Insights & Inspiration

[DSM]

Good question Vertigo.... In Western society children are brought up to be independent and pursue what they want to do with their lives. In our country however, children are brought up to be engineers, doctors, CA's, IAS, etc.... As the focus of the family is to advance economically and to have a better state of life than the previous generation. In my view, it is necessary to have a mix of both - to make children independent and also get them to value education and to have them a free and enlightened state of mind.

Unfortunately however, we have many, many faults and failings in our society. It would be foolish to close our eyes to it or pretend that these do not exist. A patriot is not one who fails to questions ills and the wrongs of the society and be a 'blind bhakt' to the evils around us..... We are caste and religion based still - this is our biggest weakness. Then there is menace of dowry, female infanticide, corruption - and not forget divide based on culture, language etc. These are great challenges that are facing the nation. Even in a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai there is issue of us Vs. them.... who can forget the incident where out of state Bihar based students for railway board exams were chased and thrashed? Were they not from the same country? And then we have created issues by vested politicians of inter-state politics.... Unfortunately, though we are getting educated and acquire degrees our mindset is still set decades back.... We still identify ourselves by our religion, state, language, caste etc. etc... Should it not be that we are Indians first and foremost? Why do we still have forms that require religion and caste to be filled in? These biases are encoded within us, and need to be addressed, but mostly these cancers are relegated into the background. And children are brought up in an environment where these regressive mindset is the accepted norms.....

Recognizing problems as they exist is the first step towards finding ways to eliminate them... then ofcourse there has to be the willingness to do so. But the big question is : Do the people even think that these are issues that need to be addressed? Something to think about.

Would agree with you..we go through different stages of life, some aware and most unaware.
Parents or elders around want children to follow what they have learned in life and they do it with best intentions for the children.. but imo most arent conscious or capable enough to take steps to provide the child an environment of growth else we wont see so much misery and pain. They fail to see that the child is growing in different environment and what worked for them may not work for him, some pass on their hatred and jealousy to their children, some are ignorant and have more important things like new car or house or other things than their children... some are absent during whole childhood but are surprised when they want to befriend the child later.
For engg, medical etc etc we prepare so much but how much do parents prepare before bringing a child into this world ?? financial security is must but thats not the only requirement, parents need to be emotionally stable too esp these days when there are nuclear families.

I agree that everything around us in society from ppl to religion tries to create boundaries and distinctions, but what i have seen is that they also provide us a way to the ultimate, to NIRVANA, the only question is how much is our thirst for the ultimate ?? if we keep questioning whats not working we will someday move to what works.. but for that we have to learn to UNLEARN, learn all the gita, kuran you want to but in the end we have to forget everything what we learned in order to know what cannot be read only experienced.

Isnt trading also same ? we move from making arbitrary decisions to indicators to other and other n other, .. untill we quit or make money consistently. Whats needed is to move ahead and try something new when we fail but those failures are indeed a stepping stone to success for without them we wouldnt be doing what we do when we are successful. Same is with religion.. if you want to achieve nirvana or see your god dont stop till you are done. But most wont... If you ask 10 ppl around you what you want in life would enlightenment even be in their top 10 list ? and even if it is... would they like to jump into the unknown leaving behind all what they have been holding to ?

 

[Chance]

For most of the human race unfortunately, from the time a child is born, the programming starts… very few are thought to question, but many are brought up with prejudices of race, color, caste, religion, wealth, nationality…. And they grow up in an environment of us vs. them.

Exactly.

 

[Chance]

We still identify ourselves by our religion, state, language, caste etc. etc... Should it not be that we are Indians first and foremost? Why do we still have forms that require religion and caste to be filled in? These biases are encoded within us, and need to be addressed, but mostly these cancers are relegated into the background. And children are brought up in an environment where these regressive mindset is the accepted norms.....

Even most of the people victimised because of the caste system will not say there should not be any caste system and all humans should only belong to only one religion , one caste -Humanity.
Instead they will keep fighting for their caste to be given equal status to other castes. They will not think the root cause for all this is the divide we have created ourselves because all of us have been programmed like that.

and it is near impossible to eradicate this because the whole national political system has been based on it. At the lower , district, state and even national level... all directly or indirectly need/want the support from a particular community, religion or castes. This system is not going to change anytime sooner, or atleast in our lifetimes.

 

[Chance]

The divides we have created based on geographical areas, should only exist for making jurisdiction and law easier to maintain.
But we instead take pride in all these, why should one be proud of a geographical region he is born in ? its just a random event in the universe that he/she is born there.

different cultures we have should be interesting to us, so many languages we have should be fun for us, but we instead take pride in our particular culture or language or any other divide and we keep fighting endlessly .

 

[timepass]

casteism will always exist in some form or the other. In America they call it "special interest groups"

 

[DSM]

Wow!!! Great post Chance...

When free at times (sometimes) I read philosophy. I think it is important to expose our children (if not at school, atleast at home to some great ideas) Sharing some thoughts on John Locke, one of the greatest modern political philosophers, whose ideas are the essence of Western societies.

He is considered as the father of liberalism and is responsible for influencing Thomas Jefferson the founding father who wrote the Declaration of Independence, and the U. S. Constitution. He defined liberalism as :


1. Belief in equal rights under the law.

2. Defined democracy as “government with the consent of the governed.

3. Assigned three “natural rights,” i.e rights innate to all human beings, were and remain “life, liberty, and estate.”

***

Now imagine a billion plus people coming to believe in the above ' individual rights' If the general population is exposed to this this thought, there will be a revolution, where by politicians will understand that they are there to serve the people instead of serving their self interest.

However, most of the people (the masses) are led like sheep to believe and to follow the herd mentality. In our country, we raise ordinary (and falliable) people to the status as heros.... and glorify personality cult. The day we stop doing this, we will unleash the possibility of being a super power and among the best countries in the world to live and work.

The divides we have created based on geographical areas, should only exist for making jurisdiction and law easier to maintain. But we instead take pride in all these, why should one be proud of a geographical region he is born in ? its just a random event in the universe that he/she is born there.

 

[DSM]

3 Wimbeldon Titles this year is some good news for the Indian sports fan.

* Sania Mirza wins the Women's Doubles with Martina Hingis
* Leander Paes wins the Mixed Doubles with Martina Hingis
* Sumit Nagpal wins Men's Doubles with Nam Hoang

Appreciable considering the fact that comparative facilities as in the West are non-existence in all sports (except cricket) This ofcoursed has to be weighed in by the fact that we should be doing much better considering that we are 1.25 Billion plus strong and should do much better.

Anyway a win is a win and something to cheer about.

 

[Vertigo_1985]

So you find yourself getting out of control or moving away from stable mind state or too many thoughts overtaking your awareness leading ..What technique you use to be in control again ? deep breathing, progressive relaxation are few techniques but i find it difficult to gain control using these.. any technique which uses both body and mind and is short ?

 

[DSM]

Vertigo,

Try to remember back to any time when you felt your best, most confident, cheerful or positive. What was your state of mind, view of the world, emotions you identified with? This is your core, empowering self. You can also imagine yourself what you could be at your best.... how would you feel, talk, walk, think.... you have to get into that state again.... If you see any great athlete, sportsman - they have some routine before they get into the ring, crease, or stadium.... they get into a 'zone' So that is what you should try to aim for..... But remember mind is a tool that you have to use, a good servant but a terrible master.... so relaxing/calm the mind as the first step... and then ofcourse getting into the zone. Anthony Robbins has written a few books on this. Google for the free pdf of his book - Reawaken the giant within. It is worth a read.

Other tips :

Know what your empowering state is.
Get into a routine.
Don't let distractions and disappointments get to you.
Sharpen the axe (read up on what motivates/inspires you daily)
Excercise/walks/gym will help....

So you find yourself getting out of control or moving away from stable mind state or too many thoughts overtaking your awareness leading ..What technique you use to be in control again ? deep breathing, progressive relaxation are few techniques but i find it difficult to gain control using these.. any technique which uses both body and mind and is short ?

 

[Catch22]

A few simple ,meaningful stories for the week end..

As man was passing a few elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime can break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.
He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A doctor, a lawyer, a little boy and a priest were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble. In spite of the best efforts of the pilot, the plane started to go down. Finally, the pilot grabbed a parachute and yelled to the passengers that they better jump, and he himself bailed out.

Unfortunately, there were only three parachutes remaining.

The doctor grabbed one and said “I’m a doctor, I save lives, so I must live,” and jumped out.

The lawyer then said, “I’m a lawyer and lawyers are the smartest people in the world. I deserve to live.” He also grabbed a parachute and jumped.

The priest looked at the little boy and said, “My son, I’ve lived a long and full life. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you. Take the last parachute and live in peace.”

The little boy handed the parachute back to the priest and said, “Not to worry Father. The smartest man in the world just took off with my back pack.”

Moral: Your job doesn’t always define you, but being a Good Human being Does.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every human is besot with problems . That is part of living , surviving..
a story to follow here ,and as usual the main player a doctor ,to drive home a point ..But it can be anyone .

A doctor entered the hospital in hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery. He answered the call asap, changed his clothes and went directly to the surgery block. He found the boy’s father pacing in the hall waiting for the doctor.

On seeing him, the father yelled, “Why did you take all this time to come? Don’t you know that my son’s life is in danger? Don’t you have any sense of responsibility?”

The doctor smiled and said, “I am sorry, I wasn’t in the hospital and I came as fast as I could after receiving the call and now, I wish you’d calm down so that I can do my work”.

“Calm down?! What if your son was in this room right now, would you calm down? If your own son dies while waiting for doctor than what will you do??” said the father angrily. The doctor smiled again and replied, “We will do our best by God’s grace and you should also pray for your son’s healthy life”.

“Giving advises when we’re not concerned is so easy” Murmured the father.

The surgery took some hours after which the doctor went out happy, “Thank goodness! your son is saved!” And without waiting for the father’s reply he carried on his way running by saying, “If you have any questions, ask the nurse”.

“Why is he so arrogant? He couldn’t wait some minutes so that I ask about my son’s state” Commented the father when seeing the nurse minutes after the doctor left. The nurse answered, tears coming down her face, “His son died yesterday in a road accident, he was at the burial when we called him for your son’s surgery. And now that he saved your son’s life, he left running to finish his son’s burial.”


-------------------------------------------

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire.

Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.

Turning to her, he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?” “Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she hastily replied.

“Look closer”, he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft.

He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity-the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently. The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which one are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?”