I have met him. Mark Twain. I know you would doubt that. It's true. Just like you have met me through this blog post, I have met Mark Twain through Huckelberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer. A long long time ago. As he is considered a greatest storyteller of his era, as well as all in American literature, I am sure most of you would have. So, the moment I read his quote I could not wonder into the past when I wrote the poem on Tidal Locking . So, it seems Mark Twain may have known the moon faces earth all the time (tidal Locking), and its dark side is never seen by earthers. Meaning no human has seen it naked eye. So, see what he compares this with. The full quote is as follows. “Everyone is a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” — Mark Twain https://unsplash.com/@gferla Why would this fun-loving cheering man (Its only my personal opinion) write something like that? I wondered. Somehow it seemed true. There is deep meaning to the quote than it implies by the words. And it is a good exercise for me to steer my brain over this, in this lovely evening. Hence, here we go. If you are the moon, always facing the world, with your outer 'face' there is a chance, a good chance that you have another 'face' you are hiding from others. It may be a sad face, it may be an angry face, it may be a jealous face. Hence it may not be the sweet face you are showing the world. And we all do that from time to time. It may be like the picture of Dorien hidden in the attic , trying to make you rotten and disgusting. However, this is inevitable consequence of when you identify yourself. Because a self is made of just potential. A potential to be both good and bad. Just like fire, which can cook a meal for you, it can burn your hand Just like water, which can quench your thirst, it can drown you dead Just like air, which can fill your lungs, it can poison your brain Life is potential neither good nor bad, and simultaneously both. I think it is a good way to look at, after all you will have to live with yourself. Forgiving yourself for having a dark face is something, you should often do. And sometimes I notice, acknowledging this without fighting over it, will make it disappear. As there is good in the world, only because there is bad, as there is peace in the world only because there is war . As there is happiness in the world only there is sadness, it is not you at fault, but the faulty is the mind, which believes that there is. Deep dive into philosophy of the moon. Now, let's imagine understanding what the effect of our mind is. Imagine the moon, this time without the sun, to light it up, like it does, and the earthers to see as it is. Imagine the moon in a faraway isolated corner in the Milkey way, without a star nearby, nearest is some light years away. Such a moon would have no color, and the moon would not have a bright face and a dark face. Inherently moon is colorless, just like valuelessness of a thought. It is the interaction of the natural light of the sun with our observation which created a lightness and darkness of the moon, which is inherently neutral otherwise. To understand the analogy better, consider the sunlight as your judgements, or measurements on things you observe, this includes even you. Without judgments, nothing would have inherent good or badness to this. And without the observer there would be nothing existing as well. Hence, it seems what we observe is not what it is but who we are , and moment we pass judgment over the inherent valuelessness, the chaos, will begin. Disturbing the eternal peace that we are looking for. Thank you for reading everyone is a moon -Mark Twain. If you would like to understand the concepts better following articles would help Ripple effects of life Story of shadows Story of reflections How to eat a mango mindfully

Have you ever flown a kite? If you have, you will agree there is something pleasurable about flying a kite. I do not know why, but feeling of the tension on the thread when the kite is blown by the wind creates some happiness, somehow. It is really not the visual of seeing the kite in the sky, because it is not the same feeling to watch someone flying it and to hold one in your own hand. If you would be a kite. I would be a thread to let you drift far. far away into the sky And watch you dance until twilight. Not to let you go when the wind. desserts you But to take you home. Few kite stories from past. I can remember when I was very little, I used to watch other children flying kites. Those kites were made of stalks of palm leaves and thin colorful paper. I was always fascinated by them. There was a big rock some 500 meters away from the playground and children used to go there to catch wind. Only around one month per year we had winds good enough to fly a kite. So, everyone was exited. Often, they flew above our playground and kites were directly above us. We had the best view. I used to watch them for hours. Those dancing tails of snakes, and swinging of side to side, like happy elephants. I craved to fly a kite. But I didn't know how to make a one. Kite that couldn't fly Yes, my father made kites for us. He said that he used to fly kites and told stories how he used to catch other kites with his one, as his one's directly flew up. I never doubted him. He said the kite will fly high only if they were bent in the middle. So, he made sure ours were bent. We ran in the playground as fast as we can. But never did they fly high enough to sustain a ride on their own. After a while we were tired and stopped it blaming it is the wind. Not enough wind. I didn't like to fly them when other children were there with their glorious kites. After we shifted our house, we had rooftop. Occasionally a kite landed on it. We couldn't keep them for us as always, the owners came running to fetch it. We had to give them back. One day my father gave me a frame of a nice kite. A proper one, I completed it with paper and flew it. It was a great feeling. Later I knew, maybe he bought it from some village boy who built it. I never knew and I never asked. Maybe he just felt sorry. And I knew the boy who made it watched me flying it. Maybe he enjoyed it in the sky. Later when I was a little older, I made a kite, on my own. I did not have a video to guide me. It was flat, as soon as there was a little wind it took off. I only had white paper, so it wasn't easy to identify. Great feeling but on the first flight it landed on a treetop on a nearby hill. I lost it, but I knew i could make another one. And I did. Several times. I made such good ones sometimes they really flew almost straight up. But I lost the enthusiasm over time. When it is kite season, I still look at the sky and count them kites. Thank you for reading, Story of kite that couldn't fly You may also like to read , Story of a gentle Giant A giant a tree Story of a scarecrow

About Cockroaches Cockroaches are considered one of the most ancient species of insects which survived on the planet earth. They have ideal body size to survive catastrophes the animal kingdom has to face. Not only they survived in the great extinction in Cretaceous period, but they will also definitely hold their poise against the next generation of man-made updates to the Earth 1.2. If you watched the WALLE (the movie) the tiny cockroach is the only one who lived on the earth with WALLE(a robot) when we inhabit the Space while the earth is given time to recover. Even the trees would not survive. About Nietzsche and Ethics. " If you kill a cockroach, you are a hero, if you kill a butterfly, you are evil. Morals have aesthetic criteria ." These words thrown at us by Nietzsche, clearly laugh of our moral standards, plenty of sarcasm for our generations. Yet it is important when someone points out true facts which will change us for the better. Like my friend says, "there is more space for anyone to be more kind." Russel's Viper and Dictators When I was a kid, I had encounters with snakes. One such occasion, in an evening I was going to the living room from the kitchen. I heard a hiss. A clear hiss which gave me goosebumps. I shouted and jumped on to a chair. My father was nearby and came running with a Neighbour. The hiss continued sounded like a man dying with a labored breathing. Most scary thing I have heard. It was a Russel's Viper. A full grown one under the staircase. Luckily, I did not step on the snake in the first place and if I did, I wouldn't have survived. But obviously that was the end of the snake. I don't want to describe the sad story of killing the snake. After half an hour struggle the snake was dead, as it had a remarkable ability to withstand attacks by two strong men. There is a saying "You are a fool if you let a venomous snake live". If we apply Nietzsche's ethics to above scenario, even without his famous quote, everyone will agree we should have let the snake go away. Nowadays there are plenty of people who catch snakes. There was no such help available those days. Yet, it is unethical to kill an animal. Even when it is venomous, even when it is small, even when it is scary like a cockroach. Most of us will agree with me. Now, let's look at dictators in history . Imagine a dictator is like a Russel viper. (I know it is an incomplete comparison, as dictators are far beyond evil than a viper) It has the potential to destroy your life. If you let, he will too. You wouldn't kill him if he was a non-venomous snake. But you will kill him and will be not punished, will be considered as a hero. We know such heroes from our past. Any solider comes home victorious is such a hero. But where is the line which can rationalize any killing is ethical? How can you weight a life of a butterfly from a cockroach? A viper's bite and a dictatorship? That is how Nietzsche knew there is something beyond good and evil. Examples of cockroach ethics from human history. There are enough examples from brutal history of humankind, about cockroaches and butterflies. We do not have to go far. Let's keep a blind eye to the today's world and go back to the era of Nietzsche himself. He lived 1844-1900, in Germany at a time of Slavery still was a thing around the world. I am sure he did notice how so-called Masters, treat their Slaves and cockroaches alike. And few decades later upon his death, ironically the greatest dictator would be born in his own country. And Holocaust is a ghost where walls of Auschwitz still cry with innocent screams of withering lives of cockroaches, in Nazi eyes. We just passed a crazy era, where for the red army, black would be a Russel viper and for the black army, the red would be one. And for any army a one without a gun, would be a cockroach, a thing to be crushed and killed. In modern world, I would say the aesthetic criteria on ethics is not prominent like the past. Yet it prevails and that may be the reason "Black lives matter" Became a slogan, instead of "all lives matter". I could see this in an airport of an affluent country, I am sure, thousands of black and white men did feel like cockroaches there. I am not blaming the security for that matter any governing country. These are universal problems, and Only a Universal ruler can truly put an end to so called cockroach Ethics happening around the world, with truly universal laws. Until then we just have to remind ourselves of these simple truths, whenever we look for equal rights. And earth is not our home . Thank you for reading: Cockroach Ethics and Dictators - Friedrich Nietzsche More philosophical insights. Life in the zoo, animal ethics There are two tragedies in life - George Bernard Shaw. What you see is not what it is but who you are. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakens -Carl Jung Have you lost your keys? eternal search for happiness

Thing 1 and thing 2. - The cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss Remember the Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss? I can still remember when I read Dr Seuss, through this wonderful children's story. I enjoyed it as an adult more than a child. I am not sure how he came up with "Thing 1 and thing 2". However, it fascinated me the underlying philosophy of things. Do you know why the story is not comparable to any other, children's story? I believe it is because, he started to address things, in his book at its basic form. Just as "Things" Let's look at the philosophy of "The cat in the Hat" Photo by @WFozStories -X Summary of the plot- The Cat in the Hat. In Dr. Seuss's "The Cat in the Hat," two children, Sally and her brother, are stuck inside on a rainy day with nothing to do. Their boredom is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the mischievous Cat in the Hat, who brings chaos and fun to their home. Accompanied by his playful friends, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the Cat turns the house upside down with his antics. Despite the mayhem, they manage to clean everything up just in time before their mother returns, leaving the children to ponder whether they should tell her about their wild day. How did Dr Seuss come up with Thing 1 and Thing 2? I wondered how he managed to pull up thing 1 and thing 2 into the story. It is magical when these things cannot be named. Thing 1 can be a kitten, a rabbit or anything. But when he took out the name tag, it is fundamentally a thing. A moving thing, a mischievous thing, which played havoc together with Thing 2, Which is same kind of thing 1. Did Dr Seuss suggest that it is the deed that matters not the name of the thing? I like to wonder, Dr. Seuss himself, on an armchair with his notebook at hand trying to figure out the "Thing" That the Cat in the hat going to pull out from his box. And, his mind went blank, and he could not think farther than "Thing". And smiled to himself, when he knew that is the name he should be giving to the things in the box. It's perfect. Thing 1 and Thing 2. It could be anything, and there is plenty of space for imagination of a child. Image @WFozStories -X Dr Seuss Philosophy of things. When we were kids, we used to be familiar with "Things". Now we do not as the things are shadowed by information we have received. Imagine a child, who see a cat for the first time. He would see only a "Thing". He may even call it "Thing 1". But after learning his parents call this "Thing" a cat, many times, The Thing 1 will be registered in his brain as a cat. Similarly, he would label Thing 2 and Thing 3 in different names. More knowledgeable a person is, he would have more and more Things which are recognized by names. What our brain has essentially done is, developed a layer of information, on top of the fundamental "Things" in the world. I think this is a major difference between us and a child. A child's world is still filled with unknown "Things" which hides mysteries. However, in our world we have, learnt about so many things, we no longer recognize, things as things. Imagine a picture or a video of Chiribiquete Emerald is shown to you. It is a bird which lives in Amazon rainforest. If this is shown to a child who has only seen a Crow once in his entire life, it would be just a "Thing 11" which moves and chirps. However, you would recognize this as a bird, in a flash, without you even realizing it, and you would even be able to guess its weight, if asked. You would see its similarity with a hummingbird. The disadvantage is we would never be able to see the "Thing" in the bird. As our consciousness is always be shadowed by information. https://unsplash.com/@picsbyjameslee Mindfulness, as a tool to recognize things. Mindfulness is a tool, in my opinion the only tool which can recognize things as things. You may ask why should we understand about these fundamental things? What is the point? If you have followed my previous articles, understanding the consciousness , is a possible solution to all our problems, as root cause of all our problems is none other than ourselves. What better way to do it than, understanding "Things" in our world. In a previous article, I have discussed some of the characteristics in these " Things ". Here, in this article, I would not go into details, of these "Things" which are recognized by our mind (more precisely their reflections ). It is just to emphasize and be amazed by the wisdom of Dr. Seuss who was able to recognize this fact, and even introduce some philosophy into a children's book, written Decades ago! Philosophy of things -Thing 1 and thing 2

I'm just a floating leaf on river waters. Flowing downstream, washed by the stream. I go with the flow fast and slow. How far I will go, nobody would know. Destiny awaits in the seas. Why does a leaf float on water? Scientific explanations first. Scientific explanation is the material on the leaf is less dense than water. Hence it floats. Generally, it is due to the spaces inside the leaf which captures some gas, in its parenchymal cells. Hence it is less dense than water and have a buoyancy. However, as time goes by more and more air will be lost and the gaps will be filled with water and the leaf will be heavier, until it starts to sink in water. Some plants in water makes oxygen, and air trapped underneath the leaves. And this helps them with floating. Examples for this include water lilies lotus and water shield etc. https://pixabay.com/photos/leaf-vein-pattern-foliage-tree-4139030/ Floating life of a leaf on water. Have you ever taken your time to be by a stream. If you haven't let me remind you what I have seen. I have seen, slow moving water streams. When a leaf falls on the water it floats and gets washed downstream. Does it ever go upstream? no, it doesn't. A leaf always follow the water down the stream. When the stream is narrow, it travels hurried in turbulence. When the stream is wide, it slows down and reduced in speed. Sometimes it goes into a stagnant pool of water and stay afloat there. After hours or days, it gets soaked with water and become heavy, and it slowly sink down to the bottom of the sea, to degenerate there and either become food to some small creatures or become elements and enrich the bottom of the sea. Have you ever thought about this? How similar our lives to a floating leaf in a brook? Let's compare our life with a floating leaf and be amazed of the nature. Similar to a leaf, we are dragged by the powers of the nature. When I was a student, I had hard time controlling my feelings. And someone wise said to me "control yourself". The exact words still ruminate in my mind, because I wrote about it. I wrote, "control yourself is the best advice I've got" which was not true. I knew it was not true. But now I know why. If thoughts of my mind is like a floating leaf, it is bound to flow with the current. There is nothing the leaf can do about it. If the leaf thinks the leaf can change the direction, the leaf must be mad. The leaf is powerless, helpless against the nature's forces. If you stop once in a while to look at yourself, you will notice this. From morning till night, the leaf of mind just floats this way and that way, to whatever you hear, to whatever you see, and whatever you feel. The leaf has no choice . Poor, poor leaf. I would feel sorry for every leaf that floats. https://pixabay.com/photos/underwater-photography-pond-plants-1529209/ Similar to a leaf, we cannot go back. We cannot go back to our past and change anything. Leaf can only float downstream. Maybe slow, maybe fast. How far the leaf would travel will be determined by the current. And they travel alone on the river. Although surrounded by some similar leaves, they will separate. They will meet new leaves along the way. But from start to end, only the leaf knows where it has been, what it has seen. So, from the perspective of a leaf, it is a lonely journey. Like a leaf, sometimes we tend to suck in stagnated pools of water. In some places. Nothing seems to be moving. No, interesting sights, no improvement, just floating on the water. Maybe hoping a rain would come and wash away. Often would not. Once you are caught in the stagnated pool, usually a leaf would end at the bottom of the pool. It is all part of the leaf life. We cannot know which leaf is going to end up how. You would say, that is sad and depressing. You should not stagnate. You should push against all the odds and break the barrier and float downstream. I would say to what end my friend to what end? If you look at the analogy you would understand, it doesn't matter how far a leaf would travel, its destiny is at the bottom of the river. It doesn't matter how many flower gardens it had seen, It doesn't matter how many waterfalls it had seen, It doesn't matter how many mountains or trees. If you are a leaf, you end up in the bottom of the stream. Nobody can change it. https://pixabay.com/photos/water-lily-beautiful-nature-blossom-2580950/ So, how are we different from a floating leaf? I would say, not from much, but enough. Imagine being a leaf, knowing what the journey of a leaf is. Imagine the ability to see a leaf from a bridge is given to the leaf. That I would say is the different from a leaf, from many other aspects being similar. We are just leaves with ability to look at ourselves from a bird's eye perspective . But how many of us just float downstream thinking we are boats. Even if you are a boat, bottom of the water is your most likely destination. So, let us take our time to observe more and more leaves in water, so we would not be worried when water is fast and slow and stagnated. Thank you for reading. You may like to read: what is a paradigm shift and how to use it .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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