How can I be happy is a good question to ask, once in a while, from us. As If I ask 1000 people what is their goal, or meaning of life, they will say being happy, as an answer. So, how to be happy is the next question which should follow. Before moving on following is a quote from Denis Diderot the philosopher on happiness. “Happiest are the people who give most happiness to others.” — Denis Diderot He does not claim he is the happiest person on the planet. This is just an observation. If you truly want to become a happiest person for few seconds, follow my previous trick. But I am sure you are not trying to be happy for a few seconds. You need a lifetime of happiness, and it seems, advice from great philosophers comes handy. It doesn't matter they were not the happiest, we just need their knowledge. Bottom line is I believe above is true. That is why I write this article to explain why. Now, a little background on Denis Diderot as a curtesy. Background on Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was a French philosopher, writer, and art critic, best known as the co-founder and chief editor of the Encyclopédie, a monumental work that aimed to compile and disseminate knowledge across various fields. A prominent figure of the Enlightenment, Diderot’s contributions to the Encyclopédie were instrumental in challenging traditional authority and promoting secular thought. His works often explored themes of science, philosophy, and art, reflecting his materialist and often controversial views . Despite facing censorship and financial struggles, Diderot’s legacy endures as a key intellectual force behind the Enlightenment movement . To understand why, making others makes you happy, you need little bit of wisdom about how our mind works. As, that is not the main point in this article, I will only give a summary. If you want to read more, you will find following articles helpful. ( Shadows and reflections , consciousness , you are what you see ) In summary our world is made up of reflections of 'real' world observations. These reflections are made by our sensory organs in our consciousness. This conscious, internal world is the only one we can comprehend. Even the other people are just reflections of your own mind. How to be happy? Denis Diderot way. It is just a shared view about the world, with me and some other philosophers of the past I believe. Let's not give it a name. More importantly let's assume above is true. Now, can you see, why Denis Diderot is true? Imagine you are trying to help some other person. By doing this you are making happy reflections in your own mind. After all the people you are helping are your own reflections. No wonder Denis Diderot is right. There is no point fighting with the reflections, even if it is your enemy. Even your enemy is a reflection in your mind, and if you chose a fight over peace, I could warn you, you will destroy the happiness which is inherent to your mind. Yes, happiness is inherent to all our minds, as long as we do not disturb it, and brings clarity to our mind. Next steps. Personally, for myself, I think knowing about these simple facts about life, brings me happiness in unexpected places. And I truly believe, a person (a mind) deserves this kind of happiness. Obviously, it doesn't come from food, cloths, or luxury cars. They are just comfort to body. As humans, our minds crave higher order of peace. And mindfulness is the path for such wisdom and peace. Let's embrace magical mindful living. Thank you for reading How to be happy? Denis Diderot way.

A walk in the park You walk outside after days being inside your home, due to the bad weather. It has been raining, dampness of the earth has not yet dried up, even over the concrete pavements, smell of soil comes out squeezed along with the sprouts of fresh blossoms. It is already the spring, yet the weary sun has not been able to melt away the coldness of the winter yet. Still two low on the horizon struggling to come out, just like you this morning. Yet it is strong enough to cast a way a long shadow over the rows of houses. Young enthusiastic, crowd out of their homes, hurry up along the lane down towards the more popular park in the heart of the small town. There are plenty of people, plenty of pavemented paths, and enough recreational areas in the park. However, you chose to walk the other way, towards the south park where there are no concrete, less families, but only occasional solo runner or a dog walker is there. Even the dogs are white fang type, as it is no place for posh cute little puppies or more commonly their owners to hang around. After the less affluent row of houses, you reach middle class houses of the neighborhood with houses built few feet away from the road. Just one or two perches of affluence is visible. And you wonder how much effort owner of these houses put into those extra space and wonder whether it is worth it. As a cold breeze bring you back to the road, you notice almost at the end of the road, and cross it to enter the park, not from the main entrance but, small opening which is there for dog walkers and cyclists to enter, a less popular corner of the park, where there are tall trees and moldy smell all around. Rotten leaves of the autumn wetted by the winter still struggle to dissolve into the earth. You straight away step on a mud and realize your shoe slightly heavier and stickier. Getting thicker and thicker with each step you take with more and more sand mixed with mud. There is no escape from this, just like after the morning meal today, that your tongue struggled for half an hour to remove small bit of fiber stuck in your teeth, you try to remove the mud just by dragging your foot on the sand. After a while it starts to feel like working, and now you can properly attend to the nature and the sounds of the park. You walk deeper inside to get away from the noises of speeding cars on the main road, which is more pronounced due to the long straight stretch of the road, neighboring the park. I was in the park yesterday And saw this beauty under my feet Like everyone else I tried to capture it In a terrible terrible feeble attempt when no-one else to witness Ashamed of myself when I left, I saw she smile in silence. After the tall trees, there comes the meadows, and marsh lands. Covered with various grass, you continue to walk along the footpath towards the lake, occasionally crossed by the dandelions afloat. And you took the next turn, to the lake. You can see a viewing deck, with a fence from a little distance, and a group of ducks gathered around expecting visitors. You spend couple of minutes by the lake and once or twice a couple or a group visited while you just were a bystander, and left leaving you into the solitude you seek. And it is magical to breath the fresh air of the early spring, unspoiled yet from the dust and the smoke of the city. And you realize, it doesn't matter a walk. It doesn't matter a walk, throughout the entire park, as all you have to see is here, just at this very moment. All the happiness, all your life, all the sadness, all your life is just packed in this one second, or a fraction of a second. It doesn't matter a walk. So, you give up your entire idea of walking all around the park, and sit beneath a tree, on a bench of wood, away from the main road to contemplate your thoughts. Old twig stood so proud With all the medals of fungi on its coat When it hugged the ground with rest of the twigs He was a hero among ordinary in peace at last On the bench sitting looking at the lake over some bush, with dried up twigs, you hear two ducks, playing around unseen, not unheard. And you notice the bee buzzing at your foot trying to land on a small yellow flower. You realize, it is just like scrolling through the Facebook. The mind, which wants to sit, just a second ago, wants to stand and walk now. And the eyes want to absorb the beauty, hence you say enough. Enough my friend, this is as far as I would go. Let's stop here and observe. And for a good half an hour you let the mind be, without judgment, letting the thoughts drift like clouds . And on your way home, snap some photos, as evidence that you have been there. Summer Dandelions Being Yellow in a Green Park

Adam smith the well-known philosopher and the economist, uttered above words about almost two and half centuries ago. Which is valid for every time, even today. As modern generation is more and more distracted by the technology, it is utmost important and urgent to exhumated these hidden buried Jems back again into human circulation. In my previous article what is the most important question to ask , I have written about asking the question who you are? Hence, obviously I follow Adam Smith's vision on this quote. The complete quote is as follows and there is more for the discussion. First thing you have to know is yourself. A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own reactions like an observer. Adam smith What did he mean? by stepping outside yourself? Does this mean mindfulness ? Obviously as a big fan of mindfulness, (Hence the blog) I do agree mindfulness have some properties like stepping outside yourself and observing yourself. As mindfulness is defined in this blog as being aware of the awareness, it really can mean something like Adam Smith suggests. Hence, maybe he meant that too. However, I like to highlight the difference. The difference being the wisdom of the world, and its formation. The knowledge about the truths of the world, duality of the nature, values , consciousness and the process of thinking , changes the mindfulness practice completely. Imagine you want to travel in a dessert, and you have vague idea, which direction you need to go. And I am sure you will collapse and die stranded in the dessert without any resources like a mad man. Next time you travel you learn about the signs of stars and avoid travel during the day without wasting your resources you can reach the destination. No matter how much you try, without wisdom, mindfulness cannot shine. Hence, it is essential to have a basic idea how the monkey mind works, before start watching. With this knowledge in hand, we will look at the Adam smith quote again. First thing you have to know is yourself- Adam smith A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own reactions like an observer. There are two ways one can read the second part of the quote. And one is wrong and the other is relatively correct. You may think that it means, you are looking at your actions, your speech and your thoughts like an observer in silence inside the brain. And mind you the mind is just like a magician. If you wish to see something as is, the job of the magician is to invent it if it is not there. You would even not know, and next second you will fall into this delusion, of someone is looking at something. You may also think, with prior knowledge, that this means, the world you see is just a reflection. Whatever the reality is not touchable, and comprehensible, as only we can know about this outside, is by combining our previous knowledge (which is human made) with the reflections made by our sensory organs. ( mental objects ) And Krishnamoorthi's famous quote 'the observer is observed' comes handy here. Observer and the observed are like two sides of a coin, one is there when the other is there, there exists no independent observer. Next, you may ask, if that is true, why it is relative? I would say, that is because, whatever you understood, by reading above answer, is just another reflection made by the same process. So, still it is the work of the magician. If the second is true, the observer is the observed, there cannot be separate independent truth, as the truth is again relative to the observer. Again, if you would like to read more on the topic, following article would help, on what you see. Let's deviate from the topic and give the poor mind a rest. Let's think about the pink elephant . When you walk down the road, you notice an elephant. It is a big Asian elephant brought to the suburb by the local circus. It is huge, built out of everything it has eaten since it was a calf. Now, this massive moving mound of flesh and bones, made you to stop whatever you are doing, and prompt you to investigate. You notice it's big ears, are dotted with pink color skin, so as its forehead. It keeps on moving from side to side while using its trunk to get a trunkful of leaves. The majestic animal, with attitude in the wild, is brought to become a pet, under the developed human's consciousness. You wonder, how it came to be? Is it the total effort of the mahout? is it the chains and the Ankus?

Is our earth our home? It sounds like a second-grade question. And it is. Because my second-grade daughter just asked me the question and expected an answer and explanation. She is waiting with her eager eyes to listen to what I have to say. Should I say the truth or lie to her? So, I said, Yes, it is our home, and in someways we cannot call it our home. I did some second-grade explanations, to explain why it is our home and why it is not. Let's look at the question with philosophy once again. What is home? According to Mariem Webster home is where one's place of residence or place of origin . But it does not give in which context. If you consider you as a member of your family, your place of living, is your home. Maybe your parents and siblings still live there. If you are a microbe- like demodex - a human face is your home. So, in what context Earth is our home and in what context it is not? When is our earth our home? When we consider ourselves human race, earth is our home . It is our origin as well as our place of residence. Even we can consider, animals and plants as a same biome, If you would know anything about biomes , it is a self-sustaining ecosystem where multiple species flourish. Yes, we like the idea of earth being our home. When Elon musk want to travel to mars, and when Neil Amstrong set foot on the moon, we felt like it is 'our' step. When there is an asteroid which comes towards earth and a massive mega scale volcanic eruption happens in Yellowstone national park, we unite ourselves as a single human race and call, earth our home. And like I do, we like to teach our children the Earth is our home, until they get older and learn themselves all the races, countries and religions, and learn themselves that the earth is not our home. When is our earth is not our home? So, I said, although we call earth our home, we are not free to travel. For political, cultural and religious reasons, and even environmental reasons. You cannot travel to, top of the mountain Shishapangma , the 14th eight thousander, you cannot, travel to Gaza strip without getting killed. You cannot travel to Europe without a security check, if you are from Africa, and you cannot travel to heart of the Africa, with your Jewlery and wallet, without getting robbed. You cannot dive deep ocean and watch a shipwreck . So, reality is much and much more limited than our imagination. It seems Earth is our home, looks like a supernatural dream. So, I had to explain that because there had been nasty people who carry knives and weapons, who smuggle aero planes, I had to undergo a security check every airport. It doesn't feel like freedom at home. And when I am out of my country, no matter how long I stay, it doesn't make me feel like home. So, it is true earth is our home, and wrong at the same time. Limits of our earth our home. Then I thought about it, maybe the earth was truly our home, back in the day, when there were Indians lived in the central America until they were invaded. They could travel anywhere and settle anywhere. No, unless we have universal ruler and Universal rules, or none at all, the earth is not our home. Still, it will be only partially true, as long as we could not overcome our physical barriers. And it really feels like we are small human beings in front of a mountain. Nanga Parbat seems to be bigger than all the atoms of humans ever lived on the planet earth. Now, I have explained the truth about earth being our home. How about another way of looking at the problem. Is earth our prison? If you read my previous article on the spider and web , it will enlighten you furthermore.

This is yet another article which attacks, delusions in our mind. Throughout the blog you may find these pieces of wisdom. Recently I found out that, some people like to live in the delusion, voluntarily, as they fear the reality or due to some other reason. Stupidity is not to understand the truths, but to ignore it is also, isn't it? You may have heard about the third person, somewhere along your line of work. This is just some philosophical explorations into the idea. We will start by examining the meaning of third person in different contexts, in brief before the discussion Third person Hallucinations. Sometimes, severe depression or psychiatric illnesses lead to third person delusions. In these the person starts to hear voices (hence auditory) and even visual hallucinations. And they are constantly being disturbed by these sensory inputs. If you have watched Professor Nash in the movie beautiful mind , it is something similar. Third person effect. In psychology, third person effect is that you feel some political or environmental effect is not going to affect you. A good example is a tsunami or a natural disaster. Imagine you are in a costal house. And you may think a tsunami will never destroy your house, but the fact is it is most likely destroyed. Your house is no stronger than other houses. If you live in a mountain, you will think a landslide will not occur in your neighborhoods. Or even politics or global warming would not affect you. This is also elicited in the following quote. "First They started, taking Jews, I did not bother, that was not my war. Then they started recruiting soldiers, I did not bother, I had no sons. And one morning they knocked on my door." Third person narrative Third person narrative is common in literature, novels. When JK Rowling wrote about Harry potter, it was by a third person. It was like a person looking at Harry walking down the Secret Chamber and she could see even Harry's thoughts, not even Harry but Ron as well. You may ask who is the first and second person? First person narrative is when writers write about it in the perspective of the main character. Writer becomes the character and starts telling the story. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a good example of this. You find all other characters from the viewpoint of Jane Eyre herself. However, the perspective can change. Even in the same novel, or the movie. In the movie Flipped, you would see the same event is played twice in two different perspectives, one from Julie Baker and other from Bryan's perspective. Second person narrative is when you become the main character. This is rare in fiction at least. But you may find this in philosophical articles and often in this blog. It came to my knowledge only today that I have written many of the thought experiments in the second person perspective. It is necessary why? If you read my previous article, prisoners of mind , you would notice when we see the world we only see it from our point of view. Really speaking no one can become a first person and look the world from another persons perspective, or drift your consciousness outside and look at the world from the third person perspective. From morning till night, everything happens to you, and you are doing everything, In the little part of the world which comes into your vision of consciousness . Everything inclusive lives and dies in this part of the world. You do not know whether amazon rain forest exists, before I produce that question here. And you can never know it does or does not, this exact second. Can you see? If I do want to talk about reality I have to talk about in second person. I have to invite you to become observer of the universe and observe, what is observed is only the observer. Hence, what you see is not what it is but who you are , as this second person does not exist without anything being observed, just like a shadow, is not a thing, and neither a tree , observed is not a thing, neither is a observer. We forget the fact sometimes there is only the second person, hence our minds are delusional, if not all the time. That's a lot, I know it is hard to digest. Hence I wrote a second person paragraph for you to read and enjoy. And ignore the insane truth about our everyday delusions of first, second and third person perspectives of the world, as these are just narratives. You are on the platform, old looking, Victorian build dusty roof rise above you. You do not dare to look up fearing that dust will fall onto your eyes and makes you blind, as generations of trains have put their mark with soot from burning coal and fumes on those roofs. Iron bars which were brough from Germany Ages ago, still hold on, like proud little dictators. You cannot lean on to the pillars, as they are no dissimilar from the roof, with dust and dirt. Yet, constant touch by moving crowd has made marks on them which cannot be found on the roof. You see the scratch marks, occasional scribblings of young boys, who wanted to send a message across time into the future. You made a little smile, remembering the boys while receiving their message, and wonder what they are doing today. Are they busy, in an office with four walls, a roof and a floor, struggling to impress their boss, at the end of the hard-working day? Your smile disappears when you realize, those free spirits may not be so free today, unless they said goodbye to the world. You realize, maybe, maybe he is just behind you, looking at you, reading his message from afterlife.

This is another episode of everyday philosophy. First, I have to talk about my driving license. Target fixation. I was good at studying, but not driving. I do not claim to be Sheldon Cooper. However, that was because I did not have enough exposure to vehicles. However, after being selected to university I thought, maybe it's time to have driving license. Hence, I applied to a local driving training program. Oh! there were so many things to write about the stupid training I had. But I will cut the crap short and come to the day of the trail. I applied for both car and motorcycle license. And obviously I did not pass the car license trail. I had a shot at motorcycle. After showing I can drive an 8, I had to drive a short distance along the main road. And I remember once I started driving, nearly missed hitting a lorry. More like I was attracted to the lorry and could not avoid a collision. Most funny fact is it wasn't a moving one, just a one stopped by the road! Somehow, that was my first and only experience in target fixation . Target fixation is a behavioral phenomenon observed in high-speed drivers that when they are fixing their focus on target, they increase the risk of hitting the target. How to Ski I have zero experience in skiing. However, I know how to! you would tell me that's not possible. But I think I know the theory! It is a piece of cake riding a four-wheel drive on a desert. If you have seen skiing it is a totally different game. Especially the ones who take wild rides in trees and rocks abandoned slopes, with collision prone courses. The miracle is not to hit anything. How do they do it? If target fixation is true, obviously none of the skiers would ever come down the mountain without a scratch. But they do. Obviously, they only look at the path ahead not the trees! So, that is the hidden truth. They do not have even a fraction of a second to look at trees and obstacles. They are so much focused on the road, makes sense right? If not skiing, mountain cyclists follow similar principles, when they ride, and fear has no place for the entire ride. Pink elephant philosophy- law of attraction- target fixation Have you ever known similar concept before? Does law of attraction feel similar to this? Law of attraction tells us to focus on positive aspects of life. And you might even get your dreams one day if you keep on attracting them. Target fixation or the pink elephant philosophy shows the opposite, showing what will happen if you focus too much on negative aspects or barriers of life. All these are about winning the game or achieving your targets. However, I think there are higher bounds to philosophy than matters of human greed. How about pulling out the greed tree forever and attract nothingness? If you are into these extreme discussions, you can start reading consciousness . While you think about it. I will mention why it is called pink elephant. It goes like this. " Do not think about the pink elephant! " If someone tell you this, moment you hear the word pink elephant you would not be able to stop thinking about it. Just like the Simon says game. It really does show we do not have control over our thought process. You can read more on this, in the article how to program ourselves , and deterministic world and free will . Let's focus on mindfulness and silence today.

Have you seen a redwood tree? Tallest and biggest in forms on earth of tree kind. We do love to look at biggest, smallest, precious and dirtiest things in the world. Somehow or other these extremes drag us into a discussion, anywhere. Hence, I could not, not talk about the General Sherman, the biggest tree by volume. I have known similar gentle Giant in my early life. Which stood strong and old just like the General Sherman. A tree is a home to a thousand species. And philosophically speaking, a tree is good place to understand philosophy of forms. Here in this article, I describe forms, in two different methods. One is in platonic way. The other is just a scientific way. However, when you learn the scientific way you would understand that there exist no two methods. Everything seems to be platonic or "imaginary anyway" Platonic Forms. The Theory of Forms , also known as the Doctrine of Ideas , is a concept in philosophy attributed to the Classical Greek philosopher Plato. According to this theory, true reality lies beyond physical objects. If we break down the ideas, as follows. Forms (Ideas) : Plato proposed that there exist non-physical, timeless, and unchangeable Forms (sometimes also called Ideas ). These Forms are the essential, perfect essences of all things. For example, there is a Form of “Beauty,” a Form of “Justice,” and so on. These Forms are not directly perceivable in the physical world. you can read about these platonic forms here, in this article on platonic love. Imitations : Objects and matter in the physical world are mere imitations or imperfect reflections of these Forms. When we encounter something beautiful or just, we recognize it because it resembles the ideal Form of Beauty or Justice. I have further discussed these ideas in the reflectors and reflections of life. Plato believed thinking often on these ideal platonic forms will put us in a position to attain, or raise us above the worldly forms, hence one step closer to truth. Keeping this in mind, I invite you to read following chapter on a tree, from the book what is time . And you would understand this is another way to look at forms. It is true at Plato's time most of scientific knowledge was not there to see beyond what is seen from the naked eye. However, we have the luxury of science and YouTube so we can. Shouldn't we be doing this already? Truth about things we see - philosophy of forms. Trees are our friends. If they are not here, we would not be here. Hug the trees, back again to save the world. Let’s look at a tree, with our eyes. We see leaves, branches, trunk, and maybe part of the root. Imagine you went to see General Sherman , the redwood. Its immense trunk fascinates us. Now does the leaf of giant Sherman, is giant Sherman? Or the trunk? Or the roots? Taken separately there is no giant Sherman. But if taken together, ah, there it is the biggest living tree with the biggest trunk! See the magic happens in the mind. Let’s look at a few other examples to understand more and more truths about what we see.  Let’s look at a tree again, this time with a microscope, now our eyes have better resolution and magnification. Now, let's look at a leaf of this big red giant. Under the microscope. What do we see? We would see cells, cell walls, epidermal cells, spores, palisade tissue, spongy tissue, phloem etc. Now if you were a biologist, you would know better that a leaf is a collection of cells in special arrangement. The question is are these individual components a ‘leaf’? If not, a ‘leaf’ is created in our imagination. We can go further, let's look at a cell under more magnification. We would be able to understand the individual parts of the epidermal cell. A cell wall, membrane, plasma, a nucleus etc. Do these individual parts represent a leaf? No, but the collection is called an epidermal cell. So again, the epidermal cell is an imagination, an illusion of mind, in nature there is no epidermal cell. It is a creation of the human mind. Still there is some depth that we can go, Let's look at these individual cells using an electron microscope. What would we see? We would see structures of proteins, lipids, nucleic acid bathed in a tub of water covered by a membrane making individual parts of the cell. We can move from our biology to our chemistry now.  If we look at protein, what is it composed of? It is a three-dimensional structure made of a large array of amino acids (a kind of bio chemicals). Does this individual amino acid represent a protein? No, it does not, it is the collection, the specific structure, if it is not, it would be an abnormal protein. So, an individual protein is not something in nature. It is still a man-made concept. What about amino acids? That should be something in nature. However, still we can go deep. Amino acids are specific arrangements of different elements/atoms arranged in specific form. So, amino acid is still a man-made relative truth. What about an atom? Are we there yet? Are we at the end? Have we found the ultimate truth in an atom? Not at all there are subatomic particles in the form of protons, neutrons and electrons together to form an atom. So, atoms are again an arbitrary concept. What about a proton, in the standard model of particle physics still it is considered as a composite particle composed of three valence quarks. These are the depths the modern science has looked into, and we find that the more we search, the more we find that examples for nothing are absolute truths. So, the trees that we see can be, A tree A collection of leaves, roots and a trunk A collection of cells A collection of proteins, nucleic acid, lipids and water A collection of atoms A collection of subatomic particles Plato attributed those forms, are imaginary perfect things. But when we question reality, we come to know that everything we see outside, is not outside at all. Really speaking we do not know what is outside. It seems even a concept of a tree, or a leaf or a cell is platonic at its core, as in reality there is nothing like that in the outside world. Hence, whatever we make up with our language and in our mind are platonic. What is the value of something if it is totally lies in someone's imagination? Even being 'Rich' or 'Poor' is a thought in mind. Plato described these platonic forms are non-physical, timeless and unchangeable things. However, it seems, everything that we 'see' and 'hear' are non-physical, and timeless, as they are platonic. But it seems change is the only constant thing which underly them, not persistence. Understanding this makes the mind liberated from the continuous loop of struggle. When I sit on my chair and type these words, I can see the juggler, the magician of the mind, still juggles all the words in English , to create a meaning out of it. Which will never be possible.

What are dreams? This is yet another article on dreams . Why so many? because dreams are abundant and such an essential part of happiness. If you do not have dreams probably you would not enjoy anything. I am not talking about dreams in sleep. Dreams while seeping, I have no idea what they are and philosophical value of it. However, dreams in real life, are just projections of our cravings into the future. And here I am going to show you why you can't kill a dream. And why it is essential for happiness. We encourage dreams. We ask our children to dream about their future and write essays on what they would become when they grow up. It seems logical, as we followed the same path. Why dreams are essential for happiness. Happiness looks like a relative feeling between your dream and the achievement. More the gap, more you would be happy. If you are dreaming to be a rich and you became super rich, you would be happier. But if you are poor and you wanted to be rich and you became super rich, you would be most happy. If you only expect nothing, you would be the happiest person on earth. Dreams essentially are another measurement, a value , or a mental object . We do not realize this, however as all other mental objects, they subject to variation, and individualizations. As you can see, if there was no dream, there cannot be enjoyment. If there are no expectations, all the reality of the living a life disappears. Because there is no fulfilment in any sense. Having said this, I am going to show you why you cannot achieve such a platonic state of mind. Imagine you want to destroy or kill all your dreams and achieve nothing. Let it flow like a leaf floating on water without effort. A form of automatic living. How would you achieve that? One who search for a dream. Imagine a person, who lives on a mountain top. He is living in a paradise with plenty of food, water shelter, and supplies. Imagine he read in a book about a paradise, in a faraway land. And now he wants to go there. He gathered his supplies and traveled east, until he meets the ocean, and did not find a better place than his former home. Then he started his journey to west and could not find this paradise there either. He traveled north, and south, however each time he came back home with knowing that the home is better than everywhere. And he lived in his home, now just a little sad about everything. Only if he knew the paradise is where he lives and what he seeks is just an imagination, and all the paths lead outside his home is wrong, he could have been happy and stop the search and lived an ordinary life. A true seeker who does not seek. I see this as a great analogy to a search of a seeker, or a philosopher. It takes time to follow all the paths, written in books and taught by teachers to realize, there is no paradise, and whatever we feel is only what there is. There is no place called no dreams as well. As you can see, no dreams are another place, another destination, just like an ordinary dream. Which does not exist outside your imagination. Hence, our minds fool us one way or another with a future which is not there. Only with this wisdom, if you look at your mind mindfully you would understand what the monkey mind is doing to our house. It tries to destroy it and built another like the Sisyphus who was punished , just so we can build another. Now compare this to following articles, statue of David Michelangelo, what you see is not what it is but who you are. At the time of dreaming, you are the dream, just like what you are seeing is who you are. Hence it is wrong to seek a dream and not seek, and you would know just let them be is right attitude in mindfulness .

If you know the story The fisherman and businessman, you can skip to the discussion here One day a businessman, went on a vacation. He was a real wall street shark. He was at the beach, to see the sunset and enjoy the views. He was happy and content with his accomplishments of his life, few years to retire, and he will be happy until his death. He took a walk along the beach and saw a fisherman. Fisherman was resting by the beach, on the sand. His fishing pole by his side, and the bucket. Businessman wanted to chat with him and asked. "How is the fishing today? It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" "Oh yes, it is. I caught some fish". Fisherman replied. He peeped into the bucket. And saw two small fish, In the bucket. Smiled to himself, and he said confidently, "Well, not much fishing you have done, why don't you use a net?" "Why should I use a net?" Fisherman asked curiously. "Of course, if you use such a net, you will catch more fish. And If you catch more fish, you could buy a boat in no time." Now, fisherman was interested, "what can I do with a boat?" Businessman said. "I think you know better, you can go to deep sea, catch more fish and soon you can buy few more boats, or a bigger one and send someone else to go fishing for you. You can run a business and relax while others work for you." What am I going to do, after that? Fisherman asked. "What not, you can do anything, you can travel, dine at any boutique and, you can come by the beach. You can relax your time. Of course, you can do a little bit of fishing you like it." Businessman replied. Fisherman gave smile, and said, "Thank you friend for your kind advice, I am already relaxed. I am already satisfied, I am already enjoying the life, even without going through all the trouble that you suggested me to go through!" Life lessons from the story- Let's read the story unbiased. The story describes two common approaches to the problem of living a fruitful life. Should we spend our lives chasing higher targets like businessman did? or limiting ourselves to lower more achievable targets, like a minimalist would do. Being satisfied with whatever we already have. At least the second seem to be more attractive option although not many of us are inclined to follow that path. After all, the fisherman in this story can be an unhappy one without so much wisdom and really wished the businessman's life. Businessman on the other hand can be a wise one who is happy about his achievements and helping thousands of others to live happily under his empire. It seems life decisions cannot be funneled into such small all or none type of decision making. (Think about it, if there were no businessmen, fisherman may not have even a fishing line or a bucket, even cloths.) We and only we would know what is best for ourselves. Is this the only way to spend a successful life? This article will provide some insights to the question. What will you choose? What is a life well spent? You may also like to read: Golden Hour's rush. (POEM) Story of the monkey and the bird. That thief who did not lie. Thank you for reading fisherman and businessman story and life lessons.

"That's what makes a view so sad. And so beautiful. It'll be there when we're not." Let's explore the famous quote by Virginia Woolf, perhaps one of the most known British Writers of the past century. Born in 1882 as the seventh child, she has contributed to the literary world with many and more Gems, Mrs. Dalloway (1925): To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928) are among her well-known work. In her Novel Between the acts , she has written the above quote, which overlaps with some of main Ideas I have written in previous articles hence it is a good subject to study. The quote captures following ideas. A view is both beautiful and sad. It seems there cannot be genuine beauty which is in its platonic form . So always there will be pain in pleasure. You can read about this more in Why I am afraid of beauty . A view would be there when we are not looking at it. That adds to the pain in a Suttle way. You cannot be on a vacation every day. And all the other days you would be missing sunsets. This is similar to any pleasant experience you are having. It doesn't last. The moment you stop experiencing it ends. This idea is further explored in Unseen world . How can we get away from the pain, of not being able to capture it all? Just like in limitations in photography , our consciousness is limited. And there is always something missing. Is there a way to solve the problem? This article is trying to explore some of possible solutions. But I can warn you it may not be pleasurable, as pleasure you can see will always be associated with pain. You can call it peace, silence , mindfulness , or nothingness. I can assure you words would not matter if you understood the concept. Quantum Philosophy. This is where quantum philosophy comes handy. Look at following ideas from quantum physics. We can provide intuitions to our daily understanding of views from these. wave particle duality - They can behave as discrete particles (localized entities) and as waves (with associated wavelengths and interference patterns) Uncertainty principle - The uncertainty principle, formulated by Werner Heisenberg, states that there are limits to how accurately we can predict certain properties of a quantum particle. (like mass and momentum) Fundamental principle these observations have is, that it is at a certain point in time, it is uncertain what is the mass, position, energy etc. of a particle until you measure it. And there is no way we can predict everything at the same time. And if you explore the cat in the box experiment by the Schrodinger, this illustrates this fact of quantum superposition . Cat in the box experiment. Physicist Erwin Schrödinger proposed it to illustrate the challenges of the Copenhagen interpretation. Here’s the setup: A cat is placed in a sealed box. Inside the box, there’s a flask of poison and a radioactive source connected to a Geiger counter. If the Geiger counter detects radioactivity (i.e., a single atom decaying), the flask shatters, releasing the poison and killing the cat. Now, here’s the twist: until you open the box , the cat is simultaneously both alive and dead due to quantum superposition. The experiment highlights the question of when superposition ends and reality collapses into one possibility or the other. While not meant for actual cats, it illustrates the behavior of atoms and remains an unsolved puzzle in physics. Virginia Woolf and Quantum philosophy After all Virginia Woolf seems to have written nothing on quantum philosophy. I think it is due to the fact that these quantum physics was not in any way was in the curriculum of a women who was home schooled. And some of the ideas surely were not even invented. So, her quote remains as it is. "That's what makes a view so sad. And so beautiful. It'll be there when we're not." Quantum philosophy suggests that a view would be there and not there when we do not look at it. Just like a cat in the box. And it is really unpredictable, hence a relative truth that the sunset is there when you are not on a vacation. It seems like a stupid argument. However, it is strong enough argument that nobody can break. Hence, we have to take it as a relative truth. And that is also a solution to the problem. If something is a relative truth, there is no need to be sad or greed over it. Here is another way to look at truths about what we see. What you see is not what it is, but who you are. I will end the article with another quote from VW. Which reads " Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others " or living in a dream

Nobel prize winner, George Bernard Shaw is considered as an influential playwright, critic, and political activist. Born on July 26, 1856, in Dublin, Ireland he Authored over sixty plays, including notable works like Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913), and Saint Joan (1923). And here is another quote from him. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself”. However, for the purpose of this article, I chose the above quote. And here is another little thought experiment on it. Land of happiness - Goldilocks In the far corner of the world there is a land. A land isolated from the rest of the world. The land is above the clouds. Not too cold, not too warm, it has the right temperature, and climate throughout the year. The land has enough farmers, not too much, not too little, food throughout the year. The food in this land, is very tasty, nothing like ordinary in our world. These are the best of the best food from the whole world. The rivers of this land, always flowing with clear water as there was no soil erosion or pollution. People in this land know nothing about the outside world. Imagine everything you wish for in this life. And that is available in one form or the other in the land. It is just like Miss Goldilocks wished. Now the question is are the people in this land happy? Feeling fulfilled? Let's read the quote by Bernard Shaw again, “ There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it. " The first part of the quote is easy, of course it is pain, if we do not have what we desire. Ever since we were born in this world we craved for things. We craved for mothers' milk and warmth, even when we could not speak, we cried. Since then, the constant desire and fulfil cycle has been there without any break. From morning till night from night till morning, craving happens hour after hour. This is common, for all the dictators , all the teachers , all the thieves and all the animals , except for some wise men who are non-living . You would ask so what? that is life. What is the problem of having craving and satisfying these cravings. This is the second part of the quote is about. Because it doesn't stop there. Once we get what we desire, the mind craves more. If you had a perfect vacation last year, you would want another one this year. If you are a millionaire, you would want to be a billionaire. If you won a silver medal last year in Olympics you would want a gold medal this year, and it is not over for the gold medalist as well, as he would need to break the world record. For the one who break the world record, would need to break it again, and if not would need to keep the ecstasy of the moment lasted throughout the rest of the life. But can he ever achieve this. Impossible. It seems mind deceives us somehow with a promise of an eternal happiness. And only very wise men/women would know the cheating game the mind plays. And try to escape the reality. There are two tragedies in life, one is to get what Goldilocks philosophy Let's get back to the land of happiness. Will Goldilocks in the land of happiness be happy? If you are finding it difficult to imagine an affluent country. And the people in this country never knew about other countries. They would never know that what they are experiencing is the best food, they would not know they are sitting on best chairs, they would not know, what they are sleeping is on best beds. But Goldilocks knew because she had this past experience on what is good for her. Anyone who has no prior experience in poor would not know that they are rich. And because of this, Suttle variations would appear as biggest. Just like a millisecond that the Olympic gold medalist crave for, they would find happiness as well as plenty of sadness. I am sure there would be enough tears and depressed people, for other reasons. Because after all Bernard Shaw is true, there are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it. Perhaps, we do not need to strain our brains imagining a land of happiness. Maybe just a marriage would be enough to identify the wisdom in above quote. Two boys desire a blond girl, and one was fortunate enough to marry her. Who do you think is happy at the end of the day? Yes, perhaps for a day or a week the one who gets the girl would be happy, and then he would desire something else. It seems, the stupidity of the mind is never ending, in the exact moment you desire something. Even when you are reading the article I am sure, many times you changed your mind on value of the message. Hence, I would advise, try to see beyond the process and look at the inherent valuelessness of the process of consciousness.

The Quote . Yes, I wrote this quote, inspired by the previous quote by Carl Jung, "who looks outside dreams: who looks inside awakens". However, the Carl Jung quote is not practical. How can we look inside all the time? Hence, I have introduced above quote. It provides you with a little wisdom which can help you get along with the day. Even hard situations. Bear with me, and I will explain in detail. However, first, remember the quote. Write it down. What you see is not what it is but who you are If you remember the quote and remind it throughout the day you can practice mindfulness easily. Following is the explanation to why it works. ------------------------------- Let's take a walk in the imaginary beach. You are walking in the afternoon in the sandy tropical beach. While the sea wind embraces you, you slowly walk towards the far away lighthouse. And you can see fishermen busy trying to sail their boats, some already out in the sea. You can see your partner, walking to the beach-hotel, you yell and wave, but he/she did not hear. You give up and continue to walk, and you remember you are free from your duties, now on vacation. However, along the way, you see one of your bosses also, on vacation, on the same beach. And he is not the one you are looking forward to meet. So, you put a fake smile on your face and continue to walk, until it is too dark into the night. And after some time, you get tired, it's too dark to continue walking on an unknown beach, and you walk back, while sea waves crash on the beach, still. And you return for your dinner just in time. -------------------------------- It looks like a happy memory, except those encounters with your boss, and needing to walk back to the hotel in the dark. And I would say practicing mindfulness in those type of situations is easy. However, if you practice enough, you can expand it into your office working hours. Now, let's use the intuitions provided by the quote, what you see is not what it is who you are. How to walk mindfully? ---------------------------------- Let's take the same walk mindfully this time. You are walking in the afternoon in the sandy tropical beach, and you remind yourself what you see is not what it is but who you are. While the sea wind embraces you, you know that the wind is you, you slowly walk towards the far away lighthouse, and you know the lighthouse is you. And you can see fishermen busy trying to sail their boats, some already out in the sea, and you notice, the image you see is form of a reflection of your own mind. So, far so good. You can see your partner, walking to the beach-hotel, you yell and wave, but he/she did not hear, you notice the partner you see is still your reflection, and also the happiness you feel when you see your partner is also part of the reflection. You give up and continue to walk, and you remember you are free from your duties, now on vacation, and you see this sense of freedom is also a part of your mind's creation. Along the way, you see one of your bosses also, on vacation, on the same beach, and you notice, the boss is something I see, and it must be who I am, hence, what is the point being cross with myself? And you notice, same as happiness you felt watching your partner, you do not have to be sad about the sadness you feel as it is still your mind's creation. So, you put a genuine smile on your face and continue to walk, until it is too dark into the night and know the night you feel is you. And after some time, you get tired, it's too dark to continue walking on an unknown beach, and you walk back, while sea waves crash on the beach still, you do your little return walk, still reminding yourself, the night, the walk and the beach are still you. Why? because everything which came to your consciousness were essentially reminders or pointers point towards you. And you return for your dinner just in time. -------------------------- I think the duality of the nature, deserves more explanation than this. However, this may not be the time or place hence, it will be another article for future. However similar concepts you may find in different articles like the following. Would there be a peace without war? Can there be happiness without sadness, or pleasure without sorrow? Why I am afraid of beauty. Golden hours rush - Poem