CAN I DISCOVER MYSELF?

 This is a question which has always remained a question only. All answers are speculative including the explanations offered by science. Let me add a little to this jungle of thoughts and side with something, otherwise it will be a blatant negation of my existence. 

I will certainly not go with the theological explanations offered by my religion or the religions across the world have taught. These explanations take me through a blind alley, and the question becomes more and more complex, because I have lived more than half a century in the so called modern scientific world. 

The next contenders, to my knowledge, are the philosophers. Descartes under the influence of Newton's mechanistic theory propounded that human beings are like machines and the parts are integrated to explain the whole in their functionality. With remarkable departure from Descartes' thought, Emanuel Kant theorized that in a machine the parts exist for each other but in living organisms parts are also instrumental in producing each other and are self organizing. He stressed upon understanding life, and acceptance of Nature as purposeful. He definitely made a laudable theory to explain "who am I" and " what am I". His thoughts laid the foundation but could not hit the target in entirety. 

In our current thought domain, two ideas are predominant--- the "Evolutionary Biology" with a much wider acceptance and the " Intelligent Design"-- yet to receive any favor from the main stream scientists. But, I believe in a synthesis of both to explain-- "Who am I" and "What am I". The biggest discovery in biological science is DNA-- the instruction manual of all lives on Earth. On the basis of that I define myself as a minuscule point in an incredibly long chain and order; in me past, present and future are encapsulated. In a sense I am immortal, I come back in different forms and different variations from time to time. I resurrect and reincarnate time and again. I also go with the proponents of "Intelligent Design" who profess that without the intervention of an intelligent Creator how the cells and molecules (made from inanimate matters) have become conscious in living organisms, and achieve the goal of organizing a form--- like specialized engineers and skilled workers building a structure. They summarily reject the evolutionary ideas of random selection and mutation. 

Who is this intelligent designer? Though at the outset I have shown my reluctance to accept the theological interpretation of "Who am I"; but in the process I have returned to those theological allegories. 

Now, "What am I"? I am a combination of the genetic and extra-genetic elements. I am a part of the deep ecology--- I vibrate with every minutest sub-atomic particles and the infinite universe. In this miraculous fabric of the universe I am so inextricably interwoven that I am within you, you are within me. You cannot separate me from you nor can I distinguish you from me. I am lost in that vast ocean where the drops of water form the oceanic identity. 

Does it sound mystic? No, It is consciousness that not merely defines "Who and What I am" but "Who and What we are".I agree that the question remains unresolved and will be asked time and again.

                                                                                                               

A FISH NEED NOT CLIMB TREE.

Many of us live below our potentialities and fail to express our talents effectively; the factors responsible for these are many and by themselves they can make a large volume. To corroborate my point of view, I would like to bring in Einstein's famous saying that you cannot judge the genius of a fish from its ability to climb tree. That is to say a fish should be judged as a fish from its ability to swim and survive in water; but most pertinently Einstein also means that fish has the genius in it or by expanding his idea one can say, that all of us have the genius or talent within us to flourish and reach our desired destinations. But our life chances always do not appropriately unfold to support our hidden talent and things go wrong in life; most of us grope in darkness without self discovery.

I remember having read an anecdote about a very successful medical doctor who was awarded a very covetous award for his contribution to medical science. While receiving the award the doctor broke into tears. Everyone in the gathering believed that the doctor was overwhelmed with joy and the tears rolled down as a climatic expression of his joy. But the doctor clarified later that the award winning ceremony flashed back his childhood obsession to be a poet, and his persistent effort to succeed in the field of medicine has successively killed the poetic soul within him.

This aforesaid anecdote has two fold meanings-- it recognizes that even if you flow against the current of the stream still you can succeed and achieve excellence with adequate efforts and dedication; but the calling from within you will always remain unfulfilled. We humans confront two issues in our lives, in this context-- a) despite our social and financial success we experience an overpowering emptiness all our life owing to the wastage of the unique talents each one of us has like the uniqueness of our finger prints. b) If we make self discovery and follow our callings, we naturally align ourselves with our talent and achieve far greater success and fulfillment in life. One may face many social criticisms by pursuing one's heart but that should not deter a strong believer of his/her talent to fumble on the way.

Therefore, history says that many great geniuses of the world are never very educated people, nor have they come from very affluent families. They have achieved great feats in life being guided by the diktat of their heart or soul. When someone is guided by his/her naturally endowed talent and the inner voice he/she would tend to ooze an aura of confidence, being magnetized by unflinching belief.

Such people prioritize their needs in life to reach their destinations and fulfill their purpose in life. But, these people should not be judged by the material yardstick of the society; their successes always surpass our ordinary material references to success. Let us not always expect a fish to climb trees.       

THE CREATIVE VOID

Emptiness or void is not exactly an experience of absence but is a much deeper level of presence, a pausing quest into the vast expanse of creative wisdom stored within all of us, which rarely translates itself into creative manifestation owing to our over indulgence with the workaday realities. The energy of the void, both philosophically and scientifically, is much more potent than the energy of the motion that drifts us all our life in mindless haste. Unfortunately, the process of socialization, particularly in more sophisticated advanced societies, leads to brutal regimentation of mind, leaving very little room for the creative void to exhibit its myriad forms. Since we are not equipped in our socialization process to recognize the power of the void, when for some reason the void encompasses us, we develop a run-away-syndrome, not knowing how to handle this-- to use a term from astrophysics, "the dark energy". In very commonplace description we embrace it as boredom, which is a devastating state of mind leading to intoxication, low self-esteem and at its extreme to suicidal tendencies. Somewhere down the line, in our process of growing up we have learnt the inverted language of the void-- particularly through the religious precepts of nihilism. Colin Wilson describes this very aptly in his book: "Beyond the Occult" as "the Ecclesiastes effect" referring to the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes. As a matter of fact, most of us feel helpless on the face of the void as we have very little positive knowledge to recognize its immense depth and potential. In many cases, therefore, it turns out to be symptomatic of "fatigued intellect", a state of drained out mind.

Not much research has been made to understand this deep abyss of the mind and how to harness its energy for creative and motivational purposes. The Greek philosopher Plato postulates that we are trapped in the world of "becoming", which is the world of brute matters. What he said more than two thousand years ago was a very incisive understanding of our mind dynamics. Inside this trap of brute matters we relate all our life situations to the material world around us, thereby any void in our inner world of "being" reflects as a crisis on the material level of understanding. Even some highly creative people have ended their life not being able to handle this void-- the "creative block". Creative geniuses like- Nietzsche, Van Gogh, Dostoevsky, Blake etc groped in utter frustration and could never see the glimpse of light in the encircling darkness of this void.

ON CREATION OF WEALTH AND HAPPINESS

 Human brain is a mystery yet understood completely; rather I should say we have not even understood 10% of the brain power. In an average we use only 5% of the power packed inside our incredible brain. The sages, mystics, saints of the past had prescribed several methods to harness brain power to optimum level. But most of this knowledge is either lost to mankind and whatever still available is not paid any due attention in our modern days’ thinking.

Brain is an instrument, whereas thought or mind is an abstract entity. It is difficult to say how the thoughts originate from a mechanical device like brain. A very intriguing question is-- are thoughts specific to our individual personality, in reference to our solipsistic experience at a micro level or is much wider and broader in connotation? It cannot be denied that thoughts are the most powerful things in the universe and their vibrations differ depending upon their intensity and quality. If the quality of the thoughts is powerful it has magical potential. In ancient time people were very conscious of the negative impact of curses and the boons that blessings bring into life. This belief was based on the awareness about the potency of thoughts in shaping our life. Many writers rightly say that “thoughts are things”. There is absolutely no doubt about it. All concrete things have their origin from the abstract mind. Firstly, let us look at all the material things we humans have made. Whether it is a pin or a spacecraft, first it originates in the mind of the inventor, and then it comes to the drawing board in abstract mathematical or geometrical presentation and finally takes a shape that is material or concrete. Thus behind every concrete or material wealth of mankind an abstract creative mind is involved. Extending this microcosmic example to the macrocosm of creation, the process is not very different, though we do not have the wherewithal to prove it in laboratories. The entire manifested material universe originates from the abstract universal mind propelled by a desire in that grand mind to be manifested in visible form. What the scientists talk about as the non-dimensional “point of singularity”, the point of genesis of the universe-- is an abstraction and a mind like entity. From this abstract mind like point the whole material universe exploded into existence.

Thus, the abstract mind or thoughts are the most active energy at every level of creation and destruction. Every creative mind carries equal potential of destruction in it. Therefore for any achievement in life thought training is very essential. One should guard his/her thoughts to form the habit of creating positive thought energy in the mind. This energy works significantly at the physical level to activate, inspire and motivate the thinker and at an abstract level it magnetizes the mind to connect itself to the source of the desired objective.

What thoughts this positive magnetized mind should pursue to attract wealth in abundance? As I have stated before the primary objective of this mind is to be creative, innovative. Creativity will lead to creation of things and environment to attract wealth in abundance. This state of mind should also be used to problem solving and spreading happiness. The world we live in has myriad problems and innumerable unhappy people. When this positive, magnetized, creative, problem solving mind is used to spread happiness the highest degree of accomplishment in creating wealth, happiness, prosperity is achieved. This is precisely the law of wealth creation. This law works with everybody, everywhere, every time like magic.

SPIRITUAL WISDOM IN LEADERSHIP

Let me clarify at the outset that to my understanding spirituality is not religiosity-- often both poles apart concepts are considered to be synonymous. Many learned people have expressed their profound ideas on this subject and, I am afraid, my this short view will be diminutive in comparison to their knowledge.

To my understanding, spirituality is a very evolved and integrative state of mind which is far beyond the commonplace understanding of life and realities. This statement needs a little more elaboration. It is an evolved and integrative state of mind—any spiritual journey is an internal quest where “eye has not seen and ear has not heard” (Les Brown)—meaning-- unbiased, unprejudiced evaluation of all experiences come to us from without not being a part of it but objectively out of it. This state of mind is capable of integrating itself to the infinite repository of cosmic mind where all our minds—past, present and future meets. unconsciously. There is no scientific proof to this mystical understanding; though a number of books, philosophical discourses, motivational writers and speakers unequivocally stress upon this idea of “Universal Mind”, “Cosmic Consciousness” etc. To put it precisely, this is an “altered state of consciousness”. However, a significant development in this context in the scientific world, in recent times, is the acknowledgement of the Universe as an information system.             

Any leader with spiritual wisdom integrates his thinking to the “Cosmic Mind” visa vi the mind of his followers. He is endowed with the insight to evaluate the events and situations of the present with their historical perspectives, present repercussions and future effects. It is purely a state of mental enlightenment and visionary ability.

FUTILITY OF PRIDE

Recently, I was reading an article in a site devoted to Space, which speaks about a photo of our planet taken from the deep space for the first time. It looks like a bluish dot. The question posed by the author is very significant to this context. He mentions about the insignificance of our planet against the vast galactic backdrop  He goes on imploring that the warriors and the conquerors in their merciless attacks on innocent people have practically failed to understand that when our Earth is no bigger than a dot-- how much these people have achieved by conquering a nation or some territories.

This question has serious validity. Someone had said that if you are proud of yourself then lie down on your back and look at the open sky-- certainly with an intention that when you understand the futility of your so called worldly achievements, a calming sense of humility will dawn in you.

Therefore, to me, people who attach lot of importance to their lives and achievements are seriously blundered in life, in capable of comprehending the realities and live inside a cocoon shell of complacency, and ironically in a state of self deception.

We become inwardly self conscious because of our unceasing endeavor to project ourselves as important in life. As I have stated before; it is a mode of self deception only. There is a perceptive maxim which says-- when you talk about yourself, very few people, in fact, would be interested in you, but when you learn to address to the problems and difficulties, and also learn to appreciate the achievements and triumphs of others, they show interest in you and you emit a magnetic aura.       

THE INFINITY DILEMMA

The universe is a persistent illusion and physics is not far from acknowledging it. The observations on subatomic and virtual particles and particularly the quantum reality mystify our universe to a point of non-existence. Therefore, the objective realities are only apparent manifestations of the subjective dimensions, which are the energy of the void. At this realm of reality time and space are inconsequential. At this dimension the sub-atomic and virtual particles are as large as the infinite universe and the infinite universe is as potently undetectable as the sub-atomic and virtual particles. I believe that no objective study can make one understand the mysteries of the universe. It can only be experienced at a subjective dimension of appropriate frequency. Infinity always exists as a subjective dimension with highest frequency. The infinitely small is the point of consciousness of the infinitely big, similarly infinitely big tends to escape into infinitely small. In the distance between 1 and 2 or between one numbers to the succeeding number the infinity is trapped. Infinity, therefore, is an everyday subjective reality and also the highest level of other dimensional consciousness.

Mind is older than body and matter. Before the beginning mind existed at that “Point of Singularity”– beyond space and time, and after the end mind will exist beyond the limitations of space and time for a new Creation to usher in. What exploded some 14 billion years ago was the consciousness of an intelligent mind, which scientists call “The Big Bang”. It was certainly not a bang but a “Creative Harmony”. The Creator appearing in and disappearing from the illusion of three dimensional universes is as non-existent as existent. This is a persistent and elusive paradox