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

Well, maybe it is not true everywhere, but I would say a lot of times. Have you ever been called a coward? when you failed to meet your responsibilities, at work in home. Probably the blame came from someone significant in your life, boss, partner, friend. Being coward is a good thing, as it opens up opportunity to move forward. Called a coward is not a bad thing, as it gives you a significant opportunity to reconsider your life. Either you can dwell on the blame or just do a SWOT analysis (or Mandala) then and there and consider your options. Maybe you are just being falsely accused even when you have done the correct thing, or just because you said no to something you absolutely hate doing. Then the matter is very easy, just ignore and move forward. But more significant is if the blame comes from inside. Instead of someone saying you a coward, if you feel like one, I will say there is a problem, as you cannot simply move forward without addressing this issue. Why you feel like a coward? It is important to reconsider why you felt like a coward. Most likely this is due to you failing to meet one of your own core values in a meaningful way. Maybe you just wanted to be a good employee at work, a good father, a good mother, a good son or a daughter. Maybe you just valued your work more than your family life and it just crashed. Maybe you just forgot that elements of life need constant juggling to prevent some of them just falling under gravity. If that is the case, getting your priorities straight, and adjusting your core values would make sense. The truth is nobody is going to come and help you do that, unless you have very caring and understanding parent, with enough compassion to see you through. As the subjective of our reality, I would say that happening is really rare. So, instead I suggest you go back to your own pen and paper and start gathering your dispersed thoughts and streamline them into a flow, for a new beginning. running away from problems of life. Sometimes it is ok to let it go. Once upon a time there was a python, which happen to slither around looking for water. And it went to a village. There while sliding in the bushes, it moved over the blade of a sword which bruised its body. Thinking this was enemy, the python wrapped itself around the blade, and it did cut a little bit deeper. Now in pain, the python was angry and in rage it tightened its grip. Again, and again and again, until the blade did cut all around it's body, by the time it let go, the python was exhausted, bleeding and unsalvageable. The battle the python engaged was not a true battle. It could have slithered away and be called a coward, against a blade. So, I guess being a coward is better than being dead in an unnecessary battle. There is no reason not to let regrets go away and move forward, as holding onto them would make you bleed your precious energy.

Why it is right to get wrong? Lightening When it is a storm, rarely we get chance to observe lightening. Until we developed fully equipped video cameras, which can capture lightening, in slow motion we did not appreciate what is happening. Now anyone can watch it in YouTube. And if you see, the super charged particles in the rain clouds, initially try to find optimal path by sending small streaks of charged particles. And often they end up in nowhere. And after such failures suddenly it detects the correct route and "Bam" all the energy is unleashed, and we can see and hear from 10 miles away. So, even lightening gets it wrong in the first attempt! lightening. : https://unsplash.com/@davidmoum Maze runners. Have you seen maze navigator games contest? These robot enthusiasts get together once a year to choose the winner of the best maze navigator Mouse. It's interesting, before the proper run the mouse is given chance to navigate the maze. And they often end up in dead ends. But this wrong data is used by the mouse to detect optimal and the best route to its target in the proper run. Isn't it amazing; to know the success of a maze winner is determined about the failures? I don't think anyone would appreciate this. Why failure is path to success? In life we fail sometimes. If you are 1/10000 who did not yet, it may be there in your future as well. I am not discouraging or bringing bad luck. If you ask JK Rowling or Mark Suckerberg, or anyone else who is considered successful, will tell that there is no secret formula. Or magic seven steps to success. It is sheer hard work combined with inherent passion and tiny drop of luck from the universe. And guess what most often it comes after 100 such failure attempts. Well, you might disagree showing me a pilot. Failure to land a plane would end up in a crash. Yet I cannot agree, I am sure all of the pilots did fail in their simulation landings. And only after repeated attempts they learn how to achieve that 100% success and confidence. And that goes to everyone who is at the top of their game. And this is the reason why failure is the path to success. As you can see, I use the word game deliberately because we in fact are really playing the gigantic game. Sometimes as individuals, sometimes as races, sometimes as nations, sometimes as species. But we are so much involved in this game so much so that we have forgotten we are just playing. Only criminals' lawyers and occasional philosophers know that it is a game. Maybe some few elite politicians and crazy rich 😜 Asians come under this category. But for the commoners like you and me, we do not even know we are playing the game. Why? Maze : https://unsplash.com/@parrish It's because our parents and teachers did not know this wisdom. If they knew they would tell us or better teach us it is ok to fail an exam. Because it is just a stupid game we humans inherently play as adults. Important thing is to identify which game if you are good at and go there and play till you die. In that game, there would be no failures as you are doing it not to win. And it can be simple things like feeding chicken in a chicken farm. Happiness can be there if you love it! Do you think Einstein did mathematics because he wanted money? Do you think Pablo Picasso painted because he wanted to be famous? Do you think elon send rockets because he wants to burn tonnes of money? Maybe 10% of it is true. Yet 70% it is due to the fact it is their passion. So faliure does not matter in places where your satisfaction comes from passion. So if faliure stops you from doing something, maybe you should start doing something else. After all the life begins at 40 according to some hence you are never late. Let's move onto some philosophical aspects now. Inherently we will talk about death. Games that we play will end at death. Just like that poof. gone. Everything you love will vanish, and even if you came from afterlife nobody would even agree the decaying body is yours anymore, so much so all the valuables we collect. If you become a ghost even your friends and family would run away, unless you are a friendly ghost like Casper. So even if we look at the failure from this point of view, you will understand failure does not matter as we all are doomed anyway. But why not reach the clouds before you fall back on earth? Steps to success: https://unsplash.com/@camstejim The second point I wanted to show you is if you look at your life from a one second after your death, even the success would not matter? Did you see that? Our eyes are not used to see this fact because we are always looking at life from this side of death. We are unable to visualize ourselves after death. There is good chance that all the materialistic and spiritual ties to this life would be cut off at our death. When we understand this, I find it easy to comprehend the mentality of seekers of truth. I see nuns, priests, monks and countless others, give up their burden of involvement of pursuit of happiness of the game our society in search of a truth. And I see they also start to play their own game without understanding what is happening. Some end up not bathing for years, some end up doing meditation under trees. Some end up coming back to the same place found nothing. And some I can see smile, when they realize 😄 it's all the fool the same. You carry your own fool to the palace, to the forest and to the Mars, and you would not find happiness or peace. Unless you know you are constantly being fooled by your mind even looking for virtue in a world of nothingness.

This is one of the great advice Aldous Huxley has given to the humankind. It urges us to be vigilant about the facts, not ignorant. There are two subtle different ways to look at the above quote, although not obvious at first. However, Like the quote claims facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. So, even if you ignore, or do not care, that doesn't mean there are no things to understand, no truths to revealed on above. https://unsplash.com/@sradams57 Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored- Aldous Huxley. Arguments for, Let's look at things, which are promising in proving the above is correct. Remember today, you woke up in the morning and went to work, or school or whatever you are doing, to spend time. And one thing led to another and now you are reading. What facts have you ignored so far? I would say many, think about following facts. There was sunrise today, there were clouds when you walked out of your home. There were black cars, and white ones you passed on your way to work. There were birds singing outside your window when you had breakfast. There were cells in your body which died today, and thousands more were built Your weight fluctuated throughout the day. The population of earth rose, from thousands, while our earth aged one more day, just like you. You forgot, some memories which will never come back again into your consciousness. Well, not all of them are true for you, but you get the idea right? Facts do exist even if you are not aware of them. In fact, as you can see, the facts which exist outside your consciousness are far more than facts that you know. If you look at the arguments about time in the article understanding time, you will see that, in a simple observation that we make, there are infinite amount of information, that we can never comprehend. One way to understand this is by becoming Quicksilver in your mind. So, it is this unseen world that Aldous Huxley is describing. He is letting us know about the facts that we do not think about exist. So, even the truths about life will continue to exist even if it doesn't come to your consciousness. Even if you ignored it. Even if you disliked it or liked it. Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored- Aldous Huxley. Arguments against, https://unsplash.com/@maurosbicego But there is another school of thoughts backed by science, that above is a relative truth. We can argue in your own relative world, the facts do not exist, outside your consciousness. There was sunrise today only when you were aware of it, there were clouds when you walked out of your home only existed when you looked at it. There were no black cars, but only one red one looked like your Neighbour's, and white one which nearly hit you. There were birds singing outside your window when you had your tea which made you think about nightingales. There were cells in your body which died today, and thousands more were built, these existed only when you read this article. Your weight fluctuated throughout the day only you were aware of this when you looked at your mirror. The population of earth rose, from thousands, while our earth aged one more day, just like you, - maybe it did not, but you do not know by how much. Who are you to age? Your age existed only when you think about it. You forgot that some memories which will never come back again into your consciousness, and these did never exist as they never even became thoughts. Can you see now, we can argue both ways. Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored, is a relative truth. It is true in some circumstances, and it is not in others. Really speaking this is the cat in the box argument in quantum physics. So, even if you ignored, that everything you believe is a relative truth, that fact that it is, will exist. If you would like to read more about philosophical thoughts, for your grey matter, following articles would help. How to be happy Denis Diderot way. Everyone is a moon- Mark Twain First things you have to know is yourself- Adam Smith Virginia-Woolf-and-quantum-philosophy

Waking up a cave man. Imagine waking up as a caveman. Would it be like Croods? In the movie? I wouldn't guess a colorful world but a brutal one, with daily struggle to search food and water. Build a place for living on my own hands, fight for the rights of mating. Hot when it is sunny, cold when it is cloudy, and die when fallen sick. Yet, there would be no one responsible for my actions, other than me. I have a choice. If I do not eat, I die. If I do not fight, I do not get a right to mate, If I do not create shelter, I will be wet and catch a cold. My actions primarily will be linked to my survival of the world. Compare this to a modern life you're born into. How stupidly complex it is. Cave Painting Rules set by others for you. You were born into this modern life, already built when you were born. Rules were set by other humans for you. So, called intellectually superior geniuses of the past, had set rules on how you should walk on the road, how you should eat your pizza in a restaurant, how you should wipe your a** after a dump. Ha ha ha. You did not choose how you were born, doctors decided that for you whether you should come out vaginally or abdominally. There are set of rules everywhere which you should adhere. In driving, in school, in office and in a court of law. How about ridiculous pool rules? Do not get me wrong, I follow every rule. I know they are there for my own safety, and others safety and privacy. That is not at all what I am telling. But, we have to think critically about each and everything individually before blindly thinking all rules are good. As the price we pay for living in an ethical society would be our time, spent on following rules. What happens to your precious time? Paying for living Majority of your adult time would have been spent on work. As that is what we do. Not to find food for ourselves, we work for others, companies creating value for them, so they can pay us some money for us to buy food. If we work a little extra create them a lot of value, they will pay us a little extra, so we can buy some extra food and be super fat. Can we stop, when we do work enough to buy food? No we cannot! We have given targets. The paycheck we receive have its own charm. It knows how to disappear from the bank soon as it appears. You wouldn't even see money nowadays. It seems just an illusion with numbers on your bank app, on your phone you bought spending your own money. Your bank number increases, and it decreases, without ever making into a tangible format. Don't even talk about lands. How pathetic is the modern man to pay for his own land. It is like we were born to the world without right to food and shelter. Did I want a smartphone? Did I want a car? Did I want a vacation on a mountain top hideout with an infinity pool? I did not until they bombarded me with messages and ideals, that I should have them to feel successful. So, I started trading my time for a shitty dream. This is what happens to everyone who cannot think out of this matrix of so-called society. No longer I am working with nature. I am a child of nature crying for my rights back which were stripped away from me by the modern society. Don't ask me to go to a jungle now. I am not trained to survive there. I can only type this out like a coward in the comfort of my AC room and couch made by robbed souls of modern society.

Origins. I heard this nice metaphor, of course it originated from you tube. Some psychiatrist used it to describe what happens in a narcissistic relationship. Example goes like this. In a narcissistic relationship the victimized partner will get sunny days, rare and occasional these may seem, only happens when his/her intensions are aligned with the narcissistic person. However, when the victim lets, his or her guard down, they will again fall into the same exhausting routine fights again, in matter of minutes. So, this metaphorically represented by burning down the umbrella on a sunny day, when it is no longer needed, forgetting the fact that rainy days are coming. Burning Rainy days in financial life I just realized it is a nice metaphor for many things happening in my life too. If I consider my financial life, going bankruptcy is not an option. However, if I burn my umbrella on my sunny days, that might just happen like for countless other individuals and organizations as had happened in the past. I might stupidly invest all my retirement plan, on a speculative portfolio and burn my emergency fund for daily needs. When I need more money I might take debts, as I am at full capacity earning from a day job. But as you can see this plan is doomed to failure. This is why most traders lose money rather than gain them in long term. Rainy days will come no matter, as that is the law of nature. Rainy days in Student life. Your summer, and vacation, are sunny days. The exams and results are rainy days. During a semester you will have plenty of free time, to go to library. Keep a handy study plan, get involved in discussions and practice some questions. Yet, majority will loiter around the campus looking for entertainment. Wasting time on unnecessary tasks. Without making an any effort. When it rains, just feel sad yet again, and sit for repeat exams. Forming a habit for rainy days One of the most important, neglected parts of forming a habit is, what to do when it fails. This should be a fundamental question in any smoothly running system. The breakdown protocol. Your habit will be tested not only when you are motivated, but exhausted sick and simply too emotionally overwhelmed. What happens at this time would be, mostly your habit will break. Unless you extensively plan this ahead and be prepared for rainy days. Not assume that your willpower will hold when it is tested against strong winds of your adventurous life. There are simply many more domains in life, that you can use the rainy days metaphor. I have listed them in a table, so you can pick one or two which are important and think, what you are going to do. Consider this as a homework, if this happened to be a "Class on Rainy day Preparedness" Domain Umbrella (Protection/Preparation) Rainy Day (Difficulty) Meaning Finance Savings / emergency fund Job loss or unexpected expense Don't spend everything when money is plentiful. Health Exercise / healthy habits Illness, injury, aging Maintain your health before you need it. Career Skills / qualifications Unemployment or industry change Keep developing skills even when your job is secure. Business Cash reserves / contingency plans Recession or falling sales Keep resources for difficult periods. Education Knowledge / learning habits Difficult exam or unexpected challenge Prepare before you are tested. Relationships Trust / communication Conflict or difficult times Don't neglect relationships when everything is going well. Friendship Genuine friendships Loneliness or personal crisis Maintain friendships even when you don't currently need support. Mental Resilience Mindfulness / reflection / coping skills Stress, failure, uncertainty Build inner strength before difficulties arrive. Technology Backups / security systems Data loss, hacking, equipment failure Keep backups even when nothing has gone wrong. Family Mutual support Financial or personal crisis Strong family relationships provide support during difficult times. Reputation Integrity / goodwill Mistake or controversy Build trust before you need others to trust you. Time Free time / spare capacity Emergency or unexpected opportunity Don't fill every moment; leave room for the unexpected. Creativity Hobbies / creative activities Burnout or loss of motivation Keep activities that restore your energy. Science Research / accumulated knowledge New disease or technological problem Today's unnecessary research may become tomorrow's solution. Environment Forests / wetlands / water reserves Droughts, floods, climate events Don't destroy natural protection for short-term benefit. Society Hospitals / infrastructure / emergency services Pandemic or natural disaster Systems that seem unnecessary during calm periods become vital during crises. Politics & Democracy Laws / institutions / checks and balances Abuse of power or political crisis Safeguards matter most when circumstances deteriorate. Knowledge Diverse skills / general knowledge Unexpected problem Knowledge that seems useless today may become valuable tomorrow. Options Alternative plans / opportunities Failure of the main plan Don't eliminate alternatives simply because your first plan is working. Money & Career Multiple income sources Loss of one income source Diversification provides protection when one source fails.

Curiosity Curiosity came first. Curiosity came even before wonder when we were first born, into this world. I am sure we were so curious of our surroundings, we sniffed the first fresh breath of air once we were out from our mother's womb like a man gasping for the last breath on his deathbed. We looked at everything with cute little curious eyes. These were the eyes of every criminal, every lawyer, every doctor and every teacher whom we had become, yet only planted with curiosity at the beginning. What happened afterwards was not entirely by choice but rather a bizarre blend of fate and answers to our curiosity questions. Yes, curiosity is a question, which takes different forms like a chimera. Sometimes it is a who, sometimes a How, sometimes a what and sometimes a where and when? Curiosity pushes our emotions on an edge with a surge of adrenalin for adventure. It started with crying excessively until we are consoled by the smell of a mother and milk. Later it found more interesting things to dwell on, more specifics, clouds, trees and cows. Letters words, sentences. Numbers and equations, and long lists of memorable items. Curiosity is the primary driver of any man or women, but what is the great friend of curiosity? What is the reward of the young man who wobbled through the garden among rose plants? It is non other than its twin brother, the WONDER. Curious Benjamin Wonder. definition: a feeling of amazement and admiration, caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar: Now about wonder I can say much more. I can say it is cheerful; it is pleasant and rewarding, it is positive and triumph. Wonder is the reward for being curious. It is the Aha...! moment, the Wow... ! moment. Exciting moment when we figured out the answers to our curious questions. It is a mini celebration to life, which is guided by random curiosity. It is the pleasure sought by the judge searching for the truth, it is the reward searched by an artist doing a sketching in her notebook. It is the feeling searched by a young man travelled half a world and into a thick tropical jungle to see a rare breed of a green and yellow tree frog. Someone might say by being curious we were looking for wonder. Wonder came later into our lives. And it represented all our smiles at an early age. Wonder was what happened when we associated the smell of the milk and warmth to our mothers, face. Wonder is what happened when someone did a pick-a boo for us. What happened to curiosity and wonder over time? Over time curiosity and wonder both were diminished in frequency, as we were learning about lot of things surrounded us. A chair with four legs remarkably looked like a mini house when we were kids, and we wondered about it too. A pencil can represent unlimited happiness of wonder, when we started drawing. But over time, we learned patterns and streamlined our curiosity. We stopped asking curiosity questions, and hence the natural wonder also pruned into a bare skeleton in our daily lives. No wonder why an average adult smiles less and less than a child over time. But I would say it is not dead, inside us both curiosity and wonder are living. You just need to wake them up. That might do better than anything else you have done today, for your future. Not a pile of money, not a dozen of friends, not a basket full of Gems can do better for you for your baseline happiness, than a sharp curiosity which goes hand in hand with wonder. How are you going to create curiosity and wonder? Creating a habit of curiosity and wonder is very easy. As it is already established pattern in your brain. You just have to look up to the sky and say, I wonder what that cloud look like? Or just stare at it until it slowly changes. You can look at your dashboard of your car and ask, Have I noticed everything on the dashboard of my car? Or look to the front and just read the numberplate of the vehicle in front of you. Try to count the number of leaves of a tree in your backyard which had been growing alongside your account, over many years. And you will have thousand things to ask questions about. But remember to reward each time you come up with an answer with a "WOOOOOOOW....". That is where a habit will form. And your day will be filled with little Wows. Enough wows, so you feel like a child again, alive and living, compared to the zombie lives of modern humans in Nickle cities. Wooow.. Look at that bird, it has feathers, and it looks young. What a fantastic beak it has. I wonder he is a father with children? Wooow.. this grass looks happy, swaying in the wind, like little children dancing on a play. What is that nasty smell coming from kitchen? Woooow.. it is a dead slug. I wonder why it died? was it an accident? Did it die of natural causes? Woooow.. half of my wealth disappeared overnight I wonder what happened? Has this ever happened to anyone before? I wonder what my friends and colleagues say about me?

Law of non-contradiction. In logic and mathematics, law of non-contradiction is considered a valuable tool to proving statements. Basically, the rule says a preposition (a statement) and its negation both cannot be true at the same time. Such that if you say, "this cat is white" automatically this disregards the statement "this cat is brown". Yet there is a problem, at least in the case of cats. In life you will find many examples that law of non-contradiction is false. A swan Cats and plates In the cat example itself, if you say this cat is white, but if you notice a little brown spot in the cat, the statement itself becomes null. Then we cannot apply the law of non-contradiction. In cats, there you can always find out a spot which doesn't have its primary color of its fur. Such as its nose and arse. So, cats always not follow law of non-contradiction it seems. What about plates? Yeah, a common porcelain plate that we use to feed the cat. It is white and has a weight of 150.234651756746 grams rounded to the 12th decimal. If we do not round the decimal and measure with atomic scales, we would end up with a fluctuating number. As the plate, although invisible consist of continuously juggling mass of atoms. The weight of this mass is changing as there are exchanging of atoms with its environment. We will end up with a number which continuously fluctuating. So, it seems plates also do not have a fixed weight. The statement "the plate is 150.234651756747 grams" do not follow law of non-contradiction. Contradictory fairy tales As these are real examples we will move to a hypothetical one next. How about fairy tales? If you consider core values of fairy tales, you will always find contradictory tales. Such as, some would say, when you face with the enemy, you should meet it with bravery. Others would say it is not cowardly to step away. Some fairy tales would say you have to be always kind to others, when another would say, you shouldn't be kind to someone who has the power to hurt you, or already doing that, calling it a foolish endeavor. When we consider these, it seems human values seem contradictory. Something, true in one scenario, can be false when it comes to another. Law of contradiction In this blog also, there are a lot of contradictory articles. Such as in one place I would say, to be creative you have to produce novel and authentic work, but in order to reach that level of creativity first we have to copy others, starting from your parents and teachers. It seems novelty and copying are contradictory ideas, but they do occur simultaneously. It made me wonder whether law of non-contradiction is false. If it is apparently true it is only because either we haven't found conditions which it is false, or we have restricted the boundaries to one parameter. Hilariously this same law is called "law of contradiction". Basically, making the whole argument of this article an utter waste of time. It seems, even logic fails to recognize which one is true. So, next time when your friend comes up with a contradictory theory, just notice that it was meant to be rather than a surprise. And you both can co-exist. PS: In reality - stick to law of contradiction, as truth has only a probability value. In fairy tales, one truth which has apparently no contradiction, is to "Never ill treat your friends" It seem, we are yet to find rationality in ill-treating our friends.

Maybe It's inferiority Complex. Have you ever felt like you are not good enough compared to others? That you are a failure, disadvantaged, disabled, unlucky and unfortunate. You feel jealous of success of others but fail to take action as you're scared of criticism? Maybe you are suffering from an inferiority complex. If you are trying to prove you're better than others all time every day, then you will never be able to feel self-worth right now. As there will always be someone ahead of you from some parameter. You will be successful at career but fail at relationships, or health. Over time when ages accumulate you will see a lot of young people living happy lives, and you will ask why that is not me? Of course, maybe I am just talking about myself here. But I think feelings are universal and there can be a lot of people who feel the same way. Humility as an alternative Humility is a better alternative to maintaining inferiority complex. Humility means acknowledging your limitations and learning from others. You cannot deny your inherent disadvantages. Someone can be born in a better place with better resources and luck. But that doesn't say what you do doesn't matter. Life is so complex that there are unlimited paths to achieve same objective. One that perfectly suits your status, just at this point in time. Juggle your resources with humility and you will learn to do it smoothly. Sunsets Your role Models, what will they do? Take into account your role model. Strip him or her naked and put both of you in a desert and see what the difference between you and them is. What will both of you would do if you had to start with no resources? Or similar circumstances as such as you're in right now. Who is having more odds of success in that situation? I bet it is your role model who would do better. It is not because they have superhuman tongues to taste better. Not because they have 10 hands which work faster. It's not because they have eyes to see a future that you cannot see. Senses are same, resources are same, but they have a mindset which does not take any reason for failure. A mindset willing to take risks, and try again, humility to learn from others instead of inferiority complex that they are worse, and dwell on inaction. What should you do next? So next time when your mind takes a tour with you in a downward spiral do not listen to it. Just rise from your chair and take a walk in the nature. Get inspired by sunlight and fresh air which is given free of charge to anyone. Take the last dollar bill out of your pocket and enjoy a hotdog from a street vendor and feel the taste of it like a billionaire would do. Because you are rich, you are valuable, you are powerful as you are at the center of your own universe. There is no disadvantage between you and me other than a little bit of information and learned patterns of thinking. Once the mind is fresh and calm, you will see next steps. Take them slowly, as there is no hurry to death. And be fooled 1000 times. Don't you think that is a life worth living? Life filled with unlimited failed attempts. How boring it is to be successful on first attempt? Yesterday I saw a beautiful sunset from the roof of my house. And I felt alive looking at the slowly fading colors. I realized there had been 365 sunsets just like the one I am looking at right now, last year. Which I missed. What more do I need in life to feel successful other than observing what is happening right now? I am already rich with experience, given to me by the universe free of charge. So, I will let go of my inferiority complex of chasing success and watch the sunset again tomorrow, so I would have a rich life at the end of this year.

Life can be only understood backwards - Soren Kierkegaard Illusion of control. How much of your life is under your control? A lot, right? You are responsible for most of the things you do, and outcomes you create for yourself. You may believe that, If I just stop watching phone every minute, build a vision for myself and work smart, and disciplined myself, I can create a nice future for myself. This my friend is the illusion of control. Feeling of control, you feel after you exercise is real. But the control itself is not a real phenomenon. As the outcomes are always possible by loads and loads of underlying unknown factors. This is where most of the modern Gurus of success fail, as the philosophy of their teachings are not deep enough to include the underlying uncertainty of life. Why do we have an illusion of control when there is not much? Our brains are just machines to understand patterns. This ability is not unique. Animals and plants have some aspects of it, clearly modern AI has harvested it. When actions are followed by consequences, our brains pick up this pattern and create the illusion "Oh I created this outcome by following these rules" But life is just a complex affair like rolling a dice. In a macroscopic level it seems they are true. Consider following actions and consequences. Studying -> Increases your knowledge. Exercising-> affects your physical condition Writing -> Produces something you didn't have before Treating a disease -> can affect its course. Studying Do you not agree that your knowledge is a consequence of how much time and effort you are willing to put into your daily routine? It seems true and If I say this claim false, I would be a fool. So, I give that task to Soren KierKegard who once said, Life can only be understood backwards; But it has to be lived forwards. So, what is the myth about studying increases your knowledge. Here, you can do a thought experiment. It is called MML method, Ha ha I just invented that. It is simple. Imagine you sat down for study one hour. You read a chapter, and you take some notes, make some connections, remember some important ideas and rise up like a knowledgeable person. If you repeat this process day after day, I am sure you will even get good grades and appreciated an intellectual person by your colleagues. But imagine what happens in the first second of you sat down for study. Is there a meaningful outcome in that second? Probably you have only read half of a sentence. Something like "The foundation of a good paragraph is the topic sentence,". What happens in the next second? You might read the next part of the sentence. "Which expresses the main idea of the paragraph." What happens in the third second? You might take a brief moment to analyze these two seconds which had no meaning, to make a meaning for you. That is how you understand life backwards. We create a meaning out of meaningless seconds retrospectively. The fundamental question to ask here is how can each meaningless second in life, creates a meaning in retrospect. That my friend is the illusion of life. I don't think anybody had answered that question. But there is no need, as watching the process itself is enough to understand ourselves better. So, there is no ultimate way, ultimate guru or ultimate achievement to life, which has only meaningless seconds of observations. Will this stop the terrible search? Only you can answer.

Distance between you and your rules is bigger in the life. We were born into a system called society, with some smaller systems called co-operations. Governments are special kind of cooperation which everyone is a part of it. Whether we like it or not this is how the world function. In these systems there are rules. Such that, in your own office there are rules describing your work. How much you are paid. How many hours you have to work. The rules themselves are not made by you. They were built so the system can run smoothly without any hiccups. And the benefit of your work goes to the owners of the system called shareholders. Do you really think rules made not by you, are purely for the benefit of you? It feels like a scam to me. Governments are just regulatory bodies just to make sure these systems do not scam you only a little. So that you do not get exhausted and collapse. If that is otherwise would happen if let them run without any regulation. And this is what happens in other places like in a dictatorship. So, the gap between you and rules that you follow is what limits your freedom. This is why you feel drained after work each and every day. Because you have been scammed day after day. Some people never even realize they are being scammed. Some people know, but they see no way out. Some people, especially smart ones are just paid enough; to keep them shut so they do not raise their voice and guide others to a riot. We are slaves of our systems. A system Who is not - serial killers, monks and entrepreneurs live by their own rules. If you think who are not living by other rules, you come across these special categories. Like Monks and serial killers. Monks, know the stupid rules, and they walk away from "All systems". They even change their names, when they work out of formal life so, anyone from these former systems even do not recognize. And the rules they follow are just to keep them far away from society. Within this framework They are free from rules made by others but live a life with rules made by themselves. Not everyone is brave to become a monk. As it is a journey of a lion. A serial killer is another one. They live by their own rules. Remember Anton Chigurh in No country for old men? He is a good example of living by own rules. But as these people are harmful to others, and destroyers of the smooth functioning of scamming systems, they will be actively hunted and eliminated. So, a rational person would not take this path for freedom. The way out, creating my own systems So, is there a way out? Is there a way to reduce the gap between me and my rules other than being a monk or a serial killer? As you can see, for that to happen, I have to build my own system inside a bigger system called country. I cannot be totally free as I have to follow general rules, But, I can create my own system to reap benefits. This is extremely hard and extremely difficult. As I have to be extremely creative, talented and outsmart all the other system owners, who use army of resources, paid workers computers and money to either replicate your system or buy yours if you ever built one. Investing is another way, but a regular person would have to work in a regular job for decades long, until they buy out their freedom from investments. Such is the pathetic human system I am living in. The notion of wealth is a positive sum game is not true, until you become the owner of a system. More correctly it becomes positive sum game only when you become wealthy in the first place, as you can co-operate with other owners to double the rate of your scam. Of course I can always walk away.

Intrinsic value of Sunsets. Living on top of a mountain has its own advantages and troubles. Getting clean water, sewage systems, and climbing uphill everyday are troubles. Occasional landslides on nearby hills might scare the shit out of everyone in the household on stormy nights. But, if these troubles are forgotten, the real value comes with sunsets and sunrises. Light will appear on your doorstep one hour before everyone else in the valley. You will get a bird's eye view to the sky free of charge every day, without having to take a flight like a red Bull. Magnificent sunsets will color the sky in almost every evening. I would spend half an hour just watching king size bats flying over the river while the background of the evening sky slowly changes its color from yellow to purple over a tinge of orange. Can you give a value to such a human experience? It does not feel important when I am facing the wind over the mountain, but surely, it has profound meaning and value when I write about it on the paper. How is that even possible. Sunset Intrinsic value of Gold. What is common to sunsets and gold? I can only give you thousand differences. Sunsets, are on the sky, seen with eyes and intangible. But gold is on the ground, again seen with eyes, reflecting light, but tangible and heavy. Gold is considered valuable by many, except rare few individuals in corners of the world who do not have contacts with wide human society, or individuals who seek the truth of life and understood how things are valued in the first place. Consider where the value of Gold comes from. It is mainly not by its use, as we use gold in day-to-day life vary rarely. Its value lies in its scarcity and the social agreement on its value. So, gold itself represent value, on its own without any adjunct. It can replace money when there is a recession and inflation, as Money will be abundant and useless in such occasions. Now consider the following quote. Gold has a price because people agree upon it. Sunset needs no agreement to be beautiful. When I first read the quote, It went "Hmmmm,, that cannot be true. Something is missing." I agreed with the first half of it instantly, that the Gold has a price because people agree upon it. But the second part makes no sense. "Does sunsets need no agreement to be beautiful?" It seems wrong. Sunsets do need agreement for it to be beautiful. It is not a social agreement. Sunset needs an agreement with yourself. You must judge it beautiful, after watching it for some time. It seems everything else we value in our whole life, day in day out, needs our agreement to it is valuable or not. Some people can value roses, over sunsets. Some can value professional life over family life. Some can value art while others value science. Not anyone is wrong, not anyone is right. These are just judgements of our own mind. You will know this only when you stare at your mind what is happening all day. Truth is sunsets are as valueless (has no intrinsic value) as gold when considered without the consciousness to judge it otherwise. If you do not believe me, ask a monkey.