I would say you are lucky. Even if you are happy, sad or euthymic at this point of time, you are lucky and you should smile about it. Do you know how lucky you are? I invite you to read seven reasons. These are not only ones yet, but I am also sure you would appreciate your luckiness once you know them, as there are so many dumb ways to die! Sunflower https://unsplash.com/@weburus Do you know How lucky you are? Between the Nukes We are the generation after the nukes. Although loss of human lives due to nukes became essentially negligible levels after Hiroshima and Nagasaki , rumors of nuclear war kept on until mid 70s, as America and USSR were progressively increasing their nuclear weapons. It started to decline when systems were built to monitor each other's activities through blast wave analysis. Now after good half a century silence we are yet again at a verge of a nuclear war. Which may or may not happen in our lifetime. If it does happen, we would be an unfortunate generation, so let's pray 🙏 not. Even in the past there had been occasions there were tensions high about a nuclear war. Consider the case of Vasili Arkhipov the second in command of nuclear submarine B29 during Cuban missile crisis. In 1962 while they were in depths of the Cuban sea, the submarine was detected by US navy. And they launched depth charges to warn them. However unaware of the situation happening above, the captain of the ship and the political officer thought that the nuclear war has begun and decided they should deploy their nuclear weapons to join in. To launch such without instructions from the front was possible if agreed by all three major officers of the ship by law. And Vasil Arkhipov decided against the launch of nuclear weapons and simply surrendered. They were sent back to Russia and were received humiliation due to their action of surrender. Yet only after 40 years of the incident the truth about what happened at the depths of the Cuban sea revealed to the world and guess what, today Arkhipov is considered a hero. His family was awarded with the first of future of life award in 2017 and in 2002 Thomas S Blanton then director of the US National security Archive commented him as "the man who saved the world." This was not the first or the last time we were on a verge of a nuclear war. As long as countries possess these weapons such fears will be there. Yet we are the lucky generation to live in between the nukes. Luky https://unsplash.com/@mdehevia Era of Antibiotics and drug resistance If you did not know people used to die from infections more than the war in the beginning of the last century. With discovery of benzylpenicillin accidently from the petri dish by Sir Alexandre Fleming the game has markedly changed from a game of death to a game of survival. Some would say if he didn't someone would fifty years later. But imagine what would have happened if it was the case. Even you and me might not be there to work out why we are the luckiest ones on planet as our parents would not survive an attack of pneumonia or appendicitis. So, antibiotics play a huge role in modern medicine. That is not the complete story of antibiotic era. You may or may not have come across the drug resistance. And this is becoming a huge problem globally as the microorganisms develop mechanisms to avoid harmful effects of antibiotics we are running out of options. Luckily it is not the dooms day yet and we are lucky that the great barrier against tiny monsters still holds on. So, the miracle of antibiotics is the second reason to why we are lucky. Information highway This is inevitable consequence of modern development. More than anything information is free and accessible for everyone. You do not have to step into a library ever, when consider Wikipedia. Smartphones and laptops have revolutionized how we trade and work. And we have gone paperless a decade ago. The bad effect is the addiction . We are addicted to unnecessary information more than ever and struggle to keep the dream world out of the reality as they are blended together. But we are the lucky ones, our children not so much. We were born and raised in an era of no screens. So, our childhood is packed with memories of nature. We used to enjoy the clouds or the grass without taking a photo and making it a virtual reality. We used to climb trees do not photograph them. However, our kids are stuck in the confinements of a 3x4 inch screen. I find it hard to watch when they struggle to see the beauty of a bird or a butterfly. Their creativity is killed the moment they come out of the labor room. So, you are lucky to see the best of both worlds and adapt. Democracy We talk about kings and queens of the past and proudly stand to back up the stories. Yet when thought about it rationally I am glad to be born in the era of democracy. Stories were written about kings and queens, but what about all the stories of lives which lived under their rules. They are not written anywhere and why? I'm sure it is due to suppression oppression and dictatorship. Giving one man or a woman a power over life is stupid as it is like shaking hand with the devil. Human consciousness is a potential, I would say rather a dangerous one even. It will start to spoil itself with power and soon any innocent rabbits will start to skin wolves in no time. So, democracy is a blessing. I can freely write, educate myself. And travel anywhere in the world except to the places where democracy is replaced by dictatorship . Wolf https://unsplash.com/@marcojodoin Creativity and innovation Maslow's hierarchy of needs Creativity and innovation flourish today in the world more than any other era. It is encouraged by democracy and empowered by economy and information highway. There are many lands of creativity. People are becoming more and more aware of importance of it. We just have to look at the SpaceX if we need some examples. This has created atmosphere that you should start building a rocket and every country has responded with their own creativity. It is easier than ever to build a team of multinational enthusiasts of the same objective. Not only in rocket science, in mindfulness, philosophy, biology or geology this is true. Do you know why? Why we build more and more new gadgets? If we consider science, we can say this is an indirect measure that the world is becoming a better place to live with all the basic needs are met. Imagine our parents. They stared dreaming about a future when they are relaxed on their couch in the afternoon, away from their work, away from burden of responsibilities and with a full stomach. That there is what the Maslow's hierarchy suggests. People seek creativity and wisdom and love ❤️ only when they are fulfilled their basic needs. This is obvious when I see my articles are read by many from the affluent countries while everyone else in third world countries is struggling to seek some cash. So, we are lucky to have creative opportunities and innovative minds. But with mindfulness we can see that is not the full story of innovation. Innovation is backed by our greed for the better future, hence someone's suffering . This is why patents are in place that it is the suffering that you are paid for later. Optimal Environment I know you have complaints on this. Maybe you just recovered from couple of hurricanes if you are in Florida. For that matter in south Asia. Maybe your igloo is getting melted down due to global warming. And sea erosion due to sea level rising is washing away your Neighbours house. Yet I would say climate had never been better. We didn't have mega scale eruptions or asteroids which potentially wipe us all from the map. We had been doing our tiny humanoid things, battles and monument building since the roman era. So yes, even with the global warming I would say the weather had never been better globally. Even global warming can be a saint in disguise. As creative minds are looking for ways to send a rocket using sunlight, or renewable energy, we might just do that in the future. And we might restore optimal weather with artificial rains on African deserts. There can be improvement, which can restore the great barrier reef. But as of today, weather had been good. There is no flooding rain. You can still go out with an umbrella. Plenty of puddles for kids to jump around. Afternoon might be sunny, and you may see fresh blossoms of buttercups in the park. It has been good weather not only today but for thousands of years which had essentially let us evolve peacefully from monkeys to neanderthals. So yes, it still shitty rains but I have no complaints. Weather https://unsplash.com/@sixstreetunder Consciousness. Not only we have disappeared our tails, but our collective consciousness has also evolved too. You may say no, I am a single entity. But I would say no you are a part of a bigger scheme. Part of collective human consciousness, individually trying to push a boundary. Elon musk would second the statement as he is trying to make it multiplanetary. Because of all the above lucky reasons human consciousness have more time and opportunity to climb the ladder to the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and look for a meaning of life. Our religions have evolved due to repeated questioning even priests start to think about the sanity of what they preach and look inside. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakens -Carl Jung. So, everyone starts to think about looking inside to look for answers. Hence philosophy and mindfulness flourish. And if we keep everything at this rate half of human race would become seekers in near future. And I consider this as lucky. If everything which did not happen, I would have never heard about mindfulness and philosophy and mechanisms of suffering and possible solution of peace . And I think you too are lucky. As you are reading now. So, let's be thankful to our lucky reasons and start looking inside for answers, or the questions.

Telos of life. (meaning) This is the third article on meaning of life or less commonly called Telos. In the first two articles we explored meaning of life from the Kung Fu panda and story of camels . As introduction to this article, we should think about why a person looks for a meaning of life in the first place. I started searching a meaning of life, because of problems of life. So far it seems life is just trading problems . For an old set of problems, we just trade new set of problems, and we feel happy about our trades. Sometimes we value set of problems over other set of problems. As an example, people generally value an "Engineers" set of problems more than a "Teachers" set of problems. If you are a spiritual person, you might value a "Priest's" set of problems over a "Marine's" set of problems. But when we look at life from a distance, we do understand the life is a tragedy in close up but comedy in long shot . Knots https://unsplash.com/@kristianstrand Who needs Knots. Generally, everyone. You will need a knot for your tie. And a girl would braid her hair and put a knot. A surgeon would use a handful of them reef knot, Aberdeen knot, or a roaders knot. A sailor on the other hand would know a great deal of knots. If you are a scout, you may have received a badge for knotting. You can list many more, but you get the point. We cannot get away from knots. And more than anyone mathematicians would know about knots. They have their own Knot theory, which represents all the knots we have seen in life and many more types. And applications of knot theory are vast, from fluid dynamics to best way to keep your headphones so they do not get knotted. If you google knot theory, the Wikipedia introductory article would be more than 5000 words! that is how big the knot subject is. But that is not the focus in our article. As you already know it is about application of simple wisdom to our lives. no Knots. In knot theory there is something called "No Knot" simply this is a circle. But if you get a lengthy thread and put one part over the other again and again, you could make a something like a knot. Although simply this is not a true knot. So, it is still a "no Knot". If you have been to a magic show you may have seen magician doing tricks with knots. One such appeared to tie a knot around someone's neck and later pulled out as it was a "no Knot". Sometimes we do tricks with our friends using a rubber band and use this principle of "no Knot". That's a lot to take in about knots and no Knots. But let's move onto life instead. Knots of life - Problems - mindfulness. In life we see lot of problems. If we imagine these are like knots, there are many of them every day. We try to solve them day in and day out even in our dreams. However, if you understand knots and no knots, the first thing, we have to figure out solutions is to identify whether there is any knot at all. How are you going to figure out knots from no knots? The key is the mindfulness. When you start observing your life events, problems and yourself (The observer) you may figure out some of the knots in life are no knots at all. As an example, let's imagine you worry about your future exam. You panic and cannot even concentrate. Then you take a walk. Maybe in a park and after being mindful about your breath, your walk and your environment you have clarity on what to do. When a blank space is created in your mind ideas would come. And you will realize, exam is never the problem, your constant worrying thoughts about it is the problem. Hence, no Knot. This is why it is said that "Biggest mountains are created in the mind" The horse tied to a plastic chair. Horse tied https://unsplash.com/@rsanchescarvalho Have you seen the grown horse tied to a plastic chair. It seems amazing the majestic beast who could easily take down a grown human when tied to a plastic chair stays still. Without moving and trying to run away. There is no knot, no problem, yet from the mind's eyes of the horse it is tied to his chair, which is a huge problem for the horse. One other way to look at these kind of pseudo problems is by imagining life five years after today. Imagine five years before. Surely you may have had lot of problems back then. Now where are they? Can you write down ten of your problems that you had back then? They are gone, even memories of these problems. You may think they are gone because you have solved them. But I would tell otherwise, not all of them were problems. You may have solved a few. But others have disappeared. And I am sure in five years to the future, current problems will disappear, and I would have new set of problems to worry about and solve. Mindfulness does not let us stay there. It let us observe every problem in our lives and shows the true nature of life. True nature of life is just like Statue of David hidden in a marble. Perfect in every sense and without any problems. Evident by the kids who plays in the ground. The problems are the Knots we have created on our own using a No Knot. Let's observe life more and more to gain enough wisdom so the natural peace is unearthed. Telos (meaning) of life is to understand the No Knot in your Knot.

Buffalo Wisdom. Once upon a time there was a buffalo. As all the buffalos in stories, this buffalo also could speak! He used to drag carts, like they do in ancient India. This buffalo was very good at it. And he made a fortune for his owner. His owner was an intelligent, wise fellow. He paid the buffalo well, and took care of him well. They lived happily helping each other until one day the buffalo stopped working hard. Owner thought about it, and the buffalo seems to be distracted for few days. He used to sit in the field day dreaming about something. And the owner thought maybe he was sick. And asked the buffalo if that is the case, he did not speak. It seem he did not want to speak. The owner followed him next day from morning and saw that there was a good looking cow, grazing in the neighboring land. The Buffalo is having a Crush! Owner smiled to himself and next day decided to speak with the Buffalo. https://unsplash.com/@ajeetpanesarphotography Owner : I saw a Cow yesterday in the other field did you see that? Buffalo : O... Yes I did. Owner : It seemed a nice cow. For a buffalo Like you. Buffalo : Do you think so? Do you think she would like me? Owner : Yes, why not. You are the biggest and richest buffalo in the district. Why do you think she wouldn't like you. She would be a foolish cow if she didn't Buffalo : I hope so. Owner : Listen my friend, If you want I could ask her owner, and get you married to the cow. Buffalo : Oh that is wonderful. Would you do that? Owner : Of course I would, anything for a friend. Buffalo : Great, thank you. You are the best. Owner : So, after you married you will have lot of calves I am sure of it. Buffalo : Will I? Owner : Yes that is how it happens. It happened to me. Look at me with three children! Buffalo : Hmmmm.. Owner : But you know. I cannot pay you more. Cause you are doing your maximum work now. You cannot work extra. So you will have to split your salary for your cow and calves expenses. Buffalo : I did not think that far. Owner : Nobody thinks that far. Buffalo : So, you mean when I have a family I would be less well fed for the same amount of work. Owner : That is how the world works my friend. Buffalo : In that case, I think I will stick to my current lifestyle for some time more. Owner : It's your choice friend. I just gave you the facts! Buffalo wisdom summary That is the story. At the first glance it seems the owner in this case is cunning. He seemed to change the mind of the buffalo for his gain. But sometimes he may have said everything from his heart. Anyway, he was the married one. So, he should know more about married life than the buffalo. Let's leave the facts there and discuss some important philosophy, about how we solve our problems. https://unsplash.com/@withluke How do we solve problems -Trading problems. Trading problems was the buffalo's method of problem solving. For the boredom and the feeling of love, without thinking the buffalo wanted to solve this by marrying a cow. However, only when he sees the problems of marriage life he decided to do otherwise. Of course, the buffalo has no choice, other than either having married problems or having unmarried problems. Either way he himself would know which set of problems is better. The real problem is trading his unmarried problems to the married problems is irreversible. Often would end up in disaster, and divorce with broken hearts and deserted calves. Have you thought about how do we solve problems? More often what we are doing is trading our problems. Imagine you are poor. And you live eating one meal per day and working hard to meet the ends of your responsibilities. And you are determined to be successful. You save little bit of money each day and then start a small business, and later in few years of time you become a big businessman ( like the fisherman ). Now you have enough to eat, and you get obese. Become a diabetic, due to lack of physical activity. You have taxes to pay. And you have worries that your employees are stealing from you. You do not have time to look at your kids and your young beautiful wife started an affair and filing for a divorce, with claiming half of your life earnings! In an alternate universe, we can imagine this time you do nothing to overcome your poverty. You remain poor. Yet you work hard to teach your kids. You try to make them better human beings. You educate them. You be with them and teach them values of the world. And guess what they become successful instead of you. They marry equally successful partners and leave the country. Now you are all alone at home. Although they send you money for your treatment and everything, they have no time to visit you. Not as often as you want. After considering all the possibilities, in another universe you decide to be selfish this time. Like a buffalo. You decide, I am not going to help with kids. I am going to let them rotten and do my work instead. I am going to have fun, doing everything fun. From drugs to prison. Guess what, your kids follow your path and they also become criminals. And you meet your son in the prison, and even bigger criminal than you. At this point you can stop me and ask. Well, that's not true. Can anyone be both successful and happy? There can be better outcome. I cannot agree more. As above is just to illustrate the fact that how we solve our problems, it is like trying to sleep the camels . About 99% of the time this is what we do. This is what I have done. Look at your life and mentally comment about your own life. It doesn't matter. If at one point you feel great about your life, those are momentary. Only immediately after when we trade one set of problems with another, we feel great about it and soon we start solving new problems. If you ask any successful entrepreneur, it is hard work. It is hard work to be successful. And even more to stay on top. https://unsplash.com/@willythewizard More ways to solve problems - Mindfulness wisdom. There is one more way to solve problems. That is to get to the root cause . Or question the problem itself. This is the mindfulness way. For this to happen just being mindful about your day-to-day function is not enough. You have to learn how the mind works and see where real problems come from. You have to understand the world, the duality of nature and time . Once you have gained enough wisdom you can go back to the question and find out what really went wrong in the first place. And only brave men and women would be able to seek this truth. I will give you example. Easy one. Instead of thinking about the future, what the buffalo in our story could have done was to ask the question why he was feeling unhappy. He should have noticed that there is love. He should have asked the question what is love ? Why did he get it. In his case he felt it only because he saw the cow. He saw the cow only because he had eyes to see that and a mind to contemplate it. It is not the cow's fault. It is not his fault either. Could he have not felt love when he saw the cow? No, he could not, it was not by choice. So, why should he bother about something he had nothing to do with? He should have asked the question why my friend the Owner is not in love with the cow? Why he is a human and I am a buffalo? Why should I work for a salary? Instead of one future, he should have thought about hundreds of different possible futures and see the absurdity of it. I am sure the buffalos would never ask such questions. I do not blame them. But we on the other hand have no excuses.

The little Match Girl. 1845 My childhood was full of happy memories. Of course I did cry just like any other child. Yet I can remember times I was happy was more than times I cried. And for some tears, and laughs the responsible person was Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). Yes, this famous Danish Auther who lived a century ago even before I was born was the reason for my tears as a child. And who first really taught me, that the world is not what it seems like in a child's dream, and there are exceptions. There are things which are irriversible, and there are pains, which are never gonna go away. I still have a pain in my heart for "The little Match Girl" who died by the window. Hans Christian Andersen has about 156 stories to his name, written in his nine volumes of fairy tales. I am sure, more than half of the children in the world are going to hear his stories, as these were translated to thousands and thousands of books, written in more than hundred languages, and cartoons and films. There is no house without a little book of "Ugly duckling", "Thumbelina" or "The princess and the Pea". His stories were so popular that they reached us kids in far corners of the world, in cartoons in early 90's even before youtube and internet became a sensation. Story of little match girl, was about a small poor girl who was trying to sell maches on a Freezing new years eve. She was going everywhere, to sell some matches, pleading everyone to buy with her feable voice. Bearheaded and on barefoot, she sees the well warmed rooms of affluent children, and their cristmas eve through windows. Except for the first few mintues of the cartoon, I was literally crying till it ended. Even a preschool child would understand it is not going to end well for the little match girl. " Death " for a child is not even a concept, as they would even happily play under a coffin. But the process which lead to the Death of the little match girl was hard to bear. That was something preventable. I was angry with everyone who did not listen to her cries when she was alive. After her failing attempts of selling matches, she ends up under a window, burning match after match, and with the little warmth it provides, she desperately tries to connect with her dead mother. And finally with the last match ends up in ash, she joins her, leaving the cruel world behind. As of writing this, I cannot do it with tears. Why did he do that? Did he enjoy making children cry? But from a corner of my heart, I am writing this with gratitude as Hans Christian Andersen did open up the door of empathy in my heart as a child. I would never be able to close that door until I forget the little match girl. The Emperor's new cloths. 1837 by Hans Christian Andersen My little ones have found, "The Emperor's new cloths". They asked me to read the story, and this brought back all the memories, as I knew it was written by my famous childhood auther. Now, the plot of the story is so hilarious that they were giggling throughout. I am sure you have heard the story before. Because it has a significant bearing on what I am going to talk about next on philosophy, I will just remind the story in case if you have forgot about it. The Emperor, who loved wearing new cloths was fooled by two men. They had promised to weave the best gramourous costume, and told the emperor that, this cloth will only be seen by true intelligent people. Not the fools. And after just bogous acting that they were making a new cloth, they just fooled the Emperor to wear "Nothing". Nobody wanted to agree that emperor wears nothing, as nobody wanted to agree that they were not intelligent. Apperently the weavers had hacked the natural weakness of humans, which is called their Ego. King had even taken a parade, naked, in front of men and women of whole kingdom, yet nobody spoke. Guess what, it was only a child atlast who shouted the King is naked. And the weavers by that time was nowhere to find. As a child I never understood the full potential of the story. Only half of it. What is the true moral of the story? We can just say, that we should not be fooled by such stupidity. We should speak truth about what we see. It is not clear what is the moral of the story at a glance. But, I am sure one person who would tell the answer and that is non other than great Dr. Seuss with Thing 1 and Thing2 , who is the Other great storyteller, compared to Hans Christian Andersen. Philosophy of Emperor's New Cloths. If you asked the question, why only the child who was able to see the naked King. Someone would say not. Everyone saw the naked king but only the child spoke about it. This is parital truth. Imagine yourself in the situation as an adult and as the child. If you see your king on a big parade naked, and everyone else is agreeing that he is wearing a glamorous costume, I am sure you also would keep silent. You see more than a "naked Man". For you he is the "King". He has the power to destroy your life, not only for you but all your family members and even ancestors. More than your ego, it is the fear that would make you not speak. So we can assume you saw more than what your child did. Compare this to the child. He only saw, a "naked Man". Barely a king. Even if he recognised the man as a king, he would not know this "King" is gonna kill your family because of what you say. So, this is why children behave as children. They do not see additional information that an adult see. But the problem here is both the child and the adult see the same thing. So, we can assume, what we see is altered by the information we have recieved previously. In this case, everyone was being "rational" but the child's vision was more closer to the truth than the adult, as it is not clouded by thoughts. I have discussed about this phenomena in the famous quote by Harper Lee. " People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for " There is a little more depth I would like to take you from here and take you to Socrates. Let's get our principle correct. We argued that Adult's vision is more distorted as he has more information to consider. However, child is more closer to the truth atleast in the above case of Emperors cloths. But, if a child is more closer to the truth, can you guess who is even more closer to the truth? That would be a toddler. What a toddler see is even more closer to the truth than a child, because he even not see a "Naked man". He would see a "Human (man or women)" or even a "moving thing". If we go back step further, a neonate would see a "thing". What about a child who was born one day ago? That child would see Nothing. As there is no prior information stored to compare He would see nothing. If our logic is true in this case which is "When we go back on the timeline of consiousness , we are more closer to truth". A day old baby is more closer to the truth. Yet, we understand that a day old child would see nothing in this world. What does this tell you about philosophy of truth? Only conclusion I can come is a child would see nothing on the day one on earth is because "Actually there is nothing". That is the true nature of the world. Every "thing" that we think is there is some creation of our own mind. And guess what who understood this truth. Great Socrates. " Only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing " Most difficult journey of someones life is, breaking their own illusion to see, what the child saw on the day one of their life. That is the true meaning of being mindful .

Rivers of tears and innocent cries Echoes in chambers even tonight Of mothers and daughters and withering lives God forgive us for our crimes. Who said we learned lessons from Auschwitz ? Who said we made corrections in our action plans? Politicians' rulers' leaders of our times Followed and Followers are guilty alike. To all daughters with love, let's make it a promise. As fathers not to fail before our demise. Auschwitz, gas chambers. I first learned about Gas chambers of Auschwitz from a book by the same name. I was a kid at the time and did not know the history of a world at war. The world war never reached our country although it was a British colonial at that time, hence, even in our history books it was not a popular subject. I can remember the gas chambers described in the book innocent lives, withered away inside of them. I learned about a crazy doctor in the name of Josef Mengele, who did experiments using humans. And today when I thought about it, I realize, what is the use digging up a grave of a cruel creation of nature. I would rather talk about bright stories who died in silence without a word. Touch me not - Mimosa Pudica I can remember when we grew up, as kids we used to see these sensitive plants by the road. It was a weed by the name of Mimosa Pudica . They held little pink flowers and thorns in their little trunks and branches. Barely grew feet above the ground and they had leaves which are sensitive to touch. And they wither away quickly in seconds and drop to the ground if touched. And If we see a plant as kids, we could not help touching them just to see them wither to the ground. I saw a couple of these "Touch me not" plants by the road just the other day and I did touch them. And it reminded me of the lives withered in gas chambers all those years ago. It made me ashamed, when I compared myself to the Cruel Mengele, did I do wrong by touching those innocent leaves? What right did I have? I hold the power, and should I have left them do their photosynthesis instead? Story about gas chamber. Still movies of men women and children being forced into concentration camps still are there on the internet. I see their stories, which were never told. They did not have a blog to write about their lives. They did not have paper. They were not allowed to speak. If touched, they could only wither away like another Mimosa Pudica. With all those memories, they were Straight away taken from their homes, into the gas chambers. After each such gassing, it was said that the bodies always were in the middle of the room. Like a pyramid. And the old feeble were at the bottom while on the top were little stronger men and women. I can only imagine these withering plants trying to hold onto the last bit of air which is escaping from the roof while the toxic gas is replacing it from the bottom. They had not choice, they had no place to run away. No voice. There were no global humanitarian organizations to speak up for them. On the other hand, as a philosopher, I question the cruelty, being addressed by counter cruelty. How come penalty for taking someone life is also penalty of life. I have argued over this " God's forgiveness " in some of articles in the blog. But like to re-emphasize that everyone deserves a second chance in life. As life is life although what form it is. If life wants to change for the better at the last minutes of life, that would be a silver line for a dark cloud and would bring hope, for the afterlife. When we understand these facts and appreciate life it would be easier to wipe of our dark history of gas chambers from even memory never to appear again on earth.

The dream land of creativity. I am sure of it; the American dream did not start with creativity. Maybe it started with some enthusiastic British and French men, who were in search of richness and escape from poverty. Maybe some fled away from their troubles and wives and children in search of Gold. However, after centuries those reasons do not matter now. As America is considered as the greatest place for dreamers. As my blog is also read by many Dreamers, American or not, I dedicate this chapter on creativity and dreams. Creativity is a great power. Creativity is a great power, that humans possess than any animal species. That is what took our generations out of thick jungles ages ago. Creativity matters to thrive as a society and as an individual. I can write more on its benefits; however, you would know. Why creativity is so powerful? How does it shape our future. Creativity comes in many shapes and forms. When we identify creativity in art, most often, it may also be found in engineering, mathematics, or even in cycling . Creativity adds some value to otherwise boring lives of routine. I see creativity in the top tier of the bloom's taxonomy. As creativity leads to new innovations . From this aspect America is the greatest, as it encourages the collaboration of most renowned minds together to form thousands of patents a year. You can be creative. Imagine you are a brick layer. Can you not be creative? I urge you to be creative at your work and out of your work. Otherwise, you would be wasting your years and years of time laying brick after brick learning nothing. Be damn creative so that you are the best brick layer in the whole world. How would you be creative? It comes naturally when you make it a habit listening to your mind. Often our minds are clouded by routine boring thoughts. However, throughout the day I notice there comes times that the mind is sharp. Just like a surgical scalpel. If you are mindful, a creative idea would linger in your head, and just like other thoughts it will go away. Unless you make notice of it and make it a little dream. An American dream or an Australian dream. It doesn't matter. This idea initially would not show any shape. Just like a mound of clay. While you are at work you have to play with it. Make some shape out of it. Get your hands dirty. And you would make a pot at the end of the day. It may not be the best pot in the world, neither the most valuable pot . However, it would still be good enough to give you experience to make another. I know you have complaints at this point. Your mind would say, I do not have best tools. I have only a mound of clay. What can you do if you have only a mound of clay? Remember the quote "It is not the one who has the best ingredients cooks the most delicious cake?". I remind myself this whenever my stupid mind brings up the stupid excuses to not to be creative. You are what you see , and you are what you do. So, the moment you start pounding that mound of clay with a stick you are a creator. I can remember someone close to me years ago. He had a nice smile and a big heart. A young man with enormous power. Hardworking man. Once he was working in our backyard digging a deep drain, to drain the monsoon water that flow across our land. I remember when he was tired, he would sit on a piece of wood and make a small ball of clay from the soil he just unearthed. And he started tapping it with a piece of flat wood. First, he would make it a flat disk, then with his fist in the middle he would tap more and more until it is shaped into a nice little pot. And he did not complaint that he did not have best equipment. I still can remember he gifted it to me with a big smile on his face. I did learn and I made my own little pots. It really does not have to be big, and enormous like dreams of Elon musk . As the values are measured our minds, tiny things matter. Hence, little bit creativity will add more to smiles which are very hard to come by. If you cannot do it for yourself, do it for others, as that is the Dennis Detroit way of happiness. Do not be afraid of the rules. This is a dangerous thing to say. However, as I consider myself a philosopher I can say it. Be aware of the rules and navigate them if wanted. Do, not go into jail. There are some people who make us follow want to follow the rules blindly. However, remember trajectory of the human history was changed by the people who were not afraid of challenging the rules. Rules are the killers of creativity. That's why I do like dreams instead. As in dreams anything and everything is possible. More importantly, rules are made by our ancestors who made them follow their observations of the universe in their eyes. You have your own consciousness to judge your world. Hence you may find a better set of rules which describe your own world better than your ancestors. This is Anton Chigurh Philosophy when he said, "If the rules you followed brought you to your death, what is the use of the rule?" If you do not know when and how to break the rules, be friends with a good lawyer. They will definitely guide you, as they are not afraid of the rules. If you are a lawyer, you already know what I am saying here as one of the jobs of the lawyer is to navigate the rules without breaking them. There were lot of them who wanted to destroy creativity , after been halfway through the expected life, now I realize. I shouldn't have listened to them. I shouldn't have delayed writing the first poem. I shouldn't have delayed creating a blog. As being creative is the silver lining of my day. As I remind myself when I know it is going to spark some consciousness to be an extraordinary person in the future. What is your "American" Dream?

A jelly pudding I possess a brain weighing a kilo of jelly inside my skull. If cut open it would flop like a pudding on a plate that my mom made for last Christmas. I walk around with my precious pudding judging everything around me. From a grain of sand to the statue of liberty. With my jelly pudding I think about the length of copper wire I can make melting all the 91000kg of copper from the statue of liberty , and how much I can earn from this If I can repeat the process year after year. I learn math to find the math which describes the profit as a function of the radius of the copper wire that I am going to make. And I search through the internet to find out the largest copper mines of the world which can just do that. Then I zoom out just to see it from the space just to see whether this is visible from 100 km above the sky. Shopping for Apples I take my jelly pudding to the shop, to go after piles and piles of packets of canned food. I access the memory catalogue in the jelly to see what taste each one have given in the past. And I select a packet of apple which has proven to be tasteful in the past. Not the most expensive one, as I am sure an extra little bit of taste it gives is not worth enough for the extra cash. And not the cheapest ones either. As I am taking the apples for my own consumption, and I would not treat myself so cheap either. Just like Goldilocks I choose which is perfectly in the middle. And tag it as a good trade, in the memory bank to repeat the process next week. With the half a dozen of apples I walk away from the store, like I have made the right choice. Like if I eat one per day that I might get enough antioxidants which will reduce the rate of mutations happening in individual cells of my stomach, to reduce the rate of cancer and helps me to keep the doctors away from my life. Until the jelly pudding gets molds on its own and no use for anyone, not even the jelly pudding itself. Walk down the Broadway I walk down the road as I do not have a car. Which I think would add to my current troubles with my job and my so loving parents. It's not going to add anything, other than searching for parking spaces and bills and tax and even the trouble of driving without knocking down anyone. The jelly pudding comes to a conclusion that it's not worth the risk and put aside the car in the back corner room which might never come again to the living room. Like that old broken 🌂 umbrella I had years ago. I walk down the road alone as I do not have a girlfriend and think, well, it's just the same as the car. A trouble from the beginning. The tax expenses and even the Noice. I might even consider a dumb dog would be a better choice. And who knows next year I might be the Romio that I wished I would become until I grew into the current version of the Manhattan man. The girlfriend also goes to the back room with the umbrella and the car. And now, now it's about the solo journey to the central park. Manhattan Man In the central Park Turning around the corner, I enter the park looking for a bench while everything seems to be taken by tourists. What are they even doing here? Don't they have enough jungles in their home land?, and wonder they are from Vietnam or China. What is wrong with their puddings? Expecting tigers in middle of NY? I notice the jelly pudding started to bubble while going deeper into the park and finally just found one, just out of luck. And started to enjoy an apple. Out of nowhere a couple of pigeons come and join cooing for their fair share for deeds they have not done on top of my head. And I accept their claim and put some pieces of apple I am eating. And with a confused look they peck the apple and refuse to consume and fly away, showing that they are from the upper class of pigeon society that do not want my offering of apples. Suddenly a girl runs past me, and I bring out the numeric scale. Not the front one, but the back one as I noticed her only after she passed me, and try to figure out where to keep her? Is it a seven? A six? Maybe a 6.5. Numeric scales I look at the sky and notice it might even rain in the afternoon and temperature has dropped at least a couple of degrees since I have left the office. I need to track the weather; it's too much ask to keep all the numbers in memory for the jelly pudding hence I browse for a weather app for my iPhone with reminders of temperature at least four times per day. As if like I am not feeling cold unless I know the temperature. And it is a good idea to update the temperature analogue scale of the jelly pudding to match the numeric scale provided by the app. I notice that the CPU usage of the jelly pudding is so high that it has started to heat up the system although its cold outside. Hence decide to return to the apartment to give it a rest and maybe keep it in the fridge overnight will make it just hard enough to carry on another day with numbers. Paragraph from the Book What is time? World of Goo. You may have played the famous game “world of goo” on your pc or on your smartphone. And as the story goes there's a race between goo balls and ‘world goo corporation’ and building a tower and finding z dimension in the 2D world. In this chaos of goo story, ultimately, they reach the far away planet to populate it with more goo. And it seems sarcastic to think that we are represented with these goo balls, which we help to navigate rivers and build towers with. And it was shown that if all the eight billion people on our planet were put together into a giant goo ball it would expand over just under one kilometer in diameter. And putting it into perspective we can keep the human goo ball in the middle of the central park in New York and it will be expanding only 100 meters beyond either side of the width of the park. Compare it to the immense size of our planet and see how insignificant we are on our own planet just in comparison of size. Next -> Where do our values come from?

What happens after a breakup? Imagine a young couple in a relationship. Which started as a fairy tale, when eyes met with eyes. Then the period of extensive joy 😊. Countless texts meetings and sharing everything from a Kit cat to compartment. And after a while when they know each other Suttle differences started to appear. They find out that they have a temper. There are differences the way they think about things. Even gets angry occasionally and arguments. Ambitions of each other gets in crossroads. And they decide to break up. Let's assume this is mutual, and they ended their relationship. This is not uncommon. I would say a very common phenomenon. Our discussion is about what happens after. Give it a thought? What happened after you broke up with someone? Introduction to saved value Or "Why I cannot move on." I will let you contemplate thoughts on above question for a while and introduce you to the saved value. In fact, if you are someone with programing experience you already know this. Saved value is a concept when the client uploads some data into a program. As an example, if you have a Facebook account or a twitter and you upload some photos, that act as a saved value. The important thing to remember is this saved value makes you come back to the program again and again in a positive feedback loop. This is called hooked method of programing I have described this in my previous article on phone addiction . More you upload videos, more levels you have reached on the video game, it will be a strong reminder for you to come back. We can Isolate this principle of saved value and apply this to life in general. Remember the Schmidt Tunnel ? Digging a useless tunnel, even when roads were built, he couldn't help himself, as he had saved so much time and effort in the first place. Now with this new wisdom we will look at the above scenario of a couple breaking up. More often we see one easily moves on while other struggles. And we can confidently say the saved value for the one who cannot move on is more in this case. I'm not suggesting the effort they put into making the other one better. True effort is a different thing, but the mental evaluation of it is another. The memories, hold mental values. Just like pictures you upload to a Facebook page. While idling your mind start to visit these mental images and re-evaluate them making it hard to delete. On the other hand, the one who even have no "Facebook page", it would be easier to move on. More applications on saved values. A relationship is not the only place where you see this kind of save value playing a significant role. Imagine you are in a job. You work your way through the hierarchy year after year, even feeling better for yourself. Suddenly, out of nowhere the top post is snatched by a newcomer. And you are devastated. You think you deserve this more than anyone. Yet you cannot quit. You cannot quit and make a fresh start. As your values are saved in the company by hours. By your creativity and effort. Imagine your family house. Maybe your parents still live there. 🤔 You saw them build the house when they were a young couple. They brought you up there, in knowledge and love you all grew. Just like a nest, it was a safehouse for everyone. Now children have moved on. To build a house on their own, if they prefer. The house got old day after day just like your parents. But they refuse to move on. They do not want to repaint the walls. They do not want to facelift the living room. They have so much time and mental effort invested in the house. It is not uncommon that old people just die in their old homes ( last mile home - short story). And imagine you or me in their place, I see no difference. I am sure you may have many examples of saved value. It may be a broken toy that you don't want to throw away. A tradition that your generations of ancestors carried out. A belief that do not let you move on even when you do know the truth. Negative effects of saved values- out of thick mud. As you can see, saved value can be disastrous when you want to move on. But importantly we can recognize it is better to have them in places where we want to stay. So how can we overcome this problem of saved value when you want to move on. If it is just a Facebook page you can just delete it. But we are talking about mental values on mental objects . You may disagree. You may say it's not all mental. I invested my own money my own time which I should have spent with family enjoying. I cannot give up now. Even when I see there is no use, I simply cannot as it's not all mental! If you are in that kind of mud. I would just agree and let you ventilate your sorrow. And just ask you to take a mindful walk. Step out into your garden and look at a 🌳 tree. What can you see? A tree? How much is its worth? Give me a number. Zero? Hundred? Or is it negative, meaning you want it cut out as it blocks the sun into your room. Now ask the Neighbour, what is the worth of the tree. Ask thousand people the value of the tree. Or even better you can watch an episode of "the price is right". A thousand people will give a thousand answers to a value of a tree. What does this teach you about its value? It's not in the tree but in your mind more precisely consciousness. Different minds produce different values on the same object. The price is never right, it's not definitely in the label given by the factory. How to readjust your saved values and move on. Look at the broken relationship now. As it is a mental object, in mindfulness. You realize the values you have given are far too much. Obviously, we can understand when we see how the world just carries on when you are stagnant. Once you realize this that the value you have given to your broken relationship is just mental, you can even start tweaking this. You can look at the fish in the bowl in front of you and just for the sake of it you can give a mental value far higher than your boyfriend or girlfriend to the fish! And you will start to get those lost smiles when you do that. So, let me suggest if it is your job, that you cannot move on from, compare this to a paper clipper and give it more value than your job. And get out of there to a happy place. If it's an old car that you cannot sell because you have so many memories with it. Just give a value to a nut in your imagination and laugh about it. I see no one can give any excuse when they gain wisdom on these facts. And it will come handy even if you are saving tons of values today. As we all know one day we all have to leave it all behind and become zeroes of life.

Mr. Paul Alexander - The Man in the Iorn Lungs. Mr. Paul Alexander is considered as the Man in the Iron Lungs. He is the longest to live in so called Iron Lungs after being victim to Polio at the age of six. He passed away at the age of 78 on March 11,2024 . Considering his condition this is a remarkable achievement, and someone would call it a miracle. As Paul's life story is packed with full of suprises. Mini Monsters If you do not know about Polio. It is a virus mainly affecting children less than age of five. And one in 200 will get permanent musle paralysis. And these children generally die due to unable to breath, and other problems associated with paralysis, like increased rate of infections etc. Once respiratory muscles are paralyed only way to survive is to fit into an Iorn Lung or a mechanical ventilator. It is a global effort to eradicate polio from the world and still have not succeeded as there are still pockets of these mini monsters hanging around in some third world countries. However, we never come across these as thanks to global vaccination programs of WHO and heard immunity it provides. More than ever we should be thankful to the collective efforts of nations to tackle mini monsters, latest being the covid. Who knows what mini monsters hide in our future, I am sure we will face them with positive attitude, when we consider courage of humans just like Paul. How Iorn Lung works. I can remember when we were in primary school we went on a field trip to see a Blacksmith. His workshop was few killometers away, and for a nine year old kid this was a great experience to see things in action. He showed us a bellow, which he used to pump enough wind to his hearth. When I saw Paul's Iron lung it reminded me of a bellow. Which essentially is a rythmically moving giant piston encasing the body. We all have this kind of mechanism pre installed inside of our body, which is chest cavity. And the diaphragm which is at the bottom of this cavity acts as the piston which moves air in and out of lungs. That is exactly what Paul could not do as his diaphgram is also paralyed with all the other muscles below his neck. Hence His piston is just outside the body, as the Iron lung, compared to ours which is inside. Technically it should be called "Iorn diaphragm" than Iorn Lungs, as it does replace only function of his diaphragm not Lungs! There had been an outbreak of polio in 1950 in America and in Texas in which many children got the disease, including Paul, who almost died in the hospital. However he surivied and he was fitted to this iorn lung at the age of six, once his muslce paralysis kicked in. And his parents Nicholas Alexander, and Dorris, took him home in a Lorry, and he had been living a whole life with his Iorn lungs since then for almost all the 72 of his rest of the years, until his death. Remarkable Achievements of Mr Paul Alexander. I can only imagine such a life. Most of us would be devastated. But not Paul. Maybe he is made of different form, from me and you as he had achieved some impossible things througout his 78 year lifespan. He had graduated from W.W. Samuell Highschool being second in his class and first in the history of the school being to do so, without phisically attending to any class. With obvious reasons he had to be home schooled and memorise everything without taking notes. Bachlors degree in 1978 University Texas Austin, Juris Doctor 1984 and admitted to the bar in 1986 he had even represented clients in Courts with modified wheelchair. He even wrote a biography of himself "Three minutes for a Dog: my life in an Iorn Lung" published in 2020 after 8 years spending writing it, dictating and typing by tapping a keybord with a stick in his mouth. Even starting a Tick Tok account in 2024 January and gaining more than 300000 followers at the time of his death. If these are not remarkable achievements for a man who spend all life looking at the celing of his room, I can only compare it to a summit of K2 Death of Paul Alexander. He was admitted to the hospital in February 2024, and was tested positive for Covid 19. However at his time of death two months later he was negavite for virus. His health had deteriorated during hospital stay until inevitable happened. Final thoughts on the life of Mr Paul Alexander Personally for me Mr Alexander is a legened. Just like Achillis of Phthia, hero of the Trojan war . I am sure he had a legion of 300 loyal warriors in his personal battle of life. I have seen him talking, in documenteries in you tube and in TV. Never he talks about any negative thing about being paralysed and unable to walk or even use his hands. I have seen Sc-Fi films where a brain in a jar controlling humans and aleans, except he was just a brain in a head, with the useless body I have seen him drawing using the brush with his mouth. He was cheerful when he started talking about his life and daily routines into the camera, just like any other cheerful grandpa. Mr Paul Alexander is a brain, a genious, a remarkable human without a body. It makes me wonder about all of others who just complaint. Humans with a body but without a brain and we all can change. His story urges us to take action against all the barriers which we make in our minds. And if you would ask him I am sure he has ton of advice to give for us. There is a saying that "once, I started to worry about not having a bicycle until I saw a man without legs". I can conclude saying once "I started to worry about my life, until I saw Mr Paul Alexander and his remarkable story of Iron Lungs!" Following is a paragraph from the book What is time? I can compare battles faced by Paul to the battles of a mountenieer in an attempt at K2 Eight thousanders K2 is one of the 14 eight-thousanders, which is the second highest mountain in the world and second only to Annapurna 1  as the deadliest mountain. One in four people have died in attempts to summit this deadly pyramid in karakoram range in pakistan, which has given the nickname ‘Savage mountain’, not for the faint heart. Each year a few mountaineers attempt at the summit of this deadly beast, and risk their own lives. It is not a simple endeavor even for the experienced as they have to survive harsh conditions and deadly challenges even to have a view of the mountain as it is so far away from human reach. Summiting this mountain is considered a great honor, although even for the most successful they have only a few minutes to spend on top of the world enjoying mesmerizing views, as more time they spend enjoying their success the more they risk as climbing up is only half the journey.  Death is more common, is honored, but each climber takes a gamble against nature. Sometimes they have to give up on lifelong friends on top of the mountain freezing to death as there is no way to to help without risking their own life. An icefall, a slip of a foot, a change in weather and exhaustion can kill. Yet the hours spent in planning and challenges they face, what drives these brave men and women to conquer their fears? Are rewarded by the time that they spend on the summit. Biggest mountains are created in the mind. Next -> American dream and creativity

I lie by your side, throughout the journey. Sleepers kept us part though made it possible to carry. Clickety clack of carts of old trains so heavy. So near but so far, it is our destiny. Although we travel side by side till infinity I have lost hope of intimacy. My love my life my eternal beauty I say a silent goodbye though I do not have anybody. Whispered a rail in the ears of the other before it was crushed by the train yet again. Walking on rails. We have old rail system in our country, Sri Lanka. One of the most beautiful in the world. It was a gift from British who ruled for 150 years. Yet it is not fair to call it a gift as I am sure many have worked in these projects for minimal wage and even died. But now today after so many decades later still it is functioning. Steam engines are replaced by diesel engines from Germany. Yet rails remain the same. I am sure although one rail lies close to the other few feet apart the never have met each other for a chat. Just like some of us. How many we have met in the past. Yet carry on with life like strangers. What about your next-door Neighbour. I am sure after a couple of words exchanged in the beginning, when you moved in, they went silent. Like the other rail, they carry on another life. Maybe until the funeral of that old couple you would not cross the path. What about the old couple next door. They seem happy together. Yet I am sure they have secrets; they have kept from each other. Maybe it's about a story that happened a long time ago when they were young. And they know each other and ❤️ each other so much that they cannot share this without hurting the other. So, they keep these secrets in hidden attics of the memory until they are dissolved in dementia. What about the young girl and the boy. Who sit opposite each other. Every day on the train. They share some glances on each other while the other one is not looking. The presence of one makes warmth in the others heart. Yet when the train comes to a halt they walk on different paths. To repeat the journey again tomorrow until they move on with life. I am sure this is not uncommon unbelievable or unnatural story about every teenage. If it wasn't for the sleepers, rails would have moved apart. And it is the same sleepers which keep them looked at a distance from each other. Whispers of a rail This is what rails whisper in silence. I used to walk on the rails when I was younger, occasionally even now. And I was surprised how they are perfectly not fit into a stride of a human. Always I had to be mindful about the next sleeper to prevent trip and a fall. What about you? How did rails change your life. I am curious to know 🤔.

Power of positive thinking I can remember reading a positive psychology book, many many years ago by Norman Vincent Pele. "The power of positive thinking". The stories in the book were amazing. Powerful message of positivity was reinforced in every page of the book. I still remember Matterhorn and Wall Pharmacy. It made a big impact on how I looked at life. To a level, that I even believed that you could get an Olympic medal if you wanted. There is a way in an alternating universe. If you ask the question why you cannot, I will say its only because you have made some wrong choices. You do not know your every talent. You have not tested all the alternative routes that you can take. That was a good explanation and a good attitude about life. You haven't doesn't mean you can't. As you have not played with all the variables. Yet when the information sphere got bigger, I started to question this positive psychology . It made me realize that it is just trying to fool yourself when there are enough negative things in the world. Alternative Negative world Imagine a butterfly. A positive psychology would teach us a butterfly is a beautiful animal. Some black and white, some yellow like 🌻 sunflowers. Some butterflies blue and pink. They harbor diversity and beauty of all the animals combined. Then I noticed this is only part of the truth. As I learnt there are some butterflies look exactly like predators with big eyes. They have the ability to mimic some poisonous animals so they themselves are saved from the birds. Every animal in the jungle seems to be eating butterflies for dinner. They are at the bottom of the food chain. The tragedy is that they do not know this. They do not know that butterflies end their lives in bellies of other animals more than often. Except the ones in butterfly garden in the zoo. Just like a poem by Robert Frost . He speaks about stopping by the woods, to see the beauty of a tree. Appreciate a moment and carry on with life. I compared this with film Madagascar. And the song " what a wonderful world " and came to know, it is not straight forward like "a butterfly is a beautiful animal". When you train your eyes and mind to see the full picture, suddenly the positivity has changed. And natural negativity bias start to destroy any hope of recovery. Just like Marty, Gloria and Brain, you will start to see the other side of the picture. And then naturally our minds tend to compare this with our own lives. And you start to notice ups and downs. You start to wonder about death, the ultimate demon which makes everything that you do positive or negative useless. Although we do not understand, it is a huge problem. Often, we tend to run away from those questions like bugs bunny. Yet in the background of the mind we know one day we will get caught. We see this when we see our superheroes when they struggle to climb a flight of stairs. Becoming a seeker or a millionaire So, some start a journey of seekers life. I have seen people who wonder into the woods isolated from people to seek the truth. They spend years and years under trees in harsh conditions to find out true meaning of life . And as you can see positive psychology is just a kid when we consider their philosophical minds. Some start to chase a dream, thinking this is the true meaning of life. We have enough millionaires and billionaires as example. Some start to chase a " state of mind " or a " peace " often by manipulating the environment. As an example, if you are on a beach for a vacation , you would be very likely at peace. Although you may think that this is something you have gained, I would say. Just wait. Just wait until next week when your work and responsibilities start to hit you tomorrow. You cannot live on a beach forever. You can if you devote yourself to be a seeker and willing to live like a Begger. Yet I feel this still is artificial, as you would change when the environment is changed. So it is not sustainable either. Mindfulness as a potential solution to negativity Then what is the solution? I see mindfulness as a potential solution as it allows us to touch into reality. The positivity is not natural as we impose ourselves with an altered reality. Negativity is just the opposite, that also a creation of our own. Mindfulness let us see the eternal argument our mind involved in between these positives and negatives. The true reality if exists is neither positive nor negative. It's just valueless. One problem of this approach to life is these leads to nihilism, and loss of hope. I see countless philosophers who just stop at this point and move into kind of depression themselves which happened to me as well. Then I realize I don't have to be. True wisdom - the solution- What if everything goes right? The best analogy for this scenario is to compare it with an adult who plays with kids. He still would build a sandcastle with his children, even laugh and have fun. But he would not cry when a big wave hits the castle and wash it away. Similarly, you can use positive psychology although you know its inherent valuelessness as it is a mental object. And even enjoy doing so. If everything is a thing, created by the mind, why not a positive thing? So, instead of worrying, you may ask. What if everything goes right? If life is just a potential It can go right? I bet it will go right 92% of the time even more. That is how positive psychology can be used in a philosophical world of negativity.

Mindfulness. Mindfulness is a difficult thing to understand because of its inherent subjective nature. More than anything I see most of the people are confused on what to expect from being mindful. More than anything mindfulness is a tool to understand the truth about self and the world. Although modern world is more focused on short term benefits of it, I can only imagine it as a tool to prepare someone for death, just like the philosophy for that matter. What is to be mindful? Here In this article, I reflect upon some thought process which happened before mindfulness kicks in. As after mindfulness, it just gives nothing. Thoughts about the past, and about the future are hindrance to mindfulness only as long as you are not aware of them. Seagulls and sand. It is a windy afternoon. The sky is full of Clouds only Apparent when you are in the beach. You look at the Sky, patchy clouds trying to hide the bluish background of the sky. And from these patches the sinking sun try to release its final bits of right above the church. You couldn't help noticing seagulls up in the sky hovering like drones. They are not in search of food. Just chilling in the breeze, just like you. But up there it is so much wind that there is no need to flap their wings. It's easier than walking, like gliders they stand still facing the wind, just occasionally to turn back and loop, to stop themselves falling asleep in the midair. Only competition for them so far is a solo kite sent by kids, but haven't reached up to them so far, hence there is no real race. Crows are just land animals from seagulls' point of view. And you are sure they do not bother even to look down. Why should they, everything is visible from there and seagulls couldn't ask for more. Down on the sand it's a different story altogether. Crows are nasty in their tactics. They have learned harsh lessons from the fishermen to survive the sand. They stand together like a pack of wild dogs, in another life, to hunt for a snack. To Sanch a lunch packet or a piece of bread from a tourist. Dry salty sand is their home, and there is no beauty in it, just a struggle for survival. They roam back and forth from huts to the sea. You walk past them and face the sea yourself. It's the same old sea , and endless waves . And mind is rushing with waves after waves and only after minutes you realize that you have been day dreaming. Just in front of the sea. It is like being at a play. "Life of pie" being played in front of you by world renowned artists. Yet you are blindfolded, and ears plugged. You do not feel the wind or the waves as you are looking at the misguided drama of your own mind. Why you ask yourself. Why there is no peace, but chaos? You see a child playing besides his mother. Digging holes in the sand with his feet. Does he think about yesterday? You answer yourself. Unlikely. Maybe he even doesn't know what yesterday is. He is not worried about the fights which he had with his siblings. And there is no relevance of that to this moment. This moment is about happiness, of digging holes in the sad, and only that. Does he worry about future. Surely not. It seems his mother's dreams are not yet painted in his mind. Maybe later, maybe in another ten years he would start to have an ambitious dream. Then only he would start worrying and being anxious about success and failure. Yet at this moment nobody is capable of stealing his minutes. Not even yesterday, not even tomorrow. Songs of the sea. You give a sigh, as your eyes drift back towards the sea. You realize why you cannot hear the song of the sea. You have been deaf by the past, bocking the sound waves reaching your eardrums. No matter how loud the sea is. And you put them down mindfully on the sand, and there it is. The eternal song of the waves at last. You realize why you cannot see the waves and bubbles dancing in front of you. You were blindfolded by tomorrow. Endless possibilities opportunities and events which are never part of the show now. There is no point watching the trailers of tomorrow's movie while you are at the cinema today. And you decide to put down the blinders on the sand and voila. The real play only begins now. With both sound and pictures. You let them calm down your thoughts and let them drift like clouds above. You let yourself be a seagull hovering above everything. Forget that you have been a crow struggling in the sand. And come back with an empty mind of a child gaining nothing. Read more on, Past Present Future