Logic vs Emotions

Which one of the two is better? Don’t say both are good coz there are situations where often they  head-on and one has to choose one of these. For example in matters of love, friendship, religious faith, philanthropy, unethical and immoral but tempting opportunities etc.

In most of our entrance exams or interviews we test logical reasoning but rarely do we test emotional stability.

Which one do you apply or trust more? It’s a no brainer that there has to be a balance. But how? Should every decision of yours be a blend of logic and emotions? But who decides this balance? Is same balance right for everyone?

OR rather than a blend should it be case dependent? That is, let logic be applied in certain cases (e.g. survival, business) and emotions in some (e.g. relationships, religious matters)?

Though even easier  is to leave everything to the superior fool; the mind (or brain?) whatever it thinks is right, just do that!! This may not always produce best results but is surely the easiest way out.

Just a thought: Emotions can be influenced (high jacked), can logic be influenced (high jacked)? Even in vocabulary there exists emotional blackmailing but no logical blackmailing!
   

Greediness vs Austerity

  

Is it bad to be greedy? Is it all moh-maya?

A definition of enough money and a justification for its longing is that one needs enough money so that one can live life doing all those things that he truly enjoys, without worrying for money. So money is an "enabler" for bringing enjoyment and happiness in life.

But the trap is that people start loving only the act of making money itself. Anyway, if you can convince yourself that there are no better means of enjoyment in life, stay hungry for money, stay foolish,  stay happy collecting money till end!! But how easy is it to renounce the greed or longing for more and more money or in other words, how easy is it to strike a balance? What does it take? Let's look at some examples of people who influenced the world.

Did Gandhi embrace austerity from childhood? He was born to filthy rich parents who could afford to send him abroad for study (a luxury in those days). Till age of 40  or so, he photographed himself in nice, expensive suits. Then suddenly he shun all this and resorted to austerity. Call it self-realization or publicity stunt or way to connect with masses!! (depending upon how much you like Gandhi or his policies)

May be the joy of public admiration is much more than any earthly (oops did I include sex!!) means of happiness!!

Could Buddha become so selfless had he not been born in royal family and enjoyed the royal luxuries in childhood?

Is such a resort to austerity after enjoying pleasures merely an escape from rat-race which one gets fed up with? or is it something really eternal, heavenly blessing?

I believe, It is very difficult to renounce desire for money without enjoying it at least once. Or may be we are tempted to believe this b'coz we don’t know about cases where people resorted to austerity without enjoying riches. May be such people don't exist or they simply don’t hit headlines. We respect those who had achieved something (by pursuing or by sheer luck) and then talked and preached about its meaninglessness!! Paradox? May be!

  

Importance of failure

  
Nobody would disagree that addiction is bad b'coz it is usually associated with narcotics, alcoholism etc. So the word "addiction" is generally perceived in a negative sense, irrespective of the context (addiction to which thing;  pleasure, substance, or person).

Why is it perceived to be so? Perhaps b'coz even though you feel pretty elated and high while being hooked to your addiction or while experiencing it but you feel utterly devastated when you don’t get what you are addicted to. And you fear the moment when you wont get what you are badly addicted to. One will do almost anything to fulfill his/her addiction, b'coz craving for addiction is usually very high.

is tea/coffee an addiction? P'bly we know very few addictions; how about lifestyle, power, praise? or cereals, salt? Addiction to internet? How about addiction to so called positive things: meditation, adventurism or even social service? How about addiction to something as positive as success? What could be ill effects of such a habit? Well, I think habit of success makes one weak by not exposing him to ample amount of "failures" which is an essential, unavoidable part of life. So, it makes the "fear to fail" even more deadly. You can imagine someone who tops in his class and fails in an exam; he feels the worst, most embarrassed, most disturbed  in the whole class b'coz he was addicted to success; he finds it difficult to handle his own failure, to accept his failure. Will being addicted to success make one averse to risk taking, to undertake steps where chances of failure may be substantial? Will it restrict one from trying new, daring things in life? Won't being averse to risks take out the "adventure" out of life?

And without adventure, life is like a boring journey that you have been told to complete. Someone rightly said "life is not how many breaths you took in life but it's about being through the moments that took your breadth away!!"

When I was a child, say in 1998, my father gave me an article to read from Sunday magazine section of The Tribune newspaper. Main purpose of me reading a full page article in those days was to improve my linguistic skills. The article was about a lady who had always been numero-uno throughout her life; school topper in childhood, then college topper and then university topper. She got the most coveted job at university (a bank job) and even a life-partner of her choice. Problems started later when she couldn't afford to be second to her own husband who was more successful than her; which resulted in a strained relationship and ended up in divorce. It made her more aloof, less social, even though more hardworking. Final blow came at the workplace when she was expected by all to be promoted as head of her department but (perhaps looking at her restricted social attitude) her colleague was given the opportunity. Obviously, she was not at all prepared to handle her failures and ended up being a heart patient and was still recovering in hospital when the article was written.

That day, I didn't think much about story and underlying message but somehow the story got registered in memory. May be today, I can comprehend it better.

So, to develop an all-round personality one must have been through a fair share of failures. I think this has been realized at least by some corporate HRs, whom I heard asking in interviews "Tell me about the greatest failure that you ever had in your life and how you came over it". I think it will be better if we realize the importance of failing, take it beyond preparing responses for interviews and actually start embracing adventurous activities which involve risk of failure.
 

Mystery of Expecting and Complaining

  
You must have seen instances where similar outcomes attract starkly different reactions from different people. For example same marks in an exam (may be 20% or 90%), same results in a sport (like exit in 1st round of French open), or denial of promotion, or even the acts where little efforts have gone into the preparation like not winning anything in a lottery. Though outcomes are identical, yet different people respond to these situations differently; some relish and enjoy, some are indifferent and some complain.

What determines this response? One very simple explanation can be the intrinsic human nature, which varies from person to person depending on up-bringing, socialization and mood etc. But this alone cant explain the whole variation b'coz even the same person can behave differently to two similar outcomes. For example I am very happy when I get (just) passing marks in subject A whereas I feel like crying when I get same marks in subject B. I think one of the major reasons behind this is "our own expectations". I will be happy to get 40% marks if I expected to fail and will get disappointed if I expected to top in the subject. So, can we say, if we want to avoid disappointment and live in a good mood we must have no (or very modest) expectations?

Incidentally, isn't this what Indian mythology (Geeta) conveys "Act without expecting returns"?

And what determines  our expectations? For a normal, worldly human being it is very natural to have high expectation where he/she has put in efforts. Without positive expectation, there won't be any motivation to put in efforts! So, expectations are directly related to "our own efforts" and vice versa. So, will it not be wise to restrict putting much effort b'coz it leads to high expectations and hence disappointments (assumption: nobody 'always' succeeds as much as he expected). This will lead to no disappointment at failures and a lot more happiness at little expected successes. I know the chances of success will be far less without effort.

Well, still this is my mantra for being happy and contended and it also justifies my lazy and laid-back approach/attitude :)

 

Importance of Unlearning

 
When you become aware of some convincing fact but still want to ignore, overlook or forget it and believe otherwise, is it always easy to do so? Are you able to unlearn comfortably?

We stress a lot on "learning" but ironically its equally important counterpart "unlearning" is often ignored and seldom talked/discussed.

Lets take one of my favorite examples, the example of faith in God. Once you realize that there's nothing supernatural about God, rather it's just a concept, a thought invented by intelligent human(s) for the betterment (through controlling, disciplining or directing)of  society, can you again start believing in the super-natural, continuously interfering (punishing and rewarding) role of God because thinking like this will make life much easier/simpler? Believing in supernatural God will normally simplify your life and lighten your mind by eliminating many "why" (which science couldn't explain till date) and replace it by "GOD planned like that" or similar answers. You can easily get forgiven for your wrongdoings, you can seek blessings, pardon and also draw hope and power. Even you can attribute your failure to the will of that God. For every small or big decision, you won’t have to think, apply your logic but simply follow what (the) God or God-men instructed us to do.

Looking at benefits, reverting back is Not a bad deal even for a purely rational mind, isn't it? But still, reverting back to your earlier faith (or degree/intensity of faith) is not at all easy. That's the problem with unlearning!! Learning may be difficult but unlearning is even more difficult.

Whatever you learnt in your childhood (may be through socialization, up-bringing or culture) is hard to change even when proven factually wrong; e.g. if you belong to North India, you are likely to believe that full-fat milk or ghee is the best source of nutrition. Now when you discover that skimmed-milk is scientifically proven to be equally good for health without giving any extra fat content, you find it difficult to convince yourself and change your food habits accordingly. Similarly, when your discover that ghee is as bad for heart as any hydrogenated fat (aka Dalda), you can't convince yourself but keep your disrespect for Dalda little changed.

We are not able to unlearn easily, which is very essential for making wise, rational decisions in life. Is there any way that we can master the art of unlearning? Will relying on logic rather than intuition or traditional knowledge help?

I am trying to think how to make unlearning easier, any directions are welcome!
 

Journey vs Destination

 

Let's take a simple example of a 400m race. What is most enjoyable for a runner; is it only the last step when he touches the finish line or the whole race when he crosses all others athletes on his way, one by one? Or to further enlarge the scope, is it the final race or the innumerable days of practice that he enjoys the most?

Isn't the process of achieving something more exciting and enjoyable than the achievement itself? I fear many of you might be confused.

Let's take the case of a fighter jet pilot, its almost immaterial for pilot at what altitude or speed he is cruising, he feels the thrill when (and how fast) it's ascending or accelerating. Isn't it?

Let's take another simple example from our lives. Lets take two cases; 1st a person who owns a Mercedes Benz E class or Ferrari since last 5 years and 2nd a person who used to have an old Bajaj scooter, has moved gradually to Maruti-800 to Hyundai Accent to Honda Accord in those 5 years. Who do you think is richer? And who do you think is more likely to be happier and more satisfied?

Isn't it that we enjoy the process of rising/ascending rather than the height/altitude itself?

Is the same not true about our career, status also? Most people would agree that they don't have a goal to have exact 'k' million wealth but they simply enjoy amassing more and more (immediate goal is to have a little more than one has at a time). We try to improve our status, position, bank balance just because we don’t like stagnation. But what exactly are we trying to achieve? Perhaps we don’t even know that or that doesn't even matter because we enjoy the process only!

When there is no real charm for an ultimate goal (b'coz there is actually none), where does this excitement about the process come from? Can this be justified by any logic?

Will it be wise to step aside for a moment and relook at our own journey, methods and goals? What is the driving force of our lives?

A thought to ponder upon "Is life a journey or a mission with an ultimate goal?"
 

Money=Friction?

   

Is it possible to live a good life without money? Probably not.  How much money is sufficient to lead a good life? How much money is too much? No answer!!

There are 3 types of people who despise money

1st: Losers; Those who don’t have and also are sure they will never have enough of it. So in other words they are afraid of admitting to themselves that they are losers. So they are just trying to justify their choices, decisions, capabilities, orientations, or even fate.

2nd: Hypocrites; Those who had enough of it and have no charm of it any longer (or at least say so as a fashion statement or to project themselves as gentle, humble, selfless personalities). In other words they traded money for power and respect.

3rd (Unnamed) are supernatural beings who didn't have it but still realized that money is not worth running after. This is a very rare species and it's extremely difficult to distinguish it from 1st category (specially for a skeptic like me)

Can we say "Money is necessary evil" in analogy with quote from physics "Friction is necessary evil", b'Coz you can't live without them and too much is too bad.

I am right!!

 
Why is it that whatever you do is right? The customs that I follow are always right. My nation is best. My religion is best. My opinion is right. (implicitly it makes the person who shares some of these similarities  better  in your opinion than others in the lot).

Did we ever gather courage to question whether you are really right or why is it so?

Well, its never too late!!

It's fine to respect one's own culture or customs but simply because one was born there in a particular caste/region/religion doesn't make that the greatest caste/region/religion on earth. Is there any scope of application of logic in this world full of emotional people who are largely being exploited by shrewd, emotionally intelligent people (you may call them "smart" or "cunning" depending upon which side you belong to and who you have sympathy for)? Isn't it very easy to provoke someone in the name of state/country/religion/god and exploit them?

Won't it be a better world if we have more emotionally intelligent people who don't hesitate to question  the validity of any emotion/association/attachment? Isn't it better to keep one's belief  to oneself and try to respect/accept/appreciate other's opinion at the same time.

Or is it in the best interest of human race to live in a "leader-follower (exploiter and emotional fool)" mode?

Am I right? :)
 

Rationality with Empathy?

 
Is empathy always good? Well, one would say that like every other thing, it's good when within limit. But now "limit" itself has very personalized form and definition.

And the worst thing is it affects, interferes and even directs your actions and rational behavior even without you realizing about it. Thinking? Disagreeing? Just think of some instance when you discovered about someone in your circle to be from the same school of thought (may be political ideology, (non)religious view, tradition, region etc), doesn’t it suddenly increase your comfort, respect, attachment for that person? Thinking from pure logical point of view, does being from same school of thought make the other person more trustworthy/useful/productive/capable?

Don't we support some sports teams/players based on our idea of region/country/religion/economic status and ignoring the fact which team has got more talent or which team has put in how much hard work?

What if you are conducting an interview, will you be able to control your bias unless you are aware of your natural bias? Very difficult indeed.

Another extreme is when you realize your natural bias and try to defeat the effect of this bias and being over-cautious, become negatively biased.

Is there any solution? How to maintain balance between rationality(or rationalism) and empathy?

Sorry, I don't have an answer :(

I am myself in search of..
    

Middle path

 

Is middle path always the best? Is "non committal"  (as I also learnt being a football defender)  always good? Or by being non-committal, you are playing too safe to enjoy the tides of life?

Middle path is what even Siddhartha (Buddha) preached. So is by one of the great philosophers (I think Aristotle), when he advocates middle path. Ironically he is "extremely" into proposing middleness.  Also he is proposing to be "extremely" in the middle. Isn't it self-negating, self-conflicting and self-defeating?

Should we really live a life without extremes ( extreme love, extreme emotion, extreme passion, extreme anger, extreme hunger, extreme poverty,  and also extreme middleness)?

Also. we always have an easier option: to cease being a "thinking" thinker. Don’t control your thoughts, don’t try to give your thoughts a direction. Whatever comes to your mind and appeals you, is correct. Follow it and remain happy. But isn't this approach of unrestrained thoughts potentially dangerous for society? What are terrorists (or fanatics)? Simply put, they are products of uncontrolled extreme thinking process. Isn't it?

 

Populist art vs Different art vs Bad art

 
When novices are bitten by the "differentiation bug", they try to exhibit liking for non-popular art. But what are the chances that they will be able to distinguish between non-popular art and bad art?

Whether there's any bad art that is ever produced? This is another debate altogether!

By the way who decides which art is good and which art is bad; it is only human interpretation and not any heavenly classification. Nothing is absolute good and nothing is absolute bad.

Why is it that majority of Oscar winning movies are not commercial blockbusters? Why is it that Booker prize winning book is usually not read by masses and the book read by masses is not even nominated for booker prize?

Do we really need specialists to opine about art. After all art is meant for appreciation by all, pleasure of all.

But will it really be wise to leave all the judgment power to masses? Won't it make all 'masala' movies (having popular combination of violence, sex and lifestyle) win all the acclaim? Will it not prove the universal applicability of journalism's 3F formula (Food, Fashion, Fornication) for media? Is "wisdom of crowds" not applicable in the field of art?

Frankly, as of now, I am unable to side with either school of thought!!

So should one blindly follow the middle path? Well, wait for my next post on "middle path" :)

 

Curiosity drives everything?

Is passion/excitement bound to die out with time?

Don't you remember your excitement on 1st day at job? First victory in elections? First overseas trip? Or first date with your girl/boy friend? Or your first sex? Riding your first bike or car? your first camera or laptop? Or even your first personal diary or first blog?

Why does the joy fade gradually? Are humans programmed like that?

Whatever milestone you crossed/achieved, loses its significance and the one you never experienced becomes your center of curiosity and your top priority.

Is this insatiable desire to explore the fundamental reason behind human intelligence and progress of humankind? May be.

But Are we not losing the joy of relishing our accomplishments?
 

The bug of being different

 

Even more than luxury, riches, comfort is the craving for being different and be recognized these days.  Don't you think most of our generation is bitten by a hypothetical bug (let me call this "bug of differentiation"). Can we attribute it to the ever-increasing population and ever-decreasing time/attention left with people to devote to others?

So what we do to attract this attention? Leave apart attention deficit disorder, I m talking of a much milder, socially accepted form of this disease..well I m not allowed to call it a disease/disorder 'coz majority of population suffers from it..funny.. Isn't it? Imagine we stop calling shortsightedness as disorder coz majority of ppl suffer from it!! Lets settle to a "socially acceptable level of desire to get attention".

What all we do for it? Do we like adventure sports because not many do so ? Do we try to listen to old/classical/folk songs that not many listen to these days? Do we try to express a contrarian view in order to stand out in crowd? Are there any problems associated with being different/show different? This issue, I will address in my next post titled "populist art vs different art vs bad art".

Is this desire to be different good for businesses? May be. I hope this category of customers/consumers will constitute the "long tail" in many businesses.
 

A lazy ass gets going at last

 
What would u call a person who takes 2 years to come up with his first blog-post after deciding to go for it and making an account? Honestly words like busy, lazy, slow come to your mind. Choose any of these, i don't have a personal preference for any of these!! If you find a better word, do let me know :)

Is there really a difference between laziness, inertia or lack of initiative? I think all such objectives would describe my behavior when it comes to blogging. Let's see if i get hooked on to it and write regularly.