to accommodate multiple methods or means of life with some overall tolerant attitude embedded on humanitarian concerns towards all human life and environmental or natural concern towards all other species.

A wisdom that gets its clarity of understanding through a churning process that takes into consideration several aspects from the practical to the philosophical to the all fantasies of the mind.

Disruptions with hidden agenda

Selective, obsessive and addictive focus for a brief period on some issue is like a dark passing cloud- a clear indication of some desperate lobby to draw attention and generate sensationalism and controversy.

They try to further project it in global arena  by zooming it, exaggerating it and take the help of some global outfits to endorse it presuming that would provide some credibility.

Unfortunately time and again, they are counter- productive and expose the hidden agenda of the perpetrators and this is the reason why Main Stream Media will lose even the little respect that they are left with.

From Intolerance brigade to Impeachment band wagon there is pattern and obvious bunch of participants.

My only worry in this new low in politics and MMS projection is that there is a subtle pollution of the minds of gullible youth who allow their mind space to be occupied by these passing clouds which neither promise rain during dry season nor protection from direct sun light on a hot summer day.

When there is a clear selective collective outrage we need not ascribe motives but we can be sure that it is an election related the handy work sponsored by some vested interest lobbies like Church attacks at Delhi before Delhi elections, Dadri before  Bihar and award Wapsi before Maharastra.

Another symptom is that all these happen only in BJP ruled states.

My question is what intelligence agencies and HM are doing?

But the collateral damage is unfortunately faced by the ordinary citizens and vulnerable officials

Political Lexicon

Political Lexicon

OPPORTUNITY MEANS

Offering

Payments,

Promoting and

Orchestrating

Reporters to

Twist and

Unleash

Narratives and

Information

To suit

Your politicization through

Media managed selective

Exaggerations and

Atrocious

Nasty

Sensationalism.

Negativity

Last month a lawyer defended a paedophile case of a person as " cross generational physical attraction based  reaction".

The media can screw any issue with twisted terminology or nicely nuanced nasty narrative for various reasons.

Certain activities are inhumane and atrocious no matter who does it or where it happens or who reports about them.

At the same time to obsessively focus on only negative and nauseating news pollutes the mind space of everyone.

Similarly  sharing of  irrelevant confirmation bias serves no purpose otherbrhan unreasonably giving an itch scratching pleasure .

As in the past few years people have been sharing unwanted unauthenticated lies as news, like every flying objects staggers over Tirunellar, Shiva Linga is worshiped somewhere -then by logical extension  are the worshipers of Shiva linga sponsoring terrorism.

I think greatness, goodness and growth happen and manifest irrespective of the number of sponsers or participants.

This does not mean any resignation to accepting things as a fatal consequence.

We need to actively plan, prepare and perform our role but then, there is no need to get obsessively focused especially on negativities unless the trade off is really worth it or the collective obsession can produce some effective result.

There are enough factories out there to manufacture narratives to suit ideological identities or drive political mileage.

Let not people in social media waste their time on negativity or on peddling excessive confirmation bias, instead let us pay attention to these: there are so many nice technological advancements, social and scientific inventions, creative activities, newer persepectives, emerging opportunities etc to enhance Life of everyone.

Indian Diplomacy

"India's diplomacy...Its desire to not to lose any opportunity to lose an opportunity remains intact'.- Swapan Dasgupta in 'India missed yet another opportunity at commonwealth meet' in TOI 22nd April 2018 page 20

Status quo addicts who cannot  get out of their comfort zones which lead to passive acceptance or being a passive witnesses.

Assertiveness is lacking in bureaucracy unless it is for protection or promotion of self interest.

Besides, we are fond of  seeking endorsement by the West why?

We need not exhibit excessive reactions of  either a xenophile or a xenophobe.

By nature and nurture most Indians are humble, simple and humanitarian which is construed as submissive and subdued behavior.

We are not proactively aggressive , we are perhaps aggressive only when we react.

We succumb too much to comfort zones and job security and, are therefore, prone not to take  great risks.

So, even ordinary bureaucrats and officers in any government office will prioritize non-committal cautiousness over  any adventurism and diplomatically avoid taking even the slightest risk and hence no new or bold decision making  takes place.

Any change needs political approval and , in addition , unfortunately, now pay masters' sponsored  media approval too.

This being the case and also the fact that most of our bureaucrats have  emerged out of the education systems which have constantly suppressed pride in nationalism  and native culture which are, of late,  even branded  condescendingly as 'hyper nationalism' by main stream media mafia. 

The fact is Indian diplomats are far more talented and knowledgeable but unfortunately they were  at the mercy of political lobbies and now in addition they are afraid of media mafias.

Besides, most of them are from previous political dispensations where sycophancy alone attracted patronizing favoritism [ read as plum postings].

The die is cast in the mould and neither the petrified mould nor the caste dies in Indian bureaucracy.  

Nostalgic triggers

This makes me cry as my dad was my best friend before my daughter was born.

This shows one aspect of the graph of our innate feelings firmly, i.e. as to how we report and relate to the other person and also how he or she reciprocates in turn.

Relationships are engaging and enjoyable when they are heart to heart but excellently eternal when they are heart to heart beat.

Nostalgic triggers are necessary reminders for hyper emotional connectivity and to remain grounded in gratitude.

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2017/05/cricket-nostalgia-that-was.html?m=0

Great State in grave danger

Great State in grave danger

Mass hysteria has to be fought only through mass education and economic development.

Sir I fully agree this so called false propaganda of Aryan Dravidian divide has been effectively used to brain wash, mesmerize and create a mass hysteria by vested interest groups.

These groups are basically anti- Hindu and anti-national at heart and some of them get overseas funding too.

Their hidden agenda is to fool the gullible public who, unfortunately have not been sensitized or made literate by others through creation of  sensible, impactful, intelligent and tangible, materially  and financially beneficial results delivering counter narratives and activities which could have veered away the majority of the population.

There were isolated islands of individuals and families who migrated to Maharashtra [to be more precise Mumbai for education and job in the late 70s] and after that they did similar thing but only the geography changed they migrated to USA, MIDDLE EAST and SINGAPORE to secure at least their future but they never bothered to contribute back to their own relatives who could not or did not migrate.

Mass hysteria mania manipulators know that any real education or economic development will weaken their status quo and therefore, they will use all their might to sabotage any economic development activity, any education of truth and any other form of entertainment other than films.

Their  modus operandi is stereotyped and obvious it starts with victim hood peddling, regional and linguistic chauvinism and protest against any developmental activity.

If this trend continues then TN will become another Kerala or West Bengal where one can learn, earn, come up in life or improve their status only when they leave the state.

https://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/08/madras-to-me-is.html

Is ORKUT coming back?

Is ORKUT coming back?

Orkut went out in the first place because as per international surveys it had more than 80% of only juvenile stuff and that too of stereotyped sharing.

In my opinion , in a way that was catering to children between 8 to 16 or 18 years and could have continued as a platform for them .

Now, WhatsApp is flooded by more juvenile GM msgs and all sorts negative , humourless memes [mostly stereotyped ones and themes being predicatbly political stuff or some filmy gossip or routine refrains of glories on different religious outfits] .

Actually it is full of FORWARD class who keep forwarding even without reading it. Like some Suresh kumar is brain dead and his kidneys have been available for the past 2 years on WhatsApp!!!

The problem is not with any platform but the users fault and lack of original content.

Almost all platforms are starved of original content.

Like our Indian films and serials, they are caught in a vicious circle where the viewers blame the producers trends and commercial constraints and the producers blame the viewers tastes and demands and as a result we never have serials like Lie to Me, Big bang, Grey's Anatomy, House, Castle, Bold and Beautiful.

We are struck between new nonsense and sensational stereotypes and trite traditions.

We don't have the mentality to allow transition from traditions and tested trends into the terrain of transformation especially in the field of entertainment and social media content.

We  are all aware that everyone is racing  against time without the luxury of  leisure time , except the blessed retired people , and therefore attention span is shrinking  too much that we are going back to Avaiyar the first SMS creator  and Tiruvalluvar the first Twitter creator.

I have been suggesting to our lethargic tourism department to make short documentaries on many  wonderful places in India and its many traditions and cultures like www.nasdaily.com [ what an excellent work that 5 individuals as a team do].

We have  youth with immense potential and energy but without guidance, encouragement and freedom to pursue  their passions.

No doubt the world at present has immense opportunities for those who are street smart and /or focused but then there are equally powerful constraints  of  financial investment  and  socio-religio-cultural presssures.

Controversies -the how and why of them?

Controversies -the how and why of them?

Writing on controversial and sensitive issues is like simultaneously doing tight rope walking, swinging and leaping as trapezium player, shooting arrows and training to avoid bullets.

In the present day there is a highly competitive race to generate controversy  it is indeed a bold attempt to write on an extremely controversial as well as a volatile issue like "RACE".

Because there is a sickening tendency to  cherry pick and twist  certain, observations  and statements even out of reports of ordinary facts and information.

It is so bad that even auto spell check mostly does not allow the word 'Humane'.

So,  it is really welcome that Gautam Adhikari has ventured to write is column about one such controversial issue  in today's TOI Chennai edition and I am also happy that he quotes from 'Metaphors We Live By' written by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson

https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/just-graffiti/this-thing-called-race-from-america-to-wakanda-bouncing-white-boys-at-a-movie-theatre-tell-a-new-story/

My rejoinder below as comment is more of an observation on the root causes of such vexed issues that  disturb humanity periodically and at regular intervals  and this comment is rather long as usual spiced with many links and sublinks because I feel we must address root causes rather than jumping to offer quick fix remedies or offering sweeping statements or sermonizing.

While almost no aspect of the issue racism can be justified on any ground it would be hypocritical to deny that it exists .

However , unfortunately human perceptions and perspectives have not matured to evolve to implement impartial frames of references at least in the domain of social cohabitation as a species to share the natural  resources and opportunities for survival with normal humane compassion.

We cannot solve any wrong doing or  problem by denying  certain obvious facts, nor can we correct any historical blunders through histrionic reactions.

Evolution of civilization as well as civilized evolution both depend on adaptation, adjustments, accommodation and assimilation of multiple ways of life and valuing the verity and virtue of variety.

It is sign of immaturity as well as symptom of  sick mentality to get cocooned in identity cages avoiding intruders and restricting migrations.

It is equally bad and sad when terms or words or labels like 'liberal' that refer  to some lofty  ideal are appropriated by  some self proclaimed vested interest groups as a batch of self certification.

It is equally bad and sad when terms or words or labels like ' racist' or ' sectarian' are wantonly assigned to certain outfits again by vested interest groups to engage in brain washing techniques to manipulate the narratives.

Certain inevitable aspects of life are accretions that act as both a protective carapace as well as an extraneous luggage which may not be not intrinsically necessary to live a life like certain identities that emanate out of socio-cultural , religious , political, regional, linguistic affinities. There is nothing wrong even feeling proud about such identities because they , very often, define our personalities too and are inevitable part of our  personality but  what is more important to have the maturity to acknowledge everyone has  a right to wear a proud batch of their own identity without mocking at or hurting others' identities.

While all of us feel the need for unity  what unity needs is felling for all by all.

Unless we accept facts and realities, willing to include every human beings with all his/her strengths and weaknesses ; shed our strong prejudices [though difficult at times] ; appreciate different identities and proactively promote acceptance of differences ; kick off xenophobic  attitudes; inculcate tolerance and compassion as inevitable values,; value variety to vindicate unity we may not be able to get rid of divisive designs of vested interest lobbies.

https://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2018/01/oneness-eternal-maze.html

https://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2018/03/life-is-all-about-synergy-and-synthesis.html

Unfortunately, unintentionally, unconsciously we may all end up extolling the wrong things. Both our individual self and social self are to a large extent shaped by how we relate with our circumstances and how our contexts relate with us.

Cognitive neuroscientist Bruce Hood's exploration of the building blocks of what we experience as the “self” in "The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity'

Amazon review of the book runs  excellently as , "Most of us believe that we are unique and coherent individuals, but are we? The idea of a "self" has existed ever since humans began to live in groups and become sociable. Those who embrace the self as an individual in the West, or a member of the group in the East, feel fulfilled and purposeful. This experience seems incredibly real but a wealth of recent scientific evidence reveals that this notion of the independent, coherent self is an illusion - it is not what it seems. Reality as we perceive it is not something that objectively exists, but something that our brains construct from moment to moment, interpreting, summarizing, and substituting information along the way. Like a science fiction movie, we are living in a matrix that is our mind.

In The Self Illusion, Dr. Bruce Hood reveals how the self emerges during childhood and how the architecture of the developing brain enables us to become social animals dependent on each other. He explains that self is the product of our relationships and interactions with others, and it exists only in our brains. The author argues, however, that though the self is an illusion, it is one that humans cannot live without.

But things are changing as our technology develops and shapes society. The social bonds and relationships that used to take time and effort to form are now undergoing a revolution as we start to put our self online. Social networking activities such as blogging, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter threaten to change the way we behave. Social networking is fast becoming socialization on steroids. The speed and ease at which we can form alliances and relationships is outstripping the same selection processes that shaped our self prior to the internet era. This book ventures into unchartered territory to explain how the idea of the self will never be the same again in the online social world." 

The author does all these while analyzing the biography of the most paradoxical character .Howard Hughes, at once a legendary aviator, movie mogul, tycoon, and socialite, and a reclusive billionaire housebound by his deathly phobia of dirt. He was a fearless aviation pioneer who set and broke countless records, yet he remained terrified of dying from germs. Hughes spent his final days unbathed, dressed in rags, with long sticky hair, curling nails, and the remnants of five hypodermic needles in his arms. He was worth $2 billion!!

Reality is neither any axiomatic certainty nor is it a frozen faith to be scrupulously followed by blinkered believes operating within fixed fences or identity cages but it is mostly contextually shaped by relationships and how we relate to others and things and environment etc . No human being can be know all or omniscient personality to dictate anything to the rest but we all need to respect certain time cherished and time tested values for the good of everyone.

All media persons must realize that  the world has evolved beyond and besides stereotyped and homogenized narrow  labels  left and right.

Identities of all hues while they enable creating social groups at the same time enfeeble options for universal acceptance.

https://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2018/01/healthy-wings-needed-to-soar-beyond.html

The whole gamut of identity -its veneration and votaries of its politicization

https://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2017/08/identity-root-cause-of-many-problems.html

https://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2016/02/unity-variety-and-i-identity-in-middle.html

Differences are

Inevitable;

Variety is

Inherent and

Synergy is

Indispensable to

Offer

Nicely the Oneness of all. 

https://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2016/12/division-and-oneness.html

 “In the end nothing less than the whole of everything can be the truth of anything at all”- William James

 “We live in a changing universe, and few things are changing faster than our conception of it”-Timothy Ferris

 “There is no tomorrow. There is only a planet turning on its axis, and a creature given to optimistic fancies”-Robert Brault

 “Evolution itself is an open ended and indeterminate process”… “Given the remarkable progress in our understanding of biochemistry, molecular biology, and evolution as a whole … we have failed to develop concepts, ideas, even a language that could capture the dance of this life” - Guy Murchie

 “Humans have a need for a stable frame of reference. Religion apparently fills this need. In effect, humans crave answers to questions that no other source of knowledge has an answer to, which only religion may seem to answer. However, a sense of free will must be given in order for religion to appear healthy. An authoritarian notion of religion appears detrimental.”- Erich Fromm.

In the end media integrity must be emphasized over press freedom.

Matured and diplomatically  worded reporting of facts must be emphasized over manipulative controversy generating and sensationalism and scandal peddling  journalism.

Idea of an Ideal India

                              “Idea of an Ideal India”

"The spirit of Advaita is not to keep away from anything, but to keep in tune with everything." -  Swami Chinmayananda

 “In the end nothing less than the whole of everything can be the truth of anything at all”- William James

All these three terms have to be very clearly defined, at least with legal fraternity conducting it, i.e. Idea, Ideal, India.

Without clarity in definition it is difficult to proceed based on wishes, conjectures and vague assumptions.

Definitions are also in peril , especially with  professional lawyers and main stream media personalities [ the two experts of terminological terrorism] around.

I am not saying this out of any bias, but because recently a combo of lawyers and journalists have given a new definition for pedophilia as ' cross generational physical attraction'.

They can kill everything with their verbal narratives, and sometimes, worse still, these self acclaimed intellects act as mass opinion molders for the gullible public.   

Debates with differing views are conducted with lot of dignity and panache in BBC. I shall give just one link to show how it is done even on very controversial topic without politicizing, sensationalizing, or extrapolating it with any exterior influence or propagating it with any ulterior motive or hidden agenda.

Besides, ideas too,  like everything else emerge and evolve in due course not necessarily sponsored by any individual or group but by the exigencies of life’s imperatives and as a result of the churning process of life and ends up injecting meaning to life itself.

The individual who delivers those ideas or the group that espouses such ideas are just the privileged and trust worthy means or tools.

It is ideas whose time has come and in certain cases it is hastened due to excessive depravity, crisis or damage that want of such ideas can cause.

How to have a dignified debate or discussion? [You may listen to it at your leisure time]

Very interesting group discussion on evolution especially with reference to gender

The Darwin Debate: Steven Pinker, Jonathan Miller, Steve Jones and Meredith Small - BBC

Evolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjJAwbc5IaE

Coming back to the very interesting topic ‘Idea of ideal India’, and unfortunately I don’t have the luxury of changing the topic as ‘Idea for a greater or better India’.

However, I request, the organizers, if possible to slightly ensure contextualizing the topic as ‘Idea of ideal India at the moment’ as that would not imply there was never an ideal India before and also ensure the speakers to confine to context rather than resurrecting selectively historical events or issues or individuals, though those things could be very spicy but not in Chennai’s heat.

In fact the most ideal thing is not even to confine the idea of a nation by identifying it to a real estate space in atlas with a name but to the real contributions it has made, makes and its willingness and ability to create conducive atmosphere to others everywhere to make similar contributions or at least enjoy the benefits of such contribution for the sake of all species inhabiting a planet called earth.

Hence forth for reasons of brevity let us confine the ideas and ideals to human species.

When we look from any perspective at the functioning real world out there, we know, does not allow practically a very conducive and cooperative atmosphere for various reasons both justifiable and otherwise.

So, this dichotomy of natural variety and the inability to create unity bothers humanity.

However, if we observe without any bias there are certain aspects, areas of life and things that unite and generate enthusiasm among people everywhere. They can be broadly summarized as:-

The benefits of systems of science further enhanced through tools of multiple technologies ; the systems of economic developmental activities and the benefits that they deliver; the humanitarian approaches to social systems; the systems of spiritual aspects and philosophical concepts of religious sermons that contribute to the betterment of life; various systems of  artistic expressions like painting, literature, music, dance and so on that help to manifest many human aspirations and imaginations; multiple systems of optimum generation and better utilization of natural resources and energy; different systems of  agricultural growth; myriad systematic ways of preparing  food;  certain fundamental humane  value systems and pleasant attitudes common to whole of humanity etc.

There is one common thing for all the above i.e. the word system.

So, if some systems are in place then competition is a healthy cooperation, cohabitation leading to comfort and not a conflicting confrontation.

If systems are in place then the scope for individual or group whims and fancies mutilating it are minimized, even if it cannot be totally avoided.

Each system generates its own beliefs, isms, ideology leading to the inevitable identity.

This is a vicious circle which leads us back to square one i.e. Varieties of identities trying to dominate and in the process homogenizing for uniformity rather than contributing to unity.

So, it seems more complicated but then if we make a ven diagram of the statements above and leave out the circle of systems and do not bother about generators of systems and resulting isms, beliefs and so on. Then the items that stand out are what humanity actually need and want.

However, unfortunately we create conflicts and confrontations clinging on to the generators and the result, making dubious claims and appropriating credit for or assigning labels and worse still look out for numerical strength to justify especially through predominantly two wheels Politics and Religion and propagate everything as if they run on only these two wheels.

We give more than due importance to politics and religion and try to look at, perceive and portray everything and everyone only through these two prisms of politics and religion.

Let us recapitulate the items that stand out which are what humanity actually need and want:-

Science; [electricity has no political identity or religion]

Economic benefits; [currency has no political identity or religion]

Humanitarian approaches; [Kindness has no political identity or religion]

Spiritual aspects and philosophical concepts of religious sermons that contribute to the betterment life; [Helping and sharing with others have no political identity or religion]

Artistic expressions like painting, literature, music, dance and so on; [the sound of music or the color of a painting have no political identity or religion]

Better utilization of natural resources and energy; [Sun light has no political identity or religion

Agricultural growth; [plants and trees have no political identity or religion]

Food; [Coffee or a fruit has no political identity or religion]

Humane values; [compassion has no political identity or religion

Pleasant attitudes [helping a child or a old person has no political identity or religion] etc.

So, in this context what an ideal India needs is not refrains of [repeated references to] its past glory [which has survived and shall survive at any cost] nor restless anti-nationalism masquerading as revolution and freedom of speech to restrain ideological emancipation of Indian youth to benefit from multiple options as global citizens with broader perspective and act as ambassadors with pride of ancestry and hope for the future rather than sulk under the umbrage of  projected and exaggerated victim hood [whose sponsors have a political agenda] while  media which prioritizes sensationalism over sense propagates it.

All these negative influences want to leave the youth in suspended animation in vacuous inanity or inane vacuity so that the sponsors can fill in that vacuum or feed into that inanity with their ideology.

Idea that need to be emphasized for an ideal India are governance imbued government;

Policy driven governance;

Execution and delivery of policies;

Economic development as a result of those executions and delivery ;

Deliveries of policies becoming the focus of  parliamentary debates and discussion;

Parliament debates not to be misused to settle political scores;

Political scores not to be projected over everything else by main stream media;

Main stream media learning something known as positive aspects and contributions by India, Indians and for India;

Indians must stop giving too much of importance to main stream media and instead try to savor and share all the benefits of positivism through social media;

Social media to emerge as a mass moment to ensure all the above are put in place as a system;

That system will  result in positive economic development and social welfare oriented activities leading to a better India. 

It is actually good and healthy to have debates and discussions with people with various and different ideas and not pronounced biases, especially the ones scrupulously nurtured through outdated ideological identities [ideologies which deserve to be kept in the attic of a museum for fossil genetic samples- especially the breed of leftover Indian Left not the real socialist Left of the West].

There is a world of difference between exchange of ideas, thoughts and reasons on one side  and ideology based masturbation of opinions ensconced in pleasant vocabulary on the other side.

So, it would be better that participants speak with conviction and clarity, and courage born out of them, which may not necessarily be liked by all, but will motivate thinking and not generate and instigate controversies.

Besides, whatever idea that is envisaged to be made as a suggestion in good faith must not be too idealistic and thereby becomes practically not executable and hence, every idea proposed in any domain of activity must look into ground realities.

Otherwise, they will only remain as sound policies only on paper or end up as noisy theoretical headlines for debate and empty political rhetoric.

First, policy framers as well as ideas suggesting people must have a clarity about what is meant by ground reality.

Preferably  ground reality must include or at least create conditions to generate synergy between feasibility factors region or sector wise and the necessary changes required to be adopted to globally compete.

All said and done, no nation can afford to either haughtily or out of xenophobia or any ideology think of either growing or functioning in isolation however, great or large it may in its real estate area or its natural resources or its strategic geographical location or its dominant military or economic or technologically supremacy.

More and more, the world as a whole, and more so individual nations are being pushed towards the inevitable  realization that no nation can function in isolation in a intricately and intrinsically inter-connected life where the planet earth [ which by itself is wrongly named though more than 70% of it is water] is seen as single entity where everyone has some role to play as global citizen with pride in one's national identity.

Ideas must not pander to any ideologically confirmation biases but on the contrary it must an exercise where multitude of ideas must be collated to generate some sort of synthesis and synergy offering optimum benefit to humanity as whole in the long run.

I always feel that there are some wise words handed down to us over the centuries which must be running in the back ground to remain rooted in humility and certain time tested vital values.

So, in a sense all ideas must be seriously studied and whenever necessary some ideas must be shed for a humane evolution of life.

Here are some of vital words of wisdom :- 

  “We live in a changing universe, and few things are changing faster than our conception of it”-Timothy Ferris

 “There is no tomorrow. There is only a planet turning on its axis, and a creature given to optimistic fancies”-Robert Brault

 “Evolution itself is an open ended and indeterminate process”… “Given the remarkable progress in our understanding of biochemistry, molecular biology, and evolution as a whole … we have failed to develop concepts, ideas, even a language that could capture the dance of this life” - Guy Murchie

 “Humans have a need for a stable frame of reference. Religion apparently fills this need. In effect, humans crave answers to questions that no other source of knowledge has an answer to, which only religion may seem to answer. However, a sense of free will must be given in order for religion to appear healthy. An authoritarian notion of religion appears detrimental.”- Erich Fromm,

 विद्या ददाति विनयं विनयाद्याति पात्रताम् ।

पात्रत्वाद्धनमाप्नोति धनाद्धर्मं ततः सुखम् ॥ ५ ॥

vidyA dadAti vinayaM, vinayAdyAti pAtratAM |
pAtratvAddhanamApnoti, dhanAddharmaMtataH sukhaM || 5 ||

(true/complete) knowledge gives discipline[humility], from discipline [humility] comes worthiness, from worthiness one gets wealth, from wealth (one does) good deeds, from that (comes) joy.

This particular quote is an outer shell of the egg which contains these:-

"All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants”- Isaac Newton

 Shakespeare once said “I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people”.

William Lyon Phelps puts it, “One of our secrets of life is to keep our intellectual curiosity acute”. 

Or as Thomas H. Huxley says, “Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.”

With this composition of the team I am not sure whether we can expect to get any ideas at all which can be collated to the idea of India itself, leave alone ideal India.

It is actually good to have debates and discussions with people with various and different ideas and not pronounced biases.

Polarity principle is inherent in nature; identity is also inevitable aspect of evolution. 

But nurturing polarization and creating divisions are negative aspects leading to puerile perceptions based on petrified ideologies and putrefying the very thought process with senseless slogans and this is precisely these lefties are known for.

They exaggerate differences and instigate an imagined victim hood projection.

Importance of definition

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2015/10/definitions-and-debates-too-much-of.html

Inevitability of evolution in everything

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2016/02/evolution-is-marvelous-map-of.html

What is wrong with the left?

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2016/03/left-isms-traditions-human-nature.html

Unity and Variety

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2016/02/unity-variety-and-i-identity-in-middle.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2016/03/real-values-of-life-must-value-life-in.html

 http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2016/02/indian-economics.html

How you define decides what you need as well as what you want

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2016/02/meetings-need-not-be-boring-why.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2009/04/i-love-india.html

I suggest reading Dr. S.Radhakrishnan’s ‘Idealist View of Life’.

We must also be open enough to entertain works similar to the following in Indian context like ' What Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today’s Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable' and 'THIS IDEA MUST DIE' both by  John Brockman

 

and 'Globalized Wisdom of the XXI Century' by Federico Sulimovich