Sometimes I just feel to write. For no reasons whatsoever. Like now. I'm writing just because I suddenly felt to start typing some words. And exactly so I'm doing now, it seems. Literally typing just words - they make no sense, convey no message, or have any purpose. Useless, are they? Maybe.... maybe not. Doesn’t matter to me, at least not now. In fact, they are serving their purpose very well - letting me do what I wanted to do. In the process, probably providing my some satisfaction - though of what kind, or why, I know not. So I guess, they are not so much without purpose, are they?
Does everything have a purpose in this world? Does everything have to have a purpose? Yeeahh... I'm harping back on the abstract again. Anyways, I don’t know the answers - of course. I guess, nobody will ever know. Besides, you only rotate in a circle if you ever try to get answers to such questions, don’t you? Well, I do. So, I'll leave it at that. For now at least.
Exams ahead. And as usual, I've got LOADS to study. Everything left till the last moments. Now, if I don’t do those even at this last moment, well... I won’t be able get away, would I? I don’t think so. And there seems to be some pretty heavy stuff this semester. Or else I'm getting stupid. Either way, I have to put in more efforts now. So adieu, notepad. See you soon enough though!! ;)
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Friday, November 25, 2005
Scribbles: 25th November, 2005
Sometimes in life we are never sure. Its a paradox. If you do, you will probably wish that you hadn't done it, but if you don't, you will again wonder later that perhaps you should have done it. And there is no solution - in no way can you evaluate the two alternatives.
Isn't it inevitable that if you do your best to decide in such a situation, you will eventually only make it worse? Will not your thinking more and more about the 'what if's ultimately haunt you proportionally about the 'other' alternative, after you have chosen one alternative? And yes - if you have the third alternative of not choosing any of the courses of action, it will give you a boolean outcome - either you will be totally happy about this, or you will be totally repentant that you didn't go for either choices. I wish someone could provide me direct solutions to these problems.
But let me pause a minute here... didn't I myself have perfect answers to these questions 4-5 or more years back? I surely did. What were those answers? Why cant I remember them now? I had pretty substantial answers to such matters, and they somehow did held ground, and people (the "wise" ones too: pun intended) did agree to those. So, in spite to all these, what has happened to them? How come they are no longer? How come such solid theories get shaken off, in spite of statistical findings having supported them all the times...? What am I learning or unlearning? And why?
Isn't it inevitable that if you do your best to decide in such a situation, you will eventually only make it worse? Will not your thinking more and more about the 'what if's ultimately haunt you proportionally about the 'other' alternative, after you have chosen one alternative? And yes - if you have the third alternative of not choosing any of the courses of action, it will give you a boolean outcome - either you will be totally happy about this, or you will be totally repentant that you didn't go for either choices. I wish someone could provide me direct solutions to these problems.
But let me pause a minute here... didn't I myself have perfect answers to these questions 4-5 or more years back? I surely did. What were those answers? Why cant I remember them now? I had pretty substantial answers to such matters, and they somehow did held ground, and people (the "wise" ones too: pun intended) did agree to those. So, in spite to all these, what has happened to them? How come they are no longer? How come such solid theories get shaken off, in spite of statistical findings having supported them all the times...? What am I learning or unlearning? And why?
Thursday, October 13, 2005
About Anne Frank's Diary
A few days ago, I once again got my hands on the book - Anne Frank's Diary. Having forgotten the exact words of a quote which had touched me very deeply, I had been desiring to obtain this book for quiet some time. At last, I got it from a friend who had come down from Hyderabad, and I could have it for only one night. Though I was thoroughly tired that day, I spent quiet some time that night reading extracts from various parts of that book.
I count this book as one of the best I have ever read considering that it was written by girl about 14 years old! The utter simplicity and the simple yet obvious rationale of many observations she makes, which seemingly are missed by many adults (both now and then), is amusing, surprising and satirical. There is an excellent sense of satirical humour throughout. Also, at many places, she makes some simple statements which actually goes very deep into some of the very rare truths, and which digs out some deep human psychology. Also, she has absolute honesty in her writings and an educated acceptance of her true self, which are very rare and appreciable qualities, and which draws respect from me, myself knowing how hard both of these are from my own experiences, and also how rare.
I wonder about the writings she would have produced had she grown up and lived. I'm sure they would have contributed to the literary world - I kind of miss them.
I count this book as one of the best I have ever read considering that it was written by girl about 14 years old! The utter simplicity and the simple yet obvious rationale of many observations she makes, which seemingly are missed by many adults (both now and then), is amusing, surprising and satirical. There is an excellent sense of satirical humour throughout. Also, at many places, she makes some simple statements which actually goes very deep into some of the very rare truths, and which digs out some deep human psychology. Also, she has absolute honesty in her writings and an educated acceptance of her true self, which are very rare and appreciable qualities, and which draws respect from me, myself knowing how hard both of these are from my own experiences, and also how rare.
I wonder about the writings she would have produced had she grown up and lived. I'm sure they would have contributed to the literary world - I kind of miss them.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Patchwork For Last Post
Disclaimer: This attempt to write is for no reasons at all, except to put some better and (hopefully) more coherent materials at the top of my blog, rather than the last posting which now reads like a badly written disconnected meaningless text. I guess I'm loosing my writing skills day by day. My spoken skills being below the adequate mark, I took console over my written skills, but will those too be gone now?? Hope not. I Hope its just a temporary affair:
"I pray to god that it wont be long..." (courtesy: Madonna).
Ok, so I have been listening to lot of Madonna songs lately, and have been influenced by some of her lyrics. But at least, she has got some lyrics. Most of the others these days just shout out rubbish at the top of their voices. They sound like frustrated bunch of guys bitten by dogs yelling back at the (poor) dogs. I wonder how they would sound without the special audio effects, enhancements and instrumentals!
That's enough of text to serve my current purpose - patching my blog. Lets hope this text reads ok after maybe a day when I come back and go through this!!
"I pray to god that it wont be long..." (courtesy: Madonna).
Ok, so I have been listening to lot of Madonna songs lately, and have been influenced by some of her lyrics. But at least, she has got some lyrics. Most of the others these days just shout out rubbish at the top of their voices. They sound like frustrated bunch of guys bitten by dogs yelling back at the (poor) dogs. I wonder how they would sound without the special audio effects, enhancements and instrumentals!
That's enough of text to serve my current purpose - patching my blog. Lets hope this text reads ok after maybe a day when I come back and go through this!!
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Scribbles: 6th October, 2005
"Candle in the Wind". Princess Diana. Elton John thought so. He expressed it beautifully in his song "Candle in the Wind". He called princess Diana, England's Rose, a Candle in the Wind. She lived her life like one.
Everyone, at some point I guess, gets touched by a flame or finds the beauty and scent of a rose.
The flame is beautiful. It gives you warmth and lights the life around it. But its selfish - it devours whatever tries to touch it. All it leaves are the charred remains of your former self. And it consumes mercilessly the very same fuel which keeps it burning.
The rose is also beautiful. It has a lovely scent. Its beautiful to look at. But its best left alone - whoever would try to pluck it is welcomed with thorns. You bleed.
You are so consumed with how much you get (courtesy: Madonna).
All the world is a stage where every man must play a part. And what is mine - I'm still trying to find out. (Apologies if I didn't get the words correct in that quotation.)
Everyone, at some point I guess, gets touched by a flame or finds the beauty and scent of a rose.
The flame is beautiful. It gives you warmth and lights the life around it. But its selfish - it devours whatever tries to touch it. All it leaves are the charred remains of your former self. And it consumes mercilessly the very same fuel which keeps it burning.
The rose is also beautiful. It has a lovely scent. Its beautiful to look at. But its best left alone - whoever would try to pluck it is welcomed with thorns. You bleed.
You are so consumed with how much you get (courtesy: Madonna).
All the world is a stage where every man must play a part. And what is mine - I'm still trying to find out. (Apologies if I didn't get the words correct in that quotation.)
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Of Mind and Reality: Part 2
Firstly, as I stand today, before venturing into any further speculative theories of any kind, I must apologise for the most parts of my previous post, especially the latter parts where I tried to logic out how everything is pre-determined. Reading over that piece of article today again (and also having done so many times after the day when I actually posted that), after having chanced upon some authoritative texts on this area in the meantime, I clearly see the utter superficiality of most of what I have written. It appears like some adamant schoolboy trying to get his word about everything. As I write this today, I am aware that this attempt today to continue that topic might again end up as another such text, but I'll try to be as prudent, careful and short as possible. The topic being of such an abstract and complex nature, which have been mystifying the elite minds through the ages, I humbly realise and acknowledge that whatever I write is likely to be a very naive and amateurish stuff again. Nevertheless, I shall write, primarily in attempt to conclude this since I had ended the original post with an anticipation of a sequel. And also since I feel to write a bit today.
In my last extract on this topic, I stated two main theories. First was about human nature - that often what a man says does not express his true feelings and of which true feelings he might not himself be aware of. Second was a theory on destiny, astrology and the similar, where I mentioned that all things 'happening' or all that we see existing are results of precise reactions between different 'forms' (of matter and energy) and hence everything is predictable - consequently, there is nothing as free-will or freedom or choices as such in the absolute sense.
Also, I'll repeat what I stated at the foremost in the last post before venturing into any speculations - and this is of utmost importance - that I believe only what I see, and what I can reason with logic. Anything beyond that, I neither believe, nor disbelieve. It may, or may not be, but unless its proved with reason, mathematics and logic, unless its deciphered and predictable, I wont make my decisions based on those.
Let me now review some stuff, actually the loopholes, from the reasoning in my previous post about how all things are pre-determined. I stated that everything is made up of particles. How do we know that its true - the only thing we know is that all we have come up so far are particles. While writing that, from what I was thinking then, I should have written that all our science have come up so far are these particles. But there is probably nothing to suggest anything further. And what are these "particles" anyways, if some kind of them do form the smallest units? Besides, now I state that its not the particles either which make up things. Further researches have brought forward the likes of "string" and "superstring" theories, which state that it's not particles, but strings, which make up everything. Again, what are these "strings" and what are they made of?
And directly challenging the 'pre-determined' theory, I ask, what is there to prove that everything is not just random? We don't have any concrete evidence against that either. So, everything might very well be absolute random stuff. Everything happening might be actually totally random and accidental, getting determined just at the moment of happening. That is, everything is actually absolute free-will, and at every instant things to happen get determined then and there.
Well, I'll end this discussion with that. Currently, I am reading Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" and it's an excellent stimulating book. It is taking time to read. Also, I have chanced up some good psychology atricles (www.guidetopsychology.com). All these are probably amalgamating possible new stuff in my existing theories (which I confess, are themselves rather in a mess). So, presently, I conclude this topic and post.
In my last extract on this topic, I stated two main theories. First was about human nature - that often what a man says does not express his true feelings and of which true feelings he might not himself be aware of. Second was a theory on destiny, astrology and the similar, where I mentioned that all things 'happening' or all that we see existing are results of precise reactions between different 'forms' (of matter and energy) and hence everything is predictable - consequently, there is nothing as free-will or freedom or choices as such in the absolute sense.
Also, I'll repeat what I stated at the foremost in the last post before venturing into any speculations - and this is of utmost importance - that I believe only what I see, and what I can reason with logic. Anything beyond that, I neither believe, nor disbelieve. It may, or may not be, but unless its proved with reason, mathematics and logic, unless its deciphered and predictable, I wont make my decisions based on those.
Let me now review some stuff, actually the loopholes, from the reasoning in my previous post about how all things are pre-determined. I stated that everything is made up of particles. How do we know that its true - the only thing we know is that all we have come up so far are particles. While writing that, from what I was thinking then, I should have written that all our science have come up so far are these particles. But there is probably nothing to suggest anything further. And what are these "particles" anyways, if some kind of them do form the smallest units? Besides, now I state that its not the particles either which make up things. Further researches have brought forward the likes of "string" and "superstring" theories, which state that it's not particles, but strings, which make up everything. Again, what are these "strings" and what are they made of?
And directly challenging the 'pre-determined' theory, I ask, what is there to prove that everything is not just random? We don't have any concrete evidence against that either. So, everything might very well be absolute random stuff. Everything happening might be actually totally random and accidental, getting determined just at the moment of happening. That is, everything is actually absolute free-will, and at every instant things to happen get determined then and there.
Well, I'll end this discussion with that. Currently, I am reading Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" and it's an excellent stimulating book. It is taking time to read. Also, I have chanced up some good psychology atricles (www.guidetopsychology.com). All these are probably amalgamating possible new stuff in my existing theories (which I confess, are themselves rather in a mess). So, presently, I conclude this topic and post.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Quotations I loved: Part 1
I love quotations. Here I'll post some of the quotations I liked most. I obtained these from various sites at various times.
FREEDOM:
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
-Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.
Patterning your life around other's opinions is nothing more than slavery.
-Lawana Blackwell
She gave me more than just a sweater vest that night. She gave me all this. Nothing. She gave me nothing. That's what I need. No phone book, no Game Boy, no pasta maker, TV Guide. Nowhere to go, nothing to do.
-Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider
While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State.
-Lenin
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
-William Hazlitt
GENIUS:
Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.
-Edgard Varese
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
-Elbert Hubbard
There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.
-Oscar Levant
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
-Oscar Wilde
He was a genius - that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities.
-Robertson Davies
Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labor in it, but they labor in it because they excel.
-William Hazlitt
HATE:
It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.
-Andre Gide
If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.
-Hermann Hesse
Let them hate, so long as they fear.
-Lucius Accius
Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.
-Richard M. Nixon
LIFE:
You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.
-Barbara Hall
The purpose of life is to fight maturity.
-Dick Werthimer
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
-John Lennon
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
-Sir Winston Churchill
"Some people weave burlap into the fabric of our lives, and some weave gold thread. Both contribute to make the whole picture beautiful and unique."
-Anon.
"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
-E. M. Forster
"Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
-Mahatma Gandhi
"The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it."
-W. M. Lewis
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light!
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
LOVE:
Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.
-Anton Chekhov
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
What else is love but understanding and rejoicing in the fact that another person lives, acts, and experiences otherwise than we do…?
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.
-Iris Murdoch
All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
I cannot think well of a man who sports with any woman's feelings; and there may often be a great deal more suffered than a stander-by can judge of.
-Jane Austen
True love brings up everything - you're allowing a mirror to be held up to you daily.
-Jennifer Aniston
Love is the delightful interval between meeting a beautiful girl and discovering that she looks like a haddock.
-John Barrymore
How we treasure (and admire) the people who acknowledge us!
-Julie Morgenstern
Real love is a permanently self-enlarging experience.
-M. Scott Peck
To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. To just give. That takes courage, because we don't want to fall on our faces or leave ourselves open to hurt.
-Madonna
Love is not blind - it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.
-Rabbi Julius Gordon
I don’t think anyone can DO anything that would make him worthy of love. Love is a gift and cannot be earned. It can only be given.
-Real Live Preacher
You can't love anyone until you understand that you can't love everyone.
-Real Live Preacher
Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all.
-Toni Morrison
Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.
-Victor Hugo
A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.
-W. Somerset Maugham
The important thing was to love rather than to be loved.
-W. Somerset Maugham
There's always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved.
-W. Somerset Maugham
"If you love somebody, let them go. If they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were."
-Anon.
"We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together."
-La Bruyere
"Perfect love is rare indeed - for to be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the very wise, the flexibility of the child, the sensitivity of the artist, the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the tolerance of the scholar and the fortitude of the certain."
-Leo Buscaglia
"Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great."
-Comte DeBussy-Rabutin
"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love."
-Henry Drummond
"Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so."
-David Grayson
"The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."
-Victor Hugo
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage."
-Lao-Tzu
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
-Mother Theresa
"There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not."
-La Rochefoucauld
"Love means never having to say you're sorry."
-Erich Segal
(to be continiued........)
FREEDOM:
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
-Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.
Patterning your life around other's opinions is nothing more than slavery.
-Lawana Blackwell
She gave me more than just a sweater vest that night. She gave me all this. Nothing. She gave me nothing. That's what I need. No phone book, no Game Boy, no pasta maker, TV Guide. Nowhere to go, nothing to do.
-Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider
While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State.
-Lenin
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
-William Hazlitt
GENIUS:
Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.
-Edgard Varese
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
-Elbert Hubbard
There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.
-Oscar Levant
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
-Oscar Wilde
He was a genius - that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities.
-Robertson Davies
Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labor in it, but they labor in it because they excel.
-William Hazlitt
HATE:
It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.
-Andre Gide
If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.
-Hermann Hesse
Let them hate, so long as they fear.
-Lucius Accius
Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.
-Richard M. Nixon
LIFE:
You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.
-Barbara Hall
The purpose of life is to fight maturity.
-Dick Werthimer
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
-John Lennon
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
-Sir Winston Churchill
"Some people weave burlap into the fabric of our lives, and some weave gold thread. Both contribute to make the whole picture beautiful and unique."
-Anon.
"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
-E. M. Forster
"Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
-Mahatma Gandhi
"The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it."
-W. M. Lewis
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light!
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
LOVE:
Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.
-Anton Chekhov
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
What else is love but understanding and rejoicing in the fact that another person lives, acts, and experiences otherwise than we do…?
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.
-Iris Murdoch
All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
I cannot think well of a man who sports with any woman's feelings; and there may often be a great deal more suffered than a stander-by can judge of.
-Jane Austen
True love brings up everything - you're allowing a mirror to be held up to you daily.
-Jennifer Aniston
Love is the delightful interval between meeting a beautiful girl and discovering that she looks like a haddock.
-John Barrymore
How we treasure (and admire) the people who acknowledge us!
-Julie Morgenstern
Real love is a permanently self-enlarging experience.
-M. Scott Peck
To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. To just give. That takes courage, because we don't want to fall on our faces or leave ourselves open to hurt.
-Madonna
Love is not blind - it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.
-Rabbi Julius Gordon
I don’t think anyone can DO anything that would make him worthy of love. Love is a gift and cannot be earned. It can only be given.
-Real Live Preacher
You can't love anyone until you understand that you can't love everyone.
-Real Live Preacher
Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all.
-Toni Morrison
Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.
-Victor Hugo
A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.
-W. Somerset Maugham
The important thing was to love rather than to be loved.
-W. Somerset Maugham
There's always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved.
-W. Somerset Maugham
"If you love somebody, let them go. If they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were."
-Anon.
"We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together."
-La Bruyere
"Perfect love is rare indeed - for to be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the very wise, the flexibility of the child, the sensitivity of the artist, the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the tolerance of the scholar and the fortitude of the certain."
-Leo Buscaglia
"Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great."
-Comte DeBussy-Rabutin
"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love."
-Henry Drummond
"Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so."
-David Grayson
"The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."
-Victor Hugo
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage."
-Lao-Tzu
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
-Mother Theresa
"There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not."
-La Rochefoucauld
"Love means never having to say you're sorry."
-Erich Segal
(to be continiued........)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)