Karta: Life-Inspiring Essays on Cognition, Consciousness & Causality by Santosh Jha - HTML preview

 

Art of Internalizing Externalities

Someone said, ‘…nothing external to you has any power over you…’!

True…very true… there are things scattered around us in a shape and size that may not be what our own ‘make and positioning’ wishes them to be… that’s why they are ‘external’ to us … and, not amenable to our reception…

…. We just need to internalize them…. around us, every day we see lots and lots of things which we all believe is wrong and not so good…. but still, we do not learn from the mistakes of ‘others’… they remain external and hence, no have power to influence us….

That's why, whenever, one has to point out any mistake or wrong in ‘others’… he or she must make it a point to say, ‘… I have these wrongs in me…’… this is how others can learn the ‘art of internalizing’ things… and as and when he or she does learn to do it, things become ‘internal’ to them and have power over them to influence them….

…. this is the only way to learn… and to make others learn…

…. Yeah….! Saying this does have shades of what we call ‘narcissism’… but this is good one…!

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Of In-cognitive Inconveniences

Since childhood, our minds are trained like that…. the transition from this mind-positioning even in later years of grown-up existentialism is not very easy…. it needs a lot of painful ‘unlearning’…. very very cruel for self…. and, when we really wish this to happen… do we have the time and positioning…?

We all live in a world with accentuated sense of ‘self-sustenance’…. stretched to the limits of self-stupidity’…. and, the mind training is there to accept it as ‘survival’ bare-basics. The mind-training to accept and acclimatize only with ‘cognitive’ values and valuables leaves a lot many things wanting in life-propositions where most values and valuables fall in the beautiful world of rainbowish ‘incognitives’…..

We grow to confront and create lot many incognitives…. and, as our mind training is highly unsuitable to these incognitives…. we stand confused and critically wanting in handling them to advantages….

…. the incognitives of affection, compassion, assimilation, acceptance etc., often lands us in the domain of ‘cognitive conundrum’…. most young ones, even adults behave like a confused corn while exposed to love and compassion, which seem alien to their ‘self’ as it is not trained to accept them, being acclimatized only to ‘cognitives’ of accentuated sense of ‘self-symmetry’….

The luminous and lucrative behavioral accessories are too over-encompassing for the ‘cognitive-self’ to allow a lovably compassionate incognitive existentialism…..

Actually, the ‘cognitive-self’ becomes so insecure that it tends to fall back to the ‘safety’ of its behavioral benchmarks…. saying, “…. I am like that…. since childhood I have been like that…. whatever I am, I am good for myself..!”

Can’t blame anybody…. actually…. there is a truth in it …. since childhood, we are trained to accept ‘cognitive-conveniences’…. and reject ‘incognitive-inconveniences’…. acceptance is such a beautifully satisfying incognitive…. ain’t it…?

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Genius, A Pop-Stupidity!

Inquisitiveness is such a beautiful thing… though, since childhood, the popular culture, etiquettes and larger preference for discipline over creative wastefulness and stupidities are out there to stifle major part of the inquisitive aspirations… too bad…!

If necessity is the mother of all inventions, let there be a father too and let us accept innate instinct of inquisitiveness as the worthy father…!

At any point of time, it is the content and structure of contemporary inquisitiveness that provides the energy for an evolving worldview and world order. Personalities are no exceptions… what a person would evolve to be and what the world would turn out to be in near or less distant future are largely the function of the contemporary inquisitiveness… and… bitter the taste of inquisitiveness, sweeter are the chances of fruition in future….

So, the America is inquisitive… “will the capitalistic structure survive…?”… India is inquisitive, “shall this golden phase continue…?”…. inquisitiveness doesn’t end here… so, science is inquisitive, “… is there life outside earth…?”

All stupidities, all absurdities, all non-conformism must be part of the larger energy of cosmic inquisitiveness…. genius is, often, the younger twin of stupidity… genius can rarely be customized… it naturally evolves out of stupidity… usually, genius is ‘pop-stupidity’….

Let inquisitive energy be unleashed in complete madness and stupidity… life, they say is some absurd tale of a stupid…. let the story be herd and appreciated….

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Dictatorship Of Holism

How easy it sounds to be true… for, we all have the mind training to accept goodness as something very complex and beyond our endeavors… that’s why, we all pray our respective Gods to guide us to be good. The fact remains, goodness is just a seed word and very much singular, well within the easy reach of our simple endeavor….

As this seed manifests itself in a complex structure of a giant tree with innumerous branches and uncountable leaves and fruits, we all are led to believe, goodness is very complicated…. it is never…. it is just a seed….

Plant the seed in your mind and let it grow within your immortal being…. then; enjoy the diversity of goodness and be your own God. All rational minds have told us since ages, God is within us…. those attempting to find it outside are doing the mistake of uprooting a giant oak tree from the jungle and planting it in their house garden…. like seed, goodness grows within, cannot be transplanted…. even if it happens, it would not survive long….

The seed of goodness is ‘accommodation’…. acceptance of ‘I’ with compassionate accommodation towards ‘We’, ‘He’ and ‘They’. No doubt, one is designed to believe in ‘I’ as the center of the universe. But then, the ‘I’ needs to be compassionate and affectionate towards the existence of ‘others’ in the periphery. This is what rational minds have called ‘holism’…. the liberty of periphery to be equitably (if not equally) as important as the center and the duty of center to accommodate periphery in the liberty to be what it is… this holism is the only divinity… a singularity of situationalism…. Gods may be in plurality….

Most rational minds have warned humanity of the ‘dictatorship’ of singularity of elements other than the abovementioned divinity. The dictatorship of all sorts, especially the dictatorship of ignorance…. dictatorship of parts; that of either the center or the periphery is anathema as kills the goodness. Only the dictatorship of holism is allowed…. this dictatorship of compassion, accommodation, acceptance is welcome…. divinity alone can be a dictator…..

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The Dictator Within Us

A great name from French cinema said, “… cinema and other media must be used dexterously and stoutly to end all forms of dictatorship, especially the dictatorship of ignorance…”.

What a beautiful desire…! Can’t imagine, anyone on this planet having any second thoughts about such an eventuality…. but, almost everyone would ask, “how”?

Since the inception of human civilization, the dictatorship of ignorance has devastated humanity and has only spread in intensity and coverage… despite all forms of media growing powerful and almost all encompassing in recent years….

If one asks, “what is root ignorance”… so that we could find a counter to it, it becomes almost impossible… simply because, no one ever accepts, he or she is ignorant and always thinks others as the one….

Essentially… the dictator is well within every individual and to stop that dictator to rule us, every individual needs a lot of defensive and offensive elements within…. and they are so very difficult to acquire in a life time…

They are, determination, patience, courage, discipline, mastery, intensity, power, organization, integration, and synthesis etc…. they are the tools to create a ‘Will’ that stops the dictator within….

Still, even after almost 5000 years of civilization, despite all the growth in technology and resources, 95% of humanity is struggling to survive…. and it is this battle for survival and security for self-preservation that allows a free-hand to the dictatorship of ignorance…

And the media, itself beset with its own inflated survival and sustenance issues, is never into its cherished role of a catalyst in a decisive and definitive war against dictatorship of ignorance… rather, in most cases, it is hand-in-glove with the dictator itself…!

But then, hope is always struggling to wage a lonely battle and it shall forever….

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Let Them Be With Their Business

It is indeed sad, often tragic and chaotic that humanity in the contemporary world is destined to live in an intellectual universe where questions of billions of mind are being answered by a bunch of leadership who themselves do not have access to answers and are themselves a confused lot….

The questions have always been there… who are we, why are we, what is life for, the aim, the purpose, the righteousness and the exalted path, etc… the answers fall either in the realm of religion, philosophy or science. And all these realms are unable to come to a singularity of universal wisdom… though claiming to have right answers and also, claiming, only they know the answers…. sad… tragic…!

In reality, all the religions of the world are archaic, rooted in the timeliness of the knowledge that holds no truth today, given the realisms in the field of knowledge that humanity has today… the religions are thousands of years old when the set of knowledge that created them are today nothing but poor fiction….

The philosophy and even science are evolving; they are more authoritative and well-placed when they deny that what religions say and what traditional morality based on spiritualism entails are all wrong and unfounded… but, they are asked as to what is the right answer, they come up with another set of still evolving answers and half-baked truths. The more rational of the scientists however are ready to admit that science may have some answers but human mind is still not evolved enough to have all right answers.

The good thing however, with all aware and rational minds is that in all fields of human knowledge, be in science, philosophy and religion, which usually provide answers to human inquisitiveness, those who really are intellectuals, do admit that there is nothing called ultimate in human knowledge and wisdom (answers) are always an evolving entity. They also admit the answers are in holism of all wings of human knowledge, never in parts….

But tragically, such people are in very poor minority and their voices of rationalism also remain minority voices and as usual, the media of the day are always interested in stifling this minority voice and play puppets in the hands of those majority, who foolishly but stylishly and ingenuously claim, they have the answers and only their answers are right ones.

So, what is the golden prescription for common man… it is very simple… use this evolving knowledge as a weapon to make best out of it…. god is or not… there is life after death or not, life’s purpose is in material well-being or not… etc, etc. Don’t be involved in this debate… use whatever way it suits you and still allow others to have their own ideas. If you feel god is… good enough… remain happy. But, never be antagonistic and retributive to those who say god ain’t… just admit and be compassionate to all ideas and all sorts of dualism and opinions.

Choose what suits you and live a life that is happy, fulfilling and meaningful… simultaneously, being kind and accommodative to others who have ideas and actions other than what you choose… believe and practice the holism of wisdom… and truly be compassionate towards all ideas and actions, till it conforms to the golden principle of non-violence of highest order….

Life in itself is the biggest answer of all things…. other questions and answers may evolve… but when you have got your life, you have to be happy, modest and thankful that you have got what is a huge “opportunity”. Go ahead, explore the opportunity and while doing that, just be compassionate to others as, others have equal right to explore their “opportunities”…. god is or not… life after death is or not… soul is or not …. other questions shall have their answers and these answers will always evolve…

Accept and use this relativity with true objectivity and make it a cardinal idea that life is an opportunity and it will be explored to its best only when we all practice ‘love and compassion’ to ourselves and to all things living or non-living…. this shall never change, rest is for evolution….

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Ignorance = Loss of Innocence

A great many people had one single regret and pain in life and that one could understand, is the true side-effects of being a great. The pain must follow you… just because, being a great means you have understood what ignorance is and as it happens, you immediately start to regret and feel sorry about a huge chunk of humanity suffering and making others suffer because of their ignorance and intrinsically associated pride about being truly knowledgeable.

To a beginner, it always seems a humungous task and challenge to acquire wisdom and get rid of the universal human disease; called ignorance. To him, the world, the universe seems so immense and knowledge scattered all around like sand on a sea beach. He or she is so gripped by the sense of the immensity of the task.

Also, his or her peer groups and seniors make sure his or her sense of the task being an impossible one by constantly booing at whatever little knowledge he or she seems to acquire after much efforts…. sadistic pleasures are so great….

The reality is just the reverse of it… ignorance is easy to drive away and wisdom is very simple and singular… and so within our reach…. wisdom is in innocence, it is in compassion…. sample it.

Ignorance is the loss of innocence…. and in the pride that ‘I know’ and know it right… the difference between ignorance and wisdom is two words called ‘only’ and ‘also’….

An ignorant would say, “I know what is truth or, what I know is the only truth”. A wise man would say, “I think I also know something about truth or, what I know may also have some truth in it”.

A wise man once said, an ignorant is always very sure about what he says he knows and a wise would never be sure of what he knows… ignorance is in saying ‘I only’ whereas wisdom is in saying, ‘I also’….

Innocence would always wish to understand and accept the other aspects of a truth as it has faith in not the parts but in holism. Ignorant does not have this innocence and that’s why he is always stubborn about his ‘part truth’ and will stick to it with lots of pride that he alone knows, brushing aside the ‘also’ aspect of the holism.

This world has always been inhabited by ignorant who are often in the leadership position of society, economy, polity and religion… the true wise are too innocent to accept leadership as they are never sure….

The part-ness of truth is what majority follows as it looks more convincing, always…. ages back, all people saw the sun rise in east and set in west… so the logical truth was that sun moves round the earth…. a man said the reverse and he could not be believed…

We all are still in the same age mentally…. we still cannot accept anything more than what is our personal truth. This truth is what majority says and majority is willing to say this because their ignorant (wise for them) societal, economic, political and religious leaders say so….

Ignorance usually prevails because it is supported by majority…. and those who actually know things right are always unsure and unwilling to fight for their truth as they have firm faith, many truths together should exist… and if true, where is the need to say it is?

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Everything In Our Hands!

What makes one happy….? the list can be endless…the question is primary and primeval and therefore, it is only natural that it is most debated… that’s why, there has never been a consensus on the answer to the question… a section of opinion is that happiness is determined by perceptions as well as experiences and not material and physical things. It says, happiness depends on our subjective interpretations of events.

Some philosophers said, happiness is determined by the number of positive events experienced in life. However, the opposite view is also equally supported and popular. No doubt, money and other material wellness also counts and are equally important, if not more.

There is an interesting viewpoint however, which looks like the right balance of all competing idea. This is called ‘hedonic treadmill hypothesis’. It states that just as we adjust our walking or running speed to match the speed of the treadmill, we adjust our moods and emotions to match life’s circumstances. This means, happiness is not only very subjective, varying person to person but also something which is largely in control of a person’s own conscious abilities. As we had earlier said, ‘pain is inevitable, suffering optional’… similarly, happiness also is a conscious ability to adjust… 

Researchers have established something very interesting. They have found that big lottery winners report being super happy after winning the lottery. However, their happiness falls to baseline levels about two months later. On the other hand, people who become paralyzed from the waist down, return to almost baseline levels of happiness within a few months after the accident.

Moreover, scientific studies have established something more interesting. They says, it is not only unrealistic but also undesirable to be happy all the time. Negative emotions are natural and necessary. Being happy all the time is rather an irrationality. Life has everything in its bag… and all of it are inevitable… what really makes us happy is how we all rise above all this consciously and adjust to it with control of a rational mind…

… science says, adjustment to a mean happy position or what they call a ‘set point’ is intuitive, in-built and natural in all human beings… all we need to do is to be consciously aware of the process… science calls it homeostasis… which literally means balancing… our conscious mind is the smartest catalyst for attainment of this balance and poise….

… remain happy… keep smiling… joy is good… pain is also good … if you are good, everything else can be… everything seems to be in your hand… ain’t it?

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Prescription Of Propriety

Someone said, ‘life is all about sense of proportions… the grief and joy… almost everything…’

And… it is so very difficult to ascertain, what is the right one… there is no universally accepted ‘right mix’…. and certainly no fixed benchmark transcending time-space-circumstances positioning…

Confounded, calamitous and cathartic …. it is about proportions? That's why… this world has more trial and hit geniuses and circumstantial stupid… in both cases, humanity stand to lose …. too bad!

What's the prescription of propriety then…! …. transparency …. did they say that…! Yeah….! a huge proportion of it and mix it well with magnanimity of modesty…. you've got it right…!

Affection can err… modesty can be ingenuous…. but…. transparency ensures the compassion of forgiveness…. This stands you in affectionate reckoning of a second chance… to hit the right proportions…. may we all be second time lucky…. amen….!

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Still Scope For More!

Often, we have this innate tendency to accept things in abstractions… especially those things, which are not in the easy domain of tactile and measurable… faith is one such popular human domain where abstractions fly high and mighty as intuitively as one’s socio-psychological background fuels it…

Few days back, just chanced upon a debate where western ideologists were ridiculing Hindu faith system wondering how come Hindus have 330 million gods and goddesses… even among many of us, it is a subject of curiosity and bewilderment… this is one of the greatest puzzle of Oriental spiritual-religious system….

Why 330 million deities…? …. this looks like a classic case of metaphors and symbols being made to land in tactile and realistic world and taking forms of uneasy abstractions… the rationalists have made deep inroads into the minds of faith-operators and faith-followers… they have come up with reasonably satisfactory explanations which can be accepted and acted accordingly.

It has been rationalized, “In ancient times it was believed that there were 330 million living beings. This gave rise to the idea of 330 million deities or gods. The genuine faith-operators believed that each living being is a unique manifestation of God. Each human being is the potential, a seed, which can and should grow into a tree, the entity of god.” This symbolically explains the 330 million gods of Hinduism. The idea is that we are all gods, in potential, if not in tactile and practical terms.

This beautiful metaphor was later corrupted by the intuitive abstractions of humanity. Early Hindu texts explains this metaphor in details… but only a handful have the mind-pathway to understand this metaphor in its originality… the popular abstractions are easy to accept and follow for most, hence populist notion of 330 million Hindu deities…

A great soul and an authority in Hinduism has said, “There can be as many spiritual paths as there are spiritual aspirants, and that, similarly, there can be as many gods as their devotees to suit the said devotees' various moods, physical needs, feelings and socio-psychological backgrounds”. So, a student shall worship Saraswati, a businessman would worship Luxmi. It is convenient model for focusing attention and getting compartmentalized wishes addressed… 

And, this is not only a metaphor. Perhaps once, a long time ago, many great souls of India became so enlightened and evolved to a higher level of being that they reached the iconic stature of gods and were duly worshipped.

This has always been a spiritual realization in Indian faith mechanism that we are all gods in the making and that once we climb high enough, we will move on to the ‘god plane’. And, as this happens with a person, he or she becomes the object of worship for other common humans as this is something, very few can achieve. It is always easy to ask for free fruits … tough to be a tree and get one’s own fruits to give others …

This is why, Krishna said in Geeta, “jo mujhe jis bhaav mein dekhe, main usko usi bhav mein milta hoon (he who seeks me in whichever disposition, I meet him in the same facilitative consciousness).”

Human emotions and dispositions are probably more than 330 million. That still makes a scope for lots more.

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Better Carry Blame Than Guilt

It is archaic wisdom – you can’t change anything but yourself… Such a passive proposition! However, the mind wants options; if not the capacity to effect a change for suitability; if not better. Some people, some really talented people, were struck with an idea – if we can’t change the existing, we can create an alternative.

The mainstream people called in their groove and even blamed them as escapist. It is still better to carry blame than guilt. Probably better to create a small space under this colossus universe and make your own rules of living…! And see, these mainstream persons themselves say – it is better to rule the hell than be ruled in heaven!

Leisure in contemporary consumptive world is deemed a big sin. And sinners should ideally live in the margins of mainstream society or be put in the confines of jail. Better it is to keep away… find a space far away even from the margins… and create your own jail where you are free and the popular societal benchmarks are behind secure walls of the cell. The lords of this jail prefer to call it their micro-nations…! It is the best way to practice non-violence – of attitudes and actions. No need to carry either blame or guilt.

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Can We Be Just Paper; Not Pencil And Eraser!

A life; anyone’s life; can be full of unimaginable stupidities but it looks inconceivable that people at large or even a few ‘like-minded ones’