I, The Absolute

Man is a creature of habit, it is said. But he can form and break habits quickly, though not all of them. I have kept away from blogging a few days and now it takes me time to get back to it. Strange that what has been a part of my routine for the last many months should suddenly need some effort.

There is a constant complaint on campus – each term is running faster than the previous one. True. I only refer them to the theory propounded by Alvin Toffler that as time passes, each day as a fraction of our lives becomes shorter and shorter. No wonder each term appears running faster than the previous one. Why should we complain? The problem is the syllabus, like time, is not relative and hence does not shrink.

Man is a sigma of his experience. It is well nigh impossible to escape from the influence experience can exert on us. In terms of intensity, I would rate childhood experiences at the top, unless there is some traumatic experience else where in life. Thanks to unwellness I had time off from classes which I could put to just lie in bed and think. As I reflected back into life, I realized that some of the experiences I had as a child are fresh even today and how some of them unduly influence the way I think and act. I have found it difficult to get rid of some of the influences which I felt were not helping my personality. I am however not suggesting determinism. It is possible to get out of such influence, if one thinks it is not leading to better results. But that would need a lot of determination and efforts, both of which are difficult to put when it comes to applying to things ‘soft’. Determination and efforts are words which many of us are willing to put to use mostly in professional lives and less so in personal lives.

Asoka, Aurangzeb and the British had the largest empires in Indian history. Aurangzeb is less remembered for this because the empire disintegrated within no time of his death. Asoka’s empire lasted much longer after his death. The British gave us a united India which we now see. The essence of success is not about growing big; it is about building systems to consolidate what is built so that it sustains. Some times size itself proves to be problem. The skill/ habit to stop, look back and consolidate is very important. And I am afraid a lot of us are not doing it right. There is an overload of concepts. I know I need no more gyan*, just consolidating what I already have into proper framework will do wonders for me, but the compulsions drive me to want more. This way I will get stuck up at only information level in the information-knowledge-wisdom hierarchy. It was George Santayana who said – those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

PS: * Not that I am a know-all. To lead the life and profession I want to, what I already know is enough, provided I put it into proper structure. The reference is also not to the day to day news / information that one needs to know.