Life is always an infinite search for the Atman “mystery of life” or the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
The rainbow just like our life spans a continuous spectrum of colors with gradations of minimum and maximum intensity as in life’s emotions till finally it fades towards the other side.
The rainbow is caused by the light being reflected and refracted from water droplets. Our lives too have the rainbow when the light enters, reflects and refracts from within and without us.
But we ignore the beautiful colors of the rainbow of our lives, in the elusive pursuit for the pot of gold- enlightenment, nirvana or salvation.
Your angle of perception is what life is all about, and the hues of the rainbow can only be expressed by the bliss of joy within our lives. The pot or ultimate bliss and the rainbow colors are aspects of our life, the plurality produced by a deception called Maya. Neither the colors of the rainbow nor the elusive pot of gold are physical objects. The rainbow is a reminder of our existence in this universe and how nature casts a spell over us beguiling our sense of sight, sound touch and smell.
The pot of gold which is ever elusive is not what one imagines it to be. So relax and enjoy all aspects of your life viewed through the Vibigyor tinted glasses to lead a life as colorful as the rainbow. The basic idea is to participate in life by appreciating it and not by possessing or controlling it.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Why Chemotherapy cannot cure the cancer of love.
A scientific, biological and chemical investigation into the nature of perhaps the ultimate mystery: Love.
When you sight a potential lover, the brain releases a set of chemicals; including pheromones. Dopamine, Norepinephrines and Serotonin.
These chemicals activate the brains pleasure centre mainly the nucleus accumbens.
Their immediate after effects include higher heart rate, loss of appetite, sleep and intense excitement.
For lasting long term bonds, two more chemicals must kick in; oxytocin and vasopressin.
Studies reveal that emotions stimulated by such chemicals, sustain a relationship for about one and half years.This confirms the cooling off of relationship after two years, leading to the “seven year'’ itch.
By contrast lust is much simpler as it works on testosterone for men and oestrogen for women.
-Alchemist- Aich R.K.
When you sight a potential lover, the brain releases a set of chemicals; including pheromones. Dopamine, Norepinephrines and Serotonin.
These chemicals activate the brains pleasure centre mainly the nucleus accumbens.
Their immediate after effects include higher heart rate, loss of appetite, sleep and intense excitement.
For lasting long term bonds, two more chemicals must kick in; oxytocin and vasopressin.
Studies reveal that emotions stimulated by such chemicals, sustain a relationship for about one and half years.This confirms the cooling off of relationship after two years, leading to the “seven year'’ itch.
By contrast lust is much simpler as it works on testosterone for men and oestrogen for women.
-Alchemist- Aich R.K.
Absinthe not abstinence makes life a celebration.
Every religion and culture has its own season for abstaining from individual indulgences of the pleasures in life. There are many people who with evangelical fervor abstain from enjoying life and any of the common pleasures throughout their adulthood. They feel that their adult baptism under abstinence will have everlasting spiritual cleansing benefits. They will go to any Lent (pun intended) to prolong their misery.
I know a person who is in a quandary, he is a man, who eats only non vegetarian food, does not smoke, does not drink, does not gamble, womanize and has no girl or male friends. He now wants to celebrate his birthday, but how?
There are many like him, soulful ones who look as though their mothers did not so much bear them as knit them. They have little if any or expert knowledge of their trades, profession or even happiness. They watch the slow disintegration of their own lives and try to preach to the world, about giving up worldly pleasures, as if they hold destines of others in their hands. They advocate things like no smoking, no drinking, or no sex to others. Stop a person from doing things like that and they soon lose their joi-de-vivre, and turn into meek nervous fruits bags.
The sort of timid sneaks who sit at home with their over scented women, read newspapers to see if there is anything else that will do them harm, the type who in their middle age order dark suits a size larger hoping they will grow into it. Battling temptation rather than actually living the good life gives them an air of smug piety. Their dreary longevity will give them that much more time to realize what they are missing. Their moral realism is so strong that they consider everyone else as objects of their pity, of feeling piously superior and wonderful in their accomplishment.
Face to face with the marrow of the matter, they miss out on the spark of happiness that all humans want. The moan uttered in their last breath, when they realize their folly, but it is too late, morally defeated the futility of a wasted life remains.Real men don’t wash their hair with conditioners, or apply Botox on their faces. They sneer at these dumb guys, enjoy the world and preserve their macho mystique.
I know a person who is in a quandary, he is a man, who eats only non vegetarian food, does not smoke, does not drink, does not gamble, womanize and has no girl or male friends. He now wants to celebrate his birthday, but how?
There are many like him, soulful ones who look as though their mothers did not so much bear them as knit them. They have little if any or expert knowledge of their trades, profession or even happiness. They watch the slow disintegration of their own lives and try to preach to the world, about giving up worldly pleasures, as if they hold destines of others in their hands. They advocate things like no smoking, no drinking, or no sex to others. Stop a person from doing things like that and they soon lose their joi-de-vivre, and turn into meek nervous fruits bags.
The sort of timid sneaks who sit at home with their over scented women, read newspapers to see if there is anything else that will do them harm, the type who in their middle age order dark suits a size larger hoping they will grow into it. Battling temptation rather than actually living the good life gives them an air of smug piety. Their dreary longevity will give them that much more time to realize what they are missing. Their moral realism is so strong that they consider everyone else as objects of their pity, of feeling piously superior and wonderful in their accomplishment.
Face to face with the marrow of the matter, they miss out on the spark of happiness that all humans want. The moan uttered in their last breath, when they realize their folly, but it is too late, morally defeated the futility of a wasted life remains.Real men don’t wash their hair with conditioners, or apply Botox on their faces. They sneer at these dumb guys, enjoy the world and preserve their macho mystique.
Curiosity killed the cat.
We have an insatiable intellectual curiosity that needs to be indulged. The bane of life is to delve deeply into our hearts and minds, to figure out truth, untruths, thoughts, emotions, intentions. We critically question everything see a doctor, then seek more opinions. Good cannot exist without a twinge of evil.
We wonder where we came from, or how the universe originated, we are scared of where we would go from here- or what would be the next stop after life, while forgetting to live and enjoy this life. We want to dig deeper, beyond the visible and die a thousand deaths each day. A suspicious mind that borders on the persecution complex is always agitated, that why they say ignorance is bliss. Life would be simpler if you accepted everything at face value. Must you live beyond the horizon of life? beauty They say beauty is only skin deep why go skin diving.
I am an atheist, I fear no lord and speak my mind fearlessly, I am brutally frank and it gives me the freedom, to explore the wondrous mysteries of human existence. Pursuit of knowledge should be inwardly edifying- have practical value and a source of enlightenment, along with enjoyment. Existence is cosmic, and I enjoy it- it is the frame of simplicity that is endearing.-Vinay_
We wonder where we came from, or how the universe originated, we are scared of where we would go from here- or what would be the next stop after life, while forgetting to live and enjoy this life. We want to dig deeper, beyond the visible and die a thousand deaths each day. A suspicious mind that borders on the persecution complex is always agitated, that why they say ignorance is bliss. Life would be simpler if you accepted everything at face value. Must you live beyond the horizon of life? beauty They say beauty is only skin deep why go skin diving.
I am an atheist, I fear no lord and speak my mind fearlessly, I am brutally frank and it gives me the freedom, to explore the wondrous mysteries of human existence. Pursuit of knowledge should be inwardly edifying- have practical value and a source of enlightenment, along with enjoyment. Existence is cosmic, and I enjoy it- it is the frame of simplicity that is endearing.-Vinay_
Shift gears from cleverness to wisdom.
The rigid scheduled life of an executive career did not nourish me, trying hard is the last refuge of failure. With comprehension comes the certainty of despair, no matter how successful you are, the slow disintegration of the self will set in. So over the years like a recovering workaholic I slowly converted myself to a milder more relaxed alcoholic on weekends. Religion was not an attractive subject to quicken my intellect; my confusion was over as there was no more a sense of a competing reality.
We need to shift from cleverness to wisdom – perception is the basis of wisdom. Despite family and a large circle of friends, each of us is ultimately alone in this world. Loneliness is a misnomer, so too the melancholy air which surrounds it - with no mortal weight it disappears like clouds but thoughts remain.
I am not afraid of being lonely; I use solitude to recharge my brain cells, no thoughts of work, no philosophy, no idea, but just being. Do as nature does----- less.
That way you accomplish more, if you do nothing you accomplish everything. Express no thoughts, if the problem gets out of hand avoid it.
This zombie state is evident in the process and now I can visualize the little things with greater love and clarity. Almost like being born again with new mental traits and perspective. Knowing that in the end if I really have to evolve I must die as is evident in any process.-Vinay
We need to shift from cleverness to wisdom – perception is the basis of wisdom. Despite family and a large circle of friends, each of us is ultimately alone in this world. Loneliness is a misnomer, so too the melancholy air which surrounds it - with no mortal weight it disappears like clouds but thoughts remain.
I am not afraid of being lonely; I use solitude to recharge my brain cells, no thoughts of work, no philosophy, no idea, but just being. Do as nature does----- less.
That way you accomplish more, if you do nothing you accomplish everything. Express no thoughts, if the problem gets out of hand avoid it.
This zombie state is evident in the process and now I can visualize the little things with greater love and clarity. Almost like being born again with new mental traits and perspective. Knowing that in the end if I really have to evolve I must die as is evident in any process.-Vinay
The Art of Love.
Vatysana, wrote the Kama Sutra in the 4th century a treatise on the science of love making with which we taught the world the lessons of passion. India had a rich culture in the art of love touching all aspects of physical and spiritual love, but we forgot to preserve and present the history, evolution and cultural significance of human sexuality in the latter centuries.
India in the sixties and seventies was still reeling under the repressive influence of the past Colonial Victorian era. Back then sexuality was largely a matter of fantasy and the discomfort of dealing with sensuality stemmed from our middle class sense of morality. Even mature Indians were not ready for Playboy, Vanity Fair or Esquire magazines. We lived under hard wired conditions. If you were lucky to land a girl friend, it would take you six months to lip lock, (I managed it in two weeks flat). Even though the Profumo scandal, had leaked and splashed names of Christine Keeler, later the Pamela Bordes affair etc on the front pages of the tabloids, men behaved with a modicum of discretion in those days and Public scandal was frowned upon.
Brazen sensuality -erotica was restricted to the center fold of Play boy, pornography was next to impossible to find. Symbolism and decadence were ingrained in the frescoes of the sun Temple at Khajuraho where sculptures, paintings displayed the rich erotic past of India, the land of Kama Sutra. These sexual sculptures and textured paintings of goddesses of love were able to create a sultry atmosphere of stifled desire, and a mood of languorous eroticism.
In college and the big cities people did indulge in visiting brothels – a hot house simmering with sexual tension. It held no allure for me, no one makes love there – they have sex brutal, and sensual with heavy breathing. I loved reading D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s lover, it leaves one with enough cues to imagine, when the mind engages with the body in erotica.
In those slow motion days, time stood still with no action taking place, nobody moved, with the fairy tale prince (of love) even not having the courage to bestow the kiss on the princess. Frozen with indecision they all chose a state of eternal dreaming rather than grasping the reality of waking to life. Sex carried a worrying whiff of the forbidden apple and everyone waited for it to rot. The ancient Indian approach to sex and lovemaking was much more liberal. We need to shed some of our rigid ideas and inhibitions associated with lovemaking. I am aroused by mystery and romance and it is fascinating to delve into the secrets that lie under beneath the bed sheets. Happiness is nothing more than indulging in your passion.
India in the sixties and seventies was still reeling under the repressive influence of the past Colonial Victorian era. Back then sexuality was largely a matter of fantasy and the discomfort of dealing with sensuality stemmed from our middle class sense of morality. Even mature Indians were not ready for Playboy, Vanity Fair or Esquire magazines. We lived under hard wired conditions. If you were lucky to land a girl friend, it would take you six months to lip lock, (I managed it in two weeks flat). Even though the Profumo scandal, had leaked and splashed names of Christine Keeler, later the Pamela Bordes affair etc on the front pages of the tabloids, men behaved with a modicum of discretion in those days and Public scandal was frowned upon.
Brazen sensuality -erotica was restricted to the center fold of Play boy, pornography was next to impossible to find. Symbolism and decadence were ingrained in the frescoes of the sun Temple at Khajuraho where sculptures, paintings displayed the rich erotic past of India, the land of Kama Sutra. These sexual sculptures and textured paintings of goddesses of love were able to create a sultry atmosphere of stifled desire, and a mood of languorous eroticism.
In college and the big cities people did indulge in visiting brothels – a hot house simmering with sexual tension. It held no allure for me, no one makes love there – they have sex brutal, and sensual with heavy breathing. I loved reading D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s lover, it leaves one with enough cues to imagine, when the mind engages with the body in erotica.
In those slow motion days, time stood still with no action taking place, nobody moved, with the fairy tale prince (of love) even not having the courage to bestow the kiss on the princess. Frozen with indecision they all chose a state of eternal dreaming rather than grasping the reality of waking to life. Sex carried a worrying whiff of the forbidden apple and everyone waited for it to rot. The ancient Indian approach to sex and lovemaking was much more liberal. We need to shed some of our rigid ideas and inhibitions associated with lovemaking. I am aroused by mystery and romance and it is fascinating to delve into the secrets that lie under beneath the bed sheets. Happiness is nothing more than indulging in your passion.
Burning the candle at both ends.
The candles will cost more than the birthday cake and the cake will sink under the dying load of the past years. As the day dawns I realize its one year less of my life and this is no illusion but the stark reality as time is leaving me. I must walk slowly to savour every moment, like someone who has arrived from so far away and is not expected to reach his destination so fast.
The ticking away of the personal doomsday clock tolls each year ominously. Writing of the flickering candle light assaults the wall, wisdom of the cruel reality of mortality is driven home. The years are like a greedy lariat in the air dangle menacingly in the air, like a macabre guest nibbling away at the birthday cake. I have lived life well almost burning the candles at both ends, while devouring the pleasures of life.
Arthur Schopenhauer the German philosopher and Buddha laid emphasis on the dismal life and the miseries of mankind, overlooking the dazzling splendors in the Universe. I have always reached out to the wide world and shared the delightful joys with all who dwell in my heart and even strangers in an unending thirst for the zest of existence.
I seemed to have used up many life times and my thoughts were always ecstatic, not able to spend much time on dreary misery, I have a song on my lips and as the candles burn brightly before the wick is snuffed out, I bask in the romantic candle light ignoring the primordial darkness.Gonna have a blast, living place less, burning the candle of life at both ends, living up to my name in the time of realmlessness in celebration of life. Let’s Misbehave, sometimes it’s a Good Thing to be the big bad wolf. -Cheers!
The ticking away of the personal doomsday clock tolls each year ominously. Writing of the flickering candle light assaults the wall, wisdom of the cruel reality of mortality is driven home. The years are like a greedy lariat in the air dangle menacingly in the air, like a macabre guest nibbling away at the birthday cake. I have lived life well almost burning the candles at both ends, while devouring the pleasures of life.
Arthur Schopenhauer the German philosopher and Buddha laid emphasis on the dismal life and the miseries of mankind, overlooking the dazzling splendors in the Universe. I have always reached out to the wide world and shared the delightful joys with all who dwell in my heart and even strangers in an unending thirst for the zest of existence.
I seemed to have used up many life times and my thoughts were always ecstatic, not able to spend much time on dreary misery, I have a song on my lips and as the candles burn brightly before the wick is snuffed out, I bask in the romantic candle light ignoring the primordial darkness.Gonna have a blast, living place less, burning the candle of life at both ends, living up to my name in the time of realmlessness in celebration of life. Let’s Misbehave, sometimes it’s a Good Thing to be the big bad wolf. -Cheers!
The Myth of the matter.
With deft strokes of his pen spiritual columnist Vithal Nadkarni draws heavily from the Rig Vedas the new age spiritual and neo-shamanistic texts of Don Miguel to drive home the point stated by Einstein that everything is ultimately the “figments of our imagination”.
The central precept is a holistic spiritual consciousness drawing on both Eastern and Western philosophic tradition. The concept is powerful and has the ability to transform our lives by breaking thousands of “limiting agreements“ we have made with ourselves, our faith, with other people their faiths and with life itself.
All sacred narratives are myths explaining how humankind came to exist in their present form- mythological stories originate within traditions – Prometheus shaping man for Athena to breathe life into clay- to our heavenly Father, Mother, Holy Ghost and Prophet ~ Adam, Eve, Gods, Goddesses, Fairies, Elves, Leprechauns, Dragons and Devils; so different from us as if they are from some alien planet. These confining dogmas, beliefs, practices symbols and myths over the years have become powerful influences in our minds.
If you are aware of this, then it’s easy to understand that all of these different mythologies, religions and philosophies existing in this world; all those different beliefs, dogmas, and ways of thinking are nothing but agreements with ourselves and with other human beings.
Everything that exists is true: the earth, the stars and the universe are true. As the Rig Veda states (Truth is one: the wise speak of many). But the symbols that we use to contract what we think are true, because “we” say so; they are all our “creations” but are they true??? Existence, awareness is the only truth (Rig Veda).
The “fifth agreement” is ultimately about seeing your whole reality with the eyes of truth. If you practice this fifth agreement it will result in the complete acceptance of yourself just the way are, and the complete acceptance of everybody else just the way they are. The reward will be eternal happiness.
The central precept is a holistic spiritual consciousness drawing on both Eastern and Western philosophic tradition. The concept is powerful and has the ability to transform our lives by breaking thousands of “limiting agreements“ we have made with ourselves, our faith, with other people their faiths and with life itself.
All sacred narratives are myths explaining how humankind came to exist in their present form- mythological stories originate within traditions – Prometheus shaping man for Athena to breathe life into clay- to our heavenly Father, Mother, Holy Ghost and Prophet ~ Adam, Eve, Gods, Goddesses, Fairies, Elves, Leprechauns, Dragons and Devils; so different from us as if they are from some alien planet. These confining dogmas, beliefs, practices symbols and myths over the years have become powerful influences in our minds.
If you are aware of this, then it’s easy to understand that all of these different mythologies, religions and philosophies existing in this world; all those different beliefs, dogmas, and ways of thinking are nothing but agreements with ourselves and with other human beings.
Everything that exists is true: the earth, the stars and the universe are true. As the Rig Veda states (Truth is one: the wise speak of many). But the symbols that we use to contract what we think are true, because “we” say so; they are all our “creations” but are they true??? Existence, awareness is the only truth (Rig Veda).
The “fifth agreement” is ultimately about seeing your whole reality with the eyes of truth. If you practice this fifth agreement it will result in the complete acceptance of yourself just the way are, and the complete acceptance of everybody else just the way they are. The reward will be eternal happiness.
SEPIA TINTED KODAK MOMENTS.
As I leaf through my family album, memories begin to flood through me as inexorably as a tide, they caress me and I melt inside. I can’t help it, fragments half remembered takes me back into the past, and flashes of images and times interweave themselves across my mind. Each picture represents some kind of transmission from the dead, and their blurriness and graininess assist in giving them the air of nineteenth-century spirit photos. It is an intensely personal collection, almost like a tour of my past roots and adolescent life and times, but it isn’t idle. There aren’t many photographs of my father as he never attended much of our family functions. In the flickering twilight of my life, I can visualize my father, and the ghost of his smell, lingers in the empty room. I wish I could feel his strong hands lift me again high above this cruel world. I gaze at the other photographs especially my mother’s with her serene beauty and I obtain something from each of them. By looking at their photos even when they are no more it seems as if they are leaving behind a tiny spark, someday somewhere down the line the young generation will pick up the trace, she did so much for me and my siblings long ago after all. Sadness unlike sensation remains for a long time – the life and death struggle in this material world becomes real and I wonder what it does besides inflicting pain and sorrow.-Vinu-
I remain philosophical thanks to alcohol.
I remain philosophical thanks to alcohol (C2Ho5) while my neighbors and relatives labeled me as a drunken genius, so I did not have to indulge in having polite conversations with them, (Cheers). I was the only truly great and unwillingly ‘insane’ person, among so many who pretended to be insane but are really all too normal. Even Churchill drank to what most of us would regard as excess; whisky (Johnnie Walker Black Label): ‘the main basic standing refreshment of the white officer in the East’, as he called it. He reckoned it ‘quickened his intellect’.
I have a drink at 9:00 pm to pull myself together and begin my serious drinking at half past nine. Night comes and goes nervous tension obscured my memories of what whiskey cost me by way of physical and intellectual well being, leave alone the money part – I could easily destroy myself. Drank a good deal of whiskey on weekends, hangover and revulsions are the order of the next day. I feel sick, disgusted and obscene till I light up a marijuana weed, then meditation becomes easy as I close my eyes and float around the world.
I dream on a high, yellowed by the livid stained window, far from the bad scrawny men and from wicked paunchy ones. I see the song of the heavens, the March of the people, scurrying like ants, all those credulous fools drooling the stupid and begging faith to recite their infinite complaints to god. There is no gravity the world sucks!
I have a drink at 9:00 pm to pull myself together and begin my serious drinking at half past nine. Night comes and goes nervous tension obscured my memories of what whiskey cost me by way of physical and intellectual well being, leave alone the money part – I could easily destroy myself. Drank a good deal of whiskey on weekends, hangover and revulsions are the order of the next day. I feel sick, disgusted and obscene till I light up a marijuana weed, then meditation becomes easy as I close my eyes and float around the world.
I dream on a high, yellowed by the livid stained window, far from the bad scrawny men and from wicked paunchy ones. I see the song of the heavens, the March of the people, scurrying like ants, all those credulous fools drooling the stupid and begging faith to recite their infinite complaints to god. There is no gravity the world sucks!
Quanta and Qualia.
Many anthropic principles are simply confusing to the ordinary layman. Of late term Quanta & Qualia are bandied about widely in all cosmological theories. Spiritual guru Deepak Chopra in a free wheeling discussion with Trishala Jain gives us his insights. According to him art and creative writing is a symbolic representation of reality as 0pposed to science which is a map and not an experimental symbolism like art.
The qualitative experience according to him is closer than the quantitative measurements of science. Art and thoughts are the highest form of expression of our consciousness; big leaps in collective consciousness have brought in the era of Renaissance in history.
People tend to understand from their own level of awareness. Art and creative thinking captures the flavors of life and in the language of consciousness, it is called “Qualia” meaning the quality of subjective experience. In the realm of science it is difficult to explain this experience in terms of neural networks.
For example: when you watch a beautiful sunset in Quanta terms the empirical theory of neurons firing from the temporoparietal nerve junction and some chemical or electromagnetic changes as explained by neuroscience cannot explore or explain this feeling or sense. Vedanta states that it is the experiential imagination of that sunset that may trigger the firing of neurons. Neurons are only a symbolic representation of that and the “Qualia” together create the illusion of the material world.
The self, observer and the object of observation, thoughts, feelings, sensations and images that we call the material world including our mind is the conglomeration of “Qualia”
The astronomers also watch the sunset stars and moon and have their own set of empirical theories which are tested, but are two weak to throw light on scientific theories as of now.
The qualitative experience according to him is closer than the quantitative measurements of science. Art and thoughts are the highest form of expression of our consciousness; big leaps in collective consciousness have brought in the era of Renaissance in history.
People tend to understand from their own level of awareness. Art and creative thinking captures the flavors of life and in the language of consciousness, it is called “Qualia” meaning the quality of subjective experience. In the realm of science it is difficult to explain this experience in terms of neural networks.
For example: when you watch a beautiful sunset in Quanta terms the empirical theory of neurons firing from the temporoparietal nerve junction and some chemical or electromagnetic changes as explained by neuroscience cannot explore or explain this feeling or sense. Vedanta states that it is the experiential imagination of that sunset that may trigger the firing of neurons. Neurons are only a symbolic representation of that and the “Qualia” together create the illusion of the material world.
The self, observer and the object of observation, thoughts, feelings, sensations and images that we call the material world including our mind is the conglomeration of “Qualia”
The astronomers also watch the sunset stars and moon and have their own set of empirical theories which are tested, but are two weak to throw light on scientific theories as of now.
Banking on religion.
Money is the root of all evil is the universal adage; a wealthy man who was discontented plagued by illness approached a sage, who advised him to give all his money and wealth to the sage for eternal happiness. Soon the man ended up in a soup kitchen. This reminds me of a similar anecdote that happened many years ago; a wealthy merchant approached a doctor with many ailments, he was advised to go on an austere diet of rice gruel and water the same the doctor was approached by a poor skinny rickshaw puller with health issues, the doctor advised him to indulge in rich foods like, meat, cakes, wine and venison.
As Mark Twain stated “the lack of money is the root of all evil” the East and West may never meet but will agree on this truth. Monasteries, Seminaries and Madrasa’s are the theological schools that churn out erudite ministers, priests, rabbi’s and mullahs who are supposed to be enlightened after they complete their education. However even through scores of men flock to these schools we hardly find any true leader emerging from these schools. By contrast many students who attend academies and institutions to pursue, engineering, science and management find their place in the world and many become leaders in their own vacations or spheres.
There must be a something fundamentally wrong with theological schools as their products become more inclusive and dig deeper into then own superstition and beliefs. None of them have emerged as leaders or innovators to show the way.
Ensuring freedom and dignity to all mankind - to eat love - and grow is more important than making noises “that are holier than thou. People then tend to worship dieties, Feng shuie, in the hope of acquiring wealth and happiness. Greece the ancient citadel of learning and religion is knocking on the doors of Plautus and Zeus (gods of wealth) to ensure indiscriminate allocation of resources. Now they are reduced to a bunch of beggars begging for Euros.
The Middle East with its vast oil resources is witnessing intercine revolts and violence. India with its multitude of divine gods is still floundering; the Japanese with Shinto and Feng shuie are devastated by natural calamities. The Chinese meanwhile who are communists are laughing all the way to the bank like the Taoist laughing Buddha. Knowing one’s truth is a state of mind and as intuitive capacity to be right and correct. People must be free to choose by overcoming myth towards understanding capitalism.
As Mark Twain stated “the lack of money is the root of all evil” the East and West may never meet but will agree on this truth. Monasteries, Seminaries and Madrasa’s are the theological schools that churn out erudite ministers, priests, rabbi’s and mullahs who are supposed to be enlightened after they complete their education. However even through scores of men flock to these schools we hardly find any true leader emerging from these schools. By contrast many students who attend academies and institutions to pursue, engineering, science and management find their place in the world and many become leaders in their own vacations or spheres.
There must be a something fundamentally wrong with theological schools as their products become more inclusive and dig deeper into then own superstition and beliefs. None of them have emerged as leaders or innovators to show the way.
Ensuring freedom and dignity to all mankind - to eat love - and grow is more important than making noises “that are holier than thou. People then tend to worship dieties, Feng shuie, in the hope of acquiring wealth and happiness. Greece the ancient citadel of learning and religion is knocking on the doors of Plautus and Zeus (gods of wealth) to ensure indiscriminate allocation of resources. Now they are reduced to a bunch of beggars begging for Euros.
The Middle East with its vast oil resources is witnessing intercine revolts and violence. India with its multitude of divine gods is still floundering; the Japanese with Shinto and Feng shuie are devastated by natural calamities. The Chinese meanwhile who are communists are laughing all the way to the bank like the Taoist laughing Buddha. Knowing one’s truth is a state of mind and as intuitive capacity to be right and correct. People must be free to choose by overcoming myth towards understanding capitalism.
Say it with flowers.
When you wake up to the glorious sunrise at dawn, feel the gentle breeze nudge your cheeks, inhaled the jasmine scented night air and gaze at the moon and stars above the ocean. As you explore this enchanted earth, you will suddenly come upon a field full of flowers.
Behind the beautiful flowers in this world lurk life, death and hope which cast their crooked shadows on the lake.
To some flowers that fall casually dying enchanted with living, death is only a different smell that stalks through stems, sapping life, souring roots- while others that grow rigid and lie in unnatural postures through many seasons, death is the answer, which lies in every act of living.- Ikebana-
If the flowers present in drooping throw it out….. –Vinay-
And so the desert shall rejoice and blossom, as the rose sorrowful and sighing shall flee' Ishian: 35
Behind the beautiful flowers in this world lurk life, death and hope which cast their crooked shadows on the lake.
To some flowers that fall casually dying enchanted with living, death is only a different smell that stalks through stems, sapping life, souring roots- while others that grow rigid and lie in unnatural postures through many seasons, death is the answer, which lies in every act of living.- Ikebana-
If the flowers present in drooping throw it out….. –Vinay-
And so the desert shall rejoice and blossom, as the rose sorrowful and sighing shall flee' Ishian: 35
Say it with flowers.
When you wake up to the glorious sunrise at dawn, feel the gentle breeze nudge your cheeks, inhaled the jasmine scented night air and gaze at the moon and stars above the ocean. As you explore this enchanted earth, you will suddenly come upon a field full of flowers.
Behind the beautiful flowers in this world lurk life, death and hope which cast their crooked shadows on the lake.
To some flowers that fall casually dying enchanted with living, death is only a different smell that stalks through stems, sapping life, souring roots- while others that grow rigid and lie in unnatural postures through many seasons, death is the answer, which lies in every act of living.- Ikebana-
If the flowers present in drooping throw it out….. –Vinay-
And so the desert shall rejoice and blossom, as the rose sorrowful and sighing shall flee' Ishian: 35
Behind the beautiful flowers in this world lurk life, death and hope which cast their crooked shadows on the lake.
To some flowers that fall casually dying enchanted with living, death is only a different smell that stalks through stems, sapping life, souring roots- while others that grow rigid and lie in unnatural postures through many seasons, death is the answer, which lies in every act of living.- Ikebana-
If the flowers present in drooping throw it out….. –Vinay-
And so the desert shall rejoice and blossom, as the rose sorrowful and sighing shall flee' Ishian: 35
The Turning Brain.
Philosophers, scientists and psychologists have all tried to unravel the mysteries of the human mind for countless years, slowly inching towards answers while making little head way, like “the Pilgrims progress”. Individuals differ in how they sense and interpret the world around them depending on their world view.
What are the processes that influence our judgments and decisions? Recently a team of MIT neurologists/ scientists claim that they can change peoples moral judgments by disrupting the nerves located in the right temporoparietal junction. Other seminal researches by psychologists claim that the decision making is the result of the interplay between two cognitive systems.
All this shatters our traditional myth involving the rationality of the mind in decision making. According to Daniel Kahneman the two cognitive systems are one favoring risk and unafraid of danger while the other is to play safe and a sort of risk averse type. Through a complex interaction between there two traits the outcome of the decision is determined. That is why some decisions are not rational but more hedonistic.
That is why in philosophy and mystic wisdom we are told to make a transformation or paradigm shift from the shadow caused by our weaknesses and to develop our own minds to escape from the years of conditioning by society, culture and religion. Philosophy unlike the others has no answers, but asks questions and makes you think for yourself and not follow any pre-ordained beliefs. Both the ephemeral wink at the sensual delights of the present moment and the depths of cosmic consciousness can be found within these sticky layers of the mind.
Thoughts are like a burst of color in celebration of the universe’s capacity for joy, sorrow and laughter, infusing the breath of life and the feelings can energize or relax our minds. Ideas infiltrate our brains and takes over our actions, Truth then becomes brush strokes of our thoughts on the canvas of life.
Our capacity to appreciate Prada and Pranayam or embrace the Guru and explore the “G- spot” from the trembling skin to the tingling spirituality, its all in the mind.
As, Nicolas Despereaux states… “How often the fear of one evil leads us into worse”.-Vinay-
What are the processes that influence our judgments and decisions? Recently a team of MIT neurologists/ scientists claim that they can change peoples moral judgments by disrupting the nerves located in the right temporoparietal junction. Other seminal researches by psychologists claim that the decision making is the result of the interplay between two cognitive systems.
All this shatters our traditional myth involving the rationality of the mind in decision making. According to Daniel Kahneman the two cognitive systems are one favoring risk and unafraid of danger while the other is to play safe and a sort of risk averse type. Through a complex interaction between there two traits the outcome of the decision is determined. That is why some decisions are not rational but more hedonistic.
That is why in philosophy and mystic wisdom we are told to make a transformation or paradigm shift from the shadow caused by our weaknesses and to develop our own minds to escape from the years of conditioning by society, culture and religion. Philosophy unlike the others has no answers, but asks questions and makes you think for yourself and not follow any pre-ordained beliefs. Both the ephemeral wink at the sensual delights of the present moment and the depths of cosmic consciousness can be found within these sticky layers of the mind.
Thoughts are like a burst of color in celebration of the universe’s capacity for joy, sorrow and laughter, infusing the breath of life and the feelings can energize or relax our minds. Ideas infiltrate our brains and takes over our actions, Truth then becomes brush strokes of our thoughts on the canvas of life.
Our capacity to appreciate Prada and Pranayam or embrace the Guru and explore the “G- spot” from the trembling skin to the tingling spirituality, its all in the mind.
As, Nicolas Despereaux states… “How often the fear of one evil leads us into worse”.-Vinay-
Friday, February 17, 2012
Mother tongue
I cherish my mother tongue, and the fact that I am a Malayalee even though I can’t read or write which, contrary to conventional wisdom, is not uncommon. In Ceylon where I had my schooling I spoke Tamil and Sinhalese, you have Hindi as well as Marathi and Guajarati in Mumbai; in Malaysia, people speak three languages. The idea of a ‘mother tongue’ is a highly romantic and nationalist one. My multilingualism enabled me to understand different cultures, and to write in English as opposed to Malayalam, I also picked up a smattering of , French and Bahasa Indonesia: Aspects of Language and culture widen our perspective, and makes us feel at home everywhere, not just in our hometowns. Every language and their cultures is an open window on the world, fundamental to understanding the universe. This is in contrast to the grim attachment to roots advocated by some people. Trees have roots; I have legs, and believe me, that is a huge advantage. I f we can be easy with ourselves we can be easy with other people irrespective of color, caste creed or language.
Burning the candle at both ends.
The candles will cost more than the birthday cake and the cake will sink under the dying load of the past years. As the day dawns I realize its one year less of my life and this is no illusion but the stark reality as time is leaving me. I must walk slowly to savour every moment, like someone who has arrived from so far away and is not expected to reach his destination so fast.
The ticking away of the personal dooms day clock tolls each year ominously. Writing of the flickering candle light assault the wall, wisdom of the cruel reality of mortality is driven home. The years are like a greedy lariat in the air, like a macabre guest nibbling away at the birthday cake. I have lived life well almost burning the candles at both ends, while devouring the pleasures of life. Arthur Schopenhauer the German philosopher and Buddha laid emphasis on the dismal life and the miseries of mankind, overlooking the dazzling splendors in the Universe.
The Universe is composed of billions of galaxies, trillions of planetary systems and stars and a plethora of exquisite life forms. Earth is just 1% of it. Deepak Chopra states that our bodies are changing but our core consciousness remains singular, the soul. I seemed to have used up many life times and my thoughts were always ecstatic, not able to spend much time on dreary misery, I have a song on my lips and as the candles burn brightly before the wick is snuffed out, I bask in the romantic candle light ignoring the primordial darkness.
The ticking away of the personal dooms day clock tolls each year ominously. Writing of the flickering candle light assault the wall, wisdom of the cruel reality of mortality is driven home. The years are like a greedy lariat in the air, like a macabre guest nibbling away at the birthday cake. I have lived life well almost burning the candles at both ends, while devouring the pleasures of life. Arthur Schopenhauer the German philosopher and Buddha laid emphasis on the dismal life and the miseries of mankind, overlooking the dazzling splendors in the Universe.
The Universe is composed of billions of galaxies, trillions of planetary systems and stars and a plethora of exquisite life forms. Earth is just 1% of it. Deepak Chopra states that our bodies are changing but our core consciousness remains singular, the soul. I seemed to have used up many life times and my thoughts were always ecstatic, not able to spend much time on dreary misery, I have a song on my lips and as the candles burn brightly before the wick is snuffed out, I bask in the romantic candle light ignoring the primordial darkness.
Kodak no more.
Ah! The Kodak moment fades into oblivion.
Remember the sepia tinted photos of your grandparents, the college group photos and those stubby wedding alums with childhood portraits. A “picture is worth a thousand words” they say. Since 1879 Kodak photography brought us images of war, Olympics, our childhood, family, school / college days and important functions. From Brownie cameras to motion pictures Kodak captured our moments of agony and ecstasy on celluloid and print, priceless.
It is a strange quirk of fate where technology kills technology like a digital catharsis that captured the essence of the photograph as Kodak bites the dust, afflicted by the viral internet virus. It’s a pity that the Company which invented the moving pictures did not themselves perceive the big picture; and succumbed to an optical neural disorder which befell many Corporations in the past.
In a world which was moving on to digital holography Kodak developed visual agnosia (the inability to recognize the senses/ writing on
Remember the sepia tinted photos of your grandparents, the college group photos and those stubby wedding alums with childhood portraits. A “picture is worth a thousand words” they say. Since 1879 Kodak photography brought us images of war, Olympics, our childhood, family, school / college days and important functions. From Brownie cameras to motion pictures Kodak captured our moments of agony and ecstasy on celluloid and print, priceless.
It is a strange quirk of fate where technology kills technology like a digital catharsis that captured the essence of the photograph as Kodak bites the dust, afflicted by the viral internet virus. It’s a pity that the Company which invented the moving pictures did not themselves perceive the big picture; and succumbed to an optical neural disorder which befell many Corporations in the past.
In a world which was moving on to digital holography Kodak developed visual agnosia (the inability to recognize the senses/ writing on
Info highway.
When we try to hold the Internet in a single thought, we reach for an image of exhilaration, of liberation, of flight: "the Information Superhighway"; "surfing the Web"; data zipping through candy-colored cables straight into our homes. This is the Internet as it, in theory, ought to be: the world's information and entertainment instantly accessible, and we at our screens, poised, enthralled, and weightless. The image that comes to his mind is, one that comes closer to the Internet in practice: a great groaning table, creaking under bottomless platters of food and pitchers of drink, and we in our chairs, too exhausted to stand, mouths too numb to taste much, but with just enough energy to reach for more.
And there's the key to understanding the often anesthetic effect of the Internet. Decadence doesn't demand great wealth: Decadence is a useful way to understand any situation in which an existing pleasure becomes cheap, and it doesn’t take any ingenuity to fight off the boredom. That is now the case with information—the small burst of satisfaction that comes from a refilled inbox or a new text, from connecting with friends, or sharing the meme of the day. Millions of us are now richer in these pleasures than our parents' generation could ever imagine. But our capacity for enjoyment is still finite: We've built up a tolerance to the pleasures of information....
A recent college graduate likened life online to "being demoted from the category of thinking, caring human to a sort of rat that doesn't know why he needs to tap that button, just that he does to stop passively ingesting the flow”. It’s like trying to drink from a fire hose of information has harmful cognitive effects.- Rob Goodman
And there's the key to understanding the often anesthetic effect of the Internet. Decadence doesn't demand great wealth: Decadence is a useful way to understand any situation in which an existing pleasure becomes cheap, and it doesn’t take any ingenuity to fight off the boredom. That is now the case with information—the small burst of satisfaction that comes from a refilled inbox or a new text, from connecting with friends, or sharing the meme of the day. Millions of us are now richer in these pleasures than our parents' generation could ever imagine. But our capacity for enjoyment is still finite: We've built up a tolerance to the pleasures of information....
A recent college graduate likened life online to "being demoted from the category of thinking, caring human to a sort of rat that doesn't know why he needs to tap that button, just that he does to stop passively ingesting the flow”. It’s like trying to drink from a fire hose of information has harmful cognitive effects.- Rob Goodman
Religion in internet age
Religion has been ill-equipped to handle the challenges of the internet age: the ‘hemorrhaging of information online’ is the ‘greatest single threat faced by the church in the 21st century’. If we get involved in a war where we feel our survival is threatened, we will dedicatedly fight. But I think any dedicated institution, especially a religious organization, will do that is the history of religion.
Hubbard recognized that scientology claims to fulfill modern psychology’s fantasy of direct access to the contents of the mind- some pervasive deception just beneath the surface – what is commonly thought of as normal life – must constantly be confronted and dispelled. Psychotherapy treats the past and the brain. Have you ever had thoughts you were embarrassed about? Are you guilty of anything? Do you have sexual fantasies?
Do you think there is anything wrong with having your own privacy invaded? Do you want to be free? Religion is the oldest heritage that man has and people’s sense of reality was easily enough undermined, and from there replaced – a process also known as brainwashing which has continued for hundreds of years. Sigmund Freud suggested that “man has in him an active instinct for hatred and destruction.” Freud went on to contrast this “instinct to destroy and kill” with one he called erotic—and instinct “to conserve and unify,” an instinct for love
Hubbard recognized that scientology claims to fulfill modern psychology’s fantasy of direct access to the contents of the mind- some pervasive deception just beneath the surface – what is commonly thought of as normal life – must constantly be confronted and dispelled. Psychotherapy treats the past and the brain. Have you ever had thoughts you were embarrassed about? Are you guilty of anything? Do you have sexual fantasies?
Do you think there is anything wrong with having your own privacy invaded? Do you want to be free? Religion is the oldest heritage that man has and people’s sense of reality was easily enough undermined, and from there replaced – a process also known as brainwashing which has continued for hundreds of years. Sigmund Freud suggested that “man has in him an active instinct for hatred and destruction.” Freud went on to contrast this “instinct to destroy and kill” with one he called erotic—and instinct “to conserve and unify,” an instinct for love
Impulse driven
Humans are driven by two basic impulses, one impelling them to independence and survival, the other to propagation and thereby to the loss of individuality. Paranoia functioned as a religious worldview, and bound all religious followers into a community. The paranoid person logically weaves all events, all persons, all chance remarks and happenings, into his system. The death instinct will work its ruin and reduce life to its primal state of inert matter.
The death instinct provided the biological justification for all those vile, pernicious propensities [to war] which we are now combating. Does not every religion lead ultimately to this—a sort of mythology? By twisting the natural processes through semantic twists and scriptures which set of beliefs becomes a religion. As Hubbard the inventor of Scientology remarked “all I’m asking is that we take a look at this information, and … let’s see if we can’t disagree with this universe, just a little bit. He went on to add that the human mind is a perfect computer corrupted by ‘incorrect data.
The painful conflicts in which humans have been entangled throughout their history and pre-history do not come only from oppression, poverty, inequality or lack of education; they originate in permanent flaws of the human animal. We’re treating the present-time beingness, that’s religion, not mental science. The history of religions in the 20th century is the privileging of the mystical, secret, elitist aspects of religion, often to the neglect of the mundane. In Eastern theology, Hindu way of life, Vedas and Buddhism practiced “karma’ - or self-mastery through the acceptance of a personal fate, a condition that was supposed to go with tranquility of mind
The death instinct provided the biological justification for all those vile, pernicious propensities [to war] which we are now combating. Does not every religion lead ultimately to this—a sort of mythology? By twisting the natural processes through semantic twists and scriptures which set of beliefs becomes a religion. As Hubbard the inventor of Scientology remarked “all I’m asking is that we take a look at this information, and … let’s see if we can’t disagree with this universe, just a little bit. He went on to add that the human mind is a perfect computer corrupted by ‘incorrect data.
The painful conflicts in which humans have been entangled throughout their history and pre-history do not come only from oppression, poverty, inequality or lack of education; they originate in permanent flaws of the human animal. We’re treating the present-time beingness, that’s religion, not mental science. The history of religions in the 20th century is the privileging of the mystical, secret, elitist aspects of religion, often to the neglect of the mundane. In Eastern theology, Hindu way of life, Vedas and Buddhism practiced “karma’ - or self-mastery through the acceptance of a personal fate, a condition that was supposed to go with tranquility of mind
Heaven and hell above – Fire and Brimstone on earth....
I am amazed at the zest and persistence of the gospelers, who use every opportunity to try and convert you to their faith, as if they had marketing targets to achieve. I am deeply puzzled when these proselytizers want to prove to me that God exists. There may be comfort in collective emotions no denying, but spiritual succor in groups cannot lead one to salvation. People tend to get carried away when their emotions like fear, joy, and sorrow are shared by a community or faith, something like a flash mob that grows bigger as more and more people join.
In the olden days we dealt with our conflicts and trauma by ourselves, or with parents or close friends. Today there are a host of clinics, psychologists, and networking sites where you wash and dry out your innermost fears and emotions. Religion offers a vast network of people working in unison and who are focused on salvation or nirvana. They tell you what you like to hear, like how a miracle will happen and take away your suffering through prayer. You fall neatly into the trap because you are leading an unconscious life and do not want to confront life’s problems. Religious books are like fiction, made up of fantasy, miracles and other stories, escapism from the reality of life. It makes you voluntarily surrender your consciousness to the beliefs of others.
Like meditation you can momentarily shut off the real facts of life. But you need to shift laterally to your own consciousness to break the mirage of miracles happening. Only family or few close friends will tell you the real “bone marrow’ truths that life’s’ stories are about failures. You don’t need the crutch of religion to get up and dust yourself, be yourself and work relentlessly for the actual transformation to happen. Push out the boundaries of religious scriptures & explore the uncharted territory of your consciousness.
Real ecstasy is in discovery ourselves in the book of life as you experience it chapter by chapter and the curiosity and expectation that many pages are left; then knowing that another great chapter will open out as you expand your consciousness.
What amazed me is the passion audiences bring to play when they congregate in church or a house of worship, and all of them bond on the same page. This obsessive community outpouring is a symbol of regression. They allow conscious minds to get synchronized with their own religious faith to experience joy in their brotherhood.
When someone does not share their beliefs the “joy” instantly turns to hate and is the beginning of religious intolerance!
In the olden days we dealt with our conflicts and trauma by ourselves, or with parents or close friends. Today there are a host of clinics, psychologists, and networking sites where you wash and dry out your innermost fears and emotions. Religion offers a vast network of people working in unison and who are focused on salvation or nirvana. They tell you what you like to hear, like how a miracle will happen and take away your suffering through prayer. You fall neatly into the trap because you are leading an unconscious life and do not want to confront life’s problems. Religious books are like fiction, made up of fantasy, miracles and other stories, escapism from the reality of life. It makes you voluntarily surrender your consciousness to the beliefs of others.
Like meditation you can momentarily shut off the real facts of life. But you need to shift laterally to your own consciousness to break the mirage of miracles happening. Only family or few close friends will tell you the real “bone marrow’ truths that life’s’ stories are about failures. You don’t need the crutch of religion to get up and dust yourself, be yourself and work relentlessly for the actual transformation to happen. Push out the boundaries of religious scriptures & explore the uncharted territory of your consciousness.
Real ecstasy is in discovery ourselves in the book of life as you experience it chapter by chapter and the curiosity and expectation that many pages are left; then knowing that another great chapter will open out as you expand your consciousness.
What amazed me is the passion audiences bring to play when they congregate in church or a house of worship, and all of them bond on the same page. This obsessive community outpouring is a symbol of regression. They allow conscious minds to get synchronized with their own religious faith to experience joy in their brotherhood.
When someone does not share their beliefs the “joy” instantly turns to hate and is the beginning of religious intolerance!
Enter the No Smoking Zone.
It is now illegal to smoke pretty well anywhere in the world. They began by banning smoking on flights, trains, buses, stations, theaters and now all public places.
Reminds me of my school days when I had to hide in the school toilet and smoke. Many homes also banned smoking in their premises. Smoking in someone else’s home is regarded as a social solecism, something like farting or seducing your hostess.
A few brave men like me have been sent to the reservations and are forced to smoke in their own cars only. You can kill yourself with an overdose of drugs, alcohol, or in wars, but smoking is strictly frowned upon by the governments.-Vinay-
Reminds me of my school days when I had to hide in the school toilet and smoke. Many homes also banned smoking in their premises. Smoking in someone else’s home is regarded as a social solecism, something like farting or seducing your hostess.
A few brave men like me have been sent to the reservations and are forced to smoke in their own cars only. You can kill yourself with an overdose of drugs, alcohol, or in wars, but smoking is strictly frowned upon by the governments.-Vinay-
A SPIRITUAL VACUUM.
India has always been the land of mystics’ sages and spiritituality for the Western world from time immemorial and famous Icons like John Lennon, (the Beatles) and others have imbibed this spiritual wisdom from time to time. The late 1960’s and early 1970’s was a time when this spiritual hysteria climaxed in tandem with the hippie moment. The Vietnam war, with its sense of crisis, the moral urgency and concern with personal salvation gave a further impetus to the movement.
Bhagwan Rajneesh (Osho) armed with a Masters degree, was a keen student of Freud and spotted a real opportunity to exploit this spiritual hysteria. America, was always fascinated by spiritually inclined theorists, especially those with saffron robes, long hair, beards and foreign accents. The timing was perfect, communism had failed, and people were disillusioned with the war, the Kinsey reports, wife swapping and frigidity were worrisome issues. Intellectuals, critics, skeptics all fell prey to the new spiritual revival, where the prophet now called Osho promised salvation through “Free Love”. As a religious crusader of sexual freedom he used the mantle previously worm by Freud, Jung and other intellectuals and cloaked it with mysticism to give it added allure in the land of opportunity and everyone arose in a wave to embrace this new spiritual revival.
This created a mini-exodus, come summer time hordes of American & European spiritual tourists made a bee line to India, visiting its, monuments, solemn institutions holy Ganges, Himalayas , and ashrams where some grown varieties of hedonistic Guru’s and swami’s promised instant nirvana. Hordes of westerners with weary cartoon character T shirts, sugar candy colored shoes (like those worn by Goofy) with porky desk job thighs sticking out of shiny iridescent “day glow” color shorts & with fanny packs each more ridiculously clad than the next, dressed up as if they were in some sort of a pageant descended on this holy land. Is this the dress code for under-developed countries or holy shrines?
They spilled onto the crowded streets teeming with the locals in the sweltering heat, inhaling the incomparable smell of incense, joss sticks, warm skin, and meat cooking in coconut oil, tea, honey and frangipani, Dust, lust, hair oil mingling with the sprayed on perfume giving a heady odor like the breath of life.
How do you expect them to understand spiritual, abstract matters like Nirvana, Kundalini, Tantra, Vedas, Moksha, Yoga – when they are still trying to understand ski-boats, salad shooters, trail bikes, Palmcorders, I-pods, Jacuzzi’s, streaming music, video, and the now introduced cell phones, Tablets and Internet.
Disillusioned many of them will return to USA – where as Millerapa stated everything is sterilized and wrapped in cellophane. Away from the heat dust, stale smoke and street smells in their anti-septic roads, public places where the only odor is “halitosis” the genuine smell of spiritual decomposition, because the soul of America is rotten.
Bhagwan Rajneesh (Osho) armed with a Masters degree, was a keen student of Freud and spotted a real opportunity to exploit this spiritual hysteria. America, was always fascinated by spiritually inclined theorists, especially those with saffron robes, long hair, beards and foreign accents. The timing was perfect, communism had failed, and people were disillusioned with the war, the Kinsey reports, wife swapping and frigidity were worrisome issues. Intellectuals, critics, skeptics all fell prey to the new spiritual revival, where the prophet now called Osho promised salvation through “Free Love”. As a religious crusader of sexual freedom he used the mantle previously worm by Freud, Jung and other intellectuals and cloaked it with mysticism to give it added allure in the land of opportunity and everyone arose in a wave to embrace this new spiritual revival.
This created a mini-exodus, come summer time hordes of American & European spiritual tourists made a bee line to India, visiting its, monuments, solemn institutions holy Ganges, Himalayas , and ashrams where some grown varieties of hedonistic Guru’s and swami’s promised instant nirvana. Hordes of westerners with weary cartoon character T shirts, sugar candy colored shoes (like those worn by Goofy) with porky desk job thighs sticking out of shiny iridescent “day glow” color shorts & with fanny packs each more ridiculously clad than the next, dressed up as if they were in some sort of a pageant descended on this holy land. Is this the dress code for under-developed countries or holy shrines?
They spilled onto the crowded streets teeming with the locals in the sweltering heat, inhaling the incomparable smell of incense, joss sticks, warm skin, and meat cooking in coconut oil, tea, honey and frangipani, Dust, lust, hair oil mingling with the sprayed on perfume giving a heady odor like the breath of life.
How do you expect them to understand spiritual, abstract matters like Nirvana, Kundalini, Tantra, Vedas, Moksha, Yoga – when they are still trying to understand ski-boats, salad shooters, trail bikes, Palmcorders, I-pods, Jacuzzi’s, streaming music, video, and the now introduced cell phones, Tablets and Internet.
Disillusioned many of them will return to USA – where as Millerapa stated everything is sterilized and wrapped in cellophane. Away from the heat dust, stale smoke and street smells in their anti-septic roads, public places where the only odor is “halitosis” the genuine smell of spiritual decomposition, because the soul of America is rotten.
The Turning Brain.
Philosophers, scientists and psychologists have all tried to unravel the mysteries of the human mind for countless years, slowly inching towards answers while making little head way, like “the Pilgrims progress”. Individuals differ in how they sense and interpret the world around them depending on their world view.
What are the processes that influence our judgments and decisions? Recently a team of MIT neurologists/ scientists claim that they can change peoples moral judgments by disrupting the nerves located in the right temporoparietal junction. Other seminal researches by psychologists claim that the decision making is the result of the interplay between two cognitive systems.
All this shatters our traditional myth involving the rationality of the mind in decision making. According to Daniel Kahneman the two cognitive systems are one favoring risk and unafraid of danger while the other is to play safe and a sort of risk averse type. Through a complex interaction between there two traits the outcome of the decision is determined. That is why some decisions are not rational but more hedonistic.
That is why in philosophy and mystic wisdom we are told to make a transformation or paradigm shift from the shadow caused by our weaknesses and to develop our own minds to escape from the years of conditioning by society, culture and religion. Philosophy unlike the others has no answers, but asks questions and makes you think for yourself and not follow any pre-ordained beliefs. Both the ephemeral wink at the sensual delights of the present moment and the depths of cosmic consciousness can be found within these sticky layers of the mind.
Thoughts are like a burst of color in celebration of the universe’s capacity for joy, sorrow and laughter, infusing the breath of life and the feelings can energize or relax our minds. Ideas infiltrate our brains and takes over our actions, Truth then becomes brush strokes of our thoughts on the canvas of life.
Our capacity to appreciate Prada and Pranayam or embrace the Guru and explore the “G- spot” from the trembling skin to the tingling spirituality, its all in the mind.
As, Nicolas Despereaux states… “How often the fear of one evil leads us into worse”.-Vinay-
What are the processes that influence our judgments and decisions? Recently a team of MIT neurologists/ scientists claim that they can change peoples moral judgments by disrupting the nerves located in the right temporoparietal junction. Other seminal researches by psychologists claim that the decision making is the result of the interplay between two cognitive systems.
All this shatters our traditional myth involving the rationality of the mind in decision making. According to Daniel Kahneman the two cognitive systems are one favoring risk and unafraid of danger while the other is to play safe and a sort of risk averse type. Through a complex interaction between there two traits the outcome of the decision is determined. That is why some decisions are not rational but more hedonistic.
That is why in philosophy and mystic wisdom we are told to make a transformation or paradigm shift from the shadow caused by our weaknesses and to develop our own minds to escape from the years of conditioning by society, culture and religion. Philosophy unlike the others has no answers, but asks questions and makes you think for yourself and not follow any pre-ordained beliefs. Both the ephemeral wink at the sensual delights of the present moment and the depths of cosmic consciousness can be found within these sticky layers of the mind.
Thoughts are like a burst of color in celebration of the universe’s capacity for joy, sorrow and laughter, infusing the breath of life and the feelings can energize or relax our minds. Ideas infiltrate our brains and takes over our actions, Truth then becomes brush strokes of our thoughts on the canvas of life.
Our capacity to appreciate Prada and Pranayam or embrace the Guru and explore the “G- spot” from the trembling skin to the tingling spirituality, its all in the mind.
As, Nicolas Despereaux states… “How often the fear of one evil leads us into worse”.-Vinay-
Say it with flowers.
When you wake up to the glorious sunrise at dawn, feel the gentle breeze nudge your cheeks, inhaled the jasmine scented night air and gaze at the moon and stars above the ocean. As you explore this enchanted earth, you will suddenly come upon a field full of flowers.
Behind the beautiful flowers in this world lurk life, death and hope which cast their crooked shadows on the lake.
To some flowers that fall casually dying enchanted with living, death is only a different smell that stalks through stems, sapping life, souring roots- while others that grow rigid and lie in unnatural postures through many seasons, death is the answer, which lies in every act of living.- Ikebana-
If the flowers present in drooping throw it out….. –Vinay-
And so the desert shall rejoice and blossom, as the rose sorrowful and sighing shall flee' Ishian: 35
Behind the beautiful flowers in this world lurk life, death and hope which cast their crooked shadows on the lake.
To some flowers that fall casually dying enchanted with living, death is only a different smell that stalks through stems, sapping life, souring roots- while others that grow rigid and lie in unnatural postures through many seasons, death is the answer, which lies in every act of living.- Ikebana-
If the flowers present in drooping throw it out….. –Vinay-
And so the desert shall rejoice and blossom, as the rose sorrowful and sighing shall flee' Ishian: 35
Banking on religion.
Money is the root of all evil is the universal adage; a wealthy man who was discontented plagued by illness approached a sage, who advised him to give all his money and wealth to the sage for eternal happiness. Soon the man ended up in a soup kitchen. This reminds me of a similar anecdote that happened many years ago; a wealthy merchant approached a doctor with many ailments, he was advised to go on an austere diet of rice gruel and water the same the doctor was approached by a poor skinny rickshaw puller with health issues, the doctor advised him to indulge in rich foods like, meat, cakes, wine and venison.
As Mark Twain stated “the lack of money is the root of all evil” the East and West may never meet but will agree on this truth. Monasteries, Seminaries and Madrasah’s are the theological schools that churn out erudite ministers, priests, rabbi’s and mullahs who are supposed to be enlightened after they complete their education. However even through scores of men flock to these schools we hardly find any true leader emerging from these schools. By contrast many students who attend academies and institutions to pursue, engineering, science and management find their place in the world and many become leaders in their own vacations or spheres.
There must be a something fundamentally wrong with theological schools as their products become more inclusive and dig deeper into then own superstition and beliefs. None of them have emerged as leaders or innovators to show the way.
Ensuring freedom and dignity to all mankind - to eat love - and grow is more important than making noises “that are holier than thou. People then tend to worship dieties, Feng shuie, in the hope of acquiring wealth and happiness. Greece the ancient citadel of learning and religion is knocking on the doors of Plautus and Zeus (gods of wealth) to ensure indiscriminate allocation of resources. Now they are reduced to a bunch of beggars begging for Euros.
The Middle East with its vast oil resources is witnessing intercine revolts and violence. India with its multitude of divine gods is still floundering; the Japanese with Shinto and Feng shuie are devastated by natural calamities. The Chinese meanwhile who are communists are laughing all the way to the bank like the Taoist laughing Buddha. Knowing one’s truth is a state of mind and as intuitive capacity to be right and correct. People must be free to choose by overcoming myth towards understanding capitalism.
As Mark Twain stated “the lack of money is the root of all evil” the East and West may never meet but will agree on this truth. Monasteries, Seminaries and Madrasah’s are the theological schools that churn out erudite ministers, priests, rabbi’s and mullahs who are supposed to be enlightened after they complete their education. However even through scores of men flock to these schools we hardly find any true leader emerging from these schools. By contrast many students who attend academies and institutions to pursue, engineering, science and management find their place in the world and many become leaders in their own vacations or spheres.
There must be a something fundamentally wrong with theological schools as their products become more inclusive and dig deeper into then own superstition and beliefs. None of them have emerged as leaders or innovators to show the way.
Ensuring freedom and dignity to all mankind - to eat love - and grow is more important than making noises “that are holier than thou. People then tend to worship dieties, Feng shuie, in the hope of acquiring wealth and happiness. Greece the ancient citadel of learning and religion is knocking on the doors of Plautus and Zeus (gods of wealth) to ensure indiscriminate allocation of resources. Now they are reduced to a bunch of beggars begging for Euros.
The Middle East with its vast oil resources is witnessing intercine revolts and violence. India with its multitude of divine gods is still floundering; the Japanese with Shinto and Feng shuie are devastated by natural calamities. The Chinese meanwhile who are communists are laughing all the way to the bank like the Taoist laughing Buddha. Knowing one’s truth is a state of mind and as intuitive capacity to be right and correct. People must be free to choose by overcoming myth towards understanding capitalism.
Quanta and Qualia.
Many anthropic principles are simply confusing to the ordinary layman. Of late term Quanta & Qualia are bandied about widely in all cosmological theories. Spiritual guru Deepak Chopra in a free wheeling discussion with Trishala Jain gives us his insights. According to him art and creative writing is a symbolic representation of reality as 0pposed to science which is a map and not an experimental symbolism like art.
The qualitative experience according to him is closer than the quantitative measurements of science. Art and thoughts are the highest form of expression of our consciousness; big leaps in collective consciousness have brought in the era of Renaissance in history.
People tend to understand from their own level of awareness. Art and creative thinking captures the flavors of life and in the language of consciousness, it is called “Qualia” meaning the quality of subjective experience. In the realm of science it is difficult to explain this experience in terms of neural networks.
For example: when you watch a beautiful sunset in Quanta terms the empirical theory of neurons firing from the temporoparietal nerve junction and some chemical or electromagnetic changes as explained by neuroscience cannot explore or explain this feeling or sense. Vedanta states that it is the experiential imagination of that sunset that may trigger the firing of neurons. Neurons are only a symbolic representation of that and the “Qualia” together create the illusion of the material world.
The self, observer and the object of observation, thoughts, feelings, sensations and images that we call the material world including our mind is the conglomeration of “Qualia”
The astronomers also watch the sunset stars and moon and have their own set of empirical theories which are tested, but are two weak to throw light on scientific theories as of now.
Qualia are consciousness or a karmic frequency and when the Qualia resonate together the experience is beautiful. Mebbe when we fall in love with someone it means your Qualia and their Qualia are dancing together on the same frequency.
Building a substantive argument based on tautological foundation of strong variants of the anthropic principle is fraught with uncertainty of the appropriation of “Quanta” observations. Because observation is not empirical Quanta, and it is difficult to arrive at an empirical basics for an ethical theory. So the twain shall not meet in the near future. -Tangerine trees and Marmalade skies.-
The qualitative experience according to him is closer than the quantitative measurements of science. Art and thoughts are the highest form of expression of our consciousness; big leaps in collective consciousness have brought in the era of Renaissance in history.
People tend to understand from their own level of awareness. Art and creative thinking captures the flavors of life and in the language of consciousness, it is called “Qualia” meaning the quality of subjective experience. In the realm of science it is difficult to explain this experience in terms of neural networks.
For example: when you watch a beautiful sunset in Quanta terms the empirical theory of neurons firing from the temporoparietal nerve junction and some chemical or electromagnetic changes as explained by neuroscience cannot explore or explain this feeling or sense. Vedanta states that it is the experiential imagination of that sunset that may trigger the firing of neurons. Neurons are only a symbolic representation of that and the “Qualia” together create the illusion of the material world.
The self, observer and the object of observation, thoughts, feelings, sensations and images that we call the material world including our mind is the conglomeration of “Qualia”
The astronomers also watch the sunset stars and moon and have their own set of empirical theories which are tested, but are two weak to throw light on scientific theories as of now.
Qualia are consciousness or a karmic frequency and when the Qualia resonate together the experience is beautiful. Mebbe when we fall in love with someone it means your Qualia and their Qualia are dancing together on the same frequency.
Building a substantive argument based on tautological foundation of strong variants of the anthropic principle is fraught with uncertainty of the appropriation of “Quanta” observations. Because observation is not empirical Quanta, and it is difficult to arrive at an empirical basics for an ethical theory. So the twain shall not meet in the near future. -Tangerine trees and Marmalade skies.-
Alcohol and philosophy.
I remain philosophical thanks to alcohol (C2Ho5) while my neighbors and relatives labeled me as a drunken genius, so I did not have to indulge in having polite conversations with them, (Cheers). I was the only truly great and unwillingly ‘insane’ person, among so many who pretended to be insane but are really all too normal. Even Churchill drank to what most of us would regard as excess; whisky (Johnnie Walker Black Label): ‘the main basic standing refreshment of the white officer in the East’, as he called it. He reckoned it ‘quickened his intellect’.
I have a drink at 9:00 pm to pull myself together and begin my serious drinking at half past nine. Night comes and goes nervous tension obscured my memories of what whiskey cost me by way of physical and intellectual well being, leave alone the money part – I could easily destroy myself. Drank a good deal of whiskey on weekends, hangover and revulsions are the order of the next day. I feel sick, disgusted and obscene till I light up a marijuana weed, then meditation becomes easy as I close my eyes and float around the world.
I dream on a high, yellowed by the livid stained window, far from the bad scrawny men and from wicked paunchy ones. I see the song of the heavens, the March of the people, scurrying like ants, all those credulous fools drooling the stupid and begging faith to recite their infinite complaints to god. There is no gravity the world sucks!
I have a drink at 9:00 pm to pull myself together and begin my serious drinking at half past nine. Night comes and goes nervous tension obscured my memories of what whiskey cost me by way of physical and intellectual well being, leave alone the money part – I could easily destroy myself. Drank a good deal of whiskey on weekends, hangover and revulsions are the order of the next day. I feel sick, disgusted and obscene till I light up a marijuana weed, then meditation becomes easy as I close my eyes and float around the world.
I dream on a high, yellowed by the livid stained window, far from the bad scrawny men and from wicked paunchy ones. I see the song of the heavens, the March of the people, scurrying like ants, all those credulous fools drooling the stupid and begging faith to recite their infinite complaints to god. There is no gravity the world sucks!
SEPIA TINTED KODAK MOMENTS.
As I leaf through my family album, memories begin to flood through me as inexorably as a tide, they caress me and I melt inside. I can’t help it, fragments half remembered takes me back into the past, and flashes of images and times interweave themselves across my mind. Each picture represents some kind of transmission from the dead, and their blurriness and graininess assist in giving them the air of nineteenth-century spirit photos. It is an intensely personal collection, almost like a tour of my past roots and adolescent life and times, but it isn’t idle. There aren’t many photographs of my father as he never attended much of our family functions. In the flickering twilight of my life, I can visualize my father, and the ghost of his smell, lingers in the empty room. I wish I could feel his strong hands lift me again high above this cruel world. I gaze at the other photographs especially my mother’s with her serene beauty and I obtain something from each of them. By looking at their photos even when they are no more it seems as if they are leaving behind a tiny spark, someday somewhere down the line the young generation will pick up the trace, she did so much for me and my siblings long ago after all. Sadness unlike sensation remains for a long time – the life and death struggle in this material world becomes real and I wonder what it does besides inflicting pain and sorrow.-Vinu-
The Myth of the matter.
With deft strokes of his pen spiritual columnist Vithal Nadkarni draws heavily from the Rig Vedas the new age spiritual and neo-shamanistic texts of Don Miguel to drive home the point stated by Einstein that everything is ultimately the “figments of our imagination”.
The central precept is a holistic spiritual consciousness drawing on both Eastern and Western philosophic tradition. The concept is powerful and has the ability to transform our lives by breaking thousands of “limiting agreements“ we have made with ourselves, our faith, with other people their faiths and with life itself.
All sacred narratives are myths explaining how humankind came to exist in their present form- mythological stories originate within traditions – Prometheus shaping man for Athena to breathe life into clay- to our heavenly Father, Mother, Holy Ghost and Prophet ~ Adam, Eve, Gods, Goddesses, Fairies, Elves, Leprechauns, Dragons and Devils; so different from us as if they are from some alien planet. These confining dogmas, beliefs, practices symbols and myths over the years have become powerful influences in our minds.
If you are aware of this, then it’s easy to understand that all of these different mythologies, religions and philosophies existing in this world; all those different beliefs, dogmas, and ways of thinking are nothing but agreements with ourselves and with other human beings.
Everything that exists is true: the earth, the stars and the universe are true. As the Rig Veda states (Truth is one: the wise speak of many). But the symbols that we use to contract what we think are true, because “we” say so; they are all our “creations” but are they true??? Existence, awareness is the only truth (Rig Veda).
The “fifth agreement” is ultimately about seeing your whole reality with the eyes of truth. If you practice this fifth agreement it will result in the complete acceptance of yourself just the way are, and the complete acceptance of everybody else just the way they are. The reward will be eternal happiness.
The central precept is a holistic spiritual consciousness drawing on both Eastern and Western philosophic tradition. The concept is powerful and has the ability to transform our lives by breaking thousands of “limiting agreements“ we have made with ourselves, our faith, with other people their faiths and with life itself.
All sacred narratives are myths explaining how humankind came to exist in their present form- mythological stories originate within traditions – Prometheus shaping man for Athena to breathe life into clay- to our heavenly Father, Mother, Holy Ghost and Prophet ~ Adam, Eve, Gods, Goddesses, Fairies, Elves, Leprechauns, Dragons and Devils; so different from us as if they are from some alien planet. These confining dogmas, beliefs, practices symbols and myths over the years have become powerful influences in our minds.
If you are aware of this, then it’s easy to understand that all of these different mythologies, religions and philosophies existing in this world; all those different beliefs, dogmas, and ways of thinking are nothing but agreements with ourselves and with other human beings.
Everything that exists is true: the earth, the stars and the universe are true. As the Rig Veda states (Truth is one: the wise speak of many). But the symbols that we use to contract what we think are true, because “we” say so; they are all our “creations” but are they true??? Existence, awareness is the only truth (Rig Veda).
The “fifth agreement” is ultimately about seeing your whole reality with the eyes of truth. If you practice this fifth agreement it will result in the complete acceptance of yourself just the way are, and the complete acceptance of everybody else just the way they are. The reward will be eternal happiness.
My frozen wall posts.
My brother was rusticated from college and was enrolled in a distance education program but he played truant from correspondence college, by sending back empty envelopes.
All my child hood I was trailed by the shadow of debt, now after I being successful – I owe more money than I ever imagined I would make in my life.
The nice thing about poverty is that it is a damn good excuse for not being able to solve all your problems. With the bare essentials taken care of, more than enough to live on- you have to face the possibility that you are going to fail badly on your own.
Everyone wants to know why bad things happen to god fearing good people - when they should be asking god, why good things happen to bad people. Humor in cassocks.
Meditation is easy -keep your mouth shut and eyes closed~ This will help jettison your useless worldly karmic baggage.-Vinay-
The Azure blue sky knows that heaven and hell are merely illusory constructs.-Vinay
Where else except in America can a pop star with a face like weasel and a voice that squeaks, hit the top chart buster lists and become a Billionaire. - Beat it.
In today's world 100% genuine love and compassion is offered only by a mother. In Calcutta Mother Teresa almost filled this void and then there was......Nun. -Vinay-
In love the other is important;
Zn lust you are important..
How beautiful when the winds meet over the sea and the dark vastness of the ocean trembles ..... to stand up on the sea shore and see a ship sinking - rejoice in anther's woe.....( now we know why the movie Titanic was such a huge success)-Vinay-
Though it is broken, broken again still it is there~ the moon on the water.-Chosu-
Fame or oneself which does one love more?loss of self or the possession of goods which is the greater evil?-Laotse-
The world was here before I was born, the world will be here after I am gone,
I do not fret about the world , so why should the world fret about me?
The world is going to the dogs, but forget about the world and save yourself.
When I was young and had an infantile mind, I too believed in Santa Claus, Tooth fairy, Elves and Black Magic. Now that I am grown up and have a mind of my own I am not joining the majority whose religious world view is that all atheists, Non believers and Infidels are doomed because they don’t believe in God or the supreme creator- I may be a moron but I am not joining that nonsense just because I am older.
When you were born, you cried
and the world rejoiced.
Live your life
so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.
Life asked death: "Why do people Love me but hate you?"
Death responded: "Because you are a beautiful lie and I am the painful truth.
The opposite of truth is not a lie , but another truth.
Life is hard and laced with sorrow but if we love each other and fuck one another and have the mad courage to laugh even when the sun is clearly setting, we’ll be just all right.-Leonard Cohen-
I have been diagnosed with a severe addiction to "postitis" certified and forcibly put in a Re-hab center without electricity by my family. I am on DE-Tox from FB and my posts silenced by deprivation of the internet. There will be no new posts till I recover from the shadow of insanity.
The Internet,T.V. Facebook, twitter and other electronic media, has now replaced conversation for people who never had anything clever to say in the first place. Politicians also like T.V. programmes but watch only when they appear on it.
Women like well endowed men.~ Men with with an enormous private income and a thick stubby freely open wallet.
It is hard to understand how a cemetery raised its burial rates
And blamed it on the cost of living.
How absolutely power diminishes
How soon life ends
So quickly bursting with life
So soon falling from the tree. -Cherry Blossom-
Say pilgrims on the beach at Levi
Trailing white toes through liver colored mud
Which gave the great pain its shape? Oh ask again
When the very trees have voice and the clocks
Drip death watch on a home divinity.
Our age has its appropriateness, a sort of sepsis,
And each of us is offered
Sponsorship of his own bookish end.
Bomb scare! That was Bombay in 2011 lots of scare, in crowded places and train stations not many bombs and even fewer Bombshells, where have all the beautiful women (bombshells) of Bombay gone?
The main thing that attracts me to Atheism is probably what attracts every creative person / philosopher, writer or any type of artist who believes in freedom —that it’s a supreme thing, you are the ultimate authority. There is no other higher moral authority.
All my child hood I was trailed by the shadow of debt, now after I being successful – I owe more money than I ever imagined I would make in my life.
The nice thing about poverty is that it is a damn good excuse for not being able to solve all your problems. With the bare essentials taken care of, more than enough to live on- you have to face the possibility that you are going to fail badly on your own.
Everyone wants to know why bad things happen to god fearing good people - when they should be asking god, why good things happen to bad people. Humor in cassocks.
Meditation is easy -keep your mouth shut and eyes closed~ This will help jettison your useless worldly karmic baggage.-Vinay-
The Azure blue sky knows that heaven and hell are merely illusory constructs.-Vinay
Where else except in America can a pop star with a face like weasel and a voice that squeaks, hit the top chart buster lists and become a Billionaire. - Beat it.
In today's world 100% genuine love and compassion is offered only by a mother. In Calcutta Mother Teresa almost filled this void and then there was......Nun. -Vinay-
In love the other is important;
Zn lust you are important..
How beautiful when the winds meet over the sea and the dark vastness of the ocean trembles ..... to stand up on the sea shore and see a ship sinking - rejoice in anther's woe.....( now we know why the movie Titanic was such a huge success)-Vinay-
Though it is broken, broken again still it is there~ the moon on the water.-Chosu-
Fame or oneself which does one love more?loss of self or the possession of goods which is the greater evil?-Laotse-
The world was here before I was born, the world will be here after I am gone,
I do not fret about the world , so why should the world fret about me?
The world is going to the dogs, but forget about the world and save yourself.
When I was young and had an infantile mind, I too believed in Santa Claus, Tooth fairy, Elves and Black Magic. Now that I am grown up and have a mind of my own I am not joining the majority whose religious world view is that all atheists, Non believers and Infidels are doomed because they don’t believe in God or the supreme creator- I may be a moron but I am not joining that nonsense just because I am older.
When you were born, you cried
and the world rejoiced.
Live your life
so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.
Life asked death: "Why do people Love me but hate you?"
Death responded: "Because you are a beautiful lie and I am the painful truth.
The opposite of truth is not a lie , but another truth.
Life is hard and laced with sorrow but if we love each other and fuck one another and have the mad courage to laugh even when the sun is clearly setting, we’ll be just all right.-Leonard Cohen-
I have been diagnosed with a severe addiction to "postitis" certified and forcibly put in a Re-hab center without electricity by my family. I am on DE-Tox from FB and my posts silenced by deprivation of the internet. There will be no new posts till I recover from the shadow of insanity.
The Internet,T.V. Facebook, twitter and other electronic media, has now replaced conversation for people who never had anything clever to say in the first place. Politicians also like T.V. programmes but watch only when they appear on it.
Women like well endowed men.~ Men with with an enormous private income and a thick stubby freely open wallet.
It is hard to understand how a cemetery raised its burial rates
And blamed it on the cost of living.
How absolutely power diminishes
How soon life ends
So quickly bursting with life
So soon falling from the tree. -Cherry Blossom-
Say pilgrims on the beach at Levi
Trailing white toes through liver colored mud
Which gave the great pain its shape? Oh ask again
When the very trees have voice and the clocks
Drip death watch on a home divinity.
Our age has its appropriateness, a sort of sepsis,
And each of us is offered
Sponsorship of his own bookish end.
Bomb scare! That was Bombay in 2011 lots of scare, in crowded places and train stations not many bombs and even fewer Bombshells, where have all the beautiful women (bombshells) of Bombay gone?
The main thing that attracts me to Atheism is probably what attracts every creative person / philosopher, writer or any type of artist who believes in freedom —that it’s a supreme thing, you are the ultimate authority. There is no other higher moral authority.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Adversity is an inside job.
We all have had more than our share of hardship in life, but there is no point in brooding over the past. We have to find solutions, not unredeemed bleakness and move forward with defiant and cheerful stoicism. Acceptance of adversity must become second nature to successfully tackle life, as an opportunity. Only by learning what fear is can you finally learn to distinguish possible from the impossible and the false from the true.
As long as we live in this world, we are bound to encounter problems & it’s not ourselves but everyone, who has to undergo suffering, so don’t lose hope try to overcome hurdles. The few concepts of cause, effect, interdependence and impermanence must move beyond intellectual understanding.
Sometimes the greatest moments happen unplanned and the greatest regrets occur from not reaching what is planned. You have to hurt in order to know, fall in order to grow, and lose in order to gain because most of life’s lessons are learned in pain. All suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction.
Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed.
Don’t be afraid of death, be afraid of a life you didn’t live, you don’t have to live forever, you just have to live. The self is not a stable entity nor is there any “true” self to be discovered, the self is something that instantly changes skins like a snake. Everything is ultimately reduced to a physical existence and nothing exists outside the physical universe.
As long as we live in this world, we are bound to encounter problems & it’s not ourselves but everyone, who has to undergo suffering, so don’t lose hope try to overcome hurdles. The few concepts of cause, effect, interdependence and impermanence must move beyond intellectual understanding.
Sometimes the greatest moments happen unplanned and the greatest regrets occur from not reaching what is planned. You have to hurt in order to know, fall in order to grow, and lose in order to gain because most of life’s lessons are learned in pain. All suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction.
Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed.
Don’t be afraid of death, be afraid of a life you didn’t live, you don’t have to live forever, you just have to live. The self is not a stable entity nor is there any “true” self to be discovered, the self is something that instantly changes skins like a snake. Everything is ultimately reduced to a physical existence and nothing exists outside the physical universe.
Truth, Lies and Deceit.
People as a rule pay scant attention to facts which conflict with their interests, or self conceit. We hide reality from our conscious minds all the better to conceal it from onlookers. The more we believe our lies the more we can lie to others effectively states psychologist Trivers.
History and religion are also distorted to produce national halos, and the individual wears the warp of his experience with a comfortable mosaic of self justification. Hence the sins of nations cannot be indicted i.e. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, or USA’s raw deal to Red Indians and Africans. Conversely religious fundamentalism sometimes restricts interaction with outsiders, (even if it is an offshoot of their own religion split into factions) to help protect the faithful from the infidels.
Their character may be noble, but if they also feel that their beliefs, opinions; religion/gods, state language, culture, heroes and their roles in history, are superior to any other – but everybody cannot be right. We willingly and unwittingly inflate the qualities of ourselves and others in our ethnic, cultural, and religious group, while we denigrate those in opposite camps as economic, sexual and political rivals- believing we are smarter and righteous than we really are.
Honesty and truth are not synonymous; they are comparative phases of one notion – Honesty being a profession of a philosophy, while Truth is an established law of existence. Honesty is applied to human behavior, while truth is as universal law. Deceit is vast ranging from fibs parents and children indulge to manipulate each other while political and religious leaders foist “false historical and religious narratives” on citizens and the world.
The historians and chroniclers of the holy books/scriptures may have been under the illusion that they were honest, because they looked into available data (available does not mean that they had access to all data available to others as well). The data they wanted to collect & present, which they were seeking in their subconscious mind is the one with which they wrote history and scriptures as they wanted it to be known.
In that process they left out the truth – truth pertaining to men / events and gave a lopsided view of what they wanted to portray about their own religion, territorial history, heroes and incidents which they state is truthfully recorded.
A real truthful record still awaits birth. Fooling others yields obvious benefits, but why do we often fool ourselves. Our illusions can have devastating consequences, from the simple dissolution of marriage, to stock market collapses, religious jihad and world wars.- Vinay-
History and religion are also distorted to produce national halos, and the individual wears the warp of his experience with a comfortable mosaic of self justification. Hence the sins of nations cannot be indicted i.e. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, or USA’s raw deal to Red Indians and Africans. Conversely religious fundamentalism sometimes restricts interaction with outsiders, (even if it is an offshoot of their own religion split into factions) to help protect the faithful from the infidels.
Their character may be noble, but if they also feel that their beliefs, opinions; religion/gods, state language, culture, heroes and their roles in history, are superior to any other – but everybody cannot be right. We willingly and unwittingly inflate the qualities of ourselves and others in our ethnic, cultural, and religious group, while we denigrate those in opposite camps as economic, sexual and political rivals- believing we are smarter and righteous than we really are.
Honesty and truth are not synonymous; they are comparative phases of one notion – Honesty being a profession of a philosophy, while Truth is an established law of existence. Honesty is applied to human behavior, while truth is as universal law. Deceit is vast ranging from fibs parents and children indulge to manipulate each other while political and religious leaders foist “false historical and religious narratives” on citizens and the world.
The historians and chroniclers of the holy books/scriptures may have been under the illusion that they were honest, because they looked into available data (available does not mean that they had access to all data available to others as well). The data they wanted to collect & present, which they were seeking in their subconscious mind is the one with which they wrote history and scriptures as they wanted it to be known.
In that process they left out the truth – truth pertaining to men / events and gave a lopsided view of what they wanted to portray about their own religion, territorial history, heroes and incidents which they state is truthfully recorded.
A real truthful record still awaits birth. Fooling others yields obvious benefits, but why do we often fool ourselves. Our illusions can have devastating consequences, from the simple dissolution of marriage, to stock market collapses, religious jihad and world wars.- Vinay-
The good is interred with the bones but evil remains!
A whiff of revolution last year led to an unprecedented state crackdown on protestors in Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative countries in the region, where the focus was on women not being allowed to drive cars.
The house of Saudi’s ultra conservation has been their ace up their sleeve always, playing the religious card is a way of holding on to power. A country’s style of governance can effectively cause the same damage. A handful of daft adherents who interpret their religious scriptures in a distorted way can have dire consequences.
The siege of Mecca, storming of the great mosque in November 1979 by Saudi orthodox Wahhabi followers was quelled by the state with the help of French commandos. Speculation was rife that it was sponsored by Shiite Iran, but it left even Washington guessing.
The incident is a watershed in the history of modern Islam, as Trofimov states, that the siege was the genesis of al Qaeda – which later morphed into a full fledged Islamic terror outfit, enjoying constitutional protection in some Islamic states. The point that we have completely misunderstood the Islamic terrorist and bunch of lunatics is not the point. The moot point is more disturbing, that a bunch of fanatics who make a travesty of religious beliefs, can get the sanction of states even in progressive countries and function with its blessings is the real danger.
We may have eliminated Osama Bin Laden, but we ignored the ideology – and in doing so have let the cancer spread through the Middle East and other Islamic regions like the deadly Aids virus. If the spiritual leadership is founded by terrorists, who believe that killing has a higher purpose in itself, then the whole equation changes.
The house of Saudi’s ultra conservation has been their ace up their sleeve always, playing the religious card is a way of holding on to power. A country’s style of governance can effectively cause the same damage. A handful of daft adherents who interpret their religious scriptures in a distorted way can have dire consequences.
The siege of Mecca, storming of the great mosque in November 1979 by Saudi orthodox Wahhabi followers was quelled by the state with the help of French commandos. Speculation was rife that it was sponsored by Shiite Iran, but it left even Washington guessing.
The incident is a watershed in the history of modern Islam, as Trofimov states, that the siege was the genesis of al Qaeda – which later morphed into a full fledged Islamic terror outfit, enjoying constitutional protection in some Islamic states. The point that we have completely misunderstood the Islamic terrorist and bunch of lunatics is not the point. The moot point is more disturbing, that a bunch of fanatics who make a travesty of religious beliefs, can get the sanction of states even in progressive countries and function with its blessings is the real danger.
We may have eliminated Osama Bin Laden, but we ignored the ideology – and in doing so have let the cancer spread through the Middle East and other Islamic regions like the deadly Aids virus. If the spiritual leadership is founded by terrorists, who believe that killing has a higher purpose in itself, then the whole equation changes.
Frithjof Schuon: Transcendent Unity of Religion (Preface)
Gnosis as I understand it is not a mystical term to confound the innocent, nor does it mean "special knowledge." It means knowledge simply, as in Paul's letters, or more accurately, direct knowing. Gnana, Gnosis, Rigpa, Pure Reason, Soul Vision, Vidya, Science, Chan and Zen are all words that mean this same thing. It is the Light of the Third Heaven, or Hall of Wisdom (from the Voice of the Silence), the Dharmakaya, or Causal level of Shankara.
The following by Frithjof Schuon explains and compares the differences and meaning of Gnosis, reason, and revelation:
"The transcendent character of metaphysical knowledge makes it independent of any purely human mode of thought... philosophy proceeds from reason (which is a purely individual faculty), whereas metaphysical knowledge proceeds exclusively from the Intellect [also called Intuition, the mental not the psychic sort]. The latter faculty has been defined by Meister Eckhart as follows: "There is something in the soul that is uncreate and uncreatable; if the whole soul were this it would be uncreate and uncreatable; and this is the Intellect."
"Since purely intellectual knowledge [ie, that which only meditation, gnosis or Pure Reason can reach- for the Intellect as he means it is the direct link to the Absolute in us] is by definition beyond the reach of the individual, being in its essence supra-individual, universal or divine, and since it proceeds from pure Intelligence, which is direct and not discursive, it follows that this knowledge goes not only infinitely further than reasoning, but even goes further than faith in the ordinary sense of the word. In other words intellectual knowledge also transcends the specifically theological point of view which is itself superior to the philosophical point of views, since like metaphysical knowledge it emanates from God and not from man; but whereas metaphysic proceeds wholly from intellectual intuition, religion proceeds from Revelation. The latter is the Word of God spoken to his creatures, whereas intellectual intuition is a direct and active participation in divine Knowledge and not an indirect and passive participation, as is faith. In other words in the case of intellectual intuition, knowledge is not possessed by the individual insofar as he is an individual, but insofar as in his innermost essence he is not distinct from the Divine Principle. Thus metaphysical certitude is absolute because of the identity between the knower and the known in the Intellect."
"The theological point of view because it is based in the minds of believers on a Revelation and not on a knowledge that is accessible to each one of them... will of necessity confuse the symbol or form with the naked and supraformal Truth....
"Intellectual knowledge proceeds neither from belief nor from a process of reasoning- it goes beyond dogma in the sense that... it penetrates its internal dimension... In order to be absolutely clear on this point we must again insist that the rational mode of knowledge in no way extends beyond the realm of generalities and cannot by itself reach any transcendental truth; it may nevertheless serve as a means of expressing supra-rational knowledge.... This resemblance.. is due to the fact that all concepts once they are expressed are necessarily clothed in the modes of human thought.... it makes use of rational modes of thought as symbols to describe or translate knowledge possessing a greater degree of certainty than any knowledge of the sensible order... When philosophy uses reason to resolve a doubt this proves that its starting point is a doubt that it is striving to overcome, whereas the starting point of a metaphysical formulation is always essentially something intellectually evident or certain, which is communicated, to those able to recieve it, by symbolical or dialectical means designed to awaken in them the latent knowledge that they bear unconsciously... and eternally within them."
The following by Frithjof Schuon explains and compares the differences and meaning of Gnosis, reason, and revelation:
"The transcendent character of metaphysical knowledge makes it independent of any purely human mode of thought... philosophy proceeds from reason (which is a purely individual faculty), whereas metaphysical knowledge proceeds exclusively from the Intellect [also called Intuition, the mental not the psychic sort]. The latter faculty has been defined by Meister Eckhart as follows: "There is something in the soul that is uncreate and uncreatable; if the whole soul were this it would be uncreate and uncreatable; and this is the Intellect."
"Since purely intellectual knowledge [ie, that which only meditation, gnosis or Pure Reason can reach- for the Intellect as he means it is the direct link to the Absolute in us] is by definition beyond the reach of the individual, being in its essence supra-individual, universal or divine, and since it proceeds from pure Intelligence, which is direct and not discursive, it follows that this knowledge goes not only infinitely further than reasoning, but even goes further than faith in the ordinary sense of the word. In other words intellectual knowledge also transcends the specifically theological point of view which is itself superior to the philosophical point of views, since like metaphysical knowledge it emanates from God and not from man; but whereas metaphysic proceeds wholly from intellectual intuition, religion proceeds from Revelation. The latter is the Word of God spoken to his creatures, whereas intellectual intuition is a direct and active participation in divine Knowledge and not an indirect and passive participation, as is faith. In other words in the case of intellectual intuition, knowledge is not possessed by the individual insofar as he is an individual, but insofar as in his innermost essence he is not distinct from the Divine Principle. Thus metaphysical certitude is absolute because of the identity between the knower and the known in the Intellect."
"The theological point of view because it is based in the minds of believers on a Revelation and not on a knowledge that is accessible to each one of them... will of necessity confuse the symbol or form with the naked and supraformal Truth....
"Intellectual knowledge proceeds neither from belief nor from a process of reasoning- it goes beyond dogma in the sense that... it penetrates its internal dimension... In order to be absolutely clear on this point we must again insist that the rational mode of knowledge in no way extends beyond the realm of generalities and cannot by itself reach any transcendental truth; it may nevertheless serve as a means of expressing supra-rational knowledge.... This resemblance.. is due to the fact that all concepts once they are expressed are necessarily clothed in the modes of human thought.... it makes use of rational modes of thought as symbols to describe or translate knowledge possessing a greater degree of certainty than any knowledge of the sensible order... When philosophy uses reason to resolve a doubt this proves that its starting point is a doubt that it is striving to overcome, whereas the starting point of a metaphysical formulation is always essentially something intellectually evident or certain, which is communicated, to those able to recieve it, by symbolical or dialectical means designed to awaken in them the latent knowledge that they bear unconsciously... and eternally within them."
Religion an abstract science.
Every culture and religion begins by holding certain truths as sacred and virtually unquestionable. Gurus claim that the past clouds your future, what future does the past have? It is empty rhetoric. Cultivating discernment on the religious or spiritual path in areas like, power, sex, scandals is not going to enlighten us in any way. Into blinding darkness enter those who worship ignorance. Into greater darkness enter those who believe that religion can give them salvation. Isn’t it ridiculous to believe that by expressing regret for past actions God can offer salvation?
The world is a human jungle out there, do you really think by embracing the lord’s name offering prayers or meditating for ten years will make you less neurotic than the next person, or that suddenly you will be enlightened with the meaning of life? All the religions with their standard templates (holy book) a god, and institution (church/mosque) with appointed earth managers (Pope, Priests & Mullahs) preach that they can show you the purpose of life? Then why haven’t they shown us the meaning so far? Religions are also plainly confused and unconscious when they claim that there is “a purpose to life” that transcends the ordinary and will unfold. A real honest record of the purpose of our life still awaits birth; none of the religions, spiritual gurus has a truthful answer.
What is “nirvana”, “salvation” and enlightenment how will you when you achieve this, yes it is sacred, is it like a fit of sneezing? In our religious system people seem to develop deep insights but narrow knowledge and consequently more of what is embodied is shrouded in a fog of intimidating complicity. Religion and enlightenment are strange bedfellows and both serve as reason’s point of departure. How can anything in the realm of human experience remain totally immune to rational scrutiny? The idea that Religion once considered beyond scrutiny must eventually be refashioned into propositional claims that are susceptible to criticism, a process of rationalization of holy cows and the sacred.
Animals don’t look for salvation they just live from moment to moment. Why should we give so much importance to life, if we know we have to die? Life must be enjoyed because death is not a myth but salvation is.
We may have begun by imagining the divine as the sole source of our moral codes, but when we are awakened to the possibility that these codes can be challenged, when exposed to rational reflection; our capacity for self direction eventually outstripped our original experience of religious awe! As Marx stated “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of a soulless
The world is a human jungle out there, do you really think by embracing the lord’s name offering prayers or meditating for ten years will make you less neurotic than the next person, or that suddenly you will be enlightened with the meaning of life? All the religions with their standard templates (holy book) a god, and institution (church/mosque) with appointed earth managers (Pope, Priests & Mullahs) preach that they can show you the purpose of life? Then why haven’t they shown us the meaning so far? Religions are also plainly confused and unconscious when they claim that there is “a purpose to life” that transcends the ordinary and will unfold. A real honest record of the purpose of our life still awaits birth; none of the religions, spiritual gurus has a truthful answer.
What is “nirvana”, “salvation” and enlightenment how will you when you achieve this, yes it is sacred, is it like a fit of sneezing? In our religious system people seem to develop deep insights but narrow knowledge and consequently more of what is embodied is shrouded in a fog of intimidating complicity. Religion and enlightenment are strange bedfellows and both serve as reason’s point of departure. How can anything in the realm of human experience remain totally immune to rational scrutiny? The idea that Religion once considered beyond scrutiny must eventually be refashioned into propositional claims that are susceptible to criticism, a process of rationalization of holy cows and the sacred.
Animals don’t look for salvation they just live from moment to moment. Why should we give so much importance to life, if we know we have to die? Life must be enjoyed because death is not a myth but salvation is.
We may have begun by imagining the divine as the sole source of our moral codes, but when we are awakened to the possibility that these codes can be challenged, when exposed to rational reflection; our capacity for self direction eventually outstripped our original experience of religious awe! As Marx stated “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of a soulless
Virtual Reality!
I avoid newspapers and T.V. news reports as now I am de-sensitized, not moved by the documented misery of others. Plane crashes, building collapses, war, terror killings, bomb blasts, cyclones, tsunamis, war, rapes, murder and mayhem, very rarely good news is seen in reportage.
We have all become inured, a sort of conscience comatose has set in our minds, and society too has become indifferent to all this misery in the world. Even Governments have cultivated a sense of neglect paying only lip service, reflecting a spiritual vacuity. Corruption, scams, oppression, bureaucratic inefficiency and recessions seem to be the order of the day. There is something perverse about these times, where goodness and compassion seems to have disappeared from the shelves/malls and supermarkets of the world.
What has happened to those people who rise above others to attain compassionate beatitude, those clear people who pick up stray dogs and cats or fight against tyranny and injustice, who oppose child labor and poverty, who care for the homeless- where are they, after Mother Theresa there seems to be a deep vacuum. We all seem to be floundering in some terrible and sublime a fate.
We read about the tortured lives and anguish all around ….. Yet in the next moment yell “Is dinner ready”? Others watch T.V. often it was as if the machine was merely a way of filtering out meandering thoughts – reflecting a diffused illusion of being in the real world, without having to deal with it. That wisdom comes of suffering, at least for prophets and tragic heroes, is an ancient truth; but is it wisdom to chase after suffering, as though the evil of the day were insufficient? We are free to surf the net capture truth in one body and delete the soul from another in a sort of virtual duality. We have so many channels to keep us entertained that the pursuit of unhappiness assumes too large a place in our souls. – Vinay-
We have all become inured, a sort of conscience comatose has set in our minds, and society too has become indifferent to all this misery in the world. Even Governments have cultivated a sense of neglect paying only lip service, reflecting a spiritual vacuity. Corruption, scams, oppression, bureaucratic inefficiency and recessions seem to be the order of the day. There is something perverse about these times, where goodness and compassion seems to have disappeared from the shelves/malls and supermarkets of the world.
What has happened to those people who rise above others to attain compassionate beatitude, those clear people who pick up stray dogs and cats or fight against tyranny and injustice, who oppose child labor and poverty, who care for the homeless- where are they, after Mother Theresa there seems to be a deep vacuum. We all seem to be floundering in some terrible and sublime a fate.
We read about the tortured lives and anguish all around ….. Yet in the next moment yell “Is dinner ready”? Others watch T.V. often it was as if the machine was merely a way of filtering out meandering thoughts – reflecting a diffused illusion of being in the real world, without having to deal with it. That wisdom comes of suffering, at least for prophets and tragic heroes, is an ancient truth; but is it wisdom to chase after suffering, as though the evil of the day were insufficient? We are free to surf the net capture truth in one body and delete the soul from another in a sort of virtual duality. We have so many channels to keep us entertained that the pursuit of unhappiness assumes too large a place in our souls. – Vinay-
The end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?
Was there a time when there was nothing?
Scientists like Stephen Hawking state that the origin of the Universe has no divine intervention and can be explained by the laws of physics.
There is no miracle involved and the earth grew spontaneously in a rapidly expanding state. Maybe that is why there is inflation in today’s world as prices go up at an ever increasing rate.
Time is defined only with the Universe and has no relevance anywhere else. In the beginning there was no beginning, and in the end, no end……
Yet there seems to be no end to these religious wars, it in a state of permanent hatred and violence because all religions imbibe the basic and obdurate version of one’s own religion and refuse to accept or consider another version of truth.Genesis of Jihad and the Crusades!
The supreme commander Ishwar, Allah, or Jesus themselves stated that love itself is god~ and if you love your religion and it’s god you will be rewarded with instant; -moksha or salvation, before death.–Amen-
Scientists like Stephen Hawking state that the origin of the Universe has no divine intervention and can be explained by the laws of physics.
There is no miracle involved and the earth grew spontaneously in a rapidly expanding state. Maybe that is why there is inflation in today’s world as prices go up at an ever increasing rate.
Time is defined only with the Universe and has no relevance anywhere else. In the beginning there was no beginning, and in the end, no end……
Yet there seems to be no end to these religious wars, it in a state of permanent hatred and violence because all religions imbibe the basic and obdurate version of one’s own religion and refuse to accept or consider another version of truth.Genesis of Jihad and the Crusades!
The supreme commander Ishwar, Allah, or Jesus themselves stated that love itself is god~ and if you love your religion and it’s god you will be rewarded with instant; -moksha or salvation, before death.–Amen-
Death is a disappearing act.
We have all heard of the near death experiences of many people, there are stories of angels, harps, blinding light and spirits hovering around, something like a Harry Potter novel that has been picturised.
But when we try to analyze our thoughts about life after death, there are no testimonies or accounts of people who died, but returned to tell the tale. It’s all conjecture from here on, since no one has been sent back to earth for his “Karma” as is the belief in Hinduism and Far Eastern theology. The old adage that dead men tell no tales seems to hold good as far as after life goes. Some theories claim that there will be total emptiness or silence which means there is nothing left to experience.
Buddhism and other eastern theory which subscribes to rebirth have more fascinating theories. They say that the past life is like yesterday, exists as an illusion, which becomes non existent, as today unfolds. Then after life is transcendent acosmic, without any characteristics and from the Vedic viewpoint is - above time, space and causality ~ and death is likened toan intense metamorphosis in the eternal life of the soul. I don’t know how we can perceive this as it comes like a sort agnosia seen in blind people,where the senses cease to exist which is like the final Samadhi, once we cross the mysterious border of death and penetrate the next veil of Maya.
This gives us a lot of interesting fall outs to think about this realm, which is again part of the doctrine of duality. If scholastic theology is to the believed it gives you an illusion of something endless having some meaning but what is the meaning? It is like grandstanding without an audience an elusive intangible act t
But when we try to analyze our thoughts about life after death, there are no testimonies or accounts of people who died, but returned to tell the tale. It’s all conjecture from here on, since no one has been sent back to earth for his “Karma” as is the belief in Hinduism and Far Eastern theology. The old adage that dead men tell no tales seems to hold good as far as after life goes. Some theories claim that there will be total emptiness or silence which means there is nothing left to experience.
Buddhism and other eastern theory which subscribes to rebirth have more fascinating theories. They say that the past life is like yesterday, exists as an illusion, which becomes non existent, as today unfolds. Then after life is transcendent acosmic, without any characteristics and from the Vedic viewpoint is - above time, space and causality ~ and death is likened toan intense metamorphosis in the eternal life of the soul. I don’t know how we can perceive this as it comes like a sort agnosia seen in blind people,where the senses cease to exist which is like the final Samadhi, once we cross the mysterious border of death and penetrate the next veil of Maya.
This gives us a lot of interesting fall outs to think about this realm, which is again part of the doctrine of duality. If scholastic theology is to the believed it gives you an illusion of something endless having some meaning but what is the meaning? It is like grandstanding without an audience an elusive intangible act t
fundamentalism and religion
Islamic/ Christian or other religious fundamentalism is the embodiment of the things we loathe the most – a kind of nadir of the worst inequities of religious belief and an ideology that is basically fascist.
It seems like a fight unto death, but the good news is that it’s impossible for these fundamentalists to win. It is not blasphemy to say that the world seriously needs help from atheists and a rational person like me, there is so much misery out there and not enough love.
As Swami Vivekananda once said” Life is good or evil according to the state of mind in which we look at it”. Like fire which by itself is not bad as it keeps us warm, but if we fan the fires of religious fundamentalism and intolerance it will burn us all.
If we can understand humanity and be selfless we can work without attachment to any religion. The world is like a dog’s tail that wags it at its master and cannot be straightened. Fanaticism cannot make progress for mankind; it is an element that retards progress by creating anger and hate in its wake of followers- causing them to fight each other in a holier than thou holy war where there can be no victor.
You don’t need religion for sympathy or love in this world. In the end ,empathy , helping each other irrespective of religion, caste, color and creed is the true path to progress. -Vinay-
It seems like a fight unto death, but the good news is that it’s impossible for these fundamentalists to win. It is not blasphemy to say that the world seriously needs help from atheists and a rational person like me, there is so much misery out there and not enough love.
As Swami Vivekananda once said” Life is good or evil according to the state of mind in which we look at it”. Like fire which by itself is not bad as it keeps us warm, but if we fan the fires of religious fundamentalism and intolerance it will burn us all.
If we can understand humanity and be selfless we can work without attachment to any religion. The world is like a dog’s tail that wags it at its master and cannot be straightened. Fanaticism cannot make progress for mankind; it is an element that retards progress by creating anger and hate in its wake of followers- causing them to fight each other in a holier than thou holy war where there can be no victor.
You don’t need religion for sympathy or love in this world. In the end ,empathy , helping each other irrespective of religion, caste, color and creed is the true path to progress. -Vinay-
The good is interred with the bones but evil remains!
A whiff of revolution last year led to an unprecedented state crackdown on protestors in Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative countries in the region, where the focus was on women not being allowed to drive cars.
The house of Saudi’s ultra conservation has been their ace up their sleeve always, playing the religious card is a way of holding on to power. A country’s style of governance can effectively cause the same damage. A handful of daft adherents who interpret their religious scriptures in a distorted way can have dire consequences.
The siege of Mecca, storming of the great mosque in November 1979 by Saudi orthodox Wahhabi followers was quelled by the state with the help of French commandos. Speculation was rife that it was sponsored by Shiite Iran, but it left even Washington guessing.
The incident is a watershed in the history of modern Islam, as Trofimov states, that the siege was the genesis of al Qaeda – which later morphed into a full fledged Islamic terror outfit, enjoying constitutional protection in some Islamic states. The point that we have completely misunderstood the Islamic terrorist and bunch of lunatics is not the point. The moot point is more disturbing, that a bunch of fanatics who make a travesty of religious beliefs, can get the sanction of states even in progressive countries and function with its blessings is the real danger.
We may have eliminated Osama Bin Laden, but we ignored the ideology – and in doing so have let the cancer spread through the Middle East and other Islamic regions like the deadly Aids virus. If the spiritual leadership is founded by terrorists, who believe that killing has a higher purpose in itself, then the whole equation changes.
The house of Saudi’s ultra conservation has been their ace up their sleeve always, playing the religious card is a way of holding on to power. A country’s style of governance can effectively cause the same damage. A handful of daft adherents who interpret their religious scriptures in a distorted way can have dire consequences.
The siege of Mecca, storming of the great mosque in November 1979 by Saudi orthodox Wahhabi followers was quelled by the state with the help of French commandos. Speculation was rife that it was sponsored by Shiite Iran, but it left even Washington guessing.
The incident is a watershed in the history of modern Islam, as Trofimov states, that the siege was the genesis of al Qaeda – which later morphed into a full fledged Islamic terror outfit, enjoying constitutional protection in some Islamic states. The point that we have completely misunderstood the Islamic terrorist and bunch of lunatics is not the point. The moot point is more disturbing, that a bunch of fanatics who make a travesty of religious beliefs, can get the sanction of states even in progressive countries and function with its blessings is the real danger.
We may have eliminated Osama Bin Laden, but we ignored the ideology – and in doing so have let the cancer spread through the Middle East and other Islamic regions like the deadly Aids virus. If the spiritual leadership is founded by terrorists, who believe that killing has a higher purpose in itself, then the whole equation changes.
THE PAST IS ALWAYS GLORIOUS.
There were these songs on all the juke boxes, the radio cackling all day and night. Love ballads belted out by the Carpenters, Andy Williams, Stevie Wonder, Beatles, Elvis Jim Reeves, , Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel.. et alii.
These songs kept everyone awake late at night, alongside ravishing photographs of mysterious girls, barefoot or straddling a balustrade, wearing elegant silk dresses, were the emotional dreams that played in our minds. The days when boys and girls spent a lot of time on campuses, clubs, smoked too many cigarettes with an undergraduate’s angst of the expenditure.
Some of them were shy to the point aggravation while some were bold and brash. The stunningly sangfroid of falling in love, the mesmerizing romance that ends in heartbreaking failure, the exquisite sadness at the end of a love affair- between two complementary narcissistic people with a shared beautiful personality disorders. To be blown over by the smell of jasmine and French perfume and secret letters is one of the mixed blessings of being twenty one and twenty four.
It was a sort of Hollywood childhood of the seventies with the usual mess and a conviction that nothing like these events will ever happen to anyone hereafter. To feel things and hang on to the freshness and pain of adolescence, to be wounded in the never ending process. Exploring like no one else ever did the crippling – social anxiety disorder and the emotional complexities that attended that era.
The women dream of marriage, and honeymoon rewarded with trips to exciting locales, better climates and romantic candle light dinners with their husbands. Sometimes a dream goes sour….. - full of hurts, recriminations, and sad stories which end up by closing the door and crying until dinner.
As we lose our youth, the growing disenchantment of living in this world creeps over all of us. The survivors are all over, and we run into them all the time, and there’s hardly a handful except some nerds that didn’t get badly into drugs or booze or some damn thing. The frayed curtains of memory slowly disintegrate, and we see them for what they were--an youthful encounter with adventure.
Slowly we sign off, we are getting old and it’s about the physical indignities that go along with aging. They include being unable to shoehorn your girth into that pair of jeans or wear your favorite shoes / slippers, spending to many hours in the waiting room of medical specialists, - having friends recommend yoga and meditation as fun things do-Oh it’s a sorry state of affairs, I never wanted to post this!
These songs kept everyone awake late at night, alongside ravishing photographs of mysterious girls, barefoot or straddling a balustrade, wearing elegant silk dresses, were the emotional dreams that played in our minds. The days when boys and girls spent a lot of time on campuses, clubs, smoked too many cigarettes with an undergraduate’s angst of the expenditure.
Some of them were shy to the point aggravation while some were bold and brash. The stunningly sangfroid of falling in love, the mesmerizing romance that ends in heartbreaking failure, the exquisite sadness at the end of a love affair- between two complementary narcissistic people with a shared beautiful personality disorders. To be blown over by the smell of jasmine and French perfume and secret letters is one of the mixed blessings of being twenty one and twenty four.
It was a sort of Hollywood childhood of the seventies with the usual mess and a conviction that nothing like these events will ever happen to anyone hereafter. To feel things and hang on to the freshness and pain of adolescence, to be wounded in the never ending process. Exploring like no one else ever did the crippling – social anxiety disorder and the emotional complexities that attended that era.
The women dream of marriage, and honeymoon rewarded with trips to exciting locales, better climates and romantic candle light dinners with their husbands. Sometimes a dream goes sour….. - full of hurts, recriminations, and sad stories which end up by closing the door and crying until dinner.
As we lose our youth, the growing disenchantment of living in this world creeps over all of us. The survivors are all over, and we run into them all the time, and there’s hardly a handful except some nerds that didn’t get badly into drugs or booze or some damn thing. The frayed curtains of memory slowly disintegrate, and we see them for what they were--an youthful encounter with adventure.
Slowly we sign off, we are getting old and it’s about the physical indignities that go along with aging. They include being unable to shoehorn your girth into that pair of jeans or wear your favorite shoes / slippers, spending to many hours in the waiting room of medical specialists, - having friends recommend yoga and meditation as fun things do-Oh it’s a sorry state of affairs, I never wanted to post this!
Grasshopper green is a farcical chap and lives on the best of fare!
The parable of the ant and the grasshopper is an interesting analogy that has parallels in our life. Happiness seems to have become elusive for most of us. The constant chase for success by ignoring family, friends and relations has made us miserable. We seem to be obsessed with success and are always on the run – chasing deadlines targets, goals and money, failure is anathema to us.
In my younger days I was a failure at almost everything – mainly due to my lack of self knowledge, insensitivity and downright stupidity. I think there are many of us out there who had the experience of failure in their lives. But recalling all my failures has been the most fascinating experience of my life.
Many study or have passion for one discipline but take up an entirely different vocation, in the quest for success. We always overlook what we excel in and imagine we can be proficient in some other skill. Sports men try to be actors, engineers want to be MBA’s, dancers want to be sportsmen and teachers/consultants want to be entrepreneurs. Instead of improving what we intrinsically possess, we copy a skill which we do not have. Indeed there is an arduous labor of truth – construction embodied in the notion of success. One conducted with all sorts of rhetorical, theatrical and visual mechanisms.
If we are thinking of only success and run in the rat race we will miss out all beauty and happiness in life. Bliss is concerned with everyday emotions of love, pain, and passions of hate and sex, real permanent happiness is beyond everyone’s reach. In one sense or another all of us are failures in life, since strong emotions and obsessions cannot be experimentally controlled. If the portrait of success is your ultimate purpose, then you will never understand the meaning nor can you enjoy your life.
In the tropical islands the citrus and bananas hang from the trees. Low hanging literal fruit which one can enjoy, yet we ignore it, and reach out for something that is beyond our reach. A bit of soul searching can empower you to take stock of your life.
If you look inward for the truth you can smell the fragrance of success, it lies dormant within you and you can transcend all misery psychological and physical. Retreat within to experience true bliss, real harmony and real success. So live like the grasshopper in the “now” for tomorrow is another day and don’t get stressed out like the ant and crushed and trampled by the world’s huge problems.
In my younger days I was a failure at almost everything – mainly due to my lack of self knowledge, insensitivity and downright stupidity. I think there are many of us out there who had the experience of failure in their lives. But recalling all my failures has been the most fascinating experience of my life.
Many study or have passion for one discipline but take up an entirely different vocation, in the quest for success. We always overlook what we excel in and imagine we can be proficient in some other skill. Sports men try to be actors, engineers want to be MBA’s, dancers want to be sportsmen and teachers/consultants want to be entrepreneurs. Instead of improving what we intrinsically possess, we copy a skill which we do not have. Indeed there is an arduous labor of truth – construction embodied in the notion of success. One conducted with all sorts of rhetorical, theatrical and visual mechanisms.
If we are thinking of only success and run in the rat race we will miss out all beauty and happiness in life. Bliss is concerned with everyday emotions of love, pain, and passions of hate and sex, real permanent happiness is beyond everyone’s reach. In one sense or another all of us are failures in life, since strong emotions and obsessions cannot be experimentally controlled. If the portrait of success is your ultimate purpose, then you will never understand the meaning nor can you enjoy your life.
In the tropical islands the citrus and bananas hang from the trees. Low hanging literal fruit which one can enjoy, yet we ignore it, and reach out for something that is beyond our reach. A bit of soul searching can empower you to take stock of your life.
If you look inward for the truth you can smell the fragrance of success, it lies dormant within you and you can transcend all misery psychological and physical. Retreat within to experience true bliss, real harmony and real success. So live like the grasshopper in the “now” for tomorrow is another day and don’t get stressed out like the ant and crushed and trampled by the world’s huge problems.
Fools rush in where angel investors fear to tread!
A.I.G. Bear Stearn's, Ci ti-group and Lehman brothers are the fools who never understood this adage and the lure of the lucre made them shift focus from financial firms that took calculated limited risk to one that paid hefty bonuses to employee in the pursuit of profit. This made them oblivious of risk and operations became gambling “The wages of sin are death” so they all imploded under their own interest hubris.
We live in an age of bounty or plenty in the Sixties our parents would save to build a house or buy their apartments when they retire. Today before even being confirmed in your job, you buy a house, a car and furniture all on easy credit, EMI, plastic cards…. all on the never, never. Youngsters play with cell phones, I-pads and laptops. It’s a fool’s game to succumb to the temptation of easy credit, cheap goods and equated monthly installments. Rapid debt fueled spending invariably ends in tears of sorrow. History is replete with the pendulum swings of feast and famine in this world.
The tectonic financial plates have shifted due to collective pressures brought down on them by greedy bankers, corrupt govt. officials and home owners – causing the tremors of the economic meltdown. This is more about allowing self interest and being out of sync with public interest.
These rational responses, to a flawed financial order, – where the incentive to take on risk far outweighs the dangers that lurk in the shadows. Overly dependence on the American consumer to power progress and global economic growth has its fall outs.
Loose monetary policy triggers massive stock market and real estate bubbles which are prone to burst. America’s growing inequality, gulf wars, and thin social safety nets are part of a deepening fault line. All these create tremendous political pressure to encourage easy credit and keep job creation robust. Like the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, this process has put the rest of the world in spiraling financial crisis. Financial pornography cannot forever stimulate economic growth. –Vinay-
We live in an age of bounty or plenty in the Sixties our parents would save to build a house or buy their apartments when they retire. Today before even being confirmed in your job, you buy a house, a car and furniture all on easy credit, EMI, plastic cards…. all on the never, never. Youngsters play with cell phones, I-pads and laptops. It’s a fool’s game to succumb to the temptation of easy credit, cheap goods and equated monthly installments. Rapid debt fueled spending invariably ends in tears of sorrow. History is replete with the pendulum swings of feast and famine in this world.
The tectonic financial plates have shifted due to collective pressures brought down on them by greedy bankers, corrupt govt. officials and home owners – causing the tremors of the economic meltdown. This is more about allowing self interest and being out of sync with public interest.
These rational responses, to a flawed financial order, – where the incentive to take on risk far outweighs the dangers that lurk in the shadows. Overly dependence on the American consumer to power progress and global economic growth has its fall outs.
Loose monetary policy triggers massive stock market and real estate bubbles which are prone to burst. America’s growing inequality, gulf wars, and thin social safety nets are part of a deepening fault line. All these create tremendous political pressure to encourage easy credit and keep job creation robust. Like the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, this process has put the rest of the world in spiraling financial crisis. Financial pornography cannot forever stimulate economic growth. –Vinay-
Can the empire strike back?
As you land in to China’s shiny new Airport and drive into town you are immediately stuck with the modern highways steel and glass city infrastructure that china has managed to put in place in just under two decades. China was technologically one of the most powerful nations for centuries having invented even gunpowder in the 15th century. But till now and even up to the 19th century it was considered a poor country, mainly as it had put in severe restrictions on trade in the middle kingdom.
Argentina was also another country that well endowed like the USA in the 19th century but went bankrupt three times, while the US has enjoyed an uninterrupted run of more than 100 years of prosperity. The implication is that sudden shifts are relatively rare in history. But consider continental Europe over the past 70 years - until recently a normal human lifetime. Unless they were Swedish or Swiss, an ordinary European man or woman lived during that period under several quite different systems of government. But all nations and civilizations decline; is it time for US Empire to down the drain like Egypt, Greece, Britain, and India like China in the past? However the Silicon Valley’s overwhelming bias towards optimism remains one of America’s enduring assets.
America with its great wealth, depth of learning, advanced technologies and solid democratic institutions should be able to weather all storms. However the recent economic crisis is not a short term business debacle but a deeper malaise and ongoing deterioration of politics and the culture of power. The abject failure of financial regulation, 9/11 terrorism senseless war on Iraq, massive military budgets, war in Afghanistan, bailout of investment banks and corporations shows that the rot runs a lot deeper. The road ahead is strewn with many other obstacles like the bowing down to lobbyists and a government that chases the fat cats for power and wealth at the cost of the rest of the world is a disquieting aspect of a government that is becoming shamefully inept. Politics splintered into extremist parties with Wall Street owning the Democrats and big oil corporations / Industry owning the Republicans it’s a catch 22 situation. America’s elite, super rich and industry and government is only offering lip service to CSR( corporate social responsibity) has been abandoned as more and more policies are anti-people.
Unless there is a return to civic virtue and the incentives to Corporations to corrupt the Government are removed the economic slide will continue till like other nations us will also be another nation that was once a superpower. We seem to be approaching one of those periods of discontinuity that have happened so often in the past. It may seem unthinkable that the European banking system could implode, or that a global currency like the euro could dissolve into nothing. Surely we would be better off if we put an end to our obsession with endings. Humans are sturdy creatures built to withstand regular disruption. Conflict never ceases, but neither does human resourcefulness, adaptability or courage.
Argentina was also another country that well endowed like the USA in the 19th century but went bankrupt three times, while the US has enjoyed an uninterrupted run of more than 100 years of prosperity. The implication is that sudden shifts are relatively rare in history. But consider continental Europe over the past 70 years - until recently a normal human lifetime. Unless they were Swedish or Swiss, an ordinary European man or woman lived during that period under several quite different systems of government. But all nations and civilizations decline; is it time for US Empire to down the drain like Egypt, Greece, Britain, and India like China in the past? However the Silicon Valley’s overwhelming bias towards optimism remains one of America’s enduring assets.
America with its great wealth, depth of learning, advanced technologies and solid democratic institutions should be able to weather all storms. However the recent economic crisis is not a short term business debacle but a deeper malaise and ongoing deterioration of politics and the culture of power. The abject failure of financial regulation, 9/11 terrorism senseless war on Iraq, massive military budgets, war in Afghanistan, bailout of investment banks and corporations shows that the rot runs a lot deeper. The road ahead is strewn with many other obstacles like the bowing down to lobbyists and a government that chases the fat cats for power and wealth at the cost of the rest of the world is a disquieting aspect of a government that is becoming shamefully inept. Politics splintered into extremist parties with Wall Street owning the Democrats and big oil corporations / Industry owning the Republicans it’s a catch 22 situation. America’s elite, super rich and industry and government is only offering lip service to CSR( corporate social responsibity) has been abandoned as more and more policies are anti-people.
Unless there is a return to civic virtue and the incentives to Corporations to corrupt the Government are removed the economic slide will continue till like other nations us will also be another nation that was once a superpower. We seem to be approaching one of those periods of discontinuity that have happened so often in the past. It may seem unthinkable that the European banking system could implode, or that a global currency like the euro could dissolve into nothing. Surely we would be better off if we put an end to our obsession with endings. Humans are sturdy creatures built to withstand regular disruption. Conflict never ceases, but neither does human resourcefulness, adaptability or courage.
Heaven and hell above – Fire and Brimstone on earth.
...
I am amazed at the zest and persistence of the gospelers, who use every opportunity to try and convert you to their faith, as if they had marketing targets to achieve. I am deeply puzzled when these proselytizers want to prove to me that God exists. There may be comfort in collective emotions no denying, but spiritual succor in groups cannot lead one to salvation. People tend to get carried away when their emotions like fear, joy, and sorrow are shared by a community or faith, something like a flash mob that grows bigger as more and more people join.
In the olden days we dealt with our conflicts and trauma by ourselves, or with parents or close friends. Today there are a host of clinics, psychologists, and networking sites where you wash and dry out your innermost fears and emotions. Religion offers a vast network of people working in unison and who are focused on salvation or nirvana. They tell you what you like to hear, like how a miracle will happen and take away your suffering through prayer. You fall neatly into the trap because you are leading an unconscious life and do not want to confront life’s problems. Religious books are like fiction, made up of fantasy, miracles and other stories, escapism from the reality of life. It makes you voluntarily surrender your consciousness to the beliefs of others.
Like meditation you can momentarily shut off the real facts of life. But you need to shift laterally to your own consciousness to break the mirage of miracles happening. Only family or few close friends will tell you the real “bone marrow’ truths that life’s’ stories are about failures. You don’t need the crutch of religion to get up and dust yourself, be yourself and work relentlessly for the actual transformation to happen. Push out the boundaries of religious scriptures & explore the uncharted territory of your consciousness.
Real ecstasy is in discovery ourselves in the book of life as you experience it chapter by chapter and the curiosity and expectation that many pages are left; then knowing that another great chapter will open out as you expand your consciousness.
What amazed me is the passion audiences bring to play when they congregate in church or a house of worship, and all of them bond on the same page. This obsessive community outpouring is a symbol of regression. They allow conscious minds to get synchronized with their own religious faith to experience joy in their brotherhood.
When someone does not share their beliefs the “joy” instantly turns to hate and is the beginning of religious intolerance!
I am amazed at the zest and persistence of the gospelers, who use every opportunity to try and convert you to their faith, as if they had marketing targets to achieve. I am deeply puzzled when these proselytizers want to prove to me that God exists. There may be comfort in collective emotions no denying, but spiritual succor in groups cannot lead one to salvation. People tend to get carried away when their emotions like fear, joy, and sorrow are shared by a community or faith, something like a flash mob that grows bigger as more and more people join.
In the olden days we dealt with our conflicts and trauma by ourselves, or with parents or close friends. Today there are a host of clinics, psychologists, and networking sites where you wash and dry out your innermost fears and emotions. Religion offers a vast network of people working in unison and who are focused on salvation or nirvana. They tell you what you like to hear, like how a miracle will happen and take away your suffering through prayer. You fall neatly into the trap because you are leading an unconscious life and do not want to confront life’s problems. Religious books are like fiction, made up of fantasy, miracles and other stories, escapism from the reality of life. It makes you voluntarily surrender your consciousness to the beliefs of others.
Like meditation you can momentarily shut off the real facts of life. But you need to shift laterally to your own consciousness to break the mirage of miracles happening. Only family or few close friends will tell you the real “bone marrow’ truths that life’s’ stories are about failures. You don’t need the crutch of religion to get up and dust yourself, be yourself and work relentlessly for the actual transformation to happen. Push out the boundaries of religious scriptures & explore the uncharted territory of your consciousness.
Real ecstasy is in discovery ourselves in the book of life as you experience it chapter by chapter and the curiosity and expectation that many pages are left; then knowing that another great chapter will open out as you expand your consciousness.
What amazed me is the passion audiences bring to play when they congregate in church or a house of worship, and all of them bond on the same page. This obsessive community outpouring is a symbol of regression. They allow conscious minds to get synchronized with their own religious faith to experience joy in their brotherhood.
When someone does not share their beliefs the “joy” instantly turns to hate and is the beginning of religious intolerance!
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