tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52333512147005090172024-03-05T07:46:21.619-08:00Divergent OutlookIf you can read, you came by the right place.Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-3880670138850072722022-02-14T21:10:00.003-08:002022-02-14T21:10:51.138-08:00The memory of evolution<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today morning, I chanced upon a thought experiment with a friend. It has been so long since one of those happened. The years of college, and then work, all cluttered the table with thoughts and discussions which felt quite removed from exploration of the unreasonable to stumble upon bits of peculiar realities. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4a32e125-7fff-f06d-2034-0ad3476b406b"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The experiment started with a whim, and even I didn’t know it would continue to become what it is. I proposed that I am living for centuries and that all humans have fairly long lives. Yet they get a choice of readjusting their memories in a special way that could tamper with their understanding of time. Assuming that I chose otherwise, I was able to continue a conversation with someone who chose to tamper with their memory, creating the perfect A vs. B situation.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The question was how it could happen. So, we started laying the groundwork for it to make living across centuries a reality. First of all, adjusting the memory wouldn’t be a wipe-it-all event. It would be more like slicing or kneading the memory to play with elasticity, and here’s how it would look.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Person B who has been living for twenty decades would feel like he has only lived for two. For example, everything that you can remember, the memories of growing up, of last year, and of yesterday, have spanned over 200 years and you have aged very slowly. But you think it’s only been 20 years because of memory contraction. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">You think your body is changing yearly whereas it’s changing by the decade. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another stark example would be supposing that yesterday happened over ten years but your memory got contracted and you thought it was one day. Your body and brain, even though feels like it aged by one day only, actually aged over ten years and still looks a day older because you have a long life span.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then, came the question of surroundings. What happens to the things, buildings, plants, and trees around us? And what about clocks? Are they also ageing so slowly?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We can solve the problem of clocks through relativity. Since what appears like a day is actually spanned over ten years, the clock also moves slowly and only appears like a day to us. And to solve for all things, which also have to age slowly to sync with the readjusted memory, we have to make it so that only an observer outside this universe would be able to see the slowness of this Universe.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this stage in the discussion, it changed the premise for memory readjustment. If everything around us was moving as per a slow timeline, we wouldn’t need re-adjusted memories. We would naturally move slowly and appear to have a really long life to an entity outside our Universe. But to continue the thought experiment, let’s assume that we do shorten our memories to perceive time as faster than it actually is in our Universe.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, everybody on this planet is very old, but only those that choose to remember the knowledge of time and the complete set of memories are actually mentally old. Because if you forget what your mind learned and experienced, you are only a baby. Like a blank slate.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That led to an epiphany that we are only as old as the experiences we have. More experiences we choose to accumulate during our lifetimes and the more we learn from them, the wiser and mentally older we are. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Person B then said, what’s so special about it and it’s more like a curse if most people are opting out of having the memory of slower time perception. My counter-statement was that I never said it was special and that B assumed it because of the concept’s similarity with immortality which is often assumed to be special.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Immortality is mostly considered to be a curse on deeper analysis. That’s a whole other subject, but let’s keep going by considering that immortality is indeed unfavourable, traumatic, and against our best interests.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perhaps that’s why animals evolved to die. In the bigger picture, everything might have an end date because it's the best solution for stability. Like suns dying makes the universe stable, and the universe dying makes something larger, that we don’t know of yet, more stable. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, it can be said that having the option to re-adjust memories is like the ability to choose mortality even while you are immortal. Considering </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">humanity cannot remember</span> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">when it began and dropped into this universe one day and </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #e69138;">chose to erase</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or re-write memories, it will be like comparing really long lives with</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span style="color: #6fa8dc;">immortal lives</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This makes it a comparison between two infinities, making the two concepts of long life and immortal life ultimately behave the same way.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now consider the parallel with evolution. It is true that </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">humanity cannot remember where it began</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> because it never had a clear beginning. We have evolved across time through different shapes and sizes, and most strikingly, we have actually evolved from things we consider to be lifeless. Like water and air. Like hydrogen and helium.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now comes the parallel with memories. The button of erasing memories from one life is triggered when the life chooses to create a new life. The choice to create a new generation is essentially </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #e69138;">triggering the choice to erase</span> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">an active memory that cannot be passed to the next-gen. But what happens to the passive memory? We can still find in ourselves the instinct that we inherited from that one-celled organism to divide itself and create more cells like itself. That’s one giant passive memory.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, here it is. Evolution: A parallel of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">immortality</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point, while talking about the perception of time, I was reminded of another theory that I revisited in a recent newsletter. Consider that this is actually some year in the future. Probably 4189 AD, and a kid is running an old timeline on his computer and we are just existing in the present year of 4189 as if it were 2022. It is definitely possible given that over two thousand years ago we found how to look across time. In the next two thousand years, it could become a possibility that humans could generate old timelines and not just look at them through numbers. This is the infamous simulation theory.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Person B didn’t want to be Mario in a futuristic kid’s game and neither did I. So naturally, I thought and wrote back that the sim theory is perhaps like a parallel to suggest the fragility of reality. That whatever our mind receives after it has filtered our limited senses is our version of the truth. And if we attached new senses through chords, we might be able to perceive larger realities and see where we stand in the big picture. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a book called ‘A Thousand Brains’ where the author writes that all parts of our neocortex (most of the brain that we can see and which evolved at a much later stage) are all mostly the same and have a similar structure. The only thing that makes the different parts of our brains interpret different things like sound or light is what device is connected to a particular section. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you interchange the connections carefully, the sessions that interpret light and sound can change too. Meaning that the mind that has evolved is only limited by its senes.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What if the reality is different or larger than what our devices can understand or communicate?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point, we discussed the book a bit more and then B shared a short film. It’s called “The Egg” and it ran a gorgeous thought experiment on the Universe, more inclined towards morality than logical conclusions, but it put forward some really good points. I wouldn’t spoil it for you and recommend that you <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1VN5zICGeU" target="_blank">watch it</a>.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But two lines from the film really struck me.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You have all the experiences and</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span style="color: #ff00fe;">wisdom of your past lives</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” and another part which went something like “the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #783f04;">human mind can only hold/remember so much</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even though it was speaking of past lives, if you think about it on an evolutionary timeline, it is true. It is like saying we have the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #ff00fe;">wisdom of the whole evolution in our DNA</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. We act based on all the knowledge acquired by organisms from single-celled algae to apes while wielding the best ways to continue life. We are born to innately select the best choices that led to natural selection and resulted in humans as one of the present-day results. And we are another generation of species that keeps refining the wisdom of choices by making a new set of mistakes.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But our active memory doesn’t remember any of it because </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #783f04;">the human mind can only remember so much</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It only remembers the new experiences after the great erasing point of birth.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yet our passive memory seems to clearly remember matters that feels quite trivial to us. Our instincts, our fear of unknowns, the feeling of pain, our urge to protect, replicate, and fight, and so much more. All inborn, innate, retained through memories as old as millions of years.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s like we are the living breathing memory of evolution.</span></p><br /></span>Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-81500927289943024402018-11-24T07:32:00.001-08:002018-11-24T09:40:47.653-08:00Einstein's Sound of Wisdom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Just a moment ago, I came across a letter written sixty seven years before this day, by Albert Einstein. It was dated 24th June, 1951, addressed to Jesuit institution. The contents of the letter were for the students of Colegio Anchieta and its main motive was to inspire and encourage the future of that age and the past of our's.<br />
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On opening the letter on the screen, a picture with strange characters popped up. It was German which I later realized with all the "fur"s and "ien"s. When I went through a translation of the same letter, I realized that, that letter, which once appeared to be so blank and empty, was brimming with beauty and profoundness.</div>
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It said, "He who knows the happiness of understanding, has gained an infallible friend for life. Thinking is to man as flying is to birds. Don't follow the example of a chicken when you could be a lark." I was inspired at the moment by a man who lived ages and miles away from my being...and all through that one image full of strange figures.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6z-OJo9A43eRlGaaQChPWoduMtW2gZxrcC4Xj5OdADx0fKg1XDnSxiYY8rvYGl8J2Lq2P1XX9RH7V3S46O3brn_Eh37qoslqnccAW-ReEZaMkI1rtwxys7FxsbBBO4KkAG9cLF9KWCrE/s1600/Einstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="620" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6z-OJo9A43eRlGaaQChPWoduMtW2gZxrcC4Xj5OdADx0fKg1XDnSxiYY8rvYGl8J2Lq2P1XX9RH7V3S46O3brn_Eh37qoslqnccAW-ReEZaMkI1rtwxys7FxsbBBO4KkAG9cLF9KWCrE/s640/Einstein.jpg" width="496" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy: The Telegraph</td></tr>
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The fact that intrigued me more than the words themselves was that the same words were so empty and so full at the same time. Before knowing the meaning, I was reading the words out loud in order to get the essence. Honestly, it felt like I was chanting like a baby, making random sounds (that too with great difficulty...German can really twist your tongue)...and just then, an abstract thought struck me...</div>
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Those random sounds meant so much for one set of people and nothing for another. Similarly, my mother tongue must sound as abstract, meaningless and confusing to the Germans.</div>
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Its amazing how humans have created language. They have inserted thoughts and feelings into random sounds, and they have further classified these sounds into different languages and expressions, demonstrating with panache how sounds have evolved into a mode of communication.<br />
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When I say "a cake", you immediately think of a cake, or at least understand what I am trying to convey. However, the ground fact is, I have simply emitted a sound with the help of my oral organs. Only because we are taught that this word is supposed to point to an edible mass of flour and sugar, we hard wire our brain to think of the sound and object to be synonymous.<br />
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We were taught about Ivan Pavlov's Classical Conditioning experiment in middle school. It is a mirror of our sound-to-meaning technique. In the experiment, a dog came to believe that the ringing of a bell was synonymous to food. We are no different from beasts, except for the fact that we possess a higher intellectual threshold, which might one day cease to be enough.<br />
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One will understand the sound transition better if he/she is learning a new language. At first, the words seem so random and absolutely devoid of meaning. Eventually though, the sounds develop a personality. They become pointers and direct us to the real aim of understanding.<br />
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The ability to grasp a mode of communication might seem ordinary to a lot, but I will humbly remind you that humans are the only beasts who have found such diversity in sounds and have honored them with thoughts and feelings. We can play with these sounds for a more creative communicating approach. Imagine if only we could use music to talk. The conversation will go something like this:<br />
<span style="background-color: #f9cb9c;">A: <span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif; font-size: 28.8px; text-align: center;">♩</span><span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif; font-size: 28.8px; text-align: center;">♫</span><span style="color: #424242; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif; font-size: 28.8px; text-align: center;">♪</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #424242; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">B: </span><span style="color: #424242; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif; font-size: 28.8px; text-align: center;">𝄞</span><span style="color: #424242; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif; font-size: 28.8px; text-align: center;">♫</span><span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif; font-size: 28.8px; text-align: center;">𝄫</span></span></div>
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Translation:</div>
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A: I really like your tea Sir.</div>
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B: Thank you miss!</div>
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In fact, people do communicate through music on a more abstract level. When low notes along with a few minor ones are played, it conveys the sensation of thrill and mystery. Higher and major notes convey happiness. Slow music tries to foster passion and sadness, and so on and so forth.</div>
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Notes, tempo and pitch always carry a surge of emotions and thoughts. Often a musical piece will take you back to a moment of nostalgia. A pointer again. Do you not think it will be great if we consciously learn to communicate through rhythm and music? </div>
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This idea, however abstract it may sound, fascinates me so much that I want to start at it right away. But men stick to what has deep foundations. The mind, over the ages, has become such that it does not feel the urge to fly, but feels the necessity to sit on highly built walls of civilization. A change is not welcomed, unless it is absolutely necessary.</div>
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Do you not like changing the colors of the sunsets and oceans on odd days?</div>
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Nonetheless, I feel most grateful to be present here consciously as a human for the beauty and power of words and language, and my ability to grasp it unlike any other creature. It is a pleasure to hear, perceive and understand it, without even speaking it. It is a massive treasure which every human consciousness has been bestowed with.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So, men may remember that treasure does not always mean gold, it can mean much more.</div>
</div>
</div>
Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-35720046881414505612018-11-07T02:42:00.001-08:002018-11-24T06:11:46.893-08:00Breaking Down Love<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr">
I saw two pigeons today. The female did not share a care with the world. She twirled and ducked her way through random routes on a distant terrace. Her stare was not directed at anything in particular. Perhaps, she did not bother to honour any object of the world by the courtesy of observation and saw a hazy blur of it all, preferring it that way.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Most unusual was the behaviour of the male. He seemed to care about the reality surrounding him. He seemed to be wary of the stones and stairs on that terrace of dangerous possibilities. He was the rational realist of the two, as rational and real as a pigeon can be.<br />
<br />
In spite of his sense of the hard reality, he seemed to follow the female in her aimless pursuit through the mysteries of the terrace. He followed her not only in her wandering, but also in her gesture and poise. My cousin followed my glance and exclaimed in a tone of ecstasy, "the follies of young love!".</div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I agreed with my silence, and we stared for a while at yet another phenomenal event of this world.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
After a while the female almost jumped off the terrace and took her flight, and as we confidently predicted, the male hesitated for a while at the edge and then followed her to another wandering on another mystic terrace.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Even the simplest creatures felt the violent urge for love and longing, which I believe is a way to reach a higher string of existence with the right partner. This extremely complex event of pairing in humans, I realized, is quite simple in other creatures of this planet. We exactly behave like these simple beings but like to believe in the grandeur of our emotions and physical needs, thinking that simplicity cannot be at par with greatness. I cannot quote anybody stating this, but simplicity is grand. Simplicity is the crux of complexity. Break down a terribly complex structure and you will find very simple elements which add up to the grandness we so desperately cling to.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
In the pigeons it was indeed the simple impulse of the moment, a simple thing, but it was triggered by the urge to live on in this planet even after their inevitable demise. It is a beautiful story of genetic longing to find a match to preserve the genes for generations to come. It is poetic to admire the signature features of one's partner but if only one knew how our subconscious, stacked with information from distant ages, play a significant role in admiring them. We are so wakeful and ignorant that it is beautiful.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
We gravitate towards a certain person, get conscious of features which stand out to us and wonder how the world can be blind to those very elements which intoxicates our mind during odd hours. They say love is a matter of the soul, but then the soul must be contriving with the body, because one cannot deny that genetic memory helps us identify the key elements of the one who will put our genetic anxiety of a sudden stop to a peaceful death.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
It is this simplicity, carried over from our farthest ancestors, that shape the unrecognizable and confusing emotional state of the present. We stay up nights, losing sleep over the WHYs and HOWs of love, solving the riddle of the heart which ignites us to the bones.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Only if we had payed heed to the profound words of Descartes;<br />
Only if we knew how to break, in order to build.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Love is grand and it is quite simple, but only if we allow it to be.</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-61590124889428854822018-07-22T00:17:00.001-07:002018-09-09T12:22:25.704-07:00The Mysterious Guardian<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqpilpvdqFNjFd-JotdME-7ZRdU0S0c7e9MNusqFj7_eiN6GpF27ornjcm3lyzXM33xsl-yuNYg3rhWVfv0hkGdylI2ypVzVOgbXAfDlF3yT0tfz4K8AsYNxuAtTsjZatJUUMtHO45n5Q/s1600/0_KWSWiZUb1VmX8V0o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqpilpvdqFNjFd-JotdME-7ZRdU0S0c7e9MNusqFj7_eiN6GpF27ornjcm3lyzXM33xsl-yuNYg3rhWVfv0hkGdylI2ypVzVOgbXAfDlF3yT0tfz4K8AsYNxuAtTsjZatJUUMtHO45n5Q/s640/0_KWSWiZUb1VmX8V0o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has been almost 4 years since I wrote my first letter to a
non- existent being summing all the thoughts a week’s time could permit. It will
feel more like a diary entry if one reads it, but as far as I remember, when I
wrote it, I addressed it to somebody in particular in my mind, hoping that one
day someone will lay their eyes on it and walk by the same muse as mine.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During my school days, never even one tiny thought of
grabbing the pen escaped my mind. I used to run and obscure myself from the pangs
of pulling out words from the imagination. Especially when we were given assignments
to write long essays I was absolutely clueless about. More appropriately, all those essays
I was not keen to exercise my imagination for. This continued year after
year, and I merely touched the average grade in all my English exams.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until of course this gorgeous day came along. It was my grammar
exam, and we were supposed to come up with a story which began with, “On that
day..” or something along that line. That was a pure opportunity. For maybe the
first time I saw such an independent question which allowed a student to let
their imagination run free. Anything could happen on that day, anything…and that
became a weapon. I scribbled my way across two pages and ended up sketching a
heartfelt story about the attack on 26/11, Mumbai. It was my brother’s story, a
brother I never had in real life, and one who did not escape the story alive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember I had a tear escape my eye while concluding the
piece. I was moved beyond measure by what I had just written. And to be
completely honest, to this day, I do not believe that the story was drafted by my mortal
self. Because can a person’s own imagination kill them?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was a question which changed my life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the results were out, my teacher called me and asked me
to participate in the National Essay Competition. I was glad of course and did
not need to feign a beaming face, even though I knew that the words did not
arrive at any random call. When I was about to leave, my teacher pressed her
lips together before she asked me with a suddenly guarded voice, “Were you
there?”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No mam.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She smiled without any expression but looked straight at me
with peering eyes and I dawdled to my class feeling a shiver down my spine. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Was it possible that I caught a glimpse of what actually
happened that day and made the brother in my dreams the crux of the terrible
events which followed? Was it even likely that I spoke someone else’s mind?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ha! Maybe not. This is what happens when the imagination runs
free and becomes a separate entity in itself, and maybe, just maybe we think that
this Imagination’s voice is not our own.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuijbIkl0PxeMqnTvhxA5X_ZiekBtb20E8oQx2Qq6XKAwVWpyCok8U8IjNvHmMWWUOIghbxfmG2HpbogcVrxxoNfFxloVo7xIL5Qj8itIlFODIpSdDV799wUgfqIULkZfRj0mTAW8KHkU/s1600/1_UMsG3LGMxocow73__5orvQ.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuijbIkl0PxeMqnTvhxA5X_ZiekBtb20E8oQx2Qq6XKAwVWpyCok8U8IjNvHmMWWUOIghbxfmG2HpbogcVrxxoNfFxloVo7xIL5Qj8itIlFODIpSdDV799wUgfqIULkZfRj0mTAW8KHkU/s640/1_UMsG3LGMxocow73__5orvQ.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The essay I was told to write for the National Essay Competition,
no doubt, turned out to be pure trash. I have blamed several elements including
myself for that failure. One of the elements was the essay topic itself to begin with. Then
there was the word limit, and then the time limit. I know those are too many demands
from a competitive arena but the truth is, Imagination cannot be enslaved by the
limitations of mere numbers.<br />
<br />
My teacher was unmistakably disappointed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another year went by, I stayed utterly undisturbed by the
agony of creativity. There were of course moments when thoughts thundered
through me in a flash, and often during inappropriate moments like when I was crossing
the road or was under the shower or was waiting on the bus. And as soon as I
let myself cross a threshold, the thoughts escaped me, or rotted away owing to no immediate action. I am guilty of not taking the aid
of ink and parchment to jot down the strange events of a plain human mind, a guilt which I’m sure has agonized us all on random days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But of course, on another glorious day I came by a milestone, and as far as my experiences
suggest, a day… rather a moment, changes the outcome of all our creative energy,
it changes our future to be precise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, on November 14<sup>th</sup>, 2014, I wrote down the
first letter, addressed to no one in particular. Hoping that some curious eye
finds it and wonders about the possibilities of the questions left unanswered. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That letter, as already mentioned, was the result of a week’s
curiosity of the unhinged mind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then, there was no stopping. A letter was a rare occasion,
but at least it kept going. I wrote about two to three letters a month, and
sometimes nothing for two straight months. Even though I was just falling in
love with this craft, there was the heartbreaking knowledge that this was not to be my bread
and butter. I could go from writing ten letters a day, to years without writing
a single word, and I did not wish to starve my mind of the physical needs of
mortality.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, I kept going with what I thought I was moderately good
at.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Logic. A rational element of the human mind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And as Andrew Stanton put it, we cannot let one element of
our brain struggle for hours at a stretch and expect it to perform with
shinning brilliance. No, of course not. We need to fluctuate the elements. Maintain the balance. And I knew, my profession, as long as it was about the
elements of rationalism, was to be the savior of my unrealistic ventures to the
realm of surrealism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During all these years of nurturing this craft, until the
present day, I was so unsure of the ‘How’. I confessed to my mother and to certain
close friends on very rare occasions, that I did not know ‘how’ the words came to me. That there
was someone else speaking through the pen I held in my grip. I was
ordinary, but the thought which distilled on paper were things I could not
think of in my wildest dreams, or things I could not portray so perfectly, just
as they were. I was after all, the one below the threshold of average when it
came to Language exams in all my schools.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ‘How’ was a question asked to me on unlikely days by rational minds and coarse tongues, and I
did not answer them, afraid that they will not understand, or simply consider
it a whim of the fanciful mind. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But this was until I found real evidence which matched my ‘fanciful’
understanding of Creativity. It wasn’t actually evidence, it was a witness. Another
person narrating the exact same events to a crowd of enthusiasts. Elizabeth
Gilbert, an undoubtedly charming writer in her forties, wrapped in graceful
divinity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She not only elaborated her own experiences with a humor beaming
in raw originality, but she also conveyed the stories of ancients who believed
that the “spirits of creativity” lived outside the vessel or the body of a
mortal. Often called ‘Daemons’ or ‘Genius’, these were the mystical creatures
of the surreal world. Unlike today, they believed that an artist ‘had’ a Genius
and was not ‘the’ Genius. Quoting her on post Renaissance, “<span style="color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">people started
to believe that creativity came completely from the self of the
individual. And for the first time in history, you start to hear
people referring to this or that artist as being a genius, rather than
having a genius. And I got to tell you, I think that was a huge error.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I wrote something, which impressed well on my mind, I
knew, as Elizabeth Gilbert puts it, “the Elusive One showed up”, and when I wrote
something ultra-close to gibberish, there was the consolation that my partner
was probably off to some vacation, bothering Jake Shimabukuro in Hawaii.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; text-align: left;">And this was it, the exceptional answer to the questions which
have left artists Divine one night and robbed them of all the jewels the next
morning, leaving them clueless about how to meet their own standards once the aid
of Divinity was set afire and reduced to mere dust, converting the creative
sections of this world to “alcoholic manic-depressives”. Mortals cannot beat
the divinity of a Superior, and every time they do, it renders their time
post-creation wrapped in nothing but chaos. However, the key, as Elizabeth so
perfectly embodies in her words, is to have the “sheer human love and
stubbornness to keep showing up” for your part of the job.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEsDhq-lqyeAOP98IcNw0A56ntUvi4We6h1moWuIpO1bSR_WeTpWYSGAc4lSAg3t8oDonEska_3rZXpmgqSGM6iNk5XrPL6ztPRks9kFee8BlA8GOOgs1Adn3cy2JSIOfEbjeyIdkSFB8/s1600/347023-Edward-Albee-Quote-Creativity-is-magic-Don-t-examine-it-too.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEsDhq-lqyeAOP98IcNw0A56ntUvi4We6h1moWuIpO1bSR_WeTpWYSGAc4lSAg3t8oDonEska_3rZXpmgqSGM6iNk5XrPL6ztPRks9kFee8BlA8GOOgs1Adn3cy2JSIOfEbjeyIdkSFB8/s640/347023-Edward-Albee-Quote-Creativity-is-magic-Don-t-examine-it-too.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25in; vertical-align: top;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
I suggest you hear the words straight from the one who conveyed
them:<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius">Elizabeth Gilbert Ted Talk</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Date: 22nd July, 2018</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Hyderabad, India</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Picture Credits: Google Images</div>
</div>
</div>
Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-8331976189330285242018-06-16T05:15:00.000-07:002018-06-16T08:54:32.952-07:00How I Fell for the Words<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgItKdryY6zdPR_DPR6b2zvoqWNXl_fO8aDQbiSq_Kbkjf9kTxiO9NKu-d8WseM16890c3MEiWMtkTFtTE0UCeJi2BssJcLaOCMOS_BbQ5iI1IPVQhSBlLO8EQjo06yTMw3VoXwLh83Q/s1600/Stack-of-books-great-education.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 16px; margin-right: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgItKdryY6zdPR_DPR6b2zvoqWNXl_fO8aDQbiSq_Kbkjf9kTxiO9NKu-d8WseM16890c3MEiWMtkTFtTE0UCeJi2BssJcLaOCMOS_BbQ5iI1IPVQhSBlLO8EQjo06yTMw3VoXwLh83Q/s640/Stack-of-books-great-education.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<div style="margin: 32px 0px 10.66px;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">As a child I seldom touched novels. To be more specific, I ran away from
them, as if those innocent pages had the ability to burn my skin. I wonder
whether I will ever be able to jot down the reasons adding to my apathy against
reading during those early days. It has been years, yet I cannot stop thinking
about those days, about all those times I did not lay my eyes upon the sacred
texts which opened the portals to new dimensions of our Universe, opened the
doors to our very own world sometimes, a world which otherwise is very good at wrapping
up its secrets. Perhaps I was too lazy to run my eyes along the lines or
perhaps assumed the task of processing meaning from words to be too exhausting.
Well, whatsoever the reason was, I miserably regret that specific apathy I had.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 32px 0px 10.66px;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">However, being raised by parents who were avid readers, as good as book
worshippers, I never suffered from the lack of a good read. During middle
school, when I talked about books, which was very rare, I remember how my
classmates were often taken by surprise when it came to their understanding
that every other book they mentioned, had a copy securely hibernating in one of
the shelves in my home. That was how I realized that books were not as common
as table salt or pepper. They could have been however, if the world was not as
ignorant as I was. That was the time during which I started valuing books. Not
because I wanted to read them, but because I wanted to capture that rare
essence, under the influence of the knowledge that very few were fortunate
enough to be surrounded by the yellowing pages of wisdom.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofs4Rh8c7v9-V7VxTlSfSpEs53e9wZzw1VwL1VoW9Tt8Nw_grYVORCXOWs9SpMkVdqJfoF0EYpIlpu88Ospx3_8MxXPUUuO7axpLGf5SkKsK5naOwVllaV4qPv_bieVntVNz5nte6NuU/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofs4Rh8c7v9-V7VxTlSfSpEs53e9wZzw1VwL1VoW9Tt8Nw_grYVORCXOWs9SpMkVdqJfoF0EYpIlpu88Ospx3_8MxXPUUuO7axpLGf5SkKsK5naOwVllaV4qPv_bieVntVNz5nte6NuU/s640/image.jpg" width="640" /></a><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 32px 0px 10.66px;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">I did not love them, I knew that very well. In fact, it marked the
beginning of my lust for books. I often confided my feelings in them by
momentarily visiting the racks. I spent hours turning pages, not reading, but
skimming. Not one book at a time, but maybe ten at one go. I turned to random
pages, selected random paragraphs, read until it failed to enrapture me with
its spell, and of course, it was not long before I abandoned that page for
another. While walking through the chaos of random sentences, I seldom took to
smelling the wary books. They smelled of old pages, and as days passed, it
became my smoke of ecstasy. When I got wary of not finding enough magic in the
sentences, the fragrance became my rescue, and oddly enough, I used to feel
that even that strange smell restored wisdom in me, as if through osmosis.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 32px 0px 10.66px;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">Perhaps it was my personal way of making up for the years lost in
running away from the goblet of pure knowledge, or at least, believing that I
was making up.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 32px 0px 10.66px;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">It was a matter of years, and then, even though it should have been
sooner, I realized that I had the potential to love. I did not just mingle with
the pages for their ecstatic smell or for the selfish motive of quick wisdom,
but for the very first time, I wanted to know what that page had to say. I
read.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lFTleZNl5iptnc9zgZElI4rIQx4y-Ezsh61XdgOz1wrQy9qQun-BwUpjIJRFS9sAe2FCDWdxM2rZFh3CeYCjewVNzrnNkB7-3AeVb_fUZ0TCqgcbYkJjugWby4s10-FJNQT29w30_14/s1600/books-featured-image-june-books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="977" data-original-width="1600" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lFTleZNl5iptnc9zgZElI4rIQx4y-Ezsh61XdgOz1wrQy9qQun-BwUpjIJRFS9sAe2FCDWdxM2rZFh3CeYCjewVNzrnNkB7-3AeVb_fUZ0TCqgcbYkJjugWby4s10-FJNQT29w30_14/s640/books-featured-image-june-books.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">That was when I was taken aback by the power a book could carry. I was
astonished to feel my mind under the influence of simple ink on parchment. The
words stayed with me, and it was as I had lived a hundred years at a very ripe
age. To put it in simple terms, I realized that a book could carry me beyond
ages and places without any restraint in time or space, essentially because of the
naïve mind. If you have studied your biology well, you will know that most of
our senses report to our mind and then the mind processes that particular
feeling or stimuli. Well, a book becomes our senses when we readers indulge in
one. It directly feeds the stimuli to our mind, and our mind helps us get
carried away to worlds far beyond our very own.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 32px 0px 10.66px;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">My love for books was complicated. Once I started with one of their
pages, I couldn’t stop. I could read until my eyes hurt or my mind got
exhausted with the extensive travel. I knew this was insane, and quite risky,
given my role as a student in this world. I had to get back to tasks, which was
of course, a mountain of struggles. But I managed to get back, because “it does
not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live”. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">There was a problem though. Once I exited my fantasies, I found it
very difficult to go back, knowing very well that it will take me a solid
effort to pull out of one as soon as the reality ushers me again. After months
on end I stayed away from my books. Not because I did not want to read one, but
because I had to sort out my priorities, and the list was not very often headed
by very pleasing tasks. But I would come back when I could and spend days on end
completing rows of books at one go.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBFoEYe7_8Mpt8YilT5QUail_LBgt-R7TdpFpXL-NZ4EQSDbX2iUZYrWiP0CP44u_irbw1SyctlN34_h14OgGbTY2BuMHoqDahKTNLvT3B9iW4VNjHXoqZ13mqJFvCeNpbd5bBUa1OoCA/s1600/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="695" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBFoEYe7_8Mpt8YilT5QUail_LBgt-R7TdpFpXL-NZ4EQSDbX2iUZYrWiP0CP44u_irbw1SyctlN34_h14OgGbTY2BuMHoqDahKTNLvT3B9iW4VNjHXoqZ13mqJFvCeNpbd5bBUa1OoCA/s640/Capture.PNG" width="640" /></a><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 32px 0px 10.66px;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">I was like a soldier fighting against the daily calls of duty,
coming back home after months to express my love to those closest to the heart. Books
were my family, they were my home. Perhaps that is why they advise us to be
avid readers, because books have the power to keep our homesick hearts at bay.
They are like tiny blocks of our home which has its foundation in a parallel
Universe. They are a part of ourselves living apart, in another world and in
another time.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 32px 0px 10.66px;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">With a book, every day is a hundred days crammed in one. “A reader lives
a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only once.”. It
is our ticket to a sunrise amid the stars.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
16th June, 2018</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Pictures: Google Images</div>
</div>
Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-15193390688280845442017-01-08T08:04:00.004-08:002017-06-22T08:32:44.600-07:00Why I have No Religion?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNr5HWjrFHWLqOIcJ5z57MC78wEYIsDaIqDgaqj9s9u0OSHG8AKxZeJ2V2360cMHnpc8u1MfkXT1MJAzfwc4CKRDa1qKPTx55U7o6FiyHbUUowIh7xNFSAjMkuPpimJ1wN90bjOJQvtdc/s1600/Worship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNr5HWjrFHWLqOIcJ5z57MC78wEYIsDaIqDgaqj9s9u0OSHG8AKxZeJ2V2360cMHnpc8u1MfkXT1MJAzfwc4CKRDa1qKPTx55U7o6FiyHbUUowIh7xNFSAjMkuPpimJ1wN90bjOJQvtdc/s640/Worship.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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No one has seen me pray truly...but there are innumerable prayers I have prayed in the shadows of solitude.</div>
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These prayers haunt the corners where no eye can find them and where no ear can hear them.</div>
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The reason for this intimacy is my controversial methods of seeking God, the one true I have ever known.</div>
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All this while I have feared that if I reveal how I truly seek The One, perhaps there will be a breach of trust with my imaginary friend. Sometimes I’ve even feared that my people will be prejudiced against my habits because we were all taught to fear controversies.</div>
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However, I suddenly have the urge to let people know that there are no boundaries beyond their so called wall...and I want them to realize what it is to be off the grid.<br />
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To begin, my ways of revering <b>Him</b> was developed due to different courses my childhood embarked upon.</div>
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Being under the influence of convents and churches from the very beginning, I learned the words of the Catholics. “The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” never failed to fascinate me with the power in magical words. Their words became the light to find the holiness and there has been no other language which has successfully helped me draw the energy closer when I was in need of it.</div>
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Also, brought up by a bourgeoisie Bengali family, the only true faces of God I have known and believed in belonged mostly to the Hindu Goddesses. From Durga and Kali to Lakshmi and Saraswati, I have felt the presence of power only in female resorts of vacant souls. It is only when I picture those very faces looking over with their watchful eyes and a faint holistic smile, that I feel secure even in the foggiest moments. I have seen that face frown, seen it unhappy and I have seen it merry like no other! I refer to him as <b>him</b>, yet I see him as <b>her</b>.</div>
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I’ve known God in the most unrealistic ways, yet there has been no other face which has successfully helped me seek the one true power better.</div>
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Talking of gestures, my influences have been diverse. From television commercials and motion pictures, to books and impressive acquaintances, I have always been bewitched by the way their hands curve when followers of Islam ask for the company of God. The slightest touch of either hands on one another and the sphere it protectively creates for the face charms me every single time without fail.<br />
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With a crescent moon within the palms, Islam shall never fail to mesmerize the ones who desire to identify with its meaning.</div>
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Thus conclusively, <b>I pray with the words of a Catholic to a Hindu deity through the gestures of a Muslim,</b><br />
<b>and my religion is God</b>.</div>
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Our blood cannot define our Gods. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">There is not one religious path I can really follow, and hereby, I give up being on one.</span></div>
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Picture Courtesy: bahaiteachings.org</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-8108764043994350372016-05-14T07:45:00.001-07:002016-06-07T22:12:09.110-07:00Beyond the Screen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfUCUlUfrhp2nkcpG99Zo6Rx4E_zrGLlO68eE-dLGbxDne5K4K_k1iMm25ZrhPLH-NOdGS3SNos4YVrCCRLwK3nSBg20vvnhAS08Pddkqn5Pe2M44Efyo75Gv4kGFmUNA99VJDo_Dq3A/s1600/ohmygodd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfUCUlUfrhp2nkcpG99Zo6Rx4E_zrGLlO68eE-dLGbxDne5K4K_k1iMm25ZrhPLH-NOdGS3SNos4YVrCCRLwK3nSBg20vvnhAS08Pddkqn5Pe2M44Efyo75Gv4kGFmUNA99VJDo_Dq3A/s640/ohmygodd.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
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<br></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br></div>A few months ago, I started uploading my letters to a blog, and I’ve been promoting it ever since. The best part about being engaged in promoting it was, I came across a lot of opinions from people all over the world. I came across several blogs and communities and discovered that there were thousands of blogs and each had a new perspective. It was overwhelming to know that there were so many people out there who embraced the power of words with such fierce passion and that they still cared to voice their opinions.<br>
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There were still those who made the effort of discovering strange and distant minds...and all through the platform of the revolutionizing internet. Its simply magic. A person from a certain region gets to be inside the deepest caves of a mind sitting far far away looking at a whole new world through a little screen. Its a brilliant platform where only the minds interact, keeping our physical selves aside for a while.<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Rh7Tay3A3SDD3s739_fAmnxpA2WpMWS7mNdC9fbYYvve0Jg3LktQ_WNwzdbXdcCpuIT-llJ1y7Dzem2o5tNSQte-8G6dsoclphbvRW3I71wErrbs8PQ0USz8IRtRkUZgvfT3SkL_VqE/s1600/tricksforum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Rh7Tay3A3SDD3s739_fAmnxpA2WpMWS7mNdC9fbYYvve0Jg3LktQ_WNwzdbXdcCpuIT-llJ1y7Dzem2o5tNSQte-8G6dsoclphbvRW3I71wErrbs8PQ0USz8IRtRkUZgvfT3SkL_VqE/s640/tricksforum.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
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I’m a believer of the theory that the core of our souls rest in our mind...so in a dramatic sense, this makes the web an interface for souls...an interface for the inner being which rests within our mind...irrespective of how we look, speak or walk.<br>
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Its nothing short of magic.<br>
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Perhaps we are finally getting used to decoding and using the magic that surround all of us every moment...and very very soon there will be life-changing revelations about this world.<br>
<br>
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We humans have a very powerful mind and more we come to know of it, the more we respect and fear it. We hear, see, feel and think with our minds, and every differing opinion and perception we have, has its root in the mind. We think and act differently just because our brains are structured differently and its this difference which makes the human race as bright as it is...it is this difference which we are so eager to voice...and we have successfully discovered millions of ways to do the same, one of the ways being the Web.<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPOO1Fshjv48s14dPx-vgijtnC5Afr1SM9yp3m5gI0J4q0QUpOPAkTx8kZNRE_GLCxX5NV47ff4dIBQuKBk6lxlcJdafnFXyIcMjg5Br8DfPWwLYF18arIY_Zd4oM6d2nFhhk1aMeB0J8/s1600/substanceforyou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPOO1Fshjv48s14dPx-vgijtnC5Afr1SM9yp3m5gI0J4q0QUpOPAkTx8kZNRE_GLCxX5NV47ff4dIBQuKBk6lxlcJdafnFXyIcMjg5Br8DfPWwLYF18arIY_Zd4oM6d2nFhhk1aMeB0J8/s640/substanceforyou.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
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Ranging from videos, social media and music to blogs, apps and e-books...people have come to know of the power and ecstasy the internet can provide them. People have found a pleasure in going “viral” and the initial goal has evolved from 'expressing views' to 'expressing views and making it popular'.<br>
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Its a different world out there...inside the screen. Sitting behind one, we no longer need to hide, which of course makes the expression of self much more easy and smooth. Its a whole new world which promises a very unexpected future. I'm glad that this world gave me a wide range of opportunities and pulled me out of the cocoon I once was so comfortable in.<br>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Date: 26th May, 2015</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Time: 11:45 AM</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Kolkata</div>
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<br></div>
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Image courtesy:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
substanceforyou.com</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
ohmygodd.com</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
tricksforums.com</div>
</div>
Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-3593532830499589332016-03-20T07:37:00.003-07:002017-01-26T22:50:46.368-08:00Eternal Life - Live for as long as you want.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgL1WzLyl-X4aspH9ZZNdjx2PAtwnUHtqiFkg6cbIfNSOKAWlRT9y2dJIvaKZYnyGz-sdjILsM90ne6GpVHEjP1qv0dFRJjdo3Ygay31exAU1GFAVGx83QuKEh6gkhYcluuxdk34lsfg/s1600/Lifetitle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgL1WzLyl-X4aspH9ZZNdjx2PAtwnUHtqiFkg6cbIfNSOKAWlRT9y2dJIvaKZYnyGz-sdjILsM90ne6GpVHEjP1qv0dFRJjdo3Ygay31exAU1GFAVGx83QuKEh6gkhYcluuxdk34lsfg/s640/Lifetitle.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I feel really blank today...sitting with a pen and a paper just for the sake of it.<br />
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Usually I write only when my mind is overflowing with thoughts...but today I'm just hopelessly blank...so I guess I'll just summarize few of my past experiences...<br />
<br />
Recently, I visited Bangalore and Bhubaneshwar for exam and admission purpose...so naturally, I got to explore and tour a lot...and the most interesting part of this whole journey was that every little thing felt so extravagantly beautiful. From sky scraping buildings to old men at coffee shops....from flightless little birds to the endless cacophony of the traffic. Every passing moment was personified for some reason...and it made me feel like life was finally being lived.<br />
<br />
I kept linking this unnatural experience to something I heard in the distant past. "We all live a little longer as a kid." Time is stretched for the younger souls. As a child, everything our senses touch upon, is new. We put more focus into everything that surrounds us, we are awestruck by the simplest of events just...just because they are new. All our senses remain alert for us to intensely experience every moment. We live the most.<br />
<br />
On growing, our alertness to everything around us diminish...and we get the illusion that time is flying away, at tremendous speed. This piece of theory intrigued me...affected me deeply. As I've mentioned previously, I already feel that my time is limited, so, when I heard about this theory, <i> </i>I sort of realized that there's a way to live way beyond the years that Time allot to each and everyone of us.<br />
<br />
It is the simple act of observation. I am a witness myself. When I really observe something, I get connected with it, which helps me to understand the true nature of the object. It can be anything and everything...mountains, bottles, cats, clouds...absolutely anything. When we are observing something, we are actually sparing a thought or two for that object. This is a very quick process, but as we are thinking...and we know that thinking is a very complicated process, we have the illusion that time is being stretched.<br />
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And this really works...when we wonder like a child at everything we see, every moment elongates itself, making us live a longer life in our mind.<br />
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The only obstacle to this illusory long life is that most of us don't bother to wonder at the simplest thing our life gifts us. We just don't give a damn about the common everyday stuff...which can very smoothly be turned into a rare piece of admiration. The key ingredient is imagination...with a hint of rationalism. This mix acts like a magical potion which connects the internal and external world. Every other time one sees an object, he must view it with a different perception...view it from varying angles. Flexibility of the mind is very important. Once we see an object, we form opinions about it...but the next time we see it, our minds must be powerful enough to go past those opinions...and...and look beyond!<br />
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This multi-angled view sometimes makes us lose faith in our own decision making skills...because every angle which used to be wrong, seems legit from another angle...Having a different set of opinions for different perceptions will cause internal conflict, but only then can one understand the beauty of the bigger picture and the pleasure of conflict...and ultimately, the decisions grow firmer, better.<br />
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So, when we'll view things from varying angles, every other time, we'll be amazed by the discovery of a new potential the object traps in itself. The more we'll observe, more alert will be our senses, the more we'll live in our minds.<br />
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Its really that simple. The key to eternal life is mere observation.<br />
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...and I'm grateful for having realized this.<br />
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So, coming back to the link between the tourist spots and the theory, I think all those places...the monuments, the lighted streets, the strangers from the new city...everyone and everything, opened my senses a tad bit more! I wanted to take it all in at once..everything was new and fascinating. Perhaps that was the reason I felt so rich mentally.<br />
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There's a high possibility that this theory edges on not being accurate, but I believe in it, because my experiences tell me to do so. It has made me live longer than I would have usually lived in a given time span.<br />
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It is a major illusion...or may be not<br />
...but most things are...<br />
And sometimes...just sometimes...<br />
Illusions are better than reality.<br />
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Date: 22nd May, 2015</div>
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Time: 4:20 PM<br />
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Picture courtesy: en.wikipedia.org</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-52615759102093791562016-02-16T04:38:00.002-08:002016-02-16T10:44:00.522-08:00The Certainty of Randomness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_QT_8rt4uhJAa4jgpu3n01BPZl5QgVdE4Mei9bW7QUzHejAFtSQxbFeF9c9dDqHTi1HPP-HJerjxk0MIpmyVHvXqHnNyESvxv6dLJ0r6v9iSaOB9RjXTl-l5C0Pu6jZLEJlu-rmtKJQ/s1600/lone-tree-landscape-isolation-black-and-white-photography-edward-prince.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_QT_8rt4uhJAa4jgpu3n01BPZl5QgVdE4Mei9bW7QUzHejAFtSQxbFeF9c9dDqHTi1HPP-HJerjxk0MIpmyVHvXqHnNyESvxv6dLJ0r6v9iSaOB9RjXTl-l5C0Pu6jZLEJlu-rmtKJQ/s640/lone-tree-landscape-isolation-black-and-white-photography-edward-prince.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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All these years, I've observed one thing...we humans have been structured in such a way that we have a strange faith in 'randomness'...a term which we often confuse with 'luck'. We have the faith yet we prevent its true meaning to seep through us. Defining 'faith', 'randomness' or 'luck' isn't an easy task...and it'll perhaps take years to define <i>and </i>understand their true meaning.<br />
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Presently, I'm on a train, heading to Bangalore, and however strange it may sound..the simplest landscapes are attempting to make me weep...the simplest thing like a quirky curved banyan tree or the ups and downs of the little hills passing by...the curves of these mounds are beautiful...more fascinating than anything I've come across before.<br />
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...and all they are, are just shabby brown rocks...and I don't know why they are having this strange effect...<br />
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Maybe its not the beauty of it which induces the emotions. Perhaps its the strange apparent sensation of time and space being curved...and this train of thought occurred to me recently. In fact, I think I just realized that I've been living in such a relative span of time and space all along! I say "relative" since it appears as if everything that's happening or will happen are relative to one reference point....which is my everyday life.<br />
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Its like we live everyday in a given region, balance everything we do on the to-and-fro motion of a moving pendulum...then suddenly one day...we are miles away from that given region within hours...the same hours we would have probably used up to scroll through a silly random site. Suddenly we see people of whose existence we could've only thought of...or not even that.<br />
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Its all a matter of chance and randomness...how suddenly any point in space (us), which has a pattern of traversing through time....suddenly speeds up and moves way beyond the region it used to be in...and it all happens quite suddenly...this point goes to places so similar and so different....<br />
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Now imagine a seed of a tree carried by a bird from a far away land to another far away land. That seed is cared for by the water from rain which comes from yet another land...and then you, from another far away land, meet that grown up tree through the window of a train which carries you to another land! Such a rare occasion with minimal possibilities, yet so less wonder or curiosity to ignite minds.<br />
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If seen the other way around...space and time made an effort just to make this unique possibility a reality. I'm so sure its magical...otherwise how can such a uniquely beautiful phenomenon occur to each and every one of us! This magic is so common that it has become a part of us...we don't take notice of it anymore...we are taught not to.<br />
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Well, all of it is just another perspective...but in a way it is also kind of a reality...and in a way this very perspective enhances the essence of travelling by a ton!<br />
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All these faces here...so lost and drained out...they take no notice of the magic of uniqueness and randomness that surround each of them. They ignore the very fact that its not just a bland train journey...its so much more!<br />
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There's so much to thank for...yet complains never end and miseries never die.<br />
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People ask and people thank...but by the end of it all, hopefully they'll realize the value and beauty of randomness...and the very importance of it.<br />
After all, they have been chosen randomly by every dawn, to be the ones who get to keep their lives...they are the ones chosen by dusk to still keep breathing...<br />
Still...<br />
..and that's so much more than we can ask for...<br />
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Date: 7th May, 2015</div>
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Time: 8:55 AM</div>
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Image courtesy: givey.com</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-14281460283678292262015-12-23T03:10:00.003-08:002016-10-26T10:05:56.045-07:00What's Your Story?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nVmQn1eN2CYd7apU9DpLpTaTH2tebIUEsEPa6j_fj07fDaQc5ZI0xoHymCascgobI4GIbQ-efgeyxhGr0CH943xBEEHpVHXS-fhoLOXuWhnPngMGy2s6aJRKoWlED50FK4Mn-k5llNg/s1600/d90b197c2cf1cf734620e9055f30755f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nVmQn1eN2CYd7apU9DpLpTaTH2tebIUEsEPa6j_fj07fDaQc5ZI0xoHymCascgobI4GIbQ-efgeyxhGr0CH943xBEEHpVHXS-fhoLOXuWhnPngMGy2s6aJRKoWlED50FK4Mn-k5llNg/s640/d90b197c2cf1cf734620e9055f30755f.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lately, I’ve been realizing many things. These realizations tend to give my life a new meaning and a new perspective. I’ve written about it previously, but I’ll mention it again. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is that realization which says that every human is as important as the other. Its a very common thing to say perhaps, but its highly difficult to realize. I talk about this often as this fact strikes me everyday. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I get up every morning, thinking about my <i><b>own</b></i> day and everything that can go wrong with it...but when I step out of the door and face the world and its faces, I can’t stop myself from imagining their stories and realizing again, that at that very moment, all those faces have a reason to live....<i><b>not</b></i> because they are an “extra” in my story or a supporting actor perhaps...but because they are the lead of their <i><b>own</b></i> amazing story. They live with the knowledge that their story must go on...because its important...in their own minds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I go to sleep thinking about the faces and how I no longer am the protagonist of my own story. My mind gives way to million other stories, which are so gloriously beautiful, that it no longer feels like concentrating on one trickling story...which is my own. Every night I cease to be the protagonist because I choose to...but also there is no other protagonist...my mind becomes a book of short stories. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, again when I wake up the next morning, perhaps because of natural human instinct, I go back to how <i><b>my</b></i> day will proceed, how she will react to what <i><b>I</b></i> say, what impression <i><b>I’ll</b></i> have on him and so on...but realizing everyday, that its <i><b>not</b></i> all about <i><b>I</b></i>, <i><b>me</b></i> or <i><b>myself</b></i>, just by observing random faces of people I may never know, is strange indeed...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Coming to the second observation, I feel I’m losing the power of youth. There was a point in time when I strongly believed that I had no limits...that I can’t perish under any circumstance...but sadly, I suddenly have come to realize that I actually <i>have</i> my limits, which were previously blurred by the illusion of youth. I’ve found that I’m neither perfect nor the best but I’ve found joy in this very fact. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My mind has lost most of its power...things are draining out and I do not know why. They say...a mind can never cease to grow...and I do hope earnestly that they are right. I can’t remember things...things which are supposed to be remembered forever...they are lost in the maze of my memories. Sometimes, I feel that its a gift...to forget...and sometimes I feel that its a curse. I think I owe my lack of emotions and inability to cry truly, to this power of forgetfulness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The best part is that I’ve learned to control my memories. I can choose to forget and remember at will, which is another drawback of draining youth (and I'm not as old as this sentence suggests. 17. In fact, I'm supposed to be gaining youth instead of seeing it drained). Dark lanes of my past are still hidden somewhere in my mind...but when I choose to remember them I simultaneously choose to <b><i>not</i> </b>remember the feelings and my association with that moment. This is perhaps why recently, moments of nostalgia get me into an utter state of confusion...because nostalgia brings back feelings, without my permission,...and I’ve been living all along thinking that I’ve forgotten how to feel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">...and well, when the happy moments get in the way, all I can gift it, is a moment of gratefulness...because I’ve forgotten how to cherish memories...I can only live the moments now (another excuse to click tons of groupfies).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Third. I’ve also realized that its a sin to stop dreaming. Its never too late to be someone we have always dreamed to be. For instance, I’ve always wanted to be someone who’s above the crowd, someone different, someone who is known for having done something worth doing. This is also why I do not regret becoming the protagonist every morning...after all, its not so bad to think about our own selves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I’ve always wanted fame, knowledge and prosperity...and I believe that its not only my dream...this dream belongs to all those random faces in the crowd who get up thinking about themselves and end up trapped in another story which isn’t their own. I want to live their dream and follow my own too in the pursuit of finding a reality better than all our dreams. I know, its too much to ask for...but I don’t expect anything miraculous to happen...and neither do they. All those faces who stare blankly at the stars thinking of red carpets, lush gardens and abundant love from all who can acknowledge the same stars, are the ones who truly know what it is to live a dream within a dream...and honestly, sometimes, just sometimes, dreaming is way better than realizing that very dream. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"I have a dream."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">...and I suggest you do too. </span></div>
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Date: 3rd March, 2015</div>
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Time: 10:03 AM</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-43577388747921403702015-10-21T08:12:00.001-07:002015-11-18T03:59:19.213-08:00Magic to Decode Magic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqjvHD9nP5Xg0sgtQfZiwKL4b8fCXs2dRwEkIYP4iFS__Ds-AL5WTrWcxuHZ3vwr49wtX5G4uxlZ-uiNPokDj8OSz5RifU61BFkDXE6HQhyphenhyphenODaie2tVU9EyQhHSIsSrOcdti8uaDXcZxU/s1600/blog2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqjvHD9nP5Xg0sgtQfZiwKL4b8fCXs2dRwEkIYP4iFS__Ds-AL5WTrWcxuHZ3vwr49wtX5G4uxlZ-uiNPokDj8OSz5RifU61BFkDXE6HQhyphenhyphenODaie2tVU9EyQhHSIsSrOcdti8uaDXcZxU/s640/blog2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Sometimes, it feels like magic is the most awesome thing that can ever be! I do not speak of the "magic" which humans would generally associate with the word...Here, I speak of the magic which we are used to in our day to day life. The definition of magic is highly relative...and here's what I think of it...<br />
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Think about our very own universe and world...Where else can someone find twinkling objects floating around for billions of years? Where else can someone find awesome looking creatures with 'legs', 'arms', two 'ear'-like things sticking out from what these creatures call 'face'? Where else can someone find life being carved out from the lifeless? </div>
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Think of those curvy thread like objects peeking out from the dormant looking soil...they call these things 'trees' and I am fascinated just to see how these 'trees' are so similar to our veins and nerves. Perhaps they <i>are </i>the veins and nerves<i>.</i> The earth is as full of life as we are. 'Trees' show us why. Its a magical place...a magical place to be in.</div>
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Things like the invisible sheet of what they call 'air', a beautiful liquid which they call 'life' and sometimes 'water', a granular soil or a mix of the dead, which is walked upon by the living...everything...everything that's there has become 'us', a part of our minds. Its "magical" be 'us'...a magical thing to be.</div>
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As I grew up, I was always told, "magic" is an illusion, it never was and never will be. Whatever was or is, is supposed to be normal stuff...things which we are supposed to get used to. They told me, its not magic, its science...its logic. I wish they only knew, science is another kind of magic, and the scientists, they are the grand magicians, illusionists! Science is the magic to decode magic like a program created to verify and judge another program.<br />
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We ourselves are magical creatures, more magical than unicorns and satyrs, or maybe just the same...coz' if we go into the superficial details, most creatures are made of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen...which I believe are the magical ingredients. The universe can be the great cauldron to stir the magical potions...I wonder who's the wizard then? Is it the cauldron itself?...or something beyond or inside the cauldron? Assuming that magical 'someone' to be the 'creator', why does it (not sure of the gender) create stuff which aim at seeking the creator itself? Why does this creator create magic to decode and sense its own magic?...Does it need an audience?...or is it just experimenting?<br />
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Also, sometimes I wonder who created the creator?...and who created the creator who created the creator? How can something exist from nothing? Why are we existing at all? Are we an experiment gone wrong? Then in that case, the magician must be the greatest magician ever, coz' even the wrong seems so right! Maybe this 'creation' thing is like those infinite images in two consecutive mirrors. The image of the ultimate creator is so small and so hard to perceive, but the creator stands right in between the two mirrors...which is the sole reason for the existence of the image.<br />
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If we humans print some form of micro life from a 3D printer (if possible at all...actually its almost at the verge of becoming possible in the near future!) and leave that life in a distant habitable planet, evolution can kick in and give those creatures the power to think and decode the magic that's around them. Then they'll ask the same questions perhaps..."who created us?", "who created the creator who created us?", "why are we here at all?". If the 'humans' are fortunate enough to survive for so long, perhaps they'll (we'll) send satellites and spying devices just to monitor the 'experiment'. Then those creatures may notice one or two unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and think of us as aliens or whatever word they use to describe what we call 'aliens'. Then their search for other life forms and the creator will begin....and then one fine day, they may also decide to plant life somewhere else...and so on and so forth. Creation will continue as long as the magical ingredients keep themselves from getting exhausted.<br />
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However, the obvious question is- What happens next? After every life-forming and magic-forming ingredient is exhausted? Is our cauldron, our very own universe, discarded?...to be replaced by a new one?...but if the creator is itself inside the cauldron (assumption), will it like to put an end to itself? Maybe in the creator's terms, 'life' and 'death' exchange roles, even though they are mostly same everywhere. It dies or it may want to die to make place for something new.<br />
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With the end of everything that's there, everything magical...time will stop too, because time is a by-product of magic. The presence of matter generates time. Without matter, there'll be no time. I believe time does not age us or any form of matter. We get old because we create time, and if we want to stop getting old, we have to stop creating time, which is highly impossible because time will exist as soon as an object comes into existence.<br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "palatino linotype" , "book antiqua" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Time does not wrinkle us,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "palatino linotype" , "book antiqua" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "palatino linotype" , "book antiqua" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">As age is the mother of time.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "palatino linotype" , "book antiqua" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Wrinkles are just the scars</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "palatino linotype" , "book antiqua" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">One gets after the birth of time."</span> </div>
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~Creation of Time by Mr. X<br />
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Is it possible to beco<span style="font-family: inherit;">me abso</span>lutely invincible? We may develop stuff to reverse our growing and ageing process (imitating the process of life cycle from Japanese jellyfish <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">Turritopsis dohrnii), </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">but can we ever stop time?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Its the property of matter- to generate time. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Now, imagine a really empty space. Without even one single molecule, wave, dark matter, or anything that can exist. Now suppose I put a human there. Four things are likely to happen. First, humans on earth will praise me for having found such a place. Second, they'll turn me into a villain instantly for putting the lad in there (a completely different scenario if I were to put an animal). Third, the man will face death. Fourth, the instant I put the person in there (without being there- hypothetical stuff), at that very instant, time will begin in the space which is no longer empty. The body will age, compounds and elements will get scattered, and there'll be so much generation of time, that there'll suddenly be a lot of time in that empty space. Time will touch a place which was once only surrounded by time. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Time...just a by-product, yet so intriguing! Now, imagine how intriguing we ourselves are...life...the main product of every process...or may be not. Everything around us has so much potential...but we are yet to discover it. By now, we have only reached the by-products, and I hope that soon enough, we'll reach the core of magic that we are surrounded with, that we are ourselves. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> However, today we prefer to be ignorant of the spell that's all around us. Our world is more magical than that of Harry Potter's, Percy Jackson's or even Frodo Baggins'. All one needs is the right pair of eyes. Harry uses a wand to create magic but you don't need to. You are a walking and talking pack of magic. They call the 'unusual' stuff magic. I think its most of us...we are intrigued by a magic which is just a representation of the magic that's real. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">Reality is an amusing thing, it takes years for someone to understand it, and then just a few seconds maybe, to again lose track of it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> I don't know why we've chosen flying horses to be better than our running ones, or winged people to be more virtuous than our earthly featherless men. They are "magical" because they are unusual and rare...and I believe its a property of life, or maybe just humans, to preserve and protect the rare and the unusual. Whether it is an object, a human trait, or an idea, rare and unusual items will always find preference. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> To feel and observe the true magic, all we need to do is look closer, look past what is visible, look beyond time, look deeper and deeper. Most magicians will warn that the closer one looks, the easier it is to trick...but this ain't the magic which most magicians are used to perform. Do not look at the far and way too small image in the infinite-image-forming mirrors. Look right where you stand- right between the two mirrors...coz' I hope you didn't forget, we are magic. With the power to decode magic</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">Date: 18th April 2015</span></div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-2648537907520828862015-09-01T11:57:00.001-07:002015-10-18T07:39:21.672-07:00A Puzzled Mind<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Recently, I've observed that I have lots of clashes with people regarding ideologies. It's strange how every other person's philosophy differ from mine and each of them have some common principles...It feels like its only me who completely differ and almost with everyone! In fact, at times, my thoughts create huge inner clashes as well. I can't seem to understand my own thoughts! They have clearly superseded my understanding. While talking with people, they try to convince me of their views and I do the same as well....but this is common knowledge, every idea must face some initial resistance. People will oppose a thought initially, and then present their own thought, try to prove that its better, and then settle with the better idea.<br />
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Its also a fact that people can't bear to hear philosophical stuff from seventeen year olds...and more so if the ideas completely differ! Its true that they have experience on their side, but the youth has the power of perception, which is weaker in the older. Ideas, philosophies and thoughts are things that one discover...they cannot be incorporated into someone's mind solely from an external source. Forcing one's ideas on another is wrong and even I'm guilty of that sin.<br />
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Coming to the inner clashes regarding my thoughts, recently I feel like I've lost the ability of decision making. My belief that tells me that there is nothing that can judge what is right and what is wrong, has made me lose faith in most human judgments. I no longer understand my mind...and sometimes there's this feeling that it has lost its romanticism...which makes things a bit bland, but also interesting in a different perspective.<br />
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Realizing that so many questions of mine will remain unanswered till the last moment, makes me suffocate inside my own body. I'll never know what are the ultimate answers or even the ultimate questions. Everything I see, makes me think about the real significance of that very object, the significance of my very being and everything that's around...but there ain't no significance...right? Things are there just because they are there...but just maybe.<br />
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Previously, I also mentioned 'death' in an article...and why death doesn't exist. Its just a transition from one form to another. This might sound spiritual but its something quite different. However, in spite of all these philosophies and mental support from my own brain, a part of me has started fearing death. Well, not even a quarter of my life is over and I already feel that my time is limited. In fact, my mind has literally inflicted tortures on me by taking me past time to an uncertain future and then back....and all of it felt so real. So real.<br />
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Perhaps, I'll never understand my mind which is why I'll never know myself. Oh...just remembered a quote by Rabindranath Tagore..."A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It bleeds the hands that uses it.". No one wants to be the mind which is all logic... its suffocating, its scary and fearful! Sometimes, I feel I've forgotten how to see things the way others do. There's no normalcy anymore.<br />
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I've always considered this as a gift...to see things differently. Everyone is gifted with that different pair of eyes which shows a different world...which is why we have a million worlds in one! I still consider this to be a gift. However, the fact that I've not been able to decipher this gift till date, unnerves me a bit...and the possibility that deciphering the meaning may not be possible at all, chills me to the bones.<br />
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Accumulating all my experiences, I've realized this one thing- our very own mind humbles us by the power it sustains, much beyond its own understanding...and what makes our mind so special, so different from other creations is the amazing phenomenon- evolution. All of us have evolved from that tiny speck. We are ultimately, a bunch of elements governed by the universe...and I still don't get it - why we call a few objects living and the other ones non-living?! Its not only life that evolves, breathes or grows...everything does...more or less.<br />
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Ah! Again I drifted away to another topic...but now do you see the great dilemma?! I don't seem to have the answers to the questions which are taught to infants. At least they know the difference between life and the non-living objects...and I'm still seeking an answer. Things were so much more clearer before, but now they are all jumbled up...Perhaps I've forgotten how to tell reality from illusion.<br />
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Date: 28/02/2015</div>
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Time: 2:48 PM</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-12376301062212844802015-07-03T06:12:00.000-07:002015-10-18T07:26:50.239-07:00I Will Persist Till The End Of Time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lately, the idea of "limit" has ceased my mind. I've just started exploring the newer aspects of life and already it feels like my days are numbered. Being of 17, I've already gone through scenes in my mind where I'm 70! Its a strange sensation and I wish I was capable enough to express those experiences through words. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All I can say is, these strange visions make me feel completely powerless when compared to time. More importantly, it humbles me enough to make me realize we are just objects which originate at one point in space and time and then apparently disappear in another. So, we are basically <i>just </i>humans, like water droplets in the ocean, like grains of sands in the desert and like the little speck of dust - our world, in the universe. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At first, things appear so different, but gradually all the differences appear as if they were similarities. Yes, I think, I feel, I act...very much unlike a rock...which does nothing. A rock is formed after years of chemical and physical reactions and even after the formation, the reactions do not halt. They continue and ultimately cause the death of the rock.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> How am I different? I was born due to chemical reactions, I function due to chemical reactions (thinking, feeling...actually everything)...and ultimately I'll die due to the various activities occurring between the elements. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ugh! I again drifted away...Anyways, coming back to the "limit of time", maybe its just an illusion. More so, as when we grow old (I realize this as I write), we think that our lot of joyful and sorrowful days are over and we'll die soon enough. However, shifting again to the chemical perspective, after we die, only a few of the million reactions cease to exist - those which help in creation of thoughts, emotions, message transfer and other life-functions. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The matter in our body never stops reacting with the external environment like it did when we were living. The only difference is perhaps, a few reactions are replaced by new ones...and I was also thinking of mentioning that the new set of reactions are no longer concentrated to one human life, but then I realized, that's how it always works - be it a human dead or alive. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this obviously leads to the conclusion that there's a chain of reactions which we are a part of...in fact its common knowledge. A thing which exists, can never stop existing...even if not always as the "thing". Maybe this is why the concept of soul arrives. The concept is a proof that the ancients were remarkable thinkers who delivered the true message to us in encrypted format. Things persist, maybe not in the same form as they did when they first came into being, instead they occur in changing states and varying forms. So, <i>we never actually die. We just change forms. </i>(Sounds familiar?)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One day, when all the reactions end in one final step (which is very improbable) then on that day, maybe time will stop too. It will be the end of time and as all of us <i>will be </i>a part of the last reaction, <i>we will persist till the end of time.</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will clarify by the way, all of this is just another train of thought. Its completely upto you to decide whether to board the train or not. I just feel good to pen down these thoughts...because while writing, words show me a whole new perspective of life. It just showed me why I no longer need to fear age and death. Language is perhaps the most beautiful gift that has been bestowed on mankind...and by the way, this gift is also a by-product of electrons and nuclear particles!</span></div>
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Date: 12/02/2015</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-60385224738283352682015-06-27T03:46:00.001-07:002015-10-18T07:22:28.626-07:00Reservations - Just or Unjust?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Date: 09/02/2015<br />
Time: 9:30 PM<br />
Location: Kolkata<br />
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In the human-society, the rich always take the rein of dominance in their own hands. They rule the world and the poor labor to build the thrones. There has always been a very sharp line dividing the world of the prosperous and that of the impoverished. The good news is, change is the only constant thing. Men become rich and its not long before they lose their fortune due to their own callousness.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZVtfXO4e3cOOSKSZkYpgwp4JBndJuRho8vdihyphenhyphenltaQiwDNqu7qbwjaa5d3m4bvp2bYH0Prz_dyj6rZghtiHhQgd6TDJFCJRSNI1Nl4OD-GinrvI5J4D-2OlMBcpS2IsKDbEtxFq-OxSw/s1600/funnyjunk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZVtfXO4e3cOOSKSZkYpgwp4JBndJuRho8vdihyphenhyphenltaQiwDNqu7qbwjaa5d3m4bvp2bYH0Prz_dyj6rZghtiHhQgd6TDJFCJRSNI1Nl4OD-GinrvI5J4D-2OlMBcpS2IsKDbEtxFq-OxSw/s320/funnyjunk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Resources will always keep changing hands and people will keep crossing the sharp line which divides our world into two halves (not in context of the equator!). However, amidst all these changes, one unfortunate thing will always remain constant- those with minimal resources will always be crushed by the higher powers and this will last as long as civilization lasts.<br />
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In contrast to this unfortunate fact, one significant solution (it claims to be a solution) has been constructed by the society of the modern man. Its called 'reservation'. Reservation<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> is to <span style="color: #222222; line-height: 15.6000003814697px;">arrange for (a room, seat, ticket, etc.) to be kept for the use of a particular person (according to Google). </span></span>Reservation occurs in any institute or organization. Even a certain number of job offers, food reserves and survival aids are provided to what society calls the 'backward classes and tribes' (Yes, this is not about 'reservation' of a restaurant table or a hotel room- if you were expecting that sort of a thing) There has been a lot of debate on the matter- Exactly how correct or incorrect this stance is?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHLkAkGoyyyfpBvji4X-HbGOd6tXwQiRliUO72-l4tnKCQT8YJhSvN9DBfeN91BoZC9hu7XsNw4wybD9Ar0ChbbT5sRicg_mEyJ-P42Ba0gQgHS0XrGcNGYaOTBf1Kv6qEXU6O_F7-4o/s1600/q.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHLkAkGoyyyfpBvji4X-HbGOd6tXwQiRliUO72-l4tnKCQT8YJhSvN9DBfeN91BoZC9hu7XsNw4wybD9Ar0ChbbT5sRicg_mEyJ-P42Ba0gQgHS0XrGcNGYaOTBf1Kv6qEXU6O_F7-4o/s320/q.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
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If we count the heads on the opposing sides, it almost turns out to be equal. There are some who are significantly bothered by this concept of reservation. According to them, its never fair when a less deserving candidate gets the last opportunity available. Those with wider knowledge and greater skill do not get the chance to display and use their talent just because their rightful place was 'reserved' for someone else.<br />
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However, when the whole scenario is perceived from a different angle altogether, it seems that reservation is a well planned move. This is the case when we view the situation with the eyes of those who stand <i>for</i> 'reservation'. According to this perception, when a person with limited resources perform averagely, she/he should be given more credit than the person who happened to perform slightly better with plenty of resources available.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrgJyniWDjh104iNZHRvOlkQGvxHOiprWpUF3qgY_wkafF8CltqdGsQuFH17J49R-SnLk2OGP5tBwx9ay1WMZSwhSeIGKyU_hlUff9fmFAGs58VQIZTZi0yp0ko27UNxoTxR63Av8Gc2E/s1600/instablogs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrgJyniWDjh104iNZHRvOlkQGvxHOiprWpUF3qgY_wkafF8CltqdGsQuFH17J49R-SnLk2OGP5tBwx9ay1WMZSwhSeIGKyU_hlUff9fmFAGs58VQIZTZi0yp0ko27UNxoTxR63Av8Gc2E/s320/instablogs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The problem arises when one needs to decide exactly which perception is the correct one. Its often said that nothing can be right or even wrong, but when a situation has a base (here, its a well defined society) to rest upon, usually the judge can reach a decision. </div>
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When we shift our perception to a completely different level, a new scenario arises. As it is, today the world population is huge..and its not supposed to be so huge. All the humans who live today, are not supposed to be present on earth at the same instant. Its like that piece of land where birds drop numerous seeds. Only the stronger seeds transform into a tree and continue the cycle of life...the rest die. </div>
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The only option is the fight for survival. If the rich classes utilize their acquired resources to increase their chances of survival and diminish those of the others, it'll be wise to accept that their action is fair. Obviously it sounds like a cruel and heart-less thing to do...but in a civilized society, this is the mildest form of battle. Certain laws of nature cannot be made obsolete with civilization. </div>
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Also, if the weaker classes in the society manage to convince the world of their real worth (and it'll be a hard thing to do, because the world turns blind whenever it needs to see something important) and make it believe that they deserve a better place in the future, its all fair again. Be it reservations, or any other methods, they are just means to secure a higher survival rate and a better scope to see one's own traits in the generations to follow.<br />
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The ones who stand by 'reservation', see worthy individuals with high potential in the withdrawn and subdued faces. They find it mandatory to preserve and protect the traits of those who are ignored and left out from society...because one must always know that diamonds are found in the darkest caves. Those who are against reservation, are more likely the one's whose chances of securing a better place in the future are threatened by those who demand the same place (and possibly the latter gets it because they were assigned that place before they even wanted it).<br />
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Its quite amusing actually, still we didn't reach a conclusion. The question still persists with no definite answer- Is 'reservation' just or unjust? Probably no one will ever know until they posses a biased view. It is correct and incorrect at the same time possibly...yes, that must be the case. We all are correct and incorrect at the same time.<br />
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Case yet to be solved.</div>
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Court Adjourned!</div>
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Images from (order same as that of the images):</div>
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funnyjunk.com , quora.com , meetville.com , indiaforum.com , youthkiawaaz.com</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-48718804397944007392015-06-22T10:05:00.001-07:002015-10-18T07:20:44.403-07:00Dreams and the Perception of Reality (Warning: This will confuse you!)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Date: 08/02/15</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Time: 11:45 PM</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Location: Kolkata, India</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> I've come across many people who do not believe in the idea of dreams and dreaming. I do not speak of the casual dreams that we have at night and forget as soon as daylight pushes open the eyelids. This is in context of those dreams which are way beyond a given person's reach, and it's structure is supported by the aid of imagination and not a single hint of reality resides in it. These are those dreams which we would rather exchange for reality. Its not only about unearthly and fairy tale stuff, but its also about things which are real, but far too unreachable and beautiful for becoming a reality for a given person.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Dreaming big isn't that bad...it never was. Even if those extraordinary dreams do not come true, I'd say, its completely fine to waste our time there. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Its very important that we do not pay heed to those who complain about the "dreamers" in the room. </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When we dream of things which are apparently elusive, we offer a part of our mind to actually be inside the dream. We want our minds to believe in the dream, which in turn makes the mind order the body to function accordingly. This makes the body react the way it would if the situations were real. For example, if you are dreaming about having a dog (can't think of any other example because this is my most recurrent dream, correction: unobtainable dream *sigh*), your body will probably release oxytocin, which will make you feel the same love, the same feelings of comfort and longing which you have when you look into the eyes of a cute and cuddly dog. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Its wonderful actually, how we can feel the same things, experience the same situations and live the same moments...both in the real and the <strike>unreal</strike> world created by our minds. There's very little difference between the two worlds actually. Reality is a continuous phenomenon and a dream is reality, offered in bits. Alright, the previous statement may be a bit confusing if you have not heard of the "phaneron" concept. This theory says that there's a difference between reality and how we perceive reality. What we perceive is actually the product, obtained after the input is passed through the filters of our senses. Then again, there's filtration by our mind. This means whatever we understand from our surroundings, is actually a product of our mind...just like a dream. Reality is real because we think its real. Reality is what we perceive most of the time, and some random person from the past, decided to name this phenomenon "real". Our dream is "reality offered in bits" because we perceive things within dreams as well. This world of dreams is only experienced by us when we have the time and leisure to dream...unlike reality which we experience all the time. Both are products of our mind.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg33BIla85YkpLuxdnfL0ifl21FRzwDlDagGxjhyphenhyphenu7emwzkSCwmkfrwIx_MMxHsENUkg-xoBoxBwywpcibWhx_NmaNvaFj5gn97ZCWwYf0X7G1moe5Mm90hOKEYPSwdr-0EkOlmDq_0UZw/s1600/whta-your-sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg33BIla85YkpLuxdnfL0ifl21FRzwDlDagGxjhyphenhyphenu7emwzkSCwmkfrwIx_MMxHsENUkg-xoBoxBwywpcibWhx_NmaNvaFj5gn97ZCWwYf0X7G1moe5Mm90hOKEYPSwdr-0EkOlmDq_0UZw/s640/whta-your-sign.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> In fact, certain people (called solipsists) believe that whatever they perceive, is just a fragment of their mind. You'll never be able to make them believe that what they see really exists, simply because they consider even you to be a fragment of their thoughts. In this universe nothing is really certain. It might just be that these people are the one's who are correct in their perception. It is also possible that now, when I'm writing this, the pen, the paper...all are just moving and scribbling in my thoughts. Maybe nothing exists...not even my body, just the mind which makes a world of its own, a mind which thinks body parts exist, a mind which thinks that reality is real. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> In the very same way, it can be that you...yes YOU, you are the one who is making all this up. Maybe right now, you are reading just another fragment of your own mind. You just think that some other person has written this, but maybe that's not true...and probably, now your mind is revealing all the secrets to you as you read this. Its your mind which just thinks that its reading words on paper and thinks that the information is being supplied from an external source, but truly, all of it is a product of your fascinating mind which hides and reveals at the same moment...Remember Matrix? There was this character, Morpheus, who talks about the same thing, explains it just perfectly- <span style="background-color: white;">"<span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."...</span><span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Then another one- Cypher -</span><span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"> "</span><span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious." Just replace the "Matrix is telling my brain" with "Mind is telling my body"</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">...</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">but all these perspectives and theories will always have a "maybe" hanging to it.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4mOqvbsvV7VWwu7RVCezkkUlpmgpXMarE6H66GpK1DI41kHa0RT1iK8KO4wKxj7DmDqrolm0COLWi_qbYNw3CeWKgKBdVUiYp1XjvJIdyOeKno31Px5501Ut2UcYfXstYmw1G3twTvs/s1600/devianart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4mOqvbsvV7VWwu7RVCezkkUlpmgpXMarE6H66GpK1DI41kHa0RT1iK8KO4wKxj7DmDqrolm0COLWi_qbYNw3CeWKgKBdVUiYp1XjvJIdyOeKno31Px5501Ut2UcYfXstYmw1G3twTvs/s640/devianart.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> This two syllable word is in fact the law of the universe- "Maybe". Nothing is certain, it never was, it never will be...and probably that's the best part about this universe...Another great thing about this universe is the existence of human minds...we are more than fortunate to have one. Its our responsibility to do the best possible things with the aid of our minds...and dreaming certainly falls in the to-do list! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> It might just be, that one fine day you realize, your reality is just a dream, and what you dream of, is your real reality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Images from (order same as that of the images):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">blogrope.com , linkdin.com , whats-your-sign.com , devianart.com , paulcbrunson.com</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">P.S.- In case you are thinking about why I mentioned pen and paper instead of keyboard and screen, this is part of a journal entry (written and not typed) dated 8th Feb, 2015. Lots of edits are there of-course, but I decided to keep that part untouched.</span><br />
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-78772848963860347952015-06-16T07:19:00.000-07:002015-10-18T07:19:13.256-07:00The Uncertain Path Towards Beauty<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAswxHlxZxZs4sd9l79TdekkAxK2-7-fHsRR5hm1CjiW057ONVVje3I8yXg5jX5QiVA07C-kY2k3LApR1ajDU7qjWmGq1IYHmTaDJvCuOxVfMYqDlfCbH5zdbgaR3ugKyC1zFKiE_jzjk/s1600/divinehumancourse.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAswxHlxZxZs4sd9l79TdekkAxK2-7-fHsRR5hm1CjiW057ONVVje3I8yXg5jX5QiVA07C-kY2k3LApR1ajDU7qjWmGq1IYHmTaDJvCuOxVfMYqDlfCbH5zdbgaR3ugKyC1zFKiE_jzjk/s640/divinehumancourse.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Date: 08/01/15</div>
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Time: 9:00 PM</div>
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Location: Kolkata, India</div>
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Sometimes, what we really want is, proceed in the direction where everyone is headed. There's this new faith and a longing for experiencing the subtle human emotions and behaviors by walking with the crowd itself (and not being a part of it at the same time). There's this sudden discovery of beauty in the everyday human lives and the humans themselves and all we know is how much we love being alive and that too as a human. We suddenly know what magic really means and realize the potential of every object that can exist.</div>
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That's exactly the feeling that I'm going through at this moment. There's this strange "feel-good" feeling which makes everything way more beautiful than they normally are- the heart feels lighter, people are more reliable, kids act as a symbol of joy rather than annoyance and I somehow manage time to watch the moon late at night and imagine strange disney stuff!...No, I'm not in love and also not quite a hopeless romantic. This just happens...and I'd say that I've been fortunate enough to realize the beauty of everything that's there, many a times. Its that time when we fall in love with not just one person...but everything that's human...and everything else too! Okay...if this is confusing...more simply it means that you suddenly know what it means to be alive and know how gorgeous life really is...and this knowledge is so intense that breathing in and out suddenly becomes the most magical experience that you've ever had! The beauty of the world becomes so overwhelming that you know tears were never made for sadness. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From pathtoayurveda.com</td></tr>
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Frankly, I do not know much about life or the living and this is so because I've not had the opportunity to experience much (did not yet step into the realms of the adult world)...but I know, I'm on my way to discover the most wonderful aspects of this world...the journey has already begun...and somehow I feel this journey towards a more experienced me, is going to be the most surreal experience. Sure, there'll be a lot of low points in this uncertain path, but that'll only amplify the beauty of what matters. Darkness is important because that way I'll know what is light. One of the most extraordinary part of this journey will be the path towards self discovery...because presently I'm highly uncertain about everything related to me. I know my name, but I don't really know who I am. I know my goals, but I'm unaware of my purpose. I know what my thoughts are about, but I don't have a clue about the secrets deep inside my own mind. I'm a stranger to myself if not to the world. I'm a stranger to the world if not to myself.</div>
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src="data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBxQTEhUUExQUFBQUFBgUFxgVGBcYFRoVFxQXFxcYFxcaHCggGBwlHBQVITEiJSkrLi4uFx8zODMsNygtLisBCgoKBQUFDgUFDisZExkrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrK//AABEIALoBDwMBIgACEQEDEQH/xAAbAAACAgMBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAwEEAAUGB//EADsQAAICAQMBBgQDBgYCAwEAAAECAAMRBBIhMQUGE0FRYSJxgZEyofAHFFKxwdEjM0Ji4fFDcoKSwiT/xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA/8QAFBEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8A8qDZjrK2UDcCN6h1JGMocgMPUEg8+02vdHsM6mxia3sp06+JaqfiYE/BWD5F24z5AMfKdDr1r1NN5azTtrWsqDFnWvT0adcnZQzHDBcKrFR5+fMDldBp67KLsq4sqXxhZuGzb4ldfhlMdT4jHdnqvSVdXSiOqpYtu5Eb4QQQzKCUwedwOR9J0Olo04sr0i3BqmtW3VXn4EZawzGurPO0ANg9WYqemJe7A7R1FWmvv0gfaNS1dVSAP4QcbvFfALNhSFXJxuyfKBzHbfZp07rW5Bs8NXsXGDWzDd4bf7gpUn5ye1ezvA8JWbNllS2umP8AL35ZFJzy2zax9Nwm07OG921XaBstroZayjt/i3W4LLT8XIAyWYnovzmz0+sGpr1Nt6aeldXdXp67GXcy2M4exzY3xYrRQMDA+IDgCBxYEwCdpZoTU7V09n1sinBu1jbtw/jLixa61I5+HJ+vEtN2RXSLNTplW0WO66cuy+BTWBh73d+CQxYID5AMcwPPrcD0HzIEt6HstrKbrydtVIX4sZDWswC1g+pGT7ATr9LU2m/dqNPYniaxq3s1W0FArMdtVZcYwPxNkDJI6TX97+2tYxaqzx69OualRwQGGetnADuxG724A4gccZb7G7ObU310IQGtcKCeijqzH2Chj9IfZGgW/UV1O4rWx9pckDAwT1bjJxgZ4ywnaaTQLVp72WinSWvs0tDtqfEtK6htlrMA5GQuOQFxkwPPdQFDMNwYBioboGAOAwz6jnET4Xv/ACno3Z2ham69K1NFOmptbbhDqtWa+COQTsYnnaNoU+Z6arta2uirTaWzS12XJWz2nc6utmobeteUOMquz8QPp5QNX2Do6tlt+oGaaUICgkGy9wRUgPoPic+y+80l1TJgMCCVDDcCMgjgjPkfWekdt11aLRabwEp1FtNrV6iyzLpXqnrR8ivOx/hBUM2QNhwOZSsepdMbtYP33X681tXVux4dauNpsZeU34UbBjgAccwPPsyJ6zd3c0Ku1g07WWZ8Lw6F8bTU31qgs31G1XYFi+BnHw5nN6zQkap9TpdIhWl0B0rr4hGV/wAxqlY4RmB4BO04gcpVobGRrFrc1p+Jwp2Dy5bpE6fTPY4StWsY9FQFm+wnd95FfUrUtrtptTZZtGmsv3U7NhKOE/8AAS4CAH8pY7Nvt/d/A1FD6CmpGU30s2nLOAdodD/nsWwODzmB581RVirAqykgg9QR5GEBL2m7Jd9LZqtyla7Uqdc/GDYCVbH8JOR85SgCVkmFukQMIhqsECGsCWX1imSWAv2gtiAuuWMdIoCOVYAsmYp6xLLDEUxgVnHtJAhuIOyBeRmAOGZQwwwDEAj0IB58+sAEeeIwrxxEvXAjMmu0g8Ej1wSIMLbAInPmT/eMN77BXvY1hiwTJ2hmABYD3AGYCrzCxAggY4H5TC8Wx/XlHaTRWWttqSyw+laMx+oUcQFEjpButJ4JZvmSZa/cLfFFXhuLSQoQqQ+T0G0jMXqNJYqhmrdQ3CkqwVsfwtjDfTMCkV6wPCHOBLup0NtYU2VW1hhlS6Mgb5FgMxIX7/nAXVeyMHRmRx0ZSQwPswORMDZPOTnk5PJPmSfMzdDupqDVbcRWi01+KyO4W7ZkAEV8nnPG7GZT0PZT252gBF4ax2CVKf8Ac7YAPt19oAafXMtNlII8O4oXGM81klSPQ5P1EqMPSX27LtBsARiavx7RuAG4KDkdQSwA9cyF7MtNnhCqwWYJ2FGVsBSxJUgEDAJzA1jDOfeDUWXlSVPqpI4PXpLd+jdNu+t038ruVl3D1XcBuHPl6yyexNRhWai1Fdgod63RMsQBl2AAHI5JxA1TD16k5ycnn1MN3Zj8TM2Om4k4+Wek7DR90hSll+qs02wV2rTX46E23hSAAVyMKcnOfxKBOQVYGwr7Rf8Ad/3ZFAXxDc5UEu7AELuP8KDdgAeZMoYzOs7A7OvXTsaKne7WK1SMBgV6ZW/xnLnhN5+DJPRW9po9R2LarutY8dUsFW+gM6NYV3bUIGWwA3/1z5iBrN0MfaOTSWM/hiuw2DI2BGLgjrlAMj7Q9XoLamC2V2Vt5B0ZSfkCOYCAYWf5QnrIJDAqRwQwIIPuDyIyzTMoUkYDruQ+oBwcfX+YgKU+8kGQVmLxAYsapxFAZkwJMgwuILCArMwwwv3gsIGwYRDJLZAgP7QKbLCxN5qOwAuhTVu+Gt1DVV14/EiKS9m7ywwxj+sq9udjW6VkW5SviVLavurjP3HQj1EDWiPXmJKwxmBDJx950+t7WpdKq6tRdpaUrUNTXUf8wD4nLq6+KWPOW+01/d/sV9W7qpVFrqa6x3/CqKPPHqeP+pqC0DstH3tppxatdluoopGn0z3kNgEsz3Wc8sN21U5wPPmM7I73pXUgssstvJe/xLq/GSq8sFUJUSBt8IPyuObOnE4gn1/XvLna3YtunFRtAHj1C5BkZ2N03fwnjOPeBse9nbp1KqgsDKrtZtSk1rvf8TZZ2YnAx6dZru7urrqtZnYofCda7Au412lcJZtHJxz05GczWHiA0DaOEUMP3zIswXCJed5ByN29VBOeck+c3en7W0R1GlNjWPpqVrApNeFVwvxvacnxP8TLHAyRx8+MaTiB2mq71Cil6dM/+Pe5fV6pfM7shNPwCEGevB58usu6nvrVX4lmmDvqDWulpuu5KaZFwX+LlrbGLE56DaOcc+fxqQO4o71VCtKzZa1iUlk1Vi+LZXqLW3XbUc8DaFRWB4wT5zV1ds11iwtfqdU11bVOrZSsK5AcnezF2A/DwBn5TnlGenzkbcQNz3puousL03ZrACU1eFYhrqH4a+V25XzOfiPM0tNKkgMSF3AEjk7c8kD1xC25hBYHYd8+1xq9HU2n3VU6WxtMaclVNbDdp7GUHBOEdT15iW7z0hdPpNO12m0aMr32pn95tcgF2+E5UeQAPp6YnKbfKQtcDr+0+9Nd65S6zRvZY7X+HWXNuW+Am1WDHCBV2HA6nmD2Z3h0texHa64Ul7qrb18QfvLBVTFQbIqXBfBY5bBOJygqh+H7QN/qdRpLqcNa6ajx3ttutqNj3bhgBdh+AA54Pr1mr7WvrK01VBtlPiHc4AZ3tKliVHCgbVAGSeMk8yqE+cla4FQqZgTMttXA2YgKRT5wnHp5wxMxAUohsfnmSF4/tBdYAE5mYzDZOIJTmBswn5R/ZPZb6m5Ka/xO23Pkq9WZvYAE/SVlsP6+U7OhP3Ls034xqNfuqrPmmmHLuPTdgDj1WBpu8+qGouSjTgtTQo0tCgZLBTgvjzZ2yfliaXUvbaVV2ssKgVqGJYgA8IoPTnyE7P8AZ+qUDU65yv8A/NUVrUkZN7jC4Ht0/wDlI7h8/vdiMn794eNOLCq5Z2PiOhbjfjp7n3garT9w9WdoYU1O/wCCu25Etb0wmcg48jic9qNMyMyOCrISrA4yCOGH5Gelfs87p6lu0Fv1dLYTdYWsdSzW4+EkbiWwST9BNT2LWgNnamsG6sWsaqx1v1BZm2rn/Qp5J9vaA1eyb9P2cNNXUzanXkW2hRzXpVz4auTwu45PJHnNVZ3FsREs1Gp0unqsZl8Qv4irYo3bDs43EBuh/wBJlbvL3p1Wuc+Ix2k4WqvIr64Vdv8AqPufWdHrOyxZd2f2NuCrUfG1BB/81gZ7FX3CZUf++fKBV7E7qaGtDrNVq/F09dgVRXS9YudediFjucDHOB9es0ffntGrU6tr6rXtWxRgOmw1Y4FQA4Kgcgj1iu+fajWalkZfBroLU009AlSsVX4fU4yT55ml3eYgKNX684p1xNr2n2XdQVF9VlRcbl3qV3AY5Hr1lJlgVGSZs4j3EDEBQEYgmbZiiA9JBkAxgXzgSq+sLH2gqPYxuDAW6yEr9PtLSp7SzTT7ecCulOfaNFPrmWndUGWYKPc4mt1feCtchAXP2X8+YFtdNF2149JoNR25a3Q7R/t/vNfZczHJJPzJMDqCR6iQ6e4nK5jRqn6bjx7wOhUQlx/X/uaLT69gfiJb2m209u8ZwQPQwHWYiGMcE5kWD9ZgJBk7vbmS6zNsCzmOfVO4UO7sEXagZiQq+ign4R7CL2yQuIDB8pDjyh6WwKysy71DKzISQGAIypI6ZHE6B6OzbPiXU36YE81WUm0r/wCj1nkem7mA/wDZwDXqLdSchNNprbGIOBlkKIp+ZOR8py9+vseuut3ZkpBCKTwu7BbaPczoe2u3qV037pokcUswe623AtuZeV4H4UBHA/5zy5GeYBdnaw03V3ABjW62BW/CSpyAfaM7X7We/U2an8Fjv4n+GWG1uMFTnIPAPWVintAZP5QNzd351zKFe/fjzsrqZvnuZM595z7uWJJOSSSfcn8vOSy5MJRAfr+0Lb23XWPY2MAuxYgegz0HHQStmGUkOIAExYEaRBJxAjHELHpMCyVEDEEaiyUEYggZUp/pLFdXrMrT+c2GmogJp08o94dY1SqFwC+efQCdNTpppe/GiHgq/mr4+jeX3gcTbaWOSST6k5i5MiBkyZMgZMmS52foGtOBwB1JgL0lbMcJjPXy/rN3o6XUHec56Y6CXKNMqDAA48/WY4gJAz7QWEO3pxE5gYT+vOFIAjgsByn9cRnh5gqnPSMZeICyIjnoI94A6wBEniEEMBukCIJ6dJKwgvEBBEVjylsp+v7waxAVtMIiM9oLLiAgrFsJZKwxVAQiZEYE6R6VfrEMU/WBXVMmXaaIVNE2Olo5gK0+mE0/b3a9lFu1CANgOCAep/4nWVUzl+/nZpXZaOn4CfzX+sDa91+8a3fBbtV/LyDfLPQyj+0HtZCq0IQSG3PjywPhXP1J+gnEAzCYETJkyBkyZMgXux9ELbNhJAwTke065NMqKFXoOP16zU90dK3xv/p4X3yDNzep/OBWeAx4mD7+sEn9D+0ACmYrZj6ywo9ZLCApVh7RImbYFrpIZoTRbjiAHzmYkE8QcwG5i7DxCi26QFgRwEBVyYwQMNcDZHbYOBARjmEITSF/rAgfr0jlkKJKKD0gHWZYVZFVcsKhgFSk2GnrlSxxWjO3AUZPrORfvZfkldqjyG0HH19YHp1FXE5v9ouvQUCnINjMGwPJR5n5zl7O+WqIwHC+6qAfvNFdcWJLElickk5J+cADImTIGTJkyBkfpdK9jYRSx9h/OHpuz7bBuSt3AOCVUkAnyOJ6J3a7GOnq+MAWOctjngdBAHS6UU1qg52jGfMn14+crapZs9RNXqTAoWQD7eUY8SxgSphdYge8aGgS6wAcRu7jES0DYnkQdkd4R8oTVwKj14i1WWmqg+FAQUi2GZc8OCaoFdUx0hhY5q5KJAViZj5R5Xj6QMY+sCrYD5RSiXDXA2e0BLg46Q9MvSWPBlmqnEA6kl+isRFK/lNjp0gaHvk2zTH/AHMq/wD6/pPPZ2n7RL+aq/YsfyA/rOLgZMmTIGTJkyBkyHUuSOp56DqflNj3h7KOntKYO0gMhPUoemfcdDArdn9o2UturdkPseD8x5zsuzO+iuAt4Ct/EPw/3E4KSIHqNrhhlTkHoeJrr+TOQ7M7YergHK+anp9PSdijbgrY4IBgU7a5XKmX3T0iGWBWPEgCSwxMB4gQTBMLEkKPP6QN9AI/WJiwgIAOuRFkSziAyYgL2QNkcU/KCR7QEMuIPvHFefeQUz0gApkMI3EnECui/r6yNuOfSWgszaP7QFInnHqZgOIQXmBYpmwqX7zX0CbCrpA8776X7tU4/gCp+WT+bGaGbLvG2dTd/wC5mtgZMmSYESQJ0Gh7m6qwZ2bFIyC5AzkZHA5/Kdd2F3OqqG60C2zjg/hUg/6fWBq+4PZFtdhtsrwhT4SwG7OR0HUTp+9HZS6qoqeHGSjeh9PkZbvux+v7Sq935+sDyLVadkYqwIZTggxM9B7y9iC/404tH2Yeh9/ec32b3cscnfmoD1HJ9ccwKXYmh8a0LnGPiPyGOk7pwBxiL0egrpz4a4zwTySfqZN75zArMBEOP15w3zFuYC2XrB2+sY6/eLPEAcQCYe75xdkDfsRCAEgCGo/KASpMEwQgIA4+UUY4nj3i90AGIxFF4Zi364gSg8/5wx94CjHvJMCSc9JgGItTCDwGZzMLQA0nJgWKW/KbKkzUIZf05gef966Cuqsz/qIYfIj++Zp523f2gFEsAG7dtJ88YyB98ziYGTrv2e9ll7/FZfgrBwSOC/QAZ9M5nM6HRta4RBlmP/Z+k9b7N0yUVrWowB/PzJ9yYGyvvlNr+sC1weZUd8QHvYJVdxAa2Je3MBhs/X94lrOsjfnp5RJaBD254iC3pMYQSIAv/OASBJZphx/eBDRLmPGPmIiyAvd7QSeefzg5+sFzA6pRIYx/HpAKQEAc+UMGSqSDAhmEVJIiy3WAQ5kbf0YSiZn1gAohMkBn5mB4AFeZIWF5+0MQFHiTiM2wgPygTWst0ESoISv8xALtvRePSyAgE8g+46fSefdp9nmq1qxk7cH5jGSf5/aej1t/PmI1PZtbubCPiKGvPsc/ng4gaPuL2eObyTn4kA8gOOfn1E6+yyazR6ZakCJnav3jTb+v+YD7Lf8AiKezzijZ84DPAh35x/OAx9oJMwv/ACgSkS1gEJm4MpO0B9jxJaZmSV9ICyfSYOesx1mKYAkyLE94ZaJdhArWdYDtzHuJXsyIHYls+cIGKU9Zlh5Hy/vAY54iTGt/WYo/pAVtinX7frpLC/iingAMQSJklYCmEWY2vrAPWBifOPU+URWOn69Y5en2gOAwJLdJAEhukAX/ADmbs4/QkCGo/X0gFXGk/eKPT9esLzgTui3MYn6+8XZ1gC3WBmSekxxAUTz0kETLeogv1HzMDHb6xLZjccmAOsBLLJWG/n84Djj7QIZ/tFb8dIV3SAn9oCy+eeZhEOzz/XnBPl8oAviV7B9Y8xdg5/XpA//Z" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 59px;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From quotesdump.com</td></tr>
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When I think of the Earth, I feel that I simply need to know even the known facts. I know about the gorgeous Alps, the mind boggling Stonehenge, the tranquil Himalayas and even the unearthly Aurora Borealis. However, at that instant of time when I was told about these splendid features of our world, I had not the slightest idea of what 'beauty' meant. I was a child and did not know the skill of making the mind believe what is beautiful and what is not. I'm still not quite sure of what beauty really is but I've come across things and instances which make my mind feel at peace and spreads a sheet of serenity over it. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/Tm70k2m.jpg" height="425" style="-webkit-user-select: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From reddit.com</td></tr>
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So, even though I know a bit about things which truly are beautiful, I'm still awaiting that time when I'll know how to appreciate the beauty to it's full potential. Maybe in the near future I'll learn a new way of feeling which will serve beauty and knowledge in the right proportions! The concept of beauty obviously is different for different minds...I'll just have to decide which one to plant in my own mind. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img class="irc_mut" height="393" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUo1Hm7y3rbBGUMoYxI-36dNtCbVwXOA58hiTKxKIWoBM0p40WhA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="393" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From quotehd.com</td></tr>
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So there are many questions which are best unanswered at this point. The list tends to be endless but more than being annoyed by the endless questions, it'll be wiser to appreciate them...because there's beauty even in the way these questions were born in the minds of the living. I don't know whether the answers will promise the same. Sometimes I fear that I'll remain unknown to myself forever but isn't that great?! Maybe I'll have the privilege to discover a new side to myself every moment. I'll never be complete because there'll always be some new attribute added to me each passing day! We can never be complete. Can we? </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://mrswilsonscience.com/stretchingforward/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Questions.png" height="300" style="-webkit-user-select: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From mrswilsonscience.com</td></tr>
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Nothing is absolute in this Universe, not even the universe itself. Not even science is absolute or decisive...which obviously makes the answers hard to obtain. There's no one to decide which is a better question but even the silliest questions do not have an absolute answer. The uncertain path towards beauty promises the gift of the answers much sought after. The answers which may just change the next moment...<br />
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First image from: diversehumancourse.com</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-38921944922160193442015-06-13T11:32:00.000-07:002015-10-18T07:17:39.096-07:00Mindfulness and Free Will; Hope is Never Lost <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Guest Article By Thomas Parisi</b></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNL94e548qsh0-mskgRZNA5LSwCSkZQhD9o1cHrF01y6PUFboAz9PxEhZksRrG_27lx7mHBO3Mt8pO0U5zwY90jAcS2IPgDb_CFHm07uDJK-5Hh9cmgf7-b8o8BSTdlD_K8kN8BibuB8Y/s1600/visionair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNL94e548qsh0-mskgRZNA5LSwCSkZQhD9o1cHrF01y6PUFboAz9PxEhZksRrG_27lx7mHBO3Mt8pO0U5zwY90jAcS2IPgDb_CFHm07uDJK-5Hh9cmgf7-b8o8BSTdlD_K8kN8BibuB8Y/s400/visionair.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> One of the
greatest philosophical discussions of all time centers around the greatest gift
we've ever known as a species. It is something that is ever-present and often
overlooked. It leads us to our passionate and most joyful moments or to our
agonizing and painful mistakes. I am talking of course about Free Will.</span></div>
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Free Will exists in
every circumstance. Even when we are unable to affect the unalterable
confines of physical reality we can still choose how we think and act. We can
choose how to address and handle each situation. We can even choose how we feel
by reinforcing the patterns of thought and action that help us feel joyous and
alive, or by abandoning the ones that promote negative emotions and behaviors.
Feelings surround each of our choices, and if we recognize how we are affected
we can learn to choose wisely. </span></div>
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I have heard the
argument time and again that we do not possess Free Will. Proponents of this
theory believe that we are thinking, behaving, and existing solely at the end
of a long progression of events that have given us no choice as to what will
occur next.They make claims that Free Will is an Illusion. I find that
statement oddly ironic because believing that free will is only an illusion can
only be ascertained by exercising the free will to believe so! </span></div>
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While I understand that
yes, we are standing in the here and now, at the end of a lifelong progression
of events that have led us to this very moment, I wholeheartedly disagree that
we have no Free Will. We are not omniscient or omnipotent, so our freedom is
limited only to what we can control as sovereign beings, and that is our
choices. </span></div>
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Life is a series of choices.
Those choices lead us down an infinite number of pathways. Sometimes we choose
incorrectly and we feel as though we are trapped. We sometimes feel that we
have less freedom than we did before the choice was made, but this is only the
illusion of reality. We can choose the wrong path over and over again only to
feel trapped and in despair, but this is the true illusion. The illusion that
hope is lost and that Free Will is non-existent is the antithesis to life, and
it leads only to suffering and pain.</span></div>
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We are never without hope because we
can always choose again. We sometimes construct the negative thoughts and
feelings that keep us bound but they are just that; constructs. They can be
destroyed by action. No matter how confined you feel, or how stuck in your
current situation you think you are, that can all be changed by choosing to act
in ways that will change your situation. Action is always the result of a
choice, we need only become mindful of our choices.</span></div>
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As conscientious and thoughtful
creatures we possess the ability to think before we act. Consciously we can
choose each step carefully and with intention. This is Free Will at it's
essence. No matter how limited you believe your choices have become hope is
never lost. Through a persistent mindfulness to discern the proper choice (and
therefore course of action) you can begin to reshape the world around you, and with
it your life.</span></div>
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Free Will should be viewed as making
proper and healthy choices. Nourish yourself. Physically we must eat
nutritionally complete meals and get enough exercise. Mentally we must be
stimulated with information and experiences that keep us feeling fulfilled.
Spiritually we must feel connected with Life and each other. </span></div>
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Our sub-conscious minds collect and store
everything we think and experience, every action and every feeling is
catalogued to create a deep sea, and the undercurrents will affect you in a
plethora of ways. By choosing the healthy choice each and every time you are
enriching yourself. These proper choices add up over time- and before you know
it you can and will be free; Free to choose wisely in every circumstance. </span></div>
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Through mindfulness we can learn what choices
enrich and inspire us. We can learn how we are affected by the patterns that
develop from choosing one way or the other. We can choose to learn through
observation how our choices affect us, and our surroundings. We can choose to
exercise our Free Will and begin to step in the direction we were meant to. The
journey becomes better than the destination when each and every step is
better than the last.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you Samadrita Ghosh for allowing me to guest post
here @ <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.divergentoutlook.blogspot.com/">www.divergentoutlook.blogspot.com</a></span>!!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 9.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Authored by: Thomas Parisi</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Website:<a href="http://thinkhub.org/" target="_blank"> <span style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.thinkhub.org</span></a> Hoping to enrich and inspire toward
social good.</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Contact: <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;"><a href="mailto:dogfishparisi@gmail.com">dogfishparisi@gmail.com</a></span></span><br />
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Image from: www.visionair.nl</div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-29008739899325613482015-05-29T02:14:00.001-07:002015-10-18T07:12:53.564-07:00Life and the Lifeless<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Date: 24/12/14<br />
Time: 4:15 PM<br />
Location: Kolkata, India<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Recently, I've been thinking a lot about the big picture and things related to life. I remember, in a previous letter, I mentioned how we are so much similar to the heavenly bodies and the universe...but lately, another question disturbs me. I myself think its quite irrational, but still I repeatedly raise this question as I find no relevant answer. The question is, why we </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">call ourselves the living? The answer seems quite obvious at first but the more I thought about it, the more confused I got. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, I decided to make a separate list of properties for the living and the non-living objects.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> The first differentiating property which came to my mind was intelligence, but soon I had to rule that out considering the primitive species like bacteria and algae which lasted for millions of years without the slightest hint of intelligence. Furthermore, with the aid of technology, we can and have created robots and devices with superb intelligence. Sometimes, humans have even created devices with a higher intelligence level than most living organisms...but still these robots and devices are deemed non-living. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Then, I thought of the ability to intake matter from the surroundings, use it and then give it back. However, this characteristic feature was also ruled out. For instance, if we take the sun into account, or any other star, at the beginning of it's 'life', it takes in a lot of matter from space due to its own gravity, goes through some reactions (fusion of H atoms to form He and maybe more reactions), and then finally results in heat, energy and light (and He). Eventually, even the sun 'dies' like all other living creatures, but again, we never say that the sun is a living creature. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Then the last thing which perhaps differentiates life from the lifeless can be the ability to reproduce, evolve and carry information.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> The ability to duplicate DNA and produce another being of the same kind is exclusive in the living (or is it?). If we think of a binary system of stars, it is obvious that it is confronted with many possibilities. One of these possibilities is the formation of a 'baby star'. Well, this is a very rare event and has only come into view through recent studies (a new study predicts such an event in a binary system located in the constellation Cetus). When two stars are nearing death, their usable fuel (H) tank is almost empty. However, after collision, temperatures generated are high enough to kick start the reactions again and thus, use up the remaining fuel which would have been of no use without a high temperature. Thus, a new star is born which is blessed with a few more </span>years<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of life. The formation of super galaxies from two different galaxies can be an example as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Also, when galaxies collide, lots of new stars are formed. So, we can imagine the galaxies to be (sort of) colonies for the stars and o</span><span style="line-height: 22px;">ccasionally, these colonies participate in marriage ceremonies with other galaxies and result in new stars! </span><span style="line-height: 22px;">Also, every object in the universe carry information like the DNA in our cells. Otherwise, how can a star look just like other stars and the asteroids look just like other asteroids?! Every object contains in itself, or receives from some outer source the information which decides how it must look and act. Information is organised data and data is all about the tiniest details. Coming to the evolution part, the truth is, the lifeless has evolved to be the living. Life has found a way.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 22px;"> Now doesn't all of it seem to fit into a well defined pattern?...and to be completely honest, the concept of 'baby star' came to me when I followed this logical pattern...and when I googled it, voila! it <b>did</b> exist! (even though it has been observed very rarely and was just predicted in some cases). </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 22px;"> Yesterday, I was watching a theoretical video. It didn't speak about the living or the non-living, but it was very close to the subject. It basically explained that all human beings are forgeries of a set of instructions formed by molecular structures just like the forgery of a painting or a sculpture. If we go back 50 generations behind this present one, it will be enough to link all the humans as cousins. If we go back even further, we can easily link ourselves to the animals, and if we are willing to go back a bit more, we'll see that we can link ourselves to the trees and rocks too! This was what the video talked about. Therefore, we are copies and duplicates of what was there in the past, and as forgeries can be detected as forgeries due to the presence of the minimal differences, it were these differences which over time, made us so different from our cousins. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 22px;"> All of us are just different combinations of molecules and atoms. </span><span style="line-height: 22px;">The inanimate objects eat, breathe, grow, reproduce and evolve, even though their diet, growth and birth patterns are different...</span><span style="line-height: 22px;">So is life really different from something without life?...and if it is, then why? So the next time you put on your clothes to get some coffee with your friends, just think about it, are you wearing and drinking an ancient version of yourself?</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 22px;">Image from: www.slideshare.net</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22px;">For baby star article <a href="http://www.space.com/11630-dying-stars-collision-baby-star.html" target="_blank">Click here</a></span></div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-69314858312621242822015-05-25T11:35:00.001-07:002015-12-04T12:07:30.378-08:00The Idea of 'God'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Date: 6/12/14<br />
Time: 1:15 PM<br />
Location: Kolkata, India<br />
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Day before yesterday, my friends and I were having a discussion on God and the ultimate power. It turned out to be a very interesting conversation and I got to know a lot of opinions regarding this power. Few were really staunch believers of God being present in idols (even though they possess a very scientific and logical mind)...and there were a few who had ideas closer to mine. For instance, one of them believed in a power which transcends all our imaginations and another one never really believed in 'God' but confessed a respect for some higher power.<br />
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A theory can be the self-induced idea of God (it's an old theory probably). This very idea keeps the conscious mind in check subconsciously. Another theory can be that the Universe is so vast and mysterious that those with the slightest knowledge about it's expanse, tend to fear as well as respect the power an infinite object can hold. We always tend to think that there must be something beyond the circumference of the observable universe, and if that beyond is reached, there must be something even beyond that...but the ultimate fact is, our finite brain cannot fit the infinite universe inside it. There will always be something beyond our reach and in order to satisfy our hungry minds, we name this 'beyond' appropriately and shape it into a perceivable and imaginable being.<br />
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Well, coming back to 'God', I think and believe that God is the ultimate source of all the chemical and physical phenomenon which can exist. The energy which runs in our veins, which brushes against our face when we open the window, which makes us feel nothing in an empty room...all of it constitutes the ultimate power which we know by the name of 'God'. So if God just took rest on the 7th day, we would all have vanished into thin air. Actually, even thin air would have vanished! The presence of God is very important and that too in every aspect of life..and the best part is that God willingly agrees to be present. If we just try for once not to think of God as a human figure or idol, perhaps we'll be able to perceive God as a feeling and worship that feeling (instead of lighting incense sticks and polluting God's own creation.).<br />
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Energy constitutes everything. Its energy which is absorbed and released by the living during every passing moment...and that's the ingredient which runs our whole being. As Einstein figured out years ago, energy and mass are synonymous (he can be wrong of course as no theory or result can be absolute). This means that everything that's there and ever will be is energy. Every object has some amount of internal energy, which if not there, the object will not exist in the first place. This makes energy one of the most magical and mysterious elements in the Universe.<br />
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According to another well known scientist, Stephen Hawking, the concept of 'God' (the generalized concept) does not exist. He is very open about this idea and clearly does not believe in a power which controls everything from our destiny to the fate of the objects moving in space. However, as no theory is absolute, no one can really be sure about the validity of the idea.<br />
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Given all the scientific details and explanation about the creation - the big bang, some people still can't change the concept of God that has been implanted in them from the very early stages of their lives, and its worse than a sin to force them to change their minds if they aren't willing to. Freedom of thought and belief cannot be forfeited under any circumstances. Its a right which cannot be defined or guarded by constitutions but must be functional at all times.<br />
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I have been through many conflicts regarding the subject of 'God' (discussions and healthy debates often act as food for the mind) where many have vehemently opposed my views and have tried to force their's on me, and I'll admit that I have been guilty of doing the same. However, few of their questions really intrigued me. When in order to prove my point, I told them about the tiny ball of huge density which resulted in everything, they questioned me - Who created that tiny ball? From where did it come? Who created the first particle that ever existed?...and lots of other rhetorical questions.<br />
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Isn't it an irony, that both the scientific and unscientific men of today have the same questions to ask? The only difference is that, these unscientific men (sort of) already know the answers. Perhaps their answer is the ultimate truth, or maybe just an assumption to satisfy the curious and hungry mind with an answer which the subconscious knows is far away from the present point in time and space.<br />
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-1278078724146416482015-05-23T06:41:00.000-07:002015-10-18T07:10:45.697-07:00The Significance of Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Date: 10/11/14<br />
Time: 7:00 PM<br />
Location: Kolkata, India<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Recently there's this interesting, but very simple realization that has dawned on me. Its the simple fact that there's so much in this world and beyond. Our minds are packed with interests, fascinations, knowledge and passion which makes this universe way better when viewed from the perspective of the living. This universe only lets us have a little peek into its vast glory through an infinite layer of dark matter, which of course makes it a very difficult place to observe. Whatever we know is only a meager percentage of the ultimate knowledge. Its hard to get hold of every truth and every fact here. Having that little bit of information however, creates the obvious belief in the miracle called life. A miracle which has persisted for years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> From recent studies and researches, people (most people) have come to state that perhaps, we are the only form of intelligent life in the whole universe (possibly). A part of me wants to believe it and a part doesn't. When I consider the complexity of life and the living, it seems that we are a very unique combination of events that have very rare chances of occurring in the same sequence again. However, when I take into account the infinite reaches of the universe, life doesn't seem that impossible.</span><br />
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When the mind starts going beyond everything, beyond every nation, every continent, every planet and every galaxy, a state of timelessness dawns on it. Sure, its only an imaginary state, but it also serves the purpose of realization. Being in that position, a question automatically hits the mind. Its the question of significance. What is life? Why is life required at all? At that moment life just seems like a bundle of chemical reactions going on in a speck of dust (the planet)...and then perhaps, we realize the fact that all of us are just bundle of reactions governed by protons, electrons and neutrons (and lots of other nuclear stuff).</span><br />
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We are not much different from an asteroid, a star or even a galaxy. We are there just like the sun is there in the milky way and the earth is there in the solar system. We are just another combination of elements, moving around as per the atoms and molecules decree. Carl Sagan once believed that we are in fact a minuscule version of the universe and through us, we can understand the universe ("We are a way for the cosmos to know itself").</span><br />
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Coming to our significance, its the same as that of a star, a galaxy or the whole universe. We are here because we are here and that's all. No fancy reason, no fancy explanation. "I am because I exist, I exist because I am.". All of us and all of the heavenly objects are generated at one point of space and time and destroyed at another after carrying out a bunch of chemical and physical activities, which make the differences between objects very vague...the only difference can be that we are possibly rarer than the stars and thus, more precious. So, all those places in the universe which are way beyond our reach, can be reached through our very own minds and that's a terrific show of the magician called Miracle, which is of course another name for Life.</span><br />
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5233351214700509017.post-90548077882986436842015-05-22T01:51:00.000-07:002015-10-18T07:09:51.667-07:00A Crazy Theory! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Date: 10/11/14 </div>
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Time:9:30 AM</div>
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Location: Kolkata, India</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sometimes this new theory just keeps crossing the roads of my mind instead of the numerous red lights from the tasks of the daily life. But today, I just couldn't stop myself from putting it down on paper, coz' this idea fascinates me so much that I can spend a billion years lingering on this topic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /> Well, presently I am studying computer science as a 5th subject and its all about programs and logic. One day while showering (I make all the important decisions under the shower) a theory of programs suddenly popped in my mind. I thought of considering the world as an operating system(OS). Then all of us (the living objects) will be the various programs created in order to achieve their respective goals. Well, in that case, according to the present world scenario, it seems that there are already too many programs generated for fulfilling the same purpose (more or less). Moreover, what's more interesting is, these programs are self generating, which means these programs generate programs of their own kind so that the purpose of fulfilling the task is carried on even after degradation of the mother program or after its incompatibility with the modern versions of the OS. </span><br />
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Now, this is not the problem but the root of the problem basically. This problem has persisted for a very long time and repeatedly the OS has discovered ways to debug the source codes and programs. The problem actually is the multiple generation of the same sort of programs which not only depletes memory space but also complicates the process of fulfilling the task. Now this is where the programmer comes in and works along with the OS (the Universe and World) to generate the 'suicidal programs'. I feel this is the most twisty and fascinating part of the whole theory. These programs come in various versions ranging from minor to major. Minor suicidal programs like fires, animal attacks and accidents have been generated repeatedly over time and they have caused deletion of the excessive programs. Then comes the major versions which are way more terrifying, ranging from earthquakes and volcanoes to mass terminations and world wars. Even the modern version of the OS has been through much. Mass murderers and dictators like Stalin, Hitler, Genghis Khan and many others have caused widespread atrocities. World Wars I and II have witnessed massive exterminating procedures. These massive deletions have always been a very important part of the OS because they stabilize the OS. There's a pattern in all these deletions which makes it quite 'natural'. Old programs must be deleted in order to make place for the new and more efficient programs. </span><br />
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Also, another interesting version of these programs is the version which has developed around the idea of self destruction. These programs do not exist as individual programs but are very normal programs. The only difference is that they have a code snippet inserted in them. These codes generate the idea of self destruction. Here, the term 'self-destruction' not only refers to destruction of self but also destruction of one's own kind. Examples can be dictators like those mentioned above and general suicide cases.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> We have perceived these suicidal programs with the harshest perception possible, ignorant of the fact that these programs were intended to fulfill such atrocious tasks, but we must always know that the evil keeps the good in check and prevents it from turning into evil. Only the evil can protect the good. In spite of the destruction and violence, these programs are absolutely necessary in order to evade the problem of the ever increasing programs in the limited space of the OS. The only problem however, which can arise out of this horrible solution is the complete destruction of all programs. If the suicidal programs generated by the OS and the programmer goes out of control or gets a bug from some unidentifiable source, and if the regeneration programs are not in good numbers, we can undergo a process of extinction like many other earthly species from varying periods of time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> What I see, in this present world, is yet another crisis, with increasing population, infinite demands and low supplies. The problem is that we don't believe that something can happen until something already happens. Maybe this time the new version of the suicidal programs will be the nuclear wars with all possibilities of extinction of every single being that could ever think or speak.</span></div>
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Samadrita Ghoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04888597772663605995noreply@blogger.com13