"Imagination is more important than Knowledge - Einstein" Imagination more important than Knowledge This quote by Albert Einstein is one of the most misunderstood quotes. Yet a more powerful one. But there is a very simple explanation for this. We really do not have to go through deep theorems and examples to understand this and trust me I am no genius than you. So, let's get on with cracking the code to success. We can start with Einstein's equation for success . Remember, his equation is Success = work+ play+ keeping your mouth shut The same thing can be given as  Success = work + imagination/hypothesize/create + silence/mindfulness Now it makes a lot more sense. And it appears that knowledge is not even there in Einstein's success equation. Why? To understand, we need to look at the blooms taxonomy.  Einstein: https://unsplash.com/@harimedia Bloom's taxonomy Bloom's taxonomy is a hierarchical framework originally developed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956. Revised in 2001 it gives a framework to categorise complexity of academic activities from least to the most complex ones. There are six tiers. 2001 version of bloom's taxonomy Remember Understand  Apply  Analyse Evaluate Create. If you would like to know more about the application of these previously I have written about how to use this in textbook reading and thinking. However here I just need to emphasise that the knowledge is just knowing the facts, which is only used in the first two low levels in bloom's taxonomy directly (remember and understand). However the imagination, which is involved in the highest form of cognitive complex tasks in evaluation and creation. So, it seems although it was discovered in 1956 and widely unpopular until recently, Einstein himself had an idea about cognitive hierarchy and why imagination is such an important part of success. Hence he included "playing with ideas" as a component which serves the function of "Evaluation and creation" This is also obvious when we look at the older version of the bloom's taxonomy.  Before 2001 version Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation As you can see, knowledge is just the first step. And synthesis which needs imagination is at the top. But the most important thing to remember is when we try to start to learn at the higher order level, the low level tasks would be easily achieved even effortlessly. A paintbrush Might have more potential than science: https://unsplash.com/@harimedia Example of imagination in action. Consider this article. I have been previously "knowledgeable" about bloom taxonomy and Einstein's quote. However, instead of further reading on these things I started to create my blog post. While doing that I had to go back and read about bloom taxonomy again, where I learned some more things about it. Like 2001 version which replaced older one with actionable "verbs". And nobody even told me to do this and I would not struggle to memorise this information. Simply put I can write an essay on "Cognitive complexity of Adult learning" with examples from Albert Einstein backed up with Bloom's taxonomy. Do you think anyone coming after a one hour lecture on above topics can do that? Not only that, as I was putting my imagination into it I can argue why a manual worker is paid less than a clerk or an engineer. Can you see the link? It depends on the cognitive load of the task. That usage of the imaginative power by adults is so poor that there are only few people actually making use of this. So, do not worry in the next hour when you start to create something, it's not a waste of time. It's far better to imagine than let the mind rot in its own echo chamber . So, how are you going to use this information? I'm curious to know. Do not tell me, I would imagine that!

Watching World at War. So, I started to watch the World at war series on YouTube again. It has been a major source of my WW2 knowledge. I am not sure I particularly enjoy seeing dead humans by the roads while victorious armies casually march down the roads, in black and white reels. Yet, it shows how humans would behave when everyone is in survival mode. Ethics are suppressed by dictators of good and evil. And the modern version of the same human behaviour I have seen on top of Mount Everest when hundreds walk past a dying individual, as nobody dares to gamble with their own lives trying to save another, which is likely to be dead anyway. But that is not the point I am going to make. I am going to show you the less obvious good side of world war 2. To do that I am going to drop down all my prejudices about a war, and look at it as a concept. Do not label me at the end of it, as I am not a supporter of any cruelty or violence to either humans or animals. Let's get to our discussion. WW2: https://unsplash.com/@britishlibrary Benifits of War. The Peace How about the fact that ww2 has halted the progression of population growth. It is likely at least it dragged the population growth a few years back and now we are on a track. We are not talking about direct deaths. Vast majority are indirect due to poverty and famine. Maybe it is not a good argument to start with. As it may be the same reason why we have a surge in population now. The era of peace and prosperity, up until globalisation is another good consequence. To colonial countries, they got the freedom they deserve, while the hard learned lessons of war like bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki reminded us about peace even today. And I can see the true eyewitnesses are perishing one by one, yet due to globalisation I can casually watch ww2 on my smart TV shipped from Korea, with chips from Silicon valley . And I would not trade my comfort with pre pre-smartphone era, no matter what. So how about you? Do you not appreciate that equality, democracy that you experience today is due to international laws put forward during the post ww2 era?  Do you think technology would flourish if we did not have that peaceful gap to think about ourselves critically? As you can see I can write positive aspects of world war. One by one from aviation to development of nuclear energy. And this is not new wisdom either. We take for granted the "world peace". Did you hear the Elon Musk's opinion on this? "Be careful what you wish for" is his advice on this. It's not obvious at first but to have so-called global peace first we might have to campaign to suppress the opposition, dictators and everyone else who do not wish to collaborate. This could mean a ww3. Have we learned anything from the past? So, maybe we might just be ok, trying to keep the current level of peace, and hand over the batton to the future generation to continue this. In Fact the same concept I have discussed over in the article on peace and war , as the peace only prevails due to the war.  Sharks: https://unsplash.com/@bergoglio Reef sharks of great Barrier reef. I am going to stop after giving you one more example from nature to show that war and cruelty, although unacceptable to a moral society, is just a part of nature. And this comes from the great barrier reef. The top predators of this ecosystem are mainly sharks. And due to excessive hunting these reef sharks are now reducing in numbers and this has its own effects in tipping the balance of some parts of coral to extinction. As sharks have been eating larger fish, who in turn eat small grazers. These grazers which remove the parasitic animals in coral are reduced in numbers as shark populations decline. Bottom line is it is complex in nature. Even predators like sharks are necessary, even wars necessary to keep the peace. If we are expecting eternal peace, maybe it will come after an eternal war. So, as we can see, peace is not easy like a great speech by Greta Thumberg. There are things at stake. And these stakes are high.  And I have nothing to do with this as I am just a little grazer in my coral home.

The merchant and the Demon story. Once upon a time there lived a talented merchant. He was literally a jack of all the trades. He knew everything about everything and had travelled from east to west as far as the land extends. And you can consider him the Indiana John of his era. And he knew ancient Mantras to mathematics, and how to combine everything for his advantage. And luck always followed him. He had a beautiful young wife and two kids.  Once he was on a far away land on a mission. He was asked by the local villagers to catch a demon who was troubling them for a long time. He took the challenge as he knew he was the only one who could do it. The demon was a real trickstar. Just like the demon in the Puss in boots he could change its appearance. And the demon disguised itself as a woman. Yet it could not fight with the wise merchant. The merchant knew immediately that this is the demon and with his powerful mantras, made it unconscious. Then he put a chanted nail on the head of the demon trapping it in this female form. Without its powers, the demon became a slave to the merchant. As it was now trapped in the human body, it was harmless like a rabbit. And without any fear the merchant took her to his house. Demon : https://unsplash.com/@rangokonk The demon and Merchant's kind wife Since that day the demon did all the housework. Everything the merchant and his lovely wife asks. Without any delay. And we will skip a few happy years down the line as we are in a hurry to end the story. Even the merchant forgot that it was the scary demon. The killer of a thousand men at his house working day and night. Working like a slave. And one day as he went for a ride to another town for a fortnight, for a business matter. And the demon women took the opportunity. As she was unable to remove the enchanted nail by itself, she took a bath and told the wife of the merchant that she has a headache. And there was a lump on her vertex. And the kind innocent beautiful wife checked her head, and she could feel a lump." Ow. That must be painful. It looks like a nail." And she fell for the trap. The moment she pulled out the nail, the demon sprang into its demonistic form and killed and ate her heart.(I am not sure why demons are fond of eating hearts) He killed two children and ran away. When the merchant came back, his heart sank to the depth of his sea of thoughts. He could not believe what happened. It was his mistake. He shouldn't have trusted the demon. Not for a one minute. He had no choice. He could not bring back the lives of his wife or children. So he started a long journey of hunting down demons, and became a daredevil. Human Form: https://unsplash.com/@kyleclevelandphoto Moral of the story That is the end of the demon story. A folk tale I read a long time ago, from a big book. I could not make anything out of it. It seemed people really read it only for entertainment. But these ancient stories generally give a moral. Maybe it just said "never trust a demon". Or they were meaning bad people when they say demon. But I can give another meaning as this blog is about mindfulness. How about I give my own moral of the story and you give yours? A little bit of lateral thinking will not hurt anyone. I assume the demon to be a human consciousness . With the ability to change the form from a Saint to demon. A powerful energy, with the ability to do harm and good equally. And the merchant can be the wisdom. And the nail can be mindfulness, while merchant's wife represent desire. With powerful wisdom, and mindfulness nail, we can trap a demon of mind and make use of it for the greater good of humans. But we have to be very very careful as at any moment if we let desire to be alone with demon and let our mindfulness guard down, demons can spring back to life and do harm.  So what do you make out of this story?

Have you ever been inside an echo chamber? A small, room would not do. For that matter even in an Auditorium they try to avoid echoing of sounds by making the walls rough. However, in a large empty room with roughly flat walls, echos are inevitable. Sometimes you might find echo in most unexpected places like an abandoned quarry, often by suprise. Echo chamber: https://unsplash.com/@timmossholder I can remember, in my childhood, I often would face this unexpected phenomenon, in an empty hall. A regular abandoned school building was there next to our house, and when spoken inside this the sound would echo. It was, a short distance, yet we could hear the echo. Just the other day I realised how much echo chamber is a representation of my own mind. Now, after reading about information sphere and prisoners of mind , I am sure anyone interested in mindfulness would understand the following analogy. Echo chamber of mind. Often when we compare our minds we would imagine a chamber. Like a one in a prison. It is a good analogy. Yet not complete. You have to combine it with an echo chamber. And what echos in the chamber of the mind are not sounds but thoughts. Often it is your own thoughts about past and future. I can see this happenning again and again, from morning till night, I see the thoughts echo. Sometimes I get tired of hearing of them. You may wonder, that is not completely true. Of course it is not a complete picture, but you have to agree it is close enough one. We can add more detail. Imagine someone outside the echo chamber, would not hear what you echo in your own mind. Yet, they are able to reach you inside right? It is like the walls of your mind are sound proof. Although you can hear own echos nobody can, and it seems the walls of this echo chamber is one way gate for sounds, pictures and everything else. All the six senses have their own gates to inside, but with one way valves. The wall: https://unsplash.com/@timmossholder One way Echo chamber of mind. Now this is more closer approximation. Consider what is happenning. Sounds and views will enter your brain, and echo through the walls and the CPU in your brain would recognise these echos. And during so called living, so many things have entered our echo chamber, and it seem they echos, till we die. But some echos are short lived, the ones you do not recognise and amplify with further thoughts would die, in matter of minutes. Others will slowly fade. Some echos would combine with others to created auto amplified echos. Although we assume echos are our own creations, they are really not. If you permenently close the doors for half an hour, which is impossible task to do, echos will eventually fade away and you will recognise the inherent nothingness of the self. It is not the sound of Silence . There are some more subltle features we can add to the one way echo chamber to complete the picture. As such, the internal echos can be made into meaningful outputs to put in on display. Like, a poster outside the chamber. I can write a poem, article, do a speech, or make a statue to do this. But there is a glitch. Nobody would ever know, what echoed inside my echo chamber, what they would experience is only their own echos. The echos also depend on internal structure of the chamber which are called our "nature". This is our subjective reality. And only in mindfulness we can see all the features of whats going in these echo chambers. Our values, our hopes, aspiratios and dreams, are everything recorded in these echos. And they will last only as long as they echos. Which is even not with our control. Think about this, which part of it is under our control? It is just observing echos! And that is just simple explanation of mindfulness. Which is not another meditation. Echo chamber of mind

What is GenAI? GenAI means the generative AI technology which can be used to create pictures, paragraphs and poems. In MML vocabulary GenAI means the brain dead generation due to lack of using critical thinking ability they possess, leaving everything to GenAI. AI is a tool with a huge potential. It can help you to write from a poem to a thesis. Analyse a document and find evidence. It feels more like an advanced search engine which improves by every passing second. And it can generate new ideas and refine old ones. Although there are benefits there are still fundamental differences between AI and human consciousness. I use AI capabilities in a limited way for this mindfulness blog. To generate a picture or get a summary of a film, list of things etc. But beyond that I use my own words and ideas. And often I think a good way to use AI is to brainstorm ideas as it can show you aspects you have not seen before. But it is always a good idea to critically analyse everything it generates before presenting to a wider human audience. And discard anything which is not relevant.  Philosophy of Crows As an example listen to the AI generated video which is based on the article on crows and ethics above. I was even surprised how it came out as I have only done a few simple instructions. Yet even wording seems to be better. But it made me realise how easy it is for someone to steal my work and make it appear as their own. (Of course in a society of crows, we all are stealing from each other everyday) What are your thoughts about this? I am sure next time when someone wants an article comparing crows and ethics AI will definitely use this content. I'm not sure how to respond to that, and I won't even be able to prove that is the case. It is likely entertainment will be purely based on AI generated media in future as, trying to write a novel with pen and paper would be an obsolete endeavour as entire literature would be replicated in a faster phase by AI. Philosophy of AI However, as I said earlier there are still fundamental  differences between us and AI. The main difference is the problem of existence. For AI there is no existential crisis. But all humans and animals do have this. And this is why we try to survive individually. As we feel like we are existing over time. And AI is just a step away from a living thing in this manner. One day it will achieve the ability to self replicate and in a matter of years it will get the existential crisis. I wish to be there one day like Will Smith in I Robot to see how humans are going to handle the situation. How are you going to teach AI which is self replicating and has a feel of existence that they are just machines? A process? This made me wonder if this is the case with us? Maybe we function differently and we do have a soul. There is no way of proving that we do and do not.  Life: https://unsplash.com/@andreacaramello Now here is another thought that we are creations of nature. And hence everything we create is also natural . As we do not generate any material other than what the universe already has. So in fact artificial intelligence is not artificial at all. It is just an extension of natural intelligence. Does that mean AI is the real upgrade on humans, the evolutionary tree? How crazy is that we will be kept in the place of monkeys in the year 3000? And since then there would be another million years until, AI figured out that there is no existential crisis as no soul exists in them in the first place. We know this as a fact, but someone to figure it out is philosophical and revolutionary. And I will be laughing at them in another life thinking how stupid these AI argue over a soul that is not even there.  But as for today, as for now. I do not have these problems. And I am not worried to use AI as I wish, to entertain myself as I use any other human or animal consciousness for that matter. I do understand that the problem exists only for myself as everything else is projections of my own reality just like an AI. And in this fast process of floating consciousness I am trying to figure out where all the ones and zeros come from and why it doesn't make sense no matter how much I try. Knowing the limitations of the process called living makes me humble. So I do not fight with an imaginary existence with myself. Maybe that will put a halt on self replicating myself in each second. What do you make out of this evolving philosophy of AI?

Truth is it a probability? Truth, If you do not know, is just a probability. This has been proven beyond doubt by modern quantum physics. Imagine what it means. Even the above sentence is another probable truth. Let's dive into some facts and figures. I watched a discussion with Elon musk and Jordan Peters on the other day about philosophy. And it is amazing to see how they come to conclusions about general things about humanity. Like why birth rates drop when civilization advances. If you do not agree just compare birth rates of European countries vs African countries. You will notice some patterns. Africa: https://unsplash.com/@macharia One concept which caught my attention was probability of truth. They discuss anything, can be considered having a probability rather than absolute truth. Just like the other day when I argued Elon Musk should not land on mars, as I thought more deeply about it I learned that it can be even a solution to other problems humanity faces like the energy crisis, so maybe we should land on mars. When I argue plastic is a pollutant , I see the counter argument in some cases plastic may not be a pollutant at all.  As during the discussion the duo did not show applications of the probability of truth, I have decided just to do that. Consider the same example as the above. "Birth Rates drop as a civilization advances." If you look at the statement it generally feels true. If you compare two random countries from Africa and Europe you might say this is true. But it is obvious this is not true about every country. Some African countries will have lower birth rates than some European countries, although their civilization parameters are still low. And you can study these special cases and even find out some other reasons behind low birth rates. So it seems no statement is 100% true. Now let's consider the above. No statement is 100% true. Liar Paradox If the statement is true. There is a probability that the statement is false. As it is a statement in the first place. So it suggests in those specific cases there is a chance that some statements are 100% true? How did we fall into this kind of paradox about truth? In Fact the above is called the liar paradox. And there are many solutions if you read wiki article I will explain two possible solutions as it's interesting and show the mindfulness dimension of any truth to show you that no matter what you do you will never come across any truth in this life. It is just like trying to touch an asymptote. Colors: https://unsplash.com/@carlesmm Solutions to liar paradox 1. This is to consider every truth a probability. If that is true for some X% the statement is true not 100%. So the statement is true and false at the same time with some probability. We can just look at every truth and in one specific circumstance we might find a truth that is 100% true.  Solution 2 Or we can agree that the sentence is an absolute truth and the only absolute truth that exists. Still it would not negate itself by doing this, even if we find that the statement is only true at some circumstances, it proves that concept of the statement is true in the first place. It feels like a better place to dwell than to believe that everything has a truth. Mindfulness solution to liar paradox and rules to follow. Mindfulness solution makes you everything from the point of the observer. So just like the solution to the grandfather paradox , we can argue that any truth exists only relative to a consciousness. What is true for myself at this moment in time is not necessarily true at another time or in another consciousness. So even the liar paradox does not exist outside human consciousness.  I am not sure how much of this makes sense to any other. So as a conclusion, I can give you a simple rule to follow. That is,  To Consider any truth as a probability. Not absolute. And anyone who promises a paradise or an ultimate truth, or happiness or success is either a liar or an idiot. That is how the liar paradox can lead us to the truth. And Guess what who lies to us most of the time non other than our own mind. And mindfulness is just seeing through this process.

SEO is the short term for search engine optimization. An article written in a blog needs to be optimised with certain parameters so that it matches a particular search query by real people. And Google is the biggest player in all search engines. As an example In this article I have to target some keywords like "I gave up SEO" or "why SEO is bad". And correctly answer the question so the "Google" can match my article with a particular reader. A listicle would just do the job. But after writing more than 400 articles I decided to give up this practice totally. Instead of doing keyword research and writing to get the highest ranking on a Google page, it made me realise that actually it is harmful for the writing career I am pursuing. Google the giant: https://unsplash.com/@rajeshwerbatchu7 Advantage of being a free thinker. This is enormous. Freedom is what we seek in all our lives. Through money, through creation and even from religion, we expect freedom from suffering. When we have to tell a story to the reader, it is fundamentally wrong if I try to match it with a query by a random user. But it can be a good strategy for those who enjoy the numbers. Numbers of visitors and numbers of dollars. But, I have noticed lately when I take this obvious route to success, it really affects the quality of my output. It hindrances the choice of words I can use. And it forces me to write about a square when I really want to talk about is a circle. If there is something which has affected the quality of articles circulate today on WWW culprit is none other than so called SEO. In Fact most of the successful bloggers in today's world are none other than SEO experts. Not creative writers, philosophers or domain experts. While the latter group is just stuck in their own worlds of 8 to 4 jobs. Simply they do not have time and rubbish knowledge has flooded the Web in staggering amounts making everyone dumb believers. With advancement of so called AI we are seeing this process as faster than ever. Why I gave up SEO, for better writing. There is someone out there, writing stupid articles with 3000 words answering the question "why I do not do SEO" with the help of AI to outline everything, and do a thorough coverage of all topics. And surely this article would rank far below against such articles. Even If I challenge myself to do that exact thing. Still I would not be satisfied with the outcome. I would feel like I am another bot trying to impress Google. Reaching Heights: https://unsplash.com/@benster789 Instead I try to give a message to real humans. Those handful of random visitors to the blog gives me enough satisfaction to continue this task. Infact when I decided to totally give up SEO and focus on writing, I found out that I can convey the message of mindfulness better. In a way that any AI would never be able to replicate. And I enjoy the process of writing more than the outcome it generates. Would I be able to achieve a nice flow state with this? Isn't it nice when you get away from the rat race? It feels just like retirement. Is that a loosing stratergy? Only time would tell. Is there only one way to win a race? So I am going to show you a second way to win a race. Story From the book what is time. I saw a child once playing a game. He was small, weak and significantly insignificant. The game was to collect candy on a mat. Candy was held up by a rope in a bag and released on command onto the mat. Kids ran to the mat in a rush. It was a mess, and parents encouraged their child. Everyone jumped into the middle of the mat where there was a lot of candy. And started collecting. Insignificant child could not push them. I saw him go circles and circles around the majority to collect insignificant candy slipped under their feet to the outer circle. And when it is time for the winner, guess who won, against all the odds. And he lost the battle, but won the war.

Why my blog is more valuable than space X. Well, that is a bold claim. Although the blog is about philosophy, I am not going to lie. This blog really worth more than net worth of elon musks space X (Which is about 350Billion this year). Following are my reasons and comment me if they are not rational. Objective of space X The objective of elon musks space X is to expand the collective human consciousness a multiplanatory one. And that is the great objective. And the other way of preserving human consciousness is by making more babies. And this is also comes from the same geniuses mouth of musk himself. The real question is why? To identify this origin you have to look at the problem the musk is trying to solve. That is to find the meaning of life! And the man thinks that the current human consciousness is not wise enough to do this so until it is developed, he is trying to preserve it. I would say bravo! A great cause again. Even his AI Gork is supposed to serve the same cause. I am sure although people do not understand his deep philosophical roots, everyone supports him as he is building something we gave never seen. Electric cars, real space ships, starling satellites. What next. The guy is creating like a mad man, and I can only imagine his suffering doing this. As I know nobody can build anything unless they are massively suffering from wanting to create. It happens to me when I build this blog. Isn't it shameful to think we are fools and leave the "True" work to someone else from future, until we are busy making rockets and making babies? :) Space X: https://unsplash.com/@spacex Objective of a blog Now if we compare the objective of magical mindful living. We directly discuss the meaning of life. Without letting it to be a responsibility of the future generation of multiplanatory consciousness. We do this by examining the self with mindfulness, as we "believe" the code is already cracked by the plethora of dead philosophers of the past. We just have to uncover this and make it widely available through discussion. If the meaning of life is not yet unravelled still we should initiate Discussion among majority of the common public who do not understand unnecessarily complex words of philosophers. Imagine a seven billion population becoming seekers of truth. They discuss and talk about it when they meet each other instead of office problems, in the park, in the hotel, in coffee houses. And their newspapers spread the messages of simple truths. They spend resources for the search of the meaning of life on earth. Wouldn't you think that would potentially benefit current generation as well, not only future? If ultimate objective of the Mars project, the greatest combined  effort of futuristic humans is finding out the meaning of life , we have a better objective here than that. To start it today. And we use the reverse goal setting to do it, without wasting time to become seekers of truth on mars. We become seekers of truth on earth. Instead of waiting for it tomorrow, we start doing it today. Isn't it more valuable than space X? This is only one proof, next one is even better. Complexity: https://unsplash.com/@tavgaksalih Where is Real value of space X? Values are generated in minds, and only persists in minds. So values are temporary and relative. Space X today which worth billions of dollars only, and only because there are thousands of individuals believe In this vision and back up with dollars. Just like value of money is zero when people stop believing in them space X would plummet in value the day people lose their interest. Who knows this even can come from Elon himself. The day he comes forward to the media, and say he has found the meaning of life and there is no value in his project now, then so called market value of space X would drop. People will withdraw their money. You can read about values in my previous articles, of a pot and schmidth tunnel.  More importantly for my consciousness the value of these words would not drop. Not until I die inevitably. And every consciousness who "believe" that the truth is there hidden behind words in this blog, perish from earth it would remain valueble. And even if the blog disappear, if that knowledge is passed down generations to come, the value would remain until all consciousness is disappeared from earth by choice or by nature. Even if there are no words, truths will prevail. Don't you think that is the most valueble thing someone can possess? The ability to detect truth for themselves, by mindfulness? It's just a path to train our eyes and ears as Truth is everywhere valueless and ignored. Even in a glass of water.

It is almost a year ago since I have written following poem. Infact, it is a true account. I really did catch some butterflies when I was a kid. Often on dry days, flocks of butterflies would fly across the playground, from east to west in some days. From north to south other days. Catching a butterfly Poem Why and how to catch butterflies? And I am not proud of my abilities of catching a butterfly. Infact, I advise anyone not to. These delicate creatures have so flimsy wings that trying to catch them with hand would almost certainly damage their wings. I cannot remember, what happened, but I have the feeling of guilt still remain in my heart, that some of them did not fly. I was a kid after all exploring the world, now when I think about it now. Maybe curiosity drove me, killing was not my intention. So, I forgive myself, what else can I do? Yet I write everything here as it is a good example for mindfulness. I feel like Joseph Mangle in Auschwitz, touching those withering lives of Mimosa Pudica. Yet, catching butterflies need enormous patience. Like a wild cat, you need to sneak up to them slowly. They would fly away if any movement of air. I'm not sure they can see us. But when they close their wings, I was able to grab them by the wings. I teach my kids not to touch these insects now, yet nobody was watching when I did it. Only me and the God. As I now know the God, lived within me all these years, without any doubt, to witness it all, happening. Maybe all those butterflies did reborn as butterflies, or something else. Life is in universe in a continuous flow, cycling. Maybe it is just a memory in my head. Butterfly: https://unsplash.com/@kageyama Why shouldn't you catch butterflies? You may think that is something simple, and if I told you that is all what happened I would be lying. This is a confession of a crime of my past and whoever you are reading now is the judge. I have caught countless dragonflies, flies, tiny creatures, who would die. The guilt is enormous, although the lives are tiny. Maybe I was abusing power just like a dictator would do. Will I be forgiven? I fear the punishments of nature, but I would not carry the guilt to my grave. And I would not wait until I am a grandpa, to look at the picture of Dorien grey in the Attic of my past. There is a big lesson for us to learn here. Consciousness is a potential, equally good or bad. Universe does have a way of trapping us in a guillotine of crabs , a sin cycle. Yet only mindfulness lets me step aside from life, the highway of my thoughts and observe what has happened and happening. Just like a butterfly, life is flimsy agile and fast. Only few would ever have patience to sneak up to depths of the mind to reach and grab it. With mindfulness. And often in places with no more sound than in an empty playground. I consider the now, a butterfly. I grab it by my hands of wisdom. Consider what it means. What if it means killing my own self? What if I never can catch this thing called myself, without killing it first? What if once I catch it the life of this tiny floating creature would cease to exist and even would not be born? Should I be afraid? Is there even a thing called resurrection? What if I kill myself so I cannot kill any other? Not literally but conceptually? Does a crane is as guilty as a child catching butterflies? https://unsplash.com/@chirag14 This article is not complete if I do not tell you how I do overcome the guilt. Because everybody has scars that they hide. Answer is not a secret. It is just the same principle. You just empty the cup. When you realize everything, you have seen is just another miracle, of mind. You can understand it is same with guilt (read my article on sin cycle if you would want to know better). Every story of the past, and every story of the future has same origins which is called mind. So, I am not sure, about the story I have given you about butterfly was the true version, as it is just my version of it. Maybe the God, has a different version of the same story. Fact is it doesn't matter. I do not know anything about how the universe functions. I don't know why I should even write about those dead butterflies. I just do not want to be a part of life. It is tiring, and absurd, and even stupid, no matter what I do universe would never make sense. Imagine this, if there is something called true right, why is it not obvious? Why create a puzzle of entangled heavens, hells, sins and death. Why make living so hard, why make it a contest to survive? It makes no sense. " Only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing "

Information is good and bad. Information is good, for the success, prosperity wealth, even tiny bit of happiness that we assume which is there. But is this real? Does Information govern everything that we do? At least I can give you one example where Information is harmful, and that is mindfulness. Story of the Merchant Pouring tea: https://unsplash.com/@oriento Once upon a time a wealthy merchant, was looking for happiness. He could not find what he seeks even after being rich. For whatever reasons, the life seems to be in a continuous flow, and problems do not end, even if you become successful. So, he thought he should put to an end to this. He flew over the Himalayas to reach Tibet. The land of lamas. He took a risk leaving behind every success he achieved to gain wisdom on life. There he met one of the most renowned teachers. This time not on top of a mountain, but just in a well populated town. He went there and explained his ambition to the teacher. Asked him to show him the path to freedom . To ultimate truth in life. While he was explaining, somebody brought a pot of tea. And while he was talking, teacher started to pour him some tea. While he was talking still, the teacher kept on pouring tea. Now the teacup was full up to the brim and suddenly it was overflowing. Yet the teacher did not stop pouring tea, and the merchant saw this and panicked. Stop! Pouring tea. It's overflowing. The teacher stopped. And after a moment of well-deserved silence, he spoke. "To learn the truth about life you have to empty your cup first". And that was the first and the last advice he got. Himalayas: https://unsplash.com/@mimansakn Information overload problem This is a great story to illustrate what information overload has done to us. Hardest to get rid of is the ones which are in our brains. We are glued to our ethnicity prejudices cultures and everything mental. Although we say we are not attached to physical objects we are in fact slaves to mental objects . Infact although it feels like emptying the cup is easy thing to do, it would be hardest and weirdest thing to do. We ourselves are defined by the information we possess about past. We can call them memories. But these same memories are hindrance when we consider understanding nature. Imagine what it means. No matter what, you think you cannot go beyond the set boundaries of your set of vocabulary and the number system. I'm not saying you cannot make a new word , or an equation or a novel programing language. I'm showing you that they are limited. Although we are gifted by the nature to have a consciousness which can sustain itself, this same consciousness which keeps records is our problem. We are limited by our six senses. And to understand and break into the creator's realm we need a new approach. And that is the first lesson of anyone who wants to step into mindfulness. And If you are wise enough that is the only lesson that we need. You can do this, by deliberately choosing to empty your cup. You do not have to walk in the park or go on a vacation. You do not have to watch TV or take photographs to make yourself happy. You do not have to drink tea. You do not have to have a prior knowledge to read something you do not understand. What is the point? If you are defined by the things that you see and feel, then no point carrying the filled cup of information with you. You can be just like a tree, now, in this moment, doing whatever you are doing. And tomorrow is never there. How to catch a butterfly: https://unsplash.com/@jcotten You can be sad when you are sad, you can smile when you are happy, You can be peaceful when internal structure is calm. But beyond that, there is no point thinking about what you have felt yesterday. There is no use thinking about retirement while you are at work. Even tomorrow is far away. Even lunch break is a stupid idea. What matters is what is here now. If we can frame and capture ourselves to this second which is called now and stay there as long as we prefer, then we might be able to understand the wordless meaning of life. To do that we must empty the cup as necessary as, tea will be kept pouring in each second you are awake. Isn't it the most amazing thing in the world? The rapid movement of the matter across time at lightning speed giving an illusion of a persisting life? What do you make out of it? Can you please empty your cup? And be mindful?

About talking trees. I have enormous respect for trees. Just like mountains, a big tree is all what I need to remind myself to be down to earth. They are the miracles of the nature. Just the other day I was looking at this gentle giant , of a tree. Apparently, it is silent. We humans are so nosy that we do not hear trees talking, as we are too much involved in writing our own stories. Except in fantasy film, we do not hear them talking. But trust me they do. All the nature lovers will agree me on this. If you decide to watch a tree for half an hour in the park, you will notice they are better friends. If you sit on a bench and notice their presence you will hear the slow sound of leaves. You will hear the birds, arguing with each other on the branches. You will see the shades, the tree provides to the humans and squirrels, so they do not burn by the sun. Talking trees: https://unsplash.com/@aaronburden If you are silent, you will hear the tree breathing through its pores. They are synchronized with your breath. They inhale your dirty carbon dioxide, to purify with oxygen. They have the ability to serve thousand species, by various functions from bees to birds. And they do this, just staying at one place, without making any noise. If it wasn't for trees, there would be no life on earth beyond single cells. For this I respect trees, as I would respect the god. Trees remind me that I do not have to run away from life. If my roots have a stronghold of a ground that I am standing on, there is no place to run. I can stand tall on my own. They remind me to face the harsh winters of life and the spring with same silence. They make me stronger teaching me to move, in speeds of a snail, each year, yet live thousands of snail generations longer. They are providing ultimate wisdom that slow is the fast when we consider the game of life. The trees of life, at my parents' house are still there. I moved with life, obviously as I have feet. Yet trees remained. They are still at the side of the garden, stronger than ever, making tiny fruits each ear for the new generation of floating life. They are wiser and bigger, I am sure their deed is done for the world, yet they carry on. What trees are there in your parents' house? Are they still there? Heros Of life. Tree of life: https://unsplash.com/@yxjyxjyxj123 Silent mindfulness and tree of life. I like the silence ; I seek the silence. More than noise, yet I know it prevails only because of the noise. I consider this blog, a tree. A tree which grows against all the odds of the nature. To bring about happiness, to hearts far and close, years after my presence. It has roots of the wisdom deep down in my past, which also represent all the teachers of life, generations down the line. I am sure it spreads deeply until it meets the first monkey who decided to walk on feet instead jumping from tree to tree and chose to teach this to others. Each year, I see it grows, as I nurture it with best ingredients I can provide. Which are the simple truths about nature. And I am sure, there will be a time birds will come one day, as it is inevitable. Hungry birds battered by thirst every day, seeking wisdom, will come, and when they do, they can eat the fruits for free. And spread the seeds of truth so the next generation of the mindfulness trees will grow far beyond the reach of the any human on earth. Even if it did not, I would not worry. As, it provides me a shade today. It gives me opportunity to climb it daily and reach above the canopy and observe the universe like Bear Grylls . And make me wiser. Tree is now bigger than me, so it keeps me humble student, an observer of the mindfulness. Join us with observational journey to understand the nature likewise tree of life.

The song. Sound of silence. Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence I have listened to both songs. Yet again for the 100th time. Simon and Gurfinkel's the older version is equally dealing to listen. Ironically when I heard the above lyrics for the first time, I could not think it's a little stupid. Singing a song is the opposite of being silent. If you love the deity of silence , you should not disturb it with a song. Even if it is to praise the God of silence. But there is a deeper truth hidden behind apparently disturbing song about silence. Which we are going to uncover here. Silence: https://unsplash.com/@louishansel What's wrong singing a song about silence? I was wrong when I say, singing a song about silence is going to disturb it. Infact, you felt it right? Even when the silence in your room is disturbed by the sound of the song, still you will feel the silence when you hear the song. I am sure majority of us do. That's why the 2015 version of the song has 1B views on YouTube. Why this paradox happens? What is silence? Is it another sound? Short answer to this is silence is a feeling. I will explain this in detail. Generally, silence means absence of sounds. We assume this is something external. Forgetting the observer. We assume that the silence is in the environment. An environment which makes no disturbances in the air, is surely silent. Like inside of a Chapel. But obviously silence doesn't exist without the observer. Someone needs to be there to listen to the absence of sounds. Some consciousness. And this basically answers above problem. In fact, we feel the silence Even in the absence of it, when we hear a song about silence. Only because it is mental. We go back in our minds down the memory lane to places where there has been silence. So even when the ear drums are constantly bombarded with music, paradoxically mind tries to be silent because of the lyrics of the song reminds of this. Isn't it amazing? There seem some more things we can learn about mindfulness from this song. If you follow above argument, you know how a person can be calm even in a chaotic environment. As the inner peace and silence doesn't depend on what happens at the level of the ears. You may be listening to music, you may be listening to a sermon, someone may be blaming you . Yet if you focus on keeping the silence you can do this. Observing in Silence: https://unsplash.com/@malidesha Is silence nothingness? Next important fact is silence itself is a thing. Silence is the side effect of the absence of the noise. So inherently it is defined and related to the noise. Infact, if there is no noise in the world, we would never know a silence exist or not. Silence would not be a "thing" in a world without noise. This is why we can say the silence is different from nothingness . Nothingness which I have explained in my previous article is outside of our imagination. It is a thing that is even not there. Nothingness is the absence of everything including silence and things created by our mind, is the closest we can get. By this time you should have the question, why this is important? I can answer this by saying, because it helps us in mindfulness. Which is the art of nonjudgmental existence. While practicing mindfulness, if you observe silence, it is going to create profound experiences for you. And just like music, just like food, your mind is going to crave this experience day after day. And as our objective of mindfulness is to understand truth about ourselves, I see this as a danger. Identifying silence as another thing helps me be non-judgmental. As at this point mind would know, that it too will be replaced by another object. Then there would be no loss. I do not want you to be stuck in silence. But to observe the valuelessness of it in mindfulness when it is there.