Expectation

Expectation is the cause of all our sorrows.
— Bhagwad Gita

Is it possible to live a life without expecting anything from externals? An ailing fathers expectation that his son will visit him this Christmas. Mothers hope to see her daughter’s wedding soon.

Why do we let our happiness in hands of another? Why can’t we let things guide on its nature? Why do we have to live a life with expectation and when things fail to go our way, we end up in pain?

Man is a rational Animal.
— Aristotle

I am not sure if humans are rational. Aristotle meant philosophers are rational animals.

Monkeys

I like monkeys, I am fascinated by their grit and perseverance. Their focus on what they want.

The other quality which has kept them going is a reproduction. I don’t know if they believe in Love and all, but they are truly aware of seeding their species.

Sigmund Freud said there is no such thing as love, it is all about our quest to reproduce our offspring’s.

I don’t understand what will happen to the marketers if humanity starts agreeing to Freud.

Cage

Man is a social animal.
— Aristotle

What we become has a lot to do with the environment around us, people we are connected to. This close-knit of connection is what differentiates us from other animals. Wherever we go, live and make a colony we try to build a community.

Most religions followed the same approach for its spread.

How will your parents feel if you make them visit and live with you? Anyone will say a great idea.

Thinking deep inside and asking the same will make you feel it’s like a cage and they have made to fit in it.

The life we are living in metros and the ever growing need for more leaves little time to spend with them. Even when we are with them in the same house, we are hooked to our own parallel world or mobile phone, laptop, and other gadgets.

Will you feel happy if your kids will make you visit them and spend the least time with you?

Epictetus : Stoic philosopher

Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher. He was born into slavery and endured a permanent physical disability. Like Socrates, he too had not written anything. Some of his students collected his sayings and converted it into an Enchiridion (a book containing essential information on a subject.)I remember Chetan telling me about this book while I was in my journey of finding myself. We visited Blossom Book House where it was unavailable and hence I ordered an e-copy.

The original book was written in Greek centuries ago. Over the period, it has been translated into many languages. I liked the translation by William Abbott Oldfather.

I have shared this link with many of you and many of my tweets has Epictetus discourses.

After J. Krishnamurti, Epictetus has been the closest one whose teaching I could closely relate to. I have shared my kindle note of the book earlier, but I don’t think it is sufficient. We all have our own journey.

Time

Time stops for no one. It is constantly passing, we are getting on with it. We are getting old and dying every minute with it.

Why do we have to be so scared of death? Is it not part and parcel or our creation?

Why do we have to question about the allocated time of ours? Why are we letting our fear of death hampering our present? Does it even make sense to worry about the future while living miserably now?

The virtuous ones are aware of this truth. They are aware of the passing time. They are the ones living now and making a dent in this universe with their karma.

Living an ordinary life in this flyby time and worrying about death: do insects care about it? Some live as less as a day, but they make the best of it.

Hostel

Growing up in a small town has its own charm. It has some limitations too. When I was growing up, we had only one school affiliated to the CBSE board. My parents sent me Vikas Vidyalaya, Ranchi. (The school still exists)

I was 11 years old then. I was on my own. Sometimes I cried and wanted to go back home. The Longing got bigger whenever seniors ragged me or was hit by hostel warden.

There was no smartphone or internet in that era. We had one phone number for the entire school. If papa got lucky, my name would be announced on the loudspeaker and I would run for receiving the call. Most of the timeline would go off, it was a different era.

I was non-vegetarian and my school was complete veg. I was forced to eat paneer and drink milk. It was a pain in the ass. Some seniors would sit next to me on Thursday lunch so that they pick all paneer from my plate.

The only silver lining was the visit of Nanaji and Mamaji. They would take me out on gate pass and I would eat as much non-veg I could the entire day.

Our hostel was an army camp. We had to wake up by 5 and sleep by 9 pm. I had to change my attire multiple times in a day. We had all the co-curricular amenities: yoga, gymnastics, hockey, football, handball. We had it all.

I get a feeling I got lucky that I was sent to the hostel at such an early age. The experience I gained there has made me more resilient. The grit to survive and zeal to learn has come a long way.

We had our classmates from many different states, they were of different race and color. The myopic view I had on religion, the race was cleared very early.

Later on in life when I moved again to Delhi for my senior secondary, it helped me in making a friend circle and enjoying my stay.

Looking back in the past, it makes me realize my parents did a great job by sending me to the hostel. It opened me for the entire world.

Food

Modern life has one key ingredient: food. We are surrounded by a variety of food items. They modified to fit our taste buds. The beverage industry spends billions in research.

Early days we eat less because of the limited availability. We were more active. As society progressed and food became plenty via mass production. It gave rise to modern-day disease from obesity, heart attack to diabetes.

Our modern life has more space for container packed foods, canned juices. Food deserts are in our vicinity serving carb, sugar and fat loaded food for cheap.

This modern lifestyle of ours is making us sicker. Gone are the days when we had a local butcher or vegetable vendors. The concept of eating from own farm sounds alien.

How?

I keep getting asked about the secrets of running a successful community. After spending a decade in this field I still have no answer.

Past few years living on my own has been humbling. It has taught me many new things. The topmost being: there is no one fit for all path.

We are all different so is our way of building anything. The journey we take also differs.

I understand the emergence of social media has amplified the creation of many gurus. Many books are written every year of how to be happy, run a successful company and what not.

Read them but in the end, the journey is yours. You have to run on its own.

Propaganda

It is time for the parliamentary election in India. Every political party and politicians have started working on their vote banks.A vast country like India with varied ethnicity and races winning requires a lot of work. To woo the voters, these politicians are using all the tricks and even hatching propaganda.

  • Creating a divide on account of caste, religion and polarizing vote bank.
  • Spreading rumors, sharing wrong facts.

Propaganda is not a new phenomenon, marketers have been using it since ages. Edward Barneys sold cigarettes to females as an account of independence.

That reminds me sharing a link of this YouTube series on Edward Barneys and his propaganda tricks. After watching it, you will be able to relate how in every realm of our life we are being screwed.

Empathy

Practicing virtue of empathy is a double-edged sword. While your approach will make the world better in most cases, there will be a time when you will be ridiculed or considered weak. Some will take you for granted.

So be ready to be ridiculed, called out weak or emotional. As long as your faculty of consciousness is at peace with nature, continue practicing the virtue of empathy.