I am I

Oceans drowned the breaths of unheard voices,
but I was the same.

Blind eyes have been seeing illusions and plays,
but I have been the same.

Masses are jostling to find that elusive thing,
but I am the same.

Planets may tumble around in the box of the universe,
but I will be the same.

Throw down a rope, please!

There are a number of facts and assumptions about human nature that I can not reveal unless the listener is appropriately developed, but which surface in my mind when I am angry and are hence most prone to revelation. Released in such a manner, they only take the form of insults at the human race and indirectly at the less developed listener's mind. 

They are not facts and assumptions any more. They are not truths now. They are platitudes. They are silly and obvious things that everybody knows but have no idea what to do with. What am I doing even saying those things to others? How dare I insult them? Am I ready to face the long chain of consequences of my lack of self-control in one minute of life? I know the answer. No.

The knowledge of these facts and assumptions in their truest form, their purest and most absolute form, I immensely cherish, but I need caution more immense than the value of their truth, purity and absoluteness.

Oh God, help me survive this short battle. Even more than that, please help me win it, my Lord!

Prettiness!

There are some girls who feel worthless if they don't look pretty. So, they make themselves up to the point of feeling and making others feel sick deep inside. And there are some who don't disregard prettiness because life is more important to them. So, they only make themselves up basically. Then there are some who don't really care how they look. So they sometimes do and the other times don't make themselves up. And then there are some who hate others who make themselves up, and would hate themselves if they made themselves up. So, they do not and never make themselves up.

Some girls look pretty, but you do not know if they are pretty or they only look pretty. And some look pretty and would look pretty even if they didn't try to, because you saw them when they didn't try and found them just as pretty. Then some look pretty when they need to and don't look pretty when they don't need to. And some are not pretty because they never tried to look pretty because they hate trying.

That girl who feels contented when she doesn't look pretty, who feels just the same when she does look pretty, who knows just how pretty she needs to look when required, and who doesn't concern herself whether others look pretty or not, that girl to me, my dear, is a beautiful woman.

You whom I cannot name

I have never seen you wearing heels,
no matter what the other person feels,
or growing too long a fingernail,
which women are too eager to reveal.

True, I have known so little about you,
but I haven't seen you angry or frustrated,
which is a quality within you
that by me is most appreciated.

Oh, how much I wonder what else there is
to know about a beautiful lady that is.
Is this what they call a deep crush,
which would only make my face blush?

Caught I am in a dilemma right now,
about whether or not I should confess how
I feel about you, I wonder what you'll say,
and get my heart caught in a fray.

How long will I be stuck, oh God?
Will my people ever understand,
that I am a bird in a mental cage,
or that I am too old for my age?
What should I say to convince them that
my goals are only too high, not flat?

Is only this generation unique,
stretched, alone and off oblique,
or is it me that is thinking so,
because I feel depressed and low?

Do you know whom I am writing about, o girl,
or are you even reading this pearl?
I want you to know and yet I don't
because if you do, be free I won't.

Our perception of time

When you are pleased, you gain energy. When you are miserable and in pain, you lose energy. From Einstein’s equation E=mc2, we gather that time is inversely related to energy, assuming everything else is stationary.

So, an increase in energy when you are happy and pleased leads to less time available, and hence time goes fast. Similarly, when you are in misery and are struggling to do something, time goes slow because there’s more of it available.

But what’s the constant? Where do mass and distance, and light come into the picture? What if they are not constant? I’ll never know.

Confusion

Where am I? Why am I not in control of myself? Should I write a poem? Nothing comes to me. No rhyme or rhythm, no meter out of the thinking box. No words that are stuck on an emotion.

No essays come to me either. No rambling that makes sense and yet doesn't. Nothing that can connect me to you. Except...wait! There's something. Or maybe not. There was definitely something. What is it? Why is it illusory? Why is it both present and absent? Why does a problem seem stupid and unconquerable at the same time? Why is it so hard to think from the perspective that you'd like to think? Does meditating and fixating have anything to do with the solution? I think it does. If habits and repetition can develop and create instinct, they can develop new thoughts too, those that are revolutionary — new but yet obvious, unexpected but yet already known. What makes the difference? Is it action instead of simply knowing the solution? Some say knowing the path is not the same as walking it. Maybe that's the difference. How do you start on it? Some say a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. How do you know in which direction you want to take a step? Why are we all so confused all the time? Why do we care so much about what other people think? Why do other people matter to us so much in the first place? Why are we so attached to others?

I know that there is equilibrium in people because they are all possessed by souls. Souls are always seeking equilibrium and peace. Hence people must seek them too, whether they are aware of it or not. There are virtues and vices among people. There are right and wrong people, good and bad people, real and imaginary people, stupid and intelligent people, emotional and rational people, dualistic and non-dualistic people, believing and atheistic people. There is definitely equilibrium among people by the above explanation. But why are we still attached? Should we seek unattached people instead of those that we are attached to? That I think is definitely better. Attachment brings only misery. Desire brings only misery. All pursuits of desire end in disgust, because the materialistic world does not provide an answer, end or a solution to our false and unreal pursuits.

People. The word comes with a connotation. Let's get that connotation out, because that's where the real meaning lies. What comes to you when I use the word 'people'? I don't know. What comes to my mind is simply 'stupid'. That's it. Because I have always heard and used the word in only that sense. "People are idiots," "Why do people do such things?," "Why do people believe the government?," "Why do people leap before they look?"

I can see that writing about it is bringing meaning to it. Yes, I found it. To me, people seem stupid, because I think of them as stupid. There's the actual problem. Thoreau said, "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one striking at the root." I found the disease and diagnosed it, and it took me so long because I have been concentrating on the symptoms, not the root disease itself. Treat one symptom, another will appear. Treat that and you'll be tired and looking at two more symptoms. Treat the underlying disease, and both the symptoms and the illness will disappear. There's the Way. Thoreau also said something like, "Catch one disease, you are healthy. Catch no disease, you are forever sick." Because the answer is neither health nor treatment. The answer is recovery. It's the Way.

So, how do you start thinking of people as clever, intelligent and virtuous instead of dull, stupid and vicious? How do you appreciate the whole of mankind for it's collective virtue and goodness? Where do you take the first step of the journey? Which direction do you head to? I do not know the answer. But I know this — now I have the diagnosis. I can find the appropriate treatment.

Every time someone someone gives a compliment, I think of it as shallow. This has to go. As I wrote a year ago, that's a Basis for connection. Shallow compliments and gestures — I think it's time to recognize what they are called: greetings, handshakes, introductions, etc. — are the basis for connecting strange and unknown people. That's where we'll start. That's where society makes sense. But when does it not make sense? They stop making sense if you offer them to someone who you already are connected.

Going deeper, where do we find ourselves? Actually, maybe we should surface instead of going deeper. Here, we come to talk about non-existent people. Not necessarily those who are not on earth, or imaginary fictional characters, but those who are not participating in our discussion. Should we talk something good and great about them? Maybe I should try doing this. But I am afraid. Afraid of the fact that people will find it annoying. There we are again. People again. I should learn to handle such people, both inside and outside my mind.

There is one thing that I'd like to note. This is not going to end. This might take a lifetime to get accomplished, but it's definitely not going to be covered in a single written article. We know where to start, we know where to go. We know the path too. Now, all we have to do is execute. Let's meet up on the way, stranger! Let's have a cup of coffee and introduce ourselves.

Jump up and keep moving

What's behind the scenes to them
is staring in the face to you,
what’s backstage to them
is playing on the stage to you.

What is wrong to others is truth to you,
what is truth to them is shallow to you.
What is obvious to them is stupid to you,
what is stupid to them is happiness to you.

What are riches to them is waste to you,
what are waste to them are tools to you.
What is common to them is beautiful to you,
what is beauty to them is dirt to you.

What is food to them is necessity to you,
what is life to them is banal to you.
What are leaves to them are roots to you,
what are roots to them are fruits to you.

Break down the rules and
jump over the fence,
cut down your ties and
revel in joy hence.

Be restless and pro-active,
not listless or simply active.
Treat work as life and life as play,
obstacles will then be out of your way.

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.

Are all questions 'Yes or No' questions?

If you understand duality, you will agree. Any question, when posed, has infinite possible answers. While the answer that’s actually given is only one, it’s one of many answers that could be given. The given answer carries a ‘Yes’ with it, while all the remaining hidden ones carry a ‘No’ with each.

Does that make every question, whether it's a 'Why...?' or 'How...?' or 'Is...?', a 'Yes or No' question?

Lower and higher levels of development

I have been looking for a long time to replace the pair — low and high — used to describe traditional states of development of the human mind. The reason I wanted to do this is because it comes with a condescending point of view. One who has progressed to a higher step has no right to say that others who are on lower levels are wrong or less right. He must recognize them as necessary stages of development.

At this point, there seems to be hope in the pair — near-far. If God or self-realization is the highest (now the Centre) of all ways and means, all states and stages of development, it is also a common goal which we all approach from different positions through different paths. 

After all, the pair 'heaven and hell' is one dualistic way to teach less developed minds (now farther minds) to ascend (now move) a step higher (now closer) as they try to reach the highest (now the Central) state of development.

I think that by referring to the Centre as our common goal, and evaluating one's own current state of development by means of a 'distance' from the centre, we can avoid the traditional drawback of condescension and also the ill disgrace that comes from thinking of oneself as 'superior' or 'inferior'.

How to understand everything

Read between the lines.

A gift

It's the most valuable thing one could have received in life — a critical mind. It must be used consciously, like anger, because it can be both a tool or a weapon. Use it right, it will bend the strongest of wills; use it wrong, it will break the stoutest of hearts.

A critical mind can be used to see through people. It can penetrate almost anything in the world. The best results are achieved when it turns upon itself, when the mind examines itself critically.