Day 25 : A World That Has Moved On

As mentioned in my previous post here I had just started on the epic Dark Tower series of fantasy books by Stephen King. It is an amazing tale, and is already becoming by favorite fantasy series of all time (Harry Potter will always be 'the one' for me yet. Can't help there, I grew up with it.)

This post is not really for showering praises on the Tower. That would probably come later. This here is regarding a specific phrase that sees repeated use in the book.

"The World Has Moved On"

This phrase is used by the hero in the book show how everything around him has been bespoiled and corrupted. The world is not what he knew once. None of the purity and innocence survives now. He is the only one that survives from the old world. And all that he has are memories of the times gone by. Sure, all this sounds very poetic and artistic and fantastical. How does this mean anything to anyone not reading this book. Well it does.

The world that we live in and the world that is depicted in the book, is not that different. We all have that something that has now firmly placed in the past. Something that is dear to us and now exists only in the past. All we can do is go back to those memories now and then and mournfully think of how things were. That is morose yes, on a personal level yes. But then when you come to think of it on a grander scale. Everything has moved on. The world we see now what our forefathers witnessed, nor would be what our children would live in. The world moves on. Nothing is constant, everything is fleeting. We get used to something in life, and soon we see it evolve into something else, or something take its place.

Sometimes it maybe a good thing. To welcome something new into our lives, we must say goodbye to something else. Our destinies are shaped by the choices that we make to change/better our lives. Or by not choosing to make those changes. But changes will happen, either you choose to make them happen, or they happen to you. The world has a tendency to not stay fixed to your needs or desires. It is a river that flows on, that moves on to deeper valleys. Most of these valleys are deep in sorrows, but now and then they raise to unfathomable heights and take you along with it.

Our destiny is not what you see. It is much beyond our own comprehension. It is not that next promotion, or that six digit salary, or that unattainable lover. Our destiny, our ka, reaches further than all of that. And most of our lives we never really understand what it is ourselves. Most of us know more about the sum total of our lives after we've passed on. We are remembered by the memories we leave behind of us. That is the only world where we survive eternally.

Memories have longer shelf life than anything else that we can create in a life time. I don't suppose there aren't anyone anymore who knows what the heroes in all of those legends and fables look like. But they survive still. Their memories survived ages even after their descendants withered away. This world is theirs too now, even though their doesn't exist any more. That is what I hope for. A world of mine that hasn't moved on yet.

For, my friend, there are other worlds than these.

Day 11 : About Parenting

I am at that point in life when a lot of my friends are either engaged, hitched, or expecting children. Every time I go on social media I can always see something posted up by friends making what they hope to be a big social-media announcement. It has happened so often now, even the auto-correct on my phone has started prompting Congratulations as soon as I start typing any word starting with a C. And let me tell you, it didn't always suggest that specific C word for me use while replying to something on social media. Little things like that would make you think about the choices that you've made in life, y'know?

Anyways, I've recently discovered one of my college friends had become father to two (how could they possibly be so tiny?) twin daughters. He is not the first of my friends to become a parent. But his newborns were twins, which was something new, and also he never was the kind of guy that you'd ever picture to be of the fatherly kind. I suppose all of us would one day come to this phase in life. But there are always those few who you'd always expect not to procreate. Those who are not exactly naturally caring. The thought is a downer yes. But then parenting is not a kind of thing where you get to have a do-over. You have to get it right every darn time. You are responsible for the upbringing for a little human being, and all the other offspring that would come after him/her.

Most people I'd guess just end up teaching themselves to be good parents. There is really any specific rules written for it. Well, I guess there are. Mostly I think if you manage to get your spawn to not die till he gets a job, you're good. And also ensure he doesn't become a mass murderer or a sarcastic hipster-jerk. Yeah that's crucial.

Our parents had it easy. They had us in an age when we had to go through a lot of trouble to figure out the bad stuff for ourselves. Not everything was available to everybody at the click of a button. Even middle-schoolers carry around iPads and smartphones. Just googling, "How to be a serial killer" would give them like 29 million results. Trust me, I tried. That sort of scares me a little. How could anyone even think of bringing another soul into this sad mucus of a planet.

Everything is shitty. Everyone is crappy about everything. Every news you every about on the media is about how the world is on its final violent death rattle. Why would you want to bring another kid into the mix? Especially when you would be ethically and legally bound to take care of the little brat?

You sit and spend time thinking of all that. You begin to become cynical of everything and everyone. You begin to feel sorry for the kids being born everyday. They are going to have a lousy future in store for them, just because their parents couldn't keep their hands off of each other. You yourself though spend your time going through the motions of being a normal human-being, trying not to seem as scared shitless as you are. Being a normal human involves you visiting the new kids borne by your friends in the hospital. You congratulate the father on his accomplishment (?). You compliment the mother she did well, and that she looks beautiful and glowing. Then you dutifully go over to the crib where the special guest of the day is half asleep comfortably bundled in her many soft blankets.

You look at this little tiny living thing. You barely detect it breathing. You are slightly doubtful if it is even alive. Then its eyes open just slightly, as if it detected your doubting her mere existence. Then her lips spread out slightly into what looks like smile. (Does she even know what a smile is?) She stretches her limbs within the blankets, snuggling into herself, getting comfortable in her crib. Her eyes open wider and she looks directly at you. You feel goosebumps all over you. She notices you. This little amazing creature has got you into her eyesight. And that is a weird feeling. It seems like she can see directly within you. She sees you for all that you are. Her lips again part to give that expression you associate with a smile. But it is way more than that. It is like her acknowledgement that you exist. Her way of saying, "I see you, and I approve of you." That somehow seems like the biggest acclamation you've received all your life.

You wish to move your hands. You wish to touch her. You want to feel her soft sweet-smelling skin with your fingers. But you are afraid you might hurt her. She seems so fragile and precious. You look down smiling back at her. Watch her for another moment while she shuts her eyes again and drifts off to whatever world babies visit in their sleep.

You turn around say your friends a brisk goodbye and leave the hospital. You discover that you like kids. And that feeling you felt when the baby smiled back at you, is the reason people always wanted to become parents. And when do, you will do everything humanly possible to not much it up. You will be the best parent you can be. You will always have hope. And you will always teach your child to have hope. That I suppose is the most important rule of all.

Day 6 : Is it ever a good idea to argue with a stupid person?

NO. duh.

Some famous guy in a famous black 'n white picture famously said - 
"Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come."

I think nothing is as tiresome as an idea for which there never is a right time.

Everyone has obviously must have had their share of lousy ideas and ideals in their youth that the wisdom of age and experience has taught to be complete folly. But there are yet a bunch of raging buffoons out there that not only still hold onto these notions but over time have grown to take these buffoonery as decree. There are time when you would give anything to grab their heads and yank it about in hope of help some sense seep into it. But there is never really much hope of that either. You are a usually sensible person. And you generally like to talk sense. These stupid people would have nothing to do with sense. They cannot stand the idea of having to fight on the rational thought. Why fight fair and lose when you can be a bigot and win?

An idea is like a fart. Everyone thinks there's smell of roses. And when accused of a bad rip people would just as likely, blame on anybody else in their vicinity. That is the easiest way of an unpleasant situation. Just relieve yourself of any responsibility of any outcome of your bigotry and put the blame on anyone vulnerable to it.

People love to hate. People love differences within themselves. Anything that would enable them to stand above other people in stature. On would enable them to be able to deem them queer and rally other like minded zealots against them. We love to hate on anyone who is not like us. We love to think of them as inferior or vile. We like to think what they do or wear or love or pray to are against the rules of Nature and religion. They would regret their choices in this life or the next. And we would get the chance to point at their torment and say smugly. "Told you so."

The idea that we are any superior or blameless just by virtue of our ideals and belief is stupid
The idea that people who don't look or talk or mate or pray like are evil is stupid.
The idea that people different from us are out to takeover the world and recruit our children to their schemes is stupid.
The idea that we are only can keep the world pure and devoid of their evil is stupid.
The idea that we are any better than anyone else in any way is STUPID.

We are equally weak and delinquent. Each with their own measure of guilt in them. We are equally victims. equally culprit. Our strengths comes from our uniqueness and the differences that we bring to the table.

If we were all the same and why would <Whoever You Pray To> make us so different?
Even <He/She/It> celebrated our uniqueness and shades of humanity and beliefs.

Why hate? Why discriminate? Why so stupid?

Day 70 : Who are you?

Most of the time when someone comes up to a stranger and asks who he/she was; the usual reply is that the person is an accountant, banker, journalist, engineer or something. Is that what we all are? Is that how we see ourselves? When come to think of our own existence do we all define this life of ours by what we do?

Maybe that's kind of obvious, maybe that would be how everyone'd define their lives. Though I think that is only because we are all now so habitual to taking the easy way out. We really hate raking our brains for anything these days. Any thought or feeling that cannot be tweeted out in 140 characters is not worth the effort. After all what do we really do in this day and age just for the sake of enjoying it and not for getting the maximum likes and re-tweets in social media?

Yes. The easiest answer to "Who am I?" is your job. That thing that you do to earn your living. And never really thought much of in the first place.

We all hate being put on the spot. Having to think of an answer to a question that can be so ambiguous and ambitious at the same time, is a big responsibility for our timid brains. It clearly is not equip to handle such sort of heavy digging. And even if we do chisel out a seemingly perfect answer for the question, who is to say that would be the end of it. Any conversation can go any which way based on this one question.

The social media sites have also caught on with this dilemma I suppose. Everyone wants to know "What's happening?" or "What's on your mind?" or "Tell me about yourself" We are all so constantly expected to able to churn out smart charming witty lines that soon we begin to filter and measure out everything that we say and do. And that seeps into our thought process. I don't think any of us really have had and original, personal idea in ages. What we think, and what we perceive of the world around is simply force-fed to us by the System. Yes, that does sound very Mr Robot-ish. But then, isn't that the truth?

I'd like for us to really change the way we think, act, and carry ourselves. We really need to have a personality that is of ourselves, and not a strange mixture of the people we admire or the see in the many screens of our devices. We do have a persona or character. Now that must have been buried under all the layers of BS we carry around each day, but trust me it is there. All we have to do is just really roll up our sleeves and go out have experiences. The more see, and do, and feel the more we learn about ourselves than anything or anyone else.

No one wants to know your job titles, except if you're looking for a job. Next time when someone asks, "who are you?" for Pete’s sake, just tell them your name and say that you read or fart or something.

FSociety.

Day 41 : Imagination

Have you noticed that when you sit silent for a few moments and you mind goes off wandering to some distant shore dreaming up things. How it always seem to climax into the past?

Our mind is an amazing thing, with powers beyond measure. We can live, die, procreate, decimate, grow, shrink, travel, anything inside our heads. There is nothing that we cannot do or create or visit inside our heads. With all of the permutations and combinations of universes and existences that we can imagine, almost all the time our mind always comes back to the past.

We are all anchored to our past. We dream of the future yes, but even when we dream the roots of that dream sprouts from our own pasts. We all want to be rich, because in past we have had felt the sting of poverty. We all want to look attractive, because in past all of us have felt a bit average compared to others around us. We all want to be intelligent, because in past we've been looked down upon as ignorant. We all have our own needs and desires. And nearly half of them are something that we had lacked in the past; or something that we imagined/known in the past.

I wish there was some way that we could just cut off the cord with the past so that our minds may simply go ahead and take us to the worlds unknown to us. Places and sights that is so strange for us that the very notion of them would be exhilarating.

For example, look at all the popular alien movies and books we see. All of them have limbs and eyes and consciousness. Whenever I imagine of alien existence, I think of some specie that do not have a body. They don't have need for eyes to see, nor any measure of right or wrong. They are alien creatures with alien needs and powers. Why should they ever even imagine being anything like us?

In a way, they reason the movies and books make do with such portrayal is not because they cannot think of weird beings. They do, a lot. But they still to sell their product better they feel they need to tone it down. In other words, they are saying the masses are not capable of imagining let alone accepting anything too out of the acceptable limits of unfamiliar. I feel that is sort of insulting.

There is this popular American show of the 70's called Cosmos. It is a semi-scientific documentary series about the universe telecast during the Space Race. It is quite good, some of the graphic might seem to campy by today's standard but honestly I find them a lot more open to imagination than a lot of other stuff we are shown or taught.

It is a popular belief ancient Indian scholars could calculate and predict eclipses, distances between the planetary objects and satellites etc just by looking at the stars. These scholars researched human body and universe out there by just imagining the whole way it functions. The whole science of astrology was an output of this imagery.

I love our strength of imagination a lot. I enjoy the sense of freedom that it gives us. I only dislike the way our imagination is limited by our known world.

Today, I am going to add a really weird alien creature to my horror story.