Mr Butler's soda maker was a great invention. Just that, it was not Mr Butler who made the soda maker. It was some smart Indian. It makes all liquid fizzy.
All you have to do was to take a bottle of water, stick it under the Soda maker and turn few knobs or push some button - and behold, the water in the bottle becomes fizzy. You can either chose to drink the soda then and there or bottle it up for future use.
If there is too much soda in a small bottle, the bottle might crack.
If the seal is not tight, the fizz will slowly fizz out over a period, reducing the risk of damage to the bottle.
If the seal is too tight, the soda will get frustrated and can only think about how to get out of the bottle.
Sexual drive among sworn celibates are something like that bottled up soda water. You can either expend it when the urge arises or you can bottle it up - the celibates have been asked to bottle it up - or dont think about the soda in the water. i.e. if you do not think of it, it does not exist. But the fact is that you think about all day what you consciously avoid to think about. That is the biological nature of humans.
When it is bottled up, the fizzy soda of sex is infact imprisioned in the bottle, waiting for an expansionary expression or an enchanting escape.
As long as the expression is not made and the escape is not successful, things look normal.
The soda constantly hits the seal in hope of an escape. It mostly succeeds in pushing out one molecule at a time in a very discreet manner. If someone notices that, he/she will tighten the seal, frustrating the soda further, which is now "hell"-bent on getting out again.
So who is at fault?. Is it the water, is it the soda or is it the seal that is causing a frustration of the senses that is controlled by physical, mental and biological needs that are hard-wired into the evolutionary genetic code of existence.
The Soda is not the sinner(papi). Soda is being sinned against.
Papacy over Celibacy = Papi
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Political Perspective of Ego Accounting
Politics to me is the whole social act that is put up to acheive a hidden and overriding objective that dangles over social interactions.
I know not of a place where politics does not exist.
I wonder whether this is in-built in the human race or is that part of a pre-planned organic evolution. Over the past year, I have been keenly conscious and observant of political maneuvering of all people I have come across.
What a pity! I realised that Politics reigns everywhere.
It does not matter how rich one is or how poor one is.
It does not matter how powerful one is or how powerless one is.
It does not matter whether one is fortunate or unfortunate.
It does not matter. Politics reigns in all social interactions.
Even though not all forms of Politics are harmful to another human.
That impelled me to evaluate the possible cause of this all pervading human behaviour.
I realise that this stems primarily from the twin worries of the human race - insecurity and uncertainty.
I know not of a place where politics does not exist.
I wonder whether this is in-built in the human race or is that part of a pre-planned organic evolution. Over the past year, I have been keenly conscious and observant of political maneuvering of all people I have come across.
What a pity! I realised that Politics reigns everywhere.
It does not matter how rich one is or how poor one is.
It does not matter how powerful one is or how powerless one is.
It does not matter whether one is fortunate or unfortunate.
It does not matter. Politics reigns in all social interactions.
Even though not all forms of Politics are harmful to another human.
That impelled me to evaluate the possible cause of this all pervading human behaviour.
I realise that this stems primarily from the twin worries of the human race - insecurity and uncertainty.
With this background knowledge, I realise that social interactions are mainly viewed by the human brain as social transactions. These transactions have an associated debit and credit of the ego of the persons who are interacting. As long as a person's ego has a positive balance and the social interaction lead to a net increase of the balance, he/she has a momentary feeling of contentment. If the social interaction leads to a debit of one's net ego, it take the person's mind off balance and it soons enters a complicated and hitherto undecompositioned analysis pattern of data mining (including a complex matrix of integrations and differentiations) to arrive at a totally counter-intuitive predictive outcome, which guides and governs the response pattern that is aimed to bring back sustainable stability (or atleast to reinstate) the ego account, either instantly or in the foreseeable future. Interestingly, the ego account is quickly re-balanced, if the response pattern is effective in causing a net decrease in the counterparty's ego account.
This is the basis of Ego Accounting.
(the rest in another post)
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Dynamics of Politics
Human wants are unlimited and the ability to meet them are limited. The wants are NOT unlimited by scale, but by scope. i.e. why somene can have $100b in the bank, but he might still be wanting more privacy and security.
We are still in a state where - we know that we have to fight to survive. Hardwired in our brains is fight when challenged, or backout when the challenge is too much (a fight vs flight decision). When our pre-historic ancestors grouped to together to kill a prey (demonstrating team work). But when they are attacked by a prey when they are alone, flight was the most preferred option. The person being attacked could get reinforcements and then attack the prey. Basically, hit where it hurts most.
But what is the brain supposed to do when it cant make the fight or flight decision? The brain suffers a nervous breakdown - or does it? I think a third option comes up, which is not really hardwired, but is picked up by experience - which is 'Suck and Prosper'. Actually, this is something that weakens the opponent. But it will work only when the opponent has something which the potential victim manages to hide - it is the opponent's ego. As absolutely no one is fully immune to others' attempts to inflate one's ego, it normally works. As ego casts shadow on the intellect, irrational decisions are the most likely outcome.
This is what we term a 'political' move. It is basically, playings of the ego.
(To be continued)
We are still in a state where - we know that we have to fight to survive. Hardwired in our brains is fight when challenged, or backout when the challenge is too much (a fight vs flight decision). When our pre-historic ancestors grouped to together to kill a prey (demonstrating team work). But when they are attacked by a prey when they are alone, flight was the most preferred option. The person being attacked could get reinforcements and then attack the prey. Basically, hit where it hurts most.
But what is the brain supposed to do when it cant make the fight or flight decision? The brain suffers a nervous breakdown - or does it? I think a third option comes up, which is not really hardwired, but is picked up by experience - which is 'Suck and Prosper'. Actually, this is something that weakens the opponent. But it will work only when the opponent has something which the potential victim manages to hide - it is the opponent's ego. As absolutely no one is fully immune to others' attempts to inflate one's ego, it normally works. As ego casts shadow on the intellect, irrational decisions are the most likely outcome.
This is what we term a 'political' move. It is basically, playings of the ego.
(To be continued)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Just When I thought...
I always had this feeling of insufficiency that I am not good at Arts, Crafts or Music. I might not have had what some people call Musical or Artistic Intelligence. Can't blame anyone - it is me. My dad enrolled me for a Mridagam class when I was 14 years or so. The teacher was a very reputed Mridagam expert. My father was keen to see his children be good in Music and communication. But all effort and money was wasted, as I did not have the taste for it. I think I failed to see the benefit for developing skills in arts or music. Eventhough, my dad had told me that even great intellectuals and scientists know arts and music - and that is how they balance their lives.
Since my son is growing up, I want him to be smarter than Daddy. Oh I miss my Dad now, he too would have wanted me to be better than him, which I never di. ( I realise that by the time you understand what your father said and meant, you are a father yourselves. ) What my Dad told me as a child makes lot of sense to me now, so it does not matter whether my son listens to me now, I know it will benefit him somehow.
I wanted to try my hand in Arts. So in Dec 2008, I bought a book "How to Draw" which was basically meant for 7 year olds. If Peter Drucker can learn Japanese Art at 85, or if White Tiger can win a Booker, why cant I learn to draw? Hmm.
So I started with Rabbits, Cats, and Monkeys... wowing my wife and kids.
In December itself, I impressed my school-going nephews and brother in law with my soft art skills. That was a motivation again. I bought a book for the nephew so that he can draw better(that he already drew 10 times better than me, is another matter).
It is said to acheive something, you should know where you are going. I did have a goal... I want to draw the potraits of my Children, their expressions and the impressions in paper.
In Jan 2009 I was diagnosed with a bulging disc and was asked to take Physio-therapy exercises. What does a disc have to do with drawing? Then you have not yet read The Alchemist. (Now I wonder why Paulo Coelho did not win the Booker, or did he?) That is another matter. I should now focus, people tell me. Should not digress too much.
In Feb 2009, I was having dinner with my good buddy William, for whom I am kind friend, philosopher and guide. I was explaining my Disc problem and quite expectantly he also has a similar back pain (yes, ofcourse Willy). I took a Serviette(I like to call it tissue paper, but people say I should call it Serviette) and drew a diagram of a floor exercise so that Willy can do that exercise better to relieve HIS backpain. Oh, I hate my friends, when they dont listen or digress ( and vice versa ).
But not Willy, he listened with a smile. (I was happy and contented at my expertise at Physical Medicine and thought I should have actually been a doctor). Just when I stopped... William said.."You know, your drawing is crap....". With a hurt ego, I gained composure like Rakesh Roshan after he was hit by a bullet... and said... "but.... but... but... I can draw better" and defended my drawing skills.
Later he drew a face and which showed he knows better than me. I apologetically told him my technique of penciling, inking - which he said was the correct approach. The good friend that he is, he motivated me saying that "You just need to draw more and more and you will be good" and gave some suggestions for reference books, which I wanted to buy that same night. After few days I made my trip to the largest bookstore in Asia (so they call it) and found my right books on the shelf - all three of them - but I soon figured they were too advanced for me and particularly costly. But I bought another book by Barrington Barber and went home. (That is the discussion on Discs.)
Then I practiced a bit. The book was my bible, which I never really read diligently, but plan to do. My biggest finding was that if the proportions are right, the potrait will be closer to perfection, and small alterations to the shapes and proportions provide a widely different output. Like the one below.
It is never easy. To draw the shadows and perspective is difficult still, but hiding features are sometimes easier and beter sometimes.
This is my daughter- with all her innocence captured.
Since my son is growing up, I want him to be smarter than Daddy. Oh I miss my Dad now, he too would have wanted me to be better than him, which I never di. ( I realise that by the time you understand what your father said and meant, you are a father yourselves. ) What my Dad told me as a child makes lot of sense to me now, so it does not matter whether my son listens to me now, I know it will benefit him somehow.
I wanted to try my hand in Arts. So in Dec 2008, I bought a book "How to Draw" which was basically meant for 7 year olds. If Peter Drucker can learn Japanese Art at 85, or if White Tiger can win a Booker, why cant I learn to draw? Hmm.
So I started with Rabbits, Cats, and Monkeys... wowing my wife and kids.
In December itself, I impressed my school-going nephews and brother in law with my soft art skills. That was a motivation again. I bought a book for the nephew so that he can draw better(that he already drew 10 times better than me, is another matter).
It is said to acheive something, you should know where you are going. I did have a goal... I want to draw the potraits of my Children, their expressions and the impressions in paper.
In Jan 2009 I was diagnosed with a bulging disc and was asked to take Physio-therapy exercises. What does a disc have to do with drawing? Then you have not yet read The Alchemist. (Now I wonder why Paulo Coelho did not win the Booker, or did he?) That is another matter. I should now focus, people tell me. Should not digress too much.
In Feb 2009, I was having dinner with my good buddy William, for whom I am kind friend, philosopher and guide. I was explaining my Disc problem and quite expectantly he also has a similar back pain (yes, ofcourse Willy). I took a Serviette(I like to call it tissue paper, but people say I should call it Serviette) and drew a diagram of a floor exercise so that Willy can do that exercise better to relieve HIS backpain. Oh, I hate my friends, when they dont listen or digress ( and vice versa ).
But not Willy, he listened with a smile. (I was happy and contented at my expertise at Physical Medicine and thought I should have actually been a doctor). Just when I stopped... William said.."You know, your drawing is crap....". With a hurt ego, I gained composure like Rakesh Roshan after he was hit by a bullet... and said... "but.... but... but... I can draw better" and defended my drawing skills.
Later he drew a face and which showed he knows better than me. I apologetically told him my technique of penciling, inking - which he said was the correct approach. The good friend that he is, he motivated me saying that "You just need to draw more and more and you will be good" and gave some suggestions for reference books, which I wanted to buy that same night. After few days I made my trip to the largest bookstore in Asia (so they call it) and found my right books on the shelf - all three of them - but I soon figured they were too advanced for me and particularly costly. But I bought another book by Barrington Barber and went home. (That is the discussion on Discs.)
Then I practiced a bit. The book was my bible, which I never really read diligently, but plan to do. My biggest finding was that if the proportions are right, the potrait will be closer to perfection, and small alterations to the shapes and proportions provide a widely different output. Like the one below.
It is never easy. To draw the shadows and perspective is difficult still, but hiding features are sometimes easier and beter sometimes.
Now after some flip-flops (not to mistaken for my bosom buddy flip-flop), I ventured a bit more to draw the picture of my children. My kids are very encouraging, no matter what I draw they will say it represents them. My wife was more pedantic, which was good in certain ways. I need the motivation and challenge. Getting my son's picture into a form that resembles his real physical appearance was tough. But then.... I came out with this..
This is my daughter- with all her innocence captured.Then I had this..... which was half right.
That was on 7th March. Then I had another slippage - on 15th March- in around L4-S1, I could barely move for about 8days. It pained a lot.
But as I would have thought - discs dont slip without a reason. Everything you can imagine is REAL. Our lives are only as big as our dreams. So I plan to develop my skills further.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Are you lucky enough?
Luck is a state of mind.
You get lucky, when you believe you are lucky.
When you believe you are lucky, people around you sense you are lucky.
When people sense you are lucky, you see a favourable audience and lucky environment.
When you are in a lucky environment, you get convinced you are lucky. You reach the LUCKY STATE.
Then you do what lucky people always do and you really get lucky.
Tell all this to an unlucky person and he will ask, "will luck help me win the lottery?"
Buying a lottery is what unhappy, unlucky and miserable people do. Winning lottery or a gamble in life is CHANCE not LUCK. An unlucky person can also do that.
Are you lucky enough? Check your state of mind.
You get lucky, when you believe you are lucky.
When you believe you are lucky, people around you sense you are lucky.
When people sense you are lucky, you see a favourable audience and lucky environment.
When you are in a lucky environment, you get convinced you are lucky. You reach the LUCKY STATE.
Then you do what lucky people always do and you really get lucky.
Tell all this to an unlucky person and he will ask, "will luck help me win the lottery?"
Buying a lottery is what unhappy, unlucky and miserable people do. Winning lottery or a gamble in life is CHANCE not LUCK. An unlucky person can also do that.
Are you lucky enough? Check your state of mind.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The start
The path any human being takes seems to depend on many things, but nothing is as important as his or her thought patterns. "I think, therefore I am" said a wise man.
I DON'T claim that
I am an expert in psychology
I am an expert in motivation
I am an expert in religion
I am an expert in philosophy
I am an expert in people
I am like Mr Beans. I know no Fear, I know no Threat. I know Nothing :-)
But Ignorance is the gift, since you are able to think in ways nobody else is conditioned to think. Yes, people are conditioned to think in ways they do. Since the day we were born, we have been conditioned to think - this is right - this is wrong - Do this - Do not do this - Fear this - Embrace that - Read this - Do not read that - Listen to him - Do not listen to him - Paint on the drawing paper - Do not paint on the wall - Pick the dirt in your house - Do not pick it when you are in the street - Study this - Do not study that - Do this job - Do not do this job - Eat this food - Do not eat this food.
Yes all these have conditioned our thoughts. A whole learned world who have missed the fun in thinking all by themselves. Thinking by themselves. Finding their mission on earth. Crafting their dreams. Attaining them. Being one with oneselves. The learned man has to undo his learning. He has to go all the way rom his PhD doctorate, to his Post-Graduation to Graduation to High School to Kinder Garten and in the process unlearn his 'learnings', those that were imposed by the society, so that he/she conforms to the template. I am in no way denying that the conformance to many societal rules have formed what we call the 'highly-developed' human race. But quite many of the 'learnings' we did, the directions we followed have moved us away from our real self. It has 'influenced our thinking in many ways.
We have been made smart enough to fool everyone else. But how long can you fool yourselves?
Once you undo your 'learnings' diligently applying your unbiased thoughts, you achieve the state of the so called pamaran (pa-ma-ran). The person who is not learnt.
Because ignorance is bliss, it gives you fresh energy to analyse the world in your own terms.
I am one of those rare humans who think that to be great you have to be a pamaran. The more you learn, the less you earn(I am not just taking about money). History is full of people who have become great minds, even though they have not passed elementary school. To me, I think the real reason they became great were that they were not moulded to think in certain ways only.
So toast 'Good Health' to this lonely pamaran, in the world of the pandits. I intent to think aloud my thoughts which have been conditioned by serious people watching, events watching, silent listening to all view points, silent contemplation and critical analysis of various view points. However I do not proof read my posts before I publish. So spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are to be expected. I do not wish to interrupt the smooth and efficient process through which my thoughts appear as words in Arial font on my computer screen, just by exercising my fingers :-). I am sorry for the inconvinience caused, if any.
I DON'T claim that
I am an expert in psychology
I am an expert in motivation
I am an expert in religion
I am an expert in philosophy
I am an expert in people
I am like Mr Beans. I know no Fear, I know no Threat. I know Nothing :-)
But Ignorance is the gift, since you are able to think in ways nobody else is conditioned to think. Yes, people are conditioned to think in ways they do. Since the day we were born, we have been conditioned to think - this is right - this is wrong - Do this - Do not do this - Fear this - Embrace that - Read this - Do not read that - Listen to him - Do not listen to him - Paint on the drawing paper - Do not paint on the wall - Pick the dirt in your house - Do not pick it when you are in the street - Study this - Do not study that - Do this job - Do not do this job - Eat this food - Do not eat this food.
Yes all these have conditioned our thoughts. A whole learned world who have missed the fun in thinking all by themselves. Thinking by themselves. Finding their mission on earth. Crafting their dreams. Attaining them. Being one with oneselves. The learned man has to undo his learning. He has to go all the way rom his PhD doctorate, to his Post-Graduation to Graduation to High School to Kinder Garten and in the process unlearn his 'learnings', those that were imposed by the society, so that he/she conforms to the template. I am in no way denying that the conformance to many societal rules have formed what we call the 'highly-developed' human race. But quite many of the 'learnings' we did, the directions we followed have moved us away from our real self. It has 'influenced our thinking in many ways.
We have been made smart enough to fool everyone else. But how long can you fool yourselves?
Once you undo your 'learnings' diligently applying your unbiased thoughts, you achieve the state of the so called pamaran (pa-ma-ran). The person who is not learnt.
Because ignorance is bliss, it gives you fresh energy to analyse the world in your own terms.
I am one of those rare humans who think that to be great you have to be a pamaran. The more you learn, the less you earn(I am not just taking about money). History is full of people who have become great minds, even though they have not passed elementary school. To me, I think the real reason they became great were that they were not moulded to think in certain ways only.
So toast 'Good Health' to this lonely pamaran, in the world of the pandits. I intent to think aloud my thoughts which have been conditioned by serious people watching, events watching, silent listening to all view points, silent contemplation and critical analysis of various view points. However I do not proof read my posts before I publish. So spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are to be expected. I do not wish to interrupt the smooth and efficient process through which my thoughts appear as words in Arial font on my computer screen, just by exercising my fingers :-). I am sorry for the inconvinience caused, if any.
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