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.