Why conceptual art is considered art? Well, you may have opinions like conceptual art is not art. But trust me it sometimes conveys messages which traditional art cannot express. I was eating bananas the other day. And having tea. And why not conceptual art? Then I did the following. I kept three banana peels on the brim of the cup equidistant, like three children on a merry-go-round. And that there was a conceptual art.! And it suddenly made me realize why conceptual art is an art. Think about this. If I kept my banana peels on the teacup art until tomorrow. It will start to stink. And conceptual art will not be art but, conceptual stinking. And nobody would want to appreciate that. It is not eye catching. But for something to be an art it should persist through time. And that is a great wisdom. Painting room Starry night of Van Goh Why its valuable Value of the art is inherently, and Subtlety attached to its ability to persist through time. Imagine the scream, or the van Goh's starry night painting. Even today if someone wants to see, they can go and see the art and appreciate the beauty, only because it persisted over time. Van Goh may have seen starry night for a half an hour, and he had vision of his painting until he finished painting that. But now, even after years later, we can look at and create similar picture in our minds. The art he created persisted over time. Now imagine this. Van Goh has done his painting with a vanishing ink. It would last only a few days. In that matter paintings would not have the potential to reach many people. It can become a wonder if it is like a firework display of new year. And many people might come and visit until it last. But none of them would remember it beyond that. And this is the problem with conceptual art. Cooking as conceptual art Imagine you are doing some artwork with your cooking. A conceptual art. Until we started photographing our food, that artistic value of the food making never created any cashable asset class. Because it ends either when food is eaten or its rotten. But I'd someone takes a photo, make a video or write a blog about it, and make it preserve over time. Then it will be there like a potential energy that will become a true art, for people to value. And it might even be profitable. And that is how conceptual art came to be. In conceptual art, what is persistent is the description of the art. And it can be done even without words. Easily from a video recording nowadays. Some people do not understand why conceptual art is valued. It looks like they have less value. For those who, I like to question by asking why a diamond is valuable? Obviously, it's not for its use. Nobody can eat it. Not because it's beautiful, a flower is more beautiful. Some would say it's for its rarity. But there would be thousand more rare things than a diamond. And it is likely because it persists over time. So that we are able to recognize this and if we give it a value today, it is likely we can pass this message even through time into the future and convince another consciousness from the future to buy it. But the truth is inherently a diamond is not valuable. Just like any art. Conceptual art So, after analyzing that why conceptual art has become a part of modern art. I decided to create my own artwork into a little more persistent than just in my memory. Conceptual art. Banana peels on a teacup. Ingredients : A moderate size tea cup/ coffee Three bananas with stalks. Method . Drink your tea. And eat three bananas. When you peel banana do not separate banana peels from its stalk. Once you are fresh after drinking your tea, hang three banana peels on the edge of the teacup, equidistant from each other. Just like three kids on a merry-go-round round. And enjoy showing it to your partner or friend. It's the illusion of Persistence the most important ingredient of an art.

I am not sure this is considered as a thing its own. Learning by principles is not a common practice. Maybe it will be a "Thing" after this article. I have heard the above phrase in some uncommon places. Like from university lecturers. Before it became a common term after Elon Musk talked about it. As you can see, the world is looking at this guy, to cling onto every word he says because he is backed up with billions of dollars. However, I cannot agree more on this, Hence I will try to explain this with good examples. My version of this learning is called " Pattern recognition " which is more common term than Learning by Principle. Trajectories: https://unsplash.com/@ayoo_twitch What is First Principal thinking: Read the following summary of First Principle thinking and, try to understand anything makes sense. To me it does not directly. At first glance it seems just an illusionary vision. What do you think about it? First principles thinking is essentially a problem-solving approach that involves breaking down complex issues into their most basic, fundamental truths, and then rebuilding solutions from those core principles. Here's a breakdown: Breaking Down Assumptions: It involves dismantling pre-existing assumptions and conventional wisdom. Instead of relying on analogies or how things have always been done, it focuses on what is undeniably true. Identifying Fundamental Truths: The goal is to identify the "first principles" – the basic facts that cannot be further reduced. These are the foundational elements of a problem. Rebuilding from the Ground Up: Once the first principles are established, solutions are constructed by reasoning upwards from these fundamental truths. This allows for the creation of innovative and unique solutions. Key aspects: It is about, questioning "why" repeatedly, to get to the root of a problem. It promotes independent thinking. It helps to create novel solutions, instead of just incremental improvements. In essence, first principles thinking encourages you to move beyond accepted norms and create your own understanding of reality by starting with the most basic facts. First principle thinking example. Imagine you are in the ground. And you see some kids playing with a ball. I have done it before. The catching the ball game. We divide ourselves into two groups and from either side of the ground throw the ball up in the air, at the other group. And they try to catch it. And some are very good at catching while some are very good at throwing. And if you throw, it higher, the catching is more difficult when it comes down, obviously as it has higher energy and faster speeds. If you do not throw it too high, it will be much easier to catch. Obviously, there are so many things we can learn from this. We can calculate the exact speed of the ball, given the initial speed and the angle of throw, and air resistance etc. All the rocket scientists at space X started learning trajectories just like solving similar small problems. But is there anything else we can learn from this? We can observe with mindfulness. And one principle I gather from this is, "Higher the ball goes, greater speed it will come down" Let's make it more fundamental principle. Higher something goes, faster it will come down. Higher the action, larger the reaction. Now we are getting somewhere with our first principle. Now, this is good thing to keep in mind. And if you look at this simple fact, I can show you thousand things where this can be applied. Following is a few, you can name some more. Just a leaf: https://unsplash.com/@mariahhewines Using the first Principle Deeper the sea retreat, bigger the wave, the Tsunami . Ask from Japanese if you do not know this. Bigger a company is, riskier if they start to crash one day. This is why it is mandatory for any company to go into share market and become public. More people will lose their jobs, unless backed by public itself. Bigger the atomic bomb, that detonate, longer will be the peace that follow. Larger the bank you are going to Rob, will give you a longer sentence in jail. More famous you are, bigger the consequences of your unethical actions will be. Not only that, but this will also provide you insane wisdom even for everyday things. Imagine this. Bigger the car you buy, Higher will be maintenance costs. Bigger the house you buy, Higher will be numbers of empty rooms. Higher your expectations in life, more will be the suffering, when you find your zero. This is why more bankers suicide than of Beggers? But as you can see, not all of them are true. But we have a perspective to think about things. We just started with a simple thing like a falling of a ball, but argue about global peace? Someone might argue. It is just looking at the negative side of it. I would not disagree with this. Infact, bigger the car, you can be more satisfied with it, with comfort. Yet, this principle will let you understand and take a calculated risk in doing something. Bigger the action bigger the reaction - > both pros and cons will be multiplied equally. Following are More examples of first principle thinking. Drifting jellyfish -> Everything is in motion. What is time -> a falling leaf is a continuous function. Technical drawing ->You can never fully describe something. Where is my right -> Right is always relative Do you follow any first Principles? What are they? First principle of thinking

I had a poster once, on my wall. With a man free climbing a rock. With sweat all over his body, watching in eyes of determination. He looked ferocious, tired yet trumpet in a way. And at the bottom it said "No pain no gain" I can remember I believed in that those days. Hard work leads us to success in life. And I wonder if any successful person would argue against this. It seemed a generally good rule to follow. I have kept on trying, even when it is painful to do so. Now having felt zeros of life now I ask myself, is it a good rule to follow? Would I do that if I go back to that time again? It's difficult to answer. Because now I believe any suffering for that matter is unnecessary. Instead I consider the following. No pain no gain: https://unsplash.com/@grwood Suffering in life is unnecessary and excessive. Pain on the other hand is unavoidable. Pain is unavoidable but suffering is avoidable. We as humans possess the weak human body. It is going to wear and tear like old grandpa's bicycle. And going to cause pain. This is unavoidable. There is no running away from this. But suffering or the mental counterpart of pain is more abundant than physical pain. However it is a very avoidable thing. The easy answer to this kind of mental suffering is "letting it go". But how is the problem? Even in the worst kind of mental pain like loss of a loved one, we will have to let it go, until we do that we might not be able to overcome the suffering and get on with life. But how can we get rid of something if we do not know how it arises in the first place? This is where mindfulness wisdom comes into play. Imagine a group of kids playing in a dollhouse. They are cooking and making an imaginary lunch. While adults joined the play, their dog crashed in and tipped everything over. All the pots and pans on the floor. And kids start to cry. They actually cry over some imaginary meal which spilled. The lunch they prepared is not so imaginary for them. But they are in early development and the margins of what is imaginary and what is real is blurry for them. Adults do not cry. They are capable of hiding their laughter looking at stupidity and empathise with a fake sadness. And divert kids attention to something else so they can console better. Lunch: https://unsplash.com/@ronisefoodie No pain no gain? Or suffering is avoidable in success? The pain that kids feel is unnecessary, excessive and avoidable. But they are not ready for the truth yet. They are not mature. Adults on the other hand are better equipped with knowledge. They can separate their thoughts from imaginary and real, like a swan separating milk from water. But the question is, is that the only level of truth? Would you not be sad over a spilled lunch?  Mindfulness lets us observe our thoughts over time. And understand that so called living is abstractions and assumptions. Truth is just a probability, and your "lunch which fell on the floor" is another probable truth. You can assume a thousand reasons for this and start blaming the guy who knocked you, but everything seems to harbour this probability of not being true, maybe your response is unnecessary and excessive, just like a kid at imaginary play. And if you just apply the same wisdom to the suffering and anger you will notice the anger and suffering you feel lasts only because you agree with its presence. The moment you realise this it is going to change and disappear and in the same place, you might even feel better. Imagine feeling good about a spilled lunch? How many people in the world can do that? How many do you think? If you want to become that self, like a hydrophobic leaf , follow us for more intuitions. No pain No gain - Listen

All children are heavenly. I was a child once, before I became this monstrous self. I was heavenly too. I am sure every criminal, and every judge ever lived, once cried for a drop of milk from their mother. And it is not a secret, not something to be ashamed of. But even I have hard time understanding children are heavenly before they are shaped by adults around them. Children of Heaven 2006 I just remembered I watched this documentary type drama film called children of heaven. It had been there in the back of my memory Until I reminded it again. It was about a little brother and a sister. How their poverty could not milk away their heavenly nature. It was about a pair of shoes, and the struggle of a little brother to bring back, a new pair of shoes to replace the ones he lost, which belonged to his little sister. The most iconic scene is where he tries to win the third place in a race, so he could get a pair of shoes as a price but failing as he accidentally won the race. Isn't it amazing, when their value system is not greedy as adults, but only represent their nature? I am not saying every kid would behave same. But exceptions are minority when children are concerned. It will second only to Shindler's list, if we consider the pure nature of the act of kindness. Shoes: https://unsplash.com/@grailify Children of heaven If acts of kindness are the hallmark of being heavenly, I would say there are few in the world. And when I look at them It makes me feel like a mouse. What am I even doing here? I should quit and try to become one of them. Those heavenly men and women directly descended from God. And it reminded me of Bob Dylan and his famous song Blowing in the wind. I read it as a teenager, it was just a poem. Until I heard the master himself singing the song. As he explains, he himself in an interview he doesn't know how creations come into the world. It is just magical. It is like he is a messenger to a heavenly song that generations loved to hear. How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? How many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? How many deaths will it take 'til he knows That too many people have died. The answer, my friend, is blowing' in the wind The answer is blowing' in the wind Answers are blowing in the wind: https://unsplash.com/@saadchdhry Living a life of kindness I am sure he would not feel sad on his deathbed. As he appears a messenger of truth. Yet I know if you ask him, he will not agree. At least the words speak the truth, and that is why he has got the Nobel prize for literature in 2016. But the question is how many times that we have to listen to the song before we understand the message in it? I am sure there are plenty of men who die without seeing the sky, or hearing people cry. Until they can't help themselves. I am sure, the message is not to look at the sky and say "Wow" and donate some coins to charity. It is about looking at ourselves, to see that what life really needs to sustain itself through time. To understand that sometimes it needs only to feel the wet sand through your toes in your feet, and a little bit of sea wind. Instead to choose kindness, over greediness, generosity over cruelty and peace over happiness . And live like innocent children singing a song in the porch all afternoon, all our lives without ever becoming adults. Is it even possible? I am sure, a little song about truth or a blog post would not make the cruelty disappear, yet it will resonate in some heavenly minds.

Truth - Definition Truth or verity is the property of being in accord with fact or reality. In everyday language, it is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, propositions, and declarative sentences. - from Wiki Let's talk about truth - like idiots. Well- who cares for definitions. We can talk about truth while chewing a gum on a Friday afternoon watching a football match with my buddy. I think that is the best place to talk about truth. Where are you now? Don't you think it is the best time to talk about truth, now? I am not sure anyone talks about truth nowadays as the world is becoming more and more bizarre place, watching shorts of AI generated cute rabbits all the afternoon. How about the fact instead of two Genders now we have an alphabet of it? Even The God will get confused if he is to re-create the Garden of Eaden. Maybe instead of a single apple tree he could make a myriad of hybrid fruit trees, so everyone can get one according to their own taste. Oh, not at all this is an attack on genders. I just chose the fact from the tip of my truth-seeking nose to show that truth is not straight forward like Trump administration assumes. There are lot of grey areas, just when you decide to take a step further on any truth. From mathematics to geology, I have given numerous examples. But this article will look at holistically and ask the question why? rainbow: https://unsplash.com/@steve_j Truth is hidden like a coronavirus. When we were taught about viruses in Collage, we really learned about coronavirus. It was a half a page in a 3000-page book. And we did not even concentrate on it, maybe just had a glance when we turn the pages for fun. Nobody did emphasize it could Kill! not one or two people. But during pandemic, few years back, it halted even the great heavenly nations form functioning. Nobody had answers. Everyone was perplexed not knowing what to do. People did die inside their homes without any care. And truth of coronavirus was hard learned. How many truths are out there hidden in our plain sight like coronavirus. Waiting to strike? Look at the following list. And think what is common to all these names? David Bowie Whitney Houston Prince Robbin Williams Pablo Picasso Gabriel García Márquez Stephen Hawking Nelson Mandela Mohammad Ali Apart from they are very famous and influential and inspirational people. I collect the fact that they are all dead. And the list of dead famous people is endless. We even do not feel that they are dead only because we still see them alive in our smartphones. Just the other day I saw Pablo Picasso drawing a face, on a canvass, and in the afternoon, I was able to watch all the 15 rounds of the fight of the century 1971 between Muhammod Ali and Joe Frazier. Just forgetting the fact that both of these who were entertaining crowds that day are now victims of the demon of death. Ali and Fraizer Image: Wiki Common Truth -Let's search for it like wise men I can live my whole life forgetting the fact, that I would be dead. But it doesn't happen that way, as I can see while the stupid hang on some belief, wise people would search for the truth until they are sure there is no truth to be found. Where can you find a truth about life? I can list you some places, you can join me with your list. Truth can be found in a rock in your garden A drifting jelly fish Some clouds in the sky A tree King fisher In waves In a courtroom In golden globe awards in water Laptop There is no end to it. As when the mind is really shined with mindfulness, everything you see and hear will start to speak the language of truth. But you may think that is the "real truth" and some will stop searching when they find the meaning of life in a teacup. which is far from what really happens. It just awakens the mind that it guides itself to come out of eternal darkness that we are in due to lack of wisdom. So, the wise would never stop the search, simply they cannot as they know, it is not what they just found out the true truth! Always something else. PS: Wise people always find a counter argument for the truth, so they keep searching. While idiots who listen to them and satisfy with whatever they understood without thinking.

Newtonian Physics. We can get back to Newtonian physics for the first part of this. But for a broder meaning of momentum and inertia we will next look at a child. A mass is motion, and has momentum. Which can be represented by the equation, momentum = mass × velocity. In simple terms higher the velocity more momentum it has. Do you know, in contact sports like rugby, the ones who are successful, should either have bigger mass or ability to gain faster speed. Having both would be a great advantage over opponents. To change the momentum you need an external force. And in this case a tackle by the opposing team. Bigger the momentum a player has, the less likely he will be stopped. And bigger the mass inertia is high. Inertia is the resistance an object has to change its motion. Rugby: https://unsplash.com/@craigboudreaux Examples of Momentum in Life. There are many simple examples. Faster a bullet will travel longer. Bigger airplanes will need a longer runway. Bigger the ship, slower the speed it travels. I can go on talking about momentum and inertia in physics. But this would be a replication of a wiki article if I do that. Which serves no purpose. I am sure you would check that page if you are aiming to solve a physics problem. But this exercise is about solving problems in life . Think about doing something. When we have already started doing something, the momentum which we gained in the beginning will help us to finish effortlessly. And you may find it hard to stop. Isn't it another kind of momentum? It seems "the flow" state explained by mihaly csikszentmihalyi is none other than this kind of momentum. There is no place to be distracted by other things as at greater speeds there is no lateral thinking. But all these are ways to explain momentum as a phenomena of nature. But there is another way to understand momentum. Which is the mindfulness way. This happened to me the other day. Heavy ship with inertia : https://unsplash.com/@thanasis_p What is momentum? Mindfulness on Momentum My daughter was running inside the house and she crashed on the couch. And she said, "Father look, I cannot stop, when I am running, why?" And I said, "ah that's because of your momentum". I could not explain further than that. I didn't even try. I am sure if I took time I could have taught about mass and velocity products. Was I lazy? I think now. Instead we can notice even without not knowing about mass, velocity and momentum itself how can someone know momentum. Why? Why can someone know momentum without even knowing the words? That is because momentum is not a thing we see in things. It is a thing we feel. This is mindfulness when applied to momentum. Someone running can feel momentum in their body as a feeling. And this feeling is more important than actual knowledge. If we are unable to detect this, I am sure every 100 meters Olympic dash would end up in players crashing on the arena against the wall. Even you would bump into every door everyday. And human race would not survive if it wasn't for the ability to recognise momentum. Labelling it only came after newton. But even monkeys know the momentum. Would you not agree? Once we have the feeling of momentum and label it as such, we can observe this in external objects. We can look at a slowly speeding jumbo jet on Heathrow runaway and say "that jet is slow to take up speed, it has more inertia than a smaller plane" I am sure you can never know the real "momentum" in it unless you become the jumbo jet. But that is what we do when we say the above. We become the jet in our own minds. And this is just a relative assumption. Have you ever thought about this? The remarkable ability of the mind to externalise things which are otherwise originated from within? So next time, when someone talks about momentum, of objects. Make it a habit to look inside and see the momentum within yourself, and recognise it is not in the car that you are trying to push. It is the feeling of resistance that you feel now, when you are pushing it. " Who looks ouside dreams , who look inside awakens" Carl Jung

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

"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