Swim till you drown

  

What happens when Pinocchio says "My nose will grow now"?

Paradoxes are addictive. Primarily because our mind is at unrest when we come across problems that we believe we fully understand but are helpless when we try to find a solution. Are paradoxes completely pointless? Why do they even exist? What is our takeaway from pondering over a paradox? Is there anything more to it than just the fun of having an irresolvable puzzle around? Perhaps there is more. What if it is the scariest thing known to us?

To try to understand why a paradox would even remotely scare us, we may have to understand a little bit about the concept of Absolute Randomness. Does Absolute Randomness exist? or do we just call it random when we fail to procure the necessary data and calculate to ascertain the outcome of a system? Take a simple toss of a coin. Is the outcome totally unpredictable or say if we were somehow able to capture data like shape of the coin, material, density, angular momentum, composition of air, wind direction, speed, ground tension and a few dozen other data with time. We may be able to predict the outcome. Hence it is not absolutely random. So is the lottery draw, the weather, quantum mechanics, behaviour of people, you name it. We simply don't or can't calculate and predict, till date.

Randomness then, prevails purely through ignorance. Since we know that mass and energy cannot be destroyed, if the Universe is only made of mass and energy, playing around "randomly"(or following a set of laws), they are just going on and on switching between one another endlessly. So we people get created and change forms and at some point regain the form and again change and so on, forever. There is nothing we can ever do to change it. There is no individuality. We cannot call our individual self as an individual entity. For I without the universe am meaningless. We are part of a whole. We exist together as a system and transpire.  There is no escape. We happen, again and again and again.

In life, we can always find ways to handle our problems by fixing them, running away from it or making it worse. We can quit schools, jobs, family, friends, life anything at anytime we want to. But we cannot escape the biggest paradox we are engulfed in. The paradox of existing and being a part of the universe. If this is true, then swimming till you drown may not sound as depressing as it did before reading this.

However there seems to exist an assurance that could very well change several things we haven't understood and could change the fundamental way of our thinking about everything. But let us hope it is not what people call the 'ultimate paradox' - To want to discover something that thought itself cannot think.

Bcozazedzo

Curtains down

She sells curtains. Thinks about what she did in the morning. Got dressed and took a long walk at 11, past the school, the park, across the lake and reached the mall. El Oued finds a suit through the glass. It reminds her of her son's first suit. He was 22 then, not scared of the world he was about to enter from college, not one bit. Long ago, when her son was 9, he once threw ink and stained a 10 set curtain bunch. He had already learnt the names and capitals of all the countries in the world. He left the country when he was 26. He had walked into the kitchen with a rod and a chicken and told her that he is planning to settle in As Sib and stepped out of the kitchen, she follows him to the curtain store and was searching for him behind every curtain in display. She finds something different with the curtains, they were damaged and stained. She then realizes that all of them are damaged. She even finds some lying on the streets outside and were getting drenched in the rain. She doesn't mind the rain, goes out and starts picking them up as quickly as possible. She notices strangers taking cover and watching her as if she is insane. She finds her son talking on the phone. She cries out to him. He doesn't respond. She feels as if she doesn't exist. She feels she doesn't belong to this world. She falls to her knees and starts crying. Within moments, she seas hundreds of bulls running everywhere on the meadow. She drops the damp curtains and runs for cover. Hides behind a tree and stays still. She starts shivering in the cold breeze. She wants to run back into her house, but she doesn't know how to get there. She falls to the ground, closes her eyes and curls in her arms and legs. As the sound of thunder grows louder and louder, she closes her ears tighter and tighter. She opens her eyes suddenly realizing that the sound was not of thunder anymore. It was someone knocking on the door. She gets off the bed quickly to see who it is.

It was a letter from her son. It reads

Dear Mother,

I have been good here. How have you been? This is my 11th letter. I know you have been reading them. I have apologized plenty of times for leaving you. I understand I have hurt you but I cannot come back. Now that I am doing well, I can afford to bring you here. Why don't you atleast respond to my calls or telegrams? I thought you would be happy if I was happy.

May be you should ask yourself this, who is being selfish?

With love
Sidi

She sinks on the sofa, her face stiff. The dream was still fresh in her mind. Sits motionless for 7 minutes and then picks up the phone and speaks into it "Hi, please have the shop. I am leaving the country in 2 days".

Bcozazedzo

Shouldn't you be afraid to like the half understood?

Creation is driven by fascination. Fascination is driven by desire. Desire is driven by discontent. Discontent is driven by desire again. To pull ourselves out of the 'Desire' and 'Discontent' deadlock, we need good choices. We are all familiar with how important choices are in our lives. With good choices, we can desire, fascinate and create things to our liking. Decision on choice is too complex to channelize. But we have to follow our heart and mind by ourselves and be careful when we choose. Because we need to worry about what things we are going to like.

We are born with a mind that is like an empty chip with just the operating system. Whatever data is collected through our senses gets categorized and stored. Whatever we store, is a creation of thought. Beyond a point, we can no longer create them unless you destroy (more like loosing reference to the data) a less important data. Some techniques* help us expand our mind's capacity to store data. But that too has limits. Creation is coupled with destruction.

* If you have to memorize say 20, 3 digit numbers. It will be hard. But if you find a sequence or connection between numbers. If becomes easy. Similarly, if you have to remember a set of 50 random words or objects or things, you can probably create a story in your mind and picture each of them in the story. This way, if you remember the story, you can list down all the words. These are a few examples of some very basic techniques.

The more fascinating things we like, we are involuntarily, no longer liking something that we had liked earlier. A simplest example of such scenarios known to most of us is something like this. we go to buy a television set, or shopping in general. We see the first one, we like it. We see more and more and we start liking more sets. We struggle to accurately measure our like meter on each set on display. Until we reach THE set which beats everything by a mile. Instantly, our new found liking clouds the fact that we have just stopped liking everything else we liked just a few minutes ago.

There are sometimes a structure, like a family tree, to the things we like. If we happen to not like something in the middle of the tree, or worse, the top of the tree, that is carried on to everything below. That is why, as we get older, we have lesser things around, which we like. Mostly, it comes down to just family. I cannot say if it is good or bad, but what I CAN say is that our liking is now narrowed and we are left with little or nothing to fall back on to.

So, to preserve your liking, you should either stop learning about advancements or improvements of what you like. Which sound absurd. Or you can control your thoughts and learn to isolate them so that one thought doesn't influence another. Which sounds probable for somebody with a lot of meditation skills. If these are beyond the realm of our understanding, we are left with the last and best option. You have to learn to make the right choice to choose what you like. An infant may not like a painting, but over the years, he/she can learn to understand and like it. Similarly, you can choose what we want to like. You can choose to like things that are eternal and cannot be changed or made better. Once chosen, you can learn to like them. This will last forever with you. The earlier you choose, the stronger it stays. Good luck!

Here is some slight relevance in an extract from the movie, The Hurt Locker.

JAMES :
You see, the thing is, son. One day you’ll understand that when you start out like you are now, you love everything. You love your Mommy and your Daddy. You love your bobba. You love your blanket. You even love your little crib, and these dumb toys. But as you get older some of the things you love don’t seem special anymore. That bobba is one day just going to look like an ordinary plastic bottle to you. And the older you get, the more this happens and the fewer things you love. And by the time you get to be my age, sometimes you only love one -- or two -- things.
James pauses.

JAMES:
With me, I think it’s one.

Bcozazedzo

Ever dared to claim you are unique?

"Are you sure Bolt is the fastest man on earth? Nadal the best male Tennis player in the world? Are you completely certain?" asks Earth to the judge in the courtroom. Earth is a person who says she doesn't have a name and insists she doesn't want one. But we need her to have one so we named her Earth.

The Judge responds with disinterest "We have international events which conduct, examine and record achievements performed under identical circumstances with fair opportunity to everyone. So my answer is, Yes. They are the best as per the records we have today. Even if you believe it isn't correct or not comprehensive, this is not the place to discuss this."

Earth elaborates "I never competed with them. Never tried. So how can the world be sure that they are the best? There are millions of others who never tried. The best could be one among us. You people rate the best movies, musicians, scientists, philosophers, peacemakers, artists. You rate anything and everything and call one the best. Are we all not born different? Is there any painting that all people of the past and future unanimously hate? Can there be one? Here is something I want you to read if you must try to understand what I ask."

The letter reads :

Yo Dude/Dudette,

Reminding you that there is no absolute best or worst. You take a person Neptune. Neptune builds a world in her mind filled with all his likes, dislikes, opinions, beliefs and dreams. If you lay it all down and build a virtual world out of it for every person. Imagine the fascination in observing the infinite worlds overlapping, although different by point of view. In a sense, each person sees the world in a way no other person sees. Why do we then generalize with best and worst based on the acceptance of majority? What about the views of the minority. Have we all not experienced at some point when our opinion was different from what the world accepted?

I do not want the world to accept or certify anything or anyone on behalf of all people (which includes me too). I refuse to accept your administration, your democracy, your communism, your communalism or whatever. I refuse to accept the governments' facilities provided to people. I refuse to accept the laws created. I refuse citizenship. I do not want anybody to expect me to follow anything just because they believe its for the good of everyone. I care not for everyone. You may call me arrogant, but that does not make me wrong. I don't need your police protection, I don't need hospitals, I don't need education. I was, for so long forced into practicing the slavery that we all have been living throughout. In your clearest morality, do you think it is just to force everything that is done upon a child since birth to death just because the majority believes it is the best form of living that can be created for any person? I ask you, the people of the world, to treat me like I don't exist. I don't want to follow your rules, your custom, your culture, your borders, your beliefs, your passion, your nothing. I will choose for myself. I want freedom.

The Judge read the whole letter aloud. Gives it a long thought and then asks "What about your family? friends? Do you speak for them too?

Earth replies with no change in expression "I don't have any."

A guy from the bench shouts "Lets think she doesn't exist and not listen to her at all" and gives a loud fake laughter and hopes for it to multiply.

The Judge hammers it. Asks Earth with a grin "So, if you don't fit in the law, its not a crime to kill you. I might as well have you shot down. What do you feel about that?"

Earth hits back "Anyone can kill me, hang me, electrocute me, torture me. Then will you magically become right?"

Judge sighs and tell Earth "I hear what you are asking for, but I don't have the authority to grant you what you ask for. I hope you realize that."

Earth remarks "Do your job, spread my plea and see what your MAJORITY says".

Bcozazedzo

Where are we heading?

Take a week off. As you enjoy your leisure by the beach or hills or meadow, governments are changed, companies are sold, bought, started or bankrupt, new laws are passed, advancements in technology are made, billions of people learn new things, achieve things, records broken, new buildings appear, trees are cut, your stocks shock you and much more. Every second, something new is invented, which can change the way you live. We spend close to 1/3rd of our lives trying to learn how to live the rest 2/3rds. The world is changing fast, are you up for it?


Whether we like it or not, we are part of the change. Although we may wonder if we are living it right, given the conflicting interests in morality, religious beliefs, social and economic influence, if we miraculously happen to reach a consensus, the world would have changed enough by then to invalidate the verdict. Which brings us to the most pertinent question, where are we heading?


In an attempt to find the answer and to predict the future, the easiest approach would be to formulate a patten of our history and extrapolate it. This equation may seem convincing, but if you look carefully, you will find a huge void. Its called the present. Every change happening right now, will lead us to a different future. Which makes it impossible to predict the future accurately. But the good news is, if we can match the pattern of our history to the basic needs of humans which have remained the same throughout evolution, we may be able to come up with a rough idea of where we are heading.


As I was contemplating on several possibilities, I realized that it was the need for comfort that led to developments in civilization. Even more developments were done as a necessity to handle the basic developments. The highest point of comfort is probably the comfort for the mind. We are born with a lot of enthusiasm, curiosity, anxiety etc which fades out towards the end of out lives for most people. We learn to control them. Realization through life lived abandons the petty feelings we are born with. We may continue our current development for years, but the more we move forward, the more people would fall back to the idea enjoying the bliss of a simple life.   


We could use science to create an artificial world to full fill the needs of every person, but can you hear something telling you that such a life will not be accepted by everyone? I am told that people with the highest of intellects achieve a realization which cannot be explained by terms known to us till date. Such people are then only ones I hear who have no desire for anything more than what they already have. This sounds like the best answer to the question we are looking for. Of course, the truth in such a realization is accepted sometimes on the basis of a very thin fundamental reasoning: If they are smarter than us, they must be right. 


We will have to live backwards until we find the simplest physical form of living. The only difference though would be that of the intellect. We were there but we didn't know. We will be there again, but this time, we will know. This will perhaps be the peak of our civilization and will remain dormant until doomsday. Unfortunately, nobody has yet formulated a process to be followed by a common man to attain that realization. Even if we did form it, the challenges to implement that world wide to people across all ages, origins, beliefs, interests and culture are plenty. Perhaps that is a discussion for another day. But for now, let us bank on our enemy, Mr. Time, to teach us that.


Bcozazedzo