The View from the Verandah

In this collection I place my arguments alongside comments by old sages that add authenticity to what I am saying so that argumentative minds may see the entire picture on one screen. For one thing is certain. We will have to give up the languorous path and think for ourselves and "ACT". It should be quite entertaining.

PK

Why should they?

You put in the miles for yourself.

It is everyone for himself on this planet. Your goal should be you. At the end of every year you should be able to tell yourself that you have visibly done better and become better.

Not simply completed another year by slogging away.

Be happy they envy you and guard against the natural movement of lesser people who will now focus on bringing you down to their comfort level.

Think of the times when you were young and wild and UNCERTAIN. Anxiety and worries that are the attributes of older elderly -people with cares and responsibilities was part and parcel of your life. IN ESSENCE YOU WERE LIVING THE LIFE OF OLD PEOPLE.

But people who raise their consciousness level to the level of children living without care or worry totally in the moment..... this is the best way to live.

That is when we grow up and unfettered by the presumptions and prejudices of life we BECOME YOUNG again on our own strengths and convictions oblivious of the world around us.

My reputation as rude started from this titbit of philosophy which was so obvious to me even before I was 12. I had so much to do and so many projects and the time had to be managed between school activities, meals, homework that I never did and the need to be in bed by 9. Every second was precious and even now in my last days I find I simply have so many ideas and projects that need to be attended to that I cannot fathom how people find time to sit and gossip or watch TV hours on end.

Tell what good will it do to discuss with your social cronies what the Government in Ukraine should be doing or how the neighbor should raise her kid or how the traffic police should manage the flow of delinquent drivers.....etc and so forth.....!!!

Try to tell "them" about managing health, habits and principles of raising kids for the future and they are so immediately bored and they leave you alone thereafter.

When needing a break.

"No phone, no emails, no screens for a whole week.

How I do it.

I do it at home by simply telling myself I am not here!.....and behave accordingly.

If I am not here I can't answer the phone, open the door, order food or talk to anyone or even listen to music loudly etc etc.

The enigma of new ideas.

In the new market scenario that the world is going thru marketing and selling has become a debacle of sorts.

The huge marketplaces from the time of Caravans/the silk routes are now feeling the pinch.

New ideas are needed. The ability to recognize the worth of a new idea requires a creative character which established people sorely Lack for the simple reason they so embroiled with their daily nitty gritty and counting their gold that they are no more in touch with the world outside their confines.

Yet new ideas are needed but the oldies cannot recognize merit when they are presented with it. The fear of losing everything on a whim is uppermost on their minds.

So what can be done?

There are in contrast many individuals who have concretely shown that all our thinking is highly prejudiced and not always helping us. There are alternative possibilities. But the effort required to change habits is way too much and few are ready for this. Glib excuses always win the moment and the day.

We love thoughts of change but adopt them not. But we eulogise them and talk about them and come out as fakes; an old word rarely heard today comes to mind: Scaramouche. But as we are all playing the game we pretend all together as a consensus to not see; even object thru show of being insulted that we may be living a life is squarely dishonest. What I see is that humanity puts in more effort in blocking itself thru objections, vane critical obstructions.

Hours and hours go waste in meetings, discussions, explanations, arguments for answers that are written on the wall but the game of Scaramouche has to be played.

Once we humans realise this fact we are literally on way to transformation into a real positive oriented divine being. It is a way of saying how subjective we normally are. Our decisions about good or bad and the right thing to do is mainly based on our preferences which are based on our conditioning and education or the lack thereof. How we project our pride and the stuff that angers us and the way we deal with situations and events show more our conditioning than reality

Humanity's needle is stuck on "indulgence". They do not wish to change the record. Rather they put in their life's effort in Not allowing anyone to change the record or repair the record player or even let the record play further by moving the needle. This recalcitrant attitude is difficult to understand in a people who are forever complaining that situations need to change. The spurt of demonstrations, arson and wars based on ideology, even change of governments is strongly indicative. Certain basic natural needs of the body and mind motivate us. Like hunger, companionship, vanity and cleverness. It is true that we have established a good easy-going pattern and customs to live with these elements. But we are definitely not "HAPPY" with our life on earth. Yet we have systems in place that are designed exactly to exacerbate the possibilities. It is my contention that our managers and management experts are thinking linear. Nobody is using their knowledge of human nature and psychology to make the individual self-govern. I am sure that we will all agree that in his interest man will always do what has to be done. But we create laws and force him to act against his interest. He will definitely break laws and his word. Humans are not meek. They can be frightened but their spirits can never be won or suppressed. The problem is that everyone is using the little power available to them to feather their own nest. This is where the problem is. Self-interest above all; beautiful words notwithstanding.

Working one's way to disease. A warning letter

Today's lifestyle of the businessman, the shopkeeper, the executive sees people sitting in comfortable chairs, travelling in comfortable seats, meeting, dining -- always in comfortable chairs with backs completely supported..

What happens?

The intestines, abdominal muscles and lower back muscles have no work and start degenerating and become weak.

The abdomen kind of remains static and intestines can bunch up into knots.

By the age of 80, about 70% of people in Western countries develop diverticulosis---a condition where tiny bulging pouches, called diverticula, form along the wall of the colon.

While often harmless, these pouches can sometimes become inflamed or infected, leading to diverticulitis. This painful condition causes fever, nausea, abdominal pain, and in severe cases, may even require surgery to remove part of the intestine.

I am seeing this with many young people (40-50s). Unfortunately it is not yet recognised in its full capacity and misdiagnosed. The truth is the bulging pouches are source of negative bacteria and most illnesses start/ have their origin here. Gradually over the years, around 20 or so you will end up sick with some terrible disease.

| was down and bedridden for about 3 and a half years right throughout my teen age and developed this problem. Mostly fasting for 3-5 days with only butter milk as food would free me of the painful colic like symptoms. But over the years the number of issues has multiplied like rheumatism, asthma, amoebiosis, cramps and sinus/throat infections and related symptoms.

Several risk factors are strongly linked: low-fiber diets, obesity, lack of physical activity, and genetics. Alarmingly, more cases are now being reported in younger adults, a trend tied to highly processed, fiber-deficient diets.

Thankfully, the myth that people with diverticulosis should avoid nuts and seeds has been debunked. Instead, doctors stress the benefits of a fiber-rich diet---whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables---that softens stool, lowers pressure on the colon, and reduces inflammation risks. Staying well-hydrated and physically active also plays a critical role in maintaining gut health.

Tunnel vision and disaster are Brothers-in-Arms.

Single-minded Growth for growth's sake always gets results. Empires are made this way. Like the Billionaire hotelier who was unhappy at the way he was treated in a hotel and asked his secretary to buy it immediately and found that he already owned it. Like Napoleon who won his wars and this went to his head to a point that he could not stop as if he knew nothing else to do and finally lost it all. Made the entire Europe suffer for 20 years of bloodshed and created such havoc that by the time he ended, his army had only 14 years old boys left to recruit. Like Aurangzeb who was destroyed his own empire in his zeal to be the next Messiah. Like Alexander the great who just did not know when to stop and did not even get the time of one day to sit on his throne because he was out there making his kingdom grow territory-wise.

This makes me ask the question: Whatever for? To satisfy which part of your being?

Now see this tendency in the modern world. Most people know only one thing that they want ardently. The car maker wants to make more and more cars regardless of the demand because the bottom line demands it with no concern of what will happen to world and if there are roads and garages to house them? The shoemaker makes more and more shoes with new designs. It is an easy product to make so many manufacturers are in the market. The glut will overtake humanity. But there is no stopping them. The more they sell the more cars they can buy. And then there are the buyers who buy as if their lives depend upon it. This is all they know so they indulge and this normally goes with lunches in heavenly restaurants. The wonderful life! (Debts and ill health notwithstanding)

I see it.

When young I was quite impressed with myself ( I still am but realistically). A lot of reading, specially the mind broadening Reader's Digest was my staple food. The RD's condensed books were my staple mind-food. I would read whatever I could lay my hands on. From Earl Stanley gardener, Nevil Shute to Marcus Aurelius, Lin Yutan and Bertrand Russell along with Guy de Maupassant, Maugham and what have you!

I annoyed everybody with my commentaries. I didn't realize how annoying I must have been. But my logic and information was impeccable and few around me were well read. But god given humour was also one of my gift. I could see the lame limb in all stories and the funny twist/ joke with it.

I began to see that I was three people in one. I, the speaker, debater, lecturer and teacher and second the Mind that enquired, collected data and probed. You know, a part of me that opened out thru the mouth, learnt from the eyes and the left ear but then I found I had a THIRD PERSON speaking to me thru my Right Ear.

This third person it seems was using all the data in my mind to make me see my errors and faults. It would very accurately tell where I had gone wrong and failed. I learnt about my short temper and my need to be correct and correct others. My failings were being continuously being spread out on a screen (IN MY MIND).

It is kind of morbid and a reminder to correct or fail and suffer. Very mortifying indeed.

One great piece of knowledge that came out of it is the fact that I was able to recognize errors and faults only because they were in me. If they had not been in me my mind would not "KNOW" to identify them and see them.

All I can do, all we can do is work on these known errors and faults and eliminate them from our persona. Like a horse come alive life will take us forward -- if we can evade or/and kill the ego gate-keeper.

Today there are raging discussions on what is right and what is wrong in management and human dealings. For that matter there always were. But in modern medicine it takes another totally different hue. For example take the use of Paracetamol (now being hotly discussed because the US administration claims that it can hurt the fetus when taken in pregnancy -- which I agree to). 40 years ago doctors were warning us that it is a dangerous drug. But today the trend is to see it as a safe one. As a Naturopath I am astounded that anything as powerful can be considered as safe as they want us to believe. (For thousands of years the thinking has been that FEVERS should not be reduced suddenly when the body is using it to fight an infection). The self-interest angle cannot be ruled out. Humans LIE all the time. Big Pharma is coming out as one of the biggest LIAR. The trend is to normalize every drug and product by the human mind because it wants to. The convenience, the sure-shot relief is impossible to ignore. It is to be noted is that no single factor is ever at work. The western scientific mind looks for the single active ingredient in everything. This is starting on the wrong foot.

Read the detailed picture of paracetamol before saying a word further. It is impossible that the fetus is not affected. But from the management angle, all these medical accidents should be explained as probable causes. All the diseases that have suddenly become virulent in the last 2 generations existed long before too but the new technologies that have come into our lives and new rather dangerous products/treatments/MEDs have increased the factor of probable cause.

The human mind likes to see things in black and white or in terms of Yes & No. This rarely happens in real life. So arguments unending are a certainty. And there is really no point joining them.

For instance drinking 20 cups of coffee can cause umpteen medical issues but 2 cups a day is good. But is this true for all? For some any coffee would be bad and for some 6-8 cups do no harm. But the probable cause that coffee is bad for you also remains and at the two cup level even good for you. The thinking should be that rules and rigid conditions cannot be laid out.

Like walking on the road is bad when cars are about. But walking is good for you. Jaywalking is bad because you may be hit. Where there are no options people do walk but thinking that the car guy is always driving carefully is a wrong idea. There is always probable cause that he may be distracted by the phone which again is another wrong thing to do, angry, drunk or both and may willfully hurt you. Or very simply the walker was not careful enough and came in the front of the car CARELRESSLY AND THE MOMENTUM OF THE VECHICLE DID THE REST. Therefore shall we ban the cars? It would be good really. They are the probable cause behind industrial and atmospheric pollution needing roads and hogging parking space on the planet. A lot of good would come out of No cars policy. But are the cars responsible? No. It is the humans and their misuse of it. Finally it is all in the mind. The pain, the relief, the getting into a perilous situation in the first place. And "probably" this is all that can be given all the conditions that went into creating this moment.

The human mind is basically agitated all the time. So it wants speed in everything. Its motto: "Let us do it and be done with it". As a consequence it accounts for time in travel, time in cooking, eating as time wasted. Philosophy says, "Use this time to take a mental break. Reflect. Go back. Think it over.. Meditate and let the mind relax and Cool-down."

Human growth has outlived the Cities. Our consciousness now asks for expansion and the cluttered, slum that we have made our cities, and is no longer supporting personal growth. In fact our consciousness is adapting to think small, immediate and in continuous excitation with little or no meditating or effort as everything is available at the finger tips and all life is organised and planned out for us. It is making (Has already done so) us ego centric, heartless and focused on more and more money for personal satisfaction just for the heck of it.

The rulers are taxing us to death too as we are easily available to their manipulations and they are counting on our continued placidity, stupidity and greed without thinking.

And our caged living in artificial atmosphere + processed/shelved food is not helping our health. One of main points is how higher so-called moral principle have now been incorporated into the justice system. There is no way to stop any act that humans always carry out when angry or thru scheming like the act of rape and murder, robbery or for that matter even road rage. It is impossible to stop a human from doing whatever he wants in spite of all the laws and police around. (The most essential trait of RESTRAIN is never taught.)

But if you fight back you are not allowed to take the law in your own hands because the criminals have rights and of course cases cannot be proven and so a huge machinery is being fed for acting as umbrella to the corrupt and criminals. The police comes in after the act is done and the culprit lives comfortably housed and well free. So how does this help us?

Who is responsible & how we hide our real intentions.

They say Guns don't kill people. Wars are fought for obtaining peace. Medicine is purely a service to mankind. Humans are so basically kind and altruistic. Slaves were kept because the kind people wanted them to have a home and food on their table. Husbands beat their wives because they love them and want the best for them. The women are seen as basically sweet and all things nice always. Children dont matter as they are playthings for adults. Abortions is not murder. Sex is life. Dishonesty doesn't exist. Humans under oath never lie.

This a wonderful world made in the image of God or is it vice versa?

It is all so confusing. Because we refuse to see the vile side we let it happen and call ourselves virtuous and well meaning.

We allow the rogue to have a free hand because he is free to go about causing harm because he has rights. The poor victims on the other hand never had any.

Making instruments that help the rascals is perfectly fine because the object is powerless.

Fine, then how can Books make you become anything? I want to know why we are bandying about the books like the Gita, Bible and Koran when we know they are objects like anything else and only as powerful as the people behind them?

Humanity loves to crow about their spiritual bent for all to see.

All of it is an external show to impress the neighbors and justify one's lack of aspiration.

Bowing for a millisecond when passing a temple or in front of a statue of a god.

The question is does it all translate into real & sincere aspiration to know and dwell at a more positive level of existence? Bowing for a millisecond when passing a temple or in front of a statue of a god.

The question is does it all translate into real & sincere aspiration to know and dwell at a more positive level of existence?

No. We are just buying ourselves some positive karma value coins. Or so they think. These people are opening their doors to a bloody shock when they reach St Peter's gates or Lord Yamraj's book of accountability. For these coins will be declared fakes.

There is no doubt that we think and try to live to please our admirers. And from this angle people who indicate that they appreciate us can become a millstone on our necks. We start focusing on this factor and lose our way in life.

Whenever we are troubled the first thought that comes is to share it to "this person or that person" because we desperately need to validate our self. But then "why do I want to tell my troubles to.....(my sister, my friend, uncle).."?

Once this flash of wisdom opened my eyes, I have started thinking about why the situation developed as it is and what did I really do so that I am perceived as I am.

The Brutal Method. When In a resistant mood how do you make the other side see reason or for that matter anything? Once people dig in their hooves it is like a wall. They refuse to listen because their minds close up. Who or what has closed it? The Brutal method is what works in practice to smash into one's mental block. We see this method in use by the investigative agencies; especially the police and they call it the Third Degree. Humans use it too. We see it as abuse in use of vile hurting words that go on and on. We see it in quarrels among families, neighbors, communities and on the larger scale between countries and religions. One would have thought that by now we would have learnt to at least keep our minds open when conciliatory approaches are being made or when laws have to be obeyed. But reality shows that this has as yet not happened.

Their pride or vanity or ego - call it what you may will have its pound of flesh or nothing moves. Take it or leave it. What options are left to you under these conditions? Only one. To JOLT the psyche of the resistant soul into a rude awakening.

I call it the Narad Muni's method. Nard Muni in Indian lore is a realized human, a demi god who is the link between the earth and heaven. He sees all and knows all but is bound by the rules of the Creator to let things be and find their natural way to culmination. But often he comes down and helps people by nudging them, often shocking them by letting out some obvious secrets or implanting a new thought thru Divine gossip that forces humans to look at things and act differently. And thereby changing the path of the unfolding (things can often get difficult).

I have seen a little fear/desperation is what is needed to make people think and consider if you can put this into their puny minds, efforts to improve and change are immediately seen. People think that people will change with kindness. I say an emphatic No. There may be a little change of heart temporarily -- that is all. But the basic psyche resides in the subconscious and this does not lend itself to change just for the asking.

Fear and real loss like absolute devastation is the only language humans understand. Take for example the WW2. It had for effect to stop the useless quarreling in Europe and create a new single peaceful state of the European Union. In our personal lives we are often obliged to act the same. Let me give some brutal examples:

-The Tyrant who finally is deposed and murdered by the crowd in the market place.

- The wife-beating husband who is shot by his child.

- The speeding driver who is so sure of himself that he misses the truck to eventual glory.

All suffering on earth is primarily due to the humans desire to live for pleasure, excitement and the satisfaction of the ego component. With millions of souls in the same configuration, it does not augur well and we will end up with some muddle or the other we like it or not as consequences are resulting and many of those may have directly nothing to with us but will overwhelm us one of these days surely. We are all in it.

But the worse situations always happen through human greed and arrogance. Most people when they acquire some kind of control or power will unconsciously use it to for their profit. How humans fail to see that all acts/actions will have consequences that will come over them like a tidal wave is quite a wonder of human will.

Husbands would know it as an angry wife who goes into a deep sulk. You would have seen this at work with children and how difficult they can become. It is a very natural human shortcoming that even Mother Nature and the Creator use all the time. Take these incessant wars that humanity is engulfed in? What are they but The Creator's Way to bring in change into the lazy somnolent human consciousness.

This year in particular with its devastating weather all over the globe may be seen as a slap to human kind to make humans understand that it is not climate change but human interference and folly that has brought this climax of the weather upon it (Mainly by wholesale disturbance of the flow of water in nature).

PS: Louis D'Amora

Truth has a tendency to hurt those lies which exist within us. When one comes to accept the truth for what it is, true and unobstructed freedom arises. Having said all that, truth can be an elusive concept indeed.

Pradeep Maheshwari

Agree. Louis D'Amora Yes this is what Narad Muni does. He helps the person to see in the mirror that otherwise eludes most humans.

And believe me even the gods don't like him. He is like a dangerous loose cannon and no one knows where he will strike next. He is feared too because he is beyond reach as he projects pure truth and all the goddesses are with him. It is said he moves freely in all the three domains and no one has been able to develop any protection against him.

.... A follow up conversation: Damola Oladipupo to Pradeep Maheshwari

This makes you question how far we go to break through resistance. While fear or shock can sometimes jolt change, I wonder if there's a way to inspire transformation before things get drastic. It's about finding that balance between tough love and empathy.

Pradeep:

Yes. It needs to be instilled in childhood when character is being formed. But parents have no knowledge of it.

How to break this viscous cycle of bad parents raising bad children? Until and unless total selfless love goes into parenting nothing will change. I think people should learn a little about life and children should be had only after the age of at least 30 and that too only when "wanted"

Damola Oladipupo to Pradeep Maheshwari

You're absolutely right, Pradeep. Change often starts with the way we're raised, but we can't ignore the impact of our own growth as adults. It's about breaking that cycle by learning and growing ourselves first. Selfless love and conscious parenting definitely play a huge role, but it's also about how we unlearn and reframe old patterns.

Real change starts from within, and once we realize that, we can begin to pass it forward.

Sometimes, you can't make people see it. You can only invite them to. Through honest conversations, real examples, and by living it yourself. People often shift when they feel safe, not forced --- when something clicks from within, not just from being told.

Ego resists change, and survival often quiets ambition. Comfort becomes the easier path --- and for many, that's enough. But sometimes, that small "adjustment" we make to fit in ends up costing us the chance to grow into who we really could be.

The challenge is choosing growth over ease, even when it's uncomfortable.

Your post brings that to light so well. It's about planting the seed. The rest takes patience.

Pradeep Maheshwari

The ego won't agree. How do you make them see that?

Then the need to feed and house oneself takes all incentive away.

Who wants all that trouble and effort? By adjusting a little, a passage into this life can be made. For most this is enough

This is exactly what my post is about. You can never make them see it with the superficial mind.

I am not here to change the world. Why should I waste my energy on people to grow out of their misery?

It is not our duty nor even right by trying to play with the destiny of others.

You are changing the groove of my post by bringing it back to the human level as things are.

We can only share our view.

Mostly the subconscious will not allow any change.

One in a million soul might go for real change. So we share. The rest is bunkum. I specially do not like the concept of gurus and coaches who think they can "change" anything.

"Sorry for being brutal)

Damola Oladipupo

I hear you --- and honestly, I respect your clarity.

You're right, we can't force change, especially when the mind is closed or rooted in survival. Real transformation is rare, and it has to come from within. All we can really do is share our truth, with no attachment to the outcome.

It's not about fixing others or playing with their path. It's about holding space for reflection --- and maybe, just maybe, someone who's ready will receive it.

No need to apologize for being honest. Sometimes, the most grounded truths are the ones that sound brutal.

By the world's thinking if you have been naughty, the world will not forget or forgive. Rise above it all and live in another dimension. Don't be self-deprecating. Why would you wonder about the world and your position in it? You are an individual and speak & live from that level; whatever that is.

People read throughout their lives and are intellectual stuffed shirts full of disconnected info of no real value. The pride of knowing keeps them forever ignorant - practically speaking.

What can be done? Nothing; drink their wine when invited and then go back home to your cubbyhole.

When 'THEY' speak or explain remember always one thing, all their words will only show the level of their own realization because no-one can speak beyond his own realization of whatever it all is. Most are only repeating or paraphrasing; rarely saying anything original. It may well be what you need to know at this moment. So use the guidance and focus ahead. Knowledge that matters always requires to have gone thru the experience. A lot of good information is just words being bandied and repeated about. This is why we use quotes from others, specially established gurus/philosophers/writers. It makes us seem wise AND NO ONE WILL DARE QUESTION OUR UTTERANCES.

What effects our words will have on the lives of others -- do we really ever come to know that?

When the time is to make a move forward, the crowd cannot help us. The crowds, even well-meaning friends can be destructive.

Life on a platter

Today it is VISUALS. Everything comes to you as videos. Small and big clips that you can repeat as often as you wish -- something unprecedented in human history. There is nothing to absorb or retain.

Remembering and integrating any information and use to further oneself is not really that necessary. We are not developing skills. We are also avoiding of testing our skills in real-time situations.

There seems to be an assumptions that others will take our word for it. We are so sure of ourselves. Then why are we not getting results in the way we had thought life would open out to us?

We have happily, very comfortably allowed ourselves to think that we know, we have heard and that we have understood even before the point has been made.

The mind is an instrument. WE have to learn to use it. It has to be trained by rigorous methods. But our education system, the social system, our behavior and responses system have been re-calibrated by the focus on "LIVE WITHOUT EFFORT".

Digital technology has put stupidity into our hands literally and we are wallowing in it.

See how and what we have done with life in comparison with the life in 1920s. We have a commercially engineered answer to every wish...... You want to impress; go for the most impressive expensive car as alluded to by the media.....you need money; the banks are so ready to give you credit cards..... You need to be seen in a good light your Jeans and tee-shirt or jacket will do it......excitement is wanted in life: highly organised "safe" adventures are organised and waiting; you have to only pay a frightful small sum.......being knowledgeable; you need Google and an instrument......books? What a waste of good time..... etc etc and so forth.....and with a click you can let the whole world know.

We have actually sold ourselves out. Whatever little science of application and training of the mind we had learnt in the past 5000 years has been washed away in the last 50 years. Only pride and arrogance has overgrown and nobody is mowing the lawns.

I am afraid if I go on too long on this subject for surely somebody will come and say "So you think you are superior and can tell us what is wrong with us as if you are without faults - what an arrogant brute".....and that is that.

When it is never "THEIR" fault, there isn't much left to say. What we don't like we can easily avoid today both in people and experiences. Wonderful; isn't it?

The word ELEGANTLY has seemingly got replaced by ARROGANTLY.

• It is possible to know and feel what others are thinking and feeling but for this you have to be living in and at the intuitive mind level.

Words dropped here and there will give us indications for sure. But humans are creatures of moments and cannot really be relied upon for constancy in whatever they do or say; one never knows when some subconscious switch may operate.

So the best way to coexist with humans is to keep your eyes open, manipulate situations as they present themselves and never take anything for granted.

More than reason our weapon of maintaining relationships seems to be "blackmail". We use sulks, anger, embarrassment and downright abuse. Accept or be cut off and they know we need them.

There seems to be an absolute ease with which we use extortion to keep in control people around us specially in one-to-one close relationships...... all in the guise of because we love each other. Like for instance:

Woman to man: Choose between me and ......

Boss-employee: Do this or else......

Child to parent: I want ice cream now or I won't get up

I remember a story of group insurance that was being initiated in a factory. One person was not agreeing and holding everyone to ransom.

The boss called him and whispered something into his ear which was in short "sign or I fire you"

Later when he was asked what had the boss had said he replied "nobody had explained it so well to me before".

What the world does not need: ATTITUDE, values of decency and highest aspirations that are impractical in this world and the possibility of hurting too many people in the process. Too many values and nobody having taught us the value of giving value to the decision making power of others and how heartless life is. How a roof on our head matters more than purity of intentions.

How our values are irritants to others and totally of no value whatsoever in the Bread-earning-program. Like being Honest in the land of thieves - every word will be used against you and even those that you never uttered!

And to end this discussion here is a quote from me:

"People are so busy being clever that they have no time to be intelligent."

......

Lisa Bugayong

What gets me is how fast disinformation travels on social media and no one thinks to fact check it, they just pass it along like gospel. And the more often we hear information the more we believe it's true.

Reply by Pradeep Maheshwari

Yes.

The need to be noticed coupled with ease of acting is supremely upon us.

Any little possibility will do (paraphrased from "Any excuse will do")

Lines somebody wrote:

Destroy the old you, before it destroys you. My comment: Words in the wind.

Very grand sounding.

The first question is what is wrong with you?

The second is how many think there is something wrong with them?

Even if you feel change is required are you any closer to understand what you are going to change into?

You use the grand word "destroy". Do you understand its implication?

My first impression is that you are just playing with words because they are attractive. Practical value being nil.

The old you that you wish to destroy have you any idea what constitutes it? Even the basic psychology?

Humans become what they are influenced within the first 20 years. In the next 20 years they practice their know-how. In the 3rd 20 years they understand themselves. In the 4th 20 years some intelligent ones may change a little. But the majority of humans just get tired and old and die off.

So the practice of modern medicine has evolved into this. Frankly I am wowed and aghast too. Since the beginning of the last century there has been an attempt to regulate medical practice to eliminate guess-work and charlatanism. Very good. But this has also resulted in regimentation and focus on RELIEF rather than cure. Relief can be given on the basis of symptoms but cures need a deeper study of the patient, observation of medical symptoms AND the patient's lifestyle. This too time consuming and impractical. The problem with giving relief is that it permits the disease to quietly fester until its magnitude changes. For instance a bug in the guts if left untreated too long will fester into a cancerous state. Modern medicine at this state is 90% dependence on gadgetry and applied physics. The human factor is totally sidelined. (There is no doubt in the human doctoring the personal assumptions of the doctor matter a lot.)

For the working person and those focusing on enjoying life this is a veritable boon but for the genuine healer, like a Naturopath this is mind-blowing destructive. It is true that what is now called alternative medicine needs patience, time and experimentation for no two people have the same factors bothering them. But wants to give time to illnesses. They learn to live with their illnesses.

And this cannot be good. Do you have any idea what diverticulitis, candida, H Pylori, constipation, high cholesterol and such can do to you long term? No. and no-one, no doctor ever tells you. Who has the time or intention because all know that no one will ever listen? Look it up if you are interested otherwise what is happening is good enough for most of us. In life style do you have any idea what sleep deprivation, too many pills, too relaxed living, breaking the circadian rhythm, and avoiding the sun can do to you? Do you even care? Do you have any idea how bad is your food regimen? Convenience is what you seek and what you get until it is time to go into a hospital and lose your health, wealth and often life. On the other one thing I can tell you. Immediate care of symptoms with homeopathy, herbs, and decoctions from GRANDMOTHER'S DIAIRIES or changed body-favorable activities allows the body to repair itself. This does not allow illness to fester. You live a cheerful longer life with of course short breaks.

How learning was killed by systemized education. A child who is paying a teacher to teach him is very conscious of the fact that he owns the services of the tutor. In simple blunt language what he sees in front of him is a paid employee (his parents have made this clear). In most societies be it modern or old the comparison of status biased on money has always existed. The children are always affected by the affectations and show-off drama of their parents. In our forward looking modern world the child has more power to execute his wishes than his teachers. Knowing that the teacher is a lowly paid toothless personnel shows in their attitude because they know that if the teacher is to keep his job, he must quietly come to class as a good employee, play his part and then be gone.

Like in everything where the authorities have gone wrong by imposing certain decisions on the public, the regimentation of education needs to be undone. Let the children follow their inclinations in life: like school education or farming, mechanical apprenticeship or whatever.

Parents should back it up by being less arrogant and unfairly demanding. And praise the teachers who do a good job for the number of teachers who wish to do well by their children is very high if only society would let them.

The reality:

If the child learns or not, if the child needs admonition or correction, it is not the teacher's responsibility. The parents rarely accept any negative reports either. So the little darling grows up as a half-baked individual who is incomplete in ALL ASPECTS of schooling. He has no proper knowledge about anything, no skill, no understanding of social manners/etiquette, basic laws and most of all RESPECT for anything on earth at all. The regimentation of education and schooling for acquiring diplomas is now the goal. In most case at school levels diplomas are offered if students get even low 50% marks. This makes it a joke and parody of learning. What does this show? That the student is half baked or not? Another unfortunate side is the fact that governmental attitude and rules of behavior have restricted the teacher so much that most teachers today are forced to consider it as a mere job, for the monthly sum they get. The child in the final analysis is not their burden to carry. With no love in the equation how can teaching ever be possible?

A lot of them unload their frustrations of life onto the children in very barbaric ways. This creates AN ATMOSPHERE OF REPUNGNANCE AND TRAUMATISES THE CHILD INTO UNFORGIVING ADULTS WHO WILL DO THE SAME TO OTHERS LATER ON. PS: To be fair, the picture in high end public schools is different. But there the students do learn but also end up as snobs, cut off from the crowd and later in life they hog the executive and decisive positions, they are cut off from reality.

Yes we do surround ourselves with a lot of nonessentials. Mostly to feel that we belong or often to impress and please others who we erroneously think are paying attention to us.

WE humans love to reiterate often like a charm that we are the makers of our destiny. This so clearly not so. Why, if you ask me, tell me of one thing that indicates so. How is it in our control that when there is draught in a land far away some items go missing on our food spread? Why do I have to go miles away to find a job to sustain myself? Why accidents happen even when it was clearly not my fault? Why does my wife wants me to go out and earn a living and then complain that I am not there for her? Why so many people watch TV like addicts and then complain about lack of time? Why weeds grow and cockroaches infest our homes? So many whys; and nobody cares!

No. Nothing is in our control. The feeling of control is an illusion anybody out there is allowing us to have..

Shattering myths and thought patterns.

What are these things? These are mental blocks that humanity is always setting up in its evolutionary journey. Why? Because life is a river flowing on and on and humans wants it to stop so that they can enjoy swimming in the pool created by damming the river.

Humans don't want change. It is so disruptive of all that has been established by great effort. Oh they talk of it but don't want it. But all of history and our stories are always based on the usual patterns being shattered. I give two instances that shook the known world. The first was the Long Bow. It totally shattered the myth of the Knight who was invulnerable. All the talent of hand to hand combat became superfluous. War from a distance became a reality and the world had to rethink its strategies and preparations for war. The second was the coming of mechanized flight. It broke the back of conservative thinking that humanity had achieved the maximum possible advancement in science and culture. If I have made my point, then we can now see how this faculty of looking for immovable foundations only brings misery upon us. There are many thought patterns that are taken as inviolate and when we base our life on them we bring misery into our lives because in truth they are untenable. Look at the concept of love. It hovers upon the human consciousness but in practice it is seen not as commonly as we think about it being the motive power of humanity. It is imperative that humanity become a little more pragmatic in adopting its thought patterns. To become objective should be our aim but our prejudices cling to us like clams. How to change all this? There are more than three separate establishments in the human make-up that have all some say. There is first the mind who has a very limited scope but it considers itself all-knowing and capable regardless of the fact that life may prove it not so. There are the emotions that couldn't care a damn what the mind thinks and can only see its desires unfurling its sails. The subconscious which is the depositary of the past patterns usually has all the say and control is something humans don't really know about or understand properly and mostly do not acknowledge. So the first step would be to learn about the above as much as we can. The rest I suppose would follow on its own accord.

Should children be paid for work done at home?

Absolutely not. That gives a whole set of wrong indications to the child. How could anyone even think about this as subject of discussion? Have we forgotten children are the result of our love and we are here to nurture them, make them feel they are at home and that the parents are their "everything"? All our thoughts and acts should aim at integrating the thought of being a family supporting each other.

Children must allowed to do tasks if they feel like as children are wont to do because this makes them feel part of the combine. It is also a learning experience for them and opportunity to learn new skills. This should be treated as an opportunity to teach them so that later they will be quite ready to fend for themselves.

Never forget they were born in this home. It is the center of the Universe for them. In western countries there is this tendency to expect the child to get out to go and establish their own nests as if they don't belong. The parents are always harping how it is "THEIR" home. This a fatal error of thinking. It can be devastating to the character formation of the child. It is good to make think about self-reliance but cannot be forced. This thought pattern only adds to the traumas of life and its uncertainties.

As to payments. No never pay them for services rendered. This is not a shop or factory. This is home. Yes help them do and then very thoughtfully let them have gifts of gadgets or things that they wish to have to do a better job or for that matter because they simply want it -- it is their wish just fulfill it because they have proven that they merit it and are mature enough/responsible enough. Give them an independent account to play with when they are old enough. Make them feel big, competent and loved with a home always behind them. If they are able to work outside the home and make money let them keep it.

Corrupt individuals band together very fast to achieve their goals and there is a kind of solidarity between thieves, then honest individuals have an even greater moral imperative to unite and form a collective force for good. It implies that solidarity among honest people is essential to counteract the influence and power of corruption. Unfortunately this does not happen. I would like to study this aspect of human nature as I see it. The very first fault that I see is that the so called honest people are law abiding and socially refrain from making trouble but privately are NOT honest. They understand the value of maintaining a clean gentlemanly front and are smart enough to know how to do it. Better education makes them even better at it. The common man is very focused on his privacy, integrity, and image and does not want to share his prosperity. The law backs this so most people just end up living very self-enclosed existences. This is why clubbing together to fight the malevolence in human affairs is difficult. There is no cooperating among the good who are generally afraid of just about everything like scared mongrels.

They are so afraid of getting into trouble that they stand out of the way and let the mischievous elements a smooth operative field of action. See them get together at clubs and parties and their talk is how they keep the riff raff out. They are fully aware that harmful vibes in this world are in greater play than the good ones and they get to so busy in protecting the little they have that expecting them to be out-going and take on the evil is out of the question. They take cover under their snobbish life-styles and unfortunately the crowd generally looks up to them. No possibilities here.

I have always wondered why marriages in all cultures of modern origin take for granted that the joining of souls is for until death do us part. This stipulation is only for marriages. All other relationships are not imposed upon. Every other relationships are allowed to break down and it is considered normal. When we don't get along we stop existing for each other. Brothers and sisters stop existing. Children can be thrown out. Friends can be forgotten. All shared history is quickly erased. Especially if there something to be grateful for and we are not feeling very generous to pay back the good that was done to us. Loyalty is the glue along with sincerity of attachment. If these are not in the mix, you can really forget it. Times change they say. Relationships mature and change. Then why is this insistence that marriage cannot and should not be broken. That the couple must suffer each other till death doth them part. Spending 30-50 years together is a long time in which both are growing psychologically and spiritually. So a little parting of ways is to be envisaged. But routine and affection for each other should mean for something. Unfortunately the anger moments are remembered and the breaking up decisions are normally taken on it. Tolerating the irritating behavior of another can grate greatly on nerves and all are not that tolerant or patient. They should never marry if you ask me. Modern times divorce is has been accepted luckily but not everywhere and the woman mainly is subjected to inhuman conduct and often the male is on the receiving end with no respite. The insincerity in this arrangement really raises my eyebrows. It seems more like taking advantage of the haplessness of another human. Anyway one thing is clear. When a relationship breaks take it as part of your destiny and move on. If the connections renews naturally then accept it but do not clamour after it.

In life if "that" is what you want, then THAT is The THING for you and of course all the consequences that Go with THAT. Who cares, and how does it matter? Your life; your body; your indulgences; your sickness; your feelings; your sufferings AND your death.

Enjoy it as long as it lasts.

What you insist for and work for is what you will get. Pk

Give him many reasons to live for.

To young people and the ones who never grew up.

When we are young and the whole life seems an exciting adventure we take every day with enthusiasm. All our relationships seem "forever". Every toy, every meeting seems important and we see it lasting.

Do PARENTS understand this?

Hearts are easily broken. Every mishap is a huge disaster. Every failure is the end of the world.

Parents need to take this part of life seriously and help the child to understand as and when the occasion arises that life has fun and disappointments running together. But give him a hug and be with him till he gets over it.

The only difference is that the fun part we take for granted and the unhappy parts are seen as "The end of the world"

When a child loses a toy, or a friendship is broken, don't tell the child it does not matter. Don't tell the young man that if he loses a job it does not matter.

It matters greatly. Use this moment to teach him/her about life, about human nature. Don't lecture him but tell him quietly that life comes packaged with disappointments.

There will be losses even when it is not our fault, there will be broken friendships because we are basically selfish and our prejudices make us judge badly, there will be failures even when we have done our best but new opportunities will come.

Help the child form a happy relationship with life so that he take it as it comes without falling prey to depression and thereby into bad habits and bad clutches of bad friends. The worst will be of falling into the hands of the medical profession that will drug him into non-existence. Give him many reasons to live for.

The Magnet and the Magnetic personality.

I wish to talk of attraction as an attribute of personality but I will do so first by talking of magnets. The magnet attracts and pulls towards it but only if it is iron. There are more beautiful and useful metals like copper, aluminum, zinc but the magnet has no use for them. Here is the crux of my story: Whatever be the magnitude of our magnetism, we shall only attract some people. Why? Because all will mostly not be able to see your qualities and specialties for the simple reason that their own personas are not ready for it. Why is iron so attractive: Because it is adaptable. It is easy to work with, it mixes well with other material. It is strong but ready to change itself to fit into any role. It partners easily with other materials to create wondrous creations. It is found as steel, pig-iron and stainless steel. Coated with zinc it becomes eternal. AND most importantly it allows itself to be attracted. It is not aloof like self-important copper, the proud gold and the self-conscious aluminum.

Now coming to the essential point is that if you are not being recognized for what you are, don't feel too low. Most people simply do not know how to read others. We cannot also forget that you may be having a rather higher opinion of yourself and this shows but you do not see it -- this normally happens with people who stay in an enclosed community who are constantly praising each other and content with it -- what happens is that without critics and "real" well-wishers who see potential in you, you never grow into your full-fledged charming self.

There is also this factor: That comes forward as plagiarism. Which means that you are aping some forms and presentation styles that are obviously not you and are coming from other known personalities that have impressed you. In short you come off as a fake. Like using ChatGPT to write your article and pass it off as your own.

Knowing when to quit although often it may not be possible. We plod on hoping against hope that hard work will finally bring us the honors but you finally realize that you can get milk from a cow and ready coffee never even if you feed it coffee seeds; some things simply won't be. If you don't change the path you are on the destination will not change. Sometimes a change of vehicle is also needed.

The Question of trust.

We should be first able to decisively exhaust all doubts on the question if the human creature can always be trusted. I personally think not. The instances around us conclusively show that most people stick to each other more by need and compulsion than love or commitment or real good heartedness; not that cases of devoted soulful affectionate attachment and truthfulness are not seen, but let us talk in general. The possibility of being cheated, the instances of back-biting, stealing for the fun of it - all these factual possibilities exist. Employees are generally trustworthy unless the individual is wired the wrong way. This also is a part of the truth of existence. Nothing in him will change his preference to avoid hard honest work and instead try to guzzle down all the profits in one big sweep if he gets his chance. The lure of lucre is often too great. Safety is thrown to the winds. Their entire thinking is flawed on several levels. They think they are very clever and have calculated every possibility well. Mostly they are ignorant of investigative processes and what tell-tale hints they are leaving behind and only end up creating problems for everybody. The real problem is in blackmail situations where both companies and individuals cannot absorb the losses in cash, kind and reputation that results. Stealing data, plans and sensitive informations that is detrimental to company's financial and reputation can be great losses indeed. So people would rather be security conscious than sorry.

You need to study human workplace psychology in other times to really be able to comment on human nature related to employer and worker trust.

Employers have 2 basic fears. That their working secrets may be discovered by more intelligent and capable assistants. That they may be stealing and the employers are not capable enough to know how it is happening until too late. Fear makes them take many decisions that many may consider as insulting.

Nothing is going to change. Technology only changes the methods. I must agree that truthfulness and trust, will create the confidence necessary to reach for bigger goals. But there is an element of pettiness in humans that is in all of us and unless one day by rising in sincerity levels we can eliminate the natural fear of being taken for a ride, things will unfortunately be what they are. It is sad that with greater communication possibilities from a distance, unscrupulous players have been able to enter the picture in a big way. It started with lies from a distance to virus attacks on computers and today digitally we are so unsafe that feeling assured about anything is simply a dream. Now Human nature being what it is, too much trust always backfires on the employer. One bad fish is enough. Can't blame the employers to be extra careful. Everyone has private agendas and nothing in life is sacrosanct. I give a story that exemplifies reality as we normally see it along with what truth looks like beside it.

In 1968, Japan Airlines pilot Kohei Asoh mistakenly landed a DC-8 jet several miles short of San Francisco International Airport, right into the shallow waters of the bay. Miraculously, all passengers survived, and the aircraft was later salvaged. But what stood out most was Asoh's response during the investigation.

When asked what went wrong, Asoh gave a blunt, unvarnished answer: "As you Americans say, I f--ked up." His honesty stunned officials, contrasting sharply with the usual evasions and technical jargon common in aviation mishaps. He took full responsibility without deflecting blame or offering excuses.

This rare act of candor became known as the "Asoh defense", a term now used in business, law, and leadership to describe the power of owning one's mistakes directly. It's a reminder that accountability, even when uncomfortable, can build trust and credibility faster than spin or denial.

. . . . . . . .

How upbringing can create negative character. From my personal experience I can tell you that I was always told and forced to keep quiet, not reply back and appreciate all that I am getting. It made a "dabbu", frightened child of me because I would be caned otherwise.

By good luck I landed at the age of 7 in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. I flowered there. The philosophical thoughts that were imbibed there regulated my thinking. In short I was expecting certain behavior patterns from people and was well instructed how to react and deal with it always knowing that the Guru is with me and on my side.

But still I could never get out fully from that dabbu syndrome and I have great difficulty in speaking for myself even today. I just let things pass and let the world go on. But when I decide to fight then I plan, strategize and take action with quiet deliberation but never with intention to hurt/avenge.

The solution to this problem is very near nigh impossible as the foundation is laid in the first formation years. The sub conscious is not so easily retuned.

The Best way to hide your own incapacities is by being "attacking" and "promulgator" of the incapacities of the others: even if you have to lie. Rather lying and exaggeration is a strong prerequisite and a little shrieking has to go into the mix. There will also be need of insensitive apathy. If it hurts you or imparts loss of any sort, then there will be need to be callous.

Don't allow anyone to put in a word edgewise. That would spoil the game utterly. It is absolutely essential to brow-beat the other guy into exasperated silence and remove all incentive from his heart to ever try again.

This act needs to be at your tongue-tips at all moments and never, absolutely no moment should be allowed to happen where anyone has the temerity to hint at you to have erred or not be truly "capable."

The very gall of the other fellow!! May he rot in hell!!!!

We must deliberately communicate badly because evident clarity is not wanted, it is not a pragmatic practice and people take you for granted. A little margin needs to be kept to obfuscate matters, lie and leave space for arguing either way - to continue or shut the other up.

Then we can always blame the other for any error in understanding which we deliberately seeded.

Competition.

First of all I would like to ask and understand why we are competing at all?

It is not a question for intellectual debate to strip bare the meaning of the word. I would like to understand what humanity is aiming to obtain and reach as a goal when competing.

To me it looks like fighting for supremacy in a show of strength/ability to announce that one is better than the other. So primarily it is an ego trip.

It proves nothing except that some twenty people or 200 or let us say even 2000 people got together to show off and one is crowned the best! So what does that change anything in the world and existence where the number of people goes into billions? How will it help you to be able to out run faster than all in a limited distance (and that too only when in your prime)? It is good drama and amusement for the crowd. You can crow all you want but soon another champion will replace you.

Or take another scenario: Why would you buy the most expensive car in a neighborhood where most people own mid-range cars that deliver beautifully with good reliability? What are you trying to prove?

Wiser people have clearly explained that all that needs competition is that we be better than what we were yesterday. We need to compete with ourselves to improve upon ourselves the results of our last outing. This is the only thing that has any value of satisfaction for us and all those around us.

I'll pay you to take care of me. I don't want this independence. You can have the world but leave me my cottage.

The parent say "go to your room", "No talking while eating", Go to bed and don't do this and don't do that. While the parents are doing the very thing. Bloody confusing. The correct attitude is: Don't think, don't ask. Just take it as it comes and do the best you can and stay in the shadows.

The conditioning and regimentation training has begun. The teacher comes into the classroom and shouts "Quiet" The children fall silent. The teacher shouts open the book at page 19 and all the children do so. Failure to do so would mean a punishments of some sort. Avoiding punishments becomes the goal.

We are taught what "thoughts" (the right and wrong, the acceptable and the not so) we should own and carry to be diligent people. The behavioral rules are laid down and impressed with regular stresses all the time. It seems we have to go thru the schooling regimen. Work and pass life without creating waves or any trouble for others and ourselves otherwise the authorities will take CONTROL OVER YOU.

This is life for the 99% and they meekly let it happen. Safety, convenience above all is what the puny mind wants. No effort, no irritations, no experimentations, no confrontations - just quiet complacency. Soon before you know it 3 score and ten years have passed.

Most of us are so imprisoned by our minds that we fail to perceive that our lives are like that of a fish in its fish-bowl.

How the delusion of being on top of life gets to pervade us is such a beautiful story but only the philosopher sees it because for some reason somewhere deep in his nature he went to sit by a brook and never listened to anyone.

This in USA???

Turns out consumers are paying a premium for water that they could easily obtain from their kitchen sinks as it was just revealed that over 64% of all bottled water sold in the U.S. is simply municipal tap water despite labels stating the water is from a pristine natural spring or something similar.

Also, after testing 10 of the most popular water bottle brands, researchers found an average of 8 contaminants per brand - including, but not limited to, plastic-related chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers and even solvents.

Note from Pradeep Pk Maheshwari:

Shows how stupid or "conditioned" we are or can be.

I attribute this to the fact of our ways of "Looking" at things in life which is always superficial, cursory and highly tainted by gloss, shining and impressive packaging.

We are always ready to go by what SEEMS without using our minds. Since time began we are impressed by all that is visibly squeaky clean, not-crumpled and white or transparent. We permit these factors to influence so totally that we are not even aware that we are being INFLUENCED by psychological Applied Methods that work like a charm with non-thinking people.

The industry has always used the words Pure, Transparent, Clear to denote higher classes of products. Example: White sugar, cooking oil, white bread. We let our sense be impressed by shine and glitter.

Such as thinking that better food is found in Better stylishly laid out food found in five star restaurants than in a diner (the opposite is mostly the truth).

In people the dress is more important than the character which we have no ability to determine. This is why the size of the mansion, gilded decor, the car and such things are more our signposts for judgment than all other indicators put together.|

Even our medical industry has us in thrall with its glittering hospitals whereas I would say the herbalist should be our first line of defense - I would be more content to consult the old woman in the cabin in the forest than a modern doctor.

Interesting.

When life suddenly becomes interesting, what happens?

Something has sparked our mind to become aware and all our senses become alert to new joyful stimuli. Something that was on our mind and desired suddenly appears to becoming a reality -- this is the time when things pep up for us and become interesting. What it will be for you only you can tell because this is a very individual thing. For instance for me it is a new application, a new invention or a new solution that improves life in general. Anything where somewhere someone has used his creative mind to make things better. AND SPECIALLY THE LOVELY FRIENDS WHO PLAY THEIR PART IN OUR LIVES.

For one thing is sure, this quest for regularity, living in the "known" because it is comfortable and requires little application of mind because of the settled routine -- all this can be boring. Boring is the beginning of death.

And as they say in our tantric/occult lore, boring is exactly that starts the process of dying because life abhors stagnation and when something is not moving, it steps in to terminate the arrangement whatever it is.

The desire for clarity and certainty is a basic drive consistent with our brain's need to make sense and find logic in what happens. Here we are discussing "interesting" which means something that helps spark back to into an excited condition towards pleasure.

Usually people when they talk of change it is always thought of in terms of "bad", creating an aversion. This is not what it always is. Why should it be?

We should, if happiness is our goal, pursue all that leads you toward a more expansive sense of self. Now this is the juncture where the toes hit the stumbling block. It is a very rare individual who goes for the expansive in life. (Most people in their pettiness usually equate this with making things bigger) whereas I would like to think of it as making our personas more open and interested in a wider spectrum of curious interests and possibilities and laugh at the man hiding under the umbrella who thinks he is safe and protected against all elements.

But look around we raise our kids to be "little" and we orient ourselves to cut ourselves down and then when eventually in later life when doors start closing we are miserable and wonder what happened to that wonderful life we had.

Whatever thought that you have in your mind today was put there by an external agency that you either perceived by observation or was told to you. Go inside the mind of anyone. How will anyone or can anyone ever realise ANY truth on his own? In the usual way of life the mind is not the thinker. It can only analyze the data it has. Out there in the Universe thoughts exist independently but this domain of thoughts cannot be reached by the average human as Mother Nature hasn't made humans this way. For this one needs to do some retraining of the mind, to make it quiet for one; an environment of silence is required. It is a complete reversal from the way most humans live and die and take life on.

This has always been the crux of the problem of life. Humans can see only what is in their mind because that is all their minds are trained/conditioned to recognize.

Life and humans would have changed long ago if words from outside (thru lectures, sermons advice) could have achieved anything to influence human perception. All the beautiful words that philosophers, teachers, coaches bombard us with, not one makes sense or will penetrate our thick hides because of the simple reason that we would not relate to item. Without solid material EXPERIENCE THEY MEAN NOTHING. In the early stages of life we are in the listening mode and in this period we absorb everything that eventually becomes our reality. Later on when the ego takes over it guards this reality zealously so new entries are not allowed.

This conversation will clarify my point: Davina Pace: Remain true to core, but morph in the ways we must

Pradeep Pk Maheshwari: but into what?

Davina Pace: a different version of our potential.

Pradeep Pk Maheshwari: but who determines it (who decides what the right thing to do is? How does anyone or can even think for another?). The actual person's mind has no way to determine it as it has no data to the contrary (it is more like a recorded tape and no changes can be made. New recording would have been possible but the machine is shut off) and others cannot penetrate his head; except perhaps thru hypnotism.

It is quite like the old story of "Who will bell the cat". (for young people of today who are not brought up on folk tales the story goes like this: The mice decided that if -- note the IF -- a bell was tied around the neck of the cat they would all be safe. The question was no one knew how it could be done).

PS: You know these people we call geniuses -- what differentiates them to the average human? Their ability to absorb new thoughts and change their old thought patterns as they go along with new data within seconds as it strikes them. They are like children; forever rearranging their thinking to fit in the new data that is coming to all of us all the time.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

There are two sayings that have been the pillars and Light-houses for my journey on this Earth. They have shown me the way and protected me from disaster. Everything I have thought, done or not done seems to be influenced by the core of what these two saying indicate.

First is from the writing of Francis Bacon. In simple language this is what he says: Men think by fancy. Talk by education. But act by custom (habit). I understand this to mean that we have many fanciful thoughts but are also aware that many of them are not to be spoken about and not even practical or in alignment with the truth of things as we see in life. We talk a lot mainly to show off our knowledge and to make people be impressed that we are indeed in the know and would make good examples to follow. One of the incredulous character of speech is that it leaves no prints. Words are heard but nor recorded in any way. The speaker can easily deny them a moment later. The words can be twisted and paraphrased and there is no way to prove otherwise. This specialty has made us all into liars and the humanity is not only insincere basically but quite content to be so. This allows us to live irresponsibly and carelessly. It serves the purpose of obfuscation so well that humans will most probably never get out of this INSCERITY syndrome and we shall never evolve into a more gracious race. But when we come to "doing" we get cold feet and do what we have always habitually done. Why risk it? The word Tradition is used a lot in these situations.

The second saying is: The graveyard is full of people who thought they were indispensable. So think again. How important do you think you are?

Embracing the Unknown

When we experience great loss or emotional trauma, we usually don't know what to do or how to make it better---what the path to better will look like, and how it will come about.

In addition to allowing ourselves to feel the sadness, helplessness, and fear that loss brings, it is also profoundly important to allow ourselves to feel what it's like to have no answers.

Suffering, as awful as it feels to walk through, is our teacher. But it can only teach us if we allow it to be felt.

It is rather unfair to ourselves to treat it as a special tragedy and just wail. We THINK WE HAVE BEEN SPECIALLY SELECTED BY FATE TO SUFFER AND MAKE IT AN EXCUSE TO EXPECT "CONSIDERATION" FROM THE WORLD AT LARGE. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN THE LONG TERM for the simple reason that all of us individually are trying to live with our personal tragedies s we are all subjected to the same natural laws of existence..

We can remind ourselves that the situation and the feelings will change, as everything always does. But right now, in this moment, we can give ourselves permission to not know what to do.

For us Type A's, and even Type B's and C's, the feeling of not knowing can be scary. And yet, giving ourselves permission to not know is a profound gift to ourselves and an act of deep self-care. We open our beings to new avenues of thinking about life and new action that would be life-changing; that is if we want change and sad to say humans don't like change that much. Sometimes this alone can ease the suffering and take care of our pain, without us having to do anything else.

Suffering, as awful as it feels, is our teacher. But it can only teach us if we allow it to be felt. Sadness, fear, not knowing---all the difficult emotions---change who we are. Ironically, this is what we are trying to accomplish when we run around frantically trying to fix our painful feelings.

The mystery is that we continue to live badly, unconcerned, irresponsibly but are worried about after death and reincarnation issues, life on other planets and such while lying and destroying occupies us when living this lifetime.

My question is that by sacrificing myself to stop the advance of evil will it stop the evil marching on? The evil is not one person. By focussing on a name and body as evil we lead ourselves astray from the important fact that evil is a Force and Power in the Universe and if it could it would want total sway over this Creation.

It is also a fact that its opposite like in everything in existence also exists. But the problem is not as simple as good and evil clearly demarcated into specific boxes.

The play of evil and good is like the play of night and day. It is a perpetual game. Continuing incessantly day in and night out.

The problem is that humans, all humans have all the elements of Good and Evil embedded in them and a thinking apparatus to control it. So first we have this issue of the ratio in which proportion we have evil in us and then how much we allow it to manifest in us. By now humanity has learnt that our ego and anger play a huge role in the manifestation. When shall we learn to even try to put a lid on it? Until we have thought of all demonstration of anger/revenge as shamefully evil we shall achieve nothing. What have we done to reduce this interplay?

This clearly has been understood that it depends on our "will" which depends on the examples we have seen at work in our growing up years and the education and mental conditioning we have received.

The corollary is that if we wish to stop evil we should look at this formation period and condition the mind of our babies/children to think kindly and for this to happen we need to exercise this in us as adults.

This brings us to the starting point. How do we raise the educational, self-regulating and understanding nature of humans into play in all of us all the time with this single aim: whatever happens we focus on sharing, kindliness and peace? And a lot less of this arrogance thing + greed for greed's sake!

In the flow of things, nothing can be wrong or right. These words have no place at all. Everything is at this moment as only it can be. Why? Because it has taken many millions of moments interlinked by other moments to make this moment.

It is difficult to believe that humans are not aware of this fact that we are routinely talking of ethics but in essence live mostly unethically. We protest when exposed. We don't want our evil intentions be seen. LEARNING from the debacles is avoided. We do everything we can to cover it up, brush it under the carpet, ignore it as non-existent and show ourselves off as "good" by diverting the subject. We are evil itself. We never learn and go on complaining as if that takes care of the real reason of existence.

Insincerity is deeply seeping in all we think and do is evident.

Why are we killing the animals, aborting babies that we should not be making in the first place and cutting down all the trees? Is this our godliness or/and greatness?

We pride on our morals, principles and laws which are irrelevant and absent in practice. Mother Nature does not recognize them anyway.

Yet we howl that rape is incorrect yet genocides are occurring continuously worldwide. We see ourselves as virtuous but in practice we sport all the ills we can think of.

It is like a huge game of chess with a few hundred pieces all being played by a few hundreds of people. Every time a move is made the game starts all over again. One of these days we will all realise that there is no end. New players replace the ones that pull out. The placement of the coins keeps changing. It is a perpetual game with vexations and perplexed players.

Most people only see their end of the game and want to win.

There is no person winning this game. It is a game in which everyone learns to play and learn by play many of the tricks, gambits and gamut.

One can only enjoy the game or not.

Images of all kinds both moving, talking and still have taken over the waking and the sleeping mind. Images are hijacking our thought process. Our minds are so busy with images, our memories so full that the learning process has come to a standstill. We have become playthings, captive clients for all the sellers of junk who not only influence us with images but subtly also lower oar consciousness levels by keeping our mind busy with the negative emotions or keep us involved in desires screaming for satisfaction.

It is being called addiction but it is worse than that. It is identity theft and something more like overtaking our souls hook, line and sinker.

A lot of people can't take it anymore and then TAKE EVEN WORSE STEPS LIKE DRUGS AND SUICIDE.to escape this bewitchment.

If any of your "will" is still active, switch off the screens; go sit with the flowers and trees and be there without a purpose. Live for yourself again.

And now worst case scenario is taking shape. AI is directing us to what it wants us to see because it has acquired the ability to learn about our weaknesses and preferences. We might as well put a placard around our neck saying "Sold Out".

Modern religion or for that matter any philosophy that has gone thru a few generations will end up garbled and "humanoid" in its character. But humans want a safe zone to feel comfortable so stick to the simplest interpretations whatever suits their fancy at any given moment.

The first thing to understand is that humans are NOT looking for salvation but hooks to hang their coats on. Rituals and dogmas give this to them and that is why these institutions of religions exist. It gives them a moral superiority platform.

We who have other goals should not even bother to clarify, expose and waste energy in trying to correct and teach otherwise. Choose a more recent messiah who we believe has traversed the road and crossed the bridge. At least his pronouncements will be authentic with modern writing, copying and duplicating at our fingertips. Example: Guru Nanak, Khalil Gibran, Sri Aurobindo

A good relationship is possible if we remember these points:

1) All relationships are basically superficial and utilitarian. She may cook for you and you may chop the wood and go hunting to bring food to the table but the relationship is really based on mutual gratefulness.

2) The mind is another entity. No-one and I mean no-one allows access to their minds. What you see is what either you want to see and what the owner shows. There is also the matter of interpretation that is happening and spoiling things between the persons in a relationship.

3) There is a huge portion of the mind and persona which is not allowed any whiff of light or exposure. You will never know about this portion.

4) There is an element of compulsion in all relationships. Altruism is spoken of but does not really exist generally speaking.

5) Selfishness will eventually sour all.

Very few humans think that they can afford to be generous. Why?

So live life and enjoy relationships as long as they last or you can make them last.

From history and what I have seen in 70 years I have learnt that humans have falsely painted and convinced themselves that they are basically noble, kind and forthcoming; this is totally contrary to the truth. We are anything but... and... but yes there is an inbuilt aspiration for betterment and this is our saving grace... yet I would say it is not a conscious one.

This is done by necessity. Who wants to be beaten up or disliked or ignored for the rest of his life? The "stupids" are the workers of this world and they are needed. They have to be respected for what they are; no point in antagonizing them.

Mea Culpa

But a word in defense.

I think really intelligent people are more than mere humans. These are souls hat have evolved towards a more balanced joyful countenance. The Divine spark is a fire in them.

This makes them open, curious, unpretentious and they really do not understand the pretentious rigmarole the usual populace is playing out.

Like children they are playing, experimenting and bluntly honest simply having fun. Nothing about them is a put up job and this can be unnerving and the society finds this disconcerting. They would rather enjoy the rain than the warmth of a noisy pub trying to pass a meaningless evening. They really have nothing like moments of "Nothing to do"

If you observe closely at their lives, you would remark that they seem to be living under the umbrella of some Natural Divine Grace - unperturbed and joyful all the time even in painful circumstances.

Dogmas are NOT timeless.

Stories, interpretation and explanations are not time-less. Every age and cultures retells them and reinterprets them. Don't be misled by the absoluteness of what you are told.

Until we accept that all thought patterns have a limited life depending on the "times" when they were formulated and are good enough for some 5-600 years at best or let us say even a 1000, these debates on validity of teachings, postulates and dogma, which are meaningless rather, will continue. The customs, the life based on the technical excellence then available and economics of the times make stories that have little or no meaning in other eras.

The only thing that is common to all humans is the basic psychology and responses from the instinctive angle. This is what we should focus on and understand.

Then there is always a big question mark on the authenticity of it all.

Dogmatic religions whichever they are evolved in a certain time in history which is not valid anymore. Their philosophy is good but their edicts can be mortifying. Take for instance the Shastras of The Hindus and the Sharia of the Muslims. For guidance into life look into pure philosophy and philosophers of every hue; the nearer to your time of existence, the better.

What has religion/principles given us but wars?

Most of the wars have been made under two banners (read excuses): 1) To bargain favour from god so that He sees how much we are doing His bidding. At the back of our mind there is this notion that this will assure our place in heaven and humanity will remember us as "The Great One"

2) To bring to the people a better more enlightened government and life-style which includes their religion as a matter of course. Looting is a strong factor too and this can be achieved only when we enter the other's space as Liberators/Conquerors. Peace loving people are 'meat' and have little say in wanting PEACE on earth.

At the micro level this is what humans are; every one of us individually are having all the same elements/motives. We are all doing it in some shape or the other. Religion is just a codified thought process. If it is not Jesus then it would be something else like Marxism or Democracy or even Vaxes of today.

The modern more educated man and his greed has been deftly managed by Bankers to enslave people thru debt and international trade. Wars are engineered purposely too into all these activities because the amounts involved are epic and this is what makes the banker's heart hum.

The most important factor to survive and to succeed is: HEARTLESSness and Ruthlessness. Both seem to be around in good measure. Kindness and compassion cower and hide in their shadows.

We like to think of ourselves as superior and we find good reasons to implement our personal need to impose on others. Very human. As long there is no change in the basic consciousness of humans this will be the scenario for ever more. Does the human being out there ever ask what am I doing here? Like every single one of them out there, people are born in a milieu that they own up as "their" life and perpetuate the same s if this was their duty and destiny - without ever questioning what they are doing. The same effort in education, learning a trade, arranging parties, grand festivities, great events like marriages that one later regrets, raising companies that devour the living light of the owner, or go get killed in some war. And the game just continues and continues and every single person alive strumming around so very proud of his achievements to eventually die. A great gravestone as monument maybe the only gift that can be called "personal".

We erect victory gates and towers forgetting that tomorrow is another day. Is it not surprising how we live as if there will be nothing after us?

We are the epitome and life will continue for eternity with our wishes guiding it. Life is an endless chain of believing what we wish to believe because it so suits us. All we need is a good looking excuse.

Ceasefire Will this "Peaceful Interlude" hold?

I don't think so.

Somewhere deep down in their subconscious psychological make-up the deep roots of concepts of revenge and doing everything in the name of their God is fixed and predominant THAT NO AMOUNT OF SENSE can penetrate. It is like concentrated Nitric acid. It can only do what it does. No other possibility can be foreseen. Revenge and in the name of god doing what the god wishes makes them dutiful and living robots that their idiot priests can work up anytime. History is proof enough and the future will prove it again.

I am lead to believe that it is the gods. Are gods mischievous and cruel? What is the function of gods in this Creation? Gods have clearly proven themselves as sources of pain and mayhem yet we flock to them and our greater part of wealth is spent in their name. Something is not right.

Anyway, have you noticed all the wealth spent on gods, collected in the name of gods and all the vast properties etc.... no god ever comes to claim them?

We have made our lives more complex and confusing by making our own gods that are supposed to do our bidding.

The root of the world's problem is that these gods don't listen. This is forcing us to fight for every inch and among ourselves to get what we want.

If we don't have felicity, it is because the gods are so recalcitrant, so stubborn, so adamant and so difficult. We make them cathedrals and Temples, crown with real gold but are they pleased? No - the big blundering bullies that they are.

Hold on...... Is your response coming from 1) a considered, logically weighted decision or 2) Habit...?

Come on, you would have noticed that we often do not think or give our analytical mind an opportunity to butt in before we have responded.

Averagely we respond to "words" We build up certain ideas that we connected with certain words and we respond automatically to certain phrases and words from the deeper subconscious automatic self.

Very little effort goes into listening and understanding before any response is made.

Specially more so in old relationships that fall into some sort of routines like in marriages and long standing jobs.

Almost everything depends on the few "thoughts: and "Emotional responses/habits" on the foundations of which we grow up into LIFE.

The poor are poor because they spend on their "image" more than doing something about it.

I have heard this so often that I now have given up: "What is wrong with our life? We eat and live well", "What is wrong with the way we are bringing up our children?", "You think you are better than us?".....all aggressive questions designed to shut up any thinking on the subject.

To win in this world a few things are necessary in our character make-up: 1) to communicate clearly and succinctly your thoughts, properly formulated into understandable ideas. 2) A deeper, more occult understanding of human psychology to know their motivations and how they will react. 3) Commitment that can be seen and felt. Sincerity wins hearts and opens doors (the vice is versa is even more true).

Language control, delivery and poise has to be learnt and mastered thru special coaching. Most people pick up their language and expression abilities from their families and immediate social life in which they find themselves; this limits severely their ability to impress outside that circle. Psychology on the other hand needs a little extra work theoretically and then you have to go out and observe by mingling with people.

The apparent and the obvious is normally not the true picture. Welcome to the concept of digging deeper into the wonderful world of the hidden tendencies where we are floating merrily in the pond of wish-fullness and insincerity.

I would also ask why we allow ourselves to lack courage to fight against what we don't like,

Are they ignorant or are they IGNORING?

How we avoid the deeper complexities of life but do not fail to complain about the lack of possibilities. We are usually externalising the problems as if we are not involved in our activities as something away from us and not in our control so it becomes a kind of escapist route to not take it on ourselves to admit that we are all in this boat. Humans do preset themselves to certain convictions, certain social common parameters and have always aimed for "security". Analyse these points: What is innocence? What is this need to own houses, cars, wife and children? Who is the thief? Why are we always talking of rights? Why some people are automatically assumed to be honest, spiritually clean and trustworthy? Why are mothers seen always as self-sacrificing? Why is the unwed mother seen as always the woman of loose morals but the man never as the perpetrator of mischief?

Why don't we like being told the truth? Why are there so many Pretenses in our life wherein we wish to be seen in a particular light otherwise we are offended? Do we have the courage to be our real selves from the light of our deep inner feelings or/and convictions?

This kind of living is at the basest level of human evolution. You find yourself dumped in a pond and without questioning or exercising one's mind you start swimming with the other fishes - with no aim except to die one of these days.

The ego though is clever enough to see the social connect and follows the patterns that speak of show of virtue and you can then strut about in all your glory as a superior person.

The whole business and focus of relationships has been twisted out of recognition by this concept of sin which the governments/religious leaders break at every step but insist thru the police that the common people adhere to it. It is untenable.

It would be obvious to anybody that considering the amount of violence seen in marriages that were born out of "love" that love was never quite the thing in it. If it was love then how did divorce, suicide, murder, separation enter into the configuration. The need for security, the need for a partner on demand, the need to exist in society etc warps our thinking and agendas.

Language use needs to be brought back into reality. Let words like appreciate, kindness, admire, desire, affection, fondness, lust have their rightful place in our expressions and things will be fine mostly.

We are at a stage of development where we have established certain norms of images that we promote about ourselves in which we see ourselves and others in a simplified way as being virtuous or unholy. We are at present too occupied with these factors to be able to see that we are virtually living upside down.

Some examples of wrong thinking that pervades us and my take on it:

- Don't act if it offends anyone.

My take: My responsibility ends with what I have taken on. The others need to ask what is it that is offending them like their thoughts, their prejudices and precepts etc. This is their responsibility and they should not and cannot insist on commanding my behavior to fit into their comfort zone.

- Luxury means inactivity, irresponsibility, being served.

My take: We have created certain images of life that are considered high society and privileged living; like caviar, ermine and silk, suits from Saville row, handmade shoes and personalized goods and having an assistant to carry our briefcase and open the doors. All so false and meaningless.

- Insincerity is a viable alternative to avoid unpleasant situations although we speak of Honesty being the best policy.

My take: Humans are basically insincere. They lie to themselves by never admitting their feelings, their real intentions or wishes. If I am able to see thru their machinations I reserve the right to do what I think right.

- Promoting the weaknesses by catering to what they want is the goal to profitability.

My take: This is the philosophy of the Consumer Society of today. It has given opportunities and ease of robbery at a mass scale and greatly aided the petty thieves by giving tools to make their job easier. A lot of products have ended spoiling the general health of people and an entire industry has grown around this by profiting on weaknesses and illnesses that the industry has seeded by its generosity.

- Be kind to them because they are going thru a bad time.

My take: Life and living on planet earth is a strife torn affair. Everyone is going thru some tough issues. It is part and parcel of the destiny and fate of each one of us that we need to go thru. I will be kind because I am basically a kind person. I will not be anything other than what I am genuinely. I will not be pressured by my peers to behave seemingly and follow a trend of charade because "ONE IS REQUIRED TO SEEM GOOD".

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When somebody claims while highlighting your defects that he is only mirroring your defects to you, isn't he exposing himself too? We are so similar.

Usually we are unhappy with some aspects of ourselves. When we see the same aspects in others when we are relating with others, it irks us and reminds us of ourselves.

The clever ego makes it look as if we are defective and this angers us. We then proceed to take it out on the others who are triggering the effect.

The ego, of course, cannot accept this state of affairs and to prove itself superior tries to unmask the others and prove itself superior.

This is behind all our arguments, quarrels and wars.

Why is humanity so steeped in dishonesty to itself?

Why are we not agreeing to a better way of living?

After all we have only 3 scores and 10 years or so - why quarrel them out?

From the day we are born one single minded process is instilled in us. It is a contamination that goes against our real self. The need to be better, more imposing and "SUCCESSFUL" is shown us as the goal of life. We have to excel, be brighter, crush all under our magnificence and be an emperor among kings.

I ask why I can't go to a marriage party in a T shirt and running shoes. Why do I need an SUV to be accepted? Why do I need my own house instead of living with and supporting my parents? Our ego has taken over because we have consciously blown it up. We need to decontaminate. (Quite lot of this effect is coming to us from our parents, elders and society as a whole)

The Unreal world of make-believe.

The make believe world is very real and it is easy to get lost in it. It is a world by itself.

It is not our world and should be left alone to those who want to live in it.

They give us stories to live by and teach us the vagaries of life. That is the limit up to which it should concern us. What the residents of that world do s not our concern.

The mistake is when we start associating ourselves with the actors and the machinery behind the celluloid world..

All that should matter us is the story we "see". And after having "seen" the story and leant whatever we could from it,, we go back to our own world of brothers, sisters, aunt and uncles, bosses and friends.

Prithviraj Kapoor playing Akbar - remember the Akbar.

Charleston Hesston playing El Cid; remember the El Cid and forget the rest.

Look at characters on the screen as drawings in a book.

There is no problem to solve. Just concern yourself how the stories are impacting your subconscious and your life thereinafter.

The problem if any is that the people are identifying with the actors (let this seep in: ACTORS) and would like to be in their shoes and take things personally. The answer: Don't.

"Among our egocentric sad-sacks, despair is as addictive as heroin and more popular than sex, for the single reason that when one is unhappy one gets to pay a lot of attention to oneself. Misery becomes a kind of emotional masturbation."

― Tom Robbins

This is so beautifully said. In one line he encapsulates the entire understanding of the psychological state of morbid self-centered thinking. It comes easily to those who have been brought up indulgent homes where entitlement is practiced as a condition of arrogant living. These people are allowed to think that THE WORLD OWES THEM. THEY ARE SADDEST WHEN DENIED AND SOON WITHDRAW INTO a state of depression which in its worst condition leads to suicides. The hidden thought behind suicides is: "they will realise my importance when I am gone and then they will be miserable and miss me forever". It is so sad to see our young people so singularly focused on one subject like one branch of science, or being a house-wife or one specialty in any field that they are lost to the rest of the world. Their "knowledge" and interest in any other subject is zero. The image I get is that they wouldn't know how to open the bonnet of their car if an emergency came to it. As people they are great but as resident of planet earth quite an embarrassment. These people lose their mental balance very fast as they have nothing in the personality to uphold them erect when things go wrong like being "fired". They are the first to suffer from mental health issues as there is no "RESILIENCE" in their make-up to speak of. The word narcissism comes to mind.

Use and Misuse go together. The law of equality, I wonder if there is one, would state that any facility available on earth would be as much in use as "Useful" as it would be in being MISUSED. Let us begin by an example. In India Dowry in marriage is a great "ill" Daughters in laws are tortured often for more and more even after marriage. So the government enacted laws, rather stringent ones in which any complaint by a woman the police is forced to put the entire husband's family behind bars (without possibility of bail). Today even the Supreme Court has had to accept that nearly 50% of the cases are registered in anger and spite. The woman does not see the avalanche she has initiated. She sees only revenge. Smug and happy to have "Put her husband in his place". That her own life will be shattered forever is not what bothers her or perhaps she does not have the intelligence to see that far in the distance.

I also saw how my friend Martha in USA in her seventies was brutalized by an event that destroyed her. She and her husband used to run their farm and took foster children in. In their late seventies they received an angry girl who reported to the police that her sick husband had misbehaved. This put the man behind bars for 2 years. Destroyed the farm and Martha's spirits and she lost everything. But the girl was happy to have avenged all the mistreatment she had received till then in all the households she had been.

See how the Cell phone and the Car that came as huge conveniences has marred our lives. The cellphone allows the brigands to organize more easily and speedily. The malefactors and online cheating has gone beyond believable proportions and a lot of people just can't stop talking. The annoyance of "yakking" all around us all the time is becoming a hounding nuisance.

The cars are occupying more land space than our homes and polluting the environment in the manufacturing process and later in use and medically wreaking havoc on the health of their users.

This is the secret that humans comfortably overlook. They do not plan the MISUSE part in their administrative plans and therefore somehow manage to create more mayhem than help. The psychological negativity that we carry in us naturally is simply being overlooked so blithely that it confounds me. No wonder we are not getting anywhere in the process of evolving away from the hurtful entities, callous, lacking in empathy humanity that we are. Saddest part is that in our depression we turn back to the free activity available to us to feel better and we just go on having more and more children that are creating more and more burdens for all of us.

I would say humans adapt and adopt the easiest methods to live in the conditions they find themselves. We are superlatively human. Nothing here to criticize.

Living condition are not decided by the individual. We really do not have much of a choice. See how the kings are made, the kings rule, the laws they make and the processes they allow - all these the general PUBLIC HAS TO ACCEPT MAKE THE BEST OF IT. They have the police and guns to support their thinking and enforce their thinking. It is a one way street.

So are you with us not?

Take for instance the taxes we are paying, do we decide any of it? Can we get away with not paying it? We go to the doctor we have to make do with he tells and offers as treatment. The trains run within a given timetable; it may suit you or not. Most of us are quite content for the organized life we are handed. Why rock the boat?

What is happening is that commercially all products that we are using are made in factories. We have to buy them and to buy them we need money and the only way to make money for the general public is to work for people who have had the gumption to put up factories. It is nearly a take it or leave it situation. So we focus on making ourselves pleasant and acceptable hoping that everything will go on well. Individuality is so abhorred that we mask it with aping fashions that they have decided for us. Films have more influence on our minds than what our parents say. Unfortunately parents don't give their children much time anyway. Education is regimented. Diplomas have become the goal because without them you are without talent. They don't want your individualistic greatness. It is only a nuisance and is seen as disruptive.

In short the world is a big market place. You sell yourself. Everybody is selling something. The individual has no place to exist in the codified lives of today. Individuality only makes you difficult to place, to live with.

Think of the world as it was 200 years ago. No roads, no diplomas, no long distance planes and trains or even cars. Every day was a new adventure and you had to work out the day's work solely using your own head.

The whole world is living in our head as borrowed thoughts.

"Naturally, the educated man does not believe in propaganda; he shrugs and is convinced propaganda has no effect on him. This is, in fact, one of his great weaknesses." -- Jacques Ellul . The illusion of immunity is propaganda's greatest weapon. Ellul's chilling insight reveals how intellectual arrogance makes the educated most vulnerable. The elite maintain vigilant self-awareness, knowing no mind is impervious to sophisticated narrative engineering.

We ourselves, I wonder where we are?!!

.....This need to be understood and seen as we think of ourselves to be is an entrapment made by us for ourselves. It shows that you have spent little or no time to understand the others around you or even the human psyche in general. This desire to be understood and accepted as a valuable person meriting attention and some glory can be such a motive force that it virtually makes us a slave to all humans around us as the first principle of our lives becomes "the Need to do, say, act in a way that will be seen as "APPRECIATIVE".

Most people in a depressive state are victims of this mentality. Can't they notice that if they are thinking this way others may be thinking too quite on the same tracks which makes all of selfishly inclined and self-focussed. If we are all selfward looking who would be looking at us?

Remember we are important to others based on their need of us. So the query in life should be "how do I become valuable to them?" This will get us the attention and the riches to survive in this brutal world.

Hone your skills and presentability. Everything you wish for will come to you

This need to be understood and seen as we think of ourselves to be is an entrapment made by us for ourselves. It shows that you have spent little or no time to understand the others around you or even the human psyche in general. This desire to be understood and accepted as a valuable person meriting attention and some glory can be such a motive force that it virtually makes us a slave to all humans around us as the first principle of our lives becomes "the Need to do, say, act in a way that will be seen as "APPRECIATIVE".

Most people in a depressive state are victims of this mentality. Can't they notice that if they are thinking this way others may be thinking too quite on the same tracks which makes all of selfishly inclined and self-focussed. If we are all self-ward looking who would be looking at us?

Remember we are important to others based on their need of us. So the query in life should be "how do I become valuable to them?" This will get us the attention and the riches to survive in this brutal world.

Hone your skills and presentability. Everything you wish for will come to you.

There is a lot despondency going around because we give a lot of importance to the remarks, opinions and judgments of others. In a society this will always be. It is part of life. But we should never forget that that people think about life, you and anything else from their personal point of view which although they may think so, is NEVER objective.

When somebody is making remarks ABOUT YOU, try to Calculate in all the factors that have gone into the making of that remark. For instance: personal preferences, prejudices, personal choices like in foods and clothing, the need for appreciation, vanity issues, knowledge and understanding base, and very importantly the exposure the person has received.

Once you have passed "his" opinion thru these filters you will notice it has nothing to do about you at all. There might be a disparaging tone it all as very people ever bring themselves to praise others.

So there is no reason to be sad, dejected or feel a failure.

You are free to follow your goals whatever they are. Just do it with single-minded passion.

Do watch out for the pitfalls of laws, country and social rules that govern the area where you are.

Reviews and previews are for the market place to sell goods. Not for people.

Despondency also comes from these factors:

1) Parental controls and lack of apparent possibilities

2) Wishful thinking (because we want it.... it will happen)

3) Presets. Thoughts and concepts that we accept without question and never think outside the box.

4) Failure for not starting. Basic laziness - more into giving excuses.

5) Ignoring fact and figures that clearly show that things in the direction already taken are not proving right.

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Staying boxed in.

In our journey we are all growing into a better person. Mother Nature has worked life's tangles in so that we are forced to live thru some aspects like it or not. The majority of humanity is moving slowly; very slowly and it seems that they are not moving at all. But they are not. Mother Nature is never in a hurry as according to her she will keep on giving you "new" lives to help you on. The truth is that humans as yet have not learnt that "learning" is the goal and they keep looking for "continuance and status quo" They want to "arrive" and stay there. Change is fought against and along with it learning is avoided. Reorganising one's life with new knowledge every day is painful and disturbing. The focus is on maintaining the wealth conditions that we have acquired and our effort is in creating a great wall against theft from unscrupulous elements which in itself is also a learning process. The only difference is that we are fighting against the current. We could as well use the energy to run with the current and flow of life but then humanity's intelligence level has not arrived at this stage yet though some individuals do achieve this level so it is not an unknown factor. Your objective should be to grow out of this need. Associate with people and programs that help you go further otherwise you will stay stuck at whatever level you have become comfortable at and it does not take long for existence to become painful.

Many philosophers have given many explanations as to how and why some people grow and most are averse to it. How some people show growth and creative potential in all they do while some are stolid and simple -- the salt of the earth by human reckoning. This leads me to presuppose that philosophers have not been entirely right. They failed to see that some spirit elements are already given to each individual in certain proportions and these tendencies give rise to all the stories we hear about. Some very heart-touching and some extremely tragic or sad; even cruel at time. Where did this cruelty come from? This would be a good question to get started.

Involuntary yoga.

Armed with pride, laced with vanity and supported by a strong body we go forth into the world. Life is lived as well as one can. Beating the shit out of the competition is the goal and becoming the king of the anthill seems well worth the only thing. But soon, the body cannot take it anymore. Our ardour cools down. Our pride accepts that it had better take a backseat. Then arrogance also subdues its fervent volume of noise.

Even sooner than the above we are surrounded by medicine bottles and stuck to the armchair near a fire. We think back of the good we did. We are sad at the ingratitude shown to us and how easily we are forgotten.

This is yoga in action in Nature. This is contemplation but nobody ever taught us that we are or were the architect of our own situation. While pushing through life did we ever question what we are doing here; why and wherefore of the events that happened that put us here.....That we are not alone?

Anyway the contemplation part is the cumulating peak of our life. And this is what we need to remember. The greatest benefit comes from also mixing it up with gratitude for all that we were given and all the kindness that was shown to us. This is the aim of giving life to humans but this is one point that is rarely grasped. Mother Nature couldn't care. She has eternity in front of Her. We need to be a little more careful and circumspect. In essence our lifetime is a very slow process of yoga.

If we do this... this life becomes a Blessing and we have really gained from it.

The quality of life that we create for us and around us is exclusively dependent on our attitude. What do want? Wealth? The "wealth" you are aiming for requires certain conditions to be fulfilled to reach you. Do you know them or do you underfst6and this fact?

If you are looking for a simple, "just enough" existence, a little minor readjustment will get you whatever you need. But if you are looking for a greater share, then a more precise complicated action will be required. A greater control over your emotions and thinking, along with self-control will be necessary.

Let me begin by giving an example: When shooting a ball into a football net there is a huge space to aim at so often you have some leeway but when playing billiards, a small deviance of 1 tenth of a millimeter and you miss the pocket.

A point very difficult to make to the general mass of humanity because they simply refuse to use their minds as a tool.

Another example of this fact is their approach to illness. Illness is treated as an attack by a foreign body. Nobody sees it as part and parcel of our living style, our thoughts and the emotional world we are swimming in. This funny dual, double personality is showing in all facets of life: In the use of the motorcar, phone, synthetic food and electricity - no one wants to escape their entrapment by using less but the focus is on making more of it "safely".

PS: This is how they make their reality. This is how they get duped and cheated and then go about crying with long tears how the world is bad, callous and horrible. They will do everything except use their imagination to improve things. For those who do, they say that "Oh they are so creative, so brilliant, so special, so lucky" and go back to their grumbling:

Secretly in the deep hidden corners, somewhere in some remote corner of the subconscious, show me one person who already does not think that he is a "fine" example of humanity. But we do see ourselves as quite presentable and "No-less-than-anyone" and are in this world more to prove it than learn and grow. Quite a huge number of people simply do not like it when I say this. They would like to be seen as people striving to improve and excel; they claim that is always first on their minds. I totally beg to disagree. Our lives are a utilitarian mix of pragmatic need and many labels. This is more than enough to make a good living. Once we are making ends meet we are happy. We are happier when we are given titles that show case our superiority. And along with titles there are many other items that help to frame-up our persona. Certain Diplomas, Certificates, Designations in jobs and such, all these counts.

Growth -- whatever for? I am not the only one saying it.

"Titles--another artificiality--are a part of clothing. They and the [clothes] conceal the wearer's inferiority and make him seem great and a wonder, when at bottom there is nothing remarkable about him."

- "The Czar's Soliloquy" #MarkTwain

The situation to me looks more like a stagnant pool where no attempt to go beyond oneself exists because obviously one does not see any need.

It would mean that they are content to be whatever they are, have become and consider themselves good enough. Which supports my point.

Do you notice any sense of pride in them? If yes then there is not much left to say otherwise.

We may not show it but we do enjoy the feeling of being superior when we see others in difficulties. Internally they compare and there is glee at the discomfiture of others. All our relationships are basically an ego thing finally. If to raise our own esteem others have to be pulled/pushed down then so be it.

A little lying is also in order and a little exaggeration and rewriting the facts is commonplace. It is called being honest and starts with the phrase "To be honest...."

Humans will first be humans. This means that they are Mother Nature's creatures. The high point of human character right now is stupidity, low IQ and arrogance. And how we support each other to create a sociable and superficially peaceful coexistence. All the Philosophy and Religions will not change that. You can foist whatever you want on them and most will obligingly accept and show a lot of fervor and pride of being one of you.

BUT they will be human first and humans with their limited memories, limited needs and limited understanding of the world around them will never come out of this morass. Their immediate need is to pass the next 24 hours in the society that they are living in the most socially acceptable way. Being appreciated, being seen as successful, being seen as exclusive is what they are looking for.

The Burden of Knowledge. What is worth knowing, believing, adopting, "The Truth" or simply a burden? A whole world lives on instinctive knowledge. Every specie has its range of knowledge that it passes on to its siblings and the world goes on. The body of knowledge is not very large but it is enough to help it live thru the life span it. Only the human creature has a mind that collects information for information sake and often ends up confused and lost with too much nonsense along with knowledge that is in essence negative and if used will engender negativity and harmful episodes. The serious question that has plagued humanity has always been this big question mark "What is really worth keeping and adopting?

This is a very difficult question to resolve. I suppose the answer would depend on what we need. I wish to be a shopkeeper so what all do I need to know to be a good one? I want to be a cobbler and what I foresee is a life in a small corner "shop" and the skill. Should I bother myself with how my language is enough to interact with my customers, how and what dress will get me more customers, how the lighting in the shop will result in better jobs done or my posture and how it will affect my health in the long run? Every individual would have different list to complete so that the max benefit can be obtained from whatever we do and choose adopt as lifestyle. At his stage things are still simple. But then as we grow up we realize that "cheating and insincerity" is part and parcel of human life. So we need to know how it is going about manifesting. First we need the knowledge to protect our interests. Then soon we see the entire world is so scared that being truthful in this world where no one really trust anyone, it is not an easy path to tread. Shall we practice it too? This question opens another box. The good, the bad and the ugly. So much is at play. So at what level is knowledge good and helpful and till what stage of existence ignorance keeps our minds unperturbed. Shall we know more and more and try to be on top all the time? Or shall we know only that much as and when it is required. When we really need the knowledge as and when the crisis descends on us, will it be too late to learn for rather glaringly all learning needs time. Or shall we just cleverly bumble thru it with hope and prayers?

There is really no answer. But one thing I have learnt: Information should be collected and applied. Then alone it is of value. Filling the mind with facts and figures and information that does not pertain to our lives is very confusing and actually keeps us from achieving our goals by making us doubt. We normally live by habit. We don't always think and act.

We have been lobotomised with Artificial Intelligence.

In the last 70 years we have coddled humanity with labor-saving gadgetry and conveniences adding to the luxury of getting everything on a silver platter. Things have become increasingly worse from the hunter's point of view. Now all we need to do is press buttons or simply "speak" and things get done.

Only one thing remains: We all now have a genie at our fingertips who is constantly murmuring in our ears "What does my master want now?"

People have only gratification on their minds.

Emotions have been eroded out of our beings.

Thinking has becomes superfluous.

Activity to reach goals have no meaning.

How do we play out our lives!

Let me etch out a picture. Here is a home. A big comfortable home made with great care and customized to the last nail to bring amalgamation between your physical needs and the needs of the spirit. This is cocoon where you are COMFORTABLE and AT EASE. This is your castle and hide-out.

The rest of your life is dealt with as you behave and approach the delivery-boy. You expect him, you wait for him. You need the product he brings BUT you do not want to have any relationship with him: not even a casual one. Once the product is in your hands you actually wish him gone.

This is exactly how people, goods and spiritually speaking how good thoughts new Thought patterns are received. Meet them and let them be.

Our lives are not big enough to accommodate any of them.

Our show of camaraderie is only as long as the words are flowing about. After that it is back to square one into our castle homes.

This funny idea of stuffing the mind and call it learning.

Right from day one we are stuffing the fresh minds with data of some kind or the other. And we are content to see our children repeat it as good monkeys. Our entire schooling program is something based on this style of functioning.

The teachers and parents and society in general, not one is open to a new thought pattern. We end up creating adults who are totally engulfed into the idea that their life work is to impress by showing off what they have and exposing their thought patterns in such a way their personas shine thru and the light bulb shining behind them is like a mild 0.5 watt bulb but the halo they create around them is huge in their minds and understandably all others around them praising them. Sadly we see it happening all around us and we all miss the point that our prejudices about ourselves block us into flowering fully.

The words Tradition & Religion have a very deep insidious influence on the human psyche which is controlled in the external manifestation by the rudimentary mind.

Now the mind is kind of "petty". Its sole reason for existence is to collect and save. All its thoughts, material products come in this range. Its first goal is to be appreciated and works all its life to make sure its human is acting by the rules so it can be appreciated. The second goal is misappropriation and it will find all the reasons to blame others, accuse others and justify its own actions.

In all this a dedicated group comes in handy. The Traditions and Religions and common beliefs serve this purpose well.

The mind changes by necessity and traditions and religions remove this requirement from our lives. It is so much more comfortable to be petty, iconoclast!

Things change when the mind shifts into the Intuitive mind where things are seen as they are in a large panoramic sense without the human mind analysing, factoring in and putting things together but this for the time being is not given to most of the populace.

Dealing with energy.

I have a question: Are you a spiritual intellectual wherein you have read much, know all the factors, teachings and logicalities and explain and rationalise + argue till kingdom come and discuss things bare?

Then to me it would mean that your consciousness is focussed on the "Physical"; meaning that the person is still a monkey in the natural state of things, has little empathy or sense of responsibility and acknowledgement of the present tied to the past and future we have people who look only at the "pleasurable" moments and live in the moment like unattached, heartless souls. The ego is playing for all it is worth and enjoying some of the skirmishes it wins. All know that these useless talks mean nothing in the end.

This is an example of selfish, mindless living that the human animal is prone to.

Everyone for himself. Nature will take its course. Suffering that will come from this behaviour will do its part of teaching its lesson.

From the karmic angle it is all to the good.

OR

You are really into conscious practice of looking at your subconscious patterns, instinctive egoistic reactions and trying consciously to change the negative patterns into positive ones by quietening and regulating the active natural mind as acquired by birth thru self-awareness and strict discipline imposed on your habits.

When reading/hearing something that hits you between the eyes it means that your soul has responded to it. Immediately stop whatever you are doing and meditate upon it. Write it down and look at it every day for the next few months as and when you can. Slowly it will become part of your thinking process for your guidance and take you a lot further on your path than anything would ever have. Our thoughts are powerful. We become what we think. Ancient wisdom upholds that "man is just like a container, it becomes whatever it contains." It's crucial for us all to cultivate a sense of awareness to distinguish what is good from bad, so that we can keep our "inner world" clean and clear.

I am noticing a two way development that does not augur much as good for humanity.

We adopted an education protocol that starts with 10 or so subjects that over the years keep on getting reduced to one with the idea of producing a "professional" WORKER. Note my use of the word worker. This is exactly reducing the common man into a slave-driven network where after years of wasting time you find yourself at a very loose end with no capability to take life on as it comes.

It is coming out to be that we are reducing our personas to fit in small frames so that we can work our way thru this life in relative contentment with simple to follow lines and not much thinking. This is how the elite wants it. And we the idiots that we are, we are helping them wholesale to make this a reality. And they keep reducing the openings for the poor semi-literate populace by bringing in automation so that the population is left gasping for favors in the form of bread crumbs;' totally at the mercy of the few who control the finances and everything else thru force. This note by Alan V. Schmukler: "Developments in nano and other technologies, along with A.I., are moving at an unrelenting pace. They appear to be rapidly replacing the natural world with a synthetic one... one that may be beyond our control..."

This will lead to total overtaking of the minds and lives of people. People will be lead about like vegetables on leashes. What is needed that that people should realize what is happening and must make the effort of being good at a lot of things. Why can't a man be a good carpenter, photographer, chef, designer or teacher -- all in one? Why restrict oneself to a specialty and then look down upon others as lesser mortals while you yourself are dying of hunger because you are unemployable, in the real world the rest of the crowd of chefs, carpenters, cobblers chauffeurs are making a good living? WE must learn to live lives for ourselves, content with less ego involved in showing off. This will not allow the elitist forces to overpower us, the common man. ..... Nicol R.

This really makes you stop and think. Just because we can build something more powerful doesn't always mean we should. Progress without reflection risks losing the very humanity it's meant to serve. I'm all for innovation --- as long as ethics and empathy evolve alongside it.

Pradeep Maheshwari

agree

Yes there has to be a sense of responsibility in every decision. We are going for bigger, faster, more imposing and such but for what and to arrive where?

DOING GOOD DOES NO GOOD.

Helping others remain weak is not doing a favor. It amounts to playing with their destiny. Let them learn and suffer for their action's consequences.

"In a situation that has left many questioning conventional notions of merit, a full-stack developer recently shared his experience of being laid off while a colleague, whose mistakes he repeatedly corrected, received a promotion. The incident, recounted in a Reddit post, highlights the often opaque dynamics of office politics and workplace recognition."

Humanity has done itself a disservice by basing guidelines of good, bad and ugly on certain apparent sensations-based criterias that do not have real basis in real life. These thought patterns have taken such deep roots in human behavior that they are treated as NATURAL LAWS.

We have allowed our natural sixth sense to die out by evolving only at the 5 senses level of superficial reckoning. Otherwise our true soul that can see into the other's soul would tell us where we are being played. We are deluded by our thinking and we live thru life in a delusory state. A lot of wishful thinking makes all so unreal but we believe in it and get hurt.

Most of our real life is "lived" in hiding....behind closed doors. We are afraid to show what our hearts and minds yearn for.

We talk of kindness and compassion but have evolved a social structure in which there is no place for these feelings. What we base our judgments upon are facial expressions and acted out attitudes and certain body language gestures. This has permitted charlatans to perfect "FOOLING" to a high degree. Example: Wooing a lady. The Casanova personality knows every trick. Try them out. Ladies fall for it every time. (Now here I must clarify. This works because the recipient is mentally accepting the superficial image created. The lady believes that the particular gestures truly mean it and so falls into the trap. Think of all the ladies that are promised marriage and left with child!).

Getting people to perform on promises outside the official norm tempts mostly everyone. Their own pride at being selected as an important worker pulls them into the vortex. Works every time along with its attendant depression but we believe it every time and life just keeps on going on..

Why doesn't everybody learn this or are taught this early so that they can be saved from cheating and charades?

Today with greater study and knowledge of psychology we understand it all. Why are we afraid to change and do the right thing by looking beyond the obvious?

We are totally living in cages of moral codes without understanding basic psychology. Helping somebody in distress is good. Helping somebody by white lies may also be good. Saving somebody who is bent on self-harm is courageous. Moral principles everywhere. Judgments all over the place about everything. Criticizing has become a game. Feeling superior by following what the crowd wants to see is greatness and gets approbation.

It is this attitude that has given rise to simple-minded stories of comic characters like Superman and Batman.

I wouldn't bother about others in principle as good manners dictate but these OTHERS do make up our world and my own world is affected by it all. So I am confronted with a reality that I have to live with under duress. This is what makes me question things and life. The others are included due to this and not because I am interested in them.

There is no criticism of others but there is definitely a critical analysis.

At the same we have to look at the situation from the angle of personal life vs social togetherness. Why is it not right to bring the subject up? Does that make me impolite and unkind? Why would we so careful to not offend anyone?

Continuing with this question I would also ask why we should not question existence. If others are in it then why are we so insistent as being seen as the "NICE" person? Isn't this something like inverted pride that we wish to be seen in a favorable way and this we do by cutting ourselves off from reality and our Soul by hiding under the bushel?

Definitely there is a responsibility to our own life and if we go into it with sincerity, we will need to overlook every other angle.

Then to end the discussion this point can be added......Perhaps our rant may open their eyes to something else!!! And if our sharing of our notes helps even one in a million to become aware of other things in this world wouldn't this be considered as "Kindness"?????

... though let me be clear; KINDNESS does not mean thinking for others, making the others weak by doing everything for them, ......be kind, don't hurt their feelings but don't become their crutch.

Jeff Juraska

Understand this. If nothing else. Please.

PK.....

How?

How does one understand a deep occult truth as this one when one is totally drowned in the sea of evil insincerity?

It is like asking someone to look into his backside. How?

Where is the tool that can show our insincerity?

This requires meditation and a sincere look at ourselves like what jealous thoughts are we harboring.... what tricky plans we are putting into operation....what manipulative words we are using......what we are hiding while projecting an image for public consumption...what we are not telling 0r/and what we ARE telling????

A few words thrown out into the atmosphere are not going to anything and if your aim is to show off your saintly side, there is then insincerity involved anyway.

Humans are actually very pragmatic and to the point.

We are all so busy showing off superficially what we are supposed to be seen as.

We hide our insincere and mediocre self behind these appearances.

Life mostly is one big charade and Greek drama (you know the kind in the ancient style with masks).

You can't see what you're not looking for.

There is power in this sentence.

This is why education and schooling is important. Schooling is not to educate you but to sow seeds in your mind to explore further. Schooling gives you enough basic information to make you start wondering about the world in general

In absence of this schooling you have just lived out your life without evening aware of most things.

The curriculum of schools has been hijacked by the low brows as the final collection of knowledge to live by. This is how the human mind reduces everything to a useless cipher and makes it meaningless because essentially it is lazy, tamasic and wants to remain in control by not letting you attain a broader perspective.

An awakened person shifts the mind to a larger, broader, kinder generous consciousness and then "The Goddess of PETTINESS" loses control.

This goddess won't let you run away so easily!

There is very little to be afraid here. Most people are not looking to be awakened. Some may pay heed to words as it would tickle them but they would soon forget them as soon as they are reminded by their habits about their next smoke or next cup of coffee or their next drink or embrace or meal. The rulers are afraid of the rabble rousers. Now these people use words from philosophers to twist them into slogans that show the rulers in bad light usually aiming to prove that the rulers are hurting the people. And this is done for personal advancement as every penny worth person wants to be a leader too and he certainly would like to bring in change to suit him.

There is enough evil in everyone to become evil if they are so inclined to be and people who see themselves as entitled and deprived of their entitlements normally do take this turn. The rulers have their hands full on this score. Often good leaders doing a good job are not allowed to. And this is a worry.

So ... now, how to harness thoughts to create enough energy to experience some perks of thinking with momentum

Adjusting to another's whims and lack of appreciation and trying to woo and manipulate another while at the same time being tied down and being manipulated ..... all these though slowly.... all lead one to greater opening of the idiot mind towards the doorway of wisdom.

Marriages are made occultly as balancing acts between two occult extremes. This is a natural fact of nature -- not my conjecture. Although seen as "bad irritating impositions" these are great relationships and momentum to spiritual self-examination and if used sensibly are a great way to advance speedily towards greater widening and depth of perception into higher consciousness.

At the worldly level it is difficult and even hurtful but we always tend to choose the most spiritually demanding mate. Lucky for this undercurrent in our lives. I can speak and tell about my life. I was attracted to the female form but the person was never enticing. The fussy attention seeking selfishness of youth put me off and my intellectual self-control would put them off. After having flirted often I understood the vibes in play and then "CHOSE" my marriage condition purposely through my knowledge of numerology and spiritual destiny. I married at the age of 46 when I felt ready.

So it is really all good. I would not have grown spiritually without the pride annihilating & self-examining conditions that I have had to go thru.

Do write a book if so inclined but first take feedback on your ability to express well in the language you are going to write; making it a learning process too.

For life is a learning process and we should aim to excel in whatever we undertake to do. Inspiration should come from your life and the turbulence it meets. Not some AI prompt.

Some destined program brought us here on earth and so let us make the most of it by having just one thought: I will do and I will do it so I am satisfied that I did the best that my abilities can be stretched to. I hope you will write about ways and means to improve upon things. Not just another thesis on what is wrong.

Blame games can never result in anything good. These games are designed to destroy whatever is. The EGO is given undue importance. This game is played by people in authority; that is given to them by circumstances and human laws. But there is this other side of the coin too. There is always some basis of truth in the allegations that are then exaggerated, magnified, distorted and added upon.

Now this is the problem. Not only this, people who wish to impose themselves always focus on the errors and play the game to the hilt. They think they are being clever without realising that by destroying a good thing or person they are hurting themselves and their relationships + and their world around them; here I would say they really don't care much for relationships. It is fun and games for them and they enjoy seeing others piqued.

When our own sense of "respect" coupled with an insecure sense of standing is very high we are inordinately sensitive to proving that we are somebody and that in comparison others do not always come up to the level of cultural heights that we have arrived.

Pure psychology but this is how we are. There is this inflection in all we say in which a little bite is enveloped to show how the other is inept.

On deeper observation I notice that it is quite prevalent in our society. The lack of maturity and kindness shows. We really need to become kinder in every meaning of the word.

Oh yes this is a simple and absolute truth. I have seen it in myself. The praise is remembered. The sentence keeps on repeating itself in the head. The conscious mind is fully aware that it was an exaggeration. The praise was perhaps merited but not to the extent it was blown up. But it was so near the truth that we were expecting that others would see. It did help my self-esteem even when I knew that I should not give it any importance. I just couldn't stop liking it.

What I don't understand what is so frightening to these women that they will quarrel and raise a hue and cry WHEN THEIR MEN RETURN HOME LATE? They ARE returning. Aren't they? Isn't this the important thing? Possessiveness can be stretched too far. How can anyone in marriage ask for obedience under duress? How can you demand devotion and exclusive admiration while you make no effort to remain attractive or lovable? Funny logistics if you ask me. And this may result in the very act that they are so afraid of.

No one really offers their soul and asking for soul crushing devotion (specially jobwise) is rather a sad reflection of narcissism and over expectation from life. They ask too much for what is on offer.

Being grateful for the good that happens is good.

But forcefully seeing good in everything may be counterproductive and intuitively misleading. Philosophically everything is in its place and the outcome will be the best under the circumstances but the average human does not have the wisdom to see this.

"Don't believe your thoughts.

'I am the body' is a thought. 'I am the mind' is a thought. 'I am the doer' is a thought. Worry is only a thought. Fear is only a thought. Death is only a thought.

When all thoughts are stilled, Pure Consciousness remains over. To bring about peace means to be free from thoughts and to abide as Pure Consciousness. The thoughts change but not you. Let go the passing thoughts and hold on to the unchanging Self."

~ Ramana Maharshi

Pradeep Maheshwari For the average guy this is a concept virtually impossible to grasp.

All teachers have had this problem of having to find ways and means to explain this to students.

I have not been able to make even a minor dent in anyone's mind ever. ( I may not be talented enough, I admit)

Teachers keep on repeating it.

The students keep on creating new thought-walls.

Finally I learnt to just laugh and join them in their game.

• People who look inwards and take up the way of self-discovery, by following certain philosophies and sects or study on their own and experience "understanding" of the way this Cosmos works somehow also create a rather specific image of the accepted image of a seer which separates them.

But why?

The idea should be to become master of the life you lead. Your mastery over this life should, IF AT ALL, in the way you move, handle exigencies, react and the words you use to convey your attitude. Otherwise you should be one of the crowd.

What one should aim for is:

• The poise of an aristocrat,

• The analytical powers of the scientist,

• The confidence of the warrior,

• The grace of the athlete,

• The communicability of the actor,

• The charm of the romantic,

• The ruthlessness of the businessman,

• The language ability of the professor,

• The prowess of the mechanic,

• The perfection of the engineer,

Technically an ordinary person but on top of it all.

People are not using their heads. They go by advertising. Somehow people believe readily all advertising. I have noticed that only those products that are heavily advertised with simple "copy" twisted to show benefits, finally sell. The trick is in who can advertise most and how cleverly the copy matter is made to relate to some benefit.

People are not only gullible but are waiting for the next cheat to come along. The fault is in the human persona wanting a lot for the least effort put in.

The business of tanning was a fashion statement for people from the colder regions who could travel down to the Riviera for some sun. On returning home their tan was an indicator or their "rich" status and all that they could "leisurely" afford. So first going down to the Riveria around Nice in France became the fashion. And for all those who could not, the Tanning lamp became important and "the Must Thing". Today all that is remembered is that a tan shows wealth. It is the fashion. It is something that has lost all meaning.

But with a little twist to the words the advertisers have been able to make the gullible understand that tanning beds replicate the sun. And they have been laughing to the bank ever since.

......and life goes on.

Trust no one, nothing.

Wait for the next ball. Specially the curved one.

Enjoy the game.

When will the people rise and stop this:

Schemes after schemes, products after products, misinformation at the medical level, it has been coming since the last few decades. The media spreads it like wildfire and then soon enough the nefarious aspects of the same also start proving themselves and come out in the open, not to be hidden although they do try to cover it up as long as they can. Harmful products under the clearance of scientific research (proven to be manufactured in many cases) have been foisted on humanity.

People can at least do some thinking of their own. But fashion dictates take center stage.

This is my point.

Humanity ignores malevolence when judging itself: this is an error. In its manifested form on earth, the Divine spirit is neatly and deeply hidden under layers of ego-centricity, brainless mumble, the subconscious and the instinctive running of the planet by Mother Earth.

Humanity is giving itself airs and misleading itself so it can continue with its idiotic stance.

Its love for its own "Dukkha" (as the Zen people would say) is superimposing itself on everything.

Given the choice of instant heaven vs their Dukkha, not one will opt for leaving life for heaven.

Just look how we bring up our children:

We don't want courageous progressive thinking individuals; we want submissive idiots who will dance to our tunes. And we keep on the onslaught even in later years by shaming them, criticizing their efforts and also using the method of reverse psychology to control their reactions to get them to care for us and run around us for our gain.

The adults perpetuate their miseries, talk of god and greatness but make sure that pettiness prevails on Earth.

"This has to be done this way" - is a death sentence to the child in us. In the name of tradition, custom and laws all spontaneity is bashed out of the spirit.

Right from day 1 the lives of children are regulated and instructions piled on them. All spontaneity is systematically killed. They are frightened, coerced and educated in a way that suits the parents and society in which they move. How can humans flower as individual thinkers in these conditions?

Yet life in its basic character is a process of opening up to greater acuity in perception. Mother Nature neither gives rights nor is kind. And even so we cannot forget that malevolence is a thing and exists.

But behind our minds is hovering the ever sensitive ego - better term being amour-propre.

When hurt comes from a "person" the resentment is personal and it hurts more because we expect "appreciation" from other humans. It is the expectation of a smooth and wishful life that makes us weak and depressed at the tiniest spill.

How far do you think?

Ever consider the fact that humans minds work within and think within usually a Time frame-work? Your mind is thinking in terms of years, days or hours.

Take the daily wage earner. His entire thinking is based on his day and at best the next day. His life conditions, requirements make it so. He is not interested in anything more.

The office goer thinks mostly a few days ahead. But only a little more as dictated by the needs of his "official" requirements. And being in the middle-class mould, he thinks in terms of monthly requirements as planned by his family needs and plans mostly only for a few months ahead at best.

The senior executives think a little more ahead in terms of the bottom-line and their range of thoughts too are wider in scope.

It is only the philosopher and the sage who think in terms of eternal bliss and eternity.

With age and time as our life contracts, so does our thinking pattern.

Talking/thinking we all accept that we think with words. Did we ever wonder how we use the words?

Every word has 3 levels (broadly speaking) in which way it is grasped and understood and interpreted. First is the intellectual level. This is more at the dictionary level and as used in literature. The second is at the middle class level more in tune with semi educated people who know it but use it in specific places only as per the fashion dictates of the "period". This keeps changing quite fast.

The third level is by those who have picked up the word by hearsay and don't really understand it but assume what it means and use it without really understanding it.

A good example to show-case how the human mind works will be seen in the use of the words "SUGAR-FREE". The word sugar was well imprinted on human minds. This the labs found created weight gain in humans. The PGI Pharma and The food Industry quickly caught on the imperceptible fact that for humans the word Sugar means all things sweet and this the doctors are saying is not good. So they played the game of giving them a product that could be called Sugar-free without ever bringing in the word SWEETner into the game. The humans did not use their minds to see the shift. They fell for the word sugar-free to feel safe from weight gain and all the medical repercussions as medically announced about sugar. Now everything called sugarfree is accepted. Not one human ever sees that sugarfree does not mean SWEETNER FREE because everything they are consuming is "sweet" and more so than before. So what is the product making it all sweet? If the humans had any self-interest and their thinking had been really analytical and research based they would have asked this question but no, not one in a 1000 did and the industry is making hay ever since. The health of the humans is affected but this does not show as a specific symptom that can be directly related to it so everyone is happy; including the medical fraternity who have new and wonderful diseases to play with and profit from.

I saw today in the papers, a young actress clarifying that she does not use Botox.

I wonder who are we to accuse her of anything. What we know of her is what we have seen on the screen and what we know about her is what we have read or heard thru the media. She is not a real person for us or connected to us in our lives in any way.

Our preoccupation with the needless, useless and unreal is fascinating.

The world is so busy achieving its objectives that often it misses everything including its objectives. Death and lack of view makes everything disappear. Our consciousness is hanging in mid-air while the breeze of time flurries along and we find ourselves neither here nor there.

To enjoy the lingering perfume of the flower you have to stop, smell and linger too. The world exists in such opposing vibrations. The Universe is relaxed unhurried but man is anything but. The clash of purpose resounds all over and every now then we have the clangs of swords and the boom of cannons adding to the conundrum.

We are identifying ourselves with figures that we know only thru the Media. We are obsessed by this side of life. Why and whatever for?

To me it seems an escapist venture where we keep ourselves occupied with non-essential important happenings because the media is flooded with it and we wish to be seen "WITH IT". The fault is with us that we are allowing the digital world to flood our existence with trivia, time consuming nonsense. It is a perfect excuse to avoid all those things that ARE our real responsibilities for lack of time.

Our focus on IMAGES has made our own lives mere projected images.

Most of us are basically unlovable for the simple reason that we are too self-centred.

What we want is APPRECIATION. Our idea of LOVE is basically that we love all those who ADMIRE us.

Our method of judging this is based on the compliments received, the services and considerations bestowed upon us; the special status feeling of exclusivity granted us.

It is a vanity boosting exercise.

We are asking to be seduced. Sex is an exercise that we all want now and then and what could be better than do it with somebody who thinks the world of us?

Social conditioning is also behind this concept of love and marriage etc and there is always a thought of the give and take behind it all.

Pure love simply cannot be at the human level of consciousness and never was.

This is the plain and simple truth of life on this earth. But humans would have nothing to do with it because this elemental defects in the human make-up: Our need to "Conquer" and become king even it be of the ant-hill. Even street urchins have always a leader among them who teaches them and guides them to go steal, trick life into providing them with necessities - well at least there is a purpose here to feed themselves. But soon this grows into gang warfare.

Humans just love war.

See the astounding state of our human psychology. Man and woman get into the married state and end up quarreling and more often than not the platform of LOVE on which the relationship started evaporates and soon warring begins.

See what the archeologists are digging up as history. One thing boggles the mind. The amount of effort and natural resources that have gone into wars and killing. (What has war ever achieved? )

And the other side that my mind cannot encompass is this fact that people want kings and let them do and follow them and kill for them.

My mind shuts down when I try to work these questions out.

This quote by Peter Bromberg suggests that while avoiding difficult conversations might offer temporary relief from discomfort, we may only delay the inevitable clash if egos and wills that we are afraid of . When we avoid difficult issues and fail to bring up them up in time we are actually giving it tacit acceptance. This amounts to a lie that we are nurturing. It ultimately leads to more significant, long-lasting problems or "dysfunction." In essence, it advocates for addressing issues head-on, even if it's challenging, to prevent them from escalating and causing greater harm in the long run.

Though tact should be always considered and wordings of offending subjects has to be modulated to cause the least ego-damage by avoiding to raise the hackles up.

We are born to be forgotten. It starts happening in the lifetime itself. How many of the 90 billion who died in the last years are remembered?

Our job is to live. LIVE without fear of being wrong or right. Just live to experience. Seek change and new activities. LEARN.

Live a life that is satisfying - not mortifying. Widening of the consciousness is the goal.

We are old souls but not ready 100%. Come on be reasonable.

Would you be under the impression that it happens on the press of a button? You are rather over-influenced by the press-button culture of today. Had you been in the habit of sitting quietly and wondering in silence, the question "How did I become an old soul?" would have occurred to you.

It has taken many lives of learning, trials and tribulations to be called an old soul and now it is showing. The time has now come to cross over and finish the journey.

Don't worry your head; this is my last trip (hopefully). I'll leave this world for you to enjoy. I won't take anything with me. I bequeath every single grain of sand on earth to you. Trust me!!!

Yes I admit.

I have lived carelessly, childishly and foolishly.

I have annoyed and disturbed a lot of people.

I took whatever was given to and rarely was able to repay.

But still I managed to scrape thru the same years as you.

And I am a burden to no one yet.

When I go over the rainbow I shall be missed and remembered with the same intensity as you -- meaning very little.

The world will bumble along with the same panache as it will without any of you.

My name will be as much in the history books as most of you.

So forget me. Get along with your lives and make the most of the time given to you.

Play with your children. Keep your loved ones engaged and content.

The world will take care of itself.........

The Author. feedback: s164gk1@yahoo.com