Unanswerable Question

"A student had an immense thirst for knowledge. How much ever his learning and knowledge grew, he only seemed more ignorant to himself, and ever more dissatisfied with his experience and wisdom. One day, he asked his guru:

“Oh Master! What is that, knowing which, I can know everything?”"

I was so awestruck by this question when I heard it from my closest friend, whose thirst for knowledge is even more insatiable. How can a question be so beautiful and striking, even more so because it has no answer that can instantly quench one's thirst?

Can you do more than sigh at the absence of a proper answer to that question?

Mirror again

Thoreau said, "It's as hard to see one's self as to look backwards without turning around."

Two posts ago, I used the fact that the 'world is a mirror' to define stupidity and use it to your advantage. As you can see what's behind you without turning around by using a mirror, so can you see yourself in the whole world. You are the world and the world is you.

I am not talking about the physical world. The thoughts you think other people are secretly thinking while they hatch plots against you, the feelings that you ask those you face to shirk off, the actions that people take that you selectively filter out and enjoy — all these define your self. They are your self. There is no need to look inside yourself if you can analyze the entire world and hence know your self.

If you can't say it a fifty times, it's not true

A leaf says, "rustle, rustle."

A person in denial says, "I am perfectly fine, thank you."

A pig says, "oink, oink."

A liar says, "I am telling the truth!"

The wind says, "Whoosh, whoosh...I'll be back...whoosh, whoosh..."

Someone who is trying to impress you says, "I like your shirt."

Ask them all to repeat what they just said fifty times, and they will gladly do that. The sycophant will repeat it twice. Then he'll say, "I was just complimenting you."

You'll say, "Thank you."

How to keep stupid people out

This strategy is based on the principle "the world is a mirror". 

Stupid people will see the world, and hence other people, as stupid. Your work has to have a personal element to it, like fictional characters, or simply the name of the author (real or fake, doesn't matter, but keep it secret) to reflect the 'people' aspect in it. It must also have a 'stupid' element to it (like choosing a topic that who you think are stupid won't be interested in, or some accessories or decorative items around it that they think make the entire work too stupid to care about), so that the stupid people will see it first, and stop reading or following it before they get into the real depth of the actual work and accept the true meaning.

This calls into question how you define stupid people themselves. A far-fetched analogy might be useful to make you understand the concept behind this post. A hunter in a forest covered the area surrounding his hut with flypaper to keep the tiger away. It worked as long as he stayed there, and he explains it saying that the tiger, a very proud being, wouldn't hurt its dignity by getting flypaper stuck to its body and getting caught in trying to take it off. Of course, flypaper is obviously "stupid", but the stupid aspect in the tiger is its own dignity. Why would you care about a tiger's dignity when you are about to be attacked by one? That would be a "stupid" thing to care about, wouldn't it?

Definitions of virtue heavily degrade their meaning, because language is not the right tool for the job. So is it with stupidity. Define it in your own way when you want to use it. The entire strategy and its mechanism will be based on this sole definition.

If it happens once, it will never happen again

I read this somewhere:

"If it happens once, it will never happen again. If it happens twice, it will surely happen a third time."

There have been times when someone told me, "How many times are you going to see this pass? It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" I did want to reply to that statement, though I didn't know how then.

I do now.

This may happen only once as long as I live, and similarly, there are hundreds of things that will happen only once during my lifetime. My 10th birthday will happen only once, but my birthdays will occur dozens of times, and if you bless me, at least a hundred times. My wedding may happen only once, but I am going to visit fifty other wedding ceremonies in my life, though all of those who are getting married (I hope) will be doing so only once in their lives.

My school admissions, my college years, my achievements, my failures and successes, my jobs and new relations, parties and miracles, weird news on TV and in the papers — these that you call once-in-a-lifetime events — are so many and innumerable that I no longer think they are unique. Not enjoying some of them, not participating in a few of them, they might cause a little pain, but I consciously do so in full awareness of the consequences: I am courageous enough to handle them.

"If it happens once in my life, it will happen a thousand times in the same life."

Live in the moment

Live now now and live later later.

If you live later now, you’ll have to live now later.

You may have to live later even later,

and hence never live now, later or even later.

Society

The society’s emotional wave
rides piggyback over mine.

I bear the brunt of a fall,
while they scatter and settle.

But, they will not budge an inch

if I want to take them with me,

I hope when they suffer together,

that they will listen to me.

God is a Writer

How does God think?
God thinks like the writer of a play. A writer creates characters and gives them life.

Is that life permanent?

No. The life of a character is temporary and transient, subject to the whims of the writer.

Does that mean that the character is powerless?

No. The writer both directs the character, and gives him free will.

Are both free-will and divine direction possible?

Yes. The actor that plays the character is the soul of the character. It's being controlled by the writer, like all souls are directed by God. Nevertheless, the actor has the choice to play his character according to his own free will.

Can two actors play the same character the exact same way?

Never. This proves that all humans also have free wills.

For the entire duration of a play, does the character know that his existence is not real?

No. Only the actor knows it. If the character becomes aware of his illusory nature, either the play becomes a movie like The Matrix, or the play is known only for its boring and ridiculous nature.

So, does that mean that the actor must abandon his character the moment he realizes his true nature?

No. He must go on to finish his character, and later find another role. This is the essence of Karma Yoga and Reincarnation.

Why must he go on with playing his false role in the unreal play?

Because he has a duty to edify the other characters about their ultimate reality. He cannot achieve this just by killing all the characters, because it's the other characters that die, not the other actors.

How can he teach the other characters about their illusory nature?

He can do this by learning about how he realized his true nature in the first place.

Is there one way to show to all characters of the play that they are not real?

Yes. He can do this by assuming the most superior character in the play.

Won't the other characters in the play think he's crazy?

Yes, but we both know that only the writer and the actor know the truth. He must fight the weapon of prejudice with the weapon of knowledge for the sake of the other characters themselves.

Does that mean he should become a dictator?

No. He must become a Buddha, or a Robert Pirsig. He must become an unconditionally trustworthy person.

How can anyone do all this?

I leave that to you, dear reader, because your character in this world is your own, and not mine to assume.

From frustration to meaning

I am work, and I will command you.
Yell and complain, and I will whip you.

I am ever-existing and never-dying –
I am a circle that has no end or beginning.

Hate those who bring me to you,
but like what you get for what you do.

If you are not working, you are rotting,
but if you are, you are growing and rising.

You will bow to me and suffer with me,
for without me, you are empty.

I know all but none knows me,
and some keep passing through me.

You will be sad that I am here,
but if I go, you will live in fear.

I bring you money and I bring you glory,
I bring you respect built storey by storey.

I bring you love and I bring you peace,
work for them and your heart will cease.

Everything will be brought to you through me,
and only by loving me will you truly see.

Want to work and like working,
it’s its own reward and it’s satisfying.