Eptesicus

EPTESICUS

"The shadows betray you when you try to adapt to the darkness, embrace the darkness and become a shadow of your own self."

In the physical world there exists a constant reflection of each one of us; one, that follows us whenever there is light. This doppelgänger of ours represents the darker half of ours which, sometimes, outruns our mortal form and forces us to face and reconcile the most deeper secrets and desires which otherwise, we wouldn't. The darkness always lurks where there is light to give us the grand illusion that only darkness is absolute. 

Like the delicate high-pitched and goosebumps-inducing icy notes of a piano, life begins in tenderness. Being at the center of attention of others in close proximity inflicts the notion of self-righteousness and over-appreciation where all that the little one says is correct, by logic or by the powers of water and sound- moist sounds. As the being continues to grow, the circles increase in number, where once was the black and white of "I love this" and "I hate this", now intercalates a grey region of "I sometimes love/hate this" depicting the increasing complexity or inability of ourselves to distinguish and define things in absolutes. This added grey region forces the two absolutes further apart from each other which leads to a decrease in the radius of "I love this", which usually is still somehow restricted with the little being's isolated serene self or with some few close members and over time, this circle will be renamed as the inner circle in which the members are free to share themselves without any judgement. Over time this inner circle too will fall prey to the increasing list of inabilities of one to rise and face the consequences of ones actions, thus forcing the eviction of certain members from this elite group.

When one is confronted with things that aren't in his/her control, something greater than simple act of yelling or fighting the mortal physical illusions but a more deeper, sinister battle of wits in which the ultimate loser is the self itself manifests and the wounds gained after far outweigh the ones achieved during this confrontation as the scars, being the constant reminder they are, fail the bearer to  forget ones own actions and toll the bells for future rematch. Every act, no matter how significant or miniscule, has a consequence which presents itself during times when we are at our weakest. In a way, the shadows exist to keep us in check when we feel the blazing sun looking down on us, trying to intimidate from two dimensions while melting our very self. The shadows follow us when gleam and glory is in front of us, it is during these days of heightened glory that our deeds feed our shadows. The same shadows block our paths when people behind us radiate or when our path, was glorious.

Perception is the fundamental problem associated with shadow for it is always changing to suit our taste, as opposed to the subject. It is a mere image projected by tweaks in our circle and should the demons be intimidating, we can always change the direction towards one where we may find redemption, solace and salvation. The movement of any living entity in the world is motivated by two things, either towards something that is benefiting or away from something detrimental and it ultimately comes our judgement to decide whether we choose to embrace the glorious future or the darker past. The present is meaningful because only it has the power to learn from the past and dictate a future that is fitting for the being. Like a dog chasing cars, some acts that may seem mundane to others may be of paramount importance to some and may finally guide people towards their better self that is more conscious, confident and most importantly- is at peace with its past where the shadows do not bother him/her anymore.

The shadows intimidate those who deliberately fail to acknowledge or make peace with the evils of their pasts which, in hindsight is a blessing in disguise. The ones that are unaffected by the shadows or the dark are the ones to be looked upon as they hide their sorrows and grief in plain sight which, due to the lack of light, aren't obvious to others.  It is the strength of life to always look at what is ahead of us, which is why we walk towards what we see and leave the world- only this time we watch the high skies above and not the grounds below, for it is, the circle of life.

“Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”  Haruki Murakami

Reunited

REUNITED

"He, who commands our lives is the one who suffers the most from our uncertain outbursts." 

We all need a break from ourselves. The constant longing for a long-overdue vacation from the vagaries of the world. A form of escapism from the constant bickering and the unlawful laughter of the maniacs that both- unite and divide the world, our world. Funny word, world is; it can mean one of the nine, sorry eight, planets or a single person pretending to be an entire planet. Much like the planets, a single-man's world consist of the oceans, the mountains, the grounds and the skies with mother nature being the true nature of the man's inner sanctum. There is the comforting warmth of the sun that provides the necessary energy to work as well as to melt away all the dreadful hopes and fears. Then there's the moon providing ample guiding light to the place where we can finally rest and wait for the sun to rise again. The clock turns and forces the calendar to change and-cycle repeats and we are all caught in a loop in such a horrendous workaday-schedule. 

The chirping birds on a bright summer morning welcome us to an amusing day. Sometimes the clouds of rain unexpectedly turn up scaring the birds who crawl to the nearest tree for shelter. The sweet poetic irony of life is when we run away from the problems that we are responsible for forces us to run towards home whereas, the spontaneous natural problems drive us away from  home. The ominous thunder send chills down the spine of the little bird-lings. There is nothing to be done except wait the passing of the storm. Storms bring separation that lead to isolation accompanied by numbness leading to stupefaction and the ultimate tears leading to more tears. It is the tears that linger the most for they are the result of their own cause and solution. Everything leading to a tear also ends in a tear. The word 'tears of joy' is a clever and a glorified example of how we enjoy being fooled by the semantics. Tears of joy are same as tears of sorrow for the former are a result of us accepting the fact that the situation would never arise again and the latter is us condemning why such a situation arose in the first place. One deals with why things began as they did and the other with why it ended as it did. Either way, it is only in the middle of such situations that we find ourselves to be crying. We never enjoy our own birth or demise but the momentary illusion of consciousness that passes in the blink of an eye. Maybe we should blink our eyes alternately so we are caught in the loop forever. Nevertheless, we neither enjoy the birth of something nor its end. It is the middle part, where we find ourselves in the eye of the storm that we actually make our contribution- crying. Perhaps this is why it rains during the storms. Once, the storm passes the damage inflicted by it is looked upon. The sudden exposure light after days of darkness may lead to blindness or some permanent damage to the vision in the long-term. This was just a story of one tiny corner in one part  in one of the worlds. Imagine different weathers in different parts of the world at once and  multiply it with the number of worlds a person has. 

Where once it was barren now is fertile, when once it rained now its in draught- that is the beauty of weather and climate in the world. However, the core principles- water being wet, fire being hot and the winds being seductive- hold true for they are the core values preserved deep within the inner sanctum. Only when there is an alchemy among things of opposite nature- that disaster strikes! Every disaster leads to the creation of something spectacular. But no matter how much we try, the day must end in night and the night must end in day. It is almost if mother nature wants us to always remember that the morally opposites always attract while the identical-s are always inert. The two thrive and yearn, simply to be reunited.

"If you go back to your home town or you're reunited with school friends, its always slightly bittersweet because as much as there's nice things in terms of seeing them again, the town has changed without you, and you're no longer a part of it." - Edgar Wright

Something Just Like This

SOMETHING JUST LIKE THIS

"Set your eyes on something far greater than you can fathom and watch yourself being consumed by the realms of suffering and torture- to reinvent yourself." - Arpit Shukla

One of the joys of being a child is to have bare minimum prerequisite for friendship. Being on the same porch or sharing similar affection towards something is only thing that they require. As the age dons upon them, they get stuck upon the requirements part of a friendship and thus, find it difficult to make new friends with ease. And then, comes a momentary speck where they see the remnants of their unfulfilled wishes in the eyes of those miniature drooling creatures. We earn only the things we yearn for. And as we come upon those who possess such a thing, a feeling of extreme resentment thunders upon us. A cute example of this could be an action figure of a superhero in the hands on a dear stranger, as witnessed by the child.

Jealousy is the walking stick of success while resentment are its shoes. Both help a person to remain grounded during his quest for greatness. Used wisely, the results can outdo expectations. There is an element of overconfidence but that's a different topic unto it. Of course, some grown men wish for things far greater than the superheroes they grew up with. The insatiable thirst for greatness and perfection is a tool for torture of such tormented souls. The feeling of self-depreciation is not as dangerous as it is when compounded with the sense of over-appreciation of others. 

To be the center of attention of something great is what fuels the desires of men. Whether it is with wearing a mask or being crude in their full glory- depends on them. Success of course, isn't an overnight stroke of genius. It takes a plethora of dominoes of to-do tasks, while avoiding the empty voids of negativity that true success is achieved. It isn't as much about knocking down the pieces of steps-of-achievement as it is about surviving the fall in those voids. Thus, it requires constant attention and motivation to cross the domino river. I often convince myself by setting or rather resetting my desires to better tune-in with my current state. Simply put, once you set a goal for yourself and once you achieve it- set another goal, a much difficult one. It is only when you are drenched with your own sweat that a gym workout can be considered successful. More importantly, it is the ability to be consistent in what you do that defines you and weaves a part of you in the vast canvas of the universe. Obviously, it would still be a dot but that particular spatial coordinates will belong exclusively to you.

Satisfaction is the elixir of any desire. Whether it comes after  or before glory is subjective. But it is what drives our abilities and our wit in achieving the goal. And once something is achieved, another domino river awaits him. It is the urge to outperform oneself that greatness is achieved. The thought of being someone larger-than-self act as turbo boosters for the new level of the game. It is in this moment, of sheer brutal rampage of true yearning that we ask ourselves for something just like this.

"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal- a commitment to excellence- that will enable you to attain the success you seek." - Mario Andretti

Before Dawn

BEFORE DAWN

“Some nights are made for torture, or reflection, or the savoring of loneliness.” - Poppy Brite

The night is an amazing alchemist, it's the drug that relieves us of all pain. The night ends with a person closing the eyes, blackening of the world. The night belongs to the poets, the artists, the passionate ones, even the murderers. The day belongs to the workers- the producers, night to the inventors. The fire in their minds eclipse the darkness of the night. A faint sound of a vacuum consumes the mind and elicits a response. All evil, fears and dangers lurk in the minds of the men(humans) at night. Technically, dawn is the 'first appearance of daylight' but as is the case with all words-it has many underlying meanings.

People return home after a day's work, all drained and tired. They need to 'unwind' i.e. a way in which the spent energy could be regained. Energy, as we know, can neither be created nor can it be destroyed. Therefore it is only logical to spent the energy prudently. A person always diverges towards sleep, into the hush of the night, the harmonizing of the conscious and the subconscious. This is where-'night' comes into action. The apparently soulless world acts as a perfect catalyst. All that a person needs to know is , to close the eyes. Glimpses of the day-gone-by flashes in front of the closed ocular. If a graph could be plot, this shall be the period of latency- the low bar. The brain then emphasizes upon a crucial aspect of the day that might have left its mark, this is the peak. The thoughts linger upon this particular 'scene', as I put it. The scene could be joyous or sorrowful. It persists for quite an amount of time. Some people are so disturbed by it that they wake up sweating bullets.

The silence of the night dons various sentiments. It toys with the involuntary mind in a way that it dictates the following day. Our defenses weaken just before we are about to enter the wonderland. Perhaps, a way of the nature Force, to finally make us come to terms with ourselves rather than running away from it all. The paralysis removes the resistance that we may pose, to hinder the penultimate meeting with ourselves. We dream of what we want to do, either by lucid dreaming or by quilting the subconscious with our desires. Be it a dream to sing, to dance, to invent, to innovate etc., it always begins with a dream. As the flashes of both worlds- the days-gone-by and the day-to-come, come into contact with each other, a feature film is produced. The actors are those we came across, the days-gone-by, the director is the brain, the day-to-come. And during the entire phenomenon, we lose the power to refuse to sit through a painful story. Maybe because it is based on true story, in the brutally truest manner. The truth can be a powerful weapon, of choice, that can burden the wings of a bird and make it lose its gift of flying or. It can also be strong pharos of hope. Whichever it may be, for a limited time it disconnects the wires of the brain that connects it with the realms of reality. Add to this recipe, a pinch of creativity and imagination and the film en routes to a blockbuster. The current scenario of a franchise development is a mirror to our subconscious. When you know what makes you happy, you want to achieve that high, repeatedly. 

That said about dreams, let us digress towards the nightmares. The nightmares are the involuntary, the indispensable fears that project themselves when we are at our weakest. They are capable of breaking a person's reasoning, if not dealt with. It always results from the feelings of anxiety, fatigue. We are born runners, as toddlers as well as adults. We tend to run away from the things that question our authority, our importance and even our existence. As dangerous as it might sound, it can be dealt with. The potency of our mind is not restricted by our spurious notion of 'always being in control'. Consciously we might rush away from the monsters of our minds but, at night we understand the fragility of a living being- loneliness. The world we created, the one we want to live in, is governed by the bulk that surrounds itself by the cranial fortress. As we finally face the reality, the imaginative monsters; we panic. Thus, hypertension, dilation of the blood vessels and shortness of breaths follow. That's the maximum exercise one can get while lying down, like a vegetable, only living. The society of bones and tissues then becomes, a mere biosphere for the millions of the microorganisms inhabiting it. Suspiciously, the word 'lie' is a double entendre. We can also lie lying down and also lie down and lie. One can lie all day or lie all day. Depending on the intention of the user, it can be a double-edged sword. 

As we transit from one REM cycle to the next, we have an interval in-between. No one truly knows what the brain plans for the next screening, but it shall undoubtedly be important. The deepest desires, the scariest of fears manifest themselves while we remain supine for hours. The night truly holds the secrets of the men for it witnesses the veracious human being, in all their wildness. The men, who change their behavior with the change of their inhabitant dominion, akin to the turning of the night into the day. The two different sides of the coin is what makes a coin worthy, provides it with identity. We are who we are, and who we want to be; we require only to be aware of the truer self, if not- it shall be revealed to us right before dawn. 

“Let every dawn of morning be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close.” - John Ruskin

Praying With Anger

PRAYING WITH ANGER

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured." - Mark  Twain

Human being is a fascinating creation, especially the naughty mind inside the solid dome. The resident of the skull is blessed with a lot of arrogance, it never wants to feel sub-par. So when things go according to the King-dome(pun intended), it literally believes itself to be the King. It rubbishes the claims of existence of any higher authority, which is otherwise, felt by the others. Some well taught children obey their peers and not only do they believe in the higher authority, they even look up to it and believe of them as their well-wisher companion. They grow on to be the highly content of the beings. The agnostics, on the other hand, spend their lives under stress, of questioning anything & everything. Give a dark alley to a believer and a non-believer to cross and see the results. The non-believer always has a few doubts but, the confident non-believer shall outperform the believer because s/he analyzes the situation before acting. The believer, no matter the senses or analyses, shall cross it with the faith s/he possess. 

We all lead dual lives, one which we are conscious of and the one which we are submissive of. Sometimes, we make something work that we weren't expected to and, we let others believe that we can do a lot more. The ability to notice such abilities is appreciable, to appreciate them is even more so. It is wise to be well informed and well acquainted with one's capabilities, but such wise men lack the element of surprise, that is to surprise themselves and others. Perhaps the wise do not believe in the power of a surprise, or maybe they do and intentionally refrain from it. Whatever the case be, to the outside world, a person always carries with him/her- a bag full of expectations. Consider this, a barely an-year old infant can count backwards from 10 to 1 in under 30 seconds. When the parents find out about it they, naturally, get ecstatic and motivate the child to do more. Motivation can be a strong thing, for the uninitiated. It acts as a driving force, to use that extra ounce of energy and put it to a constructive use. This might lead to either; the person becoming stronger, mentally, or the person losing all hope, should one fail to produce the expected outcome. Expectations lead to the impossible, to make them un-impossible. There seldom exists any emotion, feeling which one experiences when, accomplishing the goal set for the self. The heart leaps higher, and the self confidence increases. The person then, enters the illusion of being a paramount. The feeling of being invincible takes over, add to it the swift constructing ego and you have the ideal self. Interestingly, the Star Wars villains are addressed as the "Supreme" leader/commander. And like those villains, unrealistic, over-ambitious, over-possessive expectations do not end well for the expect-ator. Achievements leads to great expectation and we usually end up expecting from others what we failed to achieve.

Whether it is looking in the mirror after a sweaty workout, in hopes of finding a newly swollen nerve or a beefed muscle; or getting ready for an occasion to match every crease of the cloth with the accessories, whenever we meet someone, we have an inherent set of expectations associated with it, specifically the person. In the mirror analogy, we are the person we are about to meet- a mirror image, quite literally. Sometimes, things don't always go according to the plan, do they? This is the part where one of mans most primal emotions comes into play - ANGER. Anger possesses quite a quanta of energy, usually directed towards self-/destructive activities. Men burn in rage, viz. the higher form of anger, and it takes a toll on them; both- physically & mentally. The mind is like a stagnant water river flowing with a constant flow but even rivers can turn rogue! Anger can be elicited by virtually anything. The suffocating/suppressed feeling of not being able to express, being dwarfed by another being or even a meager taunt which lacks the innocent panache that accompanied it during its deliverance. People burn in fury, they get consumed by the energy that a fire brings with it. Suddenly, we have the bizarre version of a once perfectly sane person. Unless we understand the root cause of this temporal change in the person, it should be considered a felony to talk about the superficiality of it. 

It is during the darkest of times when the beacon of hope lights the brightest. The empirical, instinctive calling that any person has, during the hours of distress, is that of Praying. There is always an abstract or another human or a philosophy that every person holds high above everything else, the faith in it is what compels a person to look up to it during testing times. While praying is pristine, it is more about the self than the abstract. When we pray, we face the facts as they are. Ergo, in a way, we are consoling ourselves of the dire situation and, are asking for a divine intervention to escape the conscious realms of the world. What goes around, comes around with the added angular momentum and terminal velocity- especially when in the direction of gravity. Some famous religions believe that every human being holds the key to the answers to mysteries of the universe and that, it is the consciousness of the person that burdens the knowledge and replaces it with shallow information. Admitting to pray does not label a person to be an orthodox. Rather, it is a way of learning more about the self, in all its wildness. But when we do share our worries with the One, who are we talking to at that time? It is us. Extending this cynical logic, we are asking for help to ourselves, who led us to the situation that, made us look and ask for help. If you represent the last line in a diagrammatic form, you'd reach a 0. And this, 0, is what is the truth of life. Everything is cyclical, even change. And nothing is a permanent as change.

Ultimately, it turns out that, knowing the self is what life is all about. Some call it a journey, others say it's a voyage. Whichever you might abide by, just peek outside for a view from the voyager before praying as even; praying with anger has some great expectations associated with it.

"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed." - Alexander Pope

The Theory Of Everything

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

"Everyone is self centered, its just the radius that varies." - House, M.D.


With the first ever quote from a fictional character in any of my posts, I start a post that I hope can prove to be my humble quintessence to those that actually absorb what I write. At some point in our lives we came across the most fundamental question of all, how did it all began on Earth, in the Universe? What was the Zero Hour on Earth like? What or Who am I? et cetera. Whether we choose to feed our curiosity with facts and theories is in the volition of the person himself. I'd been looking up some of the fascinating textual creations that enabled me to look for the answers in the right direction- the Scientific one. As a man of science, it's been instinctive to me to get things known by the means of logic and science.

I'd like to start the discussion with the most controversial, as well as the most popular facet of Space Science- the Black Hole. To understand the Black Hole, we must acknowledge the process of turning of a Star into a Black Hole. Amusingly we talk about Peace in the world, the harmony amongst the living and somehow we've linked 'death' with being 'at peace'. Hell, we even have a prestigious award on Peace, quite Nobel. It begins when the fuel that power the stars, runs out. The formation of Black Hole begins with the death of a Star, the Supernova phenomenon. The Star explodes & as a result the heavier atoms fall into the core of the star. Imagine a 1x1 cm piece of anything, say Iron. Now, add to it the weight of about a thousand blue whales. That's how dense the core of the star becomes after Supernova. This core is now, the Black Hole.

The universe as we know it, is bound by 4 dimensions, the space-time; x,y,z Cartesian coordinates, Time. The Black Hole has the ability to bind this space-time. We've heard/seen or surprisingly for some, read about the phenomenon of bending of light around such a gigantic Black Hole. Talk about the cyclic 'beginning of the end and the end in the beginning' paradox. No, that statement wasn't a tongue twister. It's just the way of life as it is, break something to create something. Fissions on the Sun yield the energy necessary for the Fusion of Hydrogen atom. Nothing can escape the Black Hole, similar to how a child behaves in a candy store. Matter does not have parents to drag the other matters away from the overwhelming gravity, hence the parents join their kids in a journey towards the other side of darkness- literally. The first thing this family will encounter will be of the Event Horizon, nothing can help bring them back beyond this point. Like jumping in the Niagara Falls won't provide one with an opportunity to return mid-air. However, it shall not affect the observer on the outside. Passing through the Event Horizon, the family of atoms shall now visualise and experience their Spaghettification (Noodle effect). As appetizing as it may seem, it is an event where they experience the distortion of spacetime. Any matter/object shall be stretched and ripped apart due to the strong gravitational pull. This is what the Star experienced. Eventually, they reach the Singularity point. This is the point, the core of the Black Hole.

Modifying the previously stated example, now imagine the weight of a thousand blue whales in 1x1 mm piece of matter, except that there is no Cartesian space dimension here. No shape, no size, no dimension of this core with infinite density. Some scientists have till now proposed this Singularity as the starting point of the Big Bang. Such a violent beginning to a life that pleads global peace, spectacular. There are always a bunch of kids, people that choose to not follow the straight path. This luxury of Choice comes in handy as it led to the discovery of the phenomena of Hawking Radiation. As our family decided to go in for a picnic, their relatives thought otherwise and decided to go about in the opposite direction. These rebellious virtual particles appear and disappear almost immediately. They do not undergo the Event Horizon. This has been speculated as, the particles emitted from the Black Hole. Since I've used the word Black Hole so many times, rebellious as we are, we speculate the existence of the White Holes. Simply put, White Holes exist and are the exact opposite of Black Holes. To complicate it, White Holes exist at the Singularity- core of Black Hole, and replicate the events of Event Horizons at the opposite end. Hence beyond the Event Horizon, while nothing can escape out of the Black Hole; nothing can enter inside the White Hole. No single unit in the universe is capable of emitting massive energies so, Black Holes must emit this energy somewhere- the White Hole. There exists rotating mammoth Black Holes in our own galaxy, that has resulted in the creation of the Gravitational Waves across the planets and celestial objects in it. The gravitational force that we experience on Earth is a result of such chaotic(if by Chance) or contrived(if by Choice). I guess wherever we go, the Choice and Chance paradox never leaves us alone. Talk about harmony, at such a cosmic pinnacle!

The point of this somewhat-scientific post is to create curiosity, draw parallels to what we experience in life. There exist a myriad of metaphors in nature. For example, people usually dwell on their past a lot. They're usually advised to 'move-on' with their lives. Gravitational time dilation is an another interesting concept, the time slows down at the points with higher gravity as the ticking hand of the clock has more opposing force. Now, whatever we see is due to the reflection of the sunlight on that particular bunch of matter, hence, if I'm looking at someone right now- it is due to the travelling of the light from quite some time ago with the integral gravitation phenomena. Now take another example, the shadow. The light travels from the Sun, through the space and the gravitational pull back to us- but is stopped short by no other entity than us. We stop the light to pass through and thus the shadow is created. The deeds of our present shall once become our past and in turn affect out future. We are present, the light is from the past and the shadow is in the future. But as the gravitational wave has gifted the heavenly objects to revolve and rotate, it makes sure that the spotlight does not always fall back on the same person. After all, change is the only constant.

In todays time, we often confuse knowledge with information. Wikipedia or Google provides us with the information that the fire is hot, knowing not to put your hand in one is knowledge. The genetic material passed along to the offspring is mere information. So what about the information that went inside the Black Hole? Drifting back to the science of information, let us now go through the Black Hole Information Paradox. Imagine you writing something important and tearing it apart. These shreds of paper now lie on your desk. The paradox dictates that the information carried on that piece of paper still exists, though in a different and an interrupted puzzle form. What happens when we attend a lecture? We listen to the orator, and once the concept is understood, we move on and forget the other discussions that took place in the lecture. However, the information is passed on to a group of students, not a single student shall have the memory to remember the exact information- the way it was passed. So where does the paradox lie? The paradox lies in the retrieval of this information. How can we put together the minute pieces of the grand puzzle that hold the key to Everything in the universe? Surely, the One created quite the Magnum Opus to not be easily accessible to the un-awakened. How can an information passed on and resting in the Singularity where no coordinates exist, be converted into the mortal and humble world of ours? An explanation was given by the magnificent String Theory. To summarise it in one sentence, every particle, atom in the universe is believed to resemble the string. When you hit this string, it simultaneously exists in many dimensions at once. Sadly and aptly, this hasn't yet been proven. The other one involves a series of complex algorithms for the amplification of this information similar to those used for the conversion of 2D information into a 3D hologram. And we thought Star Wars was just another means of entertainment!

We use our 5 basic senses in addition to over 18 senses to pick and analyse this information as signals. Man is supposed to be a spiritual being that should thrive to understand the very processes that led to the existence of the humble and a bit narcissistic self. We are all trying to achieve peace, the penultimate peace shall not be anything less than answer, 'How did it all began?' Of course there can't be a single answer to the question but, wouldn't it be better to have many answers and a few questions? Probably not. We need a constant migration towards perfection. Perfection can be achieved only when we know everything that the 'perfect' thing needs. Answering the very existential questions can be a step ahead in this direction. Ultimately what that answer we get can be either of Chance or Choice, and the same shall determine what we believe as The Theory of Everything.


"Not only does God play dice, but... he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen." - Stephen Hawking

Where We Are Going

WHERE WE ARE GOING

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” -  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Change is a phenomenon that includes the conversion of anything into something. Paradoxical notion suggests that nothing is as permanent as change, surely. By this, even change must change. A seed germinates into a specific plant/tree. The change is brought upon by several factors. These factors can be anything materialistic to abstract. Again, in keeping with the tradition of my previous posts I've to bring in the 'mind' factor. The factors for bring about the change are guided by the conscious thought process of ours, based on the final outcome. When we let the ends justify the means, we let ourselves to be indifferent to the methods. Every time we leave home or the then-current coordinates, we create a nonentity. This void had since been occupied by our destination.

Amusing how the Golden Ratio set an epitome of the perfect symmetry in things around us, and us, and yet, science dictates that the world is a result of an imbalance in nature between the matter and the antimatter. Boldly put, science suggests that there isn't a proper balance between the two. Both have equal magnitude of potential yet have been directed against each other, leading to the destruction of both. Now, it seems what we lack here is the direct relation between balance and symmetry. Balance is the equal distribution of two things, symmetry means the exact reflection of the other half when an equally dividing plane is passed. It has been mentioned at length in some highly metaphoric texts that; to lead a peaceful life, there must be harmony among the various emotions in us. Without this the life becomes chaos and exists as noise in the universe. So is our existence, the very cosmos or the extragalactic nebula- a noise? The matter would have destroyed the antimatter in its due course so, how is it that the universe exists? Was this imbalance pre-planned, if so then by what/whom? There are always more questions than the answers. What we forgot to consider here are the factors. The distance, time between the matter and the antimatter. It maybe probable that the antimatter might be approaching our matter-istic world. By the way, I find it funny that 'matter' and 'material' appear and sound so similar, they look cute with the suffix 'istic'. They even share the same symmetry, 3/4 letters on either side. Maybe when we believe that the 'matter' is 'real', we call it a 'material', cutting down a little repetitive 't'. I wish I could cut some 't's in the previous statement. Of course, our perception of 'real' is subjective to change- rial; no, not the Arabic currency. Such subtle hints inspire us to form the homophonic and familiar homo words, tell us about the gravity of the actual phenomena.

We tend to maintain harmony between what we effectively see/observe/feel and the expression we use for it. So when we are leaving some- thing/place/one, we use the word that signifies the creation of a nonentity. Similarly, when we are reaching some- place/thing/one, we want to signify completion. So in a way, our final destination is always from being rudimentary to being absolute. The notion of 'perfection', that any specified creation of ours must be self sufficient. To achieve this perfection, we begin our journey. But then again, to know what is complete we must be well acquainted with what is incomplete. This is why there's competition and also where Darwin's Survival of the Fittest holds true. The key to last long in a fight, to keep the head above the water level- survive. Surely it has been glamourized at varying lengths in recent cinematographs; The Dark Knight Rises, Arrow (TV), Lost (TV) etc. An organism shall do anything to survive, even the things it never believed itself to be capable of. Hence, we combine this instinct of survival, with the competition to justify the rotation of the planets. Some call it progress, change; Darwin felt that 'evolution' was the custom-fit term for it. This migration from incomplete to complete can be simply put as the expedition from imperfection to perfection. But there must be a balance. We need the idiots to make ourselves look intelligent. The hunter must have something to hunt. Little do they have an idea that, sometimes the hunted 'improvises' and hunts the hunter. We are ultimately the captives of our minds where the imagination is the only salvation.

We don't have the claws but we improvised and created instruments that could give us an edge over the wild. The jungle law was ultimately defeated and overwhelmed by the civilian law. Whether we believe that it's all, a part of a bigger plan; the nature evolves- one step at a time.

Always, the next step will be other than the ones taken before (that would be deemed cheating). At the same time it'll make sure that the clay remains to remind us of the footsteps we'd taken in the past. To remind us of the number of steps, type of steps (covered/naked legs) etc. we took to reach the paramount position of the present. This ability of nature, its creations to go towards evolution- for the betterment is what I think is responsible for the imbalanced harmony that exists among us.

One can rest assured that the path of sublimation, for redemption & melioration of our current selves and the one that lies beyond the obvious is Where We Are Going.

"Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at the close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light." - Dylan Thomas

The Feast of Starlight

THE FEAST OF STARLIGHT

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light." - Theodore Roethke

It begins when the sun sets into the west, taking away the scorching light from the Earthlings. Darkness lurks, the birds return to their nests and the animals look for shelter. Looking up in the sky, there's a white bulb with a powerful halo around it, farther are the small twinkling bright entities, the stars. There comes a time when the moon shies away and the darkness eventually overwhelms the night. It is at this, the darkest moments that, the starlight guides us just as it guides a ship. The star, in singularity, is just a tiny dot in the canvass of the universe. But united as stars, they're like the diamonds of the universe- adding to it's astounding enormity. 

While all that glitters isn't gold, it sure does catch ones attention. Similarly in life, we have such diamonds- memories. Memories can either be cherish-able or perishable. More than the actual events of the memory, it's the essence of it that really dwells and persists under the umbrella of 'memory'. Being living beings, it is never as simple as one, two .. There's always a complex algorithm behind the actions and thoughts that we have. Memory is just time standing still. Cherish-able are the ones we wish to reoccur, inverse is true for perishable. We choose the memory in the former, it refuses to give a choice in the latter. At every stage in life, we create levels to satisfy ourselves. Ask a child to choose from the toys s/he has and you might probably end up uploading the entire episode on YouTube. Ask the same child the same things, a decade later- somehow the ending of Toy Story 3 comes into my mind. Quite an heart-warming moment, to part from the toys that span the entire childhood. That's the circle of life, everything that has a beginning has an end, The Matrix Revolutions really took it seriously. What was once ours will be of someone else. To stress it a little more, to create space for something- there must be vacuum. A specific time-space occupied by someone must make way for other things. This is how emotion makes use of our memories.

The memories are the 'cookies' of our lives, we pass through the doors that lead to a memory in the making. Emotions are the lightings in the room. The more happier or joyful the event, the brighter is the lighting. Joyful ones are brighter, available in a variety of colours. The warmth can melt the igloo. It's almost like the wondrous world of the famous boy wizard, Harry Potter, where the lamps light up as he walks by. Our emotions too, get affected in the same way. But by extending this cynical logic, the sorrowful events must have darkness, thus being invisible. Hence, we pile the painful experiences as one- dark. While we can spot the things near us, after closing our eyes- this increases the complexity. Imagine, see the objects near you once and close your eyes. What do you see? Able to at least point the location of the object? So this memory, though temporary, has associated itself with space. Coming back to the sorrow, it means that every memory that is now dark- had light on it at some point in time. Reflection of the object due to the light made it possible for us to see things in the first place. It was only until we closed our eyes that the darkness overwhelmed. Not trying to be Socrates but, this could then means that it is the perception of ours that dictates our emotions and thus, the memories. Perceive it as being painful, the first failure will always linger. Smile and deprive the world of a little pain.

Few years back one of the recent cult movies was released, Shutter Island, where the protagonist is shown to have stuck on an inescapable island- no matter the efforts, it can't be conquered. I personally believe that, we all live on our own shutter islands. There's always a place, a person we'd rather go back to at the end of the long day before the goodnight sleep than be alone. And after being on the expressway of our lives, there is always a singular moment or an event or a memory to return to; there's always a place in time, in our own space-time, in the corners of our minds that we'd escape to from the tangible present. Sometimes the present becomes too overwhelming, so much that the consciousness becomes a luxury. And just before the long night- the last goodbye, we experience the greatest flashback of our lifetime, we experience the Feast of Starlight.

"Memory itself is an internal rumour." - George Santayana

What Happens Instead

WHAT HAPPENS INSTEAD

"We never live, we are always in expectation of living." - Voltaire


In the beginning there was just darkness and then a wise form of energy proclaimed, "let there be light'. Let me start this post with a critical thinking point: is there light to conquer darkness or does the darkness overwhelm the light? It is no secret that the universe, in terms of physics, is unbalanced (the matter/anti-matter). So it's a part of life to find balance in unbalanced systems, as is to find order in chaos?

As masses of energy, we too have a particular equilibrium. This is usually when we are saturated with ourselves, the desires equate the accomplishments. Man without desire is one with the universe but on the other hand, one with desire has a lot to thrive for its own survival. Speculate the consequences when 2 such people meet. It shall be something on the outlines of, as the Joker said, 'an unstoppable force meets an immovable object'. Two contrasting backgrounds can be deemed as an opportunity to complement by an optimist and as a call for isolation by a pessimist. During childhood, many of the stories pertaining to greed had glorified the feelings of jealousy. "Why should the next person have something more than me?" Jealousy, thus leads to greed and eventually the reason to be self-less transfigures into a being of a lesser self. Let's consider, arguably, the greatest of all traits responsible for the personality divides: Introversion (I) and Extroversion (E). In a conventional scenario, an extrovert gets the attention of the world but the introvert actually gets most of the respect. Within oneself, both want a piece of either's gains. Nobody wants to lose anything. This wish can be a driving force for the people to work harder, smarter. We wish for a better, easier, simpler tomorrow. This takes us to a paradox; if there is actually a scope of improvement in everything- what is perfection, and when is it achieved? Pondering on such a question is a call for many sacrifices to be made in the future by the self. 

The Yin-Yang portray the good-in-evil and the evil-in-good philosophy. Children are innocent, they cry, dance, sing with all the ecstasy that we can fathom and thus a child considers every person a gentle soul for it thinks that it resonates with its own self.  A lawful judge on the other hand, tries to find the true essence of murkiness in people- the lies, betrayals that one attempts to hide. But at any point in life, all the 'adults' want to relive those uninhibited moments they had as a child. So, the circle of our wishes continue: a child wants to grow up and the grown-ups want their childhood back. A person who is observant and quick to judge can usually rely on his judgement, which may turn out to be true in most cases while the other person who is a believer of perceiving things that s/he thinks are as they are might find itself in a situation, crying out to polish or rather develop h-is/er judgmental skills. Maybe that's why common phrase, "Didn't see that coming." still exists. 

Being one-sided has never benefited anybody, it is always aspired to broaden and indulge into various horizons of life. Too much sweetness can be a cause for throwing up. Factorial experiments can inform us about the significance that a particular factor has upon our actions, the more factors we bring in- greater are the chances of an imbalance amongst its variables. Here comes in the principle of harmony. Let the varying factors be closer to some standard, imaginary criteria. One may not want to be completely inclined towards a particular field while being completely or partially oblivious to the existence of the another. The universe works in a consortia of many factors/variables. Aren't we affected by the day and the night as much as with our sleep? We plan many things, maybe unknowingly, by the influence of the sum of various factors. As we grow up, these factors become integral to our decision making. We yearn and yearn with every passing day for something that we do not have, while so callously we overlook the things that we are in possession of, at that moment. Try to achieve peace and you may find your most precious gift, yet.


I think now I can safely bring this topic to full circle and culminate that- it doesn't matter what happens, what matters the most is What Happens Instead.


"The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations." - Eli Khamarov

Life Piled On Life

LIFE PILED ON LIFE

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." - Ernest Hemingway

A person gets up in the morning, gets ready for work. Works throughout the day, returns. Eats, has some relaxation and ultimately sleeps. During the course of the day we interact with many other supposed fellow human beings and their creations.

The mornings - most vital part of the day.  We are most energized during this time of the day, although, not immediately after waking up. Some of us plan the entire day while doing the daily mundane chores. Leave for work, for some- home is the place of work but the person gets into the mind frame to work, nevertheless. Things sometimes go according to the plan, sometimes they do not. In fact, the incidences of the day is what creates a tentative outline of what the day holds. Run into an argument with someone and there's the shadow of doubt on self's ability for the entire day. Likewise, help some one in need & feel blessed. The ability, efficiency & productivity of our work depends largely on the activities of the morning which is why, offices open up almost during the same time period throughout the globe i.e. ~8 am. Potency of our mind dictates the quality of our work. We meet our colleagues, our superiors and subordinates at the workplace. Not enough chitchat with them in the morning we have, do we. It's because our mind is in a particular 'comfort zone' of its work and within the proximity of it, it really wants to perform well. 

Mind is a funny thing, it has a mind of its own which is pretty egoistic. It never wants to bow down in front of anybody, no matter how just it is. It tries to adjust the facts to fit a theory in which the reasoning of it prevails over all. So when we meet other people as the day progresses, it starts to ease up a little and the comfort zone is then gradually transforming into the casual zone. But there isn't any casual zone during work time, is there? Our human part manifests when we interact with fellow humans, at a human level - the classic paradoxes of empathy & sympathy. The joys and sorrows of others are felt by the brain. A colleague with a bad experience instantly depresses us while a funny incident brings joy- in either case, they knock us off our rhythm. This is all information for the brain to process but as we are humans, the rate of inflow of information is much more than the rate at which it is processed. Think of it as a kid in school who is given many assignments to do but never does it before its needed. We like symmetry in almost all things then why is the 'to-do' and 'done' list not symmetrical? "Tell'em that its human nature?" sang the late King of Pop: Michael Jackson. Coming back to our topic, the information and the brain; as the day progresses the information accumulates in our mind. Here comes in the Conscious, sub-conscious parts of the mind. Notice the tone in which you were complimented or suggested for your work, the not-so-blank eye contacts with someone, the orientation of the materials on your desk or simply-the change in the environment. 

There are a lot of doors in a building or any place with a formal setting. Has it ever happened to you that you enter a room or kitchen and immediately forget the reason of entering there, wondering "why did I come here?". Our brains are programmed in ways, rather we've conditioned them such, that as soon as we enter through a door our mind senses the change in the environment & 'forgets' old information in favour of the new surroundings. Yeah, there's a bit of "Sherlock" in all of us who's constantly judging the surroundings, the things in the background, the temperature fluctuations when someone enters/leaves etc. It's just that as we grow up our observational priorities change. So what to do if you have a really important task at hand but is supposed to be carried in an another room? Simple, just be attentive; repeat the task in your mind as you pass through the door. Focus is yet another answer and reason for almost all our problems. So with every door we enter, equal doors we exit. We always leave with a new information when passing through the doors. 

By the time we leave for home, our head is filled with a huge chunk of information. Every sight is worth a thousand words. Our brain gets exhausted & craves to relax. Exception is when the person has been in complete control of itself during the day and has had the most productive use of it. We reach home as the sun shies away into the west. The animals & birds return to their home and so do we. Home has its own set of information waiting to just seep into our already heavier minds. Then as the darkness engulfs the light, the tired lashes of the eye just give in to the temptation. The conflicts of the mind are then segued into the gentle world of hope & despair. The mind processes the information it gathered and all that it feels immaterial is discarded. The rest? well, ever heard of the word Deja vu, where the mind automatically fabricates the present with our past and tricks us into believing that this is the second time a thing is happening to us.

Liberation comes to those who work towards it. Work smart and not hard, give your brain a much needed peace. Rest, relax and start afresh. Where ever we come across any living being or something created by a living being, it speaks volumes of the creator's intentions. The incredible ability to relate everything we see/experience/hear to ourselves, when we look into any one of the Opus' creations, we look back at ourselves. We are defined by our actions and our actions are defined by our thoughts. This is the life piled on life.


"When you see beyond yourself, you see peace of mind waiting there." - George Harrison 

Hope & Fears

HOPE AND FEARS..

"Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself." - Benjamin Disraeli 

Since childhood, we've all read and heard our share of stories regarding the struggle of mankind, their highs and lows. We've our religious texts filled with such beautiful & encouraging stories. Perhaps, that is one of the reasons they're referred to repeatedly, especially during testing times. Humanity is a fascinating aspect of life - we can/'t be motivated & discouraged fairly easily. It is in such a situation in which a person questions, his/her fighting spirit & something else is lost besides the obvious.

We require little to almost no stimulus to react. The struggle to survive is the biggest one. A person in today's era thrives to survive the day. The sun sets to rise tomorrow- but what happens in between is what is never emphasized upon! Similarly one struggles to balance one's life while facing the world. Every new day brings its share of excitement and a new challenge. There comes a time in life where the person finally gives in to the pressure of the world crashing on it's shoulders. 

To put on a fire we need oxygen, which is obligatory for survival of humans. Isn't that a tad too ironical? Hope is a funny thing, give a person the delusion of hope & watch him dance! S/he'll burn in passion to attain it, at least try to. Men can go to any extent to achieve things that hope bears with it. It is said that any living entity moves against a gradient- towards the pole that benefits the organism. We do what we can with what we have- in the time that we have. In Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead", the aspect of the consequences of shattering ones reasoning skills are discussed at length. Without any order there's chaos & there cannot be order without proper reasoning in a society. With every minute passing, time takes its toll over the persons psyche. Of all the living organisms, human beings are obliged to don different faces in order to survive in the world. Even the shores get vanished with every coming ebb. Hope serves as a pseudo-alternative to aim, it shows what the person wishes to achieve. It fills the spirit with a fire that brings warmth to the body, encourages soul to put in 'that' extra ounce of energy into achieving the goal that hope 'shows' us. 

A candle in the wind cannot fight the gust of wind alone, it needs support just as we do during testing times. And at the end of the day, the spirit that one possessed - subsides. No two war's can be the same. We fear what we do not know & we hope that one day our fear goes away. In an already intermingled world, one of the threads that coincide are those of Hope & Fear. There is a part of us that assumes the worst, probably, that leads to the birth of hope. Not ready to accept the 'worst', we like to think that, "No, what if this were to happen instead." Such 'what if's' serve as messengers to Hope. Balance of probability, when fails us, we like to overpower the balance. Someone correctly said, "Sometime's the way to the top is to grease the pole behind you." Who doesn't want to reach the top, eh? But once at the top, the way ahead is down, usually!

A child has a fear of monsters & other supernatural beings but is full of hope that it's parent's are well enough to protect him/her. As the child grows, the fear changes its course and migrates towards the mortal end of the spectrum, making it afraid of men himself. The color of the lens decides how one sees the world. There dwells an unsure allocation in the mind of the person that dictates the mortality of one's abilities, probably that is how fear enters into one's mind. If we are the captain of our soul then it is us that are responsible for our fears too. Cross a black lane by yourself and describe your thought process to yourself in third person! The eerie-ness, the 'unknown' is what crosses our minds- even for a split second. Fear is usually of the unknown- that we had never encountered, but there is also a flip side to fear. KNOWING- we know that if we burn ourselves it will pain and lead to our own demise, this is the fear! Of course, the fear of pain is greater than the pain itself. But dare I say, fear is also a state of mind. One cannot help but acknowledge the circle of hope and fear. Any one of them brings along with it the other, with a resounding sense of the fragility of our minds. We spend a huge chunk of our energy in anticipating a distant consequence. What we forget is, today is a result of yesterday and that one day, tomorrow will be today. We somehow stretch that future and churn it into today and cry over it- spoiling both: today and tomorrow! Here, it is our choice to be in apathy.

One of the results of Hope or Fear is the aqua tears, that flow down one's cheeks. It is a reflection of the extent to which an intuition of a fore-saken tragedy, that might have been. Agree or disagree, don't deny that there came a point in life (several, actually) when the chips were down & the mind asked to give up (Fear) but it's counterpart opposed and made way for Hope. So as a whole, we can be consensual about one thing, that the power of Hope & Fears can not be undermined - for they are the pillars of my own writings!

I conclude this post with a personal favorite quote, one that served as a catalyst and inspired for me to write.

"Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul and sings a tune without words, and, never stops at all." - Emily Dickinson

Melody: A Peace of Harmony

MELODY

A PEACE OF HARMONY

"Peace is its own reward." - Mahatma Gandhi

Peace & Harmony seem like the two sides of the same coin. Every nation want's "peace" and "harmony", so is the need of other's in the world. 'Tis essential for a prolonged sustainability & development. But recently, I wanted to dig deep into the words, to know what difference lies in the seemingly synonymous & analogous words - or are they?

Peace, to me meant, the ability to remain calm and not account to actions (or words) that may disturb the rhythm of those around me. In the larger picture, peace means not only the ability to control ourselves, but to divert the destructive energy present within us into some sort of a divine or a holistic act. Philanthropy, I believe is a result of men in search of peace. Often it is said that 'Peace is a state of mind'. Challenging it is a double-edged sword. For eg., imagine a bird sitting on a bark of a tree. Now supposedly, the bird is at peace and if we were to throw a stone at it or even clap in front of it, the bird would move or atleast it shall not be able to maintain it's stature. So, the bird is now not at 'peace'? Some people say that when a person dies, s/he is at peace. Now, is death the absolute truth or the absolute answer? Should a person always 'die' in order to achieve peace? Well, for that we need to know a lot about death and I think I shall reserve that discussion for later. Coming back to the core, in totality we can say that the person who is not at 'peace' is 'disturbed'? It is like an arrow with no target. But an arrow must have a target else it might backfire! So, holistically, as we are the vessels of energy- it should mean that in order to channelize our energies constructively we must be able to have an aim, a target for our arrows. To focus on a particular task, physical or mental, we must be at peace. The brain must see what the eye can't. Try looking at the flame of a candle, with a constant stare and a linear thought process. We need a vision and not a sight to achieve. This is a cyclic process as peace brings focus and vice versa. Ancient practices, such as yoga, emphasizes on the relaxation that brings peace. It makes use of the breaths (air) to nullify or evict negative energy. 

"Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay." - Sallust

UNITY IN DIVERSITY:

Harmony is when more than one kind's of beings (even of same species) live together. Sure there's always a conflict when more than two minds meet together, but it is how we deal with those conflicts that define our harmony. People must be in sync with their surrounding beings, other people, animals, birds etc. The great philosophy of 'Don't harm if you can't help' must be taken seriously for establishing harmony. It is one of the best reasons that beings have survived over the course of time. Unity is what binds us, you can't break a bunch with same intensity as you can break an iota of something. The greatest example of harmony is the orchestra. Can we get a soothing tune without harmony? What if one of the instruments play in a tune, different to what is written? The outcome might not be 'peace-ful', I reckon! Another example is driving. In traffic, people from various families, jobs, various places come through to a single road. No matter how their day went thus far, they must be in a good rapport with their surrounding vehicles. Hence, a rhythm is created. The speed, velocity of one vehicle must match that of others. Any change in this rhythm shall lead to an unpleasant accident. So harmony does, save us and help us carry ourselves forward. Unity is that element of a society that can make or break the morals, question the authority for the just and the right cause. And just as focus & peace are a cyclic phenomena; unity & harmony are also cyclic - so much as to being synonymous! Complicating things a little, harmony is when both the eyes look at the same object, ergo - when eyes & the brain are in harmony that we see what we really see! So in simple words, harmony leads to focus which, in turn, leads to peace!

The conclusion of this post must contain the word 'Melody'. Just as the (momentarily) 'peace'ful musicians / instrumentalists play in 'harmony', we get a melody, for a healthy soul / spirit too peace & harmony is necessary. Melody in pure musical sense refers to a specific motif, such as a flute or a piano playing a 'center-tune', more popularly a 'solo'. Musically again, melody is deep while harmony is about being 'one'. Either way, these concepts are created by us so I am sure we can extend it's principle for our well-being. We are, after all, the most selfish of creatures on the planet!

“The limbo of life is like a song, a melody that comes around occasionally but that sticks in your head and never goes away.” - Leigh Hershkovich

The Chimes At Midnight

THE CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." - Bill Vaughan

Often I tend to turn my posts into Self-Improvement distance course, I'd take note to avoid it in this one. When we were in school we were periodically asked if we woke up early in the morning or not. Of the hands raised some woke up as early as 5 o'clock, some as late as 9, what was interesting is that a few of nosey kids too held their cute chubby little hands high just to get noticed by the teacher, cookie times! The day belongs to the workers, the doers. The productivity is its highest in the day than at night.

We tend to overlook the most mundane yet crucial aspects of our lives, a case of misplaced priorities perhaps! Take the famous Sherlock Holmes for example, the man has no extensive super power other than his ability to observe things minutely. The objectivity of the mind is extremely crucial for our decisions and in our day-to-day life. It is important that our heads get proper rest & apt mental exercises to let the 'juices flowing'. Seeing things as they are is a deceptive notion, one which many believe they do yet they do not. Sometimes we widen our fat lips, cluck the thick tongue yet so delicately that the gravity of the words lose their mass.

"There they stand, the innumerable stars, shining in order like a living hymn, written in light." - N.P. Willis 

Getting up early meant sleeping early at night which at that age was quite difficult. Lying down on the bed waiting for sleep to come, the mind is such a fascinating thing that all the novel and grave thoughts popped up in the middle of the night, how did life originate?, why do we think?, what are stars? Curiously enough though, none of the single question was related to money or economics. You close your eyes for 5 minutes and it felt like a blink where all the physical world collapsed and we embarked on a journey to explore the secrets of life, the universe and of course - the Self. What was amazing at night was the serenity that a person experiences, the rush of blood into the head which we neglect so callously. Every breath sounds like a gust of wind, the blinking like a hammer; the only solace was the train of thoughts in the mind. The silence on the same yet estranged streets call out for a different You. Then you hear things that are not even remotely closed to you, with the defences down you wander in the Mind Palace i.e. a mnemonic, a trick widely used by Romans as The Roman Room, The Journey- Method of Loci.  The human mind is most creative at both extremes of the day- morning or night. Night is a little difficult for some as they tend to emphasize more on the day's activities rather than emancipating new ones. Man is the least himself when he talks in his own person, give him a mask and you'll hear the truth! Night needs no mask for the man is himself no matter the situation. Perhaps his mind is a little tired of all the hiding in the day that he makes the night to himself. For some, the night is their Mind Palace. The bed, the streets, the blank wall, the drab sheets and even the person himself is a part of the Mind Palace.

Some are kept awake beyond midnight because the pain of their sorrow is too much to fall asleep, giving them nightmares. For some the night is more colourful than the day, the spectra of the light lies in the eyes of the beholder. Night shows us how wonderfully our earth is well self-lit, under the same yellow-fusion bulb. Some say Night is a sculpture, an institution unto itself. The crazy, innovative ideas come at the most unconventional time and place. As the person goes deep into thinking, unmasking himself while doing so, he tends to see things from a different perspective. The choir in the mind tunes a fine concerto, or a sonata- if you may. The mind transcends time and space, the beauty of the night that even the most astute ones bow down to. The stars themselves tell a story taking the Traveller into the true self, looking for the most basic of questions. Because the mind is less crowded it gives more objective results. The horizon becomes more clearer, those able to look at all the corners of their minds can utilize this to its fullest. Closing the eyes too help elevate the moment. It helps blocking the visual quietness of things around us. For many, night is a blotting paper for their sorrows. All shadows disappear in the dark of the night as one becomes a shadow himself. No sight is more provocative of awe than is the night sky!

We walk through the suburbs in the solitude of the night without thinking that the night pleases us because it suppresses the idle details, just as our memory. These are the precious Mayfly moments -the beauty of whom lasts only to be blinded by the rising sun, a short lived sort of never-existing moments. All the ideas are yours for everyone else is asleep. These are the Chimes at Midnight.!

"The day has eyes, the night has ears." - David Fergusson

Rise

WHY DO WE FALL?..

RISE

"It's when ordinary people rise above expectations and seize the opportunity that milestones truly are reached." - Mike Huckabee

Every legged being on this planet has fallen before learning to walk or run or even stand. Taking a larger picture into account, some of us remain limp even when our hair begin to grey. The world seems lesser organic when the sight of men loses its sheen. It is the touch of color that makes the world beautiful and vibrant while monochrome is always an intense color! No prizes for guessing the title of the cues that inspire this writing.

Throughout life there come two kinds of success, one where you outperform your ownself and another where you outperform others. Both of them have a lot of sugar to digest. Set your eyes on a certain goal so high that your neck cracks by even looking at it. You work hard, harder- your hardest to achieve something magnificent that others can only dream of yet cannot savor it. Leave everything behind; your materialistic things, emotions, your feelings, even yourself if you've to. Pushing to the limits is what a few of us do nowadays, mentally. Then the reaping day comes where you get the result of sowing of your seeds. The result comes out in your favor, the likes of which the people has never witnessed. You rise to the occasion and enjoy the spotlight. The thing about spotlight is that it is never permanent. There's an element of surprise here and that is why the people remain in an awe. The stage awaits the man of the hour with all the glory imaginable. Extraordinary things happening to ordinary people always catches attention. Here you outperform your competitors and are set as an example for the future potential-ists. The person becomes the eyecandy and enjoys h-is/er 2 minutes in the glory. This part is what most people dream about. This part is what makes it 'The Thing' to achieve! Sound the bugle, roll the drums, pour the champagne! There is no feeling close to this. It all seems so heavenly and pristine like every butterfly performs a special piece for you.

Soon, reality calls..

With all the heroics achieved, the person becomes invincible to the others; the untouchable. This is what 'fear' of a god-like person does to other people. Meanwhile the person in glory might brag about, wandering in all h-is/er super-confidence. During the time of test, fear gallops. Fear has a lot of power and mustn't be underestimated, it can prolong the torment in men. The expectations of the people are sky high and the onus is on the person to outdo h-im/er -self. Ground reality calls and mind begins to wander various alleys. Forget outperforming, the person can't even repeat the previous performance. The spotlight dims and the person gets off the stage. The golden chair that once invited the person soon finds him estranged. The whole world turns upside down and it takes a lot of courage and spirit to turn it right side up again. Sinking in the ocean of your own passion, prospects & creations. Dreams turn to nightmares as the real world comes to haunt the very essence that made the person achieve such thing - the Spirit. Cold streets with growling beings make it harder to breathe outside and makes the world a lot more claustrophobic than it actually is. Break a person's back and see how the spirit follows! Hope is the only weapon available, along with Endurance. The person begins to retrospect and can either find emptiness or elements that can bring h-im/er back in the game. The head knows what the body can ever imagine. Take a screwdriver and pick up any wrecked thing you've around you and your mind will do the rest. This is what we call the grand 'Comeback'.

"Listen to the sound of your own voice & you can rise above doubt and judgement." - Nancy Lopez

Start from the scratch with a peace of mind that even the wing beat of a fly could be sensed. We're all but malleable pieces of energy so concentrate on the ground reality. Never aim of outperforming others. Eclipse yourself and you shall find the courage and the determination to transcend to where you belong. Just imagine the fire of your own passion for the thing you aspire to be and dig deep enough that you find your lost Ire. We're ultimately a substance of our own doings and the choices we make over the chances we take. Dedicate every inch of yourself to the work and build a utopia. Run after the peace of mind like a dog chasing cars and watch the success bird come knocking on your door. 

The key to surviving the whole episode is to savor and embrace and analyze the situation correctly, keeping intact its true meaning and essence. One needs to subsume the feeling and be satiated at one point to prevent harm to oneself. Unreal goals are inspiring till a point of getting a person back on feet, to rise that person. The person should never create a forcefield around h-im/er -self to lead a prosperous life. The person must never turn to anti-social events as it is what we do that defines our true character. The beginning of this post was meant to be taken as a story of a whole and not a fragment in itself. Ignition is needed to start a fire but you cannot ignite a fire from fire! It is fascinating how we use hot temperature'd words to signify passion and dedication towards something. It takes a lot to reach the numero uno spot but it takes everything to maintain that spot. Contended people are those who acknowledge the calling of time and graciously step down at the correct moment. The first step to Rise is accepting one's weaknesses and overcoming them without the sense of self-pity. Falling down is a blessing in disguise for everyone as it maintains the level of sanity required for the normal functioning of humans all around. Stumbling down is a virtue full of life and hope, if you look at it!

So why do we fall? Only to Rise again, I guess!

"Limited in his nature, infinite in his desire, man is a fallen god who remembers heaven." - Alphonse de Lamartine