The matchstick struck

DEEP THOUGHT, the supercomputer created by novelist Douglas Adams, got there first, but now the astronomer royal has caught up. Professor Sir Martin Rees is to suggest that “life, the universe and everything” may be no more than a giant computer simulation with humans reduced to bits of software.

~ The Sunday Times - Top scientist asks: is life all just a dream?

I suppose I wasn't too far off when I wondered if this universe could be a product of a man in another dimension striking a match to light his cigarette. The big bang occurs as the match flares up, the universe ages as the man lights his cigarette, and then comes the end of the universe, when the match is lit out.

It may not be too difficult to imagine a possibility where by the Matrix is a reality or the earth being a small lab experiment to see how conscious beings develop in a specific environment. The possibilities are endless.

Imagine a world where every man and woman asked the question about creation, existence, purpose, and other unknowns that surround mankind... Would humanity progress, would civilizations flourish, would there be development? Human beings have been asking these questions for as long as the recorded history goes. There have been thinkers who have tried to address these questions in their own way, with the knowledge that any explanation they present would be incomplete.

And these great men, who pondered through their lifetimes, to realize in the end that they are incapable of finding an answer, created God. The creation of God was the one word answer to all that was unanswerable.

The solution worked marvelously, and had a great many effects most of which, these wise men had never imagined. As the stories surrounding God evolved, wars were waged to establish ideologies. Guidelines for living were chalked out. A new social structure emerged which rewarded those who enforced these guidelines. Thought and perception of being as we know has since been irreversibly altered.

We have come a long way since. We have created science. We have augmented our senses, and expanded the horizon of our perceptions. And yet, our thoughts still tend to run on the established rails.

I long for that day when we can break free ... and think beyond ... wonder why... I wonder...

Music appreciation - Nature or Nurture?

We all love good music. But what is it about music which makes it good? I would guess that we call a piece of music good if it appeals to us in some way or the other. We feel something within us when we listen to it!

We all have our preferences for the type of music we listen to – a set of genres we like more than others. But this often does not stop us form listening to music belonging to other genres. And there are those who listen to almost anything… and I am one of those curious ones.

A couple of days back, I happened to get my hands on Enya’s albums. I have never listened to Celtic or New Age music before, but as I had the tracks play in the background, I naturally grew a preference for these three tracks – Only Time & Orinoco Flow and Adiemus.

I came to realize that my housemate, to whom I had introduced Enya after I found out, had picked out a set of four tracks, which included all three of the above. To my surprise, when I looked up the net, these songs are among people’s favourites of Enya.

Makes me wonder whether human beings have a subconscious sense of picking out good music from the bad regardless of their specific tastes in music!

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

I could never relate to Shakespeare when I was in school. In spite of going through rounds of discussions about the context which his plays outlined, and the states of mind and moods he was portraying were all so alien to me. And came yesterday when it all changed...

Macbeth (V, v, 19) from allshakespeare.com

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.

Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

Looking back, at the monotonous working life that some of us new professionals lead, and the millions of small issues that occupy every inch of room available in our thoughts, this soliloquy came to me out of the blue. Suddenly, I didn't feel so distant from what Shakespeare was trying to say.

Home and work and home and work and weekend and going out and party and laundry and meeting people and paying bills and next week and work and home and ... if you haven't noticed, the vicious cycle keeps repeating itself. Obviously its not so simple... we keep adding bits and pieces here and there to spice things up and cut the monotony, but who are we kidding?

I have asked many like me whether they are happy or content with what they do, or their lifestyle, and the answer has been an indisputable "NO". Why are we not happy?

One of the justifications that I could come up with is that we have been walking the same rails that our ancestors have and their ancestors have... only times have changed. The discomfort with the routine has gained more prominence at this age, since life in general has become more stable and secure. We are walking shadows of the corporate enclosure, an implicit stage on which we perform our duties, and are discarded when we have served our purposes.

There are those who recognize this pattern, and take to the streets, blast bombs to get people's attention, just to take the rage off them. And there are those who take to religion or spirituality and give themselves to god to dissipate their agony. Neither set out to resolve the problem! We keep craving deeply for a purpose to give our insignificant existence its meaning.

I don't know whether it will help to take a step back and look inside ourselves for an answer. We might just find what we truly appreciate doing, an act which gives us true joy and a sense of accomplishment. It might not be possible to do away with the age-old routine - the lifestyle we lead. However, if a means of interlacing our work and this one thing which we are passionate about, there might just come about a possibility of happiness!

Pain

Pain is a concept familiar to all of us regardless of our background, stature or standing. Its almost like a drug, we can't live with or without it. We subconsciously crave it when we don't feel it, and go well out of our way to remedy it when it takes us over.

I came across this interesting article on The Economist : Pain Perception - Sex and drugs, which highlighted some interesting aspects on how men and women perceive pain differently.

...the way men and women experience pain is not only quantitatively different, but qualitatively different...

- The Economist

One thing still stands... men are a lot less vocal about expressing pain (both physical and emotional) than women are. Although it makes understanding men's problem for women a lot more difficult, it might coincide with their lack of expectation of someone being able to relate to their pain!

Sincerity

Surprisingly somehow, I stumbled upon a realization which highlighted the essence of sincerity to me in a whole new way. Sincerity, I find, is one of the most fundamental characteristics of a human being which serves as the foundation for many other positive character traits found in successful people.

Dictionary.com:

sincere

1. Not feigned or affected; genuine: sincere indignation.
2. Being without hypocrisy or pretense; true: a sincere friend.
3. Archaic. Pure; unadulterated.

I would like to define sincere for this article as the act of being passionate about and giving your 100% into whatever you commit into. Being sincere at something entails a commitment into doing it to the best of one's abilities.

Sincerity is an ingredient of commitment, persistence, responsibility, and many more. I therefore deem it essential for someone to be sincere at the very least to be able to commit, persist and be responsible.

I don't know about you... but I'm well on my way on trying to become sincere!

The best path dilema

Life...

Strangely enough, I think a substantial amount of literature has been written on LIFE, yet science, or religion have not been able to come up with a definition to what life is, which satisfies everyone. Me, just another humble insignificant creature on this planet have my own notions of what life...

Life can be a simple graph. It consists of a series of goals we choose to pursue, and a series of paths we choose to reach the goals, and one goal from another and so on...

There is always a shortest path to a goal. Being limited creatures, we don't always know what the shortest paths are, but our instinct is quite strong in approximating the shortest path. Instinctively, we often are aware of the easiest way to get somewhere in life, or to get something done.

What we also realize that the shortest path, or the easiest way, may not be the best path to take. Often in fact, the best path is hard to find, and even harder to follow. The best path though, helps maximize the amount of goodness that comes out of us waking the path.

Being both rational and yet limited beings, we realize that it is not always possible to find, or walk the best path. And hence, we settle for paths, which is best among the once which are apparent, or visible to us at any given time. The more effort we put into finding new paths, the better are the possibilities of finding the best path.

But one has to draw a line ... when to stop looking for the best path! That is the "best path dilemma". If you have an answer...let me know!

Empowerment and the spread of religion

Most religions talk of equality, while almost all social structures contradict that part of whatever religion they follow. There in fact exists a critical link, between religion and the concept of equality, or empowering the weak, and the spread of a religion.

I am not a well read person, neither do I have grave knowledge of religion, and its spread. But there are a few things which I have noted from the different things that I have come across in life. We are all well aware of Christian missionaries, and we are well aware of their contribution to the society all across the globe. But if you take a closer look, you will see a pattern.

The missions, especially charitable missions target the poor and the helpless. They provide for these people, and in return, they accept the faith of the mission. Essentially, all the goodwill is done to lure the weak into conversion. Well, it might seem like a small price to pay for someone who has nothing, but spreading your faith could mean heaven for someone. I believe that there is a CLAUSE in God's contract that if you convert someone, your sins would be washed, and the gates of heaven will open for you.

Basically, you put on a charitable face to get someone to convert, so that you can have a great afterlife! Pretty amazing at it may seem, its more complicated than it sounds.

Generally, the higher order of any society are the benefactors of the social structure. They have in fact used the holy book, or holy authority wisely, to carve out a comfortable spot for themselves, and deprive others of the benefits that they are "entitled to". So, these people would, in their sane minds, never agree to picking up another faith, and possibly giving up their place in the higher order of the society.

So, the missions target the less privileged, and the ones who are deprived of the riches, and of the respect of others. The depravity drives them to accept another religion which promises respect and success to these people.

Slowly, over a period of time, these groups of people are converted, and nurtured. With the brainpower of the mission, masterminding the actions of the newly converted, motivated, empowered, and so called enlightened lot, they assume more and more power in the society they are in. And slowly, seeing the benefits being enjoyed by the ones who converted, the religion spreads up through the ladder of the social hierarchy. (obviously assuming that there are no violent oppositions to the spread, which are more than common!

This line of thought can somewhat shed light on how religions could have been spreading across geographical barriers. I have taken one religion in particular, but I believe the same pattern should follow among the rest.

Have you resolved .... yet?

I am used to living in the shades of grey, like most people out there. I strongly believe in non-determinism, but the concept of "making resolutions" makes me feel that there are still things which end in black and white.

Resolutions

During our course of daily life we make endless resolutions. "...got to quit smoking... gotta sleep earlier ... should pay more attention to the loved ones... ", and we fail to live up to them almost immediately. Let us take a more discrete look at resolutions - the ones you make at the beginning of each year (yes! on the new years eve!).

A general survey shows that the resolutions last on the average of 17 days (as per my friend). Ask yourself how many resolutions have you lived up to in your life? I'd assume that there wouldn't be too many. I am not a very strong willed person, but I have known quite a few, and sometime down the line, they have failed as well.

The reason for this is that we are not absolute, and resolving is innately not in our nature, especially when we resolve an absolute. The more absolute the resolution is, the easier it is to fail to keep up.

The fallacy of "I will not resolve any more"

I must say that not resolving is an absolute fallacy. We live by our promises, our determination, and at the base of each of these, there is a resolution. We just ignore these as resolutions because they are generally insignificant.

Thinking about all these, I realized that the safe way out is not to resolve any more! Sounds simple doesn't it? Well, as I have found, its not. It just absolutely isn't.

We need resolutions to go on with our daily course of life, and it is an integral part of our introspection, of our logic and rationality. Without it, we'd be vagabonds. If we are having a hard time keeping our resolution is because we are not being realistic about our expectations from ourselves.

We can't just say that the grapes are sour because they are impossible to reach. We have to start slow, and target grapes which can be reached with some effort. The more we try, the taller we get, and sometime during the course of our lives, we will be able to reach that grape which we had always thought was impossible to get to.