To Kill a Mockingbird - and mindfulness The Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper lee is one of the most read, and appreciated novel of its era, even up to today. For obvious reasons. Above is one of the famous quotes in the book, made by the character Judge Taylor. And the full quote is as follows. People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for, and they have the right to subject their children to it, but I can assure you of one thing: you will receive what you see and hear in silence or you will leave this courtroom, but you won’t leave it until the whole boiling of you come before me on contempt charges. He says those words ruling that women and children are allowed to be in the court for the hearing. But they are not allowed to disturb the proceedings in any way. It is understandable that given the context, it has more narrower meaning. And first when I read the quote, it did looks like capturing essentials of mindfulness practice. And I will show you why. I am not going in further details of the plot of the novel. However, a brief summary you may find in the internet. Before moving on look at the following quote which I picked up from a twitter. A book read by a thousand people is thousand books. Did you see the similarity? Taken in isolation, this is exactly what I gathered from the above quote, people generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for. It seems no matter what is presented to our perception, it is somehow altered by our past experience. As past is always carried by us, like an information sphere, or like earth, like Atlas the Giant. Similarly, we can expand the above quote in following ways as well. A flower seen by a thousand people is a thousand flowers A film watched by a thousand couples is two thousand films. A dinner taken by two people is two dinners A song heard by a dozen people is a dozen songs Philosophy of the quote "People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for" Now, you can understand that if we were mindful about the fact, that our perceptions are different from one person to another, there would be less arguments, and less fights over stupid little things. At least that will do some good. However, this is not the only depth we can go to, as always wisdom doesn't let us stop there. As I see, A flower seen by me in the morning and afternoon are two flowers A film watched by me twice in the past are two films A mouthful taken by me during the dinner are individual mouthfuls A song listens by me a dozen times is a dozen different sounds hence, a dozen songs. A thought which occurs about the past, is a new thought. These are intuitions which are gathered and indeed helpful in our mindful practice, as always wisdom follows mindfulness vice versa. Knowing the facts help to understand the mind process. With these intuitions we can now try to answer the question, who am I? once again, an attempt to answer. Because, I who have listened a dozen songs, are not the same I, as with each iteration of the song, my personality had changed. Each second, each half a second and each millisecond. Without ever even 'me' knowing about it. If these paragraphs, tickles your brain, I suggest you look at following articles, to understand the process a little bit more. Consciousness , past , present mental objects , mindful eating

Who looks outside If you want to be successful in the world, you will need dreams. You will need targets, time tables and stratergies. If you are running a company a vision mission and goals. What are these, these are just dreams. A university student has a dream to complete the degree and to be able to join a successful team, to feel fulfilled about achievements same time earning money for a comfortable life. An enterprenuer has a dream to increase the profit so he could afford to buy a luxury Ford. A fisherman has a dream, to catch more fish, or shrimp in that matter, and build a fleet of boats. A child has a dream full of baloons, and fish and mothers warmth. And it is inevitable who looks outside, dreams. But there is a different meaning to this. A whole new deapth to the dreams that we see. Duality of the world- mindful listening If you have read previous articles about dreams and conciousness , you would understand the duality of the world. When we look outside, we will be able to find things outside. Just like now. Let's do a small thought experiment on this. A little mindfulness practise to understand what is the dream. Close your eyes for a second after reading this, and listen to sounds for a moment. And ask yourself where is the sound? Where is the each and every sound comes from. It seems that the sounds are outside. When you hear a bird singing, the mind would 'dream' a bird, or imagine a bird, outside your room on a tree. But was there a bird? No, you did not see a bird, there was only a sound. And the bird you imagined may or may not be there. There is no way of knowing that, because at that exact moment, you were only listening to the sound. And once the sound dissapeared you were thinking about the bird. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakens. Carl Jung If you know the mechanism of hearing, you would know, sound is not there even in your ear, even in your brain, it is just a vibration of air, ear drum and electrical impulses in your brain. Interpreted as 'sound' Hence even with logic we can understand, there is no 'sound' in the real world apart from an interpreter or observer. If something cannot exist without the other, is it a one thing or two things? You can think about every sensation you are having in this way, and know it yourself. The duality of the nature is created only when you imagine it is outside, however if you look at yourself mindfully each and every second of living you would get to know, the world is you, and you are the world. It is not two separate entities. Hence the second part of Carl Jung quote is also correct it seems. Who looks inside awakens from the dream. Observer is the observed- Krishnamurti If you look at the past, different philosophers of our era, knew this and understood this concept in different ways. JJ Krishnamurti once said, the observer is the observed. So, there is nothing existing outside the observer. This is the reality of things. It seems tragic at first. But even the thought of 'this is tragic and so it is sad' is something we observe. Hence, not some 'thought' which arised in 'me' but what 'I' was at the exact moment it came to the knowledge. Chasing dreams No wonder, modern man is so tired chasing a dream. Without knowing these facts, which rests in our hearts, we chase dreams outside world. We argue with people surrounding us, and we get angry. We get happy when New York Knicks win over Chicago Bulls. And we go on shoping, to improve the way we see ourselves in front of the mirror. We cry and smile and laugh on the same day. Only if we knew and remind ourselves what we see is not what it is but who we are, the pain and burden will reduce, and the ripples in the mind would calm down until you are able to see the bottom of the pool once forever and see nothing. Otherwise, we would continue to chase the mirrage but never drink water. Let's start a mindful Journey today and to understand the true meaning of follwing quote and even see the relative nature of it. (given in the context - that it was written in a letter to someone who was mourning in beravement, Carl Jung may have meant something entirely different, like empathy. But I would never know, hence relative) -------------------------------- I realize that under the circumstances you have described you feel the need to see clearly. But your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Without, everything seems discordant; only within does it coalesce into unity. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakens Carl Jung --------------------------------- Oh Carl Jung was not the first to say this. Remember we sang? Row row row your boat gently down the stream Merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream. Problem is we forgot its a dream. And started to live in it!

Have you lost your keys lately? Eternal search for happiness I have lost my keys. Yet again for the 100th time. It seems the keys are the most lost item from all the household. It has happened so much If we calculate millions of human hours may have been lost looking for the keys. So, that even there are solutions for never to lose an item, I attached a piece of GPS gadget, with a tracking app. Nowadays, Air tags can be attached to any item you need to find out from your car to your partner. However, If I tell you there are many important items that you have been looking for, which cannot be tagged, but loses so often, you will not agree with me. Hence, I will write about it. Since we were born, since young age we have been searching for happiness. The pursuit of happiness. Whenever we got a craving, we were looking for things to quench our thirst. Some of us took the easy road, without worrying too much about a future. Took the lazy path, settled in a job, and be happy with a piece of bread and beer. Some of us could not settle for simplicity. So, we took a path, which is longer and tedious. To tackle down 10000 hours to the mastery. And once one skill mastered, we could not step their either. We had to take a long journey of saving and investing, to Grow money, into a crypto emperor. Yet like a mirage, it always flees away. Happiness always seems to flee . Happiness stories, coins, cushions and cocaine Look at the wealthiest, the Elite and top cream of our society. Devorce rates of Hollywood is 40-50% And it seems the people who are always smiling, and travelling in luxury cars, seems to be unsatisfied with one partner. It cannot be a problem with education or intelligence. As they also represent a similar cohort of our society. Once I saw a couple who went to the bakery. They had few coins with them. After buying the breakfast to their child, after he ran away to the school, they counted their coins. And they could afford a single bun with the remaining money. And they did, and happily shared the bun with each other. Wow ! I thought. That is rare. How come one person find happiness in such places with so much little coins? I am sure, a good night sleep would be a luxury to every celebrity, unless they are not humble to give it a thought, that happiness does not come from the cushions or cocaine. Sounds familiar? Occasionally I see an artist being brutally honest about the life. ------------------Mike Posner----------------------- I took a pill in Ibiza To show Avicii I was cool And when I finally got sober, felt 10 years older But fuck it, it was something to do I'm living out in LA I drive a sports car just to prove I'm a real big baller cause I made a million dollars And I spend it on girls and shoes But you don't wanna be high like me Never really knowing why like me You don't ever wanna step off that roller coaster and be all alone ------------------------------------------------------------ To end the eternal search for happiness. I have been in the battle myself. Just like a kid collecting candy on a mat. And I got tired. I have got tired so much, that I was watching a film after film, song after song, to the crazy mind feeding what it asks for. And luckily, I heard about mindfulness . A path to wisdom about the comedy and tragedy of life . To rise above and look into the absurdity of the life . To understand the perpetual wheel which spins around and around, like the punishment of Sisyphus . So, that I could understand the relative nature of the so-called happiness. And once I step into the roller Coster of mindfulness, it started to flow, into an automatic mode. And it seems, understanding the happiness with wisdom , will really put a full stop to the eternal search for it. Long before life is stolen away by nature. So, I invite you to listen to a mindful song today , to end the eternal search for happiness or lost keys forever.

Telos of life - in a dragon scroll To understand the secret of life, you first need to watch the movie kung fu panda. In the first movie which always is the best in a series, there is a scene about a dragon scroll. An ancient secret of kung fu master's which holds the power to ultimate Non defeatable dragon warrior. So, everyone Wish that they had the power in the scroll, Villans and heroes alike. And after a big battle between two parties, they get the dragon scroll and open it to see what is inside. And guess what. It is empty. Some practical joke of some ancient master who wanted them to believe that there is power. This made me wonder just like the kung fu panda. What if this is true. What if the telos of life is to understand that the dragon scrolls or the ultimate truth about telos (meaning) of life is an empty one. What is the telos (meaning) of life? This is the greatest philosophical question which was asked and attempted to answer since the history of philosophy. Meaning of life , is a great place to start. Isn't it. There are many and more arguments about this. Simply put following are great thoughts from the past, great philosophical minds. Now look at the following, taken from wiki. And all these questions seek the same answer although they are asked in slightly different various forms. What is the meaning of life? What's it all about? Who are we? Why are we here? What are we here for? What is the origin of life? What is the nature of life? What is the nature of reality? What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of one's life? What is the significance of life? What is meaningful and valuable in life? What is the value of life? What is the reason to live? What are we living for? I have been in search of meaning of life, just like you. Just like thousands of others. With mindfulness as a tool, I have trying to observe the waves of the beach of mind . To see a pattern. To see any clue about the telos of life. So, far, I haven't found anything. And that is where the wisdom of Kung Fu Panda comes in. Maybe there is no Telos of life after all. Maybe after all the battle, I might find an empty scroll. But the problem is unless I get hold of the Dragon scroll of life and look into myself, I would never see that, the scroll is empty. I cannot believe on what someone else is saying as, they may be wrong. It is necessary to see the emptiness myself. Oh, you may wonder these are my own words. These are my imagination, and there is no credibility to what I say. This is just a speak of a delusional mind. So, here I would write about following story from the book, Plato and Platypus Walk into a bar. And see the similarity to yourself. Of course you would not understand why the Dragon scroll is empty, if you are just at the beginning of your mindfulness practice . However, deeper you go into the chaos of mind, you would understand more and more, the stupidity that beholds in everyday life, so you begin to doubt the sanity of most of so-called human stories. Telos of life - in a teacup. A seeker has heard that the wisest guru in all of India lives atop India’s highest mountain. So, the seeker treks over hill and Delhi until he reaches the high mountain. It’s incredibly steep, and more than once he slips and falls. By the time he reaches the top, he is full of cuts and bruises, but there is the guru, sitting cross-legged in front of his cave. “O, wise guru,” the seeker says, “I have come to you to ask what the secret of life is.” “Ah, yes, the secret of life,” the guru says. “The secret of life is a teacup.” “A teacup? I came all the way up here to find the meaning of life, and you tell me it’s a teacup!” The guru shrugs. “So maybe it isn’t a teacup.” So, the message is, it may be found anywhere. Like this blog claims as it is, happiness may be found in a floating leaf , a buzzing bee or a little soft wind tossing your hair. It may be not the happiness you get from the cravings, when they are satisfied, but fulfilment, which is inevitable when the truth in a teacup is understood. Which is there in this exact moment. Let us drink a cup of coffee mindfully today. Sometimes I wish to be a coffee. Just to be valued a few bucks. Just to be cared for a few minutes Just to be held to spend few moments. Just to make it a little warm On a chilling day Like this.

Claustrophobia. Some of us have it. One of my close relatives have it. Claustrophobia is not a joke at all. Just like being afraid of heights. Have you seen tourists walk on glass bridge of China? for some it is just a walk in the park. They can fully enjoy. But some struggle even to move their feet from one place to the other. Obviously, there is no risk of death (almost Nill) from a fall. Yet they are afraid, which is uncontrollable to them. So, claustrophobia similarly is not a lie. These people are afraid of closed spaces. Mostly they cannot undergo, medical imaging as they cannot be inside a closed room. They can't tolerate pushed into the doughnut of death! I am not claustrophobic at all. Yet I have felt once that I am close to being a one when I watched about caving. Nutty-putty Cave- story of claustrophobia If you haven't heard the story, Nutty putty cave is a now shut down cave located in Utah in United states. It is cave with its own challenges. The famous narrow tract which is called the Birth canal is located in deep parts of the cave. Once you are in such a narrow passage, there is no way of turning back, no way of moving back. Only way you can come out is moving forward until you reach the other end into a bigger 'room' where you can turn back. I saw a video of someone who, took the journey through the birth canal, and if you watch the full video, I am sure, if you are not a caving expert like me, even an ordinary person would feel claustrophobic, just by watching it. It is like this wired feeling that he is going to get stuck. Nutty putty cave -Closure. In 2009, November 24th, John Edward Jones, who is one of experienced caver went exploring the cave, and got stuck in a narrow passage, which was previously not mapped. after more than 24 hours being stuck, despite all the rescue attempts he died inside the cave. Upside down. This part of the cave was even narrower than the 'birth canal' and the problem was that there was no room at the end of the passage for him to turn back. Being slightly slanted position, I could only imagine the situation what he felt. And I can imagine and describe, which will even make you claustrophobic. The event led to the closure of the nutty putty cave, with his dead body inside as it was too risky to bring him back. In contrast to the successful story of the Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand. Imagine, with all the aspirations and life ahead of you, but being stuck without any hope for 24 hours, with a risk of being dead in next few hours. I like to imagine what will go in my mind in the last 24 hours of this life. Will I be happy I spent it trying to find out the true telos of life? or I would just think about what to eat when I go home, or the amount of money in my bank account. Will I be worried about the exam which is in December? There are unanswered questions. Only time would provide with answers. Let us think about life , before inevitable death , as there are so many dumb ways to die. Thank you for reading, Nutty-putty Cave- story of claustrophobia. You would like to Read about the allegory of the cave- philosophy Video links. Nutty putty cave Incident of John John's death.

Actual Tsunamis. Following is a paragraph from the book What is time, which needs more explanation. ------------------------------------- Boxing day tsunami - on massive waves and natural disasters. In 2004 boxing day I woke up early morning and came to know there had been a major flood in coastal regions of our country. Later that day we saw videos from coastal cities, innocent people washed away by massive waves back and forth until they were washed back to the sea. We had never seen those stories for ages, except there was one story from the ancient times when the queen of an ancient king sacrificed herself and was sent to the sea to stop floods, and somehow it stopped after the sacrifice and she landed safely at another coast. Now we know the true nature of tsunami. It's been almost two decades, still people are living by the coast, with memories of missing loved ones washed away by the sea. Sea is not rough, like it's December 26 of that year. Yet waves crash, and they retreat, over and over again. Occasionally a big wave reaches more than others and wash away some more into the land and retract back to the sea. Even the tsunami retreated back to the sea. I suggest you be the visitor of your own beach of mind, until you notice the endless process of thoughts crashing on the beach. To retract back. Occasionally big waves. And massive tsunamis will happen one day. And when it does, it is time to exercise your practice. It is the best prediction about the future we can make. And like some wise man once said ‘The best thing I have learned about my life is not to trust each and every thought ‘. --------------------------------------- This is not a time or the place to describe the mechanisms behind, Tsunamis. After Boxing Day Tsunami, most of our generation came to know of the knowledge that this natural disaster is never a never event as 300000 people perished that day. I have written a previous article on waves of the sea and waves of life . Hence briefly mentioned about Tsunamis. Something about these waves fascinates me somehow. When I see a video of a Japanese Tsunami, 12 meters high waves rushing towards coastal towns and totally destroying, I see no discrimination there. Wealthy and poor alike run away from their homes. I can the horror they see their massive mansions destroyed, or tiny huts destroyed, is equal. And they remain naked in front of the natures, teasing. Aftermath is similarly uniting them. Neighbours who were divided by their, status, not come to realization that they are equal, for a brief time period before they build up those tiny houses back again, associated their names. Microscopic tsunamis If I say tsunami, teaches us principles of life, you will not agree, Hence I will give you more and more examples. This time from your own Physiology, chemicals in your body, and how they react. Imagine someone having a severe injury to their body . A mangled limb, or crushed Torso, from fully functional at time 0, they go to severe, injured dead cells at time 1second. Apart from this physical injury, it leads to severe, inflammatory response in your body which is called, Systemic inflammatory response or SIRS. Imagine this is like a Tsunami inside your body, thousands of chemicals released will activate massive reaction in the body. Now, It has shown, that the SIRS is followed by an anti-inflammatory response (Compensatory anti-inflammatory response) following days to weeks. Just like aftermath of the Tsunami. Bigger the injury (Earthquake) Bigger the SIRS(Tsunami) and Bigger the CARS(aftermath of Tsunami). for an individual, if it is big enough, it could lead to death. Social Tsunamis - Have you been to a party? Have you ever been to a party? In that case even a wedding. I call them Social Tsunamis. Because as you can see, they really do destroy the peace and the serenity. Of course, I have been to party, a summer concert. When we ride the wave, we do feel the adrenalin rush. Just like a real Tsunami. It may bring happiness, but the bigger the wave bigger the aftermath. Either good memories or chaotic ones. Time would only tell. Imagine the staff, or the house owner, or the state which tries to clean up the mess. Sometimes I wonder is it really necessary the chaos we create. Of course this is an introvert's point of view . Mental Tsunamis. Remember the principle. Bigger the wave, bigger the aftermath. Bigger the greed, bigger the loss. Bigger the gap between expectations and achievement, bigger the happiness. There are mental Tsunami's which will happen from time to time. Loss of a loved one, Loss of a limb, diagnosis of a cancer , or rejection from the co-operation. If your mental attachment to the mental objects is too heavy, it will destroy everything. The more the sea is retracting, expect a bigger wave. So, how you can survive a Tsunami? How to survive a tsunami - natural This is easy, if you built a house, in the cost you are prone to face a Tsunami. It might not be today; your children of children might go washed away to the sea. If you visit the cost a Tsunami is unavoidable, and if you see the sea retracting, just do not try to go and investigate. As you have the information now, now we know what to do. Not to go and see the poor fish who tries to swim back as we ourselves are in imminent danger, we should walk, towards higher grounds. There is just enough time to reach the hill and avoid the full blow of the massive wave, where we would not survive. Even in Medicine, when there is initial injury which is now creating a SIRS, physicians will try to minimize the SIRS which will reduce The CARS, and the patient will recover well. They anticipate and take action. The question is do we follow same rules in mental Tsunamis? Or can we? How to survive a Tsunami - of life. So, how to survive a tsunami of life? Try to look at yourself and try and find out where your house is built? Is it in a tsunami prone costal region, not on a higher ground, take action today. Start living mindfully and weaken your attachments to mental objects . It will weaken the waves and one day, you would be able to enjoy the beach without any fear. Because you can walk to your safe house when the sea starts retracting.

I was looking at the phone, the other day, just like you. And there popped up an image asking the question 'What is the bone shown here' And there was a picture of an exposed shoulder of a young person. And then there was the collarbone, clearly visible through the skin. I could see hundreds of answers and here is the analysis of different answers to the question. Shrug bone. Beauty bone Collar bone Clavicle Those were some of the answers given by people of different backgrounds. First, we will see some possible reasons behind these answers and then we will try to see some more answers. I am sure, Collar bone is a general knowledge, however someone with a medical or in that case, who studies zoology or biology would know it is also named clavicle. Maybe one's who answered it clavicle, may have fractured it and doctors, explained it in those terms. Some explained it is the beauty bone, as lot of girls who like to be beautiful, try to shape themselves to make it exposed, even by means of anorexia Nervosa. Hence, I have seen Japanese girls, who put water above their exposed bone, and put some Koi fish in it to show their achievement. And I really do not know how the word Shrug bone came from. More answers to the question of which bone? Those were the main answers. But for the purpose of this article, I gave it a thought. I am sure there are more to it than those. Imagine, the question is only asked in English. How many languages are there in this world? 3000? Obviously, some of the languages do not have a name for the collar bone. But many of them would have and there is possibility that there are more than thousands of them. If you include Alean languages like Klingon, I am sure there is a word for the bone you would find there. Now, let's move on, it is considered as correct to answer such a question. But let's look back at the question and question the question for the sake of it and be a child in answering. I could see, why people answered the way they answered but the problem is I did not see a bone there. All I saw was some skin. Truely speaking no one should have seen a bone. Everyone should see skin. Yet, they saw a bone When questioned. This made me think, why did I see a collar bone, in a place where there is no part of it is visible? Where was my collar bone which I saw and why? Where is my collarbone? And answers were simple. Imagine someone showed the same photograph and asked the question, this is my shoulder, do you think I am a man or a woman? This is my shoulder, am I fair? You can think about any question. Someone might even ask, this is my shoulder, what is the color of my car? I am sure, no one would answer a question like that with above answers. Nobody would ever say collar bone. So, the answers, are just because of the question, and everyone saw a collar bone, which was not there just because of the question. Now, this is a great example to show that our thoughts are shaped by the information that is put into it. So, the collar bone everyone saw, was in their minds, and not in the picture. (Where is my collar bone -> is it in mind?) Oh, you may think that is the depth. But I would say, no my friend there is no depth to it. Let's look back at the question again. Is there a collar bone? Yes, there was and no there was not. Was there skin? Yes, there was and no there was not. After you read the article, you would agree there was skin only. But I say look beyond, question again. Do you see skin. Take out your magnifying glass and see. You will see the pixels which make an image. So, there was no skin. The skin that you saw was in your mind. And there were only pixels. But the truth is even pixels are made out of just some colors. And if you would saw that picture forgetting everything you have learnt so far you would see nothing. So, what did you see? Is it an illusion? All I can say is that it was a relative truth. In the context, it is true that there is a collarbone and not absolute. Let's ask another question. Where is the mind the collarbone was in ?

How to watch Olympic games - Wrong way Maybe you are in Paris at the time of writing of this, watching the summer Olympic games. Maybe you are watching a game, where there is a good chance that your country would win a medal. As you have already known, I write about mindfulness and philosophy . Hence, here I will do a thought experiment on a game of table tennis, from a spectator's point of view. Whenever we start a game, first thing we do is we pick a side. It is easy if there is a player from your country. Obviously, there is no choice in that. But if you have been long enough in Olympic village, as often it happens, there may be no contestant from your country in the game you are watching now. Let's imagine that the game you are going to watch is not having any players from your country. Imagine its Nepal against Senegal. But the moment you look at the match, somehow you will pick a side. Depending on some criteria. Maybe you have visited either one of the countries. Maybe you hate Asians but not Africans. Or other way around. Maybe The Nepal contestant is good looking, or the other one is poor. Somehow you will pick a side, often this happens automatically. And just like you cheer up for your country you would start favoring one, and often not you will even feel a Suttle sadness once the game is over, if your favorite player did not win. How to watch Olympic games - Riskless way Compared to this imagine riskless way of watching a game. You cannot pick a side, consciously, try to avoid picking a side. Can you imagine such a situation. That you would be equally happy either one of them wins. It is a win situation for you if you can, and often it happens you cannot. Why is that? It is like a riskless way of living, like becoming a minimalist in life. Somehow, we are unable to enjoy a game fully if we do not pick a side. This is true for almost all the games. The reward is associated with the amount of risk we are willing to take. Sounds familiar? If you are into finance, this is the same principle why stocks are giving higher returns than bonds. It is all about risk. Now think about the game of life , would you rather be risk less like a minimalist or try to be a high achiever? Where is the fun in it? Where is the happiness? Following is an article I have written a year ago in the book What is time . We will try to find out where is happiness. Step 3 - The Podium. Let's imagine a podium of three steps. Imagine any kind of sport you'd like to watch, and you have been following. Imagine it's time for presentations. National anthem of the winner is playing in the background. Everyone is presented with medals. Let's see what they are thinking. Let's look at the minds of the winners.  The bronze medalist is happy, he has done his personal best performance finishing the race in dazzling time. He is the best in his country, now he has won a medal on the world podium. He is happiest in his career, and this will be the pinnacle of his life. Why wouldn't be he happy? The silver medalist is happy, he is on the podium, he couldn’t do his personal best. However he has got the next best, he is smiling yet there is a tug in his voice. He knows he could do better, maybe next time, maybe next year, maybe next race. He cannot fully appreciate his win as thoughts keep coming back. It should have been his anthem that is playing. Maybe he still has a point to prove to the reporters who are following him. But this time he settles for the silver. The gold medalist, he is happy. This is the best he could imagine, second time he has won the gold, he was just a millisecond away from the world record. Once again, he has proven he is the best in the world. He could have been happier if he could get the perfect start today. It wasn't the best start, rest was smooth. He could have proven that he is the best ever lived if it wasn't for the bad start. Yet he is happy. Happiness is at 99.99 level except for the millisecond that he missed; it could have been 100. It's not the participation, it's not the fight we are giving, it's the value which we give to these events by ourselves, determining winners and losers, triumph and failure. Who gives values to these events. If you look carefully, nobody gives value to these events. You only can give value to events in your own imagination. Whenever we measure, whenever we monitor, whenever we value, there will be a pursuit, there will be a race and there will be winners or losers. And we will lose the happiness war. To win the war against happiness, let’s lose the values we have given to our battles. Can we do that? Never forget it's the war, not the battle which needs winning. Who taught us to give values to these events? Our parents, our teachers, our books or science? Is it our religious leaders? Politicians or friends? Can we unlearn what we have learned and become a child again? 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 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. Is happiness relative? I saw a post on current Olympic championship, where China who won the silver medal were in tears, while the bronze medal team were rejoicing their victory. Obviously, something is wrong, and you know what. It is relative. The amount of happiness we feel is relative to our initial target. This is the risk we are taking. How are you going to avoid such a simple mistake, is by understanding this happens, at the time it happens. Otherwise, there will be always a loss, and happiness will always not there even in a podium in Olympic games. Ironically the happiest person in the world is, not an Olympic medalist, but a monk! who owns nothing to his name. And we know why, because his level of expectation is so low, that even able to breath is a happiness. If you would like to learn more about happiness following articles would help How to be the happiest person on earth. Happiness paradox To catch the happiness before it hides (poem) Will anyone survive a world without happiness

Creator of a creator. I am a creator myself. On numerous occasions I have created many things. I have created a statue carved on a soap. I have created paintings; I have created a cup of coffee a soap bubble and a blog. So, no one can argue I am not a creator. How do I create them I really do not know, as there is no option when there is a craving to create. Specially pieces of poem, throughout my twitter page are created when I am deeply sad or extremely happy. It happens automatically most of the time, when the dam which keeps the emotions in check fails due to heavy rains and even a small hole become bigger over time leading to structural collapse creating a tsunami which lasts hours into the day. Hence, I do not know how I am the creator, Yet I am. Now I wonder what the process was when the creator made the world. And like my brother recently suggested, there are questions like, why and what if not. Human Perspective Obviously, I am not the God. Because I do not feel like one, And I have not noticed God lives inside me, like I argued before . Hence, I would like to try and answer those questions in human wisdom. After all, we do not come to the world with the views of God, not until we go to the church, and listen to the stories of the priests. Hence, I would like to answer the question without prejudice. Like a kid. Realms of the creator - creation of the world? Why creation of the world? As we discussed earlier in Robert frost , the world is not a perfect place, with all its vulnerability to cruelty. Mostly visible in front of our eyes, some we have to imagine. Few questions that we should ask ourselves is, why? Why create a world with imperfections? Why all the animals were made to eat plants, instead of milk and flesh? Why grass is tasty only for cows? Obviously, it is easy to replicate the taste buds of cows in lions and hyenas, when the patent is owned by the God himself. And I could not put a blind eye to these, by listening to a human made answer. God, I believe is rational, obviously human mind is not able to understand the complexity. So, if that is true, there is a reason, a buffalo is killed by a lion and our Neighbour succumb to death by crushed by his own lorry. ( dumb ways to die ) But what about the lion. He becomes a killer and is that a good enough reason to be born as a cow next life. A cruel cycle of killing, and pain. So, it seems that God, is either not all mighty to create a world without cruelty or, there is some evil in the creator himself. More likely story of the creator is a creation of some of our ancestors in the attic of a supermarket, Like in the Sausage party of life . What if not? Let's look at this another angle. Imagine you started to build a world. You have a choice, to do or not to do. And if you built this world, you are certain, that there will be a cruelty, and destruction, physical and mental suffering. And if you do not, nothing would happen. There is no Adam, or Eve to eat the apple, and apple will be there forever uneaten. No chaos, no need to track their action, no need to send anyone to the depths of the hell for any crime as there are no souls. Did not the creator need some leisure time for himself instead of tracking the actions of all the packages he sent to the world? If I was the creator, with this level of human intuition, I would not make Chaos . I would just say "Ah, fuck it. I would not make it." Or is it a mistake? Or God himself have no free wil l, that he did not have a choice. Honestly, it is more likely a spontaneous evolution of nature. I am not arguing, God does not exist . I believe God, exist as a memory, in everyone's consciousness , who believes, as a knowledge, as a fact, as a belief, so does a tree.

Game of chess. Game of chess is played by the elite intelligent, non-average human beings. I often associated a game of chess with intelligence even at an earlier stage in my life. As a confession, I never fascinated the game. Although once or twice I have played with someone or in computer until it ends. Often, I would think it is a waste of time, as possibilities are endless. What is the point, I did not want to involve my whole life in a game where, obviously no prize. Recently this idea which I had, proved to be somewhat correct when I saw that one of the greatest women players of four times women chess champion quit her game as it would not bring enough money for her to sustain a living. Hence apart from top few chess players of world ranking, others will do, a proper Job to keep food on their table. And even if I played, I would never rank top 20! what are the chances? But I might play one day, when I do have enough time to spare, to savor a game with a colleague. Obviously, that is in the future as my little daughter has started to play the game. She is still learning how each piece is moving, and soon, she might challenge me for a game. It seems inevitable I play the game of kings and queens after all, just like unavoidable Rubik's cube . Game of checkers. Obviously, I liked the checkers better. This I had played many more than chess. It would take much less time, simple rules, and end so soon. I would not strain my brain, bending with rules. Only few things to look ahead. Maybe I did not want to lose. If you would like to know how not to lose simple tactic is not to play the game. Just like I wrote a long time ago on rat races . But life seems to be a game. The game of life does not allow us to cheat by not playing. It is obviously in the rules that mandate we play. But do we know better? I can remember some time ago I wrote the following and it illustrates the fact that game of life is also, like a game of chess or game of checkers. You are allowed to choose which game you are playing. Do, you want to play with simple rules, Like a minimalist. Or you want to play and defeat a king, to conquer and emperor, like a game of chess. If you have read the previous article on what is a life well spent , I included a third option of becoming a seeker. Obviously if you choose to play either you will be a winner or more often looser. But how to be a seeker? Becoming a seeker -Chess or checkers game of life. I can give you an analogy to look beyond the game that we play. Imagine you play a game of chess. Imagine this is real life. Some play kings, some play queens, some play rooks and knights. And there are plenty of pawns, rarely promoted to knights and queens at the end of their game. Isn't it feeling like in real life. Now you can see the similarity. But what happens. What happens at the end game. Everyone goes into the same bag. After the end of every game, everyone goes to the same bag. Kings, queens' knights and pawns alike. Just like the game of life where everyone, hug the earth, and becoming elements. There is no difference. The seeker will see beyond the game of chess, and rather than losing him/herself in the game. He will try to understand the rules of the game. Seek the truth without doubt before touching any pieces. He will observe how others play the game of life, and learn by their mistakes, and know that destiny of every piece is in the bag. Hence, I would say he would try to find a path to defeat the death to be immortal by not playing the stupid game. If you would like to know the rules of the game of life, I suggest you practice mindfulness to grow your wisdom. Thank you for reading, Chess or checkers - game of life. Follow this to read about the great game of chess played by Sherlock Holems and Moriarty , just like a battle by Nakamura and Magnus Charleson.

Cancer in the body. You may know someone with a cancer. Already, cured or succumbed. Cancer has become such an epidemic in modern world. It seems when our life expectancy went up as a population, it may have unmasked, these with more diagnostic facilities. But it seems a daunting experience to have one. Personally, I do not have this experience however I have seen someone closer to me going through this. He was a cheerful relative of mine, in his fifties, had a cancer diagnosis. And he was cheerful throughout his treatment period, even when he knew, he has few days to live. He came into terms within himself and passed away peacefully. And I am sure, that is not the case for everyone. Cancer has brought us enough mental and physical suffering, that I could not ignore it in the space. How someone can overcome such emotional consequences of a situation like diagnosis of a cancer. Even in that case some debilitating illness. It seems we have no other option than look into the faith, religion and if we fail, psychiatrist, to keep ourselves going. Let's look at cancer to understand some facts about it. As Just as death, it creates opportunity for us to think about the meaning of life seriously before life is cancelled out. Cancer in the mind. I do not have a cancer. Am I sure? Yes, so far there are no symptoms. But as you can understand this is not an absolute truth. There are few ways I can explain the relative truth in this, macroscopically speaking, microscopically speaking and philosophically speaking. Macroscopically It is true I do not have symptoms from a cancer. But now when I think about it, I know I am not 100% sure. I have a little back pain going on for some time. How sure I am that this is not a cancer. I can only assume. If someone did a whole-body scan today, in me they might find out a focus of a cancer in this body. Fully grown, half grown, curable, incurable, at any stage. That is one way, they detect cancers, in routine checkups. Good if it is curable at that time of diagnosis. So, bottom line macroscopically, I am not sure I do not have one. Imagine someone screened you whole body and did all the tests in the book to identify cancer in your body and you came up negative. What does this mean? Microscopically What it really means, just like you do not have symptoms, you do not have any detectable cancer, and you can live happily. Does this mean you will never get a cancer? No, on one side you can still harbor a focus of cancer in your body. If you know anything about tumor biology, cancer starts as a single abnormal growing cell. And there are dozens of defense mechanisms in our body at a microscopic and molecular level to prevent such a cell developing into a cancer. And as cell replication happens so often in our body, several thousands of cancer cells are born each day. And there is a chance that one can escape and grow into a full-blown cancer at any moment. Hence you are never out of risk of a cancer as long as you possess your body. Should we get panic? That is danger there itself, life is a risk every minute. If you have read my previous article dumb ways to die, you would understand this fact, it is a miracle we are living each day. Philosophically. Now, we know how cancers develop in our body, and the fact that it is a persistent risk. Just like crossing the road. However, there is a caveat in this. If you have read the previous article about consciousness, there I have discussed about a person who had an autopsy after death and diagnosed to have a cancer postmortem. And we concluded that it did not matter to the man who was dead. And relative to his consciousness, the cancer never existed. Similarly, if you imagined a severe dementia person, who cannot even remember his name, he would not have the mental suffering of the cancer. So, the cancer does exist in two forms, in a physical form in our body and in a mental form in our mind. Like everything else, like a reflection in a mirror. And obviously we cannot, stop the suffering from the physical part of the cancer. But it is important to recognize the mental cancer, as it is our own reflection, we can really reduce the mental suffering. And if we expand any kind of suffering, I will say mental part is heavier, and more painful. Let them doctors tackle physical suffering, But I suggest we sharpen our mindfulness to tackle mental suffering when it arises. How do we do that? Curing cancer in mind Someone would suggest, let it go. Just like in article I previously wrote about in worse kind of mental pain. This is easier said than done. You can try all the advice given by psychotherapist to replace bad thoughts with happy ones. And I would say, it may or may not work. And there is another way which is to understand the true nature of our mind. To understand how we perceive the world and to understand relative nature of truths which helps us to survive in the world. It is by mindfulness and wisdom we can see, even the cancer in our minds is formed in the same process, just like other mental objects. And if cancer in mind, and the suffering in mind associated it is a mental object, the characteristics are the same. So, mindfulness is not just looking at the pain hoping it will go away, it is the correct way of letting it go by understanding it. But the problem is, we should start doing it long before, we get inevitable macroscopic cancer, so our mind is a hydrophobic leaf, when the storm arises. Mindfulness is the cure for the mental cancer, alike.

Solving 3n+1 - Collatz conjecture. If you are reading this I assume you have some experience in solving equations. How about a simple one. 3n+1. and the rules are as follows Here’s how it works: Start with any positive integer. If the number is even, divide it by 2. If the number is odd, triple it and add 1. Repeat these steps, creating a sequence of numbers. The conjecture states that no matter which positive integer you start with, this process will eventually reach the number 1. For example, if we start with 6: 6 → 3 → 10 → 5 → 16 → 8 → 4 → 2 → 1 Looks very simple right? Our mathematical geniuses of the century should be able to solve this right? However, despite its simplicity, proving this conjecture for all positive integers remains an open problem in mathematics. It has been verified for numbers up to 2.95 × 10^20, but a general proof eludes us. And in the mathematical world it considered as insane if someone openly agrees they work on proving the conjecture. And more often years of human life have been spent on the problem. So, why is it so hard to solve something looks so simply. And what does this have to do with philosophy? Approaches to the problem Let's look at the approaches to the problem by our mathematicians. One thing is clear. The conjecture is either true or false. And there is no middle ground in mathematical world. (Or is there a one?) Following are the ways used by mathematicians to approach the problem. They have input thousands and thousands of numbers, into a computer program, to see whether there is any number which doesn't come back to 1. If there is a single number, the conjecture is false. So far, they have checked massive number of numbers with massive number of digits. And computers are working on this problem day in and out. Second way is to come up with a proof that the conjecture is true, by using other true mathematical proofs. So far, both these methods have failed either prove or disprove. Greatest question to answer in philosophy, and in life Let's stop our math lesson there and turn back to philosophy of life. In a previous article I have discussed about the greatest question to ask, in life in general. And came up to conclusion, that it is asking who am I? Because that is the root cause for all our problems. Not only in mathematics, even in health, even in finance, even in philosophy. And Mindfulness is the tool of philosophy in solving equations of life, harder than 3n+1. Let's apply our new problem-solving skills in our mindfulness practice. Philosophy of solving equations of life, 3n+1 If you have practiced mindfulness long enough, Or short enough. You would understand that when we question the reality, we end up not finding anything to point as myself within the consciousness. This is what described in the blind persons world. However, this is only one approach to the problem. When we are looking at ourselves, what we are trying to do is either prove the theory of 'me' or disprove it. Just like the way a mathematician does it. However, doing both of these will create a 'me' first. But what if there is a third answer? Although the mathematicians do not have the freedom to go beyond true and false, we as everyday philosophers, of our own minds, can. What if there is just a scarecrow? And we cannot see beyond whatever the 'mind' chooses for us to, see? Is there a middle ground? Like one of my dearest friends once told me, it's an automatic living. Like a flag in the wind. A path to relative nothingness of everything. Let's be mindful today. Conclusion. Mathematics, search true or false, as answers. And ignoring the possibility of both be true at the same time, relatively, like in quantum physics. On the other hand, philosophers are liberal, instead of true or false as an absolute, we have the freedom of looking at life as a relative truth. And this is true even about a cancer.