Believing the Incredible

When it comes to Belief I have a whole new subset. Not something I would desire everyone to understand. Everyone has got their own beliefs and I feel that there is nothing wrong if two persons disaccord their respective beliefs. Beliefs tell you who you are, and what you hold. Beliefs dictate what you are capable of and at what you will always fail. I don’t know how many will concur to this statement but I feel this is some sort of a mental attitude of acceptance towards a proposition. I would like to channelize this view by putting forth the nibble that whatever the belief might be, it should not be digested for the sake of it or because people have been told to believe it. Or only because it’s been practiced since ages.

If beliefs behave like a received truth of a religious nature then they transform their nerve into Dogmas. Steve Jobs justifiably cites: "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking". You should live your life as per your beliefs which are subjected to rational examination. If you believe in the long accepted proposition of man then you are wasting your precious time on this planet by trying to ape their life. You inner voice might want something else for you but just because you have given consent to other people's belief you practice, you weave, their ideology. It’s time that we raise our thoughts and gain courage to follow what our heart wants to. My implication to raise ones thoughts out here is to simply try, battle out the nurtured dogmas which are trying to drown your own thoughts. Courage is what is needed for this feat. Belief can no longer be regarded as an innocent error. Once a dogma gets rolling, it's very hard to kill it, since those infected are impossible to reason with. They are so captivated with such dogmas that they almost blank out on their own thoughts.

It's like, the moment you believe in something, “this is it”, you are bringing a certain degree of rigidity into the very life process that you are. Believing also means you have assumed something that you do not know. Therefore I feel belief should be completely rational and a principle capable of proof. Belief is one of the most powerful forces of this world. If you believe in God, God is there for you, if you don't believe then there is no such thing on earth for you. If you believe in God he is there for you in every speck and nook of this infinite universe. You don't have to go hunting for him in any temple as such. Belief is the undisputed master of this Earth, so try working on this area, on this belief of yours. Try freeing your belief from a doctrinal notion asserted without regard to evidence or truth. Try to disembarrass your belief from an arbitrary dictum.

Anais Nin has wisely cited: “When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.” This is so true. Try questioning the received truth.

Abraham Lincoln adverted: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”

Superstitious prophecies are only the belief of fools. Stop playing one.

Faster than Light... Did I?

This is space. It looks pretty penultimate. I've heard people identifying it as the final frontier. I can picture its vastness in my mind but this was something happening for real. I wonder if this has to do anything with my hallucinations or experiencing a terrible hangover. It's appearing that I have been picked up and shipped from the sea near my town into a shining sea. I'm not the person I remember. The cold no longer is a bother. I can endure oxygen, food, water for some reason. This morning bets to be strange. Jesus, I can see the Earth behind me. Hell there is something really fishy going on out here. How on earth (err... it's gotta be space for now) did I reach here. After analyzing and calling to mind, the inference is that I have been transmitted like a message into my own past. But this gives invitation to a whole flock of queries. Am I beginning to enter a world of FTL paradoxes? Darn I hope not.

If whatever happening around is true, then does this mean that I can go back in time and alter history. Gosh, it might prove the other way round as well, wherein history might have already incorporated the changes that would have been done by one of the time travelers like me. But am I really traveling back in time? Well I never believed time travel was possible, but I don't think it would work exactly the way it did in the movies. Anyways, whatever it might be, if this is for real then Jesus am I really…? Am I really travelling faster than the speed of light? I know nothing is impossible but, this, by far is physically impossible. Am I violating the laws of Physics? Well I can't do this to Physics at least. I've adored Physics since my first Physics class. This sounds dramatic but it’s like I am taking the laws of physics and punching them in the stomach and throwing them down the stairs. It’s like I am dividing a number by zero. I remember my school teacher articulating: "physics is a complete package: once you decide to ignore one physical law, you're ignoring them all." I know it’s no concern to the Star Trek guys as they go faster than the speed of light every show and travel into the past like it's a trip to Disneyland.

Ok...let me at least try breaking this enigma down. The Universe is supposed to be infinite or is it a branching array of parallel universes? This begs for another question, however: travelling through time is travel through only one dimension, leaving you stationary in reference to the three primal dimensions. It's quite difficult for me to answer these questions though. Gosh... I am completely blurred by these queries of mine which doesn’t bring home the bacon. Did I just kill all those brain cells for kicks? Anyways, solving these queries is not a big concern to me right now. Let me leave this work to the physicists. First thing, first. I need to figure out where I am supposed to go from here.

I cannot cognize how many light years I am away from my planet right now. I was getting drifted along in the outer space, slowly approaching my home planet. I can see myself in school, discovering the first periodic table of elements devised by Dmitri Mendeleev. Trying to learn how elements are arranged in order of increasing atomic number. About Atoms, well I can call back atom as a basic unit of matter consisting of a dense, central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The electrons orbiting the nucleus like planets around a sun. I've often chewed over that our solar system resembles an atom, with the sun as the nucleus and the planets electrons, this would make our galaxy a molecule and the universe would be the whole thing (whatever that would be). Oh, this strikes me like a bullet that I might be 12 light years away from earth. Well it was like I could rewind and see my past from here. Ah how I could travel some thousand light years and go back to convince the first amphibian that it really isn't worth the bother of living on land. I don't know how successful I would be in changing the past, because we have our own world safe and sound, several thousand light-years away.

I tried to hop towards earth and the reflected light from my childhood bombarded my eyes and I could see my past all over again. I could watch my family, my friends and express joy at how different they used to appear and how much physical change they have gone through. I chuckled at the mistakes I made then and thought how I would have acted in a different way to avoid those. I was watching the whole drama unfold. An entire sequence of déjà vu taking place. It resembled a "Behind the scenes" kind of episode airing all over. I learned so much about my own life and how it affected other lives. I was revisiting my life and I wanted to change things here and there but I didn’t know whether the changes will take effect as whatever changes I make (however small) will affect the timeline I am in right now. Still thinking and reminiscing I happened to hit an asteroid badly and that’s when I woke up from my slumber only to learn the compressed feeling in my lungs getting even and my vision swam gradually.

"There is no spoon"

A young child, bending spoons, spoke to Neo: "Do not try to bend the spoon—that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth."

Neo asked him, "What truth?"

The child answered, "That there is no spoon."

Neo meditated on this. "There is no spoon."

The child continued: "Then you will see that it is not the spoon that bends—it is only yourself."

And Neo was enlightened.

There are times when I prefer to veg out in front of the TV despite knowing the fact that it's an ill wind that blows no one any good. But half the Fun in doing so lies in the fact of following on great master pieces. "MATRIX" is one such Masterpiece. And guys I must tell you that all I ever needed to learn in my life is all exhibited by the movie "The Matrix" (part 1 to be more precise).

Initially I thought of it as any other action packed thriller incorporating all cool special effects and stuff like that. But I was really amazed by the very astuteness and the cognition depicted by this movie. To be honest earlier I was little confused by it all. I must have seen Matrix umpteen times and every time I watch the movie I chance upon on some new matter. New constructs that I hadn't seen before appeared with each viewing. New thoughts. New perspectives. New paradigms. Suddenly, it wasn't an action movie anymore. It depicted about almost everything - the Life, the Freedom, the Thoughts, the Destiny and a lot more. The best part of this movie is that the real movie is not surfaced to you the first time you watch it. It gets clearer with every successive watch. As I watched it with a more sensitive mind I began to actually see the hidden substance, the hidden wisdom.

The citation "There is no spoon." holds in itself much more wisdom than anything could ever articulate. After acknowledging the wisdom I just redeemed myself. I could cognize with the very powers I bear. All experiences we get, all the success in life, the failure, the happiness the sadness, the conventional thinking, the unlawful views everything, is effected / starts with that twelve-pound mass sitting pretty between our shoulders. The implication referred out here is to our Thoughts that we put into our mind every second of every minute of every day. By controlling the thoughts that we think and the way we respond to the events of our life, we begin to control our destiny. The thoughts form our world and the quality of one's life comes down to the richness of one's thoughts.

I guess you don’t sound sold. Well that’s the ultimate truth that life always wanted to convey. Robin Sharma the author of "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari", which is told like a fable, presents the following paradigm:

"Thoughts are vital, living things, little bundles of energy, if you will. Thoughts are just as much a part of the material world as the lake you swim in or the street you walk on. Weak minds lead to weak actions. A strong, disciplined mind, which anyone can cultivate through daily practice, can achieve miracles. If you want to live life to the fullest, care for your thoughts as you would your most prized possessions."

It’s been beautifully put up in Matrix:

Morpheus: You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?

Neo: No.

Morpheus: Why not?

Neo: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.

Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean.

Let me tell you why you're here.

You're here because you know something.

What you know you can't explain, but you feel it; you've felt it your entire life.

That there's something wrong with the world.

You don't know what it is, but it's there....like a splinter in your mind...driving you mad.

It is this feeling that has brought you to me.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Neo: The Matrix?

Morpheus: Do you want to know what...it...is?

The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now...in this very room.

You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television.

You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes.

It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes....to blind you from the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage.

Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison....for your mind.

That’s what the struggle is, in this materialistic world. It is indeed about Freedom as well. The freedom, to do things your way at your convenience. Not thinking much about what the world might think of you. The immunity from an obligation or duty. The freedom to see the forest beyond the trees, the freedom to choose what is right over what seems pressing. Freedom to take charge of your life.

The fight in Matrix is also about the freedom. To free the lot.

Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo, but I can only show you the door.

You're the one that needs to walk through it.

You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear...doubt...disbelief. Free your mind!

This ties in closely with the skeptical idea that the everyday world is illusory. A penny for your thoughts?

It’s not Denial but Relativity

"It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept."

Rings a bell? Well, the guess is much on the right track. The above is the citation from "Calvin & Hobbes". To umpteen the C&H quotes or citations might be like giving someone a thick ear but guys they are the sharpest knife in the drawer.

So getting back to the quote, the query that concerns is being selective about reality. Well do we really have numerous aspects of reality / truth? Truth is supposed to be unrivaled. It is absolute in nature. The thing I would like to assert out here is that Everything is Relative, admitting the Truth as well.

The theme in reality is that all ideas, and all possible ways of looking at the world are equally true and valid. This is no wishful thinking and it is easy to get one's thinking about such abstract matters tangled up. So you call back on the very existence of Truth. The precise definition of Truth - "A fact that has been verified" does spread light but then again it lays its dependence on the perception of facts, depending on one's point of view.

It appears that the statement is true if things in reality are as the statement says they are put up, otherwise it is all but crap. Many a times things may prove to be relative on the basis of mere observations. What tastes sweet to one person may taste bitter to another. What sounds melodious to me may sound cacophonous to you. And so on. Whether something is "true" or not depends so much on the context, and so much on your needs and goals, that it comes very close to complete relativity. Even if I say "the sky is blue," the perspective of an astronaut might change that. (Well, as you get closer to the "sky," it actually starts to get kind of black)

Don't you think this universe operates in a perfect harmony? It’s awesome to see its mysteries that are happening around us and inside us. Everything is a piece of perfection operating by precise laws. What I want to imply to is one such Laws of nature - "The Law of Relativity". It is not by accident that the Laws of nature exist, and no matter what your belief is regarding whom or what created them. The laws are irrefutable. It’s like the state of being relative; as, the relativity of a subject.

The work of M.C. Escher needs no introduction. We have all learned to appreciate the impossibilities that this master of illusion's artwork presents to the layman's eye. Nevertheless, it may come as a surprise for some, but many of the so-called 'impossible' drawings of M. C. Escher can be realized as actual physical objects. Let me share a wonderful Woodcut which describes Relativity:

"Relativity" is the name of a popular woodcut created by M.C. Escher in 1953. The illustration is centered on three staircases in a triangular arrangement, each one perpendicular to the others in three-dimensional space. Featureless men and women are walking up and down these stairs past each other, but everyone seems to use a different direction for "down" -- so that one's wall is another's floor. One part of the illustration even has two men descending a staircase perpendicular to each other.

This illustration was popular in the 1960s and 1970s because of its psychedelic effect, but it can be seen as having a deeper metaphor -- that of different people living in different world’s side-by-side. One may consider an act good that another right next to him would think of as bad; one may think that progress is in this direction, another that it's over that way instead. But the figures in the woodcut live side by side, going about their activities, cooperating with those who agree with their sense of "up" and allowing those who don't to continue on their own way.

To bring to a close I would leave you with an excerpt:

"If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew." - Albert Einstein

Confused? Well that’s relativity for you.