 
Bare Basics

By Santosh Jha

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Copyright 2014 Santosh Jha

Smashwords Edition

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Other Smashwords Titles By Santosh Jha

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Back To Bliss: A Journey To Zero (Fiction)

Autobiography Of A Duffer (Fiction)

Not Man Enough (Fiction)

Naked Solutions Of Dressed Up Life Woes (Non-fiction)

Habitual Hero: The Art Of Winning (Non-fiction)

Maya And Leela: Utility In Life's Futility (Non-fiction)

Why We Flop In Love (Non-fiction)

Wisdom Of Wellness: Perpetuity Of Poise Of Purpose (Non-fiction)

Decipher Destiny: Decode God's Will (Non-fiction)

Youth Sanity In Crazy Culture (Non-fiction)

Redeem & Reinvent The Art Of Lost Wellness (Non-fiction)

India Beyond Stampede Of Stupidities (Non-fiction)

Karta: Life-Inspiring Essays On Cognition, Consciousness & Causality

Enter 2014 A New You (Non-fiction)

Why Do You Want To Change Me? (Non-fiction)

Hey Beautiful, You Are The Hope (Non-fiction)

Young, Restless And In Love (Non-fiction)

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License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Thanks for your support.

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Preface

The experts say – consciousness is essentially localized. This may sound a confusing idea but its simple manifestations we all see in our lives. Mind consciousness, our very dear sense of 'I' or 'I Am', is essentially a mechanism, which is best at action-reaction functions. Our senses feed information to our brain and the mind consciousness behaves and acts as conditioned reaction to these stimuli. Usually, we are all in a routine of life, which suits us fine. Our daily hours, weekend leisure and even monthly calendar is a fixed and repetitive chain of action-reaction schedule. That is why, our consciousness is considered localized – attuned to ambient milieus and the cultures we live in. However, it is a belief that growth of person and his or her personality is largely dependent on how much he or she is challenged in the milieus, which keep changing and presents new inputs of imagination and thinking. Of course, we have challenges in life but either they are not new, or there is virtually nothing much we can do. Like, the traffic we face daily is a huge challenge but we have almost accepted it as we cannot do anything to better it. The pollutions in the physical as well as cultural milieus are bigger challenges we face daily but we know; we probably cannot help improve anything. In such environment or either complacency or helplessness, we usually get into a grove of a consciousness, which also becomes a fixed and static routine entity.

This surely is not ideal situation for empowerment of consciousness, life-living wellness and personal excellence. We all need to be challenged and these new challenges must make us evolve almost on daily basis. This evolving is our life-living wellness mantra. And the best way to do is to come to the bare-basics of life's incessant challenges. Our consciousnesses must be jolted out of the inertia of complacency and status quo. This new socio-cultural as well as physical environment we live in is surely very challenging. We are into a new millennium and we have developed a lot but still, our life-living challenges also have evolved faster than us. We need to feel challenged and evolving all the time so that we have better preparedness to face life's ever-growing troubles. The best challenges we can present to ourselves are those, which are still the bare-basics in humanity's struggle for survival and excellence.

The bare-basics about wellness and goodness of life and living and challenges associated with them are ubiquitous. They have been there in different forms since millions of years. They still are. However, new issues of wellness and goodness have been added, as we all are heading for a world, which is fast becoming complex, resulting in far more conflicts and conundrum.

The new millennium has heralded a new thinking. It was brewing up for over two decades but now as we moved into 21st century; we have a wisdom to answer many questions of wellness in a completely new light. The answers have come up, as there has been a change in perception about the three core notions – Consciousness, Cognition & Causality, essential for wellness and goodness of life. It is time to revisit the bare-basics of life-living wellness and personal excellence and confront them with the new wisdom of the new millennium, which in the past, were addressed either with extreme 'scientific positivism' or with dogmatic 'religious reductionism'. The 'new thinking' believes; answers are in the integrative and assimilative domain as both wisdoms have unbelievable commonality. The new thinking is all about an assimilative and integrative approach and technique, drawing holistic resources from both traditional as well as modern wisdoms. The essays in this book attempts to revisit and confront the bare-basics of life-living spectrum. They happen to be essays on essentials...

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Reiterating The First Essential

THERE ALWAYS HAVE BEEN QUESTIONS and there is no denial to the fact that questions shall always remain there. This probably is the best news for humanity as questions always help us extend our domain of consciousness as well as our collective and personal wisdom. Number of questions we accept, more we open ourselves to newer probabilities of realism. There is probably no single tool for humanity, which is more useful in empowering consciousness, life-living wellness and personal excellence. History of humanity substantiates this simple hypothesis.

However, we usually happily restrict ourselves to fewer questions as initially; questions unsettle our comfort and us. It is natural that people with fewer questions shall have wherewithal of lesser answers. It is said, 'ignorance is bliss' as many believe, more questions and more answers may be good for a wise but it surely does not make him or her happier. However, it is also said, 'it is always better to be a wise dissatisfied (unhappy) than a fool satisfied (happy)'. This debate is endless!

We can, for a while accept the hypothesis that true knowledge somehow can lead us to larger wellness and personal excellence. And true knowledge is a cyclic process of accepting more questions and evolving improved answers. Evolution of humanity in millions of years has been a process of this cyclicality. This is absolute utility for us. The imagery of an open window, as used on the cover of the book is a huge symbol of how we should never constrict our knowledge by closing our minds to many questions and ideas, which we feel uncomfortable with. Questions must never be restricted entry in the consciousness, as it is essential and bare-basics for our growth as human being.

Our knowledge is the base material from which most of our joys, wellness and excellence are created. This knowledge is a product of a magnanimous mind consciousness, which allows and lets even uncomfortable and unfriendly ideas and questions sink in. What sinks in stays and knowledge is a function of this memory of fruitfully processed experiences, which stays after deep sinking in. Therefore, the first intelligence in all humans is the innocence. This intelligence of innocence is in being an open window person, allowing this sinking in to happen so that utility and fruition stays.

There are questions and they are important because only when we accept questions, we move to discover the answers, which are already there. Truths or answers cannot be created as they are already there to be deciphered. This is the singular objective road to knowledge building. However, wisdom or knowledge comes in stages; they are not usually arrived at suddenly. Like answers, questions are also born and evolved in time and space dimensions. Long history of humanity shows us how key life-living questions evolved in stages and their answers too came in stages. That is why we have to constantly move away and beyond our current state of mind consciousness, which has the instinctive inclination for accepting and be happy with comfort of inertia of few questions and subjectively created answers.

For the larger society, rooted in inertia and status quoism, a question is like a poisonous snake. People with baton of socio-economic and political authority are so panicky of the venom of non-conformity, which a question has the potential to unleash, that they are quick to thrash its head. Often, even innocuous and well-meaning questions and questioners are killed in the panic over the threat to peace and order of suitable conformism. The bare basics of life cannot be done away with. It shall come back in different dimensions and we cannot run away from it life-long.

Questions are important. God is the biggest question. The religion is the mother of all questions. The greatest tragedy of humanity is that today religion smothers more questions than it was suppose to answer. Regrettable it is that on the name of religion, mediocre and conformist answers are being forced on masses and many meaningful questions are not even allowed to breathe.

Even you would have noticed and witnessed how your family members or society members often stifle key and basic questions, which one has and are asked innocently. Often, kids have the best of and most questions of bare-basic nature and they would often be hushed up and told that it was bad manners. Often, discipline is considered the primary virtue and even innocuous curiosity of kids would be bracketed as undisciplined behavior. Discipline should not be accepted as the greatest morality as it is often a non-reciprocal tool of outdated notions of societal conformity, which smothers basic questions of life-living wellness.

In contemporary socio-cultural milieu, even when liberal attitudes are supposed to ensure a free and fair living environment, one is not always confident of the righteousness and justification of one's natural inquisitiveness about bare-basic questions. However, you have to be as the nervousness that one can see, which questions generate among those who were responsible for answers is enough to assure someone that righteousness is more on the side of the questioner than the answerer. If not, why would questions scare? The force, with which the authoritative layers attempt to smother questions only reflect the reality that there is something that they fear the questions would expose – either their incompetence or ignorance to answer them or the larger hypocrisy of humanity.

The realism that asking question is a greater virtue than giving answers must be accepted in modern liberal societies and cultures. Keeping a question alive, not allowing it to die prematurely requires a lot of courage, character and conviction. This needs to be respected and encouraged. Almost everyone claims to have the answers; some of them probably have. Most of them even fight for their answers to be the only justified one. Many have the authority to impose answers or the refusal of it on people. Only few however have questions and the courage to stand them.

If necessity is the mother of inventions, inquisitiveness is the primary energy behind all inventions, all creations. This is first essential, which needs to be accepted and encouraged. An inquisitive mind, which magnanimously and compassionately accepts all questions, even when they are not comfortable, is the sure winner as by this simple action-behavior, he or she ensures his or her empowerment of consciousness, life-living wellness and personal excellence.

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What is 'Fact' and what is 'Fiction' in Life's Realism?

It seems; realism – as a subjective self accepts – is brain's choice (mostly randomized) of elements from the ambient milieu. Therefore, both 'Fact & Fiction' are equally entitled to being Realism. There are both tangible and intangible elements in any milieu. Consciousness (subjective self) as the navigation mapping mechanism, facilitated by the brain, accepts both elements with equal ease.

Interestingly, all tangibles acquire form and content from the intangibles of life and all intangibles attain utility and suitability from tangibles. Therefore, it seems, realism is an eclectic mix of Fact & Fiction. However, it depends on early childhood milieu and initial experiences of a person, whether this mix has more fact or more fiction. It seems, in contemporary milieu of most popular cultures, both men and women are growingly having a subjective consciousness with more fiction and less fact inclinations.

I present below, a discourse, which I came through in public domain. The entire idea may seem hugely confusing but believe me, it is a huge benefit to challenge our subjective perceptions about realism. There is always a benefit in extending the limits of our consciousness self. The preface above is just an introduction to what always is probability at any stage of our living experience. We remain caught between our perceptions of fact and fiction. It seems, this conundrum is our mechanism. However, understanding this mechanism can surely help in deciphering some bare-basics of life-living experiences. It goes like –

"If there is anything about which we feel sure, it is that the world we experience is real. We can see, touch and hear it. We can lift heavy and solid objects; hurt ourselves, if we're not careful, against their unyielding immobility. It seems undeniable that out there, around us, independent and apart from us, stands a physical world, utterly real, solid and tangible. But all is not what it seems.

First, the apparently solid table in front me is, it turns out, far from solid. And second, we assume that we are directly experiencing the world around; that the colors we see and the sounds we hear are there, around us, just as we experience them. But even an elementary study of the processes of perception show that in this, too, we are much mistaken.

All that I see, hear, taste, touch, smell and feel has been created from the data fed to me by my sensory organs. All I ever know of the world around are the images produced in the mind. I think I am seeing the tree "out there", in the world around me. But all that I am actually experiencing is the image created in the mind.

This simple fact is very hard to grasp. It runs totally counter to all our experience. There seems nothing more certain than the fact that I am seeing the world as it is, around me. But however nonsensical it may sound, this is the conclusion we are forced to make.

The world we experience around us is no more "out there" than are our dreams. However real it may seem, it is, in the final analysis, all in the mind. We never experience the physical world directly; all we ever know is the image of the world generated in our awareness. And that image is no more "out there" than are the images of our dreams. We may find it hard to come to terms with the fact that our normal waking experience of reality is a manifestation within the mind, but in many other instances we readily accept that we create our experiences.

The entire concept of virtual reality is founded on the understanding that the brain is a reality generator as much as an information processor. In all these instances of illusory or artificial realities, we readily accept that the confusing or abnormal perception stems from the way the brain creates our experience of reality. Yet when it comes to our normal waking experience, the base state in which these so-called "illusions" occur, we adopt the opposite position. We feel that we are experiencing the world as it is, "out there" in front of us. But how could the illusory perception be an image in our mind, yet the world in which the illusion occurs be the physical world around us?

Many other creations of the mind we dismiss as hallucinations. These are typically experiences, which occur under the influence of drugs, and during illness, extreme fatigue or stress. For one reason or another the electro-chemical processes are modified in some way, leading the brain to generate a different image of reality. One may perceive unusual colors or patterns, perceive time and space differently, or experience some other "non-ordinary" manifestation in consciousness.

We call such images "hallucinations" because they do not concur with our normal experience of reality, or with the reality that other people experience. We say we are seeing things that are not really there. But, surprising as it may at first seem, this is what we are doing all the time. Even in normal, everyday perception, the kind we all agree upon, we are seeing things that are not really there. Color, sound, smell, and all the other qualities of experience are not qualities of the physical world; they exist only in the mind.

The fact that we create our experience of reality does not imply that there is no underlying reality. When a tree falls in the forest, there is a specific event that is happening in the physical world. There is something that gives rise to my perception, and to your perception -- and to the perception of a bird sitting on one of its branches. But we know nothing of that event directly. All we know are the experiences created in our minds.

As a contemporary analogy, we might liken the situation to the image created on a computer screen. Within the central processor of the computer are numerous bits of information, encoded as electronic states in the circuitry of the chips. Software in the computer processes this data, putting it into a form that when sent to the monitor causes it to light the screen in particular ways. The image that is created may be derived from the data in the central processor, but it is not the same as the data. The computer is not producing some faithful imitation of an image held in memory. All there is, is code; microscopic electronic switches that are either "on'; or "off". There is no color or light in the computer code, and the spatial layout of the data on the chip bears very little resemblance to the layout of the final image.

It is important to distinguish between two ways in which we use the word "reality". There is the reality we experience, our image of reality; and there is the underlying reality that we never know directly, but which is the source of our experience. In Indian philosophy these two realities are sometimes referred to as the Absolute and the Relative. The Absolute is the underlying reality. It does not change according to who is experiencing it. It is, as it is, an independent reality. The Relative is the reality we observe, the reality generated in our minds. There is just one Absolute; but there are numerous relative realities, each relative to a particular experiencer at a particular point in space and time.

How we construct our image of the world is determined by our sensory organs and nervous system. Most human beings have very similar sensory organs -- my eye, for example, is virtually identical to yours -- and the neural processing of the sensory data follows very similar pathways. We receive the same data, analyze it in the same way, and so create very similar pictures of reality -- unless, that is, a person is color-blind, near-sighted, or tone deaf, in which case we make allowances for our different perceptions

The fact that we seldom disagree on our experience of reality reinforces our assumption that we are seeing reality as it is. But if we could communicate with other creatures we would find our naive assumption severely shaken. Dogs, for example, hear higher frequencies of sound than we do, and their noses detect a far wider range of molecules. If we could put ourselves in a dog's mind we would find a somewhat different perception of reality."

Our tacit assumption that we perceive the world as it is, has become so deeply ingrained that it is very hard indeed to appreciate that our image of reality is a construction within our own mind. Even when we intellectually accept the fact, as eventually we must, it is still extremely difficult not to see the image we have created as "out there".

In fact, we will probably always see it this way. But that is not to say it is not possible to see it otherwise. It may be that spiritual adepts who have made a deep personal investigation into the nature of the mind, explored the workings of their own consciousness, and witnessed the arising of experience, have come to see it that way. Throughout the mystical and spiritual literature of the world are examples of individuals who have claimed that the whole world is within them rather than around them, as most of us experience. Thousands of years back, rational humans warned us all that what we all accept as real is 'maya'... science is not new to us....

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The Transcendental Question And True Answer

It is only normal and justified for an individual. Everyone has this question, which he or she is entitled to ask and has all the rights in the world to know the answers. The simple, innocuous and straightforward question is – "What is the purpose of life, what is the aim, what is desirable for an individual to do in life?"

For all humanity in all ages, the answer is the same and looks as simple and pointed as the question itself. The answer is – "Physical-mental-spiritual growth". In modern terminology, it needs to be said that the answer is – all-round, multi-dimensional growth of all beings.

But, is that simple...! .... no..no... it ain't. It is like, every father telling his kid that the only aim in his life is to become a good and successful human being.... and the kids dare not ask, "how?" The father feels his duties have ended there, and all he has to do is to provide all sorts of physical resources and comforts to his kid.... rest is the kid's burden....!

Most persons live life this way. They have been told what their aim and purpose in life is but, they do not know 'how' to go about it. Almost everyone knows and accepts the generalizations of the goodness of life and living idealisms. However, the practical particulars are not easily and generally available to most. Somehow, it is a cultural standpoint that each one has to create these particulars of life on his or her own.

The father tells the kid that he or she shall be successful only after years of learning in a good school where good teachers lead him to the right knowledge each day, guiding him and actually shaping him or her to attain success at a particular stage of life. We all need gurus and constant guidance. The simple reason for this is – all goodness needs internalization and this needs constant and persevered repetition of goodness for the brain to create and master the required pathway for its excellence.

There is a similar hint in one of the great books of Indian religion. It says – 'one has to be a student all his or her life. And he or she can have a guru and teacher in either parents, siblings, friends, beloved or spouse. Rather, relationships, community in general are meant to be for mutuality.

Each relationship you have, serves twin purposes – he or she is your guru as well as a student. We learn from each other and grow together in relationships.

That's the true beauty and joy of relationships. Relationships are strong and bonded well if this mutuality of making learn as well as learning goes simultaneously for both. Relationships end when this mutuality ends. And the beginning of this mutuality is honesty and innocence.

When honesty happens in a relationship, true friendship happens and when friendship happens, growth happens and it becomes a mutual progression of the two people in relationship.

Sadly, there is a huge deficit of trusts in modern day relationships. Moreover, we all have become so busy in personal pursuits that we have almost forgotten the art and joy of growing together. Mutuality is the worst casualty of contemporary culture of instant self-gratification and self-worth, defined in terms of individualistic consumptions and possessions. Naturally, everyone knows the goodness in its macrocosm, but the essential support system of family-friends-companions that leads us to the microcosm of goodness is missing. The confusion and conflict about the aim-desirability-purpose of life is only natural.

The second trouble is that out of the three aspects of growth – physical, mental and spiritual – most people in modern times are predominantly focusing on only the physical part. That is why, the most essential 'mental-spiritualism' aspects that are crucial for a perfect balance is missing.

The goodness and wellness of life-living idealism is in simple positioning of being multi-dimensional in growth and having a perfect poise in all these dimensions. In modern societies across the globe, the health experts warn that the golden homeostasis (all round balance) of human body-mind mechanism is missing hugely and the resultant diseases and attitudinal crises are results of the body-mind not coping up with the prevailing degenerations caused by the imbalance.

That is why, even when, a person finds himself or herself successful and complete in physical aspect of growth, he and she is very poorly grown up in mental-spiritual aspects. This lop-sided growth often creates lots of chaos, conflict and confusion in life.

Sadly, even friends-relatives-spouses support only in physical growth. Very few are there to help you grow in totality and completeness. The missing mutuality and multi-dimensionality in lives are causing huge chaos and conundrum.

Find good support system for your well-being. Understand and accept that the word 'well-being' encompasses the poise in all three aspects – physical as well as mental and spiritual. Moreover, accept spiritualism as distinct from religion and popular spiritualism. Spiritualism is all about your inner poise, macrocosmic homeostasis and good internalization of life-living idealisms.

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Let Them Be With Their Business

It is indeed sad, often tragic and chaotic that humanity in the contemporary world is destined to live in an intellectual universe where questions of billions of mind are being answered by a bunch of socio-cultural and religious-spiritual leadership who themselves do not seem to have access to right and true answers. Moreover, they are themselves a confused lot as most are averse to upgrading their egoistic minds and continuation of their archaic knowledge.

The questions have always been there – 'who are we, why are we, what is life for, the aim, the purpose, the righteousness and the exalted path, etc'. The answers fall either in the realm of religion, philosophy or science... and all these realms are unable to come to a singularity of universal wisdom. Though claiming to have right answers and also, claiming that only they know the answers.... sad... tragic...!

In reality, all the religions of the world are archaic, rooted in the timeliness of the knowledge that still holds truth but definitely need to be rephrased, reformed and upgraded, given the modern-day realisms in the field of knowledge that humanity has today. The religions are thousands of years old and when the set of knowledge that created them, are presented to contemporary generations, they sound like poor fiction to most young minds. It happens as they grossly miss their context in contemporary milieus. The trouble is, most religions refuse to upgrade themselves and most contemporary leadership dare not play a tune against the populist demands and mindsets.

The philosophies, psychologies and even science are evolving. They are more authoritative and well placed when they deny that what religions say and what traditional morality based on spiritualism entails are not always right. However, when they are asked as to what is the right answer, they come up with another set of still evolving answers, half-baked truths and often extra-polated facts. The more rational of the scientists however are ready to admit that science may have some answers but human mind is still not evolved enough to have all right answers.

The good thing however, with all aware and rational minds is that in all fields of human knowledge, be in science, philosophy and religion, which usually provide answers to human inquisitiveness, those who really are intellectuals, do admit that there is nothing called ultimate in human knowledge and wisdom (answers) are always an evolving entity. They also admit the answers are in holism of all wings of human knowledge, never in parts.

However, tragically, such people are in very poor minority and their voices of rationalism also remain minority voices. And as usual, the media of the day are always interested in stifling this minority voice and play puppets in the hands of those majority, who foolishly but stylishly and ingenuously claim, they have the answers and only their answers are right ones. Media has its own compulsions of going with populism of the day.

So, what is the golden prescription for common man? It is very simple. Use this evolving knowledge as a weapon to make best out of it. God is or not, there is life after death or not, life's purpose is in material well-being or not... etc. Don't be involved in this debate. Use whatever way it suits you and still allow others to have their own ideas. If you feel god is; good enough, remain happy but never be antagonistic and retributive to those who say god ain't. Just admit and be compassionate to all ideas and all sorts of dualism and opinions. Choose what suits your wellness and live a life that is happy, fulfilling and meaningful.

Simultaneously, be kind and accommodative to others who have ideas and actions other than what you choose. Believe and practice the holism of wisdom and truly be compassionate towards all ideas and actions, conforming to the golden principle of non-violence of highest order.

Life in itself is the biggest answer of all things. Other questions and answers may evolve, but when you have got your life, you have to be happy, modest and thankful that you have got what is a huge "opportunity". Go ahead, explore the opportunity and while doing that, just be compassionate to others as, others have equal right to explore their "opportunities".

God is or not, life after death is or not, soul is or not, other questions shall have their answers and these answers will always evolve. Accept and use this relativity with true objectivity and make it a cardinal idea that life is an opportunity and it will be explored to its best only when we all practice 'love and compassion' to ourselves and to all things living or non-living. This shall never change, rest is for evolution....

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Things Need To Change

Goodness cannot probably stand tall and heave his head high being happy, if not proud, that its reign is guiltless. Very humbly, it has to accept that it makes people suffer too and it cannot wash its hands off such pains to others saying, 'it was all their fault'. How can it? After all, good is good only when it is same for all.

Ask the mountains... people come here for honeymoons, tourism and good health... millions of people enjoy the salubrious climes of the hills... mountains are loved for that... but still, every day, mountains kills and troubles hundreds of people... its terrains ensure that many do actually get pains in one form or other...

Rivers too.... they are lifelines since early days of civilization... such a source of joy and utility for millions but still.... they too drown thousands of people every year....

The wind, the forests, the sun, the fire.... all great symbols of universal goodness are also the agents of destruction and death for many....

It seems, all goodness is so objective and so brutally neutral that it needs lots of individual knowledge and skills to handle them and make best use of them.... but, this is sad... this is fatal too....

Similar is the goodness in humanity.... one good trait or aspect of personality may be joy for many, but it certainly becomes source of pain for some. Things are so in-built that one's gain invariably becomes other's loss. But, it needs to change.... we humans are not mountains and rivers.... goodness cannot and can never be painful in any case... we humans need to ensure that... but how...?

It is very tough but not impossible. To start with, we all have to accept relativity. Accept that one's goodness can be unacceptable to others and then, an accommodative approach has to be taken. A good amount of very skillful communication has to take place. The mountains, rivers and wind do not have this facility, which we humans have and that is why, we have the potential and mechanism to universalize goodness. We have the facility of communication. We can share our compassion in skillful communication.

But still, one has to be very cautious in handling anyone's goodness. Things need to be taken in holism... that is the way... hopefully so. The communication is one goodness, which is the worst culprit of antagonism and violence of intent. We all need to be very skilled at it. Compassion, affection and mutuality are goodness with every particle of this cosmos. However, they are not shared as the linking entity of masterly communication is missing. The mountains and rivers do not intent to harm anyone and they too surely warn people in their own silent way. However, they cannot share their good intent, as they cannot communicate well. We humans can and we must.

Tragically, in contemporary times, communication skills are very much a downtrend in all societies. They teach communications to employees in mega corporations so that company's core goodness could be shared by all stakeholders. Societies and families are the biggest mega-corporations and here, nobody trains people of the desirable skills of good communication. Global researches confirm that even when technologies for fast and smooth communication have increased many-fold, the actual quality and intent of mutual and societal communication has gone down considerably.

Time to correct this. After all, we are not mountains and rivers. We are humans and we have mutuality ingrained in our instincts. We must communicate it in a masterly way. Don't we?

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Liberty From Common Sense Too!

Since ages, the most traded and exchanged word in human civilization's history has been 'love'. Moral lessons apart, every human seems to accept that it is the important thing. Moreover, one thing that every human seems to have in abundance is what we all know as love!

In recent times, there has been technological upsurge making this most traded thing become more visible, decisively vocal and flamboyant. The new media is hailed and flocked at for this very reason that here 'love' (more in the form of friendship) is traded as liberally as one's wildest imagination can fetch him or her. Everywhere there are dating sites and social networks where there seems to be huge surplus of exchanges of love and only love.

Suddenly, this world looks to be such a good place to be in with so much talk and action of love and liberalized behavior pattern. Everyone is mouthing so many niceties and sweet talks of love-friendship and each young man and woman seems to have half the world as his or her 'friend', that we naturally have to get confused whether this world is really becoming too nice, sweet and humanly as 'love' rules everywhere!

And if it is, where is the problem with liberalized minds and bodies. The Libertarians say, "Close your eyes if you don't like it after all it's my choice to see and do as I please". And why not, if the outcome is so much love in the ambient air, some sort of 'pollution' may be allowed. Why should anyone have problem with 'love' and 'friendship'!

However, when one comes up to face the factsheets of the most liberalized and most civilized societies and cultures on earth, grim voices come up, which say, "We have been destroying the family for years; we kill the unborn and most marriages do not last; infidelity is everywhere and not only accepted but expected. Everywhere our children turn their attention, they are hit with images and thoughts of sex and all things too liberalized but suggestively or openly violent; the music, the movies, and TV, even social behavior." Still, populist thinking can create an advocacy for liberalized ways if 'love' truly triumphs in ultimate analysis... but probably not!

The factsheet below, available in public domain, only suggests, love is the least in real business, even when it is being traded too liberally and too expansively and expensively:

  * On an average more than three women a day are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in a country considered most liberal.

  * Women in this society experience two million injuries from intimate partner violence each year.

  * Nearly one in four women in this country reports experiencing violence by a current or former spouse or boyfriend at some point in her life.

  * Approximately one in three adolescent girls here is a victim of physical, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner – a figure that far exceeds victimization rates for other types of violence affecting youth.

  * One in five teens – age 11 to 14 – say their friends are victims of dating violence and nearly half who are in relationships know friends who are verbally abused. Two in five of the youngest teens, ages 11 and 12, report that their friends are victims of verbal abuse in relationships.

  * Teen victims of physical dating violence are more likely than their non-abused peers to smoke, use drugs, engage in unhealthy diet behaviors (taking diet pills or laxatives and vomiting to lose weight), engage in risky sexual behaviors, and attempt or consider suicide.

  * Women who have experienced domestic violence are 80 percent more likely to have a stroke, 70 percent more likely to have heart disease, 60 percent more likely to have asthma and 70 percent more likely to drink heavily than women who have not experienced intimate partner violence.

  * In this nation, at 2003 prices, the cost of intimate partner rape, physical assault and stalking totaled $8.3 billion each year for direct medical and mental health care services and lost productivity from paid work and household chores.

  * Technology has become a quick and easy way for stalkers to monitor and harass their victims. More than one in four stalking victims reports that some form of cyber-stalking was used against them, such as email (83 percent of all cyber-stalking victims) or instant messaging (35 percent). Electronic monitoring of some kind is used to stalk one in 13 victims.

  * One in five teen girls and one in ten younger teen girls (age 13 to 16) have electronically sent or posted nude or semi-nude photos or videos of themselves. Even more teen girls, 37 percent, have sent or posted sexually suggestive text, email or IM (instant messages).

  * More than half of teen girls (51 percent) say pressure from a guy is a reason girls send sexy messages or images.

In many such dating sites and social networking places, the young and liberalized minds are flocking like anything and there is a huge hue and cry as the government of the day is attempting to sanitize things a bit. And these sites cry, "Don't be China, liberal traditions of modern world must not be checked anyway, at whatever cost!"

To be judgmental is a big crime; accepted. However, without being judgmental, there is still a case for a general and precious 'common sense'. The only thing, which may be said without hurting anybody's sentiments is, "Every human action and behavior is right if it augments love and compassion among humans in general. This is common sense, no morality. If it augments violence, hatred and inhuman emotions, something is amiss. A liberalized mind cannot be entirely liberalized from this common sense." Love' seems to market itself at the cost of common sense! This should seem like too high a cost; ain't it!

**

Oh! The Feel Good Us

Every age, every timeline has one 'choice', which generations of humanity accept as cardinal matrix for life-optimization and it is very much mechanical as human brain is wired like that...

That is why, despite ethnic and spatial divides, there is a stark homogeneity of such a 'singular' choice. The value-summation mechanism is similar for all human brains, even as no two brains are alike...

This is great hope for humanity as, it augurs well for a world where all humans could be trained to accept and practice a common-singular-goodness/wellness-matrix. Contrarily, this 'herd-mentality' or to say this 'aping-gene' is also the principal villain for the replication of all things bad and evil in human benchmark-building.

We are a world of 'individuals' and every individual is out competing vociferously for maximizing this 'individual space' in the commonwealth of our planet. Moreover, also wanting this space to be respected and accepted by all competing forces. Of course, the word that every mind accepts is 'optimization' and not 'maximization' of 'individual-space' but, the contemporary milieu is not 'suitable' for a discernible difference between the two...

The two human neurotransmitters seems to be the most confused ones in the brain. They are doing things and leading to a value-summation mechanism, which has created a chaos in contemporary society. One is Endorphin and second is Cortisol – the former is termed more popularly as 'feel-good' hormones and later as 'stress' hormones. As the milieu feeds the brain with incessant and undefined threats to general 'feel-good', the former is at its lowest and as a result, the later is always doing overtime...

The end result is a chaotic brain, not very suitable for a 'value-summation' based on the tested and accepted goodness/wellness-matrix.... both physically as well as psychologically!

Therefore, what we all see is a plexus of confused and chaotic brain-situationalism. So, as is the mantra of the generation 'Y', just chill... be a cool head and take a chill-pill while always on the hot-wheel of 'Individual-Formula 1' race of life...

The two simple ingredients of this chill-pill are – stop being the reactive-genius and understand the stupidities of your aping-gene. Human design was not made for the contemporary physical as well as socio-cultural milieus as they are many times more complex than what we can handle. Brain is designed to be reactive but modern milieus require that we rein in the reactive mind consciousness. Our strength is in receptive and contemplative mind consciousness, which does not take its decisions in an action-reaction snap-choices.

Moreover, aping most surely is good for building societies and cultures but when cultures and societies itself become the chief culprits of most ills and troubles of humanity, the aping-act needs to be put away from action-reaction mode. We are humans now, no more the ape-thing. The aping genes must now be made subject to receptive-contemplative consciousness. It helps in unlearning the cultural mind we all inherit. A de-cultured mind consciousness, in the healthy habit of receptive-contemplative decision-making, shall to a good extent be poised and in harmony with itself. Naturally, this shall be magic for Endorphin and Cortisol!

**

Too Difficult To Be Loved...!

In what could well be accepted as a larger good of not only humanity but all creatures on this planet earth is a clichéd, 'one single thing which everyone wants, in varying quotients, is love!'

As human ingenuity would have it, there are equal counterweights to it... anyway... this does not make life any bit simple and buttery. The popular refrain it may not be but true it is that people usually are TOO DIFFICULT TO BE LOVED...!

But it is not rare to find people who are really musical, beautiful, endowed in many senses .... and above all, desirable of the thing called love... but still.... all these do not make it any less difficult.... why so...?

Hmmm.... too difficult to explain! There is a huge plexus of battling nerves and conflicting-struggling attitudes, a complex psychology to get to the bottom of the trouble. Between people, there is a simple mathematics, easy to be learnt but so very arduous to accept and enjoy.... and what it may possibly be...!

We all look for HCF in relationships as a start and end up compromising with LCF.... this is mathematics operative at its gullible best. People are people; never a static idea or entity and finding a rhythm between two people is all about a search of 'commonality'. The struggle starts with it being the Highest Common Factor (HCF) or Lowest Common Factor (LCF).

Ideal it is that in relationships commonality should not be 'the criterion' rather, compatibility should be a function of 'uncommonality'. But all goodness has to be practical and so we are talking about practical and real, not ideal. People in relationship has this tragic tendency to first look for HCF of the compatibility and later, as the dust settles down, they accept and live the poor LCF which is more of a 'compromise' than 'compatibility'.

All intellectuals and relationship experts would say with confidence that the bride and groom has best compatibility as they have as many common tastes and choices as possible. Yet, few years down the line, they settle for an LCF euphemized as 'compromise'.

Does it sound a better idea to admit and proceed that each human is distinct, even bizarre, a maverick in his or her own right and already married or committed to his or her own idiosyncracies? It actually paves ground for LCF-led planning processes.

So, can we do well by reversing this mathematics! Let us start with an innocuous and humble LCF. Let it be the basis of a 'workable compatibility' and then, as they say time is the best leveler, the relationship could slowly but steadily inch towards this elusive HCF.

Just a suggestion.... it might work this way.... nothing is a panacea out there in a non-static world faced with 'crisis of faith'.... but at least, an option is worth a go.... ain't it....!

The simple idea is – people are not static entities but they have the capacity and innate nature to evolve together, if milieus are consciously filled up with mutuality – not compatibility or commonality. In relationships, it seems a better idea to respect and allow differences and un-commonness. Stress should be on how to build up a mutuality, which then works out symbiotic evolution of two consciousnesses in perfect unison.

Tough ask it is but entirely possible if the two in relationship agree to start with a LCF and work towards HCF with love and compassion for each other.

**

Management Of Critical Poise

It is such an express imperative that a grown up person accepts its being as a 'mind mechanism'. A top scientist so beautifully calls it like the hard disk of a computer. Societies, spatial cultures and histogenetic antecedents may vary as an operating system but the computer of the body functions as its hard disk commands it. This is same for all humans....

It is within the mind that a huge range of exigencies need to be delivered simultaneously. An individual is often torn between body demands, emotional needs, impulse, imaginations, thoughts and will, etc. ... the mind always works... churns out them simultaneously....

Often, he/she puts in more and undue weight and importance to one aspect; often justifying it.... the mind itself is the universe of all sorts of smart ingenuities of humanity. The requirement however is synthesis of all these psychological functions by the self and the power and endurance of the will create a harmony and balance. An individual itself has to self-assess, which function is weak or which is over-accentuated and which function is the need of the time and space.

And then, an individual has sub-personalities within his broad personality and often there is either a conflict or imbalance of sorts. The natural corollary is struggle... a struggle between two different sub-personalities within one personality. The idea of subpersonalities is a way of conceptualizing how we shift from one identification to another as we move through life. A person in other words lives many lives simultaneously and it is often, very conflicting. In a single day we may move through playing the "victim," "martyr", "critic," "lazy-bones," "striver," "lover," "frightened child," and so on....

Psychology at least sees an individual in mind terms and that helps being objective and accept relativity.... the two factors key in creating a 'balance' for all of us. It is this imbalance of mind and slight bit mismanagement in attainment of the 'critical poise' that makes most lives an incessant struggle and conflict. That's why psychologists say, majority of people have the tendency to cross the fine line of sanity, anytime in their life span and quite often than not...

Psychologically speaking.... even spiritualism says the same.... to attain this poise, you need to go through six stages :

  1. Purpose 2. Deliberation 3. Decision 4. Affirmation 5. Planning and 6. Implementation.

Oh!... we think it is easy.... if only it were...! There are tough conditions to this. The process has to be initiated and completed by the higher self conscious of the broad personality... not the sub-personalities.

And, a whole range of qualities including concentration, determination, patience, courage, discipline, mastery, intensity, power, organization, integration, and synthesis are required for the success of this six-stage process.... Not easy ... yes... life ain't....!

**

Intimacy Anorexia

A few days back, just chanced upon this term. Often, there is a foolish streak in people, who think they thought it first. I too am a victim.... but researches showed, already someone has found this thing.

Intimacy anorexia is defined as active and deliberate withholding of intimacy towards a partner. Dr Douglas Weiss, a US therapist coined it. It is believed, the extent of this syndrome is epidemic and harms more to who practices against the partner.... so the oppressor is more victimized.

He used the term in reference to the current stage of marriages... but.... It is in all relationships of intimacy. Therapists rightly said, the origin of intimacy anorexia is in childhood when a child does not get the required intimacy from his parents, larger family and peer groups and rather, the child's natural desire for intimacy is traumatized by emotional and body abuses.

Someone gave a very nice concept of what he termed as Love Bank. In relationships of intimacy, both partners deposit 'love units' in each others' Love Bank. When the relationship is young, the bank vault seems to be bulging as deposits in the Love Bank is far greater and withdrawal is negligible.... the bank prospers....

But then, they say, the only thing that stays is change... later, withdrawal starts exceeding deposits and in a time less than expected, the bank declares bankruptcy. Therapists suggest, if you cannot deposit love and intimacy, at least deposit admiration, affection, support, recreation, openness, conversation-companionship, etc.

And please..... keep an eye on the withdrawals.... especially through credit card of mutual respect. The therapists say, relationships are like creating a joint account.... you need to understand the change in banking norms from when you were single. Intimacy between two creates a "Joint Thing"... therefore, nothing beyond mutual enthusiasm is permissible . Any withdrawal from the 'Joint Account' of the 'Love Bank' must have the signatures (happy and enthusiastic support) of both the partners....

Oh god!.... this withdrawal is the trouble-maker.... people are withdrawing love, affection, admiration, all forms of support, transparency, companionship, even simple conversation.... and above all, the very crucial comfort of the reassuring 'touch'.

That's why, intimacy is so emaciated in contemporary society.... Juxtaposition of term anorexia with intimacy does not seem a long-winded one... but so bad... it happens... should never!

**

Wellness Crisis And Populist Benchmarks

The modern world and its gradually becoming well-off population are good news to many. However, the looming crisis for larger well-off and comfortable humanity is the crisis of WELLNESS. This crisis has one great enemy – the larger and general IGNORANCE.

Most people complain of some 'missing' feeling in their lives and this missing emotion is 'Wellness', despite growing availability of all forms of comfort and consumptive facilities to larger humanity, especially in urban spheres.

This wellness-crisis is because of a great and oldest enemy of humanity; the ignorance. People fail to first diagnose the cause of the wellness-crisis because of their ignorance about the emotion of wellness and also are too much a slave to the popular benchmarks of social-success to effect any substantive change in their environs and lifestyles that are primary cause of this crisis of wellness.

It has to be understood. Around 85% of our genes respond to the environment in which they are surrounded, and only 15% of the genes are permanent. Yes, 85% of the genetics our parents gave us respond to our lifestyle, and only 15% of your genes are unchangeable.

So, your immediate and ambient living environment and the lifestyle choices that this environment forces you to adopt is the key to your wellness and living. You definitely cannot change your environment to your wellness needs so, you can choose either to get away from this debilitating environs or effect substantive changes in our own popular choices.

So, what is the missing link that has led to the chronic diseases of today and contemporary crisis of general wellness emotions? The answer is that it is our lifestyles and the environment that surrounds our cells. Never ever in the millions of years of evolution, human have faced such a devastating environment as the one we live in our current industrialized and highly urbanized one. The actual threat of such an environment has to be understood.

Get acquainted with what is now proved as the number one crisis for humanity; the Oxidative Stress. The oxidative stress comes from poor diet, environmental pollutants, drugs, radiation, and other life style issues, especially stretched periods of stress.

Oxidative Stress has been identified and proven to be the root cause of more than 70 chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's dementia, Parkinson's disease, macular degeneration and other serious ailments, according to medical and nutritional experts.

Factors that can increase the number of free radicals produced in the body include excessive intake of medications, sunlight, cigarette smoke, radiation, enormous stress, pesticides in food and air pollutants (many of these are beyond our control).

So, the one line fact is, we are in an environment where the single largest threat to our body and mind is "Oxidative Stress"... the contemporary physical/social/psychological environment has got lot to do with it. The corrective measures are there but ultimately, the wisdom is in moving away from such 'contributory environment' to this oxidative stress.

But, we have so far dealt with only one aspect of this wellness-crisis. Wellness we talked so far was all about physical wellness. But, wellness also includes, social, intellectual, occupational, emotional, spiritual and environmental.

Wellness is not about just being disease free. Wellness is a collective emotion of wellness in all seven aspects of human living. The trouble of this wellness crisis is that in contemporary world, led by our ignorance, we believe being physically well means all the wellness. This partial approach is a killer. Wellness is a holistic idea.

The great crisis is that most of us are today only concerned with only one single aspect of our wellness and devote all our time and energy as well as intuitive and conscious attention. That is 'Occupational Wellness'. Career and jobs have become our full-time obsession.

Most people, especially in urban spheres are either sleeping or are on their professions. This naturally ignores all other six aspects of our wellness and that's why, despite great successes and satisfaction in occupational and physical spheres, most people feel they have a very low 'wellness quotient'.

Humans are humans... if we can see the state of the wild life and animals there, we can well understand how even wild animals make a good balance in their daily lives to work towards larger wellness. We are now even behind animals.

Wellness cannot be bought with money... yes, we can but resources from this but we also have to see at what cost this money comes to us. All human endeavor has to be tested and cost calculated in terms of how much holistic wellness they bring in our lives...

The golden word is to understand what is wellness in its totality and then go for the precious but very rare balance in life. Wellness is the only human treasure worth a pursuit.

**

Golden Rule For All Existential Wellness

A million words may not be enough to weigh favorably as it miserably stands like a fool on the door of acceptance. Billions of meaningful words weigh less than one word of humanity. That is 'NO'. Acceptance is primary intelligence. Reception precedes meaningful communication.

Acceptance of holism almost always weighs significantly less than the radicalism of partial-ism.

The significant holism is rule of causality. Humanity has benefitted from almost everything, good or bad, right or wrong as, both are the intuitive impulse of human mind and there cannot be a foolish denial of that. So, both science as well as mysticism are brain inputs and humanity evolved because both helped us in one way or other.

As Albert Einstein said, "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mystical. It is the source of all true art and science." The evolution of humanity has been powered successfully by the union as well as the conflict of two very different human impulses, the one urging men and women towards mysticism, the other urging them towards science.

The greatest men and women, who have been wisdom-personified, have felt the need for both science and mysticism. Rather, there have been conscious attempts by almost all greats to harmonize the two (science and mysticism) and this holism made their lives. And, for all its arduous uncertainty, humanity's holistic wisdom is always greater thing than either science or mysticism.

The human mind is loaded with both impulses of science as well as mysticism. The rationality is not in denying or rejecting either of the two, rather it is in the intelligence of objective and sincere acceptance of the union as well as conflict of both science and mysticism. And, this is also the golden rule for all existential wellness and goodness.

Seeing, observing, analyzing, corroborating, conflicting and counter-arguing of every empirical as well as imaginative aspects of cosmic entities from all possible available knowledge bases of humanity is always preferable than blindly accepting one aspect and saying 'no' to all others.

**

We Shall Overcome...

It is indeed a sad but omnipresent truth of the living experience that good and right things are very much in minority. Far more depressing is the fact that the minority of goodness and right is almost always prevailed over by the majority of bad, wrong and undecided. And this can be easily understood.

The wrong and bad is the instinctive and intuitive part of human living behavior-action whereas, the good and right of society is a conscious and inculcated behavior-action. Majority of humans being intuitive are prone to being a party to bad, wrong and undecided. Only a few has the good and right with them as it takes a lot of conscious and discretionary awareness and positioning in the part of people, which is very tough.

It is almost perceptible now that in the long history of mankind, all major developments in the world had three things in common. First, most of these developments were very good-intentioned and originated out of the long struggle or deep pain of humanity to make the world a better place to live. Be it religion, philosophy, culture, law or science.

Second, it is a real curse that only a small group of people initiated actions over good ideas but they seldom penetrated and reached to the mass levels. Almost all goodness started with a minority voice and needed support from all possible media to reach the masses to ascertain authentication from the majority. The regretting fact is that most goodness in the past had either got a bad media or no media. The 'no media' was not as perilous as the 'bad media'.

The sad reality that in the long history of civilized nations and civil society is that the media of their times failed to rise up to occasion and chiefly because the leaders of media were themselves very poorly knowledgeable and aware. The end result was low or unfocused people participation to support the goodness. By the term media here we don't mean the 'Press' only. Media means those people and institution in all walks of life, be it religion, philosophy, culture, law or science, who had the leadership position to influence societal decision-making-mechanism.

The third and important thing was the natural corollary of the second. As the goodness could not assure involvement and participation of the majority, a small group of unscrupulous people very cleverly entered the scene as middlemen and usurped the benefits in connivance with the authorities entrusted with the task of delivery of the goodness. Here too, historically, media failed in its role to preempt and prevent such unwanted usurpation. Rather, in most cases, media and its leaders proved hand in glove with the pilferage mechanism and enjoyed undue heavens.

It is Important to know the two prerequisites for the success of any goodness that was initiated for general well-being of humanity. First and foremost is a very aware and proactive media and secondly, a well-oiled regulatory mechanism for fast and steady penetration and reach to the masses as well as the insurance that goodness reached in the right and avowed shape and size.

It is to be clearly understood why all this happens. As we will understand that, we all shall develop very compassionate and affectionately objective view and stand over those people who either play villain to goodness or are simply a misguided lot.

Human ingenuity for pilferage is instinctive; it cannot be completely done away with. It has been said hundreds of years back by a wise man, 'nobody can understand and check when a fish drinks water while being in water'. 'Self' is an undeniable reality and 'selfishness' is also very natural, instinctive and intuitive. It comes out of the genetically designed urge for self-preservation of any living cell. The nobility of human selfishness is however a social product. And this social product is not intuitive but inculcated by right education and objective mind-training.

The fear or care for social approval and reprimand decides the intensity of inclination of selfishness to indulge in ingenuity of pilferage. The basic fear is the fear of majority and the only potent check on human ingenuity. But, humanity has always been unfortunate in the sense that goodness never gets majority backing and ingenuity always does get it.

This rule applies to all bad and wrong things of humanity. Be it the issue of corruption, religious bigotry, religious fundamentalism, religion-based-frauds, superstitions, social evils, etc, in all these the real culprit is the age-old subjective woes of humanity. They are fear, insecurity, gross ignorance, poor societal law-enforcement, undecided value-system of society, etc.

It is a scientific truth that a person who grew up very insecure, fearful, uncared-unloved and undecided shall live to be a man or woman with higher inclination to be corrupt, superstitious, practice religious fundamentalism & narrow-mindedness, be perilously radical and stubborn in social situations and above all an intuitively devious and deviant personality.

It is a simple rule. Sell a fairness cream to very fair and already milky-white complexioned young lady and she will laugh at it. Sell the same to a dark-skinned lady and she will buy it in tones. Now, a good sales man is not satisfied as he has been taught to be ingenious. He will convince the milky-white lady that very soon she too shall have dark skins as the sun is becoming more intense and hence she would need the cream. If the lady is insecure, ignorant and full of fear, she will intuitively fall for it and the sales guy will be successful in selling the cream even to her. No confident and secure lady with any type of skin shall buy the fairness cream claiming miracles as she shall be a rationalist.

It is observed globally that it is women who largely are the buyers of most miracles of Babas, Gurus, Gods, Godmen and other faith-sellers. The sales-men of faith-trade know it very well where the easy market lies. The religion first creates fear and insecurity and then sells its products. The religion of all shades and colors shall tell people that this mortal world is so full of pain, uncertainty and troubles and then the hell awaits all sinners. Believing this is easy as this world is essentially chaotic. Then, the Gods and Babas say, come to me and I shall own all your troubles and shall open the door of heaven for you who come to me. He tells you, the sun shall make you dark-skinned and you cannot avoid the sun. And, only he has the 'fairness cream' that is a shartiya eelaj for dark-skin. And, he alone has the 'umbrella' of UV-protection!

Men are also not behind. With them, it is 'sexual-potency' that is what fairness cream is for women. The potion and pills sells with them as they are insecure and fearful about it. The potency-sellers knows well, how to cash on to this insecurity.

You cannot blame a woman. She is born insecure of this 'dark-skin' and all the time fears that she will get darker. Fear and insecurity is intuitive to most of them. It needs a lot of courage, conviction and wise consciousness to stand fearless and securely confident to say a firm no to all these fairness-cream-business. Not easy, the rationalists understand this and that's why, they are very compassionate and affectionate about all this ignorance and have firm faith that the picture shall change but we shall have to be patient. The disease is so deep and omnipresent that it shall take time. We accept that.

**

Are You Smarter Than Your Great-Grandpa?

There is a question, a section of researchers were keen to find the answer of. The question is: Has the humanity in general become smarter or more stupid?

A debate ensued quite naturally. Those who believed that humankind has become more stupid have two chief points to support their contention:

  * The humanity has become smarter in solving all his objective problems like, food, shelter, comfort, security etc as the technology and quantitative edge over the last few decades has been enhanced considerably. However, humanity has added hell lot of subjective problems and as the human mind is not trained since long evolution to solve such subjective woes, and that's why, the whole of humanity has been behaving like utter fools.

  * It has also been said that humanity has become more stupid as most humans are now affording cheap technology and delegating important human tasks to computers or such other gadgets which finally make them so dependent that humanity's own skills have become blunt. So, communication technology is great but human communication skills have gone down decisively.

A wing of modern scientists have already declared that humanity is degenerating as they have reached a stage of evolution where they have created so much subjective conflicts and contradictions that rational-objective-sane thinking to arrive at just solutions is virtually impossible. And, they blame two chief things for that:

  * The natural evolution has been regressed for the last few centuries beyond redemption as human technology has created a living environment that is truly detrimental to positive evolution for which the cosmos is designed.

  * Lack of leisure and fast-paced race for consumption-maximization has made almost 95% human action very intuitive, and not intelligent, thus adding huge plexus of subjective woes for humanity, making evolution regressive.

However, another group of scientists believe, evolution is always futuristic and can never be regressive. Even if this stage of evolution has lots of negatives and humanity seems to be struggling to cope with them, it is just a stage in the cyclic mechanism of evolution chain where a thesis turning into anti-thesis shall finally gain and become a synthesis of cumulative good. Humanity at best can be described as suffering from transition-blues.

There is a third view too. Some scientists believe, smartness and intelligence is not independent entity rather a comparative and situational one. As time and space changes, generations have different benchmarks of smartness and intelligence.

A grandfather's intelligence cannot be compared with that of his greatgrandson as two times have very different set of benchmarks for judging intelligence. Intelligence is subjective to the times we all live and a whole generation can never be judged as smarter or more stupid than the past generations. This generalization is futile.

**

Truth Caught In Crow's Beaks

Questions are important as they reflect on the stage where every human has to reach. Questions are also not easy to come. Most people even do not have questions. The answers are the most difficult. Difficult primarily because, most people would claim they know all answers and therefore never ever admit the viability of questions. The answers are difficult as most people would never ever admit that this could also be a plausible answer. Universality and objective singularity of an answer is what humanity has never attained.

As good and rational persons, we all must understand this 'difficulty' of humanity in general. Let us attempt to understand it below:

There is this primary question. What is existing?

The answer can be like this: Reality consists ultimately of matter and energy and their fundamentally law-like and unwilled relations in space-time. To Exist is to have a causal relationship with the rest of the universe. This means, TO BE is never an independent reality, it is a cause-effect relation of three factors in this universe and that is: Matter, Energy and Time-space.

Now, the trouble is, there can never be an acceptance of this scientific explanation as at this point of time, science does not know all answers. Part answer makes it unforceful.

Sample another question. What is the origin of the universe? The answer is, space-time itself and all the mass-energy in it were created in the Big Bang some 15 billion years ago. But then, humans are only beginning to understand how the laws of physics allowed for the Big Bang to happen, and are even proposing reasons why the laws of physics have to be as they are. However, still, it may not be knowable why the laws of physics exist at all. This does not mean this unknowable cannot be known in coming days but the fact is that it is still not known.

So, rationality is in admitting this difficulty and synthesize an answer by admitting all possible angles and perspectives of an answer. This is possible only when we take and accept a collective basis of answering. This collectivity shall comprise of the "synthesis of metaphysical naturalism, ontological materialism, epistemological empiricism and positivism, mental functionalism, theological atheism, axiological extropianism, political libertarianism, economic capitalism, constitutional federalism, biological evolutionism, evolutionary psychology, and technological optimism, etc. The worldview to be accepted by all has to have component of all possible perspectives. Such a hugely difficult proposition!

The trouble is, as individuals, we always take and accept only one perspective for answering all our questions. And, often, this perspective is blown out of proportions to suit individual stand and positioning. This creates a very partial and suicidal worldview for every human. The fact remains that doing it is such a difficult task. Most humans today do not have this talent and mental evolution to understand the complexity of science and other allied perspective. Only a few people dare to venture out of their ignorance and face the new universe of human knowledge. Globally, rationalists of all ages have agreed: "Tyranny of ignorance is single largest curse and trouble of humanity".

Naturally, people accept easy answers, which their underdeveloped minds can understand. For example, most parents know how babies come in the world. Science has now all the information. But still, when they have to tell it to their kids, they prefer to say, "God made you and a crow brought you to us picking you up in his beaks...". The kids gladly accept this as an answer and parents are too happy to put forth this answer. Convenience for all and the tyrant ignorance rules successfully!

Even in our educational books for all ages, we still cram them with unscientific and childishly inaccurate information, which all gladly accept. The trouble is not that kids cannot be told truths on the basis of objective science. The trouble is, parents (educationists and teachers) are not willing to trouble their brains as for them too, understanding a question on a holistic basis and answering them on the same synthesized knowledge pool of humanity is a tough and troubling task.

Humanity is the victim of this choice of convenience for accepting questions and answers. It is very difficult to understand a large range of existing knowledge of humanity and then formulate answers. The easy way is to be adamant and say a firm 'no'. Humanity has objective answers but this does not penetrate individual minds as subjective doors are closed since ages. We all are quick to point out, science and objectivity is not trustworthy as it itself changes, contradicts and improves itself.

True, very true. It is actually the true validity of objectivity. Objectivity only can have the courage, reason and self-initiative to take and accept the difficult task of contradicting and improving itself. Subjectivity is happy being adamant and opting a convenient and easy choice of saying 'no' and being happy with status quo.

**

Ordering A Disorderly Order

There is a law in physics relating to thermodynamics. From this law emerges the idea of Entropy. The stated position is a law of physics, which says, "In a universe condemned to inexorably increasing entropy, humanity values extropy (the inverse of entropy)".

This opens up a box of great potential of troubles as well as solutions. The nature or space around us, as the entropy rule says, is full of ever enhancing disorders. But then, the human intelligence is in finding 'order' in all things that come to him.

This itself results in something that unleashes a series of trouble for humanity. Someone said, "We are drowning in information, while still thirsty for wisdom". One of the attributes that makes us human is that we try to make sense (order) of things that don't make sense. We often assign order where there may be none. These traits occasionally can lead us to form conclusions that don't correspond to reality and fall in the realms of entropic faith, mysticism and skepticism.

As autonomous living intellects, every human need to understand and accept the entropy of nature and limitations of human intelligence for extropy. The term entropy is very important and must be very clearly understood.

It is a universal assertion based on laws of physics that nature tends to take things from 'order to disorder'. The human intelligence is in reversing this. This is a part of our common experience. Spend hours arranging your desk and cupboard and it seems to spontaneously revert to disorder. The day, you wish to reach office early, there are greater chances of you getting caught in a traffic jam. A bread slice slipping from your hand would often land on the floor with the buttery side down. Or, if some day it lands the other way, someone would more probably walk on it unintentionally.

Now, in the above contexts, understanding entropy should be easy. Entropy is a measure of disorder and improbabilities, and the scientific fact is that nature tends toward maximum entropy for any isolated system.

This disorder has to be understood more as 'multiplicity' of happening. The precise way to characterize entropy is to say that it is a measure of the "multiplicity" associated with the natural state of the objects. The simple rule is, if a given state can be accomplished in many more ways, then it is more probable than one, which can be accomplished in only a few ways. For example, when "throwing dice", throwing a 'seven' is more probable than a 'two' because you can produce seven in six different ways but, there is only one way to produce a two. So seven has a higher 'multiplicity' than a two, and we could say that a seven represents higher "disorder" or higher entropy.

The mechanism of entropy and extropy is no 'miracle'; it is a science. The universe, the nature system, as said earlier, is an increasing entropy. In simple words, there is so much multiplicity and measure of disorder in nature system and universe that to a common human, if he or she is not trained in the scientific approach towards things, every second thing he or she sees and feels would look like a miracle. The vastness of this entropy of our universe (or the nature around) can make anyone feel perplexed. Mysticism and skepticism creeps in naturally.

We need to understand it. Get water in a glass and in a similar glass, fill it up with large chunk of ice. The second glass would probably get filled up in five chunks of ice. Now, pour down both the glasses from a certain height. The water would be spread in larger area than ice. Repeat the act and you will find that there may be some discernable pattern in the way the ice chunks are arranged naturally as there are only five chunks. The water would however never ever follow a repeat pattern. Water has very higher entropy than ice chunks. The nature, universe is also like water. Very very high entropy and incessantly increasing at it.

An unscientific mind would be very much lured to see miracles, mysticism, skepticism, God of gaps and fear in this entropy of the nature. But, human intelligence is all about understanding the mechanism and dynamics of this entropy and value extropy. Human intelligence is in creating and valuing order and singularity within this colossal framework of disorder and multiplicity of the universe. And, while doing this, still accept the interplay of entropic limitations.

There is a lot for all humans to understand objectively about this cosmic entropy and learn from the huge information base of "modern human knowledge". Nobody can truly understand humanity and its seemingly entropic troubles if he or she cannot understand and accept the 21st century knowledge about the universe we all live in.

**

Now, He Fails Like A Stupid And Why?

Conflict is the critical energy of the cosmos, the causa sine qua non for evolution of all forms, including the human brain, the seemingly most important theatre of conflict, but just a small model of cosmic conflicts. Stating this is nothing new, the theory of dialectics is known to all. But then, managing this conflict in contemporary world of humanity is the most arduous task, even when, the fact remains that human evolution is the best possible example of the success of the 'conflict-management' skills of humanity.

The evolution from the tribal life of jungles to a debilitating drudgery of metropolis has been a long one and in between, a hell lot has changed in a man's intuitive capacity to solve or overcome the conflicts. Since millions of years, man has been a terrific and very smart conflict-buster and his evolution owes it to his this skill. But, what he had been solving till now was conflicts and problems that were outside him and from an environment that was external. His problems were objective and mostly confined to changing the nature for his survival and then comfort. And, he did it brilliantly.

But now, all of mankind's remaining problems are those he has generated himself and lie within. These are subjective problems which did not come from external environment but from within him. And, he is not at all equipped naturally and instinctively to solve them. Despite the fact man believes he is so intelligent and so resourceful in all things, he is dumb as a rock when it comes to solving his subjective problems as he is not equipped. This skill is not part of his evolutionary intelligence.

Of course, evolution provided for a conflict summation matrix, the intuitive brilliance, all thousands of elements of intelligence in a man but all these facilities were designed by evolution for an entirely different set of problems, the objective and external ones and not the current ones. He is brilliant and impeccable now in constructing a dam on the mighty flow of a river but when it comes to reigning in his own emotions and subjective crisis, he fails like a stupid.

And, as if it was not enough for his already overloaded troubles, man has very successfully added the three ultimate but annihilative options and choices in his repertoire which he very dearly calls as the ultimate 'problem-solving-mechanisms'. These are making things worse. Suicides, drug dependency and overt religion/spiritualism are the major threats to mankind in contemporary world. They are destroying man's age-old skills of conflict-solution. they are annihilating and misguiding the intuitive 'value-summation' matrix of mankind and thus augmenting the trouble.

We all live in a world not what we evolved from. The metropolis, the concrete jungle is not the jungle from where humanity evolved. We conquered almost all objective and external conflicts and problems but in turn created a huge load of subjective and internal conflicts and problems. And, instead of stretching our innate abilities to solve them, we are taking recourse to the three annihilative mechanisms of Suicides, drug dependency and overt religion/spiritualism instead of the objective science which made us what we are today.

The most prevalent subjective and internal conflicts ones are – faith/trust deficit, emotional-delinquency, consumption-optimization-chaos, stress, psychic-atrophy, fatalism, fundamentalism, etc...

The figures of mental disorders, drug dependency and suicides are all indicative of the great crisis humanity is in and it also is a great reminder of where mankind is heading for in the coming half a century or so. The urban part of humanity, especially the huge conglomeration of humanity in metropolis is more threatened.

According to a rigorous health survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2004, an estimated 25 percent of adults in the U.S. reported having a mental illness in the previous year.

The data collected from various CDC surveys measuring depression suggest that at any given moment, the rate of depression is somewhere between 6.8 percent and 8.7 percent. That means that in the U.S., somewhere between 1 in 11 and 1 in 14 people meet criteria for clinical depression. It surely is much than what is desirable. Then, there is also a huge co-morbidity factor, which is a two-way street. Another disconcerting fact.

According to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2004), an estimated 19.1 million Americans age 12 years or older were current users of illicit drugs in 2004. This represents 7.9% of the population 12–17 years. In 2004, 19.2% of unemployed adults aged 18 or older were current illicit drug users. About 22.5 million Americans aged 12 or older in 2004 were classified with past year substance dependence or abuse which is 9.4% of the population. About 15.2 million were dependent on or abused alcohol but not illicit drugs.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year approximately one million people die from suicide, which represents a global mortality rate of 16 people per 100,000 or one death every 40 seconds. It is predicted that by 2020 the rate of death will increase to one every 20 seconds.

In the last 45 years, suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 (male and female). Suicide attempts are up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicides.

Although suicide rates have traditionally been highest amongst elderly males, rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in a third of all countries.

It is now evident, nothing ambiguous about it that for survival, man's social thought must be restructured. The current problems in the stage of evolution calls for a solution mechanism which necessitates restructuring of man's current and popular cultural edifices. Many societal and cultural ideas and matrix will have to be rebuilt.

The so-called contemporary and popular 'faith-structures' of mankind must also be replaced with scientific factsheets. As a section of scientists say, 'mankind needs to scrap his non-science education system and enlarge his scientific studies, with all of its rigor, to cover subjective man himself'. And while doing it all, he must admit, he is the only predator of himself so, he be wary of and warned against his own subjective genius.

The tragedy of mankind today is more accentuated as human mind is being led by a contemporary education system, media and leadership which are most specifically and deterministically inimical to objective goodness and wellness. This is so because, they base their ideas and actions on unscientific principles of life and living choices. It is not easy, accepted. The liberalized world as it is, the toughest thing is to make a mind listen to what a simple and common sense objectivity may like to put up. But then, evolution has always been tested with the toughest.

Saying things beyond that is of little use. It is for every individual to accept and appreciate. Restructuring a thought, contemporary and popular thought has always been the toughest of human enterprise. Today's liberalized world has made it almost impossible. But, look at the past. It shows magnificently as how mankind has overcome the toughest of physical and external challenges and conflicts of survival and well-being. If our ancestors could do it, we too can. After all, we are all the more resourceful and more intelligent than our ancestors. At any given point of time, the present is always far superior to our collective history. It should be, it has to be.

**

Rainbowish Realisms At Mind Level

At purely mind level, realism has completely novel set of experiences and it introduces one to a wide new universe, as against the routine to which we are all attuned to. It then beautifully juxtaposes together different aspects and dimensions of self to form a new 'whole'. For example, either hydrogen or oxygen alone manifests as a gas, whereas their combination can be a liquid – water.

At mind level, it is easy to apprehend a very basic thing, which helps us rise above a very crippling effect. Humans have to keep pace with changes in physical environment. Evolution is a slow process as it involves synthesis of mind. Physical environment however changes fast as it involves changing bodies, which is easy and fast.

There are conflicts in contemporary human societies and these conflicts and struggles are growing fast as we humans are far behind in evolution, compared to changes in physical environment. And these physical changes are being accentuated by fast technological advancements every day.

At mind level, it is also very easy to understand DIVERSITY, which baffles most of us and leads us astray in our day-to-day life actions. The idea of evolution embodies a belief that there is an inner blueprint, which guides our growth. In plants, such a hidden pattern is suggested by the growth of a seed into a mature plant. Each acorn, for example, sprouts and develops following a specific sequence. As bark and leaves are formed they display characteristics that are the same for all oak trees. Even so, each tree develops a unique arrangement of branches. This is a pointer to singularity of energy (wisdom) amid diversity of actionable patterns in we humans. It is easy to understand and appreciate at mind levels.

At mind level, human being is conceived as an energy system. Actions, images, emotions, and thoughts may be seen as basically varied forms of energy. As people begin seeing their behavior simply as energy, without the usual labels of heart and soul, the possibility of transformation becomes much more real and alive for them, opening many new options for expression.

A behavior pattern or belief system or typical emotional reaction may seem very difficult to change for a common person, yet when the underlying energy of these patterns is contacted, it can be redirected. For example, one will say, 'Here comes my usual angry reaction' and then, he or she will say, 'I sense this negative energy: do I want to express it by yelling, or simply stating that I'm angry, or withdrawing, pouting, asserting myself, artistically creating something, moving, or instead, playing with it?' Look, how once seemingly optionless behavior opens up to varied potentials.

Thinking in terms of energy is also valuable for getting inner guidance. Through energy awareness, perception extends beyond the forms of one's life into the realms of higher consciousness. To live and move in the world of energies evokes intuitions, revealing new inner qualities and sense of the next step ahead.

**

The Gold Coin On The Table

There is a story about a thinker. In 18th century England, there was a famous thinker who was German but lived in London. He was a bachelor and therefore, every evening, he would go to a nearby club for his dinner.

He would sit in a decided corner and put a gold coin on table. As he would finish his dinner, he would pick up his gold coin and go back. This was a routine for over 10 years and the same waiter, who would serve him and see him doing this ritual daily, would always be curious why this old man did it.

This waiter decided one day to get to this and asked the thinker about it in a most polite and gracious way, befitting for a British. The thinker replied casually, "I have decided that I would give this gold coin to charity in the church the day I would see the young British men here talking on any topic other than their women and horses."

He said that every day he took out his gold coin in the hope that it would reach the charity box placed in the club but sadly, not only the men talk of only women and horses but talk solely about their pedigrees.

The waiter was also not a British. He smiled; picked up the gold coin, polished it with his apron and gently put it in the pocket of the thinker. This gold coin of human prudence seems to be still lying on the table of sanity, since last many centuries. The day humans would stop talking of goodness and wellness as an external idea and embrace it as an individual and internal process, the gold of humanity would find its destiny.

**

Choose Your Choice... Rejoice...

Culture is very societal... very much a collective entity.... more suitable for the masses with herd attitude... and rightly so.... it is prescription for an average mind.

For those minds... who really lead to things only after revelations, these cultural benchmarks are very suffocating. They need their own set of explanation to dissect the popular benchmarks of a culturally incline society.

Somewhere.... to them.... it seems that the mind training, as per the popular culture, is not amenable to higher levels of joys and satisfactions. This popular mental training of counting pleasure and discounting pains defined in terms of utility, possession and consumption actually restricts the spectrum. It kills more joy than it creates and adds more pains in ultimate analysis....

It shortens the horizon of satisfaction; does not allow one to be what he or she is truly capable of. For example, a lover says to his beloved, 'my dear, I would pluck the moon and stars and stitch them on your silk dress, I would buy all the flowers of the world and pour them on your feet.' And, our popular cultural mind training accepts this as ultimate joys and satisfaction....

Let us drop the hackneyed and try this for a change. Let the lover say, 'My love, join me, be in my arms so that together we see the beauty and exuberance of the beautiful moon and stars, come and breathe the fantastic fragrances of the rose, the different flowers that God has been so kind to bestow us with. Let us pray together, thank God for such joys in our lives and beseech his blessings for making us together...allowing us the satisfaction.'

Someone may say, "...how boring and stupidly matter of fact...!" But then, let us ask ourselves, why is this training to pluck a beautiful rose from the Garden of the God and tuck it in the locks of our beloved? Who trained our minds to define the worth of things on the basis of our personal utility? Why does our mind understand pleasure only in possessing things for our personal utilities? Why success and status is defined in terms of how much we have available for our personal consumptions? Why do people value and respect a man who has million dollars in his pocket but knows no poetry, no music, no dance and not even the decency to respect fellow human beings? Why is it that love and compassion in mind is considered a threat to individual success?

This is our faulty mental training! ... ain't it.....! And then, people are full of complaints with their lives. Just being there in a rose garden.... enjoying the beauty and fragrance of roses seems such a futile joy and satisfaction. As our mind training is, we are happy and satisfied only when this rose garden we can call as 'mine'. Possession is the chase and great people have always told us, 'chase the dream till you drop dead.'

It is all a waiting game... which comes first.... possession of dreams or the death. Success is only a poor percentile.... the later is however, 100% ! A wise person said, "you are what your 'choices' make you.' So, choose your choice and then, rejoice...!

**

Battlefield of Losing Righteousness

Our societal mental training wires our sense of conviction and attainment with a preposterous obsession for action-oriented 'karma'. Even greats have said that life is a battlefield and everyone has to 'fight' his or her own 'battle'. This is truly reflective of a 'choice' to imagine 'battle' out of seemingly innocuous situations, triggering off an unconscious proclivity to structure a 'fight' of sorts....

The battle of most lives starts with what looks like a simple thing. As in Mahabharat, the epic in India, a simple issue of 'righteous' distribution of wealth came to such a stage where one party ceded all rights to kingdom and was willing to settle even with only five villages.... other party refused to give even a shred.

The battle was made a 'dharma-yuddha' (War of righteousness) and what happened in the last... those five protagonists of the winning party did not remain in the scene to enjoy the kingdom. They left everything and proceeded to a journey for heaven...

Everyone is trained by society to win his own battles of life and all of us devote our lives to win the battle. Most can't even think that if you lose, you are not there (alive) to feel sorry. And if you win, you are still not there to relish the spoils of the victory. In either case, you lose those who were once near and dear to you.

Nut still.... battles are fought daily.... within billions of individuals.... and it is not the battle of five villages.... it may start with it.... but then.... in the last reckoning.... battles are made out to be something for 'righteousness'.

It is altogether different issue that everyone thinks he or she has 'righteousness' on his or her side...! A compassionate and affectionate positioning builds up an innocent advocacy. What if the five brothers would have given up the demand of even five villages and would have proceeded to where they finally went, renouncing all possessions of war? When this had to happen.... at least such colossal losses would not have happened.!"

This is what usually happens. People attempt to win bringing upfront their ingenuity, their smart inventiveness, inflated out of an unconscious insecurity to keep 'righteousness' on their side and the very moment they do it.... they actually lose.... not the 'five villages' but their dear ones. This metaphor of Mahabharata looks like something people love to miss out.

**

Attainment, Acceptance And Pain

If life happens... something has to be done with it. It is a human fixation of sorts to ascribe a 'purpose' or 'design' to every small thing, which is there. And, once this ascription is ascertained, the subsidiary and complementary purposes are lined up as necessary accessories and duly prescribed....

For example, a poet said : "dreams happen as life happens, dream happens then roads to it happen and when avenues open up, there has to be destinations....!"

Over millenniums, humanity has accepted a larger purpose and design for every living thing... and this is described in one single word, "attainment". It is as simple as this, "If life happens, it has to 'attain' something...".

This word is so beautiful... and, it could have been amazing to see its unlimited dimensions if, cosmic arrangements would not have bridled it with some unchangeable restriction... the diurnal and seasonal movements of earth in its fixed path slapping on humanity a day of 24 hours only and a month and year of fixed time-frame....

This probably had lot to do with the idea of 'attainment' becoming more mechanical and actionable... People are always reminded that there is only 24 hours in a day, only 30 days in a month and 365 days in a year and within these short times, a whole universe of 'attainment' has to be perfected. This gives most people the kick to become more actionable and largely mechanical for maximizing 'attainments'.

But, this planet is a stupidly brilliant space, as it is housed by humans... the most eccentric of all creatures.... probably in the universe....! Over 7 billion humans on this earth make 8 billion definitions of this word 'attainment'... and this truly makes this earth a most beautiful place to live in to experience life. A person attains an industrial empire of billions... but wants more time, to make it to trillions. A man gets the love of his beloved and he thanks the God for his 'attainment'.

Both struggle... both face competition... both have attained something, which is ephemeral; within the larger definition of life being ephemeral itself ... it is altogether different thing that one is not happy and another is happy and content.... at a particular time and space...

This 'attainment' energy itself lends energy to a whole plexus of intricate subsidiary and complementary 'attainments'... and this makes our world.... a truly bizarre and absurd one. Nobody should be as stupid and conceited to pass a judgment that this attainment is right and this is wrong. Everyone has the liberty of his or her choice and its corollaries... this world is so dynamic and exciting because of the multi-dimensionality of this word called 'attainment'... and its conflicts...

It is altogether different thing that most humans of wisdom prescribed 'attainments' sans struggle, competitiveness and divisiveness. They said, "Attain the ability to enjoy the beauty and fragrance of rose... never the possession of it..., attain the abilities to sing, dance, paint, cook, love, show compassion, etc... not for display but for self-joy".

The body we have acquired for life is the best manifestation of this reality... we have a system called human body which has organs, tissues, cells and genes that have different 'attainments' and together they successfully run a body.... life and this world is just a macrocosm of our body....

The key word is 'acceptance'. People often get confused... they work towards one larger attainment and regret about non-availability of another one. One life is good only for one larger attainment for most... only a few lucky ones have two or more. Sun must accept his larger attainment of warmth... sun should not rue about not being as 'cool' as moon... nor should moon...

If one part of our body strays from his defined attainment, the body gets dysfunctional and often leading to fatal outcomes.... confusion kills... they said it. And, there is a mechanism which helps in understanding this word called 'acceptance'... and this is, pain... the tears. It stops you... helps you with a break in your journey.... makes you sure that what path of 'attainment' you are treading is truly what you should.... and if not, then accept it, as it is... and be happy....

**

World, A Unique Theatre of Brain Extremities

It is nothing less than what one may very joyously call as magic! And more satisfying and beautifully fulfilling is the fact that it has nothing do with divinity and miracles. It is humanity's power to create and sustain 'goodness and wellness' ... it is the delightfully thrilling artistry of human brain.

They say rightly that human brain is the best organized, most flexible, and highest functioning object in the known universe. If one has to create a micro model of the vast and almost incomprehensible universe and its needle-point precision organization, the human brain is an apt one. However, this brain is also the singular 'curse' of humanity. If the 'best organized' brain is the best friend of humanity, the 'unorganized brain' is the worst enemy... and this world has been, still is and shall always remain a unique theatre of the play of both extremities, all at the same time and space...!

Very recently, I witnessed the magical play of the organized brain and that too at a theatre where it was least expected. It was like experiencing something God can never create. It is the human brain alone, which is capable of such a magic!

A city where life is considered brutal and humanity devoid of compassion, there lies a place which most would love to hate and hesitate not for a second to call a 'hell' in all possibilities. A hospital where every single person arriving carries a 'death warrant' and not even divinity and miracles can extend a bail out; this is writ large on the faces of every arrival. Cancer is a disease that the world dreads and still believes is 'incurable'. It somehow is, to a large extent, for many, who are not aware and resourceful enough.... and then, the magic begins....!

The patient is someone whom the god has already betrayed, and he or she knows it beyond doubt ... the relatives who are with the cancer patients are almost dead... their eyes clearly say, they are almost ready for the eventuality.... and then, the magic begins...!! ... the gods in white coats do their brain-work and then, they are handed over to the 'magicians' ... a group of modern-day angels...

The patient undergoes the counseling session and even the relatives are given a mind-support-mechanism that works like magic. Within a few days, the patient, who had seen death knocking his or her doors, is laughing and actively participating in games as if nothing had happened. The relatives are like members of a marriage party... enjoying life and even going to have a look at movie stars living in the city.

Not that all patients would be saved... only those fortunate arriving with first or second stages of the ailment have chances of surviving but then, the group of magicians fill them with so much confidence that they are truly empowered to give a tough fight to the disease and some may actually make it. The important thing is, everyone smiles, putting aside the 'death warrant', at least for some precious days.

This is magic... the gods in white coat and their para-medics team.... they are the magicians. I asked some of them, how can they be so cheerful and smiling always even when working in such hellish conditions. The answer is amazing... another magic... and this is the power of the organized brain. This brain gives them the sense of worthiness and satisfaction and they are not getting goldmine out of that. Every day, the relatives fight with them, they face court cases for what every patient and relative are almost ready with. Even the best of care is susceptible to the scary nomenclature of 'neglect', but there is no complaint. These magicians, the true angels, understand, not only the body of humans but also the brain. This is magic of the brain...!

And, this temple of white coat gods has no devotees visiting them back and offering even a single penny as 'offerings' even when they go back with their lives saved – the best wish any god can fulfill. A rich man goes to a temple or a deity, which he or she believes does miracles and heals and asks for a favor in his or her business or personal woes. It gets fulfilled and he or she visits back and offers millions of rupees as offerings or donations. In many temples and other religious places of worship, they have turnovers more than many in Forbes list... but, no one gives back a penny here in this modern temple where the magic is so actual, intense and quick that even almost dead are cured and made to laugh within days.

There are a set of humans and deities, living or dead, who are referred as healers and miracle-doers and are made to wear crowns worth millions and their statues are made to sit on thrones worth millions by their millions of devotees. In contrast, these actual life savers and magicians of minds are attacked, abused and forgotten easily by those, whom they saved and made laugh even when they faced certain death.

This is truly a world where all these are possible. It is possible because human mind has the potential of extremities. This world has a range of things, which are the outcome of a huge spectrum between two extreme ends of brain positioning – the best 'organized' brain, which is the best friend of humanity and the 'unorganized' brain, the worst enemy.

Standing as a wordless spectator, filled with compassion for all – organized or unorganized brains, living the stark and dead objectivity, one can do only one thing – never be judgmental about 'the spectrum of two extremities of human brain'. Nevertheless, always understand, accept and appreciate the diversity and multiplicity of human endeavors and choices. We are all in a stage of human evolution where such a state of extremities is only very natural and inevitable... we all need to accept it with compassionate and affectionate hearts...

I call the white-coat men and women and their para-medics team as magician because, they too understand this and that's why continue to do their magic without ill-will and complaint. One only wishes, as every organized and compassionate brain would – if only there were 'one' genre of temples on this planet where the 'organized' brain would do magic for all humanity. All resources of all types of temples and worship places on earth would be channeled to this temple of humanity so that, everyone could smile and be cured even while carrying a death warrant. This is a wish because, one knows, how difficult it is to get a room and a date for operation in this modern temple, even when a day's delay in treatment can be fatal. And how still, millions of poor people are dying because there is only a few such modern temples in most poor nations. Most poor can't afford the costly treatment and this cancer is taking epidemic proportions around us.

I also understand, accept and appreciate that people with different faiths and beliefs are likely to feel offended. I say this with all respect, affection and compassion to all and with an apologetic heart. I know, 3/4th of Americans of a particular but largest faith on earth believe in miracles and cures of divinity and they all are very educated, successful and worthy people. Researches show that more educated the people are, more likely to have faith in miracles and cures of divinity. Moreover, researches show, the young ones are also more likely believer in miracles and divine cures than the old. Naturally so...!

Scientific studies have so far failed to establish anything like miracles and divine cures. They believe, it is individual faith and all in the brain of the believer. Not in the body or hand of the miracle man or deity. Even Christ said about his first 'miracle' performed on a woman that it was her faith that cured her. What I described above is the magical power of human brain on another's brain... and it is no miracle but pure science.

As I have already accepted, this world is a great theatre of the diversity of plays emanating from the spectrum between extremities of human brain and this world is so beautiful only because this world is such a bouquet of flowers as well as thorns of diverse hue and colors. We all must never be judgmental about them... but, an individual knows his or her choices... and he or she has a right to.

**

Idiotic Intelligence of Summation Matrix

It has been a long-standing desire to understand certain things and then wrap everything else in the soft embrace of compassion forever. Often, things happen and you think, 'oh! it could have been avoided...' There are many things, which happen and you always wish all of them to be reversible... the basic desire is in fact that all such things could better be prevented...!

Sometime ago, could understand the basic fact of this all and felt so content and compassionate about it... knowing everything and then feeling very humbly empowered is a great feeling but a fleeting one... but still, a small desire still lurks around... if only it could be everyone's domain...

Reproducing below something that have been sourced from contemporary and latest knowledge reservoir of humanity... thanks a billion to those brilliant scientists and those people, who endeavor to make this world a better place to live in actual and real sense of the term...

What is written below may still be trashed and rejected by most and why so? ... the paragraphs themselves would reveal why?... but still, a hope is that those who can accept may attempt to see things from a perspective that is humanity's actual treasure... and thanks again to those minds who understood it and wrote these lines:

"Man and woman are not, by nature (without special training), a logical, reasoned and intelligent creature. He is, instead, totally reactive, instinctive and intuitive, as akin to animals. His or her behavior is determined entirely by the interaction (conflict resolution, competition, cooperation, coordination) between his various instincts. And, these instincts are genetically determined neural mechanisms provided by evolution for behavioral guidance.

There is no mechanism for intelligence or memory, which is separate from sensory, motor and instinct mechanisms. The good news is that man or woman may be trained. He or she may be educated (taught knowledge for use as raw material in his decision-making). The untrained and uneducated human is "totally instinctive" and not capable of objective reasoning or proper cultural behavior under modern social environments.

The self-disciplined and educated (if educated in real knowledge) human is fully capable of both. The human has been provided by evolution with instincts (genetically specified neural mechanisms) which causes him to seek both training and education (he is a competitive social animal). He is quite capable of logic, reason, and intelligence when he chooses to be so, provided that he learns and follows the necessary discipline and rigid methodology.

The cautioned reality however remains that even then, he or she is instinctive in his goals, hence, the over-encompassing need for and the application of the reasoning. His instincts provide the direction, drive and power behind his every action.

Man is, therefore, capable of being superior to any intelligent mechanism or creature, since he is not limited to functioning only with logic, reason and intelligence, thus allowing unlimited mental creativity and exploration. He has no mental limitation in scope, other than in his self-control over his instincts.

Conversely, he is also capable of being an absolute idiot, the more usual and largely prevalent case since he is not normally either trained or educated in intelligent thought (solid provable premises, careful logic steps, frequent verification by measurement, the refusal to consider intuition, imagination and conjecture in other than theoretical and inventive pursuits).

Unfortunately, man or woman believes that he or she is naturally intelligent (endowed at birth by 'divine' design) and that he acts intelligently at all times. He does not recognize that all of his social interaction is instinct (intuition) driven. Nor does he recognize that many of his instincts are archaic (lost relevance way back because of evolution) and only partially applicable.

Nor does he recognize that whereas logic and reason would always result in uniform behavioral action, the normal (due to mutations) divergence in instincts across the gene pool of the human, will always produce divergent answers for the same behavioral questions. This is not only very important but also crucial to objectivity of rationality.

So, what happens that where his genetically provided behavioral tendencies (instincts) fit the particular social problem, he functions well, but since he is unable to sense the dividing line between his instinctive (intuition, reactive decision summation) and logical reasoning (based on objectivity), he usually substitutes intuition, imagination and conjecture with logic, reason, and intelligence. Then he swears to its authenticity by virtue of his 'intelligence'.

Mankind thus constructs entire fields of study in social interaction (psychology, philosophy, sociology, educational philosophy, political and social 'science', etc.) on false and self-serving premises and follows with faulty logical development which is rarely if ever verified, and thereby rarely true.

Also, and just as unfortunate, human instincts date from times of great stress and so are primarily aimed at surviving under that ancient environment. Having overcome most of this environmental stress through the invention of shelter, clothing, food production and medicine, many of these instincts have become detrimental. Others are time-consuming and without social value."

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Accept My Gratitude

Writing something is a daunting task as there is always a lurking apprehension of it not being in utility for some readers. I however feel at ease, because of my faith in magnanimity of readers. I am happily sure; you shall forgive if my efforts could not be up to your expectations. Thank you so much for being with me and allowing me to share with you. Wish you an empowered life; with the prosperity of the consciousness.

**

About The Author

People say, what conspire to make you what you finally become are always behind the veil of intangibility. Someone called it 'Intangible-Affectors'. Inquisitiveness was the soil, I was born with and the seeds, these intangible-affectors planted in me made me somewhat analytical. My long stint in media, in different capacities as journalist, as brand professional and strategic planning, conspired too! However, I must say it with all innocence at my behest that the chief conspirators of my making have been the loads of beautiful and multi-dimensional people, who traversed along me, in my life journey so far.

The mutuality and innocence of love and compassion always prevailed and magically worked as the catalyst in my learning and most importantly, unlearning from these people. Unconsciously, these amazing people also worked out to be the live theatres of my experiments with my life.s scripts. I, sharing with you as a writer, is essentially my very modest way to express my gratitude for all of them. In my stupidities is my innocence of love for all my beautifully worthy conspirators!

**

Other Titles By Santosh Jha

OnlyNess

Literary Fiction: A novella about life-living choices from the perspective of a very successful contemporary woman: Word- 38,000 approx: Language-English

Short Description:

Dumped by her billionaire fiancé, a resplendently beautiful woman, the reigning royalty of Hollywood's dream factory, lands herself in all sorts of woes – hospitalization for slipping pill overdose, bad Press, peer group backstabbing and paparazzi. She escapes to anonymity at India's Yoga capital but the threat of paparazzi follows. A young yogi bails her out and detours her to an unusual world where he introduces her to the super consciousness of 'Onlyness' within her. The redeemed empress unconsciously discovers her true elements being in linearity with that of the yogi and believes, she may be second time lucky. However, more shocks await her.

**

Back To Bliss: A Journey To Zero

Literary Fiction: Novel: A Love Story In Contemporary Culture Of Conflicts: Word- 78,000 approx: Language-English

Short Description

Battling against hypocrisies, sadomasochism and perfunctory pursuits of pop benchmarks of successes, he refuses the passion-oriented male worldview of karma and life's purposes. Metamorphosed by compassion, that love's innocence fills him with, he opts for a journey that takes him far away from the stupidity of self-worth, calculated in terms of personal utility, individualistic possession and unfettered consumption. Does he arrive?

**

Autobiography Of A Duffer

A witty but insightful narration of 'normal' and 'orderly' cultural realisms of contemporary world, from the perspective of a young duffer. This duffer believes; a normal person should know how this world looks to a stupid, whom the world loves to label 'abnormal' and 'disordered', to truly visualize realities of benchmarking. This duffer's wife asked him to make it different; he truly does it!

**

Not Man Enough

Short Description:

The protagonist's advocacy against mass accusation on him being 'not man enough'. He also contests the parallel label of 'not woman enough'. The jury is already out as he puts up his witty advocacy against the pop cultural benchmarks over gender appropriates and massive peer pressure on men and women alike for being 'something enough'. It is for readers to preside on the judgment. He surely needs your vote. Do bail him out!

**

Why Do You Want To Change Me?

Short description

Accept the question of 'change' and let the magic and marvel unravel. The question of change is the key, which opens the doors of life-living wellness and personal excellence. The book is about unleashing your potential by simply unlocking the consciousness. Won't you open the doors, if someone knocks to deliver the Christmas Cake! Innocence of reception is beauty. Be beautiful and bountiful.

**

Young, Restless And In Love

Short Description:

Young-Restless-In Love is a life-living situation that lands you in randomly probabilistic eventualities beyond your control. The potential this combination unleashes, needs great amount of preparedness and ultimate readiness, as most life possessions are squandered for want of proper usage. This latent energy can destroy your life-living wellness, if not handled dexterously. Read the way out.

**

Naked Solutions Of Dressed Up Life Woes

Non-Fiction: Empowering Consciousness, Life Wellness, Personal Excellence: word- 23,000 approx.

Short Description

The world we live in; is what it is, neither good nor bad. It is people, who are the 'Theatre' of all pains as well as joys. The human mind is the most capable and instinctively galvanized mechanism to solve big problems. Still, the same human consciousness is the most potent dilemma. The core trouble is, modern day problems are so 'dressed up'; partly by our complex environment and partly by our consciousness that we fail to see the 'naked' reality of the nature of problems. We can see them clearly, if we 'undress' them. It is an art, we all can master. How?

**

Hey Beautiful, You Are The Hope

Short Description

An essay addressed to modern women of wisdom, aimed at empowering her consciousness to enhance her life-living wellness & personal excellence. As feminism enters its maturity-phase in new millennium, core ideas about true woman, her contemporary mind consciousness and fresh agenda need to be revisited. New-age women hold keys to sanity of humanity, as she is the 'dominant gender' in every sense.

**

Habitual Hero: The Art Of Winning

Non-Fiction: Empowering Consciousness, Life Wellness, Personal Excellence: word- 19,000 approx: Language-English

Short Description

In all of us, there is this definite 'winner', the genius of this universe. However, this champion is what we can label as 'Random Warrior', as it wins but not always. We all have the determination, patience, courage, discipline and the mastery to be a sure and sustained 'all-weather-all-season-Hero'. However, as many of us miss the knowledge and acceptance of this 'mechanism of winning', this warrior turns out to be only a 'random' winner, unable to sustain the artistry of winning, to qualify as a 'Habitual Hero'.

**

Maya And Leela: Utility In Life's Futility

Non-Fiction: Empowering Consciousness, Life Wellness, Personal Excellence: word- 21,000 approx: Language-English

Short Description

Most of us, living in modern contemporary world of complexities, conflicts and confusion, have questions as what a good and righteous person should consider as 'perpetual-utility' in life, amidst the general feeling of 'futility' of everything around. What is this singular life and living positioning, which can make us live the life in a perpetually joyous state of consciousness, endowed with 'true utilities', shunning away all those 'futilities', which land us in pain and regret?

**

Why We Flop In Love

Non-Fiction: Empowering Consciousness, Life Wellness, Personal Excellence: word- 20,000 approx: Language-English

Short Description

Love is ideally accepted with three elements of Mystery, Magic and Marvel. The three 'M's' land most of us in inexplicable troubles and pains of love. The magnificent dualism is – love's mystery makes it flamboyantly attractive and joyful. Still, the mysticism engenders loads of confusion, making many of us flop in love. Success of love is in non-dualistic positioning, which is simple and practical realism, most of us refuse to accept.

**

Wisdom Of Wellness: Perpetuity Of Poise Of Purpose

Non-Fiction: Empowering Consciousness, Life Wellness, Personal Excellence: word- 20,000 approx: Language-English

Short Description:

One needs to be in lasting physical, emotional and ideational wellness. Tips, pills, and 'shoulds' abound; still, wellness is elusive. Wellness is largely a function of emotional 'poise' of consciousness. Wisdom of wellness is in being the 'master of mechanism', 'internalizing' the multifaceted life-living realisms and then, creating a personalized model of wellness. Nothing 'external' helps.

**

India Beyond Stampede Of Stupidities

Short Description:

An analytical commentary on how energies of ideas for socio-political changes, create a stampede of stupidities, when they are reactive and participants of change fail to observe assimilative perspectives, compromising the sanity of system, which could weed out loads of aggression, chaos and conflicts from the soil of struggle. A global reality, elaborated with India as a case study.

**

Youth Sanity In Crazy Culture

Non-fiction: Life Choices for Wellness, Youth Issues of Sexual Behavior, Personal Excellence: word- 17,000 approx: Language-English

Short Description:

In contemporary culture of hypocrisy, conflict and confusion, where even adults are in a flux over benchmarks of real success and self-worth, the young being advised about sanity and sensibility, lands as big joke for them. The youth needs a worldview, enabling them to see through the hypocrisy and perplexity of pop culture, offering them a date with real intelligence and life realism.

**

Decipher Destiny: Decode God's Will

Non-fiction: Empowering Consciousness, Life Wellness, Personal Excellence: word- 20,000 approx: Language-English

Short Description:

There is a mechanism to all 'probabilities' in life, which we call God's will. This mechanism has its own energy and patterns of possibilities. Those, who succeed, decipher this mechanism and the patterns, which are there for anyone to see. We attain success and excellence, as we align our personal energy with this energy of the cosmic mechanism. God's will is then in linearity with our wish.

**

Redeem & Reinvent The Art Of Lost Wellness

Non-Fiction: Empowering Consciousness, Life Wellness, Personal Excellence.

Short Description

The world we live is what it is, neither good nor bad. It is neutral and objective. Wellness is largely individual onus. As we acquire and practice those life skills, which make life wellness a beautiful journey for us, our mind is attuned to them. We then have an auto-mechanism for larger wellness. Time to test our Life Skill Quotient (LSQ)!

**

Karta: Life-Inspiring Essays On Cognition, Consciousness & Causality

Short Description

The essays in this book unravel the Karta (subjective consciousness) from the perspective of the new thinking of 3Cs – Cognition, Consciousness and Causality. The effort is to make you – the Karta, assimilate the core idea as how a holistic, assimilative and integrative perspective of the 3Cs helps you in attaining and enhancing personal excellence and wellness. Makes you meet a new empowered you.

**

Enter 2014 A New You

Non-fiction, Personal excellence and empowerment.

Short Description

Five simple steps, which can make us a super person, endowed with required skills and personal resources to: Solve our problems; Be a winner in life situations; Be great in love and relationships; Have a personal spiritual wellness model and Accept a worldview that makes us cool and collected, to have a happier and better New Year 2014.

**

Do Write To Me.

sjwrite@gmail.com

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