Van Gogh

I have always liked Van Gogh, the way he captured nature and human expressions. I hope someday I will get to visit the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. While reading: Van Gogh letters to Theo (his brother), I got to know more about him.

  • He died (killed himself by cutting his ear), remaining poor.
  • He was dependent on Theo, his brother from emotional and financial support.
  • In early days he wanted to be a preacher but since he failed the exams so never got the job.
  • He failed in love many times.
  • He was eccentric.
  • His art teachers/mentors(yup, the finest artist had teachers), disliked his way of paintings.
  • He called himself a peasant painter and lived a good part of his life with the peasants, miners.

I could not bear the pain in reading those letters. I have left reading it half way through.

The positive side of reading this book is, my respect for artists has increased much more. I will prefer not bargaining for buying their artwork.

Age

Once we cross 60 years of our age, the reversals happen. We start acting like a grumpy kid who starts crying for not getting his wish fulfilled: parents not buying that toy or candy.

What happens after we get old? Do we fall for expectation traps? Do we let kids fall for the guilt trip?

Or is the generation gap?

Cult

Some tactics for creating and maintaining a cult.

  1. Create your own social reality: in simple terms create an echo chamber, limit external sources for news and information. Most modern-day ashrams across India follow these.
  2. Create a granfalloon: make members believe they are part of something bigger, use god or some cause as bait.
  3. Create commitment through rationalization trap
  4. Establish leaders credibility and attractiveness
  5. Send fund members out to proselytize the unredeemed and to fundraiser for the cult
  6. Distract members from thinking “undesirable “ thoughts.

Excerpt from “Age of propaganda.”

Emotions

Charlie Munger says that most investors fail because their investments are driven by emotions.

Bhagwad Gita preaches attachment is the root cause of all our miseries.

Jiddu Krishnamurti says don’t fight with your thoughts but observe it.

I am half way through emotional design by Don Norman. Where he talks about how our emotions guide most of our decisions in life. Be it finding a spouse, friends or new brand of toothpaste.

I like Star Trek. I like Spock and how being a Vulcan every decision of his depends on logic.

Coming back to applying thoughts, emotions, and attachments. How important are they in our human existence?

Can we live life while keeping a 100% check on our emotions?
How will it affect our attachment to parents, peers and loved ones?
How will we sail through the miserable thoughts?

Bubble

Most of us live in our own bubble. Our judgment about others is a byproduct of our bias. We live in our own echo chambers, make an opinion which suits our belief.

Why can’t we be more rational? See both sides of the situations, make decisions without being emotional?

Is it our age, experience to be blamed for it or the baggage we carry with living this life?

Scared

I have been scared of everything earlier: past, present, future, relationships, career, health.

I lived in my own little world, hatching my own dreams. I was scared of living in reality.

Why was I scared of losing: possession, prestige, people. Looking back I have realized, I was naive. How much does my existence mean when I compare it to the vast universe?

Old age

Part of growing up is seeing parents getting old. Old age is no different than early childhood. It requires proper handling of emotions, conversations, and situations. Anything and everything can trigger displeasure.

At times, things go south. But in a wider picture, It teaches us a lot about empathy, compassion, respect and caring.