We are now, more or less, very much used to these types of offer. In fact, we are even not ready to look at ‘straight-forward’ deals! Simple transactions seem insipid! And now with the recession driving away consumerism from people, restoring confidence through stimulus packages, has to contain some kind of offers, freebies, or ‘get-way-with-it’ sort of deals!
When we get ‘one’ free, what do we get in the bargain? Just the free-bee? Is it trouble-free, or is it troubles itself for ‘free’? Because, there is a saying “Nothing comes free in life”… (so, there could be trouble too, accompanying that ‘free’ item, in disguise?!)…
But that “nothing” if taken in a deeper sense is the space for everything (that comes from pioneers/founders of the concept and term “lateral thinking” or that ‘out of box thinking’.
So, if we are not prepared for “everything” and anything, it is perhaps trouble indeed, and for free! Karma?? (winks!)
In a lighter vein, those who like to seek win-win situation, would like to sign of ‘deals’ like this…
(imaginary conversations, fictitious instances)
Example-1
A prospective Borrower: Sir, I am interested to know about various types of loans you offer.
Banker: What types of loans are you specifically interested in, sir?
Our prospective borrower: Sir, all those types of loans which are covered under your “Loan Waiver Schemes”..
Banker: ? ? ? ? (blinks!)
Example-2
A would-be bridegroom: Ah! At last, after a lot of girl-seeing, searching, seeking, person-to-person chats, e-chats, etc, I have found out a bride that suits me well!
Our groom’s friend: Oh! That’s great!
Our groom : what’s Great about it?
Friend: you see, you are sooooo gooood at ‘grating’ others, and then blending them to suit you, to then weave them ‘seamlessly’ into your type! A good techie that you are at that!
Our groom: Oh no! This time, it is not about grating you see. So, I am really not that Great! It is just that I found this girl to be good at Logic. So it is very easy to ‘buy’ a divorce, from her,… just in case….. you see….. without much hassles….. you know what I mean….. Oh! Gone are those days, when they stick like those blood sucking leeches, thrust upon us by primitive surgeons. Now it is laparoscopy , a simple key-hole surgery, even leaving no scar at all!
Fiend (Oh! Pl forgive my mis-spelling, it should be ‘friend’ in need, in deed too!): Yeah! I now get it. A perfect match, is just that! A mutual benefit scheme, a win-win situation.
(The friend hums the old song “Kya yahi pyaar hai…”, our groom joins in duet-chorus “Hahn yahi pyaar hai”)….
Now, I wonder, “kya yahi out-of-box thinking hai”……
Logically yours,
Psn (23rd April, 2009)
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
A Litmus test for Trooo Love?
At the very look of it, it appears to be a contradiction. The title I mean. “Litmus test is a logical, scientific method to have a sort of ‘fool-proof’ result, or atleast a testing methodology (until somebody disproves it)!
When contradiction occurs (to us, at least), check the basic premise, says the logical objectivism.
Well, what if somebody chooses to ‘Love only the logical way’ to ‘deal’ with anything about life? When somebody loves anything too much, defying even logic, there is a saying in hindi “Dil lagi hai Gadhee par, tho pari kya cheez hai!?? (meaning, when the heart has chosen to lean towards a Donkey, what is after all even a fairy, nymph ?)
Ah! Here again, a contradiction. Love to be only logical? Love is emotion, and prone to defy logic itself. (Then, it could be that a person chooses to remain
‘being logical’ …. Or has that person turned into a “logical being” …. Well, only people who like being logical and hence are logical beings only know better!
“Man is a bundle of contradictions” is a saying that gives us some consolation.
I, for my part, am not the first person to create a ‘precedent’ for not correcting myself. Gurudev, too had chosen not to correct it, when an Englishman politely pointed out an error in a placard at Shantiniketan, which read “tea is served on backside” !! Just that Gurudeva liked to preserve the humor, and the truth that even he is not infallible!
Trying to ‘evaluate’ somebody’s love in a logical way seems a bit illogical. But if we ourselves are keen to know if we truly love(or not,) somebody close to us …..? There have been many people, who try to find out what is “true” love, just because they find something inside them nagging “am I capable at all to love truly?”
I came across a small scene in a very routine type of TV serial. Just the scene seemed really good. Perhaps, this well scripted screenplay could be a ‘chance’ occurrence, where a better person (a sub-junior director) was asked to supervise due to the pre-occupation of main director, and also since the scene was very ordinary (so any fool could handle it!). Otherwise, all other scenes would have been really good, making the whole serial good!
Well, the scene was like this: A small girl, about 5 years old, gets up in the middle of the night and keeps watching at her mother’s face. The mother happens to get up suddenly, and noticing the child just sitting and watching, is stupefied, and asks “what are you doing, instead of sleeping?” . This child just puts across the truth… “ I was watching you sleeping”… to which, the mother asks again, this time a more pointed question,” haven’t you seen me before, that you are so keen to watch me as if for the first time ?”
The girl, now says “Every time I look at you, I experience as if I am looking at you for the first time….mom”
I gave full marks to the director (the inadvertent sub-junior, or who ever)! Even the mother was shown ‘gloating’ over this dialogue of the child, grossly missing the truth, like any other mother! Getting stuck in emotions too takes a toll, depriving us from learning what even a child could have taught us so easily! No wonder we humans end up as ‘bundle’ of contradictions…. First we have to un-bundle, and then re-bundle the very same, to be able to balance the burden on both the shoulders equitably (logic and emotion).
Now, the problem is, if we try to straight-away try to apply this ‘test’ our mind refuses to give a straight-forward reply! Of course, I do troooly love that person, or else, why do I struggle so much to put up with all that nonsense by that person, why else do I ‘sacrifice’ all my time, money, even pieces of mind for that person?(logically fragmented pieces, preventing that simple ‘peace’)… .. so says our mind, not ready to succumb that easily. So, why not use a negative test….
When we see our enemy (the person whom we dislike most), how do we see them? Do we take a fresh look? Or our firm strong judgment about them comes first like that loud screaming security siren and the stiff faced commandoes of VVIPS, and then we do not even get a glimpse of that VIP, and are left with an old copy of the past image within us.
Now, any where on a scale of 1 to 10, we have to attempt a honest look within, as to how fresh a look are we capable, when we see our loved ones each time. Okay, some small hints about how to go ‘about it’….
Remember, when waiting for that ‘potential’ beloved, at the bus-stop, when that person arrives, our look was always a fresh look at them!
At least, some time we happen to eat only after we are really hungry (not that fill in the blanks at appointed hours!). When we eat on that hungry stomach, does our image, our memory of the past ever interfere with our experience of eating afresh? Even the food may not be fresh! But we do experience that ‘fresh’ satiation of hunger (the love for food, or whatever name we wish to give!)
Oh, have I raked up a very sensitive issue…. I shall try to avoid a fresh look, when I happen to meet you next, so that I shall be a bit prepared to receive the blows!
The only alternative is to deliver them via mail-response. The blows, I mean for having poked into the soft ego… (what to do, I “failed badly” when I tested myself…. Again a potential contradiction… Oh no.. bye for the time ‘being’)
Regards,
Psn(23rd April, 2009)
When contradiction occurs (to us, at least), check the basic premise, says the logical objectivism.
Well, what if somebody chooses to ‘Love only the logical way’ to ‘deal’ with anything about life? When somebody loves anything too much, defying even logic, there is a saying in hindi “Dil lagi hai Gadhee par, tho pari kya cheez hai!?? (meaning, when the heart has chosen to lean towards a Donkey, what is after all even a fairy, nymph ?)
Ah! Here again, a contradiction. Love to be only logical? Love is emotion, and prone to defy logic itself. (Then, it could be that a person chooses to remain
‘being logical’ …. Or has that person turned into a “logical being” …. Well, only people who like being logical and hence are logical beings only know better!
“Man is a bundle of contradictions” is a saying that gives us some consolation.
I, for my part, am not the first person to create a ‘precedent’ for not correcting myself. Gurudev, too had chosen not to correct it, when an Englishman politely pointed out an error in a placard at Shantiniketan, which read “tea is served on backside” !! Just that Gurudeva liked to preserve the humor, and the truth that even he is not infallible!
Trying to ‘evaluate’ somebody’s love in a logical way seems a bit illogical. But if we ourselves are keen to know if we truly love(or not,) somebody close to us …..? There have been many people, who try to find out what is “true” love, just because they find something inside them nagging “am I capable at all to love truly?”
I came across a small scene in a very routine type of TV serial. Just the scene seemed really good. Perhaps, this well scripted screenplay could be a ‘chance’ occurrence, where a better person (a sub-junior director) was asked to supervise due to the pre-occupation of main director, and also since the scene was very ordinary (so any fool could handle it!). Otherwise, all other scenes would have been really good, making the whole serial good!
Well, the scene was like this: A small girl, about 5 years old, gets up in the middle of the night and keeps watching at her mother’s face. The mother happens to get up suddenly, and noticing the child just sitting and watching, is stupefied, and asks “what are you doing, instead of sleeping?” . This child just puts across the truth… “ I was watching you sleeping”… to which, the mother asks again, this time a more pointed question,” haven’t you seen me before, that you are so keen to watch me as if for the first time ?”
The girl, now says “Every time I look at you, I experience as if I am looking at you for the first time….mom”
I gave full marks to the director (the inadvertent sub-junior, or who ever)! Even the mother was shown ‘gloating’ over this dialogue of the child, grossly missing the truth, like any other mother! Getting stuck in emotions too takes a toll, depriving us from learning what even a child could have taught us so easily! No wonder we humans end up as ‘bundle’ of contradictions…. First we have to un-bundle, and then re-bundle the very same, to be able to balance the burden on both the shoulders equitably (logic and emotion).
Now, the problem is, if we try to straight-away try to apply this ‘test’ our mind refuses to give a straight-forward reply! Of course, I do troooly love that person, or else, why do I struggle so much to put up with all that nonsense by that person, why else do I ‘sacrifice’ all my time, money, even pieces of mind for that person?(logically fragmented pieces, preventing that simple ‘peace’)… .. so says our mind, not ready to succumb that easily. So, why not use a negative test….
When we see our enemy (the person whom we dislike most), how do we see them? Do we take a fresh look? Or our firm strong judgment about them comes first like that loud screaming security siren and the stiff faced commandoes of VVIPS, and then we do not even get a glimpse of that VIP, and are left with an old copy of the past image within us.
Now, any where on a scale of 1 to 10, we have to attempt a honest look within, as to how fresh a look are we capable, when we see our loved ones each time. Okay, some small hints about how to go ‘about it’….
Remember, when waiting for that ‘potential’ beloved, at the bus-stop, when that person arrives, our look was always a fresh look at them!
At least, some time we happen to eat only after we are really hungry (not that fill in the blanks at appointed hours!). When we eat on that hungry stomach, does our image, our memory of the past ever interfere with our experience of eating afresh? Even the food may not be fresh! But we do experience that ‘fresh’ satiation of hunger (the love for food, or whatever name we wish to give!)
Oh, have I raked up a very sensitive issue…. I shall try to avoid a fresh look, when I happen to meet you next, so that I shall be a bit prepared to receive the blows!
The only alternative is to deliver them via mail-response. The blows, I mean for having poked into the soft ego… (what to do, I “failed badly” when I tested myself…. Again a potential contradiction… Oh no.. bye for the time ‘being’)
Regards,
Psn(23rd April, 2009)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Jaane Kya tune kahi, Jaane kya Maine suni, Baat kuch ban hi gayee!
I did find a person who seems to fit into the purpose of my blog….. to inspire others to the very best of my abilities!
I saw his question on Yahoo answers Forum,
And loved to respond.
And, I do not have any hesitation to reproduce the question and my response here:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090419215212AAkUVqp
Why am I always thinking about something? My mind is always racing with thoughts?
For as long as I can remember I have always had a very active mind. So active it can actually be problematic at times.
When I try to read a paragraph for a school assignment or a few pages of a book I always start thinking about something else. Sometimes it feels as though I read it but I don't follow what it is saying. Because of this I have a really hard time following directions and learning from reading.
When I listen to my professors lecture I try to listen but I always get off track. I hate this because I love to learn and understand... I just can't focus, and the things I think about are usually not important at all.
Also, when I am having a conversation with someone I am almost always thinking about something else, but act as though I am listening... in reality I have no idea what they said. I think I just don't care what they are saying?
I try to pay attention but always end up thinking about something else, it is almost like I am talking to myself but in my head... if that makes sense.
I have noticed a personality change as well. I am not as social perosn. I don't really try to socialize anymore either, I stay at home a lot.
I am not talkative person.
I really do enjoy people though. Throughout my life I have had A LOT of friends. I feel like I have distanced myself from them. I feel as though I am not exciting as I once was. I don't like going to parties or bars or being around a lot of people.
I am just not interested in most peoples conversations. I have found most talk to be unnecessary and full of lies and exaggerations and it just bugs me now.
Has my personality just changed?
My response:
• If what you say really matches the experience you had, then it is just a 'transition'. Very rarely one get to become a "witness" to the thought process (not to confuse with 'knowing' or 'remembering' the actual thoughts! So, the thought-process, the thoughts itself..)
Now, the mention of 'disinterest' is a supporting evidence to this inference.
Very importantly, please do not look at this as a 'personality' change.
It is 'dropping of the personality' (when it is not really needed at all times! Like, a policeman removes his uniform, when at home, and wears another uniform of that of a parent, brother, son, neighbour etc).
Again, very few are able to get rid of such name tags given by society (it creates lot of ego problems, when can't keep tags aside, and we spend incredible energy to maintain such tags at wrong places! ha ha!)
This transition will actually do a lot of good.
It would be very nice if there is a very good, genuine, knowledgeable guide around to facilitate a smooth, successful transition. No struggle, or side-effects, or even a change in the life style need happen. In fact the handling of 'material' aspects of life becomes very very effortless for handling!!
You have only a 'feel' of having distanced from friends. That is the clue. The true inner nature is really free, independent, and not 'attached' or stuck to anything 'gross'. Not even close friends. It actually helps to get close and love friends etc quite "unconditionally" ! And TRUE love is about being unconditional! No expectations of rewards or recognition, gratitude etc! The very capability of being a loving person is 'self-rewarding' and greater than any external reward!
My very best wishes! Good going.
And a deep gratitude and many thanks for sharing this wonderful experience!
I saw his question on Yahoo answers Forum,
And loved to respond.
And, I do not have any hesitation to reproduce the question and my response here:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090419215212AAkUVqp
Why am I always thinking about something? My mind is always racing with thoughts?
For as long as I can remember I have always had a very active mind. So active it can actually be problematic at times.
When I try to read a paragraph for a school assignment or a few pages of a book I always start thinking about something else. Sometimes it feels as though I read it but I don't follow what it is saying. Because of this I have a really hard time following directions and learning from reading.
When I listen to my professors lecture I try to listen but I always get off track. I hate this because I love to learn and understand... I just can't focus, and the things I think about are usually not important at all.
Also, when I am having a conversation with someone I am almost always thinking about something else, but act as though I am listening... in reality I have no idea what they said. I think I just don't care what they are saying?
I try to pay attention but always end up thinking about something else, it is almost like I am talking to myself but in my head... if that makes sense.
I have noticed a personality change as well. I am not as social perosn. I don't really try to socialize anymore either, I stay at home a lot.
I am not talkative person.
I really do enjoy people though. Throughout my life I have had A LOT of friends. I feel like I have distanced myself from them. I feel as though I am not exciting as I once was. I don't like going to parties or bars or being around a lot of people.
I am just not interested in most peoples conversations. I have found most talk to be unnecessary and full of lies and exaggerations and it just bugs me now.
Has my personality just changed?
My response:
• If what you say really matches the experience you had, then it is just a 'transition'. Very rarely one get to become a "witness" to the thought process (not to confuse with 'knowing' or 'remembering' the actual thoughts! So, the thought-process, the thoughts itself..)
Now, the mention of 'disinterest' is a supporting evidence to this inference.
Very importantly, please do not look at this as a 'personality' change.
It is 'dropping of the personality' (when it is not really needed at all times! Like, a policeman removes his uniform, when at home, and wears another uniform of that of a parent, brother, son, neighbour etc).
Again, very few are able to get rid of such name tags given by society (it creates lot of ego problems, when can't keep tags aside, and we spend incredible energy to maintain such tags at wrong places! ha ha!)
This transition will actually do a lot of good.
It would be very nice if there is a very good, genuine, knowledgeable guide around to facilitate a smooth, successful transition. No struggle, or side-effects, or even a change in the life style need happen. In fact the handling of 'material' aspects of life becomes very very effortless for handling!!
You have only a 'feel' of having distanced from friends. That is the clue. The true inner nature is really free, independent, and not 'attached' or stuck to anything 'gross'. Not even close friends. It actually helps to get close and love friends etc quite "unconditionally" ! And TRUE love is about being unconditional! No expectations of rewards or recognition, gratitude etc! The very capability of being a loving person is 'self-rewarding' and greater than any external reward!
My very best wishes! Good going.
And a deep gratitude and many thanks for sharing this wonderful experience!
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Idiot Box Addiction
This time, I have to start of with an humble acknowledgement. The theme-idea came as a sort of responsive-inspiration to what I tried to paint under “visualization”.
The linguistic decoration is done by me to what was contributed by my sister.
“Elders find fault with children, when they spend too much time watching TV”
But, the elders are sometimes unable to explain as to what is EXACTLY wrong with watching TV?
Advantages of TV comes to the mind…..
1. News channels—information.
2. Educative channels—knowledge.
3. Children’s story/cartoon channels—heroism inspiring with entertainment.
4. Etc.
Now,
To put it in a simple way,
We find that ‘excessive’ dependence on pocket calculators takes away the ability to do simple additions, multiplications etc , mentally! Another example, the Bank staff, now being used to ‘core-banking’ software on computers, would find it too cumbersome to even write simple domestic income-expense accounts! During the very brief parallel run period of manual ledgers and stand-alone computerized book-keeping in banks, a power-shutdown did not affect much the customer-service. But now the Banking activity comes to a stand-still even when there is a ‘system’ failure! No thought is given to do any spade-work even during the brief intervention period. No pacifying talk to customers even. Dependence on electronic gadgets affects everybody’s attitude. Just that the children are more vulnerable!
Once addicted to TV or even computer games, children find inanimate printed text books to be too dull. Even a blank word file or worksheet does not seem to attract them to try on some creativity! These gadgets by itself fail to ‘evoke’ strong visualization capabilities! All this happens only over a period of time, like some slow poison!
A new set of educational-video CDs have started appearing. Science lessons etc on Audio-Visual CDs. But they did not get the “expected” levels of popularity. People try to draw some ‘false’ consolation saying that very few can afford, that is why it is not so popular. But that does not seem to be so. Amongst those who did afford, the frequency of use is far below optimum. The teacher’s dependence on CDs tends to dull that human-emotional-touch & intense involvement, without which, the creativity-instincts of the child do not get really fired.
We remember the ‘sound-track’ of film on All India Radio. We could almost ‘visualize’ the films we never saw. We could see the heroes, heroines, and their emotions, listening to that sound track, eyes closed!
Video CDs do help a lot, but not as a ‘replacement’ to human involvement in teaching, but only as a supplemental support.
After all, powder milk or baby food can only supplement, but can NEVER replace mother’s milk!
Epilogue:
Has this visualization skill got something to do with communication skills? Or is it because of TOO MUCH of the present day pattern of multiple-choice-answers/objective-type test examinations, that the children mostly tend to give a “mono-syllable” reply (Hmm, yep, nope, etc) when replying to queries from their parents/elders?
Psn(9th April, 2009)
The linguistic decoration is done by me to what was contributed by my sister.
“Elders find fault with children, when they spend too much time watching TV”
But, the elders are sometimes unable to explain as to what is EXACTLY wrong with watching TV?
Advantages of TV comes to the mind…..
1. News channels—information.
2. Educative channels—knowledge.
3. Children’s story/cartoon channels—heroism inspiring with entertainment.
4. Etc.
Now,
To put it in a simple way,
We find that ‘excessive’ dependence on pocket calculators takes away the ability to do simple additions, multiplications etc , mentally! Another example, the Bank staff, now being used to ‘core-banking’ software on computers, would find it too cumbersome to even write simple domestic income-expense accounts! During the very brief parallel run period of manual ledgers and stand-alone computerized book-keeping in banks, a power-shutdown did not affect much the customer-service. But now the Banking activity comes to a stand-still even when there is a ‘system’ failure! No thought is given to do any spade-work even during the brief intervention period. No pacifying talk to customers even. Dependence on electronic gadgets affects everybody’s attitude. Just that the children are more vulnerable!
Once addicted to TV or even computer games, children find inanimate printed text books to be too dull. Even a blank word file or worksheet does not seem to attract them to try on some creativity! These gadgets by itself fail to ‘evoke’ strong visualization capabilities! All this happens only over a period of time, like some slow poison!
A new set of educational-video CDs have started appearing. Science lessons etc on Audio-Visual CDs. But they did not get the “expected” levels of popularity. People try to draw some ‘false’ consolation saying that very few can afford, that is why it is not so popular. But that does not seem to be so. Amongst those who did afford, the frequency of use is far below optimum. The teacher’s dependence on CDs tends to dull that human-emotional-touch & intense involvement, without which, the creativity-instincts of the child do not get really fired.
We remember the ‘sound-track’ of film on All India Radio. We could almost ‘visualize’ the films we never saw. We could see the heroes, heroines, and their emotions, listening to that sound track, eyes closed!
Video CDs do help a lot, but not as a ‘replacement’ to human involvement in teaching, but only as a supplemental support.
After all, powder milk or baby food can only supplement, but can NEVER replace mother’s milk!
Epilogue:
Has this visualization skill got something to do with communication skills? Or is it because of TOO MUCH of the present day pattern of multiple-choice-answers/objective-type test examinations, that the children mostly tend to give a “mono-syllable” reply (Hmm, yep, nope, etc) when replying to queries from their parents/elders?
Psn(9th April, 2009)
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Recession Remedy!
It really sounds too elusive. And what baffles us is that we have no dearth of great economists, financial wizards, experienced experts all over the globe, and they all are intensely and sincerely busy trying to ‘fix’ the problem. And yet, the more they try to fix, it becomes more grave!
And non-experts like us too are trying to at least figure out what it is all about! It does not spare even people who have been ethical in the conduct of their business for years, and successfully too!
I am definitely not going to attempt suggesting any ‘solution’ or remedy. But I try to see if there is any benefit to be derived out of the situation, or atleast try to pacify ourselves with something that seems to be a marginal or minimal advantage to be derived. The very experience of going through the ordeal should be a benefit. Only if we choose to look at it as a lesson (though a hard & tough one!). Even students find their career expectations crashing even before they take off!
While viewing the TV, I happened to listen to something inspiring. I thank the famous politician Shri L.K.Advaniji for mentioning that interesting information. It seems, Chinese language does not have alphabets. Instead they have characters. The spelling for the word “crisis” in Chinese language is said to contain two characters. One character means “danger” & the other one means “opportunity”.
So, if we consider this Economic recession as a crisis, there should be an opportunity too, in it. I was interested in the opportunity part of it. Obviously, when the crisis is severe the opportunity cannot be a mere ‘cake-walk’. That opportunity if grasped has to give a longer-term benefit.
I used to observe babies being fed that baby food somewhere during the 6th month, where the mother’s milk is gently withdrawn. The mother has to give it at the right time, not by a time-schedule. The baby has to give out signals that it is hungry. Sometimes, it so happens that the baby starts crying and after a while, the cry becomes too intense. The baby goes breathless, eyes bulge, and the mother is now really scared. It is risky to feed the child when it is crying loud and incessantly. The food might get diverted into the wind pipe and choke the lungs! The mother tries to pacify in all the languages, tones, songs etc known to her. And the child would close both its eyes firmly and spend every ounce of energy in crying intensely. Even to get the attention of the child seems near improbable!
Our recession seems to create somewhat similar situation. No bail out package seems to work. No way to extract more taxes, no way to extract more produce, manual-productivity, etc. People simply refuse to trust anything, any gimmick. Investor-confidence, customer confidence etc seem to be getting eroded further day-by-day! All along language was a mode of effective communication to win peoples’ trust, confidence, votes, and what not. Now any effort, if through the same language though with different set of words, seems to put them more on a defensive. The very currency on which “trust” was declared on the highest power in the universe is now only second to the most sought after and more trusted form of wealth, namely Gold. How to bring back the trust in authorities, is the root of the possible solution. When there was complete trust any inadequacy in communication would have a smooth sailing. But when trust is lost, dexterity in linguistic skills scares all the more!
The mother now waits patiently to thrust a harmless quantity of that baby food through the corner of the mouth of the child, just enough to reach the taste buds, through finger tips. And if luck permits, for a split second the child’s attention is drawn towards the taste of the food, and if it starts reaching out its tongue towards the edge of its lips, the mother does not lose a single moment to replenish with little more! The trust starts re-building, bit by bit, morsel by morsel, at a painstakingly slow pace! Once out of anxiety, the mother could even choose to shower a mock ‘scolding’ at the child, only to now evoke an innocent but mischievous giggle as a retort from the child.
Perhaps, the remedy for recession, by any type of structure, design or plan, would have to be based on “Trust” re-building process. And only practical and realistic gestures, not words would now work. And restoring a lost trust is more complex and very difficult. Such actions have to be one-sided to begin with, without any pre-conditions, any strings attached, or any counter expectations. It is the most trusted, oldest, mightiest financial institutions that have collapsed. Who would accept any ‘guarantee’ from a lesser entity? A financial wizard is a ‘wizard’ after all! Why risk trusting him/her.
When the heads of a large joint family suddenly decide to part ways, the small children start wondering why they miss the proximity, joy and pleasure of playing together, for no fault of theirs. Common man also finds similarly crushed under the consequences of recession. Job loss, business loss, revenue loss, turnover loss, loss of avenues of finance etc.
This recession has side effects too. The depression reaches homes too. At least the psychological part of it. It would be good to keep the mutual trust within the family members firmly intact. Leave no loose ends any where. Like they about “charity begins at home”,.. now re-building global trust, also could begin at home, then permeate across street, city, nation etc. There is no law and no way to ‘enforce’ trust. Offer it , then wait patiently for a possible reciprocation. This exercise has long term benefits. We did not really ask for it. But having got stuck into it, let us try to make the most of it.
psn (6th April, 2009)
And non-experts like us too are trying to at least figure out what it is all about! It does not spare even people who have been ethical in the conduct of their business for years, and successfully too!
I am definitely not going to attempt suggesting any ‘solution’ or remedy. But I try to see if there is any benefit to be derived out of the situation, or atleast try to pacify ourselves with something that seems to be a marginal or minimal advantage to be derived. The very experience of going through the ordeal should be a benefit. Only if we choose to look at it as a lesson (though a hard & tough one!). Even students find their career expectations crashing even before they take off!
While viewing the TV, I happened to listen to something inspiring. I thank the famous politician Shri L.K.Advaniji for mentioning that interesting information. It seems, Chinese language does not have alphabets. Instead they have characters. The spelling for the word “crisis” in Chinese language is said to contain two characters. One character means “danger” & the other one means “opportunity”.
So, if we consider this Economic recession as a crisis, there should be an opportunity too, in it. I was interested in the opportunity part of it. Obviously, when the crisis is severe the opportunity cannot be a mere ‘cake-walk’. That opportunity if grasped has to give a longer-term benefit.
I used to observe babies being fed that baby food somewhere during the 6th month, where the mother’s milk is gently withdrawn. The mother has to give it at the right time, not by a time-schedule. The baby has to give out signals that it is hungry. Sometimes, it so happens that the baby starts crying and after a while, the cry becomes too intense. The baby goes breathless, eyes bulge, and the mother is now really scared. It is risky to feed the child when it is crying loud and incessantly. The food might get diverted into the wind pipe and choke the lungs! The mother tries to pacify in all the languages, tones, songs etc known to her. And the child would close both its eyes firmly and spend every ounce of energy in crying intensely. Even to get the attention of the child seems near improbable!
Our recession seems to create somewhat similar situation. No bail out package seems to work. No way to extract more taxes, no way to extract more produce, manual-productivity, etc. People simply refuse to trust anything, any gimmick. Investor-confidence, customer confidence etc seem to be getting eroded further day-by-day! All along language was a mode of effective communication to win peoples’ trust, confidence, votes, and what not. Now any effort, if through the same language though with different set of words, seems to put them more on a defensive. The very currency on which “trust” was declared on the highest power in the universe is now only second to the most sought after and more trusted form of wealth, namely Gold. How to bring back the trust in authorities, is the root of the possible solution. When there was complete trust any inadequacy in communication would have a smooth sailing. But when trust is lost, dexterity in linguistic skills scares all the more!
The mother now waits patiently to thrust a harmless quantity of that baby food through the corner of the mouth of the child, just enough to reach the taste buds, through finger tips. And if luck permits, for a split second the child’s attention is drawn towards the taste of the food, and if it starts reaching out its tongue towards the edge of its lips, the mother does not lose a single moment to replenish with little more! The trust starts re-building, bit by bit, morsel by morsel, at a painstakingly slow pace! Once out of anxiety, the mother could even choose to shower a mock ‘scolding’ at the child, only to now evoke an innocent but mischievous giggle as a retort from the child.
Perhaps, the remedy for recession, by any type of structure, design or plan, would have to be based on “Trust” re-building process. And only practical and realistic gestures, not words would now work. And restoring a lost trust is more complex and very difficult. Such actions have to be one-sided to begin with, without any pre-conditions, any strings attached, or any counter expectations. It is the most trusted, oldest, mightiest financial institutions that have collapsed. Who would accept any ‘guarantee’ from a lesser entity? A financial wizard is a ‘wizard’ after all! Why risk trusting him/her.
When the heads of a large joint family suddenly decide to part ways, the small children start wondering why they miss the proximity, joy and pleasure of playing together, for no fault of theirs. Common man also finds similarly crushed under the consequences of recession. Job loss, business loss, revenue loss, turnover loss, loss of avenues of finance etc.
This recession has side effects too. The depression reaches homes too. At least the psychological part of it. It would be good to keep the mutual trust within the family members firmly intact. Leave no loose ends any where. Like they about “charity begins at home”,.. now re-building global trust, also could begin at home, then permeate across street, city, nation etc. There is no law and no way to ‘enforce’ trust. Offer it , then wait patiently for a possible reciprocation. This exercise has long term benefits. We did not really ask for it. But having got stuck into it, let us try to make the most of it.
psn (6th April, 2009)
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Visualization
I have a cousin.
He happened to mention during a casual conversation, that he considered himself very fortunate in being able to effortlessly ‘visualize’ when asked to do so, as a part of some training exercise etc.
We usually end up (or rather begin, to be more precise), with such abstract looking topics of discussion, soon after the brief preliminaries, when ever we meet. And over a period of time, I find that our lack of proximity did not dull our intimacy in the least. On the other hand, we find ourselves having transcended the need to remind ourselves being ‘cousins’ to each other!
I therefore learnt that as far as humans are concerned, proximity is not a ‘must’ for intimacy. And intimacy at subtler levels, are of greater refinement in quality, and obviously therefore, add to deeper experience of relationships!
When he told thus about visualization skills, it led me to wonder if it is really true that some others are not so fortunate to have those skills, when they seem to struggle to visualize! If they do not have even the potential, how come dreams occur to almost everybody? Then it is merely a question of converting the potential into a ‘capability’!
And to what purpose? Well, intuitive skills ‘lean’ a bit on those ‘visualization’ skills, if I may venture to infer. Those who are fairly ‘well settled’ in life may try to ward off this skill saying that they are able to manage ‘life’ even without it. But not really so. It takes some effort to discover this newer dimension of ‘conscious’ living to decide or abstain to ‘choose’ how to live. ‘Out of box thinking’ can come handy to almost anyone, in daily life situations too. For that we need to step out of our mind’s box (the ‘set’ attitude or style of thinking). That reminds me, if “sentiments” have something to do with that out of box thinking! Visualization skill is an integral part of ‘out of box thinking’ since there has to be a ‘design’ or lay-out, for something that is being tried out for the first time as far as an individual is concerned. Students need no further emphasis regarding use either of these.
Perhaps, simple tasks that we perform in our daily life, can be tried first out as ‘visuals’ , at least a few moments ahead of our physical performance. This really requires not great effort, leisure etc. On the other hand it would enhance better focusing abilities too. And with sustained efforts, those simple tasks which look like a drudgery, or fatigue causing could turn up to be energizing ones instead! Because we are now at a game, trying to match the visuals and its actualizations! As an example, if we look at words in a sentence, each group of words has a ‘picture’ associated with it. If we try to ‘create’ that picture, the very words seem to sink a bit deeper into us, and memorizing would seem a bit easier. Students who seem to struggle with memorizing exercise could benefit from this simple technique. But this cannot be a ‘last-minute’ deal. Initially it takes time to acquire this skill, so some planning is needed for optimizing the time management.
Our ancients had that ‘story-telling’ sessions during bed-time, for children. This took care of converting the potential into a capability. Now, only ‘good’ schools seem to think about allotting some sessions towards this!
The mention of ‘sentiments’ might have raised serious doubts, regarding its relevance in the subject of discussion. May be it has not much to do with visualization skills. Basically, what we call as ‘sentiments’ is something that has crystallized out of a pattern of emotions. We actually ‘grow’ into what ever kind of sentiment that we seem to carry. It does not happen right from birth itself. May be there is some ‘polarization’ due to birth reasons. Sentiments seem to distance itself from logic. They come closer to emotions. We at times, ‘drop’ our logic, and oblige to somebody’s request, when they ‘touch’ our sentiments with a bit sensitive use of words! But again, not all emotions are some sort of sentiments. We have that ‘family’ sentiments, ‘caste’ sentiment, racial sentiments, patriotic sentiments, religious sentiments, social sentiments, etc etc…. Even the belief in ‘superstitions’ is a very strong & personal sentiment! And also what we have ‘conveniently’ named as ‘negative’ sentiments. Negative to whom and why is debatable! I tried to find an ‘exact’ matching word in other languages, for that word ‘sentiment’. English dictionary itself attempts to give only a ‘feel’ of the word, leaving it to the readers to ‘grasp’ its true meaning from contextual use etc. My limitation is the proximity that I have to ‘other’ languages, that is just the Indian languages. But this limitation seems to offer a ‘blessing’ in disguise. The difficulty in extracting an exact word, leads me to wonder if our ancient people chose, not to pamper any kind of ‘sentiment’. I am tempted to give some credulity to this theory because, sentiments of any kind seem to cause some kind of obstacle to spiritual evolvement. So, at some time or other, one has to get out of the shackles of these sentiments to be able to climb further into spiritual path. The crude practices of ‘aghora’ yoga seem to substantiate the urgency we find in their effort to ‘drop’ such strong sentiments!
Even in intimate relationships, if there is a ‘clash’ of mismatching sentiments, the quality of relationship is at stake! Even if one person is sentimental about something, and the other is not, it is a fight of logic versus ‘illogical’. And when we are trying to deal with something ‘illogical’, we ourselves cannot deal in an illogical way. We have to logically understand and accept the fact that we have only few choices. Put up with the other persons sentiments, compromise, avoid confrontation, etc. The last choice would be to help the other person to come out of such sentiments. Last, because it the toughest one, time consuming and painstaking too, effort-wise.
So, I felt that sentiments do tend to curb the freedom to visualize, to some extent. We find some kind of ‘rigidity’ with people who carry too many sentiments. There is nothing wrong with sentiments. We cannot unite unless we have a ‘spirit’ of patriotism. The spirit of self-sacrifice is usually boosted or ‘fuelled’ by some of the ‘good’ sentiments, or shall I say ‘healthy’ sentiments! Personally I would like to have all my sentiments well under my control, to be invoked ‘at will’! Oh! , if that does happen, then, I wonder if such items will have to be taken ‘off’ the list of ‘my’ sentiments? Here I spin the web of confusion around myself! I wonder if I am tooo sentimental about sentiments itself, or whether I lack the ‘visual’ skills to imagine the difficulty & discomfort I cause to readers, who therefore abandon any possible inclination to even send a feedback or response!
Regard fully yours,
Psn (5th April, 2009)
He happened to mention during a casual conversation, that he considered himself very fortunate in being able to effortlessly ‘visualize’ when asked to do so, as a part of some training exercise etc.
We usually end up (or rather begin, to be more precise), with such abstract looking topics of discussion, soon after the brief preliminaries, when ever we meet. And over a period of time, I find that our lack of proximity did not dull our intimacy in the least. On the other hand, we find ourselves having transcended the need to remind ourselves being ‘cousins’ to each other!
I therefore learnt that as far as humans are concerned, proximity is not a ‘must’ for intimacy. And intimacy at subtler levels, are of greater refinement in quality, and obviously therefore, add to deeper experience of relationships!
When he told thus about visualization skills, it led me to wonder if it is really true that some others are not so fortunate to have those skills, when they seem to struggle to visualize! If they do not have even the potential, how come dreams occur to almost everybody? Then it is merely a question of converting the potential into a ‘capability’!
And to what purpose? Well, intuitive skills ‘lean’ a bit on those ‘visualization’ skills, if I may venture to infer. Those who are fairly ‘well settled’ in life may try to ward off this skill saying that they are able to manage ‘life’ even without it. But not really so. It takes some effort to discover this newer dimension of ‘conscious’ living to decide or abstain to ‘choose’ how to live. ‘Out of box thinking’ can come handy to almost anyone, in daily life situations too. For that we need to step out of our mind’s box (the ‘set’ attitude or style of thinking). That reminds me, if “sentiments” have something to do with that out of box thinking! Visualization skill is an integral part of ‘out of box thinking’ since there has to be a ‘design’ or lay-out, for something that is being tried out for the first time as far as an individual is concerned. Students need no further emphasis regarding use either of these.
Perhaps, simple tasks that we perform in our daily life, can be tried first out as ‘visuals’ , at least a few moments ahead of our physical performance. This really requires not great effort, leisure etc. On the other hand it would enhance better focusing abilities too. And with sustained efforts, those simple tasks which look like a drudgery, or fatigue causing could turn up to be energizing ones instead! Because we are now at a game, trying to match the visuals and its actualizations! As an example, if we look at words in a sentence, each group of words has a ‘picture’ associated with it. If we try to ‘create’ that picture, the very words seem to sink a bit deeper into us, and memorizing would seem a bit easier. Students who seem to struggle with memorizing exercise could benefit from this simple technique. But this cannot be a ‘last-minute’ deal. Initially it takes time to acquire this skill, so some planning is needed for optimizing the time management.
Our ancients had that ‘story-telling’ sessions during bed-time, for children. This took care of converting the potential into a capability. Now, only ‘good’ schools seem to think about allotting some sessions towards this!
The mention of ‘sentiments’ might have raised serious doubts, regarding its relevance in the subject of discussion. May be it has not much to do with visualization skills. Basically, what we call as ‘sentiments’ is something that has crystallized out of a pattern of emotions. We actually ‘grow’ into what ever kind of sentiment that we seem to carry. It does not happen right from birth itself. May be there is some ‘polarization’ due to birth reasons. Sentiments seem to distance itself from logic. They come closer to emotions. We at times, ‘drop’ our logic, and oblige to somebody’s request, when they ‘touch’ our sentiments with a bit sensitive use of words! But again, not all emotions are some sort of sentiments. We have that ‘family’ sentiments, ‘caste’ sentiment, racial sentiments, patriotic sentiments, religious sentiments, social sentiments, etc etc…. Even the belief in ‘superstitions’ is a very strong & personal sentiment! And also what we have ‘conveniently’ named as ‘negative’ sentiments. Negative to whom and why is debatable! I tried to find an ‘exact’ matching word in other languages, for that word ‘sentiment’. English dictionary itself attempts to give only a ‘feel’ of the word, leaving it to the readers to ‘grasp’ its true meaning from contextual use etc. My limitation is the proximity that I have to ‘other’ languages, that is just the Indian languages. But this limitation seems to offer a ‘blessing’ in disguise. The difficulty in extracting an exact word, leads me to wonder if our ancient people chose, not to pamper any kind of ‘sentiment’. I am tempted to give some credulity to this theory because, sentiments of any kind seem to cause some kind of obstacle to spiritual evolvement. So, at some time or other, one has to get out of the shackles of these sentiments to be able to climb further into spiritual path. The crude practices of ‘aghora’ yoga seem to substantiate the urgency we find in their effort to ‘drop’ such strong sentiments!
Even in intimate relationships, if there is a ‘clash’ of mismatching sentiments, the quality of relationship is at stake! Even if one person is sentimental about something, and the other is not, it is a fight of logic versus ‘illogical’. And when we are trying to deal with something ‘illogical’, we ourselves cannot deal in an illogical way. We have to logically understand and accept the fact that we have only few choices. Put up with the other persons sentiments, compromise, avoid confrontation, etc. The last choice would be to help the other person to come out of such sentiments. Last, because it the toughest one, time consuming and painstaking too, effort-wise.
So, I felt that sentiments do tend to curb the freedom to visualize, to some extent. We find some kind of ‘rigidity’ with people who carry too many sentiments. There is nothing wrong with sentiments. We cannot unite unless we have a ‘spirit’ of patriotism. The spirit of self-sacrifice is usually boosted or ‘fuelled’ by some of the ‘good’ sentiments, or shall I say ‘healthy’ sentiments! Personally I would like to have all my sentiments well under my control, to be invoked ‘at will’! Oh! , if that does happen, then, I wonder if such items will have to be taken ‘off’ the list of ‘my’ sentiments? Here I spin the web of confusion around myself! I wonder if I am tooo sentimental about sentiments itself, or whether I lack the ‘visual’ skills to imagine the difficulty & discomfort I cause to readers, who therefore abandon any possible inclination to even send a feedback or response!
Regard fully yours,
Psn (5th April, 2009)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)