It is easy to fix when you are the problem or when you have the problem. On the other hand, it’s quite hard
when the world is the problem or when the world gives you a damn problem. Wish that you always have the former ones
and not the latter ones.
Cheering up yourself or fixing your mood by eating your favorite food or talking to someone else across the table
is way easier than fighting racism or hatred shown just because you belong to a particular region or religion.
Faith
We all believe in something whether it’s a supernatural entity or scientific doctrine. It seems man cannot live without faith. Even atheists believe that there’s no one up above. Still, counts as faith. In this sense, we can call the former one a positive faith and the latter as a negative one.
And for some, they are fluid and malleable and for some, they are rigid and tight. But how do these faiths form? And do all conscious beings have faith? And what is it to be faithless?
I am convinced that we cannot exist in peace without faith. Because faith gives us comfort. Knowing that an omnipotent god guides the fates and we as mortals just need to fill in the play gives a sense of comfort. Don’t you think?
Our grey matter also nags us when we don’t have faith because lack of faith creates insecurity in our mind and that’s a hard thing to live by. If you cannot trust the police to guard the house then you neither sleep nor live in peace.
In fact, nations break down and laws cannot operate in such a situation. Then we enter a Hobbesian world—“The condition of man . . . is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.”
Moreover, we are hardwired to have faith in someone. When we were infants we had faith in our parents that whenever we cry they come up with food, love, care, and a plaything. That created the foundation and it’s a powerful experience that shaped all our beliefs which created this collective entity called faith.
However, can prudence and cold logic we develop later in life break it and create a homo-separaticon without faith? And can we trust rationality when we very well know how irrational everyone is?
And when we live with rationality, life wouldn’t be joyous. Without irrationality, there’s no poetry, no music, no drama, no starry night painting.
I guess we need faith in faith. Even if it’s a matrix illusion, at least as long as we are Homo sapiens.
Honest living
Being honest with yourself is the most important lesson that one can learn in life. Facing the guy in the mirror is the hardest thing that we have to do. Without honesty, as Mark Twain says we cannot have a sleepy conscience. One cannot escape from the court of heart no matter how hard one try. The biggest price that we need to pay for lack of honesty is to get haunted by regrets and shame. On the infinite scale, we have a little duration to hang on to the earth, so living in the truest sense is the way to a peaceful demise.
The Mandela Way of Life is What we need.
Nelson Mandela is the first black president of South Africa. But that’s just a Wikipedia fact. What we should think about Mandela is how well he lived his life, how he could heal his hating heart, and how he faced his fears despite life’s grueling setbacks and a prison term that would crush him and throw his dreams into an impossible pit.
His “Long Walk to Freedom” teaches how to be optimistic, how we learn to hate others, how a nation should act, and how to lit the kindness flame that burns in all our hearts. His life is a valuable book that one can learn if one opens the mind a bit. Here are the seeds that I value—
- 1)Courage and Fear are twins.
One fundamental error in our thinking is that we assume being courageous means no fear and showing a spartan face. But that’s far from true. Courage is coping with fear and waging a constant battle that we never win but only make sound peace with it.
It’s an honorable pledge that we take. Yet we cannot defeat. The example is the man himself we’re talking out. When Mandela was flying on a plane. The engine failed and everyone was in panic mode. His bodyguards were running around with fear. But Mandela was reading a newspaper with courage. But here’s the thing Mandela after the emergency landing admitted that there was a fear but he merely did not show it.
This shows that being courageous is a choice that we need to make and can never defeat like a big Hercules.
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear—Mark Twain.”
- 2)Contradictions define life.
We never get
Either this or that
But
A choice hanging
In between.
We never get
Neither this nor that
But
A paradox moving
Up and down.
We never get
A personality or
An individuality
But
A docile identity
Buttered by both.
We never get
Kinky morals or
Dinky ethics
But
A badly blossomed conscience
Or deeply twirled dilemmas.
We never get
A hulky heart
or
A bony brain
But
Just a sad belly.
Ah—
Black or white?
I wish it were that simple.
—No black and white
This is a poem I wrote a while back that captures the idea well. Life is neither black nor white but grey. We need to accept the contradictions, the ifs, and buts, and tread along.
Nations accept this. For example, it cannot follow ruthless capitalism or ruthless socialism. Hence they balance out like China by following Market Socialism.
Life is an ethical dilemma with not a yes or no. But a yes-no. No wonder, Soren Kierkegaard remarked—
“I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both.”
- 3)A literate tongue or pen matters a lot.
We know the famous quote of Mandela—
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
But the idea of Mandela is much more than that. Education brings out the best in you. It’s the best weapon we can use to battle against the raging hate in our hearts and purify ourselves.
That’s why he inspired many prisoners to read and as they say— He turned the cell blocks to study halls and made Robben Island a university.
And education, Mandela believed, saves democracies, protects the rights of people, and tames unethical leadership of so-called good men and women. As hatred of immigrants, blacks, and the vulnerable are on the rise and people easily fall prey to a demagogue, education is the stick to control it.
and about education and personal development, here’s what Mandela says—
“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”
Pick out that book on the kindle or if you prefer the old way, then the shelf.
Leader and Incentives
The classic expectation from a leader is to manage a faltering team and set them in tune. They expect him as a super motivator and even a relationship advisor. But what if the team has super “A” achievers and is motivated beyond the borderlines?
In that case, the one who can offer maximum incentives to the followers becomes the champion. When people get more than what they bargained for, they notice and follow the lead.
Originality
A lot of us assume that we need to have original ideas to write or have something truly novel to say.
If we live by this assumption, we never get anywhere. Any idea that we can possibly imagine was
already said by someone, perhaps just the way it is narrated might differ. What Sri Krishna in Bhagavadgita
told is just good summary of Upanishads. Godfather movie is a simple crime story that gets repeated in almost
every criminal business with a little bit of addition of Machiavellian morality. Whether it is a Beatles song
or a Bukowski poem, the lyrics and words just take different synonyms. Then why do we have to say or create
something? Andre Gide answers this.
” Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything
must be said again.”
Energy Management
What really matters is how we manage energy in a day. Whether we accept it or not, energy, at least mental, is
a finite resource and that it depletes from the moment we wake up. Hence as we proceed in the day, it
becomes difficult to take better decisions or do hard tasks. Despite being very rational and having a ton
of great mental models under our belt, we will do stupid things and despite being motivated enough, we
push the deadlines for the simple reason that we don’t have energy left.
Track your energy resource and schedule your priorities for the day according to this plain fact. The
the general rule is to do cognitively taxing things and take important decisions first.
Leisure time
Theodor Adorno noted that intellectuals and concerned citizens of a country should focus on how
people are spending their leisure time. If people are distracted by the “Culture Industry” i.e. social media,
t.v., films, radio, and such, then they are never bothered about real issues of our society, politics, and
government. When we are busy taking youtube shorts, we naturally ignore the laws parliament passes, the
tax rates, and scams done by religious leaders. Change happens only when we care enough, at least in our free time.
Future (Economics)—1
Resources, Good Governance, Human capital, and even institutional development (Why nations fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson) till now to an extent determined the success of a nation and its economic growth and development.
But in the future, I think the “Attention Capital”, that is, the attention capacity and the capabilities of its citizens will tell us the trajectory of the nation. With attention spans falling off the chart to a minimum and some claiming even to be that of a goldfish, the promise of the future is bleak. With people unable to concentrate on their tasks, productivity and prosperity can be deteriorating.
If that’s the case, governments might launch yoga and meditation schemes for the poor in the future and so-called affirmative programs. That’s a hard nut to crack, I guess.
What if the primary skill in future resumes of the employees is the ability to concentrate and sit in a lotus posture for 90 minutes?
and the companies might hire a Spiritual CEO and a guru to guide their gullible employees.
3 Ideas from Brendon Burchard To consider Now.
Brendon Burchard is regarded as the world’s leading high-performance coach and an excellent writer who topped the New York Times list of best-selling books 3 times. He is often quoted, googled, watched, and googled on the internet by productive bees who want the best in their life.
His online courses and videos crossed millions and Oprah Winfrey consider him as one of the most influential personal growth gurus of all time. Most people know him through the Brendon show, a wonderful podcast if you want to listen.
There’s a ton to learn from him and here are a few of my favorites—
- 1)Owning Ambitions 100%
Brendon says that most people never own their ambitions 100%. This is a powerful idea and a truth. We usually own it a 50-60-70%. For instance, you want to write a book, run a blog, make YouTube videos and inspire millions of people online and you invest your resources and time in it but we do it half-heartedly. We don’t accept it but deep down you know it in your bones. I failed many times to do hard things like building a rock-solid body, and write a novel. Sure, there are many reasons why I failed but after a lot of reflection, I think Brendon is right.
With just 60% ownership and liking, dreams are hard to come by. So never do this mistake. Chase your dreams only if can own them 100%. Here’s a nugget for you—
“personal power is directly tied to personal responsibility, which most people avoid.”(Brendon Burchard)
- 2)Guilt is good
Brendon comments that guilt is a sign of learning and the first indication that you have a growth mindset. Trust me if you don’t feel guilty after binge-watching that Tv series all night, there’s something seriously wrong with you. If you failed to make that blog post deadline possible, you should think and feel about it. That’s how you realize what your next baby steps are.
I always feel bad when I procrastinate on my Wednesday essay day. But guilt makes sure that I write the next day itself. Own guilt and achieve your dreams by course correction.
- 3)Teach to generate positivity
“You have a clean slate every day you wake up. You have a chance every single morning to make that change and be the person you want to be. You just have to decide to do it. Decide today’s the day. Say it: this is going to be my day.”—Brendon Burchard.
Every morning is a choice to bring positivity to your life. No one can come inside your head and clean it. And positive thoughts won’t come unintentionally. You have to do it deliberately. That’s because the human brain is hardwired to create fear and anxiety. So the machine’s job is to constantly chase you down with 0% probability issues.
This man is worthy to be followed and taken note of him. Go ahead. Great ideas can move you, only if you let them.
Thy Vox 