A Puzzled Mind

                                   

                                       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 They have clearly superseded my understanding.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.

                                       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.

                                        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.

                                       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.

                                     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.

                                    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.

                                    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.

                                    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.

                                   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.

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Date: 28/02/2015

Time: 2:48 PM

Pic from: juanmadrazo.com

Life and the Lifeless

Date: 24/12/14
Time: 4:15 PM
Location: Kolkata, India


                           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 call ourselves the living? The answer seems quite obvious at first but the more I thought about it, the more confused I got. Finally, I decided to make a separate list of properties for the living and the non-living objects.

                         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. 

                          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. 

                          Then the last thing which perhaps differentiates life from the lifeless can be the ability to reproduce, evolve and carry information. 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 years of life. The formation of super galaxies from two different galaxies can be an example as well.

                          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 occasionally, these colonies participate in marriage ceremonies with other galaxies and result in new stars! 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.

                        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 did exist! (even though it has been observed very rarely and was just predicted in some cases). 

                       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. 

                       All of us are just different combinations of molecules and atoms. The inanimate objects eat, breathe, grow, reproduce and evolve, even though their diet, growth and birth patterns are different...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?

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Image from: www.slideshare.net

For baby star article Click here