Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Misplaced Promptness
Today we live in a fast-paced age. We give so much importance to promptness that it comes as a virtue to us to live with. Promptness is reflected in our every gesture, be it taking any action or giving any reaction. While we can ensure at least some kind of rationality when we initiate any action, we cannot possibly do the same when it comes to reacting but still we focus a great deal on reacting. Is it always necessary to go beyond the sensation?
In a hurry to react we often forget to enquire into facts and figures of the action in first place. We seldom allow ourselves some time to let it sink in. Without doing that we hardly get aware of our emotions. Emotions, if not understood properly, get manifested in the negative feelings. Such negative ramifications never solve any problem as they just throw us off the focus. We go so far in giving vent to our feelings that we lose the sight of the issue. It just becomes the rapid fire game of action and reaction. Ironically it is about reconciliation and convergence. We are so used to lashing out that we hardly realize that all we need to do is exercise some restraint and spend some time in silence to analyze our emotions and its relevance to the core issue. Sometimes silence supersedes promptness. Whenever we come across any friction we undermine facts and figures and convert it into some kind of clatter born from personality-centric aggression. In that clatter we just find ourselves and our bĂȘte noire. Just like we don’t enquire into facts and figures we don’t look for ideas. We seek domination in the dialogue.
On a macro level, as we keep exploring new things in life we keep tweaking the status quo. If we change the dynamics of the society new challenges are bound to emerge on the new horizon. Everything else revolves around the set-up. In that case it is so futile to divide the society on the issue of this set-up. The democracy teaches us to collaborate and bring out the most efficient set-up for the society as a whole. Yes, we cannot be averse to the idea of debate. That is the whole purpose behind having the opposition in the system but it has to be in the context of idea building. Any kind of opposition should only prod us towards getting more efficient, consistent and smarter in our solution seeking efforts. We should all be focused on the focal point and not on the differences arising from different voices. It could be crescendo or symphony. The moot point is who is listening rather than who is shouting?
Unfortunately we make ourselves so vulnerable to discord that we don’t allow any other possibility to reach us. Success of any dialogue depends on the exact opposite process. If we stop any discord from reaching us we become receptive only to new ideas, new solutions and new synergies. The ideology then is to either stay intact or get better. No other outcome can reach us then. It is rightly said that to be aware of our emotions and direct it towards health is a part of enlightened living. Let’s first be aware of our emotions both on micro and macro level. We have paced enough. Let’s pause for a while and reach peace and equilibrium!
DEEPALI S. BASUR
Co-founder & Chief Editor,
www.ethinksharp.com, an e-magazine dedicated to the 'YOUTH'.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Let's move on....
Ever wondered about social dynamics? Social dynamics means the ability of a society to react to inner and outer changes and deals with its regulation mechanisms. Let’s keep it simple. Let’s observe it through our daily life.
How much life do we live everyday? Probably negative. What are we? Some identity? Or some dogma? Or some memories? We start our day with the baggage of these three things. The sentimental platitudes attached to it are so overwhelming that we never allow any room for any deviation. We live everyday as a conformity. This fundamental immobility stops us from reaching any inflection point let alone going beyond it.
History shows that we are doomed whenever we go against the nature and this nature shows that the most beautiful things on earth are always in action. The beauty of water is enthralling when it culminates itself in the form of a waterfall and the same water is dead the moment it stops in the form of a pond! We all meet different kinds of people everyday. We see them, we speak to them. In this whole exercise we are so over wrapped in ourselves that we just don’t realize that some voice is trying to speak to us. We fail to hear that voice. We are so judgemental about everyone and everything around us that we just don’t see things as they are. We never experience the events in their original form. We don’t allow ourselves a fair chance of growing to the next level. We are the same everyday. We do carry on but we never move on! This very fact makes us unreceptive to any changes happening around. We expect others too not to move on. Soon we find that we are not in equilibrium…neither with our inner world nor with the outer world…As an end result of it we, as a whole society, have a very poor frequency bandwidth!. We never realize that to exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly. We are always something and we never want to be everything.
Whenever we go through some experiences or happenings in our lives we just go all out to seek an accomplishment. It ought to be like that. Then it is very obvious that whatever follows after that is just a lingering taste of it. It would be absolutely futile to try to go back and hold on to that accomplishment as our mind gets stuck if we don’t relieve it from the dead events. This stillness captures our memory also as we all know that our memory is a derivative of our attitude & our attitude is an expression of our mind. How can we get better if the most powerful thing, our mind, is put into fetters and is never allowed to leap forward!
We always fear to start afresh with a cleansed mind and a cleansed memory. It is so much easier for us to allow our past to endorse our notions about everybody and everything around us than showing the courage to break free….from all pre-conceived notions, all yesterdays and all experiences. If we don’t break free we go against the law of evolution. We undoubtedly become unsuitable for any movement or action. We end up with the stagnated self & the stagnated self never attracts any life!
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “When you make yourself into zero, your power becomes invincible.” Our baggage will only make our journey tiresome, lackluster and most importantly regressive. Let’s lose it and gain that zero…Let’s create that invincible power….Let’s keep creating ourselves endlessly…..
DEEPALI S. BASUR
Co-founder & Chief Editor,
www.ethinksharp.com, an e-magazine dedicated to the 'YOUTH'.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Who am I?
I am not a God
I am not a legend
I am a 'human being'
the struggle between 'be' and 'become'!
I am not an era
I am not a myth
I've always been here
like a flowing river!
I am not sacred
I am not special
I am just the truth
dying not to be real!
I am not far
I am not close
I am right there..in you
just like a mirror!
I am not right
I am just an expression
of life and death going together!
I am not resting,
I am not running
living like i'll never live it again!
I am not seen
I am not heard,
I am so beautifully lost
between 'smiles' and 'tears'!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Failure of Intellect
We define intellect as the mind’s power of reasoning & acquiring knowledge. Knowledge is facts that someone knows. It could be about a subject or a person. Intellect decides the quality of our intelligence. This is the base for all the decisions we make in our life.
There are times in life where we fail to understand the situations. We realize that we are confronted with difficult experiences which demand much more intellect from us. We have been so much used to convenient conditioning of our mind that our intelligence gets manipulated. The flow from intellect to intelligence is distorted. We are so smartly obsessed with customization that we jib at the fact that some things are born sacrosanct. In fact we are miserable the moment we try to interfere with our intellect.
Actually we don’t interfere with our intellect, we cover up the failure of our intellect with something more overwhelming. And that is intolerance. Yes, failure of intellect is glorified into something which we hail as a heroic spirit. What are hate speeches? We attack personalities when we can’t take real issues head-on. No wonder today’s politics is all about aggression. Any form of intolerance is deplorable. Terrorism is a classic example of it. Our mental incapability make us feel insecure & we take safe shelter under the aegis of these self-proclaimed groups. Collective might is even more dangerous here as we don’t fight the issues , we just fight everything & anything which is outside that community. Then where is the scope for independent & creative thinking? All we are supposed to do is protect our ‘elite’ groups. We don’t converge on the fundamentals. In fact we just stick together to resist it. All we have is tremendous might but whopping derth of intellect. No wonder we can’t see Adam Smith’s ‘invisible’ hand here !
Let’s not confuse intolerance with courage. Intolerance is born from incapability & courage is born from capability. Intolerance aims at negation & courage aims at creation. Courage is so powerful that it vents out glamourously & we call it ‘evolution’!..Evolution of intellect!..
Intolerance is a sign of the weak. Let’s show the courage to challenge our intellect. Let’s grow stronger… intellectually.. fundamentally.. After all it is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it! We salute Aristotle!
DEEPALI S. BASUR
Co-founder & Chief Editor,
www.ethinksharp.com, an e-magazine dedicated to the 'YOUTH'.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Are we religious?
We are very lucky to live in the era where we can proclaim to be whatever we wish without having to pass muster. One of the most coveted positions to be held is 'to be religious'. Yes, we all stand unitedly religious!
Once we call ourselves religious there is no need to justify ourselves. But some things are worth struggling for. For instance, what is the source of our religion? Oh, we have so many sources to make our religion stand on the strongest foundation possible! We have fear, faith, dogma, fantasy & of course we also have identity. All of these have such tremendous credentials that we will be called cowards if we fail to discuss these. Let's talk about these sources.
Fear...fear of what? Fear of God? Does God want us to be scared of him? If yes then why? Because he wants us to be scared of ourselves? Does our conduct call it necessary to be scared of someone? Is it a prerequisite to be so miserably disconnected with ourselves to call ourselves religious?
Faith...faith in what? Faith in God? The Almighty? Then why we need to fight to protect him if we have faith in our Almighty? Do we need violence to own the religion? Does violence supersede faith? Or is it faith in 'dogma' to keep our universe in order? Surely life is so easy that way, we need not make an effort to seek the way of living!
Fantasy...fantasy to secure a high place in the world of religion! We all want to be a part of the elite group. We never know when the responsibility of the guardian of our religion confers upon us! God bless us, we are not taking any chance here!
Identity....such an important thing to be accepted in the society of God! Identity of security, identity of stability, identity of convergence. We are not fools to lose such a beautiful thing called identity...the whole purpose of our lives!
We are so logical in our argument that it won't be fair if we undermine the force fighting our religion...the force called integrity! Integrity doesn't believe in our religion. It doesn't uphold the foundation of our religion. It believes in only one thing...the style of a soul....which is reflected in your every thought, every emotion, every action...the constant connection between you & your soul. There is no room for excuses, choice, justification. It doesn't understand our sources of religion as it is to be so blissfully intact in past, present, future that it can only be indifferent to your & my religion. It only understands its purpose, its intelligence, its method. It hates incompetence & it is incapable of living second-hand. Integrity doesn't need any means as it is an end in itself. Nothing & nobody can distort it.
Fortunately it is not glamourous enough to preach anything. Only one thing can define it & that is the undercurrent. Great! We are safe! But hold on...let's not go overboard, there is more than meets the eye. The anticlimax is that the integrity is utterly impervious to our world of religion! It can only think, it can't follow. It can only judge, it can't obey. It can only create, it can't borrow. What an obnoxious thing! It deserves nothing less than our hatred! So let's come together & hate it! Whoopee! We now have one more source for our religion! Thank God we are religious!
DEEPALI S. BASUR
Co-founder & Chief Editor,
www.ethinksharp.com, an e-magazine dedicated to the 'YOUTH'.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
At last it's light..........
It was quiet...it was dark...he was still there..standing by the window..all alone for hours together. It was not what he thought it would be. It wasn't creepy either. He was there..alive,alert,aware..totally in that moment! He started wondering why he was not feeling lonely, why he was not feeling scared, why he was not feeling disturbed..suddenly he realised something had stopped bothering him all at once. The fight started again. What was it? What had stopped bothering him?
He started speaking but not in the manner he had been doing it so far. There were no words. There was no audience and there was no form of speech. It was only the awareness that he was speaking in order to seek an answer. The answer which he could only see, feel and laugh at! The answer too simple to be framed in words! He knew that the most difficult thing in life is to find the simple truth. But he had no other choice but to find it. He had awfully escaped it enough only to realize that it was too real to escape!
The struggle was intensely fought. The journey was a long one. But what really made it an experience of life for him was the fact that the war was not with the outer world,it was indeed with the inner world...the war between 'be' and 'become'. He took that journey making an erroneous assumption that the distance was very short, the distance of only four letters. Alas! He was proved wrong.There was no distance! He was so oblivious to it that he had to glorify it as an 'inflexion point' in life! What a misery it is to be so dishonest with yourself!
He has finally arrived here. He doesn't know if it is an ultimate joy of self-assurance or an indifference arising out of clean emptiness of mind and heart! But he does know one thing that he is happy now..much different from others, not because he has got what it takes to make someone 'happy' if you were only to define 'happiness' to adorn it. In fact, the opposite is true. He is standing on the last point of the line. The line is complete, he has nothing now....
He is fundamentally incapable of becoming anything now. He has found himself...all of it! He is too small to allow any 'become'. There can never be any 'become'. He is just himself! The journey ends finally..which probably never existed!
DEEPALI S. BASUR
Co-founder & Chief Editor,
www.ethinksharp.com, an e-magazine dedicated to the 'YOUTH'.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Lame to think?
Well, on the eve of completion of 61 years of independence of India, we have so many achievements to be proud of. It is a very interesting exercise to prepare the Balance Sheet of the country on its independence day.Our focus always tends to be on tallying it but hold on…Are we doing justice to the ‘tacit’ entries?
The most important things for any nation are growth and development. True, there is no need to talk about India’s growth story. The transformation from the Bharat’s growth rate to the Indian growth rate is definitely worth treating as a gospel truth. But are we equally confident about the ‘development’ saga? There is no other country as perfect as India to study this ‘dialectical materialism’!
The development starts with the most precious resource of the nation and that is human resource. For human beings to flourish we need both physical infrastructure and social infrastructure. While physical infrastructure is taken care of in growth, social infrastructure often fails to grab the spotlight.
Social infrastructure is defined to include material things like education, healthcare, employment etc. Quality and nature of people are largely shaped up by these things. But are we truly ‘empowered’ today to think independently? Apparently, the current generation lacks the direction, depth and devotion for flawless thinking in terms of decision making. Does only financial independence at a very early age makes them subservient to money as their think-tank or is it our fundamental incapability which stops us from evolving in true sense?
Today, we live under conditions that are drastically different from our ancestors. External environment has changed most of the things practically but we are still left with the strategic rigidity when it comes to making our own choices based on an impeccable thinking process. The answer lies neither in our ancestors nor in the current generation, it lies in our pattern of upbringing.
In those good old days all the family decisions would be made by the family head and no one would desist from the norm in an attempt to conform to the ‘value system’ which unfortunately got skewed by the ‘respect’ factor. We could never allow the thinking process to grow, to flourish and most importantly to stay intact. Today, things have changed externally but internally it is still the same. Even today, we are scared to stand out as a maverick. Even today, we feel secure to call such a behaviour taboo. Even today, we are lame to think! The only difference is that the place of our so-called ‘value system’ is hijacked by the financial independence. Today, we strive to achieve the behavioural pattern which is convenient, suitable and most importantly ‘respected’ in the world of financial independence.
We need to be truly liberated from all kinds of shackles in the path of evolution of human beings to call our nation independent. So let’s free ourselves from all fears, doubts, conventions. Let’s dare to think…about ourselves, our society, our nation, our neighbours, our universe and most importantly the need to ‘think’!.....
DEEPALI S. BASUR
Co-founder & Chief Editor,
www.ethinksharp.com, an e-magazine dedicated to the 'YOUTH'.