Revisit the Equation of life. I am sure there is an equation for life. And I am sure it is so complex, that we would not understand all of it. We know parts of this equation, like formulas for calory burnt in the body, and Glomerular filtration rate (Amount of fluid filtered in the kidney per unit time) Imagine all these combined together to form a giant equation. Previously I have discussed such equations, in the article modeling the world in a mathematical function . And I explained such a function should be a continuous function. And anything stable in the answers we get from such a function is that answers are bound to change moment by moment. Here we are going to think about the equation of life in a different manner. I am sure if you are someone with a mathematical sense you will enjoy the following discussion. I am going to compare life boldly with the anatomy of an equation. Parts of equation Let's imagine an equation of life. On the right side, of the equal sign there would be terms, which consists of Constants and variables connected by operators. And all we want is our life to be stable. Life = Happiness + relationships + freedom + etc. + etc.... Happiness = Income + Expenditure + Expectations. So, to have a stable life, we need steady income, steady expenditure (which is less than income) and fulfillable and fulfilling expectations etc. I am sure they are consisting of variables and constants. Given the choice we would all be constants, as inherently we do not like the unpredictability. And this is why stock markets are risky, as their gains and losses are not always behaved as we expect them to. Given a choice, I would want steady happiness in my life. So, what is better? Becoming a variable or a constant in an equation? If we consider ourselves as hypothetical perfectionists, we all would want to be these constants in nature. We would want to have a good health throughout our lives. We need a place to live, a house of our own, where we could come home and relax every day. We would time for ourselves daily, where we can think about steady progression of life achievements. However, they seem to be a supernatural dream, as always, the nature tries to put chaos, into our routines, while we crave for a constant, flow. I have compared this phenomenon to a canoe ride to a cruise ship ride earlier in the article why peace is ultimate happiness . All we want is to be in a cruise, however, always we get crashed by waves, like a canoe rider. Where did we go wrong? Thinking about constants. I think the part of the problem lies when we think about constants. Constant is an abstract idea, which itself imaginary and platonic. Hence when we say "life = 7" (you can put any constant here) think about what it means. What 7? If you look at the world you would not find any constant to put in any equation. 7 is a constant only by convention, as in mathematical language we all agree it represents the same thing. However, the truth is it doesn't have to be, and it does not. Imagine 7 is apples, they will rotten in a day. Imagine 7 is diamonds, they too will get destroyed when the earth does, or when they are cut to fit into Jewlery. Imagine 7 is a position in the number line. That is a constant right? Wrong. If you choose different position to represent to 0 and everyone will agree to this, 7 may represent something else. Can you see the problem? We cannot point out to a constant without artificially fixing some zero, by agreement. Which means it is just imaginary. If you do not agree with me, there is some great book written by Rupert Sheldrake. "The science delusion: Freeing the Spirit of inquiry." he discusses some scientific Dogmas which keeps the science from advancing. And the ideal of constants never change is one such dogmas. And he goes into explaining Big G in our gravitational equations to illustrate the fact that it has changed over the years, and it stopped only when we fixed it by convention by agreeing on some other definitions. I have discussed the same phenomena with the definition of time, in the book, What is time? Even if you do not understand the single word of the above paragraph, it does not matter. But the main idea can be summarized in following manner. Summary so far. Even in science, constants are changing its values often. In mathematics constants are constant only because its imaginary and platonic -> imaginary numbers. In equation of life searching for a constant is a futile task, understanding this is the key. You may argue, I am wrong. Maybe I am, as what I will tell is just another relative changing truth, in your mind. Maybe Rupert Sheldrake also made a huge mistake with those bold claims, about constants in nature not being constant. He had lot to lose when he wrote about those controversial topics, as some label as "Pseudo-science". However, look at what Nicholas Tesla said a century ago, on science and its future. And it is time critical that we start doing what he visioned a long time ago. Maybe we are too late, maybe you are not. “The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena; it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.” ~ Nikola Tesla So, it's for you to save the science, from its doomed fate?

How to be a tourist. I am sure you have been a tourist once in a while. Whenever we are at work, we are just routine men and women. When we step on a foreign land, we become tourists. And it is time to relax and enjoy. Here I will discuss how and why we all should be tourists in our own city. So, we will start with why? Why become a tourist? If you are in a major city like London or New York tourists are a common sight. Have you taken time to observe people walking? If you haven't, I suggest you do so. Sit in a quiet corner of a coffeehouse where you can observe the streets. While enjoying your coffee, note your observations. Check whether they are similar to mine. You will notice you can identify tourists by their appearance. Obviously by ethnicity. However, ethnicity is not much a giveaway nowadays as in major cities they are blended. Most likely you will spot tourists by their mannerism. Look at how they walk, a tourist would walk like they are walking in the park! Even if it is a busy suburb. Looking at every shop, every letter box and monument. They are in no hurry. Walking like they have all the time in the world. Slow pace. Not only that if you notice their faces, but they also smile while walking. At least pleasant. No stress visible. Their gaze is not fixed on the tiles of the floor or the corner of the street. I am sure they remember most of the things happened during this day effortlessly. Even crows and garbage cans are not going to spoil their day. Now compared to this someone who is native, is going to walk. With a busy stressful gloomy face, and they don't have time to observe what a tourist does. They are straight fixed and like fire. And I am sure you dare not to bump into one of them. So, there is nothing new for them to see in their own city. Same old corners, same old monuments, same tourists' day after day congesting their streets. If you think about this wisely you would understand what differs is the attitude, or the context. As so-called tourists will follow same routine that you follow, in their own cities. If given a choice, what would you become? I am sure there is no doubt in that. We all like to let the child like curiosity of a tourist to flourish within ourselves if given a choice. The real question is are we given a choice? How to be a tourist in your own city? I can point out several ways. But the main ingredient is novelty created by mindfulness . Mindfulness is the method we can tap into the childhood curiosity of the mind. It is inherently present in all of us, just we have to awaken this. When you are mindful about the fact that the walk to home you are taking today is not the walk you took yesterday, as suggested by random walk , you know there are plenty of things to see. Even a polluted drain, or a brick wall, or an old oak tree could inspire you to be creative. You can take a fresh breath of air, in the morning and exhale fast, to see the water vapors get crystalized in the midair and be amazed in this winter. You can get down from your bus before your stop, or after your bus stop, and take a little walk in unknown parts of your neighborhood and be amazed how things have changed slowly. Or make it a true paradigm shift . No, you don't need company to do this, as your best friend is you. If you smile with yourself observing the city, same city which you thought, steal your time and energy, you notice that it is absolutely wrong. There is much more to appreciate in your own city, you will become a tourist in your own city. When you hear sounds, listen mindfully . When you walk on the pavement, take steady slow steps, break the routine pattern of walking, make it a zig zag just for the sake of it. Stop for a while, walk backwards. It doesn't matter if your Neighbours see, as you are being a tourist in your own city. I am sure this does not end there. But I think you get the idea; it's about changing your attitude on your own city. And mind your mindfulness is like a disease, and when you are cheerful, everyone around you will be ill with happiness, otherwise a rough day. Why? As you can see, I do write about everyday life, as I have felt the same. I have been stuck up in same nihilistic, boring tempo of life just like you. Just like you I want to break free. However, if you look at the statistics, no matter how hard we try, it is inevitable that majority of us will die as pretty normal, middle-class people as 8-5 daily paid workers. Still, there should be something to rejoice, as we all are gifted with a consciousness of our own, and ability to value anything on our own, we ourselves can create our own values. It doesn't have to be valuable enough to hang on the walls of the central art gallery, but we can paint a picture of a beautiful alley in our own minds. We can do this only when we know how our values are generated . And let's be mindful about this today.

Rabbits, cutest innocent animals of all. Yes, rabbits are innocent. And cute. I dedicate the first part of this article for these cute animals. If you compare with Buggs Bunny, you will get the wrong idea about rabbits. Of course, in reality rabbits are far from Buggs Bunny. Have you seen a rabbit up close? With their big eyes and ears. I did not know until I had opportunity to pet one. They are afraid of everything. It is shaking all over, all the time, even when I pet it. Maybe it is their fast heart rate, but it feels like they live in fear. Like afraid of something all the time. I can understand what it feels like to live a life of a rabbit, in wild, when you know your death can be hiding behind every bush. And you can only hope your legs would not slip when you run away from it. One day it may, until then you run from it. They live a life of a Hollywood death race every day! How did the nature overcome the problem? The nature gave the rabbits ability to create more offspring. Sometimes they are called baby making machines. They would make more than 50 babies if conditions are ideal, in a year. So, isn't nature cruel ? I mean, just to feed the fox and snakes and humans. Sometimes, it is difficult to understand nature's intentions. A word of caution reading following. When we were kids, we had a nearby playground, with plenty of grass. And rabbits used to come there at night. How did we know? Well, in the morning we saw plenty of rabbit dung. We never saw them during the day, except one day our little dog, out of curiosity had caught a one. The wounded rabbit could not escape. It was there on our doorstep, with blood all over the floor, and like he had done something brave our dog was there wagging its tail expecting appreciation. I was deeply saddened by seeing this horror, as a kid. Maybe I was few years old. Yes, I always wanted to see a rabbit and pet one. But not like this! The rabbit was unsalvageable, and it was put out of its misery and fed to the dog. What is rabbit philosophy or running away from problems. So, the rabbit's strategy to the problems of life is running. And it is a good one, until one day inevitable happens. I have done it. And I am sure you have done this, if you have lived long enough. Sometimes we face problems which squeeze us through bottlenecks in life. Which are hard to escape and only thing we can do is run away like a rabbit. And hoping we can outrun the problems. And it really works, as some problems given enough time would never come back. You may run to the edge of the land, into the beach or up on a mountain, you may find peace. Like the famous run of Forest Gump. yet you will have to turn back. This is not a good strategy as you can see in the long term, as rabbits would end up in the belly of the fox one day when they are caught, if not young, old and feeble. What is the alternative? The alternative is to ask the question why ? without running away from the problem. Rabbits should start to ask the questions like, Why am I a rabbit? Why fox is a fox? Why python is a python? Why death? why hunger? why a food chain? Why should I make offspring? More rabbits with more problems? I am sure, rabbit would not ask those questions. They would run away from death, surely for a one last time. The question is would you do the same? It doesn't matter if you are a rabbit or a fox or a hawk. We are gifted by the nature to question. And we should use it. And if we do not, we would die like just rabbits' foxes and Hawks without ever understanding the natures plan. It takes someone bravery and courage to take action even when they are given the facts. I am sure you are brave, just like a lion.

A total Rest, By the lagoon. You are walking towards the lagoon park, as all the benches are occupied, take the footpath which runs towards the edge of the water, where you find a place to sit. The breeze which carries the salty smell of the lagoon comfort your tiredness of the hard-working day. The sky is gloomy as it appears raining in the far away mountains. There is only single Golden cloud although the sun already disappeared, it was his last attempt to remind the day he dominated had end. You feel happy. And you notice the happiness you feel is the reflection of the cloud that you just saw, and you notice how it disturbed the peace which already had. You think of taking a photo, of the golden cloud, however, do nothing. Try to understand the wind instead. Try to be the sky, the clouds and that annoying Noice which disturb the happiness and peace you seek. Notice how and why it doesn't last as you expected. Let it be a total rest; let it be a partial rest. And you let everything to come and go deliberately opening the door of your mind just to watch them appear and disappear like the waves in front of you. What is A total Rest? Can there be a thing like total rest? Once I wrote an article claiming that we should aim at resting instead of retiring . As I pointed out there, even after so called retiring we would not be resting. We might be still working, so resting is the only way we can seek the so-called Peace that we seek all our lives. Often, I have taken rests, just like you. Sometimes, days after days trying to rest. Imagine you have a long weekend ahead. You may have done some extra work to get one day added to your weekend. And this weekend you are going to rest. You may decide to sleep until noon and order food. You may postpone any meetings, cancel encounters. You may choose to munch snacks watching Netflix, not just one movie, but a dozen of them. Just like when Bruno Mars Sang, nobody would dare say you cannot do it. ----------------------------------- Today I don't feel like doing anything I just wanna lay in my bed Don't feel like picking up my phone So leave a message at the tone 'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything ------------------------------------ I am sure you have don't it before. However, you may have noticed, you do not feel at rest at all. Why is this? Why is doing something you Favour, most does still make you feel drained, not rested? The rest you are taking doing these tasks is not a total rest. Of course you let your consciousness freely float in time. However, a total rest is only achievable when you are mindful about your awareness. Which is by definition the Mindfulness. When you see your current status of the mind and accept it as it is, even when you are angry, even when you are sad, even when your mind is at peace, that is mindfulness. You just acknowledge and continue to be aware. You do not have a specific task to do. You can be aware of your breath in seated position in the beginning but once you have seen enough, just being aware is enough. This remind me a quote that I heard a long time ago, "If you are aware, you are not there, no point in being there". If you think about this in relation to rest, we can understand why watching Netflix is not a total rest. As, if you are not mindful, any task becomes a futile process, even the rest. If you are not aware of the "Rest" it is like we have not rested at all. It is like waking up from a mini-Coma. At the end of it you will be back to where you have left, which is unrested state. Even our work would demand more consciousness than this. How to have a total rest. So, what is the solution. Compared to above, some activities are inherently demanding mindfulness. Such as taking a walk in a new part of the city. ( A paradigm shift ) Or even an ordinary walk without music and friends or the dog would demand more attention to the present moment. For an artistic mind this could be some creative activity, like composing music or a painting. Although it is considered as "Work" these activities still can serve the purpose of a "Rest". So, the Key is to be mindful. So, you may ask, if that is true, any activity can be a "Total Rest". And I would agree with you. But just like you I really find it difficult to be mindful watching the Telly . :)

Taller the bamboo grows lower it bends. This is a Chinese proverb. Of course, you would remember pandas and bamboo trees when you hear the proverb. More importantly we should analyze what does it mean. As the secret of being humble is hidden in the nature of growth of a bamboo tree. If you haven't seen bamboo, trees, they are one of the fast-growing trees in the world. Compared to its circumference, they are very tall. Although they start to grow directly towards the sky as young shoots, once they reach a certain height, the bamboo will start to bend from its own wight, towards the ground. And this is analogous to the fact that someone wiser is more down to earth than rest of the people. More humble and less egotic. This is the characteristic that everyone should aim to achieve naturally, as there is no way you can bend a tree without breaking it unless it is a bamboo. Reading the proverb gives me many questions. We will go through each of them to figure out the natural way of becoming humbler. Which I call is the mindfulness way, like a bamboo. How to be a bamboo? You can try to be humble. Like the internet suggests there are list of seven, ten or twelve things to do. However, I suggest more importantly we should aim to become a bamboo tree than some other tree. As, if you try to introduce being humble to someone who is not, it will end with disaster as it is not natural. So, how can you become humble like a bamboo. This is where the mindfulness wisdom comes into play. Mindfulness will help us to become a bamboo tree rarther than bend already straight one. How to be humble by Observing truths of life. Mindfulness will let us observe life as it is. Just like David Wallace , introduced us to water in his commencement speech, we will be able to see simple truths about life. Simple truths, like happiness is not in money, but an affair of the mind. Like when you go on a vacation, I am sure you have been to visit a mountain. I am not talking about ordinary hill that you visit everyday, when you have so much ego, that would not do the trick. So you will have to go to a great peak, like Matternhorn, Rocky or Himalayan type of a peak. And just when you go there you will realise how small you are. How small you are compared to a mountain which is so huge. When you compare the weight you would be just a grain in a bucket full of grains. Even smaller. More you spend times there you would see your ego, takes a vacation on its own and you fall back on earth. I am sure you have felt the same, just that you have never word it before. Now you know why you feel relaxed as you do not have to carry the burden of being yourself, home. It is a hell of a resoponsibility to be somebody, less ego, is the starting point to becoming nobody. And more you spend time with the nature more you will realise this fact. You can do the same in the beach, watching the waves . And compare this to all the other human beings. Like the mountain, the sea is a vast body. With the sound of crashing waves, even your voice is going to be unheard, unless you start to shout deep from your lungs. So, definitely you will be silenced for the most of the time when you are at the beach. When you start to spend your times, in these solitary journeys with nature, you will start to realise the Zero of life . Which essentially means that equality of the life. Life which starts at zero ends in zero one day. And this is universal to every life. When these facts are seen not by my words, but within your own life, you will be reborn as a bamboo. As we see it the conciousness is a potential, which has ability to become extraordinary if it believes in anything. So, the mindfulness way is to realise that you are not different from everyone else. You are not separate from everyone else, as we all are interconnected by the nature. As these simple truths are only seen with the mindfulness, Let's start a humble journey today. Once you become a bamboo, maybe we can think about start the journey to be a hydrophobic leaf next.

Once upon a time there lived a King and a Queen. They were living happily ever after in their kingdom. They had two sons. Two princes, who were equally kind and honest like their parents. After some time a tragedy struck and the Queen died in child birth. Of course even queens died those days during child birth, as there was no established health system in place. You and I are lucky to be born after Alexandar Flemming era. After the queens death the king, married again. This time with a widowed Queen. The new Queen had a son too. All the three princes were fond of each other. It was a sight to see when they played in the garden. As time went by, they became teenagers. Getting ready to have the responsibility of the Kingdom. The eldest was the wisest. The middle was the bravest. The second Queen's son was neither wise, Nor brave. One day they went out on an adventure into a nearby thick jungle. All alone by themselves. They were exploring unexplored land, and had great deal of fun. Climbing trees, steep rocks and discovering new teretories. And they came to a beautiful pond middle of the jungle. They all decided, they should stop there, have a bath and turn back home as it was getting dark. So they jumped into the water, all three of them. They did not know there was an ancient monster in the water. Within seconds the monster Jumped from the depth of the water and captured two of the princes in his two hands. He roared loudly, as the third and the eldest prince escaped to the bank in a flash. He dragged his sword and firecely stood against the monster to fight back to save his brothers. The monster so powerful and enormous, and wise too. He knew their language very well, like all the monsters do. He laughed and said, "You pathetic little boy, Are you going to fight me? You will have to step into the water. As the rule of the God, I am allowed to eat anything which enters water, and the moment you step foot, I am going to eat you alive too. So run! while you can" The eldest prince was not afraid. He observed everything, and said. "I am not just a boy, I am the Eldest prince of this kingdom. You are holding my brothers, Unless you release them now, I am going to summon an army and destroy you." The monster said. "Even if you do that, your brothers will be dead by then. It is a battle you have lost from the beginning. So, I will give you a choice." "I will eat one of your brothers and save you the other, and never come back to this pond again" The eldest Son, thought for a while. Given the choice of saving one is better for the little trouble. He is at the verge of never seeing both of his brothers. And he knew he had to agree, that is the best he can do. If he do not do that he would loose both of his brothers and kill the monster, but to what end. So he agreed. He told, "Spare me the youngest brother, You can eat my own brother, the bravest" The monster was suprised of his choice. And said. "So, you decided to sacrifice your own brother? What a coward you are. Are you afraid that he will grow up one day and steal your kingdom? Is that what you were thinking you cunning prince?" The eldest spoke. "No, that was not what I was thinking. If we go back with my own brother and tell all the people there is a monster who ate my brother in Law, Nobody would believe us, we will have to come back here and kill you to show everyone that is true. But If I go back with my brother in Law, and tell my own brother was killed, everyone would believe his eyewitness, as he has no reason to lie against me. He stand more a witness than my own brother. (Less conflicts of interest as we call it in ethics) The monster hearing the prince's talk became very happy. So He decided to let go of both the princes captured. In return they did never come back, letting the monster live a peaceful life in his pond. On conflicts of interest. Imagine you are a CEO of a government own firm. And you are interviewing set of candidates for a major position in the company. One of your relatives or neighbours son is there as a candidate. Although how much you try to avioid, there will be either positive or negative bias, (You would either favour or deny their chance of getting through the interview) and That is Conflict of interest. So, if you do not declare that this relationship and avoid being in the interview board, it would be unethical and unfair by the others, or the candidate. There are many situations like above conflicts of interest occurs. Like the situation the elder prince faced in our story. Saving the brave prince,and the brother would be a better option for the country, but who is going to believe them? everyone smell a foul play even if there is not any. Conflicts of interest - is a form of greed which occurs in our minds. Sometimes we even do not feel that this is at play. However this appears everywhere, more than we think. As greed, tend to be working in stealth mode, most of the time during the day. Remember the In -law fights, they are universal. Although we think we care for the others, there is a subtle form of greed which expect something from our loved ones. And when this is denied, there will be a fight. So, for the Mother in Law and the daughter in law, the son or the husbands affection is a conflict of interest. I can show you why with a little example. More examples of conflicts of interest at play. Imagine a play, that you went to see. Your little daughter is taking a part in it. You are sitting at the back bench, cheering up. And boy! they have put their item at the end of the day. You are waiting and waiting until your daughter appears on the stage. And finally she does appear. And that is a treat for your eyes. You observe every move of her. When she does it perfect you are happy. When she does not, you smile for her silly mistakes. You compare her to all the other children. That there is a conflict of interest. Your eyes seek the sight of your daughter and you want her to perform better than any other. You would do anything ethical to make it happen. So, even within the framework of standard ethics we cannot avoid conflict of interest. To understand the difference you have to look at the situation from stranger's eyes. So, I put Jesus on the audiance. When he look at the stage, he sees everyone. There is no specific attachment to your daughter, or someone elses daughter. Even ones who are not doing well, crying in corner, or even the ones who are agressive are equal in his eyes. He even see you. And everyone else. When I say "Everyone" it means every living being. Even the aleans and other Gods. And see all of them equal. So he wants the happiness of even microbes like demodex. He, surely do not possess any conflict of interest! How not to have confict of interest. So, as you can see it is not easy for someone to have no confilits of interest. That is why we declair it beforehand and avoid being in situations this occur. But can we really not have conflict of interest? When we think about it, we know that this is a platonic form . There cannot be a human being, without conflicts of interest, as such a person would love his children same way as he loves his dog. And this interest would not be more than what he is having for himself. Can you imagine such a person? Even in extream situations this person would not act, unethically. Like, when his son is drownning, together with his dog, he would not have preference to save one over the other. I am sure everyone would say it he is insane he tried to save the dog before his son. However, I am not saying there are no such minds existing. Such conciousness are very rare, and insanely difficult to find. And I believe this is the highest form of self we should aim to achieve during our lifetime. So, are you willing to steer your ship to those unknown deep waters? Let's help with a little wind from mindfulness wisdom so you can reach that destination faster. As mindfulness is the eyes which makes us see our internal conflicts of interest.

Background 1 - fake dinosaur or real dinosaur In a relaxed afternoon, while napping on a couch, you see your kid playing with a plastic dinosaur. An adorable sight as long as he is not disturbed, and you are not disturbed. And you walk through the memory lane to figure out the origins of the dinosaur. You notice that it is made up of plastic, molded in a factory in mainland China . Obviously, even without the label it is sure that half of the products in your room are from China. And where did the plastic come from? From Crude Oil, dug deep in Oil farms of UAE. Plastic is essentially a byproduct of oil. How did oil generate in deep desert? Now in your dream, you imagine, dinosaurs who once ruled earth in Paleoanthropic era, on their doom's day, instantly dead with a catastrophic earthquake, with thousands other flora and fauna, they were buried deep underground over years. Immense heat from earth's core and pressure from above dissolve their hydrocarbons into oil. Until humans evolve into a species capable into tap into the sap of earth's history to bring out Crude oil. And you wake up suddenly realizing, the dinosaur your child is holding actually and partially came from real dinosaurs! Background 2- Why cannot I see an elephant in a pen? I saw this amazing video, actually part of it, where a judge is starting to question a teenager, who is on the witness stand. Before real questioning began judge wanted to clarify what is truth to the child. So, she pointed out to her pen and said, "If I said that this is a pen, Am I telling truth?" The child answered yes. And she continued. "If I said that this is an elephant, Am I telling the truth? or am I lying? The child answered "That would be lying" You may have now in a position to look at the truth critically. Obviously, it is true when you point to a pen and say that is a pen. Obviously, it is not an elephant. However, if you would combine the wisdom you gained from the above background 1, you can definitely say there are some pieces of the dinosaur in the pen. Of course that would be a stupid answer to a Judge, you will still be guilty. But as a philosopher it fascinates me when I know it is likely that the pen similarly will hold atoms of an elephant, even dead ancestors of mine. As for years and years, living species on earth used and reused these hydrocarbon atoms. It is very unlikely total new atoms are there. Philosophy of truth We can further continue with above example as a mental experiment. Imagine someone melts the pen into a ball. If it was shown to anyone now, it would be a "Plastic ball" not a pen. Isn't it amazing. You wouldn't appreciate if you cannot see the timeline of the "Matter" in this case, So I would summaries this. Star dust-matter after big bang -> matter on earth Matter on earth-> matter in dinosaur/Elephant matter in elephant -> matter in oil Matter in oil -> matter in a pen Matter in pen -> matter in plastic ball. What does this mean philosophically? What is philosophy of truth? Following are my conclusions. Send me yours. Saying there is a pen is a relative truth. As pen is just a form, at particular time at a particular place, a collection of matter. (It is true relative to the person who observe it) You can see anything in everything, as we share only common pool of atoms. This makes me identify myself as nature, not separate entity. We can understand this phenomenon, of relative nature of truth, when we look at different aspects of daily Life. If you are interested you can read following articles to learn about philosophy of Forms , Collar bone philosophy. When we question the reality, it appears as something made up by our mind than what actually is.

Happy grass. You are sitting by the lagoon. All alone, with your consciousness. The wind-blown across the lagoon makes a constant tickle on your face. The group of crows arguing with each other in nearby trees. The eagles, on the other hand are circling very high, up above everything. Below the gloomy evening sky. They travel solo. Just like you this evening. Surely, they have the majestic view. If only. If only they possess the power of your observation. Looking at the chaotic waves, which makes a constant chatter, you turn towards the bank. Notice the small grass flowers which happily sway in the wind. In full harmony with each other, they look like a group of dancers. And you notice the happiness, is just there, in the grass. Click this for the video --> Grass Happiness was there in the grass. I remember times when I was a tiny kid. I was one of the smallest in the class. We used to go to school early, and before the school officially started, we played in the ground. The one ground was occupied by many children. Often, ones in middle or higher classes, would play in the middle. I did not mind playing on the sides of the ground. There were plenty of thick grass in the periphery of the ground. Unlike in the middle, we could even roll over in it, without getting too much dirt in our school uniform. The grass was grown. For a child only few feet tall, it was like a jungle. I often imagined myself it is a jungle. We used to jump around, playing "ICE -WATER" on the slopes of the ground which were heavily greenish with grass. Tiny yellow flowers blossomed in these parts, attracting small bees and insects. These were the best times of the day. I remember going to the class once the bell rang, with full of sweat, on hot days. It made it difficult, to go through the first period with all the adrenaline rushing through the body. But I could not stop playing the next day. Sometimes when nobody was watching we would tie two bunches of grass together. And make miniature traps. We used to walk, like we haven't seen them and step into them. We would roll over, like the traps did work, imitating someone fall. I cannot remember a day, where somebody really got trapped and fell. Why would that make me happy? Was I cruel? to see someone fall. I think maybe, it brings a same sensation as someone catching a fish, if it did ever work. Grass here, Grass there, Grass everywhere. I can write a whole day on grass. I am not bosting. Not at all I am a botany student, Neither I am a Cow! But I know I have been with grass and remember the times we spent together than both of them. Like, when the grass leaves are dry, I used to delicately separate small rectangular peace of its leave and balance it in my fingertip, to make a temporary fan. Once it is glued with a drop of saliva, I could run and make it spin! What a marvelous fun. Imagine you can be happy. Just being with grass. Try it next time, when you go to the park! Grass, is here, Grass is there, Grass is everywhere. Where is happiness found? Where is happiness found? Sometimes it brings me tears, when I know, that me myself is responsible for killing the child in me. Then I think, maybe it was bound to happen. After all the grass is still there, in the ground. Children still play. How can I teach my kid, the happiness can be in Grass, McDonald's or KFC? Would they ever believe?

Getting ready for exams. Well, if you are looking for advice, for passing your exams, maybe I have a few. I have written few articles previously about pomodoro, techniques and blooms taxonomy. Here, I will give you another tip. I used to do, when I reached somewhat closer to the exam. It was my intuition from following observation. I observed that when very close to an exam, the ability of my brain to comprehend and remember improves markedly. It may be associated with all the hormones which play mayhem, near the exam. And even if I haven't studied much during the semester as I would want, these last few days mattered most. And they really helped with exam. So, I wanted to use this hidden power. So, whenever I wanted to study, I would imagine this is the day before exam. What would I do? What would I do if tomorrow is exam? What would you do if tomorrow is your exam? Would you party? with your friends? Would you spend time watching TV/ Netflix? Would you do boring self-study sessions? Would you make heaps of notes? if the exam is tomorrow? No, it will automatically occur to you what you should be doing if tomorrow is your exam. You would cram and cram. You will cram a lot. You will go through all your notes. Try to read all your study material. I think you will not waste any time. You will try to remember important stuff. Your brain will start to notice patterns which you did not see earlier, all the semester. I would Do just that! I would just do what I would do on the last day. And mind you if you do this for 30 days in a row, you would be able to sleep 24 hours the day before the exam, or go to a party, when your friends try to do, what you have done 30 days in a single day! That all about getting ready for exams, however, this article is not about them. I just wanted to show you the principle of thinking. Let's apply our little intuition about passing exams, to our lives. Shall we? Getting ready for death. What is the biggest challenge we all have to face? I say it is the challenge of death. Exams when compared is a minimal nuisance. And when are you going to face this challenge? Truly speaking, we should be happy to be alive and healthy today. When life, is associated with constant threat of the death. That is inherently bound to it and limiting it. Death defines, what we can and cannot do. Reproduction is the natures, way of cheating the death. That is good enough at a population level. But individually as a consciousness, how can you overcome death? What would you do? on the day before your death? (Can you see the similarity? It creates an urgency in our minds to correct our deeds) Would you go to your attic, to look at your dirty painting of Dorian , for a one last time before it all end? Or would you correct your path and be a good man, a happy man, a free man for a good 24 hours? Irony is this is the truth for thousands and thousands of humans who are going to die tomorrow. Some of them know, some of them do not know. It does not matter, your age, your ability, your status. For the nature, you are not special. As you are part of the nature, there is nothing wrong. Nature is not cruel, neither it is valuable. Questioning myself, a long before the exam, helps me with it. I suggest and invite you to apply the same principles to your life. Live like today is the last day on earth. Correct your actions and be mindful about the seconds. Who knows, one day the nature would test us, without even a warning.

This is the part 2 of simple truths. To understand light, it is important to know why. If you have read the previous article on simple truths, you would notice, some of these are still present in front of our eyes. Hence mindfulness is essential as we cannot see these truths directly in our vision. With our minds vision or "imagination" we can manipulate physical parameters to do a mental experiment on everyday objects and acquire wisdom it provides. I invite you for a yet another thought journey, like Einstein did, this time to the edge of the universe. Observable Universe. When we learn about astronomy, we learn that the lengths in universe are so massive, measuring by meters, or kilometers is not possible. Hence, we measure distance in light years. Light travels so fast that in a one second it will travel 299,792 kilometers. However, the universe is expanding at a rate, more than this distance for a second at the edge of the observable universe (relative to earth). The concept of the observable universe stems from the finite speed of light and the finite age of the universe. Because the universe is about 13.8 billion years old, we can only see objects whose light has had enough time to reach us since the beginning of the universe. This creates a "horizon" beyond which we cannot observe, not because there isn't more out there, but because their light hasn't had enough time to get to us. This observable limit is what defines the boundaries of what we can detect and study—hence the term "observable universe." It's a product of the interplay between time, distance, and the speed of light. Now that is good for background knowledge. How can we use these extreme ideas for our mindfulness practice or simply our wisdom? A thought experiment - Philosophy of light Imagine you found a way to teleport your friend to the edge of the universe. And he sends you a message. He lights up an infinite torch from the edge of the universe to send you a message. Let's assume this torch is powerful enough to provide light which can travel so far. If your friend is at the edge of the universe, his message would reach us in another 13.8 billion light years (because of the expansion of the universe actual distance this light has travelled would be 46.5 billion light years. There may be errors in my calculation when other factors are considered. However, as this is just a philosophical argument, this is good enough. More importantly what does this mean? Philosophy of light When the space is expanded, we see that apparent fast speed of light is not so fast anymore. It will be generations and generations till the light from your friend reaches the earth. We all would be perished by then. The light, which is instant, so fast in our scale, carries a significant delay in infinite scale. Only because we are not so fast, we do not observe this delay. What is true in cosmic scale is true in our scale. How minute it is when you see something, it has already happened! Think about what this means philosophically. When you see a buzzing bee land on a flower, it is something which already happened! What we see and identify as now, is something which happened in the past. Really speaking we can never see what is happening Now. So, what do we do when we ask someone to live mindfully or live for the moment ? When we truly cannot achieve this reality. For me living mindfully is being aware of these simple truths. Identifying flaws in our perceptions in this relatively true world. If you would like to see the same problem in a different viewpoint, I would ask you to imagine quicksilver .

This is a discussion I had the other day with one of my twitter friends. What defines an ordinary person from extraordinary. My initial intuition was that it is none other than a 'Belief'. And following is the surprisingly satisfactory discussion we had about the subject. What defines an extraordinary person? Is it the eyes. The first answer she came up with was eyes. I could not agree more. If we consider beauty, eyes will define extraordinary from ordinary. We discussed about the eyes of a girl which appeared in my previous article on philosophy of collarbone , and mutually agreed she had extraordinary eyes. And I had no idea that she would come up with "Eyes" as an answer, as I was expecting something more philosophical in nature. It surprised me, something so simple as Eyes could be a potential answer to a philosophical question. I am sure you also would come up with an answer, and it may or may not be surprising as above. What do you think about "Eyes" as an answer? Don't you agree that it is a good candidate? Is it love? There are different kinds of love. Love of a child to his mother, a wife's love to her husband. Monkey loving its baby. The God's love to all the people on earth. The latter can be extraordinary. It's a shame if it doesn't. We can only imagine such a love. I think I have written about such Platonic love , in one of my previous articles. Hence, I would not elaborate it more here. However, it is kind of an extraordinary love which we can only imagine partially, without any flaws, without any hidden agendas and greed. You would agree only "God" can provide such true love. Is it something else? Is it bravery ? Is it kindness? Is it self-reflection? I am sure you have your own favorite answer to the above question. And I am sure you will be happy if I come up with the same answer as you. However, I was searching for the perfect answer. Hence, I did a little google search and following were other candidates. See whether your answer is written here. An extraordinary person often stands out not merely because of their talents or achievements but due to their unwavering character, resilience , and impact on others. They possess a unique blend of authenticity, compassion, and determination, consistently pursuing their goals while uplifting those around them . Their actions are driven by a purpose greater than themselves, fostering positive change and inspiring others to do the same. Extraordinary people embrace challenges , learn from setbacks , and remain humble despite their successes. Their presence leaves an indelible mark, reminding us of the power of human potential and the profound difference one individual can make in the world. Is it a belief? But more importantly I think it is the first answer that I came up with. Because even it can be such a simple answer as "Eyes". You just have to believe that you are extraordinary in some important unique character. Hence when someone says, it's the kindness, it is true. And when the other says it is hard working. That is true too. Only if they believe in it. Hence, the belief is the one defines the extraordinary from ordinary. If anyone believe that they are not extraordinary from any character, that would be true too. Why a Belief defines an extraordinary person. If you believe in God, it will make you extraordinary, and help you power to achieve, heavenly things. If you believe in hard work, it will make you an extraordinary man, to do humanly impossible tasks. If you believe in kindness, you will start to heal hearts of thousands of battered humans. If you believe in money, it might make you an extraordinary criminal, if you forget your moral grounds in achieving it. So, the question is what are you going to choose in believing?

This is an observation I have made about this life, which had changed myself. A good way to point it out is by saying it is the zero of life. However, there is more to it. If you have read my previous article on mathematic problem of 3n+1, I have explained the pattern which emerges with the problem. The graph of 3n+1 problem is one which starts with a number but ends with 3->2->1. For the purpose of this article, I want you to imagine a graph. Something similar to the above. The graph of life. The graph of life starts at 0 at time 0. You guessed it right, that is the time embryo became conscious. And since then, it is a roller costar ride. If Y axis represents value of life at each point in time, for some, the graph will reach, unimaginable heights. For some, it would plateau. As time goes by all the graphs will come back to zero. We will analyze some of these graphs to understand the zero of life. Imagine someone with a very high achievement. Imagine the president of USA, he is the unnamed leader of the world. As countries exists and survive, according to his rule. I maybe dramatizing. Just for the purpose of showing that he is a high achiever, for a period of 4 years he would reach unimaginable heights in his graph, only we can try to imagine. And then he would humbly step down, until he too succumbs to the forces of the nature. You can imagine anyone, an entrepreneur, a dictator, a monk. And you would notice high achievers start with zero, and end in zero. What about the commoners? Commoners like you and me. We start at zero, just like everyone else. We reach heights which are barely far away from the X axis, and we end at zero. In one day, we would reach our zero. Although the middle is different, we share a common fate with high achievers. What about someone with a low-quality life? Start at zero, born poor, turned criminal and end life on an electric chair. It never reached any height. And end of their life they reached zero. You might object. You might say it is not true. that we do not reach zero. We carry our deeds to the afterlife. However, as I have discussed earlier, such matters of death, and pre-birth are still without solid visible evidence. We live in a world where we cannot win even a court case with hearsay, hence, in matters of life and death, we should stick to the facts which we can see, and we can observe. Hence, I would say, death brings us back to zero is true, when we consider where we started. We started from atoms burrowed from the nature, hence when they are returned, we become zero. Mathematical formula. Another way to look at the zero, is to compare it to an equation. Which has answer zero. Even if the equation is very complex- such as in a high achiever, the answer will be zero. And even if it is simple one like in a common daily waged worker, it will produce another zero. Hence, although they look different both of equations are equal, in value. Understanding zero of life. Understanding the end values of anyone's life, makes us humble human beings. It can only provide good, and spread kindness, when we see the equal nature of a human being, in a rural part of Africa, or a similarly disadvantaged person in a modern developed world. They all will spend a fulfilled or not so fulfilled life according to the quality of thoughts they will get during their day. However, the life will essentially provide them with a zero. So, this helps me with my greed with need of reaching unimaginable heights. And helping others to reach their potential. As we all are played by the nature. Let's bow: Zero Zero, a seemingly simple digit, holds profound significance across various fields. In mathematics, it serves as the cornerstone for the modern number system, representing the concept of 'nothing' while enabling complex calculations and equations. Philosophically, zero can symbolize the void, the origin, or the infinite potential of starting points. In digital technology, it's a fundamental building block, paired with one, creating the binary code that powers our digital world. Beyond its mathematical utility, zero carries cultural and spiritual meanings in different societies, often representing balance and the cyclical nature of existence. From ancient civilizations to cutting-edge technology, zero's journey is as intriguing as it is essential.