Take everything in the stride

 

At all levels there are cozy clubs with undue or disproportionate privileges.

 

In India, as in many other countries, they are sports persons of popular sports, film stars and politicians who don the roles as legally empowered ministers, social workers, rulers etc. We need to either become one or put up with them.

Take everything in the stride, internalize worthy matters, participate in interesting ones, ignore the irrelevant ones, value the important ones and use the useful ones with gratitude, reciprocation and adequate trade off.

 

 

While the world has been and is looking at more open , more inclusive growth taking along everyone and everything, there may be things very much to our liking and those that are not; things useful for society and those that are otherwise.

 

Showing our anger through sharing in social media gives them enough notoriety which can be misinterpreted or misconstrued as popularity and some are capable of even scrupulously trying to do so , as did some political parties do effectively.

 

It is not that crazy anomalies do not exist even in the much respected (or forced accept) international bodies like the UN where a landless country is a non state observer member and has diplomatic relationships with more than hundred other countries. It has two official citizens and more than 10 k members and 75k volunteers. Well, find out it is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, it was also a member of the club of 118 NAM. Its Prof. Guido de Marco, President Emeritus of the Republic of Malta, was the President of the 45th General Assembly of the United Nations in 1990.  There are permanent observer nations like Palestean and Vatican city.

 

 

"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

 

 

Social media is faceless and egoless platform

 Social media is not meant to be misused to generate controversies or sensationalism as already MSM is in that business and they are big time players in that field.

Nor is social media meant to be always blindly forwarding some items, though there is joy in sharing​​ something that one feels interesting and impelled to share with certain circles of people with similar interests.

However, mere mechanical deluge of posts may stifle debate, stifle thought, and stifle discussion. 

It is as bad as cooked up and biased lies presented as statics in MSM along with pleasant slides of graphs and charts all made to drown in the noise which are used to replace thoughts and ideas. 

Data for the sake of data to create an illusion of activity and thereby mask the inactivity is also used to delude many as recently one political outfit did by splurging tax payers’ money on advertisements in all MSM. 

In this context it becomes imperative to dispel facts and information which get masked by ulterior motives.

On the one hand we accept all sorts of sanitized versions of history written by paid agents and distorians, perverted media profiling and nasty narrations all passed off as popular perceptions and on other hand fanatics who lay claim to everything great and good on earth to only to some ancient Indian scriptures.

Let us instead try to authenticate whatever facts we come across, express our opinions without fear or favor or fervor but with a sense of balance emanating from rational humanism.

We need to use any technology to make life and living better, comfortable, easy, happy, peaceful, useful and more meaningful as we do with electricity.

The Internet and social media are one such wherein everyone must benefit from ego-less expressions, faceless talents and fearless but sensible opinions, preferably not hurting any perceived ideological outfits as more and more people have lost even any sense of humor. 

Anything and everything can be magnified into a controversy and therefore it would be advisable to tread with diplomatic vocabulary.

Life and nature need no ideological approvals

 Life and nature in their entirety have so much to offer while we are busy trying to differ based on all ideologies we nurture.

The more we observe ( unhindered by any precondition including presumptive rationality) and learn to be frank to our own​ ​self ( without any need to please anyone,  get approvals from any) we end up seeing some meaning , some purpose, some importance and some beauty in everything. 

Then we may develop a passion based on those learning and enjoy life as a wholesome package come what may and live through that, sometimes very possessive , at times possessed and may end up seeing the futility of them all leading to a detachment.  

But till we attain that stage we must not revel in presumptive illusions.

Adi Shankara's Bhajagovindam if understood with proper perspective gives in a nutshell some ( not all ) of the essence of vital and intrinsic aspects of life and its journey.

naliniidalagata jalamatitaralaM, tadvajjiivitamatishayachapalam . viddhi vyaadhyabhimaanagrastaM, lokaM shokahataM cha samastam .. 

The life of a man is as uncertain as rain drops trembling on a lotus leaf. Know that the whole world remains a prey to disease, ego and grief.

The above sloka has multiple meanings and hence may be interpreted in many ways. In the internet itself you will find a few hundreds.

consequences

Most historical movements, unlike scientific discoveries and inventions, are the consequences or reactions. Someone spearheads them.

In some cases they deliver something extremely useful for posterity to cherish and in some they become an unending curse for humanity.

Adi Sankara was such a great person that even to understand all that is written by him and about him is beyond the wit of ordinary mortals. But what he delivered was the greatest boon to the world wherein he openly unearthed the fact that everything needed to be argued and debated philosophically, explained rationally and  executed reverentially and anyone had a right to doubt and to question.

He bequeathed to the Western world that religious life includes all of the above and does not or need not constrain itself to one particular or any particular version. 

Ultimately, Advaita is self explanatory philosophy showing that everything outside life is 'a way of life' which one has to merely learn to live.

Political narratives beyond dichotomies

Those scripting any political narrative realize to do away with the outdated dichotomy of Left and Right because life, especially socio-cultural and economic life, has many dimensions each having its own dynamics and in addition there are also those emanating from intersectionality and interactions and all of these manifest themselves with varying degrees of intensity. 

Fortunately life and all its concomitant evolutions happen despite and beyond the blinkered narratives peddled by status quo addicts of trite dichotomies and have made visible various options between, besides, beneath and above those dichotomies, and these may strengthen the wings and enable the discourse to soar into unbiased zones and offer some solutions to many present day problems faced by humanity.

Stories convey a lot

 One among my thousands of interests is to collect or write very short stories, great speeches which convey a powerful and useful message very subtly either with seriousness and/ or humour like stories of Mulla Naseeruddin, Tenali Raman, Akbar Birbal etc .   

Nothing gets an idea across seeing better than real action or reading a good story.

Great stories including epics convey not only many vital and useful tips for life and living, portray contextually the predominant culture, trends, collective social obsessions, attitudes, perspectives, values of the times in which they took place etc.

One writer points out in the West on the topic of fidelity and marriage- transition from polygamy to monogamy, " you can glimpse this transition in the difference between the Iliad- full of fighting between polygamist men- and Odyssey- which features the story of a virtuous Penelope waiting for her ( mostly) faithful Odysseus".

I wanted to portray the issues between the times of Ramayana and Mahabharata but I shelved it fearing the bombardment from the clerisy pseudos.

They must also help readers in addition to learn some new aspect or element of language. I tried a few.

Mere factual , philosophical , analytical and scientific discourses may be of interest to some like me but for many it would be better that the same is spiced with a lot of fiction, anecdotes and all sorts of imaginary stuff. 

Few autobiographical works are made of such stuff. 

I find of late many writers of science and economics have more literary flavour and write excellent romantic prose whereas, unfortunately, literary scholars are focusing more on conveying their point of view that they slack a bit in the literary flavour except a few. ( A phenomenon on which I can give many examples and also the reasons they are so).

http://idiomsidiomsalltheway.blogspot.com/2012/03/17action-is-better-than-mere-talkaction.html?m=0

http://idiomsidiomsalltheway.blogspot.com/2012/03/21enoughjustbarely-enoughadequate-after.html?m=0

http://idiomsidiomsalltheway.blogspot.com/2012/03/18worsen-problem-situationadd-fuel-to.html?m=0

Politics- coelacanths

 Politics especially electoral politics and political outfits  are social coelacanths ( living fossils that have stayed much the same while everything around has changed).

The world is united by imperatives of global economy, military cooperation, matured international understanding

The world is united by imperatives of global economy, military cooperation, matured international understanding devoid of xenophobic exclusivity but respecting for rights of every nation's freedom with humanitarian rights and environmental concerns. Hidden agenda based Ideology peddling institutions need not preach nations.

It is high time to expose the hypocrisy of certain self appointed supranational organizations operating with selective amnesia and collective indifference.

Kudos for the bold statement by EAM. Someone in power had to say this about certain western or vested interest self-appointed supranational organizations strutting around with bossy insolence coupled with selective amnesia and collective indifference.

Intellectual -what it is? Or who it is?

 Intellectual -what it is? Or who it is?

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

One may wonder what relevance does the above quotation have when discussing intellect.

First we need to know what we mean by intellect /intelligence.

That’s why even the most well meaning and super intellectual giants if they fail to grasp reality as it is without any preconceived frames of references end up becoming frustrated /depressed and desperate because very often there are numerous things /events/persons  happen to deliver things which are beyond any intellectual analysis or appropriation.

The possibilities that exist between, beneath and beyond ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ are numerous for intellect to grab and give a name or label.

I remember vaguely reading a translation of a Zen poem titled ‘The logic of non intellectual reality’ if I happen to somehow get it I shall share it [I think it was in one issue of Theosophical Digest published in Philippines]

Intellect/intelligence/intellectual are some of the terminologies which are very often used interchangeably which itself is wrong and I can produce a huge list of things which people mistake for intellectualism.

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/01/intellectual-curiosity.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2012/08/evening-with-sage-by-arthur-isenberg.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/10/super-intelligent-human-beings.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2016/01/dry-intellect-alone-cannot-reveal.html

One of the intellectual giants of this century who had such an impact on youth across the world , I too was a great fan of her, and spent the last few years of her life in mental asylum –the one and only great Ayn Rand.

As for the recent appropriation and branding of Indian intelligentsia, the less said the better.

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2015/10/intelligentsia.html

But whether we like it or not and whatever we may say or do, what is required is sanity and humane approach to deal with any sort of extraneous identity- be it nationality, religion, ideology, race, class etc. The first step in this process is being diplomatic and frugal in words and avoiding provocative statements and inviting controversies.

Creativity -A consistent thinker is a thoughtless person

 

My creativity, if any, is perhaps, merely hidden, as you rightly pointed out, lazily inside the crevices of my brain (sulcus) and cavities of my heart.

 

But my laziness refuses to put in the necessary efforts and invest adequate time to give shape to that creativity.

 

Unfortunately, mere imaginations, dreams and desires cannot deliver results.

 

A consistent thinker is a thoughtless person, because he conforms to a pattern; he repeats phrases and thinks in a groove.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns to look at things in a different way.

Edward De Bono

Man's mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the conventional way of doing things.

Buckminster Fuller

Creativity, as has been said, consists largely of rearranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know. Hence, to think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.

George Kneller

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.

Erich Fromm

when all think alike, then no one is thinking.

Walter Lippman

anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.

Charles Mingus

Minds are like parachutes: they only function when open. Thomas R Dewar

 

https://contentwriteups.blogspot.com/2015/09/prahalada-natya-roopakam.html?m=0

 

Imagination

 ​Here is a nice and wonderful piece. 

​​

Everything, from hard-core facts to hyper fiction made of imagination and dreams, that pops out of the human brain is either a possibility or unrealized reality waiting to get observed, experienced, experimented and used sensibly. 

Though by disposition I am a great fan of philosophical inquiry and recognizing not many things beyond the radar of existing facts or reality, still whenever certain predictions and fictions unfold into reality I am impelled to respectfully pay attention to them.

Besides, it is safer to pack unrealized and till now unknown aspects into pleasant stories.

As a reader I read everything with equal interest. I always believe we can neither deny or defy the importance of anything.

Who knows what are whelved in our sweven!

Really thrilled to know the extent to which human imagination can stretch.

Words cannot replace experience

Words are never the same as the experience or feeling one has or reality one sees, even if very nice portrayal of the linguistic bridges to grasp the unknown are done.

Observing and perceiving anything through concepts, ideologies, prejudices and all existing stocks of frames of references will distort the actuality or reality.

Contradictions.

We suffer from inexplicable contradictions.

Listing and Linking.

If anyone from within our own circle is talented, skilled, achieves we hesitate to praise them and instead start comparisons, LIST what are all the things that went in his/ her favor etc. and wait for decades to recognize.

Whereas, someone who has migrated before teens or during early childhood and achieves something, then suddenly, we start LINKING all sorts of Indian connections and go ga ga about it.

NASA scientist Dr. Swathi Mohan is a celebrated aerospace engineer who has achieved what very few in India would have even dreamt about. But she went to the US when she was one year old, she is an AMERICAN, not an Indian. Worst part is almost all media head narratives were like ' bindi porting or bindi wearing' as if that contributed to her scientific skills or that mattered at all. 

Human values

West is proud of and values its limited past, limited resources maintains them as worthy remnants of their history and 'practices human values' . We have very vast and varied past ( several times greater and a civilization many thousand years older but we have neither valued nor maintained them. When it comes 'to practicing human values' on a day to day basis we may  do better.

While waiting for the IPL match to start and Virus to end

 

 

While waiting for the IPL match to start and Virus to end.

 

When at first the virus hit the world it was a blinder supposedly from bat, but it has clean bowled many. It is also easily clearing all boundaries and creating maximum impact [to use the IPL terminology]. Was it from the blade or slicing it no one knows? However, within a matter of a few weeks many were caught unawares. It took some time for everyone to realize that tackling this virus is a different ball game, which offered no specific approach or run up or practice.  

 

Administrations went all out as the pandemic was all around. They took guard and tried all defenses, wore gloves, protective covers for face, from cover moved onto extra-cover, everyone was asked to stay away at a good length of six feet away. However, gradually, all were running out of ideas. They offered various statistical averages to project their better handling. However, they went on the back foot when confronted with some hard facts.

 

Even the medical fraternity was stumped though they filled the field with all possible diagnosis and treatments. However, at times, there seemed to be no point in many well intended measures as the virus gave a few slips and moved from gully to gully. Some good Samaritans pitched in with all help while some were busy spinning conspiracy theories with silly points, turning the attention from remedies to gossips and breaking hopes.

 

The pace of the spread inevitably forced lock downs. Certain areas were declared as containment zones which were like the crease with a wicket keeper standing close to the stumps, people were cautioned not to leave outside. Many things concerning life were slowly moving into the corridor of uncertainty and so everyone was tentative in attempting to show the full face to drive boldly into any activity and instead settled for gliding past immediate necessities. Everyone knows that when the virus is on its way at great pace it cannot be hooked away, or ducked away or play a Marillier shot, one has to just take the shots of vaccines. Some were also flicking whatever they could get as society on the whole was swinging between protecting life and providing livelihood. Everyone is awaiting economies to bounce back to normal.

However, well covered and padded up to bat against the virus it found the block hole and clean bowled everyone. Scientists also bowl googlies- from transmitted through droplets to drifting through air etc., though initially it was thought to be the work of Chinaman.

‘Hi’s were replaced by ‘byes’ and hesitant glances.

There were crowd catches of paranoid hypochondriacs, especially excessive media focus and social media obsession tried fishing or to cut through an overload of information delivered wide away from the pitch of actual activity and dropped wildly to prey on news hungry crowds who were on the edge of their seats to read the scores, strike rate of infected, cured, dead etc., though, in the story of life no one carries the bat and any innings has to end. They do not realize that studying a follow through cannot help one to predict the trajectory of the ball. The beauty is no one knows when the spell of virus will end.

Many had got seriously infected but it was French cut and were back to take on the field.   

 

It was a belter for online and IT services. It has come to stay firmly and may end up firming up and approving major decisions like a third umpire.

 

While everyone thought as it has come after a century it would be just a 2020 affair, though, it has started to test with its second and third innings. We only wish that this bowler

 

 

Indian Left and Right

 

On March 2^nd 2016 Garry Kasparov posted this in his Facebook page, “I’m enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means! Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty. Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism. Income inequality is a huge problem, absolutely. But the idea that the solution is more government, more regulation, more debt, and less risk is dangerously absurd.”

The Indian Left both by its own actions and as well as by others  has been exposed of all its weaknesses, short sightedness and lack of sense of balance.

Having said that, Indian's right wing too refused to give enough space in "certain terrains/ domains" for rationalism, humanitarian concerns, scientific temperament and outlook. These very weaknesses /things have strengthened the Indian Left.

The right has failed to sieve faith, belief, superstition, rituals, traditions, arts and culture separately there by securing them the necessary identity so that they are ensconced well in their own inherent merits, appeal, attraction and so on rather than having to get approvals and accreditations from some religious authorities and practices with various versions leading to confusions ( the major religions here are not institutionalized like their Western outfits where the fiat​ of the institution is the ultimate authority, unfortunately so).

Academically oriented persons fail to observe reality as it is.

I observe very often that the more academically and intellectually oriented persons fail to observe reality as it is. 

They see, interpret and/or extrapolate everything through the prism of some 'ism' that tunes in frequency with their favorite or favorable ideology. 

Indian film dances

It requires a lot of nerves to pronounce such things to present day audiences who may enter into a war of nerves which may get in your nerves. It requires men with nerves of steel to face them.

Innocent people like me who are a mere bundle of nerves may concede. In fact I feel jittery to do any niraval on a nerval topic which may lead to neurotic reactions. Even in the spirit of atwitter I may not get into it.

If neurologically people take it seriously the afferent movement towards the heart may turn antidromic leading to unexpected tarantistic twists and turns as we see in the Tarantism of Indian films which they call as ' film dance'.

Sometimes as if some caused by a tingling sensation of athetoid movements.

Bias vulnerability

Everyone is vulnerable to their frame of references or ideological obsessions which more often initially even blocks unbiased observation. 

Naturally, the interpretations, narrations, opinions and so on  that follow from such observations cannot be expected to provide any new solution because the focus will get struck in emphasizing and /or justifying their stand on ideology.

The fault is not even in this process as very often this is the inevitable starting line like an hypothesis in science or basis and​ premise in logic but the problem is getting so tightly glued to them within the circle that one cannot get up and see other possibilities or probabilities.

How and what I write

I merely write what cascades in thoughts and feelings. In this case emotions as well with involvement of physical and psychological aspects. All based on observations, reactions to social taboos and trends. 

Then I review to slow down and convert the cascade, which does not care for anything on its way, into a flowing water in which one can observe many things and also retrieve and save small creatures and plants. 

Afterwards I streamline and decorate them with references of scholars and writers whose wisdom enhances the overall ornamentation.

So, in this process hardly thought of publishing in any form. If someone is interested let them do so​.​

Reverse​​ dictionary of idioms

 Just a sample of a reverse​​ dictionary of idioms for non native speakers of English I wanted to write and convey through original and imaginative short stories or some linguistic or rhetorical devices or synonyms or connected words of a particular topic etc.

However, due to lack of time and too many other distractions  I could not continue, but may do so whenever I get free time.

Imaginative story

http://idiomsidiomsalltheway.blogspot.com/2012/03/abide-by.html?m=0

Serious story

http://idiomsidiomsalltheway.blogspot.com/2012/03/17action-is-better-than-mere-talkaction.html?m=0

Usages in contexts which also convey a message

http://idiomsidiomsalltheway.blogspot.com/2012/03/14ultimate-proofacid-test.html?m=0

Alphabetical listing

http://idiomsidiomsalltheway.blogspot.com/2012/03/20frightened-easily-timid-afraid-of.html?m=0

Imaginative story

http://idiomsidiomsalltheway.blogspot.com/2012/03/21enoughjustbarely-enoughadequate-after.html?m=0

Alumni meeting after 40 years

http://idiomsidiomsalltheway.blogspot.com/2012/03/22-after-regular-closing-timeafter.html?m=0

I have a few hundreds written down somewhere.

We need scientific, rational, humanitarian, cosmopolitan civilization with real apolitical concern for environment

 

Communists will use microscope, telescope, stethoscope etc to see and to listen to all faults and shortcomings in everyone else. 

 

They will describe them as motivated practices and ascribe to and project them on their targets.

 

Their fault find could be on anything from

Religions (worshipping Marx is excluded)

 

Political ideologies (including real socialism promoted by non-labelled and non-branded communist circles);

 

Economic systems, they will cry foul against capitalism ( but silently suck benefits from all aspects capitalism);

 

Democracy's shortcomings on  democratic rights ( but never conduct impartial elections in any of their outfits be they students' unions, trade unions, their left over pockets of political outfits);

 

Institutional misuse and inadequacies they will expose but always misuse many academic institutions of higher studies all over the world.

 

The mechanisms of roadside puerile interpretations,  mechanics and communists are similar in that they blame and find fault with everyone else like the​ ​manufacturer, user,  service rendered by previous mechanic  and with these buffers of blame , if at all, they get a chance to do anything at either macro or at micro level with humanity and society , they will ensure both humanity and society are LEFT poorer in many aspects but recharged richer with some slogans, catchy phrases, exaggerated discriminations and ensuring the existence of those exaggerations through extrapolations, perpetuating their putrefied perceptions and puerile interpretations to prop up their petrified ideology which lives in the hearts and minds of luddites.

 

Having said all these, societies must become cosmopolitan enough and comfortable enough not to waste energy and time on trying to defend or deny either of the two extremes Right and Left.

 

Words cannot replace real experience

 

First we need to proceed with clarity or attempt to get some clarity on subjects most parts of which we know only and mostly through assumptions, imaginations, myths, great traditions and cultures, excellent scriptures imbued with means and methods to deal with various aspects of life , anecdotal references ( sometimes passed on as evidences) of / from great ancestors and all of these going on to create useful concepts, philosophical guidelines and so on are all well ensconced in ' words which are injected with great aura or element of wonder ( or uncertainty) with big rooms for  unanswered or unanswerable questions and doubts. 

 

However, none of the above carried through words can replace "REAL EXPERIENCE". 

 

The phrases ' heat of the sun' or ' taste of ice cream' are not the same as experiencing them.

 

Without actual and real experience everything remains like scenes of a film on screen without stories.

 

So, sprinkling terms about concepts, philosophies, great histories or myths, ideas, ideals, stories of achievements and all sorts of thoughts, illusions, and imaginations will only lead to more doubts and apprehensions about the intentions of those using those terms.

 

 

I always fancy quoting this particular verse of Tirumoolar the great Saint. This verse is titled as ‘Kelvi kettamaidal’ which could be translated roughly in this context as ‘ask all questions and remain silent.”

 

VERSE NO.126. முப்பதும் ஆறும் படிமுத்தி ஏணியாய்

ஒப்பிலா ஆனந்தத் துள்ளொளி புக்குச்

செப்ப அரிய சிவங்கண்டு தான்தெளிந்து

அப்பரி சாக அமர்ந்திருந் தாரே.

 

They Walk Into Light of Siva

Ascending thus the steps,

Thirty and six of Freedom's ladder high,

Into the peerless Light of Bliss they walked;

And Siva, the inexplicable, they saw--

Having seen, realized and so stayed. 

 

Voltaire said, “Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is”.

 

 

If a word cloud on Religion is rendered in English that would include at least the following:-

 

Religion; God or Gods or Goddesses; Divinity; Worship; Devotion; Prayers; Religious Scriptures; Sacredness; Sacrifices; Rituals; Traditions; Heaven; Hell; Symbols; Idols; Statues; Reward and Punishment; Virtue and Vice; Sin and Punya [opposite of sin]; Supernatural elements; Social Customs; Cultural activities like Music; Dance; Preaching etc; Great art and architecture; Innumerable literary works; Reverence for Nature and natural elements; Meaning of Life; Origin of Life; Universe; Origin of Universe; Creator; Angels, demons, spirits, wizards and witches; Morality as defined by  certain socio religious mores; Superstitions, Beliefs, Faith, Ferventness, Fanaticism etc; Socially sanctioned and approved norms; Sacred places or specifically assigned places of worship; Debates about  Origin of life and species; Methods of proper living; Mythologies; Miracles; Mysteries; Magic; Epics; Philosophical concepts; Benevolence; Blessing; Grace; Scholarly discussions; Soul; Spirit; Spirituality; Psychological security; Self –Realization; Social cohesion; Reality; Ultimate Truth; Authority; Sanctity; Priests; Saints; Sages; Holiness; Omni present; Omni potent; Scholarly literature; Occult science; Wise men, Popular stars endorsing religious affiliation; Preaching and   Propaganda; Doctrines; Ideologies; Charity; Love; Fear; Humility; Forgiveness; Non violence; Service to humanity; Care and Compassion; Mortality; Immortality; Many more things all ensuring Obsessive Emotional bonding; A Binding Identity so strongly glued that it assigns the very meaning to existence of the individual in a particular society; Sanctifying sex; celebrating  Births and Deaths; Justifying  Wars and Destruction and  Ruins in the name of Religion; Conversions; Rationality; Scrutiny; Science; archeology; ethnography; history; evolutionary psychology; cognitive science; Consciousness; Conscious Awareness; Inner-self; Group Identity; Social bonds; Harmony ; Unknown.

 

The above list is common factor for almost all religions. This list is neither exhaustive nor exclusive to any particular religion.

 

 

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.com/2016/03/spirituality-whole-gamut-of-it.html?m=0

 

 

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.com/2014/09/religion-and-spirituality.html?m=1

 

 

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.com/2014/01/soulself-divinity-awareness-actuality.html?m=0

 

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.com/2015/01/religion-its-evolution-origin-and.html?m=0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awards

 

​​Awards across the globe are always controversial starting from Nobel Prize (well documented several decades ago by Irving Wallace in his book The Prize)

 

 

We must never spoil the day for recipients or givers, instead, just congratulate them.

 

 

Awards generate a very important unintended consequence, that is, the visibility of the recipient to the publicity hungry world.

 

 

Certain exceptions are some realms of science (even here there are too many people in the link from the first person who observed a phenomenon or possibility, the person who conceptualized a hypothesis, a pioneer who discovered/ invented the fundamental aspect, the person who experimented, updated, documented, explained and enabled application, then the technological utilisation of it - case in point which has not got a Nobel Prize and which is the most important thing next only to breath! INTERNET).

 

 

Justin Pollard’s book titled BOFINOLOGY reveals the ugly but real stories behind our greatest scientific discoveries’.

 

 

In sports ( even here on the way before final outcome many omissions and commissions can happen- a single wrong line call in Tennis, a penalty kick in football, LBW decision in cricket).

 

 

Unsung, unrecognised and unrewarded heroes are too many who keep the ocean alive while lashing waves ( the publicity department of the ocean) are admired by all as that frothy, sandy mix of water is what is visible to those on shores.

 

 

We get reminded of John Keats' famous lines in ' Ode on a Grecian Urn’, which says it all, “Heard melodies are sweet, but those UNHEARD ARE SWEETER".

 

 

 

Lessons from history

 

​Learning lessons from history more important than learning history lessons.

 

 

Everything that has ever existed, exists and likely to come into existence is part of evolutionary imperative and in the context and situation during which a particular thing or person or happening was/is in existence must have had/ be having great significance, meaning and impact.

 

 

However, once a particular context or situation evolves into or towards another context then the significance of the thing pertaining to a previous context may lose at least certain amount of intensity of the significance and in some cases totally irrelevant and untenable too. 

 

 

 

Everything has an expiry date, other than certain intrinsic and /or natural imperatives for species survival and existence. In the case of human beings it enlarges beyond the mere physical survival into emotional, psychological, intellectual, socio-cultural aspects of living.

 

 

When status quo addicts and lunatic luddites try to hold onto certain aspects of anything that may not have relevance and try to insist on enforcing them on others then it creates all sorts of disharmony. 

 

 

All religions and cults have had immense impact and imbued human life with lot of important aspects for life starting from proper maintenance of the human body to ensure peaceful rule based ( it was called as morals and ethics) cohabitation of human beings as social animals with a whole gamut of responsibilities, inevitable adjustments, compromises, co-operations, care and compassion as well as  promoting various  values, traditions and cultures which were meant to engage, to entertain, to enhance aesthetic sensitivity, to enlighten ( if that too is possible) and so on and so forth.

 

 

Since, religions and cults contributed to 'many facets' of human need they were confused to be a reference manual and panacea for 'all aspects of all facets for all situations'.

 

 

Every concept, activity, ritual that satisfied the religious edicts were sanctified and everything outside or beside the radius of these religious edicts were considered as sacrilege and met with various types of resistances.

 

 

At the same time it is proven that any amount of places of worship, any amount of prayers, any amount of faith cannot ensure even basic security for survival. 

 

In the past few centuries wars and economic activities have scripted the fate of nations while science, technology, certain types of literature, art, music,  food, tourism have contributed to unite humanity.