In an ‘amoral’ Universe that is neither moral nor immoral, Mythology or Mythic story telling is the attempt of our imagination to comprehend our existence in moral terms. Or moral contradictions
Our Mythology, our Mythic selves are much more than the idea of the stories that are/were told to us. We are the very stories that we tell ourselves. And always have been. From the time we were born. From the time that Human beings started to imagine.
The first art was the art of story telling.
From the time that Man tried to express lightning and thunder as the anger of the Gods and developed moral stories around it, to the postulations of Einstein’s theory’s of relativity, the beginings have been in a story told to oneself, and then shared. Stories which comes from a deep seated mythology embedded in our consciousness.
Stories are moral contradictions, re interpreted again and again. The Universe itself exists in contradictions, and the contradictions are never ending. When you solve one contradiction, another emerges. And so the Universe goes on. If the contradictions went away – the Universe would cease to exist. As would we, as would all imagination. We would cease to exist, and yes, the ultimate contradiction that we exist and do not exist at the same time is the most tantalizing contradiction of all.
So if you cannot do away with contradictions, how do you come to terms with them ? By finding Harmony in them. By being the contradiction itself. By becoming ‘one with the duality’ as Buddha and all the great spiritualists say. And so the great poet finds Harmony in the contradiction of words, the mathematician finds harmony in the contradiction of numbers ( with the concept of a non number of nothingness, the zero, being the ultimate contradiction without which modern maths could not exist). The great Musicians find Harmony in the contradiction of notes, the painters in conflicting colours, and spiritualist in the duality of existence. And Einstien searched for Harmony through his equations in the contradictions of Space and Time.
Einstien too was looking for a story to explain mythic concepts like Space and Time. He called them equations but hey ! – he was indulging in his own story telling – his own Mythology.
The above was a part of a discussion I led on ‘Mythology and Story telling’ at a Screenwriting workshop at the IIT campus in Chennai, which was a lot of fun,
And Einstein.
Author: shekhar
Solitary Confinement
The mind looks to confine
to measure
to contextualize
to give meaning
to itself
for the ego
can exist only
in finite possibilities
needing to enclose itself
in a part of the universe
walled off
from the rest of creation
and from within that prison
to show itself off
yearning to be recognized,
to be individualized
to be admired
and from within that prison
to be loved !
imagining
that everything around itself
has confined itself too
imprisoned itself too
sensing the universe
surrounded by
imagined bits of similar prisons
Imagine
a love you could embrace
the whole universe with
if only you came out of
the solitary confinement
your ego has imprisoned you in
What is a Prayer ? from Cinda
what is this prayer? what does the words do when they leave your thoughts and transend to the winds of free flowingness? is it the words? is it the thought that goes with the words? is it the intention that creates the power to move the energy from one form to the next?
do the intentions come naturally or are they already prefixed and they just enter us at moments of aligned frequency?how do we do what we do? where does the prayer get processed…does it need processing?
what is a prayer?
Why was I born ?
I looked for my true calling
I looked for my true purpose
what I am supposed to do on the planet
why was I born ?
and I asked the question deep inside me
beyond logic, beyond thought, deep in the bowels
of the space where I connect to the universe
where I can be thrown into the raging storm of ‘not knowing’
and the answer hit me in an immense tidal wave of understanding
“you are your own purpose
nothing more, and nothing less
a bundle of purpose and karma
all existing within itself
and the only thing holding it back
is the separation created by
words like ‘I’ and ‘my’ and ‘me'”
The end of Democracy in India ?
If only 40% of the eligible voting population in a country bothers to vote, then is the country truly democratic ? Whatever government comes to power, it has a mandate from less than half the people. It’s truly a government by default.
First the politicians and media have absolutely no right to blame the electorate. I do not believe in the statement that ” it’s the apathy of the people that gives them a government they deserve”.
Second the arrogant attitude of some of our media stars that expressed ‘outrage’ at the low voting turn out , after “all they did to pursude them to do so” in Mumbai, should learn that while they can drive people to the cinemas, the people have little faith in their intellectual or political understanding beyond entertainment. Not everyone gets their picture o page 3 when they vote.
Third, how many times do the people of India need to come out and say ” WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE POLITICIANS OR POLITICS ANYMORE”. The Mumbaikers did not vote not because they went away for a long weekend, nor because of the sweltering heat, but because none of the candidates made a substantial stand that aroused their passions, their desire to better the political system. I remember how the people of India came out in droves to vote to end the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi, or who came out in droves again to re instate her when they were unhappy. Or when they came out in droves to vote for Rajiv Gandhi after Indira’s assassination.
We are a passionate feeling people that respond to our emotion, to our community. We need a leader to arouse those passions in us, someone to believe in, someone that we can trust that has the power, the integrity and the vision to lead us in this new century.
Give us, the people of India such a leader and watch us come out in droves to vote. And if not, then accept that democracy in India will be an excercise in futility and the forces of change will be ultimately thrust upon us by non democratic forces like the fundamentalists, like the the naxalitites that are threatening to invade our cities soon,
True lasting love : is it devotion ?
This came in from Cinda and I found it very beautiful :
It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80s arrived to have his stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On examining it I saw it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors and got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.
While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while as she suffers with Alzheimer’s disease.
As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised and asked him, “And do you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?”
He smiled as he patted my hand and said, “She doesn’t know me anymore but I still know who she is.” I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm and thought,
“That is the kind of love I want in my life. True love is neither physical nor romantic.”
True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be……
Are these the ‘great false elections’ in India ?
With a complete lack of real and definite agenda to pull the country out the innumerable problems it faces, the Indian political parties seem to be subverting the Indian democratic process to create a false election. By accepting that there will be a coalition ‘government in waiting’, that has absolutely no chance of providing a stable and strong government in Delhi,
Why ‘Government in waiting’ ? Because it is obvious that the Congress is just laying the grounds for Rahul Gandhi to be the next Prime MInister, and the BJP is laying the grounds for Narendra Modi to be the next Prime Minister.
It’s sad for the people of India. India’s security is threatened by the Talibanization of Pakistan in the West, by the insurrection and separatist movements in our eastern sectors, by the Maoist revolution in Nepal in the North, and we have to keep a watchful eye on a potential Tamil separatist movement s a fall out of the Sri Lankan war in the south. Within India, large parts of our interiors are falling under the armed influence of the Naxal movement.
India’s once booming economy is sputtering. Corruption (including in our corportate sector) is at it’s worst, terrorism is rampant and unchecked – leading to the loss of innocent lives all over India. Our environment record is one of the worst in the world and our fresh water resources are running out at an alarming rate. Our cities have become unmanageable. And the gap between the rich and poor is widening at an unsustainable rate.
We are a country adrift, lost in sea of selfish, self serving, destructive and corrupt politics. Never before has India needed strong leadership more, and the last thing the people of India need is a ‘false election;. A government in waiting.
Confusing Indian elections
I find these elections confusing. I completely support all the NGO’s that are making great efforts to et everyone to vote, and striving to provide details of the candidates at a click of an sms request on your cell phone.
But what do the parties stand for ? The platform for everyone seems to be why the other party was not the right candidate. The electioneering seems to be completely negative. Putting down the opposing candidate. Why I should not vote for the other Candidate, not why I should vote for you ?
Why should I vote for you ?
The second IPL, a non success because of lively pitches ?
From all accounts the 2nd IPL is not as roaring a success as the first one. The reason is not just that it is not held in India. It also has to do with the pitches in South Africa. In India the pitches are slower and favour the batsmen. Consequently the IPL last year had huge individual scores and a multitude of sixes and ‘over the top’ stroke play that had the audiences loving the cricket ‘Tamasha”.
South African pitches are more evenly matched between the batsmen and the bowlers. Consequently, the matches are lower scoring, even though the psychological war between the bat and the ball is more ferocious. But 20/20 is just not long enough to play out this battle. This is a game of street cricket rules : “Hit out or get out”. Imran Khan would have loved to bowl in this 20/20. He was one of the most difficult fast bowlers to hit. Gavaskar said that Imran at his best was unplayable. His swing completely unpredictable.
Even though Imran said the 20/20 was not cricket. It was Tamaasha.
Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka
Whatever the outcome of the battle in Sri Lanka, the world cannot stand by and see over 500,000 innocent men women and children be the victims in this war. We in India have a special duty to go in and add to the rescue efforts of the innocent on a much larger scale than we have. Not just as a humanitarian gesture, but as a neighbour we are most suited for the rescue mission. And if we do not, the Tamils of Sri Lanka will never forgive us, nor will our Tamil people forget this.
I am not taking sides in the War. I just do not know enough. Except that we all know that India has meddled in Sri Lankan affairs in the past, has been responsible for the formation of the Tamil Tigers, and then tried to rein them in, leading to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.
Whatever the past, we cannot just be bystanders. Even the political fallout is extremely dangerous for us. If the battle for a separate Tamil State fails in Sri Lanka, those ambitions could easily be transferred to Tamil Nadu.