Stop, Look, Think...

Stop, Look, Think!

By Farouk Gulsara

Here I am, waiting in my car, clutching my steering wheel. It has been a good five minutes, and I am at a standstill. There are no vehicles in front of me. It is a T-junction with traffic lights. There is no traffic on either road, but I have no choice. I have to wait.

https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/07/15/stop-look-think/

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What's in a name?

Maverick School, Malaysia.

I am amused by how some establishments have probably wrong choices of names. In my mind, their names have negative connotations. Or it was intended to be so. As they say in business, any publicity is good publicity. Anything that would stir the readers' curiosity or turns any head is good for business.

Recently I came across two such instances.

A private school called' Maverick' was set up in the Klang Valley. I always thought a maverick always has something up his sleeves. He has a scheme, a sleight of hand, that would benefit him. I perceive a maverick as someone like Artemus Gordon of 'The Wild Wild West' (1965), a secret service spy with tricks up his sleeves to protect the US President.

Apparently, over the years, the term maverick had evolved from giving a negative connotation to something positive. People are no longer expected to be conforming and obedient but to think outside the box to be innovative. Correspondingly, students should not be rote learners but creative instead. Hence, to be a maverick is legitimately legal.

Traditional wisdom dictates that we are strong by numbers. We are familiar with Aesop's fable about the feuding brothers and their ailing father's attempt at unifying them through the analogy of breaking twigs singly versus a tied bunch.

Nexus, Bangsar South, Malaysia.

However, big institutions and conglomerates have earned themselves a bad reputation in modern times. With the ever-widening income gap between the top 1% and the rest of society, they are the favourite subjects of leftists and conspiracy theorists.

A new term often thrown in daily conversations nowadays is the word 'nexus'. That word was intended to denote one's central position in the thick of things, like centrioles in the process of nuclear divisions. Or in the centre of the railway line connections. Also, a nexus of evil is out to destroy civilisation as we know it, etc. Examples of the nexus often mentioned in civil or not-so-civil conversations include The Rothchild Foundation, the Illuminati, the Masons, China, the World Economic Forum and George Soros' Open Society.

Pran

To name a multi-million mammoth construction 'Nexus' to hold business dealings and functions and to promote it as the next best thing since sliced bread may appear shady at best. Does it not sound like a big establishment with nefarious intents? Again, any news is good news.

It cannot all be doom and gloom. If not, my father would not have named me after a Tamil movie star synonymous with villainy. If Charles Sobhraj were notorious, would he have called me Sobhraj? But then, there was a time around the world when no child was named Pran, as the name Pran was the epitome of evil as far as the Hindi film world was concerned. He personified what evil meant. His big piercing eyes, grinding teeth and a cloud of cigarette smoke around his silhouette were enough to send shivers down viewers' spines.

Forget the fact the name 'Pran' refers to the Pranava Mantra, which signifies the cosmic sound Om or Aum, the most powerful mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

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In pursuit of knowledge

Just the other day, a discussion brewed in our WhatsApp group. This group was started with the intention of educating ourselves and understanding the nuances of the world. We discussed politics, world events, philosophy, religion, ancient history, epistemology, Trump, Vedanta and almost anything under the sun with the hope of peeling open the sleeping inner eye within us to see the bigger picture of things around us.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:
असतो मा साद गमय, तमसो मा ज्योतिर् गमय, मृत्योर मा अमृतम् गमय
(Asato Ma Sad Gamaya, Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya, Mrityor Ma Amritam Gamaya)
Lead us from ignorance to truth, Lead us from darkness to light, Lead us from death to deathlessness.

(recited at the end of the climatic end of arthi, Hindu prayers, when the Jyothi, fire, is shown to the deity. If only the congregation appreciates the true meaning of the verse and put it into practice.)

On one hand, we see some who perceive the world as one going through a 'dystopian age' of 'an age of anger'. These angst-filled people look at the world around them as if it is approaching the end of times. They realise that it is their worldly (?God-sent) duty and the civil thing to push forward their rhetorics to 'correct' the imbalances. They spread anger and negativities to everyone to rise to the occasion to change their dystopia to utopia, knowing well that it is an unattainable dream. This group of people comprise those of the intelligentsia, writers, art practitioners and media personnel. They spur ideas to propel us forward to face all challenges and to be prepared for an uncertain future. Looking at a nihilistic future makes them better in dealing with a catastrophe, should one befall them. Appearing too optimistic, on the converse, may be self-defeating as they would be lulled into their comfort zone. They would forget the survival skills to smell fear with the option to flight or fight.

On the other hand, we have those who, with their blissful look, swear that we are indeed leaving in the golden age. The best time to live is now. With the advent of advances in science, technology and much more, people are living healthier lives, free from various communicable diseases and live longer meaningful lives. They deny that end is nigh. Our knowledge and understanding of the world around us has been incrementally increasing. The truth is out there to harness. The only thing that is holding us down is our ignorance and our inertia. We will never perish us a human race. We are too smart for that. Defeating more massive mammoth beasts in our past, we are now indeed the defacto most dominant species on the planet. Game theory applications predict that it is unlikely that we would annihilate each other as our arsenal of weapons gets too big for our own good. The only thing that could destroy us is a meteor hit, which is beyond our control.

Like the two opposing poles of a magnet, like the Ying and the Yang, like the duality of life, like the opposing forces of Siva and Sakthi, these two effects complete us. We need both parties to help us to be on toes to face an unexpected eventuality, be creative to plan our next move, to explore different dimensions, to remember the glory of past achievements. Like the newest Magnetic levitation train where two opposing poles of magnetic strips push a massive structure to travel forward, it is our sincere hope that the human race does the same.

[Thanks AqS for his invaluable deeds in paving towards the Path of Knowledge]

Think, brain think!

Genius of the Ancient World (BBC Four)
#2. Socrates.

My mother, with her limited academic qualifications due to lack of opportunities, still try to enrich her mind. Her daily dose of wisdom used to come from the Tamil calendar. Besides having the daily almanac, it came with famous sayings and quotations. From them, she knew about JFK's 'ask what your country has done for you but what you have done for your country', Gandhian philosophy and Socrates' famous teachings to question everything in life.

At a time when every occurrence happened by the auspices of the pantheon of Gods, Socrates stimulated the minds of the young to ask life's difficult questions. Is wealth a good thing? Does democracy create a just society? What makes Man truly happy?

Probably after being a soldier and seeing the effects of war, he must have been disillusioned by humankind. Having the luxury of comfort in Athens at that time, with plenty of time in the Agora and an average of one to two maids per household, he encouraged people to harness the power of the mind to explain things happening around them. He questioned the roles of Gods and teased the spirit of inquiry.

Democracy was at an infant stage. Athens was ruled by Pericles and was at perpetual war with their nemesis, the Spartans, the lesser beings, the non-democratics. It was during one of this war that Athenians had an acute shortage of food and had to resort to cannibalism, stimulating the philosophical search for answers of this entity called life.

Socrates never believed in putting his thoughts on paper. It was done mostly by his pupil, Plato. Cicero, a later philosophy, refers to Socrates as one who brought philosophy to people's homes. The Pre-Socratic thinkers mainly tried to explain things around us, Socrates tried to impart knowledge through dialogue, not through the traditional teaching method. He brought the students to dizzying heights, to nurture, to help them to think, to break down the problem and to make them realise.

The sophist of that era had the uncanny ability to convince his listeners of something quite frivolous through the art of persuasion. They did for an exorbitant fee whereas Socrates did that with the common people.

He leaves with a plethora of quotations and thoughts. The beauty of the mind is more valuable that the beauty of the body (discussion with Alcibiades). Seek the truth of the human god. He preached against dogma and fanaticism. I do not pretend to know what I do not know.

Socrates was such an important figure in his lifetime, even with his simpleton unkempt, unshaven, bared feet appearance. At the Oracle of Delphi, a priestess, apparently talking on behalf of the  Gods, proclaimed that there was no greater man than Socrates. Aristophanes, in one of his plays in the theatre, ridiculed Socrates. All these must have got Pericles and the powers that be very hot under their collars. The deflection of his student, Alcibiades, must have been the best excuse to incarcerate him. Socrates was accused of impiety for ridiculing the Gods and corrupting the young minds. He chose hemlock to end his life, as a cure of the soul from the body uttering, "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Please, don't forget to pay the debt." Asclepius was the God of healing and it was customary to offer a rooster to heal the sick.

Socrates' prophecy is proving to be true. We are fixated with our looks, material god, spin and fame.

Talk not mere words

There are three levels of verbalisation.

One which is vocalised for all to hear. This would be the one that gives an impression of ourselves to the world. It is often used as a yardstick to gauge our levels of education, our politics, our upbringing, class and creed. The spoken words in this category are guarded and carefully worded so as not to jeopardise one's own image. It is our way to engage with the world which would compartmentalise us into our pigeon holes.

The second level of spoken words is the one uttered amongst immediate relatives and close ones. Here, the words are less guarded, but still, a certain amount of restraining is always exercised so as not hurt the sentiments of the people around us. We also take into consideration that the younger ones are watching (and listening). We have to be careful with his choice of words to a certain extent. Sometimes emotion takes charge to prove a point. The threshold to lose our composure is lower as we are in the comfort of familiar surroundings and we can exert our authority.

The final level of communication is the unabated one when one engages in a soliloquy with no-holds-barred. All the deep-seated personal disappointments and frustrations may be outpoured with no one to judge. It is an opportune time to re-evaluate, re-strategise and re-brand. This form of introspection can be cathartic.  This must be the significance of the signage at the entrance to the Temple of Apollo in Greece - Know Thyself.

This similar level of sensory input can be appreciated in other senses as well. We look, see and perceive. We hear, listen and understand. We feel, empathise and quiver. We touch, feel and cringe. We taste, wink and puke.

N.B. Living in a society is an art of dodging and hypocrisy. People who say the right thing but mean the wrong thing is elevated but the individuals who say the wrong things but mean well get the boot. Everyone has to be politically correct all the time to protect the voiceless minority. We cannot call a spade a spade all the time. Sometimes we have to call it a shovel and on other occasions a scoop!

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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